Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the past seven days

Sarah, 53, a psychologist, meets Russell, 61, a behaviour officer

What were you hoping for?
A romantic connection. Failing that, getting to know someone I might not otherwise have crossed paths with.

The supernatural drama inches closer to the end, while Ethan Hawke fully encapsulates Lorenz Hart in Richard Linklater’s Broadway breakup drama. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

You’ll probably end up in the red

• See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here

Beauty and the Beast or Wolf Alice? Queen Marie Antoinette or Count Arthur Strong? Come and behold: the holiday season offers stage, film, music and art that’s worth singing about

The 12 Beans of Christmas
Touring to 19 December
Last year, character comedians Adam Riches and John Kearns joined forces for an archly silly tribute to crooners Michael Ball and Alfie Boe. Now Riches is back with another leftfield celebrity riff as he gives his Game of Thrones-era Sean Bean impression (as seen on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and his Edinburgh show Dungeons’n’Bastards) a yuletide twist. Rachel Aroesti

One other member of the guards, Andrew Wolfe, is still fighting for his life, according to the president

Sarah Beckstrom, one of the national guard troops shot in Washington DC on Wednesday, has died, Donald Trump said on Thursday.

“Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, one of the guardsmen that we’re talking about, highly respected, young, magnificent person … She’s just passed away. She’s no longer with us,” Trump said in his first live remarks since the shooting.

Carriers accused of joining ‘actions of state terrorism promoted by US’ after they suspended flights to Venezuela

Venezuela has banned six international airlines, accusing them of “state terrorism” after the carriers suspended flights to the country following a warning from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Venezuela’s civil aviation authority announced late on Wednesday that Spain’s Iberia, Portugal’s Tap, Colombia’s Avianca, Chile and Brazil’s Latam, Brazil’s Gol and Turkish Airlines would have their operational permits revoked for “joining the actions of state terrorism promoted by the United States government and unilaterally suspending air commercial operations”.

Anastasia Samoylova took a photographic journey up the US east coast – and found herself in America’s unreconciled past just as much as its fragmented present

Are you ready to ‘go zombie’ in your relationship, lowering your expectations of it, forging your own separate life, but staying wed? You’re just one of many who are ‘subconsciously uncoupling’

Name: Quiet divorce.

Age: Ancient, probably.

In 2010, the photographer Aida Muluneh created the Addis Foto Fest in Ethiopia’s capital to showcase talents from Africa and beyond. Since the pandemic, the event has boomed online to include work without borders

The British billionaire founder of Virgin Atlantic said he was ‘heartbroken’ by loss of wife and partner for 50 years

Joan Templeman, the wife of British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, has died at the age of 80.

Branson announced her death on Tuesday in a post on social media, saying he was “heartbroken to share that Joan, my wife and partner for 50 years, has passed away.”

It’s not the sexiest of garments. It arguably looks more like a discarded fishing net. And yet it has cast a spell over the internet

Name: Elphaba’s sex cardigan.

Age: Elphaba is a character in Wicked: For Good – Jon M Chu’s fantasy film, the sequel to last year’s mega hit Wicked Part 1, which was adapted from the 2003 stage musical, and has just been released. That was loosely based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, which was a reimagining of L Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation starring Judy Garland.

Late-night hosts reacted to the president’s surprisingly friendly Oval Office meeting with New York’s mayor-elect

Late-night hosts discussed Donald Trump’s strangely friendly meeting with New York’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Nesrine Malik and Jason Okundaye deliver your weekly dose of Black life and culture from around the world

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