Fifteen questions on general knowledge and topical trivia plus a few jokes every Thursday – how will you fare?Two days until Christmas, eh? Why not put aside your last-minute panic-buying, your anxiety about whether the day will go well, and your distress that nothing seems as magical as it did when you were a kid by doing the Thursday quiz? Fifteen questions on topical and general knowledge, with a few of our beloved regulars like Kate Bush, Ron from Sparks and Ding dong merrily on high the anagrams are back. Let us know how you get on in the comments, and we are sure this week you will definitely all spot the hidden Doctor Who reference.The Thursday quiz, No 35If you do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers, please feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com but remember, the quiz master’s word is always final, and you don’t want him sneaking down your chimney late at night. Also he is on holiday so isn’t looking at his email. Continue reading...

The island imports 85% of its food but three farms are part of the agroecology movement seeking food sovereignty and climate solutionsPuerto Rico was once a thriving agricultural hub thanks to its tropical climate, rich biodiversity, and sustainable farming traditions.Today, less than 2% of the workforce is employed in agriculture and tens of thousands of acres of arable land sit idle. Meanwhile 85% of the food eaten in Puerto Rico is imported, grocery prices are among the highest in the US and last year two in five people experienced food insecurity. “Unemployment is brutal, prices are brutal, migration from the island is brutal,” said Denise Santos, who runs Puerto Rico’s food bank.It involves a set of farming principles and practices that can be adapted to any ecosystem, microclimate and culture – a way of life practiced for thousands of years by indigenous people and peasant farmers. Farmers often integrate crops, livestock and trees (agroforestry) in order to maximize ecological conditions, such as a fruit orchard that aids water retention and provides shade for crops and grazing animals who in turn fertilize the earth to improve the yield.Crop rotation and crop cover are fundamental to this holistic approach, that takes into consideration the well-being of the Earth, those who produce the food as well as the local communities who eat it. Like in nature, every part of every ecosystem – which includes the farmers – help and depend on each other in some way. Contrast this to intensive industrialized farming which guzzles water, depletes the soil and burns fossil fuels (for fertilizers and powering machinery) to control the environment for genetically identical monocrop production.Advocates say agroecology offers locally driven solutions to a myriad of interconnected crises including food insecurity, biodiversity loss, environmental degradation and global heating.Agroecology is a social and political movement seeking to influence public policies so that sustainable farming benefits from government support (tax breaks, subsidies, and bailouts) currently propping up the dominant industrial agriculture system which is a major cause of biodiversity loss and accounts for more than a quarter of global greenhouse gases. Continue reading...

Operators of Melbourne Covid-ravaged nursing home will have to give evidence despite claim it could incriminate themThe operators of a Melbourne nursing home ravaged by a Covid-19 outbreak will have to give evidence to an inquest despite their argument it would be a “dress rehearsal” in any potential future prosecution.Kon Kontis and Vicky Kos last week faced the Victorian Coroners Court and formally requested to be excused from testifying at the inquest into the fatal outbreak at St Basil’s Home for the Aged on the grounds they may incriminate themselves. Continue reading...

Psychologist Ratnaboli Ray’s recovery from a mental health crisis inspired her to fight for women suffering in ‘abysmal’ conditions in West Bengal’s state institutions

What was the sorcerer thinking? Has Sony marked its turf? And where does Green Goblin rank among the great villains?When is a movie that’s only good, rather than great, the best thing you’ve seen all year? When it’s a fan event on the scale of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which unites everyone who ever loved the big-screen franchise (going back to 2002’s Spider-Man) for a gorgeously nostalgic feelgood romp.This is the climax to Jon Watts’ “Home” trilogy, following the excellent Spider-Man: Homecoming and its 2019 sequel Far From Home. But while it nicely rounds off the character arc of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, it also restores a sense of wellbeing to the Sony-owned Spider-flicks that came before it, and may just turn out to be the future. So what did we learn from our latest trip into Spider-Man’s rapidly expanding world? Continue reading...

The Guardian and Observer’s 2021 charity appeal is fighting for climate justice. In this video, we meet some of those on the climate frontline, and the charities helping them. This year we are supporting four charities - Global Greengrants Fund UK, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Environmental Justice Foundation, and Practical Action - that fight to protect the rights and livelihoods of communities hit by extreme weather events caused by the climate emergency. Continue reading...

NSW premier had said Queensland would accept rapid antigen tests instead of PCR from 1 January, but Palaszczuk says decision not yet made

The pro-business premier eased restrictions and ‘opened up’ the NSW economy but staff are ill or isolating while customers are staying at home

The star of one of 2021’s biggest TV hits, Mare of Easttown, talks about weepy reunions with Leonardo DiCaprio, binging Ted Lasso and middle-aged women taking over our screensKate Winslet will be ready in a sec. “I’m just going to put some more eyedrops on my stye,” she says. Blame her intense crime drama Mare of Easttown, one of the TV hits of the pandemic. “It was quite a stressful job, and about nine weeks in I got three styes in my left eye, the third of which turned into a solid little marble and had to be cut out. But I pushed on. On with the show!” In it, she plays DS Mare Sheehan, who is raising her grandson, coping with her son’s suicide, and trying to solve the murder of a young mother in a working-class Philadelphia suburb. All without makeup: Mare is more likely to reach for a Cheeto topped with a squirt of spray cheese than anything in the Max Factor range.“The discussion about how Mare looked blew my mind,” says Winslet. The 46-year-old actor is speaking by phone from the West Sussex home she shares with her husband, Ned Abel Smith, and their seven-year-old son Bear, as well as her two children from previous marriages: 21-year-old Mia by her first husband, Jim Threapleton, and 17-year-old Joe by her second, the director Sam Mendes. “People were asking, ‘Did she gain weight? Didn’t she look frumpy? Wasn’t that brave of her?’ But why should that be brave? I suppose because it’s not how leading actresses are represented. Maybe Mare will be the tipping point, and we’re going to stop scrutinising women on screen quite so much.” Continue reading...

WA to introduce mask mandate after community case; SA records 484 new Covid cases; fires break out at Melbourne hotel housing refugees; NSW records 5,715 cases and one death; Victoria records 2,005 cases and 10 death; Queensland reports record 369 casess. Follow all the day’s news live

Measure aimed at frontline workers to reduce spread of Omicron variant may increase unrest in country with low vaccine take-up, critics warn

The off-the-leash cop archetype was cemented with Don Siegel’s taut, provocative thriller that neither condemns or condones extreme measuresHarry Callahan is the cop we’ve been warned about. Though this week marks fifty years since Don Siegel’s genre-defining thriller Dirty Harry busted into cinemas with Smith & Wessons blazing, the general profile of dangerous, off-the-leash law enforcement solidified over the last half-decade of public discourse sounds like it could’ve been traced from the film’s example. Played with a scowl of blanket disgust by Clint Eastwood – Paul Newman had passed on the role as “too right-wing” – San Francisco PD’s top inspector is more than your standard-issue misanthrope. He’s an equal-opportunity bigot, contemptuous of every ethnic group rattled off by a fellow officer in a laundry list of slurs. He’ll readily resort to violence in his work, not above a bit of crude torture to extract information from a perp with a bullet wound. And most hazardous of all, he believes himself unanswerable to anyone but God, who he’d probably just meet with the same glowering frown.From its earliest stages of development, the script conceived by husband-and-wife team Harry and Rita Fink made clear that Harry’s no boy Scout, but partisans on either side of the ideological aisle looking for affirmation in their stance will be disappointed. Those with hopes for an out-and-out denunciation of this brutish approach to policing have another thing coming, the coarser methods often validated by necessity, as if Harry’s the last line of defense for a society teetering on the brink of anarchy. (The guy can’t even get a hot dog without a bank robbery demanding his attention.) Any gung-ho types walking away as converted Calla-fans have also missed something crucial, however, blind to his placelessness in the city he’s sworn to protect. Neither condemning nor condoning his actions, the film offers what may be the clearest image of the archetypal cop’s self-perception as the only one willing to do the dirty jobs holding America together, even if it means getting dirty yourself. Continue reading...

Few cases and high vaccination rates, but these successes have come at a cost

Whether you’re driving a supercar through Mexico or simply unpacking a cardboard box in an utterly engrossing way, the year offered plenty of gaming joy. Our critics pick the top titles

The pandemic has seen borders close and divisions widened. But in almost all aspects of life, humanity will only thrive by coming together

Donor profiles sparked long conversations about the values we wanted for our child. The guys who wanted to ‘spread their genes’? Definitely outSurrounded by glittering Christmas lights, in between sips of red wine, my friend made me a very decent proposal. “My sperm,” he said. “You can have it if you like.” We’d been catching up over festive drinks and the topic of kids came up, as it does when you are in your 30s. My partner – now wife – and I had started thinking about having a family, I’d told my friend. We had two wombs and a bunch of eggs; we just needed to figure out the rest of the baby-making equation. So he offered to sort that bit out for us, no strings (or body appendages) attached.My wife and I thought about that offer a lot over the next few months. No offence to heterosexuals (some of my best friends are straight), but I don’t envy you most of the time. However, I am jealous of the fertile straight couples who don’t have to do anything more complicated than jump into bed when they decide they want kids. Instead of getting undressed, my wife and I went online. We researched, researched, researched. Should we go for a known donor such as my friend? Or would it be better to go to a sperm bank? Continue reading...

The artist’s management have issued a clarifying statement after the singer attracted criticism over the David v Goliath winEric Clapton has waived the legal costs that a German court ordered a 55-year-old woman to pay, over a single CD containing a bootleg copy of a 1980s concert she attempted to sell.The musician’s management has also issued a clarifying statement in response to widespread social media criticism over Clapton’s decision to take legal action in the first place, saying Clapton was not involved in the specifics of the case and she “is not the type of person Eric Clapton, or his record company, wish to target”. Continue reading...

Snap lockdown, which prompted panic in the city, comes little over a month before Beijing is set to host the Winter Olympics

Migrant workers ate and slept in factories swarming with Covid, sealed off from outside worldFor weeks, Hoang Thi Quynh* worked and slept inside a garment factory in Tien Giang province, in southern Vietnam. She would start her shift at 7.15am and then, after a day spent sewing sportswear garments, enter an empty hall of the factory complex and settle down for the night.Each worker had a tent, set one or two metres apart, containing a foil mat, pillow, blanket and a box to store their belongings. No workers were permitted to meet anyone from outside the factory; even speaking to a visitor over the gates was forbidden. Continue reading...

New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet has announced that masks will be mandated inside as Covid cases surge ahead of Christmas celebrations. ‘As of midnight tonight, we will be requiring that masks are worn in indoor settings’, Perrottet says. New density limits for venues will will also be brought in. Perrottet addresses the long queues at testing clinics, saying if you are not unwell please don’t get a PCR test but use a rapid antigen test. NSW will be moving towards providing free RAT, says Perrottet► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

Keith the cat is known locally for making off with everything from live eels to tradesmen’s bootsA New Zealand cat with a reputation as a talented thief has taken his habit to new lows by bringing home drugs and a pair of lacy black knickers, according to his owners.Keith’s crime wave started three years ago, when he began stealing bras from nearby clothes lines and bringing home live eels from the local Heathcote river in Christchurch. Continue reading...

Victorians over eight years old will have to wear masks indoors from 11.59pm Thursday, as Covid cases surge across eastern Australia

Latest updates: German health minister says ‘offensive booster campaign’ needed to fight variant; WHO official says it is too early to draw conclusions on severity

Actor gives first extended comments about accusations that came nearly four years agoJames Franco has acknowledged sleeping with students of an acting school he previously ran, saying he struggled with a sex addiction and has been working to improve his behavior in recent years.In excerpts from The Jess Cagle Podcast made public on Wednesday, Franco, 43, said that while teaching, he “did sleep with students, and that was wrong”. He said he had not started the school to lure women for sexual purposes. Continue reading...

Researchers find those who test positive with new Covid variant up to 25% less likely to attend hospital at all

While French politicians are hailing the result of the referendum as ‘final’, indigenous Kanaks say their future is anything but settledIn the wake of the third New Caledonian referendum on independence from France, French president Emmanuel Macron declared that “France is more beautiful because New Caledonia decided to stay.”The vote in the 12 December referendum – supposedly the finale of a 30-year process of preparation and consultation – was an overwhelming 96.5% against independence. Continue reading...

Devolved nations to reintroduce rule of six for hospitality venues and other measures from Boxing Day

Serge Gelle, the country’s secretary of state for police, reached land in the seaside town of Mahambo, having swum about 12 hours to shore after his helicopter crashed off Madagascar's north-east coast. 'It's not my time to die,' the 57-year-old said, lying exhausted in a deckchair in a video shared on social media

Julie Morris, who was head of safeguarding at primary school, admitted 18 child sexual abuse offencesA deputy headteacher and her partner have been jailed for child sexual abuse offences after they filmed themselves abusing and raping a girl.Julie Morris, a teacher who was also head of safeguarding at a primary school in Wigan, was sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison after she pleaded guilty to 18 child sexual abuse offences, including two counts of rape. Continue reading...

Laura Murphy-Oates and Saved for Later host Michael Sun look at the best and worst moments on the internet in 2021 – from senator Jacqui Lambie dancing on a table, to shitposting comedians and the Instagram accounts bringing joy and community during lockdown Continue reading...

Backing is also given to UN resolution exempting most aid from threat of sanctionsThe US has eased its restrictions on mainstream humanitarian aid reaching famine-stricken Afghanistan and backed a UN security council resolution exempting most aid from the threat of sanctions.The US Treasury followed up the UN resolution by broadening the definition of permitted humanitarian assistance to include education – including salary payments to teachers – and to permit a broader use of US funds received by aid organisations working inside Afghanistan. Continue reading...

If confirmed, talks would begin a contentious effort to avert a Russian offensive in Ukraine this winterRussia claims it has agreed to begin talks with the US early next year to discuss Moscow’s demands for “security guarantees” in Europe, including a ban on Ukraine’s entrance into the Nato military alliance.If confirmed, the talks would begin a contentious effort to avert a Russian offensive in Ukraine this winter, as Kyiv and eastern European governments have demanded not to be left out of any deal with Moscow that affects their interests as well. Continue reading...

2021’s death toll from central Mediterranean crossings likely to hit 1,500 as coastguard says survivors unlikelyGreek authorities have said dozens of refugees are believed dead after a boat carrying as many as 50 people, according to one witness, sank off the island of Folegandros, in the second major loss of life in the Mediterranean within days of people desperately trying to reach Europe.Almost 24 hours after the rescue operation was launched late Tuesday, coastguard officials said it was unlikely that survivors from the shipwreck would be found. Continue reading...

The World Health Organization has said booster programmes are more likely to lengthen the pandemic rather than shorten it, as vaccine inequality means many countries have not yet hit their 40% vaccination target while wealthier nations move on to offer booster jabs. The WHO director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Covid would continue to mutate and spread through unvaccinated populations

Officers say CCTV suggests the 20-year old man who went missing last week may have entered the waterPolice investigating the disappearance of a 20-year-old man after he visited a nightclub in central London last week have begun searching the River Thames after reviewing CCTV footage.Scotland Yard said the search for Harvey Parker was ordered after officers found footage suggesting he may have “entered the water” near the Golden Jubilee pedestrian bridge that links Embankment to Waterloo. In a statement, it added: “At this stage of the investigation there is nothing to suggest that there is any third-party involvement.” Continue reading...

Sydney’s Delta outbreak has been ‘extremely stressful’ for health workers, one nurse says

After an Omicron outbreak at popular nightclub Argyle House, Newcastle’s pubs are closing their doors and ‘everyone’s staying away’

Highly venomous snake apparently survived 4,000-mile journey from Pakistan in shipment of bricksWhen Ryan King was called about reports of a saw-scaled viper found in a brickyard he was doubtful. They are among the world’s deadliest snakes and they don’t tend to live in Salford.The RSPCA inspector, however, quickly realised he was wrong. It was indeed a saw-scaled viper, and it had apparently survived a 4,000-mile trip from Pakistan in a shipment of bricks. Continue reading...

Painting came close to being sold at auction for €1,500 before its true potential value of £50m came to lightA small oil painting that avoided being sold at a Spanish auction for €1,500 earlier this year after experts suggested it could be the work of the Italian master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio has been granted protected status as an item of cultural interest.The painting of the scourged Christ, which measures 111cm by 86cm, was withdrawn from sale in April after suspicions grew that it had been incorrectly attributed to the circle of the 17th-century Spanish artist José de Ribera. Continue reading...

European Commission says it has ‘serious concerns’ about challenges by Warsaw’s constitutional tribunalThe European Commission has begun legal action against Poland over rulings by the country’s constitutional court that challenged the supremacy of EU law, in an escalation of the long-running battle between Brussels and Warsaw.The EU executive said it had “serious concerns” about the Polish constitutional tribunal and its recent case law, citing rulings where the court had challenged the primacy of EU law. Continue reading...

From meditative portraits that nod at the Dutch old masters to an incendiary, epic exploration of the Troubles, these are the volumes that resonated this year

I had plumbing problems and his radio show transported me from the faecal hellscape in my garden. It became the ideal soundtrack for my pandemic realityIt was spring, and human excrement was pumping into our garden. I watched through the window as a perplexed young plumber with a long metal pole excavated the dark, gurgling drain. As if lockdown hadn’t been bad enough, our kitchen was now heavy with the stench of a thousand flushes. No one knew how to stop it. There was only one thing to do: brew weapons-grade black coffee and switch on the radio. That’s how I discovered Huey Morgan’s Saturday morning breakfast show on BBC 6 Music. It made everything feel a little more right in the world.What started as a way to distract from the tide of hot, liquid excrement on our patio quickly became the highlight of the week for my girlfriend and me. Huey – of Fun Lovin’ Criminals fame – thumbing you through his records: early 90s rap, early 80s disco, and early 70s soul to blow away the cobwebs, with choice modern selections marbling the retro soundscape. Continue reading...

Annual multibillion-euro draw goes ahead despite Covid surge and first ever strike by lottery ticket sellersSpain’s Christmas lottery, a lucrative and much-loved annual tradition that often ends in the joyous detonation of cava corks and the hatching of big plans, took place on Wednesday amid soaring Covid infections and the first ever strike by ticket vendors.After the country recorded a record 49,823 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday night, many Spaniards welcomed the chance to focus instead on El Gordo (the Fat One) and its €2.4bn in prizes. Continue reading...

Wealthy overseas buyers lured by ‘golden visas’ helped create a city where workers struggle to find homesManuela Lopes dates her misfortune from the moment her Lisbon neighbourhood began attracting comparisons with Brooklyn. It was the mid 2010s: former warehouses in the old working-class parish of Marvila were giving way to co-working spaces, art galleries, artisan breweries, creative hubs and tech startups. In 2018, average property prices in the neighbourhood were up 79.8% on the previous year.A short walk from Lopes’ home, a 12-building luxury residential project designed by the world-famous architect Renzo Piano is now rising from Marvila’s old industrial waterfront. Prices for apartments, some with balconies overlooking the Tagus, range from €500,000 to €925,000 (£425,000 to £786,000) and many have been sold off-plan. Promotional material for Prata Riverside Village promises a “new way of living Lisbon” for “young families, students, digital nomads and retired people” in a district “distinguished by its true neighbourhood atmosphere; quiet but full of life” .Manuela Lopes (above and below right) was born in the Santos Lima building (right) in the Marvila neighbourhood of Lisbon. She has lived with the threat of eviction since 2017. Photographs: Goncalo Fonseca/The Guardian Continue reading...

Electoral body proposes one-month delay but it is unclear whether idea will be accepted by rival bodies jostling for powerLibya’s chief electoral body has announced a plan to delay elections set for 24 December by a month, but it is unclear if the rival bodies jostling for power will accept the proposal.With Libya’s political transition in crisis, the proposed new date, set out by the High National Elections Commission (HNEC), is the first attempt to draw up a new roadmap. Bitter unresolved disputes over the legal basis for the elections and who was eligible to stand have been crushing the international community’s hopes that elections would mark a reset after a decade of war and infighting, largely between the east and west of the country. Continue reading...

Carl Davies, 44, given two years and eight months for posting ‘intimidating’ messages to Minchin and her daughterA former soldier who stalked the BBC presenter Louise Minchin and her teenage daughter has been jailed.Carl Davies, 44, was sentenced to two years and eight months after posting multiple “intimidating” messages “intended to maximise fear and distress” to Minchin and her teenage daughter Mia’s social media accounts over four days between 14 and 17 July 2020. Continue reading...

Search and rescue operation under way near Folegandros as boat carrying as many as 50 people sinksGreece’s coastguard says one person has died and dozens are feared missing after a boat sank off the coast of the island of Folegandros.The body of the unidentified man was recovered during an ongoing search and rescue operation. The coastguard said 12 people, all believed to be from Iraq, had been rescued and transported to the nearby island of Santorini. Continue reading...

Death toll underscores daunting task facing schools as they help students recover not just academically, but also emotionallyMelanie Keaton, 9, used to spend hours playing with her grandfather. Having tea time together from her miniature toy set. Taking trips to the zoo. Zigzagging their characters across the board of Candy Land.When he fell ill from the coronavirus in April 2020 and went to the hospital during New York City’s deadly first wave, the young girl, then just 7, turned to her mother. Continue reading...

Disgraced art collector John Wayne Millwood was jailed in 2016 and released on parole in 2019

Neil Patrick Harris and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II join Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in a fourth instalment in the franchise that is full of little treasures