Feud flared up when president-elect chose Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-born entrepreneur, as his AI adviser

Bitter in-fighting has broken out between the tech billionaire Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s hardline Make America great again (Maga) base after the US president-elect chose an Indian-born entrepreneur to be his adviser on artificial intelligence.

The row has pitted Musk and his fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy against diehard supporters including the far-right activist Laura Loomer and Matt Gaetz, the former Congress member and abortive nominee for attorney general. The spat threatens to open up a chasm among Trump’s supporters over immigration, a key issue in his election victory.

Russian airstrikes on Christmas Day, the aftermath of the fall of Assad, remembering the Indian Ocean tsunami and a Boxing Day swim in Scotland: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

• Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing

Duo’s festive record made history when it became UK Christmas No 1 two years in a row

Wham! have continued their belated festive domination after Last Christmas remained top of the singles chart, a week after being crowned 2024’s Christmas No 1.

The pop duo of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley made history last week after their 1984 single Last Christmas became the first UK Christmas No1 to top the chart for two years in a row.

Manchester United midfielder has been more disciplined this term but unique demands of his job keep him in the firing line

Against Leicester on Boxing Day Virgil van Dijk took to 50 the number of successive league games he has played every minute of. This alone does not explain why the Dutchman is such an effective leader, nor why his Liverpool side are currently so successful, but it certainly helps. There are many kinds of captain, many ways of leading, but above all the one unarguably necessary thing is to be present. You cannot lead a team from the stands.

At which point it is tempting to go in two-footed on Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, as many newspaper headlines did on Friday morning. The Portuguese is, for a couple more days at least, one of only four other captains to have played in every game of this Premier League season but that run ends with the visit of Newcastle on Monday, for which he will be suspended after Tony Harrington, just after half-time in the Boxing Day defeat to Wolves , became the third referee to show him a red card this campaign.

Il Foglio war correspondent Cecilia Sala taken in by police while reporting in Tehran, says Italy’s foreign ministry

An Italian journalist has been arrested while reporting in the Iranian capital Tehran and held in solitary confinement for a week, according to Italy’s foreign ministry.

Cecilia Sala, 29, a war correspondent and reporter who works for the newspaper Il Foglio and the podcast company Chora Media, was detained on 19 December, the ministry said, but her arrest was only made public on Friday.

• Sarrazin, 30, set for surgery after head injury in crash
• French standout crashed during World Cup training

French standout Cyprien Sarrazin was in intensive care with a head injury after a crash during training for a World Cup downhill race on Friday on the slope set to be used for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Sarrazin was one of two skiers airlifted to a hospital after crashing and the French ski federation said he was conscious but diagnosed with a subdural hematoma — bleeding near the brain.

Over the holidays, this column will explore next year’s urgent issues. Today we look at why an unqualified belief in nuclear deterrence can’t keep us safe

Next November marks 40 years since the US president Ronald Reagan and the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”. The statement was striking – not least because their militaries were pouring billions into preparing for an unwinnable conflict.

A year later, at Reykjavik, the two came tantalisingly close to eliminating nuclear weapons entirely. That historic chance slipped away over Reagan’s insistence on his unproven “Star Wars” missile defence system. The moment passed, but its lesson endures: disarmament demands courage – and compromise.

Preparations for new year’s street parties under way as Met Office warns of ‘significant disruption’ due to heavy rain on 30 and 31 December

A severe weather warning is threatening to put a dampener on Hogmanay plans across Scotland as the nation braces for 48 hours of heavy rain.

The Met Office has put in place a yellow weather warning for rain covering the entirety of Scotland on 30 and 31 December, with “significant disruption” expected from the early hours of Monday.

Readers respond to a piece by Jonathan Freedland in which he says a little deliberate optimism can go a long way

I was drawn to Jonathan Freedland’s article ( ‘How do we live in this terrible world?’ a reader asked me. Here’s the only answer I have, 20 December ), as it is a question that’s continually on my mind. There’s much substance in his well-informed piece, though the ending’s quite simple and resonates with my own take: “Perhaps by accepting that it’s the only one we have and that it’s not always so terrible – that sometimes, even quite often, it can be rather beautiful.”

One of my responses to this ever-present question is to have gratitude for what I call “magic moments” in nature – like this morning catching sight of the heron, almost invisible, being so amazingly camouflaged among the reeds by a stream; I said “good morning, heron” softly, but didn’t linger because I’ve come to realise that they don’t like being looked at for long.