Will Smith, who performed at a rap concert at the Cabaret Vert festival in France in August, has been sued by his tour violinist for alleged unfair termination and sexual harassment. Will Smith and his company Treyball Studios Management Inc. are being sued by an electric violinist who is claiming wrongful termination, retaliation and sexual harassment — allegations denied by the actor-rapper-producer in a statement from his attorney. Electric violinist Brian King Joseph, seen performing at an awards show last October, is suing for wrongful termination, retaliation and sexual harassment. “The facts strongly suggest that Defendant Willard Carroll Smith II was deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph for further sexual exploitation,” the lawsuit alleges. Joseph is seeking compensatory and punitive damages and payment of attorney fees in an amount to be determined at trial.

The mean average temperature for the country across 2025 was 10.09C, beating the previous record of 10.03C set just three years earlier in 2022. Records were soon being broken, as first spring and then summer proved to be the UK’s warmest on record, while spring was the driest in the UK for more than 100 years. Long periods of unbroken clear skies mean 2025 will go down in history as a double-record breaker, being not only the warmest year on record but also the sunniest. Four of the past five years sit in the UK’s top five warmest: 2025 (10.09C), 2022 (10.03C), 2023 (9.97C) and 2024 (9.79C), along with 2014 (9.88C). Across the UK, 2025 was the warmest year on record for England and Scotland and the second warmest (behind 2023) for Wales and Northern Ireland.

Donald Trump has denied falling asleep while attending public meetings and robustly defended his health after the first year of his second term in office raised growing questions. Trump, who at 79 is the oldest person to assume the US presidency, told the Wall Street Journal “my health is perfect” and expressed frustration with scrutiny of his wellbeing. In the interview, the president denied he had fallen asleep during White House meetings – when cameras have caught him with his eyes closed – instead insisting he was resting his eyes or blinking. “Sometimes they’ll take a picture of me blinking, blinking, and they’ll catch me with the blink.”Catching up? Here’s what happened Wednesday 31 December.

“I was actually on the way to a Windsor light show with my family,” said McFarlane. Calum McFarlane delivers Chelsea team news ahead of our clash with Manchester City. 💬 — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 2, 2026“I shot across and they explained what happened and said you’re going to be preparing to play Manchester City on Sunday. “We’ve got limited time,” said McFarlane, who took first-team training on Friday morning and will get a further session on Saturday before the squad travels to Manchester. It will be about introducing some of (my) own ideas, some of my own concepts around how you think you can be successful.

Enzo Maresca’s shock departure at Chelsea came after he informed the club that he had held talks with figures associated to Manchester City over replacing Pep Guardiola. Chelsea have been weighed down by uncertainty ever since cracks in Maresca’s relationship with the board became apparent last month, but there is a feeling at Stamford Bridge that the Italian was looking to engineer an exit before a parting of the ways was confirmed on New Year’s Day. Our football reporter Jacob Steinberg reflects on the end of the Maresca era at Stamford Bridge, how it all came to pass and what comes next.

NEW YORK, January 1, 2026, 19:55 ETChina is applying a 55% over-quota tariff on imported beef under a three-year safeguard system. For 2026, China set quotas of 1.1 million metric tons for Brazil, 205,000 for Australia and 164,000 for the United States, and said the limits would rise gradually each year. China’s commerce ministry set a combined 2026 quota of 2.7 million metric tons for countries covered by the measures and said the system would run for three years from Jan. 1. Beef imports fell 0.3% in the first 11 months of 2025 to 2.59 million metric tons, the commerce ministry said. Australian exports to China were 294,957 tons in the first 11 months of 2025, above its 2026 quota allocation.

Khao Tom, a two-month-old elephant, plays with a wildlife officer, nudging his face and curling her trunk around his wrist. She survived thanks to round-the-clock care and a diet of rice porridge – khao tom in Thai. As the team shared updates on social media, the Thai public rallied behind the elephant calf, sending toys, formula and donations. In 2025, the media reported on at least five other elephant calves in Thailand that were lost or abandoned. Khao Tom is unlikely to return to the wild, says Natthanon.

The Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, has urged Donald Trump to abandon his “illegal warmongering” and begin “serious talks” with his administration as mystery continued to surround a purported pre-Christmas CIA airstrike on the South American country. Maduro rejected US claims justifying Trump’s campaign that he was the head of a “narco-terrorist” crime organisation flooding the US with drugs. “I believe that we need to set all this aside and start serious talks. Asked what impact Trump’s pressure campaign was having on his physical and emotional state, however, Maduro struck a nonchalant tone. Maduro said he had not spoken to Trump since a 10-minute conversation on 21 November, which he called cordial and respectful.

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Assuming the prediction is correct - and it may not be, of course - the implication is that what we are facing is a new digital divide between those who have potent IT and those who have none at all. Simultaneously, we face an inflation risk because chips are built into so many products, and the price spillover will affect vast numbers of consumer goods. One word of warning, though: please ensure you have the correct MP. CommentsWhen commenting, please take note of this blog's comment policy, which is available here. Contravening this policy will result in comments being deleted before or after initial publication at the editor's sole discretion and without explanation being required or offered.

British school trips at risk as EU clamps coach drivers to 90 days abroadSCHOOL trips and battlefield tours are at risk unless strict EU border rules for coach drivers are ripped up. The industry is looking for an exemption for drivers who are limited to just 90 days in the bloc out of every 180. Minister for EU Relations Nick Thomas-Symonds is being urged to scrap the requirement for Brit drivers to aid struggling travel operators. Richard Smith, boss of the Road Haulage Association, said: “UK Hauliers, Coach and Van operators who operate internationally remain concerned that they’re limited to 90 days in the EU in any 180-day period. “It’s likely that a number of British businesses will go to the wall without easements for drivers on international work.

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Fraser Forster seals Celtic reunion as keeper finally lands new club after agonising seven month searchThe veteran shotstopper has been unattached since leaving Europa League-winning Tottenham in MayFormer Celtic hero Fraser Forster has finally landed a new club - seven months after leaving Tottenham. ‌The veteran keeper has been a free agent since his release from the Europa League winners in the summer. ‌It's expected that Forster will be on the bench for Saturday's visit to Premier League leaders Arsenal. The Argentine genius raved: "The performance of Fraser Forster against us was talked about for a long time. There was one game in Scotland when he was not human, it was the best goalkeeping performance I have seen.

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