‘It’s a meadow of quaggas’From a floating research station on Lake Geneva, the lake looks as it always has, with snow-capped mountains tumbling into its dark waters. The highest density was found in Lake Geneva, with an average of 4,000 quagga mussels a square metre across the whole lake. In 2022, researchers found 98.9% of samples were quagga mussels, and in a 2024 survey, they exclusively scooped up quagga mussels – nothing else. After thousands of years of stability, Lake Geneva is undergoing a period of huge and irreversible change in the space of just a decade. Ibelings says: “Going back is a fairytale, because of quagga mussels and climate change.

The five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld was left stunned after falling to a straight-sets defeat by Switzerland’s Stefan Bellmont in their first-round clash at Alexandra Palace. Bellmont produced the performance of his career to become the first Swiss player win a match at the World Darts Championship. The 36-year-old from Cham hopes that his success will inspire a wave of darts enthusiasts in his home country. View image in fullscreen Raymond van Barneveld cuts a forlorn figure as he leaves the stage. Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PAJames Wade, the world No 7 who is a four-time semi-finalist at Alexandra Palace, brushed aside Japan’s Ryusei Azemoto in straight sets.

From 4h ago 13.10 GMT Putin calls European leaders 'little pigs' as he insists Russia will achieve its goals in Ukraine by diplomacy or force Pjotr Sauer Russian affairs reporter Meanwhile, Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Wednesday lashed out at European leaders, deriding them as “little pigs”, and said Russia would achieve its territorial goals in Ukraine either through diplomacy or by military force. Russian president Vladimir Putin speaks during an expanded meeting of the Defence Ministry Board at the National Defence Control Centre in Moscow, Russia. He also expressed his concerns that using frozen assets would inevitably prompt Russia to lash back at the EU and could disrupt the peace talks. Share4h ago 13.10 GMT Putin calls European leaders 'little pigs' as he insists Russia will achieve its goals in Ukraine by diplomacy or force Pjotr Sauer Russian affairs reporter Meanwhile, Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Wednesday lashed out at European leaders, deriding them as “little pigs”, and said Russia would achieve its territorial goals in Ukraine either through diplomacy or by military force. She suggested Rome was generally in favour on the use of frozen Russian assets, but needed to see strong legal basis for all proposed actions.

The EU has frozen €210bn (£184bn, $247bn) of Russian central bank assets which are mostly held at Euroclear in Brussels. EU leaders agreed in 2024 to take the interest on Russia’s frozen sovereign wealth for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said using the frozen assets to finance a loan would be akin to “theft of someone else’s property”. Belgium, the host of the lion’s share of the assets, has described the EU plan as “fundamentally wrong”. The Belgian government also wants other countries with Russian frozen assets to use them for Ukraine, including the UK, Japan, Canada, the US, Switzerland and Norway.

The American skiing standout claimed a record-extending 105th World Cup victory after several of her top challengers went out during the opening run of a night race Tuesday. It wasn’t immediately clear if she was injured but she competed in the second run. Defending World Cup slalom champion Zrinka Ljutic and Olympic silver medalist Katharina Liensberger, the next two starters, went out midway down. Shiffrin earned her 68th World Cup slalom win. Women’s Alpine skiing at the winter Olympics will be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – where Shiffrin won four medals in her four events at the 2021 world championships and where Lindsey Vonn holds the record of 12 World Cup victories.

From 10h ago 11.50 GMT Leaders sign treaty establishing international Ukraine war damages body The treaty is now signed, establishing the International Claims Commission of Ukraine. View image in fullscreen Poland's prime minister Donald Tusk attends the press conference of the Eastern Flank Summit in Helsinki, Finland. View image in fullscreen Bulgaria's prime minister Rossen Jeliazkov, Poland's prime minister Donald Tusk, president of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda, Finland's prime minister Petteri Orpo, Romania's president Nicusor Dan, Latvia's prime minister Eviika Silina, prime minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson, and Estonia's prime minister Kristen Michal brief the media at the Eastern Flank Summit at the House of the Estates in Helsinki, Finland. Share9h ago 13.10 GMT Zelenskyy and Schoof also get asked about the prospect of Ukraine joining the European Union. Share Updated at 12.05 GMT10h ago 11.50 GMT Leaders sign treaty establishing international Ukraine war damages body The treaty is now signed, establishing the International Claims Commission of Ukraine.

Glaciers in the European Alps are likely to reach their peak rate of extinction in only eight years, according to a study, with more than 100 due to melt away permanently by 2033. The melting of glaciers driven by human-caused global heating is one of the clearest signs of the climate crisis. Under this scenario, glacier losses would peak at about 3,000 a year in 2040 and plateau at that rate until 2060. Larger glaciers take longer to melt, with those in Greenland reaching their peak extinction rate in about 2063 – losing 40% by 2100 under 1.5C of heating and 59% under 2.7C. The researchers said the peak loss dates represent more than a numerical milestone.

Brazil went on to win the World Cup, beating Italy on penalties in the final. This year, as I was discussing the Guardian’s top 100 footballers with Thiago Rabelo, a Brazilian football journalist who contributes to our coverage and also helps with judges for the list, he mentioned that Romário could be interested in taking part. I thought it may be too good to be true, but in mid-November his votes had arrived. View image in fullscreen Romário (left) and Dunga after winning the World Cup in 1994. Voting disclosureWe are very grateful to our judges for taking part, and none have been paid for participating in this project.

(The phrase ‘Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed’ is making me get flashbacks from Brexit talks.) View image in fullscreen The new head of Britain's MI6, Blaise Metreweli, makes her first public speech in London. View image in fullscreen The new head of Britain's MI6, Blaise Metreweli makes her first public speech in London. View image in fullscreen Leaders pose for a family photo at the Chancellery in Berlin, where they meet for talks on how to end the grinding war of Russia with Ukraine. View image in fullscreen German chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomes US negotiator Jared Kushner and US special envoy Steve Witkoff at the Chancellery for talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ariane – who was married to Edmond and Nadine’s only child, Benjamin, who died in 2021 – insists the collection must remain intact and in the chateau. A source close to the family said Ariane and her daughters would not discuss the falling out. View image in fullscreen Chateau de Pregny in Switzerland is reported to house art by Goya, Rembrandt, El Greco and others. Photograph: Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images“We are talking about major objects, classified historic objects that belong in a museum,” Nadine says. My only hope is that one day they will appreciate that I am doing this for the honour of the family.”

A palace coup sends Venezuela’s authoritarian leader into exile, sparking a bloody power struggle between members of his disintegrating regime. “Everyone wrestling with this issue [is] sort of hoping that you could wave a magic wand and have a new government [in Venezuela],” said Farah. Miguel Pizarro, another opposition leader, dismissed the suggestion Venezuela was doomed to become a South American version of Iraq, Libya or Haiti if Maduro was toppled. View image in fullscreen Nobel peace prize laureate and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado speaking in Oslo, Norway, on 11 December. Whatever happened, Farah feared post-Maduro Venezuela was likely to suffer “a huge mess that would last a while”.

One day after becoming the oldest woman to win a World Cup race, the American came within a quarter-second of doing it again, finishing second in Saturday’s downhill at St Moritz behind Germany’s Emma Aicher. Less than 24 hours after rewriting the World Cup age record, Vonn briefly looked on course for another victory as she surged ahead of Italy’s Sofia Goggia on the sunlit Corviglia course. View image in fullscreen Lindsey Vonn competes in the women's downhill race on Saturday in St Moritz. For Aicher, the victory was her third World Cup win and second in downhill, further establishing the 22-year-old as one of the tour’s most versatile skiers. The St Moritz weekend concludes with a super-G on Sunday, where Vonn is expected to line up alongside teammate Mikaela Shiffrin, who surpassed her as the most successful women’s World Cup skier of all time in 2023.

Lindsey Vonn’s extraordinary comeback from retirement and serious knee surgery gathered pace on Friday when she became the oldest skier to win a World Cup race at the age of 41. It was Vonn’s first downhill victory for nearly eight years, and the first in her comeback with titanium implants in her right knee. After her victory was confirmed, Vonn first collapsed into the snow before thrusting her ski poles in the air to celebrate. View image in fullscreen Lindsey Vonn on her way to victory in San Moritz. “I’m actually really excited for Super-G because I’m skiing better in Super-G than I am in downhill.”The previous oldest World Cup race winner was Switzerland’s Didier Cuche at 37 in a men’s Super-G in 2012.

Nemo, the Swiss singer who won the 2024 Eurovision song contest, has said they are handing back their trophy in protest over Israel’s participation in next year’s event. The 26-year-old, the first non-binary winner of the contest, said on Thursday there was “a clear conflict” between the Eurovision ideals of “unity, inclusion and dignity for all” and the decision to allow Israel to compete. They were joined on Wednesday by Iceland, where the board of the national broadcaster RÚV voted not to participate. The contest was repeatedly used to soften the image of a state accused of severe wrongdoing, all while the EBU insisted Eurovision is ‘non-political’. Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, has said Israel “deserves to be represented on every stage around the world”.

The once-rigid link between economic growth and carbon emissions is breaking across the vast majority of the world, according to a study released ahead of Friday’s 10th anniversary of the Paris climate agreement. Countries representing 92% of the global economy have now decoupled consumption-based carbon emissions and GDP expansion, according to the report by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU). Between 2015 and 2023, China’s consumption-based emissions rose 24%, less than half the growth of its economy (more than 50%). For the past 18 months, its emissions have plateaued and many analysts believe they may have peaked. For most of the past two decades US emissions have been falling, according to the authors of the report.