A bystander tackled and wrestled a gun from one of the two alleged gunman during the Bondi beach mass shooting in which at least 12 people were killed, footage shows.
Video of the scene shows the alleged gunman standing on a footpath between a grassy area and parking lot holding a shotgun and firing into the distance.
Cuban officials denounce the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast. Key US politics stories from 13 December 2025
Cuban officials have denounced the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast on Wednesday, calling it an “act of piracy and maritime terrorism”, as well as a “serious violation of international law” that hurts the Caribbean island nation and its people.
The tanker, which was reported now to be heading for Galveston, Texas, was believed to loaded with nearly 2m barrels of Venezuela’s heavy crude, according to internal data from the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, as reported by the New York Times.
White House official confirms Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Zelenskyy and European leaders this weekend. What we know on day 1,390
Donald Trump’s special envoy will meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders in Berlin this weekend, the White House said, as Washington presses for a plan to end the war. Germany said earlier on Saturday that it would host US and Ukrainian delegations over the weekend for talks on a ceasefire, before a summit involving European leaders and Zelenskyy in Berlin on Monday. Zelenskyy also confirmed that he will personally meet with Donald Trump’s Steve Witkoff in the series of meetings: “Most importantly, I will be meeting with envoys of President Trump, and there will also be meetings with our European partners, with many leaders, concerning the foundation of peace – a political agreement to end the war,” Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation late on Saturday.
Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov reaffirmed Friday that Moscow will give its blessing to a ceasefire only after Ukraine’s forces have withdrawn from parts of the Donetsk region that they still control. Ushakov told the business daily Kommersant that Russian police and national guard troops would stay in parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas even if they become a demilitarised zone under a prospective peace plan – a demand likely to be rejected by Ukraine.
Russia attacked five Ukrainian regions overnight, targeting the country’s energy and port infrastructure, according to Zelenskyy, who said the attacks involved more than 450 drones and 30 missiles. With temperatures hovering around freezing, Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said more than a million people were without electricity.
An attack on Odesa caused grain silos to catch fire at the coastal city’s port, Ukrainian deputy prime minister and reconstruction minister Oleksiy Kuleba said. Two people were wounded in attacks on the wider region, according to regional head Oleh Kiper.
Germany has said it will send a group of soldiers to Poland to help with a project to fortify the country’s eastern border as worries mount about the threat from Russia. Poland, a strong supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Moscow, announced plans in May last year to bolster a long stretch of its border that includes Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. The main task of the German soldiers in Poland will be “engineering activities,” a spokesperson for the defence ministry in Berlin said late Friday.
About 480 people were evacuated Saturday from a train traveling between the Polish city of Przemysl and Kyiv after police received a call concerning a threat on the train, Karolina Kowalik, a spokesperson for the Przemysl police, said. Nobody was hurt and she didn’t elaborate on the threat. Polish authorities are on high alert since multiple attempts to disrupt trains on the line linking Warsaw to the Ukrainian border, including the use of explosives in November, with Polish authorities saying they have evidence Russia was behind it.
Ukraine’s navy accused Russia of deliberately attacking a civilian Turkish vessel carrying sunflower oil to Egypt with a drone on Saturday, a day after Moscow hit two Ukrainian ports: “Russia delivered a targeted strike using a drone against the Turkish vessel ‘VIVA’, which was en route to Egypt carrying sunflower oil,” Ukraine’s navy said on social media. None of the 11 crew were wounded and the ship was able to continue its journey, it added.
Ukraine received 114 prisoners released by Belarus on Saturday, Kyiv’s PoW coordination centre said. The centre’s statement said that the released captives would receive medical attention, and those Belarusian citizens who so wished would subsequently be transported to Poland or Lithuania.
US Central Command reports an ambush on Saturday, the first attack to inflict US casualties since fall of Bashar al-Assad
Two US army soldiers and one American civilian interpreter have been killed and several other people wounded in an ambush on Saturday by the Islamic State group in central Syria, the Pentagon said.
The attack on US troops in Palmyra is the first to inflict casualties since the fall of the former Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, a year ago.
The most exciting places our writers came across this year, from untouched islands in Finland to an affordable ski resort in Bulgaria and the perfect Parisian bistro
On a midsummer trip to Ireland, I saw dolphins in the Irish Sea, sunset by the Liffey, and misty views of the Galtee Mountains. The half-hour train journey to Cobh (“cove”), through Cork’s island-studded harbour, was especially lovely. As the railway crossed Lough Mahon, home to thousands of seabirds, there was water on both sides of the train. I watched oystercatchers, egrets, godwits and common terns, which nest on floating pontoons. Curlews foraged in the mudflats, and an old Martello tower stood on a wooded promontory.
Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut stars the 96-year-old June Squibb, while Netflix’s lovable tweefest sees its heroine move to Rome
Eleanor the Great Out now June Squibb stars in Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, which premiered at Cannes and tells the tale of the eponymous Eleanor, a senior citizen recently relocated to New York, who strikes up a friendship with a 19-year old – and then stumbles her way into pretending to be a Holocaust survivor.
Lurker Out now A hit at Sundance, this is the story of a lowly retail employee who happens to strike up a friendship with a rising pop star, becoming the Boswell to his Johnson, if Boswell was part of a pop star’s entourage. But the path of friendship with a famous person never did run smooth, and the uneven power dynamic soon prompts some desperate manoeuvring in this psychological thriller.
Ella McCay Out now Emma Mackey stars in the latest from James L Brooks (his first since 2010), a political comedy about an idealistic thirtysomething working in government and preparing to step into the shoes of her mentor, Governor Bill (Albert Brooks). Jamie Lee Curtis co-stars as Ella’s aunt.
A buzzy thriller about a Hollywood hanger-on and a moving documentary following the parents bereaved in last summer’s Southport attack. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews
The seizure of the Skipper on Wednesday marked the first US capture of Venezuelan oil cargo since sanctions were imposed in 2019
Venezuelan oil exports have reportedly fallen sharply since the US seized a tanker this week and imposed fresh sanctions on shipping companies and vessels doing business with Caracas, according to shipping data, documents and maritime sources.
The US seizure of the Skipper tanker off Venezuela’s coast on Wednesday was the first US capture of Venezuelan oil cargo since sanctions were imposed in 2019 and marked a sharp escalation in rising tensions between the Trump administration and the government of Nicolás Maduro.
Ex-Fed governor Kevin Warsh is at top of his list to succeed Powell as central bank’s chair, president says in interview
Donald Trump declared he “should be listened to” by the Federal Reserve, as he weighs candidates to lead the central bank amid an extraordinary campaign by the White House to exert greater control over its decisions.
The US president said on Friday that former Fed governor Kevin Warsh is currently top of his list to chair the central bank.
Nick Moss, Dr Deborah Talbot, Dimitra Blana and Mary Pimm on the prime minister’s plan to ‘protect our borders’ and Donald Trump’s accusations that Europe is ‘weak’ and ‘decaying’
It is not just that the human rights lawyer who wrote a key text on the Human Rights Act 1998 has become, as prime minister, an advocate of the act’s undoing, along with all the consequences for migrant families that will flow from that. It is that Starmer shows through this the complete dearth of ideas available to European social democracy.
Guardian readers share their views on a proposed shorter working week for educators
As a teacher who already works four days (albeit I don’t get paid for the fifth), I can wholeheartedly say it has transformed my relationship with the job (‘Bring it on!’: growing support in England for four-day week in schools, 9 December). I no longer have the dread of weekends and holidays with insurmountable mountains of work. The move to a four-day teaching week would need to be thought about carefully.
I, for one, would not want to have one full day out of school – this would mean four straight days of teaching. In most schools, a day not teaching would equate to five planning, preparation and assessment periods (PPAs).
Europe must realise its superior economic and military potential has to be mobilised, writes Bill Jones, while Robin Wilson addresses Belgium’s resistance to seizing Russian assets
I wholly support the plea to Europe by Timothy Garton Ash (Only Europe can save Ukraine from Putin and Trump – but will it?, 6 December). One aspect he did not mention was the strategic nuclear balance. Since the late 1940s, responsibility for deterrence has always lain with the Pentagon and has succeeded in keeping the peace, though at times a very fragile version of it.
The recent US statement on defence makes it clear that Europe is no longer seen as a priority by the Trump administration, the danger now being that doubt is crucially being raised as to the credibility of Nato’s deterrent. Without certainty of a reaction in kind, Russia, under its ambitious and risk-taking president, might be tempted to chance its arm in what almost looks like a ceding of Europe by the US into a Russian “sphere of influence”.
The University of Leeds complex was a prototype for the Barbican – and the work done to it over time demonstrates how brutalist buildings can be humanised, writes Alan Radford
I read with interest about the refurbishment plans for the Barbican (Barbican revamp to give ‘bewildering’ arts centre a new lease of life, 5 December). I spent more than 30 years working on the prototype – the large complex of buildings that the architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon designed for the University of Leeds, constructed circa 1970.
All of the design features in the Barbican were there in the Leeds complex of offices, laboratories, library and so on, including all the problems. I always explained to visitors that I regarded the Chamberlin buildings primarily as a large-scale piece of brutalist sculpture rather than as a working environment.
Explore a curated selection of images by Guardian photographers from 2025. Available to buy through the Guardian Print Shop. Produced on premium heavyweight fine art paper, the prints are supplied with a Guardian Archive certificate of authenticity
Conflict monitors say the junta has increased airstrikes year-on-year since the start of Myanmar’s civil war
Dozens have been killed in a military strike on a hospital in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, according to an aid worker, a rebel group, a witness and local media reports, as the junta wages a withering offensive ahead of elections beginning this month.
“The situation is very terrible,” said on-site aid worker Wai Hun Aung. “As for now, we can confirm there are 31 deaths and we think there will be more deaths. Also there are 68 wounded and will be more and more.”
Aamir Ahmed, Dr Graham Simpson, Adrian Bell and David Gollancz respond to a letter by a reader whose husband died of the disease after delaying getting a PSA test
It is understandable for patients suffering from a late diagnosis of prostate cancer, or families who have lost loved ones, to demand that something should be done (Letters, 5 December). I, however, respect the UK National Screening Committee’s recommendation not to screen most men using the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test.
The job of the committee was to weigh up the benefits and harms of any available test for routine screening. PSA testing, as a first step to diagnose cancer, results in false negatives and a significant number of false positives, meaning it has both low sensitivity and low specificity, making it a poor screening marker. PSA screening has been conducted in the US; there are varying estimates that, over three decades, it has resulted in more than 1 million patients receiving treatment (eg surgery or radiotherapy) they did not need.
Defying the will of the House of Commons will increase calls for radical reform of the upper house sooner rather than later, say the MPs Nia Griffith, Justin Madders and Debbie Abrahams
When visitors come to parliament, it seems incongruous to explain that, in our mother of parliaments, we have a second chamber – the House of Lords – which is unelected. Those who support its existence in its current or similar form justify it on the grounds that it performs a useful revising function which can improve the detail of legislation, and it undoubtedly does good work.
But the fact that it is unelected can only be tolerated in a democracy provided its members accept that it is for the House of Commons to have the last word on what becomes law and what doesn’t in this country.
I can tell you that we also have beavers in Berkshire. I live by the River Kennet and I caught one on my garden trail camera in August, along with otters in the same 30-second clip. The identification of the beaver is unmistakable, and was confirmed by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon wildlife trust. Two weeks ago, my neighbour caught a beaver on her garden trail camera. Her garden is 50 yards downstream of ours.
• The latest US visa requirements would be a nightmare. Imagine trying to hold an international bridge tournament in the US. Where would you find players who haven’t bid “1 No Trump” in the last five years? Steen I Petersen Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
British government also rejects president’s claims on sovereignty over Falkland Islands as he suggests wanting to make Argentina a ‘world military power’
The British government has denied it is engaged in negotiations to lift a ban on selling arms to Argentina that has been in place since the Falklands war.
Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, told the Daily Telegraph his government had begun speaking to the UK about the restrictions.
The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) carries $8bn more than the funding Trump requested in May
The US House has approved a sweeping defence bill that bolsters Europe’s security, in what appears to be sharp rebuke to Donald Trump’s mounting threats to downgrade Washington’s ties to traditional allies and Nato.
The bipartisan vote came just days after the publication of a White House national security strategy that said Europe faced “civilisational erasure” and made explicit Washington’s support for Europe’s nationalist far-right parties – rattling EU leaders and opening up a seismic shift in transatlantic relations.
Space agency is investigating after Maven abruptly stopped communicating to ground stations over the weekend
Nasa has lost contact with a spacecraft that has orbited Mars for more than a decade, though the US space agency said it was trying to re-establish a communications link.
Maven abruptly stopped communicating to ground stations over the weekend. Nasa said this week that the spacecraft had been working fine before it went behind the red planet. When it reappeared, there was only silence. “Telemetry showed all subsystems working normally before it orbited behind [Mars],” Nasa said in a statement.
What his account overlooks are the thousands of patients in the UK denied genuine choice because they lack access to palliative care. The House of Lords is rightly undertaking line‑by‑line scrutiny of the proposals, and expert testimony has raised serious concerns and widespread opposition. The current law already affords dignity and protection to vulnerable, elderly and disabled people. What we lack is sufficient palliative care and hospice provision, as repeatedly shown by Hospice UK and National Audit Office reports.
Until you create an environment where staff have access to all the necessary resources to do their job, you will not fix bullying, writes an anonymous former NHS worker
I write in response to your article on Blackpool Victoria hospital (Leaked report reveals culture of bullying and harassment at scandal-hit NHS hospital, 3 December). I joined the NHS as a research fellow at a large teaching hospital after completing my PhD in public health. I wanted to make a more meaningful impact in the most deprived communities in England but, after two gruelling years of continuous bullying by senior leadership, I was forced to leave.
If I could describe my time at the hospital, it would be soul-destroying – not from working with extremely poor and marginalised communities, but from the toxic culture imposed by senior management. Bullying was widespread, with senior management (who were mostly consultants that had pivoted to research) being the main instigators. On day one I was told that I was going to be made to work “until I drop” by my manager. I had comments made about clothing, which followed the dress code but was labelled “too bright” and “parrot-like”. I tried speaking up, and quickly realised that the director was just as much part of the bullying as the rest. I left and have never looked back.
Mary Wrenn points out that women given custodial sentences in Wales are sent to prisons in England, which has a negative impact on families
Simon Hattenstone, quoting Ministry of Justice figures, says “the self-harm rate in women’s prisons in England and Wales was at a record high” (Report, 3 December). It is worth remembering that Wales does not have a women’s prison. Women given custodial sentences in Wales are sent to prisons in England (Cheshire or Gloucestershire, for example). This clearly has a negative impact on families, especially children.
The Welsh government’s preventive and trauma-informed approach favours the creation of residential women’s centres as a community-based alternative to short prison sentences. A pioneering project in Swansea, in development with the Ministry of Justice, is shockingly delayed. It can’t come soon enough for the hundreds of Welsh women (the majority of whom are themselves victims of domestic abuse or trauma) currently serving sentences several hours away from their families. Mary Wrenn Llandenny, Monmouthshire
Guardian reporting ban | Gavel rash | Human rights | Proposed citizenship questions | Sans Serriffe
News that the Guardian has been barred from the Amex stadium (Brighton ban Guardian from stadium over reporting on Tony Bloom, 7 December) follows a previous exclusion order imposed by the club on the local paper, the Evening Argus, for publishing stories unfavourable to the then directors in the 1980s. The paper got around this by covering matches from a back garden overlooking the old Goldstone ground, with the photographer perched up a stepladder. Sadly, this isn’t an option at the totally enclosed Amex arena. Jim Hatley Brighton
• I see that in the Wordsearch about courts (8 December), one answer is “gavel”. I thought it was pretty well established now that judges in the UK do not use gavels, such tools only being employed by auctioneers. Are you trying to assert that justice in Britain is available only to the highest bidder? John Starbuck Lepton, West Yorkshire
It was the Windows typeface for 17 years – and adopted by the Biden administration for its readability for those with visual impairments. But Marco Rubio has ruled that Calibri lacks ‘decorum’
Howlingly funny comedy, jaw-dropping documentaries and astonishing drama … it’s been another fantastic year of TV. Our countdown of the very best kicks off here • More on the best culture of 2025
Veteran set decorator Lauri Gaffin has spent a career dressing up films from indie classics to blockbusters. Her new photographic memoir takes us behind the scenes of this ever-changing job – and on the hunt for wolves’ penis bones
First, most countries do not use juries. We are one of very few European nations that still do. During the imperial period we exported our system widely, yet even some former colonies have since abandoned it. The main countries retaining juries are the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. To insist that juries are essential to justice is, implicitly, to claim that the many modern democracies that do without them operate inadequate systems.
Anne Johns, who volunteers with refugees, says she regularly witnesses highly skilled and qualified peoplefailingthe teston idiotic questions
Oh, how I agree with Emma Beddington (Forget Hadrian’s Wall. The UK citizenship test should ask about Corrie, bus queues and Greggs, 7 December). I volunteer with refugees and regularly witness the distress of highly skilled and qualified peoplefailingthe teston idiotic questions that most Britons couldn’t answer. When simple facts can be found by a quick internet search, what is the point of wasting brain space by trying to memorise them?
Much more salient to ask questions like: where can you legally ride an electric scooter? The maximum legal speed for an electric bicycle? The documents needed to drive a car legally in the UK? What is the living wage? How do you obtain a library card? How do you know when it’s safe to cross a road at lights? What is a food bank? Which political party is currently in power in England?
It serves AI researchers right for the irresponsible innovations that they’ve unleashed on the world, without ever bothering to ask the rest of us whether we wanted it.
Teaching methods | Holly stripped bare | Cricket in state schools | Flat Earth Society physics prize | Impact School of Motoring
As a retired teacher with family and friends who are still in the profession, I must take exception to John Harris’s assertion that our current method of education consists of “standing in front of 30 kids and shouting at them for an hour” (The right’s callous overdiagnosis bandwagon is rolling. Wes Streeting should not be on it, 7 December). At no point in my career would this have been regarded as an acceptable method of teaching any children, regardless of their individual needs or learning styles. Jane Caley Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands
• Susie White was lucky to find holly with berries (Country diary, 8 December). The one in my front garden had had the inner berries eaten by wood pigeons some time ago, and now the rest have gone – after a flock of redwings took the ones at the ends of the branches that the fat pigeons couldn’t get to. Not a single flash of scarlet remains. Copland Smith Whalley Range, Manchester
Italian sweets, Irish smoked fish, honey cakes in Belgium … travel writers choose the stores and local delicacies they make a beeline for when travelling
I fell in love with Belgian snacks when cycling the amateur version of the Tour of Flanders some years ago. The feed stations along the route were crammed with packets of Meli honey waffles and Meli honey cake. I ate so many that I suffered withdrawal symptoms after finishing the last of them at the end of the 167-mile route.
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