Fill the grid with numbers one to nine so that each row, column and square contains every digit exactly once. This game will update daily.

Guess the four-digit number in six tries. Choose your number and tap enter to submit. Each tile will change to green if the digit is correct and in the right position, or orange if it is correct but in the wrong position. A dark grey tile means the digit does not appear anywhere in the number. Come back here tomorrow for the next Guess the Number game.

You have six tries to guess the five-letter word. Type in the letters and hit enter. After each guess, the colour of the tiles will change if you choose the correct letters. A green tile means the letter is in the correct spot. A peach tile means the letter is in the word but is in the wrong spot. The tile will not change colour if the letter is not in the word. This game will update daily.

Fill the grid with numbers one to nine so that each row, column and square contains every digit exactly once. This game will update daily.

Fill the grid with numbers one to nine so that each row, column and square contains every digit exactly once. This game will update daily.

Cat-sized Australian marsupials that look to have an ever-present grin, quokkas are among the internet’s favourite “goofy furballs”, said Mike Atkins in The Times. For the best chance of seeing them in the wild, head to Rottnest Island, which is home to 80% of their global population.

Just 30 minutes by ferry from Fremantle, in Perth’s southern suburbs, this seven-square-mile island was even named after the creatures (“rottnest” means “rat’s nest” in Dutch – a 17th-century sea captain’s taxonomic error). But there are other reasons to visit, too, including its 63 “knockout” beaches, “jagged” limestone sea cliffs, lovely cycling trails, and pleasant places to stay (I chose a “glamping eco-resort”, Discovery Rottnest Island).

Rotto (as the locals call it) is a place of “rugged glory”, and Fremantle is also worth an extended stay en route. It has a “bohemian, laid-back” vibe and a beautiful centre, full of Victorian buildings with “intricate” wrought-iron balconies.

The quiet days of autumn in Alghero

With its own international airport and a fine old town commanding “dress-circle views of the Med”, the little city of Alghero in northwest Sardinia is a great place for a short break in autumn, said Kerry Walker in The Telegraph.

At this time of year, its “tangle of alleys and cobbled piazzas” is far less crowded than in summer, as are “outstanding” local restaurants such as Musciora and La Saletta (Algheresi cuisine is among the most distinctive in Sardinia, thanks partly to the strong Catalan influence that is a legacy of the island’s near-four centuries of Spanish rule).

And there’s much to explore beyond the city’s “whopping”, honey-coloured ramparts, including nearby white-sand beaches, the “colossal” Grotta di Nettuno sea caves, and the Porto Conte Regional Natural Park, a “coastal wonderland” where much of the spectacular car chase in the 1977 Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me” was filmed.

Memories of Tenzing in North Wales

Before conquering Everest in 1953, Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay and their fellow climbers spent weeks training on Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa). Their memory is still cherished at the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel, where they stayed, said Gareth Roberts in The Guardian.

Built in 1810, the hotel sits alone at the foot of the mountain and feels “timeless”, with its roaring fires and rolltop baths. The hotel’s then landlord, Christopher Briggs, became a friend of Tenzing, and his grandsons – who now run the place – remember the climber from later visits as always smiling and to have been “incredibly kind”.

Photos of him and other climbers adorn the walls, and there’s a cabinet full of equipment and mementoes from the 1953 expedition.

He’s done it again, said Vera Magalhães in O Globo (Rio de Janeiro). If anyone was capable “of pulling off an unprecedented turnaround against all odds”, it was President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who this week won a historic fourth term in office.

Brazil’s working-class hero suffered a shock defeat in the first round of the presidential election in early October, coming second to Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro (aka “the Trump of the Tropics”), who is currently under house arrest for plotting a coup.

Short-lived celebrations

No other candidate has gone on to win the second round after losing the first. But the Workers’ Party (PT) leader, who was accused of arrogance and of failing to understand the needs of young gig-economy workers, shook up his strategy, said Igor Gielow in Folha de São Paulo. He announced a number of populist measures and mobilised ten million followers via a new WhatsApp channel “Exército do Lula” (“Lula’s Army”). In the end, “the fear of a Bolsonaro returning to power” was enough to mobilise the centre-left voters who had sat out the first round: Lula won Sunday’s vote with almost 52% to 48%; his vote surged from 54 million in the first round to 64 million.

Lula’s celebrations will be short-lived, said Míriam Leitão in O Globo. He governs a country “more divided than at any time during his previous three terms”. Bolsonaro, who is under investigation as part of a money-laundering probe, initially rejected Sunday’s result amid a row over voting hours being extended at the last minute by a supreme court judge who was previously Lula’s lawyer. He later fled to the US.

The chaos was a fitting end to one of the ugliest elections in recent years, said Paulo César de Oliveira in Correio da Manhã (Rio de Janeiro). Not since the 1964-1985 military dictatorship “has there been such a heavy, radicalised political environment”. The deep animosity between the two candidates was on full display during the televised debate held two days before the vote, said Stephen Gibbs in The Times. It “descended into a shouting match”, with Lula calling his hard-right rival “a habitual liar, a thug”. Bolsonaro, for his part, had the word “corrupt” written on his palm to serve as a reminder, as he put it, for what Lula’s Workers’ Party stood for. He would be keeping his distance from his opponent during the debate, he declared, “because my wallet could be stolen”.

Spending spree

The grimiest part of the whole race, said Roseann Kennedy in Estadão (São Paulo), was the vast spending spree Lula went on after losing the first round. In the final three weeks of the contest, the PT accelerated spending on measures announced in the last year, totalling R$354 billion (£50 billion) – “institutionalised vote-buying” on a huge scale. That includes forgiving the debt of micro-entrepreneurs, and pushing through a 15% increase to the Bolsa Família programme, which provides cash to low-income households – even changing the payment schedule so people would receive the benefit days before the final vote. It makes a mockery of Brazil’s electoral law, which prohibits incumbents from granting these benefits mid-campaign.

Worse, Lula’s last-minute splurge will only aggravate Brazil’s deteriorating public finances, said O Globo. They are just one of a series of crises the president immediately faces in his fourth term. There are also the accusations of corruption against Lula’s inner circle, including his eldest son. And the fact that he’ll be governing with a hostile parliament which, following the first round of elections, now has a distinctly conservative (and Bolsonaro-friendly) profile.

Brazil’s president already has an “extraordinary biography”. He led historic workers’ strikes during the military dictatorship, and helped draft the 1988 constitution. Imprisoned after governing for two terms, he stormed back to power in 2022, becoming a “symbol of democracy” when he defeated Jair Bolsonaro. Now, having just turned 81 years old, Lula faces his biggest challenge of all.

There’s a technique within this recipe that, once mastered (and it’s fun and easy to master), you’ll want to use for other vegetable dishes, said Adam Byatt. It’s a quick dish, and more of a lunch than a side dish. The leeks are steamed whole and dressed with a vinaigrette to which I have added chives, but these could be replaced by chopped tarragon or chervil, or whatever herbs you fancy. For me, this has to be one of the most beautiful things in cookery.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 6 leeks
• 100ml good-quality vegetable or chicken stock
• 100ml champagne vinegar or chardonnay vinegar
• 200ml champagne or dry white wine
• 3 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked
• 2 tsp sea salt flakes
• 2 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
• 200ml extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ bunch of chives, finely chopped
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

• Keeping the leeks intact, trim the wiry strands from the roots, remove the dark-green tops of the leeks and run under cold water to remove any dirt.
• Lay the whole leeks in a large sauté pan and pour in the stock, vinegar and wine. Add the thyme leaves and season well with the salt and some pepper. Cover the leeks with a cartouche of baking paper.
• Over a medium-high heat, bring to a rapid boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the leeks are soft and giving. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly in the pan.
• Once slightly cooled but still warm, remove the leeks from the pan and transfer them to a chopping board. Remove 1cm from the root end and then slice them lengthways down the middle. Place the leeks on a warmed platter.
• Return the pan to a medium heat and reduce the braising liquid by three-quarters, then remove from the heat. Whisk in the mustard, then whisk in the oil in a steady stream and finish with the chives.
• Spoon this vinaigrette over the leeks and serve. You can also finish with extra soft herbs like chervil, if you like.

Taken from Trinity: The Cookbook by Adam Byatt

Crossword - Nov. 6, 2026

Sudoku - Nov. 6, 2026

Heart disease poses a significant threat to women, but research into the issue has been lacking for years. Now, for the first time, four medical societies have published a shared framework and clinical guidance to help doctors identify and treat cardiovascular risk throughout a woman’s life.

What did the group outline?

The American Heart Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine have created a system to help redefine heart health for girls and women. The group outlines four “Female Life Stages” where hormones could affect heart health: perimenarche (ages 8-15), regular ovarian cycling (ages 15-44), perimenopause (ages 45-51) and postmenopause (age 51 and older). Pregnancy at any life stage is also included. Three manuscripts published in the AHA’s flagship journal, Circulation, include guidelines for navigating these stages.

The coalition asserts that because “female-specific biology” affects girls’ and women’s hearts “throughout their lives,” it requires “connected, holistic care starting in adolescence” to reflect “transitions not found in the male models” that dominate health care: “periods, pregnancy, perimenopause, and menopause,” said Stat.

What happens in adolescence and young adulthood “impacts your life for years and decades to come,” so acting at that point can “really change the course of someone’s cardiovascular health story,” Sadiya Khan, the chair of the group and a professor of cardiovascular epidemiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said to Stat. Keeping the various aspects of women’s healthcare “all connected and not siloed,” even though that’s “typically how we have approached care,” will require an “integrative approach.”

Why was a new framework needed?

Heart disease is already the number one killer of women globally, and both heart disease and stroke are “projected to rise significantly in women over the next two decades,” said NBC News. Still, very little is known about how female biology affects heart health. Scientists were “not required to include women in clinical trials on heart disease until 1993,” and today, “fewer women are still included in the trials than men.” Women’s healthcare is also “often uniquely fragmented across different specialties” throughout their lifetime.

Ultimately, girls and women “represent half the population,” and “every clinician, every specialty and every health system” has a role to play in their well-being, Khan said at Time. Women can “do much to protect their health,” but they should not have to “connect the dots in their care alone.”

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Science fiction’s greatest books peer into the future and ask readers to imagine life beyond our own — for both better and worse. These are the essential works by visionary authors.

‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ by Philip K. Dick (1968)

Set in 2021, after a world war that wiped out millions, Philip K. Dick’s darkly prescient novel inspired the blockbuster film “Blade Runner.” It follows bounty hunter Rick Deckard as he hunts rogue androids hiding among Earth’s humans. “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” is a “weighty foray” into what makes us human and will “linger with you for a long time,” said Esquire. ($18, Penguin Random House, Amazon)

‘Ender’s Game’ by Orson Scott Card (1985)

Orson Scott Card’s “Ender” series, a gateway into the genre, has captivated many burgeoning science-fiction fans. The first book, “Ender’s Game,” is a “high-stakes, militaristic twist on sci-fi,” said Reader’s Digest. The series will appeal to those who “enjoy reading historical fiction and novels about war.” ($20, Macmillan, Amazon)

‘Parable of the Sower’ by Octavia E. Butler (1993)

Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower” follows teenage prophet Lauren Oya Olamina as she navigates creating a new religion in an eerily familiar postapocalyptic California of 2024. This first half of a duology feels like a “plea to America, echoing through time and begging us to remember principles we are all weaker for having forgotten,” said The New York Times. ($24, Seven Stories Press, Amazon)

‘The Three-Body Problem’ by Cixin Liu (2006)

Cixin Liu’s Hugo Award-winning “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy starts with “The Three-Body Problem,” a thrilling tale of extraterrestrial contact set against China’s Cultural Revolution. The book marks the rise of an author who has become “every bit as canonical” as other famous novelists of the genre, said Esquire. ($19, Macmillan, Amazon)

“There’s a decency we should expect out of our public officials,” said former President Barack Obama at a recent campaign rally condemning Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s now-infamous attack ad against Democrat Amy Acton. Ramaswamy’s commercial shows there is “no line he will not cross, no low he will not sink to.” But while Obama’s comments were directed at Ramaswamy specifically, they come as the GOP grapples with a surging strain of Trumpian malice among arguably less adept candidates — to the chagrin of some within their own party.

‘Ethical degradation of Trumpism’

Ramaswamy’s “may be the most disgusting ad in American political history,” said Michelle Goldberg at The New York Times. But it has opened a “kind of proxy debate on the right” about whether the party should “reclaim some baseline morality” or pursue its “current smashmouth course.” The controversy surrounding the ad affords conservatives space to “reckon with the ethical degradation of Trumpism” without “quite admitting that that’s what they’re doing.” With “no ideas to run on” and minimal accomplishments to tout, GOP candidates “seem to have hatched a plan,” said Rex Huppke at USA Today: “Let’s just be the most wretched versions of ourselves” and “see how things shake out.”

It is “undoubtedly the case” that Trump himself enjoys “some special sauce” that makes him a “formidable general election candidate,” said Jamelle Bouie at the Times. But without candidates who enjoy that innate talent, Republicans are struggling to “mimic Trump’s particular style of politics” as successfully.

GOP ‘litmus test’

Trump is “reminding us on a daily basis that cruelty is the point,” said Charlie Sykes on his To the Contrary podcast. “That seems to be spreading.” In American politics, “bullies” do tend to prosper “for a bit,” said Times columnist David French to Sykes. But they then experience a “serious backlash.”

Ramaswamy’s ad has become a “litmus test” for “how deep” into MAGA’s “post-truth nihilism” someone might sink,” said Rolling Stone. Republican discomfort with Trumpian insolence misses the “greater point” of the “political movement” that led to its creation: The “conservative project’s greatest strength is its moral flexibility.” By that metric, the party’s future is “still firmly in Trump’s hands.”

Chancellor John Healey delivered the Autumn Budget this week, promising “breathing space now and fresh hope for the future”. In his first fiscal update, Healey said it would be a “Budget for the worker, the sole trader, the parent at the school gate”.

But for some groups it was not good news, with income tax thresholds remaining frozen, ultimately “scooping more money out of pay packets”, said the BBC.

The Budget was a “raft of fiddly measures”, said the Institute for Fiscal Studies, “but very little that will move the dial on growth”.

Plus, while cost of living support will be welcomed, the update did nothing to “make the wealthiest pay fair taxes on their income from assets, nor a fair tax on the extraordinary profits banks have been making”, said Tax Justice UK.

Energy bill support 

Healey extended the VAT cut on energy bills until July 2027, which is expected to take around £50 off the annual Ofgem price cap next April.

Standing charges on gas bills will be abolished next year. In reality, the standing charge will be added to the unit rate of gas instead so “lower users are expected to benefit from lower bills, but those with above average consumption are likely to pay more”, said MoneySavingExpert.

Around 20 million homes on council tax bands A to D will be eligible for a Household Energy Payment of £100 to help pay their energy bills.

Minimum wage boost

Both the national minimum wage and the national living wage will rise by 3.9% in April. The national living wage, which applies to people aged 21 and over, will rise from £12.71 to £13.21. The national minimum wage, for workers aged 18 to 20, will go from £10.85 to £11.27.

Labour had previously pledged to increase the younger rate faster than the adult one, but this “marks a slowdown in wage rises for the youth”, said LBC, and does nothing to “narrow the minimum wage gap between older and younger workers”.

Fuel duty freeze

There was some good news for motorists amid high petrol prices as fuel duty will be frozen for the 16th year in a row.

It will be a “mild sigh of relief”, said the RAC, but drivers will be hoping for an easing of international conflicts if pump prices are to truly come down in “a meaningful way”.

Savings

Healey scrapped plans to lower the cash ISA allowance to £12,000. But he announced that the rates of tax on income from property and savings will rise by two further percentage points from April 2027 to 24%, 44% and 49% depending on your tax band.

The cash ISA U-turn will “delight” savers, said Moneyfacts’ Rachel Springall, but the higher taxes mean utilising any allowances to shelter savings from tax is “vital”.

But landlords will be “particularly disappointed”, said Savills. The higher tax on rental income “runs the risk of further restricting rental supply” and piling “upward pressure on rents”.

Your First Home

The chancellor confirmed that a new housing support scheme called Your First Home will launch next spring. It provides an equity loan from the government to support a 2.5% deposit on a new-build purchase for first-time buyers. There will be household income caps and local property price caps.

A new First Time Buyer Isa will be launched to replace the Lifetime Isa. In a “notable change” from earlier proposals, said The Independent, the government bonus of 25% will now be worked out on the final total balance rather than payments into the Isa. This ensures savers “don’t miss out” on any boosts to their savings “through interest or capital growth”.

In another “huge change”, said The Sun, Healey announced that the Lifetime Isa withdrawal penalty will be scrapped if savers are buying a home above the £450,000 limit. Buyers will at least get back what they contributed.

Viktor Orbán is being touted by the Trump administration as the next secretary general of the United Nations.

“You read that correctly,” said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial, reflecting that the appointment of Hungary’s former authoritarian populist prime minister to succeed António Guterres would be hugely controversial.

What did the commentators say?

Russia and China are “believed to be supportive” and “when the US, Russia and China all want the same thing at the UN Security Council, they usually get it”.

There are “plenty of reasons” not to back Orbán, “such as that he would act as an apologist for Vladimir Putin and other dictators”. But he would be the “dream Maga-conservative candidate”, one State Department official told the WSJ, thanks to what the paper called “his moves against mass migration, liberal NGOs and Hungary’s left-leaning courts and press”.

It has been more common for “failed liberal politicians” to end up in roles at “intergovernmental networks and transnational bureaucracies”, said Philip Cunliffe on UnHerd. These appointments “allow politicians to retain the trappings of high office long after they have been rejected by their own country”.

Orbán won “five national elections, four with supermajorities” so “has a more impressive electoral track record than most liberals” who might be candidates for the top UN job.

But “it would be strange to think of a person less inclined toward the UN”, said Balkan Insight. He was “apparently encouraged by the Trump administration to enter the race”, said Josie Ensor in The Times, but some “UN watchers” think Orban’s name may be being used a “‘stalking horse’ to make the case for another, more pragmatic, contender: the British-educated Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh”.

“Momentum has quickly shifted” towards Nusseibeh, prompting “speculation that she may have been America’s first choice all along”. But her denial of accusations that the UAE is fuelling the civil war in Sudan by supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has caused criticism.

“With all five Security Council permanent members so tied to and dependent on the UAE, it will be no surprise if they eventually wave Nusseibeh through,” said Dino Mahtani on Middle East Eye. “But don’t expect her to act in the interest of the victims of wars, mass atrocities and genocides.”

What next?

Guterres’ second five-year term as UN secretary general ends on 31 December. There are seven candidates officially running to replace him, including Nusseibeh but not, yet, Orbán.

To save the UN “from the irrelevance in which it now wallows”, said former EU and US officials Alex Rondos and Mark Medish in The Guardian, its next leader “will require the concerted backing of the few powers that govern the security council”. War has become preferable to dialogue and diplomacy, but the UN can be a “problem-solver rather than a bystander, a credible forum rather than a costly talking shop, and the prime instrument for collective action”.

This won’t happen “unless the great powers want it to”. Appointing a new secretary general “is one of the few moments when they must agree on a qualified person and a timely agenda”.

A London councillor resigned from Reform UK after footage emerged of him saying King Charles was a “traitorous” secret Muslim and should be beheaded.

Bromley councillor Dean Miller’s baseless remarks, recorded as part of ITV News’ undercover investigation into Reform, were only the latest airing of an increasingly widespread conspiracy theory that the British monarch, and head of the Church of England, is operating as a stealth Muslim who intends to dismantle the country’s Christian identity from within.

When did the rumours start?

Claims that King Charles had secretly converted to Islam have been circulating for decades. Their origin is hard to trace but many people point to a claim made in a book published in 1996, called “The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville”, In it, author Giles Milton quoted the Grand Mufti of Cyprus saying that the then Prince of Wales had become a Muslim on a recent visit to Turkey.

This “revelation” caused a huge stir in the British press – at a time when Prince Charles was already deeply unpopular with the public after his divorce and admission of adultery. Buckingham Palace broke its normal convention of not commenting on press speculation to dismiss the book’s claims as “nonsense”.

Why have they gained traction?

The King has often “praised classical Islam and noted some of its moral and cultural strengths”, said vicar Marcus Walker in The Critic. To claim that this means he is a Muslim is almost the “dictionary definition of deranged”. But that has not stopped the theory “increasingly being made across social media”, and, to my shock, at “polite dinner parties and on the fringes of academic conferences”.

The rumours also feed into other conspiracy theories about the supposed Islamification of Britain, and especially London. Earlier this year, on Piers Morgan’s YouTube show, Rudi Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and personal lawyer to Donald Trump, said Britian is going to be “a Muslim country in 10 years” and “Charles III might be the Muslim monarch”.

What is the King’s history with Islam?

Charles is known to have studied the Qur’an and, in 2013, he had six months of private Arabic lessons. In the 1990s, said Walker in The Critic, he was reported to have “mused on whether”, once he became King, “he should be known as ‘Defender of Faith’, rather than of ‘the Faith’”.

He has long demonstrated a devout Anglicanism but, said Middle East Eye, he is also interested in theological scholarship that argues that “all the great religions share universal truths”. In speeches, he has praised Islam for its integrated view of the universe, nature and spirituality, and said that West is in debt to the scholars of Islam.

Last week, during a state banquet for Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq at Windsor Castle, the King quoted a hadith, a saying of the prophet Muhammad, in Arabic. A clip of his recitation has since gone viral on social media, adding more fuel to the far-right conspiracy that he is a Muslim hiding in plain sight.

Find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest news and other global events by putting your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week.

A murderous 17th-century Dutch mutineer, who inspired the hit TV show The Traitors, could have been the world’s first “corporate psychopath”, a new study has claimed.

Jeronimus Cornelisz was put in charge of around 200 survivors after the Batavia, a merchant vessel run by the Dutch East India Company, ran aground off the west coast of Australia in 1629.

Once senior officers had set off on a longboat to seek help in what is now Jakarta, Cornelisz divided the remaining survivors into factions, playing them off against each. He “quickly installed loyalists on a ruling council, demanded oaths of allegiance and isolated potential opponents”, said Lara Bowman in The Times. Over the next two months “his henchmen drowned, strangled, hacked or bludgeoned to death up to 115 men, women and children”.

Cornelisz justified the killings as a way of conserving food and water supplies but after a rescue ship arrived, he, along with six accomplices, were condemned to death, tortured and hanged.

‘World’s first psychopathic boss’

A new study published in the Asian Journal of Business Ethics has found that Cornelisz displayed all 10 core characteristics associated with psychopathic business leaders. These include “using charm to gain trust, surrounding themselves with loyal supporters, removing potential challengers, creating divisions among rivals, establishing a climate of fear, avoiding responsibility when things go wrong, and pursuing power, money and control above all else”, said The Telegraph.

Dr Clive Boddy, from Anglia Ruskin University, who conducted the research, said that Cornelisz followed the “same playbook we see in toxic workplaces today”. The 30-year-old apothecary turned merchant “removed opponents, rewarded loyalists, created fear, manipulated followers and pursued power at any cost”. This makes him the “world’s first psychopathic boss”, said The Telegraph.

From Cornelisz to The Traitors

The story of Cornelisz and the Batavia may seem an unlikely inspiration for a hit TV show, but for producer Jasper Hoogendoorn the appeal was obvious.

“It’s a story about people who murder each other, backstab each other, betray each other,” he told the Edinburgh TV Festival in 2023. “It’s a horrible story. But it was such a fascinating story and I was thinking it’s also exciting. It’s so exciting to read that story and that’s where the whole idea came to create the show.”

Hoogendoorn said the Dutch TV show “De Verraders” – which means The Traitors and on which the hit UK series is based, was initially going to be called “The Mutineers” and take place on a replica ship, with contestants pushed into the sea when voted out.

That proved too costly for producers, so the decision was made to change the location to a castle, while keeping the idea of a mutiny and rival factions working against each other.

The UT is the second UK offering from Chinese firm Aion, following the V SUV earlier in the year, said National World. As with electric SUVs, competition in the small EV market is “fierce”, with rivals such as the Renault 5, MG4 and VW ID.3; but the UT has “an ace up its sleeve” – the price.

This all-electric family hatch starts at £28,950 and comes “loaded with kit”, plus eight years of warranty and servicing, and eight years of breakdown cover.

Powered by a 60kWh battery, the UT has a range of 268 miles, said Autocar. The electric motor makes 201bhp, and it can get from 0-62mph in 7.3secs, which “feels brisk enough”. At low speeds the ride is “comfortable” and “pliant”, but it gets “more fidgety” at higher ones.

Despite a lack of feedback, the steering is “accurate and predictable”. Wind and road noise is kept down, but some of the ADAS safety tools are very “intrusive”.

Peak charging is a “modest” 87kW, so a 30%-80% top-up takes 24mins, said What Car? Inside, the UT is “clean and modern” but far from premium, with lots of hard plastics.

The heated front seats are comfy, and visibility is excellent, with parking sensors and a 360-degree camera as standard. The 14.6in touchscreen and driver’s display are “sharp and crisp”, but there are too few proper buttons. There’s lots of passenger space, but the boot could be bigger.

A California startup has used AI to create a virus reportedly capable of fighting off a bacterial infection. The method, if effective, could help people combat disease without worsening antibiotic resistance.

How it works

Researchers at Radical Numerics administered the AI bacteriophage, through an AI model called Omnii-1, to a patient “suffering from a deadly bacterial infection,” with the hope the virus would “kill the microbes causing the infection,” said The New York Times. If successful, the findings could “point to a new way to use AI in medicine.”

Phage therapy existed long before AI. Phages can “target particular bacteria with remarkable specificity, sparing beneficial bacteria such as those in the gut that support digestion,” said a technical paper by Radical Numerics. The process can be time-consuming, though.

Creating the therapy without AI requires using a “bacterial sample from a patient’s infection” to “screen existing phage collections for effective candidates,” said the Radical Numerics paper. If no known phages are effective, researchers then turn to “additional collections, environmental samples or engineering.”

Using AI instead “can lead to rapid, on-demand generation of phages that meet patient requirements, accelerating the timeline for treatment,” said The Independent.

The future

“If it works, that’s incredible,” Michael Baym, a microbiologist at Harvard University, said to the Times. “My impulse is to be skeptical.” Radical Numerics has not revealed the clinical outcomes of the patient who was given the AI virus, and the study has yet to be peer-reviewed. The company aims to “protect patient confidentiality and maintain the trust” of clinical partners, though it intends to publish the results in the future, Eric Nguyen, the CEO of Radical Numerics, said to the Times.

Widespread phage therapy could help combat antibiotic resistance. Phages “do not infect human cells, and phage therapy is generally considered safe,” said Radical Numerics. “Unlike broad-spectrum antibiotics, phages can target particular bacteria with remarkable specificity.”

Bougainville could soon become the world’s newest nation, three decades after a brutal civil war, and seven years since the resource-rich islands overwhelmingly voted to secede from Papua New Guinea.

Parliamentarians in Papua New Guinea will vote next month on whether to grant independence to the autonomous and ethnically distinct islands that are home to around 350,000 people.

Civil war to referendum

After decades of being controlled by colonising nations as various as Germany, Australia and Japan, Bougainville first declared its independence – as the Republic of the North Solomons – in 1975. Within weeks, however, it was incorporated into the newly independent nation of Papua New Guinea.

In the years that followed, the islands’ politics, and push for greater autonomy, became inextricably linked to its vast Panguna copper and gold mine. Anger that less than 2% of the wealth generated by the internationally run concession went to the local community “spiralled into a decade-long civil war in the main island’s jungles, as a rag-tag separatist militia held Papua New Guinea’s military at bay”, said The New York Times.

“The Crisis”, as it is now known, lasted from 1988 to 1998, and “left as many as 15,000 people dead, and displaced a generation, while cementing Bougainville’s desires for independence”.

A peace agreement in 2001 formally brought fighting to an end. It established a measure of autonomy for Bougainville and, crucially, a commitment from Papua New Guinea to allow an independence referendum. This was held in 2019, and 97.7% of Bougainvilleans voted for independence. Under the terms of the peace agreement, and the constitution, the result must be ratified by Papua New Guinea’s parliament in Port Moresby before it can take effect.

Economic self-reliance

Port Moresby has “long resisted acting on Bougainville’s post-conflict independence”, said The Guardian. The government is keen “not to establish a precedent for the break-up Papua New Guinea’s vast and culturally diverse archipelago, or to lose a resource-rich and potentially lucrative province”.

Parliament is slated to begin voting on the issue on 24 November. But, after the threshold for ratification was raised from the usual two-thirds to three-quarters of all MPs, Bougainville’s Attorney General, Ezekiel Masatt, denounced the “national government strategy to poison the waters and make it impossible to come close to reach the voting threshold”.

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape has argued that Bougainville does not have the economic resources to be able to stand on its own feet. He has mooted the idea of “allowing for a period of time in which the region works on developing that economic self-reliance before the parliament might then revisit the question of political independence”, said Radio New Zealand.

Many Bougainvilleans think that the route to economic self-reliance lies in “rehabilitating” the Panguna copper mine, which was closed by multiple acts of sabotage in 1989. Bougainville’s President Ishmael Toroama is already pursuing the redevelopment of Panguna, and has signalled his intention to “separate from the state of Papua New Guinea” in 2030, regardless of whether Port Moresby ratifies Bougainville’s independence or not.

Hollywood has reliably churned out rom-coms for a century, but only a handful have survived the unromantic ravages of time. These four classics helped define the genre.

‘The Philadelphia Story’ (1940)

Unusual for its time in centering a woman’s agency, “The Philadelphia Story” follows Tracy (Katharine Hepburn) as she reconsiders her plans to embark on a second marriage. The film is “far deeper and richer than its whimsical surface style might lead you to believe,” said Jeremiah Kipp at Slant Magazine. (Prime Video)

‘Say Anything’ (1989)

Aimless but charming Lloyd (John Cusack) falls for the ambitious Diane (Ione Skye) as the end of high school draws near in this hilarious but also poignant film. The love story “rings as clear and true as a bell,” said Elizabeth Nelson at The Ringer. (Prime Video)

‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ (1997)

Julianne (Julia Roberts) treks to Chicago with a secret plan to break up the wedding of her best friend in a film that helped define friendships between men and women. It also has the “chutzpah to turn the rom-com formula on its head,” said Lisa Niven-Phillips at The Guardian. (Paramount+)

‘Knocked Up’ (2007)

Alison (Katherine Heigl) realizes she’s pregnant after a one-night stand with the charming but indolent stoner Ben (Seth Rogen) in an uproarious romp that embodied the early aughts romantic comedy. This "instant" classic “captures the sexual confusion and moral ambivalence of our moment,” said A.O. Scott at The New York Times. (Netflix)

With many American tech companies looking to expand their footholds across the world, a large number have planted their flags in Aragon, a diverse region of northeast Spain. While Aragon is one of Spain’s least-populated areas, its tech boom is quickly becoming consequential.

Why Aragon?

Many U.S. conglomerates are moving there because of Aragon’s sparsity. The area is a “Big Tech company’s dream,” as “vast, uninterrupted stretches of the region are empty,” said Bloomberg.

Aragon’s capital, Zaragoza, is Spain’s fourth most populous city, but beyond that the “landscape opens out into broad countryside where most municipalities have fewer than 26 residents per square mile,” said Bloomberg. This large territory has made Aragon one of the “fastest-growing data center hubs, with investments announced by Amazon, Microsoft and others surpassing $94.4 billion.”

Amazon is one of the biggest investors and “promises to spend almost $40 billion to build multiple vast complexes — one alone as large as 600 American football fields,” said NPR. Amazon and others like it believe Aragon “could serve as a model for a European Union seeking to triple its data center capacity within seven years and narrow the AI infrastructure gap with the U.S. and China,” said Reuters. Unlike other areas in Spain, Aragon’s government is also largely friendly to data centers.

What does this mean for the region?

Many officials “speak boldly of the jobs and long-term prosperity that await once Aragon becomes ‘the Virginia of Europe,’” said Bloomberg, referring to Loudoun County, Virginia, which has the world’s highest concentration of data centers. The Aragon government “expects data centers to create tens of thousands of jobs and says local companies are already feeling the positive impact.”

Still, questions about long-term viability remain. Due to fears about the AI bubble bursting, some investors have “cast doubt on the billions of dollars that tech companies are pouring into infrastructure upgrades and partnerships with AI startups,” said The Wall Street Journal. The rapid buildup of tech has also “left many in Aragon feeling excluded from decisions that will profoundly impact their region and lives,” said NPR.

“We are going to open the window and see nothing,” said Silvia Baselga, who lives near a data center construction site, to NPR. It’s “going to be like living beside a prison.”

Republicans have dominated Southern politics for more than a generation, but that supremacy is being challenged in this year’s midterms. Democratic candidates are making an unexpectedly strong push for Senate seats in places like South Carolina and Mississippi.

Driven by a ‘backlash’

Democrats’ “stealthy advance into the South” during the midterms “could end up being the story of the year,” said Damian Paletta at The Wall Street Journal. The GOP’s concern can be seen in President Donald Trump’s appearances in states such as South Carolina and Texas to campaign for handpicked candidates like Darline Graham and Ken Paxton, who find themselves in toss-up races. Those are locales that national Republicans usually take for granted. “What. On. Earth. Is. Going. On?”

Republicans may be a victim of their own success. Early voting in Southern states is being driven by a “backlash” against last spring’s Trump-led effort — enabled by April’s Supreme Court decision undermining the Voting Rights Act — to “gerrymander Black voters” into GOP-dominated congressional districts, said Bloomberg.

Florida’s Black voters are casting in-person early ballots in double the numbers they did in 2022. Similar trends have been observed in North Carolina and Georgia. Black voter anger could “fuel a Democratic turnout advantage” that decides races “throughout the South, from North Carolina to Texas,” said Bloomberg.

“America’s new political battleground is the South,” said Carolyn Hugley and Lauren Groh-Wargo at Democracy Docket. The gerrymandering push compelled Democratic organizers to “mobilize quickly” and “force politicians to reconsider what they believed they could get away with.” The fight for “fair representation for Black Americans” is inseparable from efforts to “break the GOP’s stranglehold on the region.”

‘Barely enough’

Some leaders worry Democrats were unprepared for this opportunity. The party “made mistakes in not investing earlier” in races across the South, said Gov. Wes Moore (D-Md.) on ABC’s “This Week.” Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) agrees. Democrats have done “barely enough” to win the region, he said to MS NOW. The party cannot afford to write off voters south of the Mason-Dixon Line. “As goes the South, so goes the nation.”

Crossword - Nov. 6, 2026

Sudoku - Nov. 6, 2026

“Why is everybody so mad?” said The Wall Street Journal, about the Bayeux Tapestry’s return to Britain and the “class war” that has broken out around it.

Britons who want to see the historic embroidered cloth dating from the 11th century “say they’re being treated like Taylor Swift fans on Ticketmaster”, while “American tech billionaires, luxury hotel guests and museum sponsors get to skip the line”.

‘Akin to a birthright’

The Bayeux Tapestry “holds a particular position in British public consciousness” because “it tells, over 230 feet of finely embroidered cloth, the story of the last time England was conquered” – the victory of William of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

“For many Brits, seeing it is akin to a birthright.” But when tickets went on sale people found them hard to get, and then “word started to trickle out about who was having no trouble getting in”. For example, the luxury hotel One Aldwych offered tickets to the tapestry as “part of a package stay, with guests in rooms that cost around $1,100 (£825) a night promised a viewing any date and time of their choosing”.

Meanwhile, some visitors are being given a different experience, said Lara Brown in The Spectator. “Most art critics and journalists” have been “permitted by museum marshals to stop and appreciate the thing”, but “the rest of us commoners will have no such luck”.

After queueing outside, we were “informed by our guide that we would be going inside in precisely 32 seconds”. There we were “introduced to a cartoon bird who would guide us through our ‘experience’”. After a further hour’s wait, we reached the display and realised that the focus of the staff is to get us “through the exhibition hall as fast as humanly possible”.

Bayeux biscuits and a Norman soldier teddy

“The reason the queue is going slowly is because people are dawdling inside”, said Giles Coren in The Times. And “they are hustling people along inside because they don’t want the queue to be too long”. So “how, exactly, Einstein, do you think they can solve both” of those problems?

I am “sympathetic” towards the British Museum, said Brown in The Spectator, because “hundreds of thousands of people want to visit” and “they need to find a way to get us all through”. Although I’m “grateful to have seen such an important piece of English history”, I would have been “even more grateful if I had been allowed to properly look at it”.

Nicholas Cullinan, director of the British Museum, acknowledged that “the experience has not been as smooth as we would have liked”, and announced new measures including longer opening hours, an audio guide and extra seating for those stuck in the queue.

But his statement “stopped conspicuously short of an apology”, said The Telegraph. So “the question now is whether the museum’s attempts to right the ship will prove enough, or be seen as too little, too late”.

Meanwhile, visitors can enjoy the gift shop, which manages to “upstage” the exhibit itself, said CNN. “A box of Bayeux biscuits, Bayeux Tapestry horseman keyrings, a maritime tea light holder and a Norman soldier teddy bear”, are among the delights on offer to commoner and tech billionaire alike.

Derren Brown’s “dazzling” new West End show features tricks that had me “waking up in the early hours convinced I’d managed to work out how they were done”, said Clive Davis in The Times. But a few minutes of “befuddled reflection” quickly proved me wrong.

Almost four years on from his last London stage spectacular, the “ever affable illusionist” is back with his signature blend of “pop psychology, nimble storytelling and an instinctive ability to bond with his audience”.

While “Only Human” doesn’t quite reach the dizzying heights of “Showman”, it’s a “thoroughly entertaining, at times mind-warping exploration of how magical we still find the idea of being able to predict the future, five centuries after Nostradamus”, said Chris Harvey in The Telegraph.

Brown has injected the show with the same “warmth and vulnerability” that makes his live performances so compelling. Yet he also “retains an edge” that hints there is a “Hannibal Lecter-like figure lurking within that revels in the feeling of tricking us all”.

The stunts featured in the first half don’t feel “all that high-powered”, said Brian Logan in The Guardian. Predicting whether an audience member will say yes or no to a series of questions is “amazing” but “low stakes”.

But act two “raises the bar”. Without giving anything away, the second half kicks off with a routine that is “extraordinary and disconcerting in equal measure”. From here, the audience is left reeling as Brown puts in motion “one gasp-inducing stunt after another”.

I found the new show “far more unsettling” than “Showman”, said Grace Beard in Time Out. The lighting and special effects were “masterful”, and Brown pushes the boundaries by bringing his “more extreme psychological manipulation, usually reserved for television, to the stage”. Parts of it will leave you feeling “completely baffled. In a show all about uncertainty, one thing is certain: in ‘Only Human’ Brown is at his astounding best.”

At the Apollo Theatre, London, until 30 January

The first shipment of Venezuelan oil has arrived in the US, under the terms of Donald Trump’s opaque and highly controversial deal with the South American nation.

The president claimed that, “the biggest oil deal in the history of the world” with Venezuela’s Washington-backed interim government would bring the US “BILLIONS of Barrels”. But many Venezuelans see it as an illegal surrender of natural resources to enrich a select few, at the behest of a colonial US. Trump further fanned these fears by suggesting that “someday soon” Venezuela might “become a prosperous 51st state”.

What do we know about the deal?

In August, the US announced a partnership agreement with North American Blue Energy Partners (Nabep), a private firm registered in the Bahamas and run by the Venezuelan billionaire Alejandro Betancourt López. The full text of the deal has since become “one of the most sought-after secrets in Washington”, said ProPublica.

Caracas has given Nabep control of 17 oil fields, and the Trump administration has taken a 35% stake in the firm. The deal allows the US government to purchase its first million barrels of Nabep’s crude oil, with no mark-up, for $30 (£23) a barrel, or less than a third of current market prices, sources told The Washington Post. The US then sells the oil to refineries run by Exxon Mobil and Venezuelan-owned Citgo Petroleum.

“The agreement has raised eyebrows to say the least,” said the BBC. Nabep is “little known” outside Venezuela and Betancourt has been under investigation in five different countries, mainly for corruption and money laundering. The 46-year-old oil baron has never been charged with a criminal offence, and denies any wrongdoing.

What’s in it for Trump?

Oil prices have skyrocketed across the US since the outbreak of war with Iran, while Trump’s approval ratings have fallen to record lows ahead of the midterm elections next week. This first shipment “gives Trump a chance to tout access to cheaper crude as ​evidence his policies are delivering economic benefits”, said Reuters. US petrol and diesel prices “will soon come plummeting down”, he wrote on social media – “JUST WATCH!”

Trump’s words show “the extent to which the White House is seeking to leverage its influence” over Venezuela for its own “political benefit”, said The Washington Post. But oil experts say the deal is “not expected to have a significant impact” on prices at US pumps. US refiners are already operating at maximum capacity, leaving them little room to scale up, and thick, heavy Venezuelan crude is particularly difficult to refine.

What’s in it for Venezuela?

Venezuela’s Trump-backed interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, has insisted that Caracas retains sovereignty over its massive oil reserves. “The benefits” of this oil deal are “endless”, she said, bringing in revenues of more than $209 billion (£154 billion) and turning Venezuela into “an energy powerhouse”.

But the deal has “provoked outrage” across Venezuela’s political spectrum, said The Guardian. One prominent opposition figure called it “a massive land grab” by a “rapacious, mafioso” US.

Arab parties could reshape the political landscape of Israel after securing a record number of seats in Tuesday’s bitterly fought election. The left-wing Joint List, which includes Hadash, Balad and Ta'al, alongside the socially conservative Ra’am party led by Mansour Abbas, are on course for 18 of the Knesset’s 120 seats.

With neither Benjamin Netanyahu or his main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, close to securing a majority on their own, the Arab parties’ strong showing could make them “kingmakers”, said Liam Stack in The New York Times. “But building a governing coalition with Arab participation remains a fraught exercise in Israel.”

What did the commentators say?

Arab Israeli citizens make up around 20% of the country’s population, and at this election they have turned out in record numbers, driven by what Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh called “an existential moment for Palestinian-Israelis”.

Their success at the polls poses an “urgent and fundamental challenge to the country’s mainstream opposition: either cooperate with Arab Israelis or hand Benjamin Netanyahu a roadmap to political survival”, said Julian Borger in The Guardian.

While Yair Golan, leader of the left-wing Democrats party, hailed the results as an “opportunity to form a change government in partnership with Israel’s Arab citizens”, for the larger opposition parties, the picture is “less straightforward”, said The Washington Post. Their voters tend to “lean further right, and many have long rejected any government propped up by Arab lawmakers”.

Eisenkot has not explicitly ruled out working with the Arab parties but the conditions he has set for any party to join him are so stringent they may make any partnership impossible. Then there are the concessions the various Arab factions would demand in return for power-sharing. “Cooperation would have to survive those disagreements,” said Zvika Klein in The Jerusalem Post. “A shared interest in replacing a prime minister does not settle what comes afterwards.”

What next?

If no bloc secures the 61-seat threshold once the final result is announced, it falls to Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, to decide who he asks first to try to form a government. They then have six weeks to cobble together a coalition, after which the challenge is passed on to the next option.

Although Netanyahu and Eisenkot are “unlikely to enter a formal coalition with Arab parties”, the record Arab turnout is still “significant”, said Nada AlTaher in The National.

With Netanyahu’s chances of forming a majority government all but over, he would be forced into putting together a unity government. This would have to include members of the opposition, potentially pushing extreme figures such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich out of a future cabinet.

It’s “not the outcome” Arab voters, or indeed those fundamentally opposed to Netanyahu staying in power, will have hoped for, said Danny Citrinowitz, from the Institute for National Security Studies, but it could at least force the PM towards a more moderate position.

Some survivors of extreme weather events are channelling their experience and “starting to organise into a political force”, said The Guardian.

With apocalyptic floods, wildfires and other events becoming more common, that force is growing and transforming devastation and heartache into action.

‘Political toxicity’ around climate change

These survivors are calling for “improved disaster response and even action on the politically contentious issue of global heating”. The “shock” of extreme weather is bonding them in “an unusually bipartisan way”, with “politically diverse delegations” travelling to Washington to lobby politicians.

Some of them are surprised to find themselves in the role of activist. “I just didn’t care about politics,” said Kylie Nidever, whose childhood home in Hunt, Texas, was one of the few in her neighbourhood to survive floods last year. “I never thought I’d be doing this.”

Their “common woes” have helped develop a “greater appreciation of the role of the climate crisis in disasters” among those “previously sceptical” of the connection. But the “political toxicity” around climate change, which Donald Trump has called a “hoax” and “bullshit”, means the campaign groups have names that don’t include the term, such as Extreme Weather Survivors and Rebuild: the National Disaster Survivors Association.

Extreme Weather Survivors concentrates on issues such as federal aid, debris clean-up and insurance reform. The latter has particular resonance because survivors of Hurricane Helene in 2024 “struggled to navigate a patchwork of insurance policies” after the storm, said WFAE 90.7.

‘Power in humanity’

A meeting of survivors in Texas in October suggested that politicians “don’t yet feel overwhelming political pressure to engage with those affected by extreme weather”, said The Guardian. In a community hall in Kerrville, near where flash floods killed 136 people last year, all of the candidates for the Texas governor election and selected state legislators were invited to speak to survivors but “only one”, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, “showed up”.

But even if survivors don’t make a “major impact” at this election, “many feel this will change as warping weather” raises home insurance rates and other costs and “large chunks of the year” see “toxic wildfire smoke, flooding and heat”.

Meanwhile, “one of the most powerful discoveries is how quickly trauma can become power if the right support is there”, Amanda Rosa, from Extreme Weather Survivors, told the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

She’s “watched survivors go from breaking down in a support call to testifying before the Senate judiciary, and briefing FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] leadership in a matter of months”. Rosa explains that “when people are given the space to feel, heal, and then speak, their stories can move people”. Their advocacy “isn’t separate from the emotion, it comes from it” because “their power is their humanity”.

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Audiobooks combine compelling storytelling with expressive narration that can transport listeners to another world. From classic literature to contemporary favorites, these are the most memorable audiobooks ever recorded.

‘A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire’ by George R.R. Martin (2003)

George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy series now has an HBO television adaptation, but fans first heard the story come alive when the audio version was released. Many audiobooks win awards, but this one has “broken records,” said Good Housekeeping. It earned a place in the Guinness World Records for the most character voices in an audiobook, delivered in style by British actor Roy Dotrice. (Audible, Everand, Libro.fm, Spotify)

‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ by Maya Angelou (2011)

Maya Angelou’s poetic autobiography is considered an American classic, and there are “few better ways to encounter the work” than through a “narration by Maya Angelou herself,” said Esquire. The seven-volume series chronicles her life from her childhood in Arkansas through motherhood. (Audible, Everand, Libro.fm, Spotify)

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee (2014)

For many, “To Kill a Mockingbird” elicits distant memories of school-assigned reading, but the audiobook of “Harper Lee’s magnum opus” is a “must-listen,” said Esquire. With actor Sissy Spacek “serving as your gateway” to such iconic literary figures as Scout and Atticus Finch, you are immersed in the “powerful tale of justice, hatred and America.” (Audible, Everand, Libro.fm)

‘The Dutch House: A Novel’ by Ann Patchett (2019)

Ann Patchett’s Pulitzer-nominated novel spawned a Grammy- and Audie-nominated audiobook, narrated by Tom Hanks. The actor brings his “customary warmth and sensitivity” to a “multigenerational tale” with “shades of ‘Hansel and Gretel,’ plus a dash of ‘Cinderella,’” said The Guardian. (Audible, Everand, Libro.fm, Spotify)