Justice department must release most documents by Friday, and failure to do so would provoke a firestorm

In less than 48 hours, Donald Trump’s justice department must release most of the files related to Jeffrey Epstein in its possession. Last month, Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the release of those materials by 19 December, except in narrow cases where they would jeopardize current investigations, harm national security or foreign policy goals, or reveal information about Epstein’s victims.

Since Trump signed the legislation, his administration has been silent on its progress. Earlier this month, a bipartisan group of lawmakers asked Pam Bondi, the attorney general, for a briefing on the department of justice’s progress, but she did not provide one. Two Democratic senators among that group subsequently pledged to block some civilian nominees, because they were concerned the administration “is gearing up to disregard the law we led the fight in the Senate to pass, which overwhelmingly passed both chambers of Congress”.

OpenAI is the latest to make a political hire as big tech spreads its tentacles around the world. So what’s the attraction?

George Osborne getting a new job isn’t exactly news. Since leaving frontline politics, the former chancellor has served as the chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, edited (not entirely successfully) the Evening Standard, advised asset manager BlackRock, joined boutique advisory firm Robey Warshaw, been appointed as the chair of the British Museum and taken on roles including advising crypto firm Coinbase. Oh, and like any white man of a particular age, he co-hosts a political podcast.

But Osborne’s latest job is the most eye-opening – and is an alarming augur of what is to come. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has become the latest organisation to employ Osborne. He will run OpenAI for Countries, a unit tasked with working directly with governments while expanding the company’s Stargate datacentre programme beyond the US. At least it was announced with a tweet, rather than a LinkedIn post.

Chris Stokel-Walker is the author of TikTok Boom: The Inside Story of the World’s Favourite App

John Harris, Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey look back at the biggest political moments of 2025, and discuss what 2026 might bring

In just two years, Rae has gone from star TikTok dancer to being Grammy-nominated for best new artist. She reflects on her critically acclaimed debut and how she’s learning to reclaim and relinquish control

No one in pop has had a year like Addison Rae. She may not be the biggest star – that remains Taylor Swift – or even the most commercially successful breakout act. But the dreamy dance-pop haze of her debut album, Addison, made her into an artist’s artist, loved by the likes of Charli xcx and Lana Del Rey – the leftfield pop acts who paved the way for someone like her. Like a pre-Brat Charli, or perhaps Sky Ferreira, the 25-year-old is the pop connoisseur’s choice, justly earning comparisons to Del Rey, her fellow Louisiana girl Britney Spears and Ray of Light-era Madonna, while knowing her way around her R&B and Jersey club. She’s up for best new artist at next year’s Grammy awards – and with Addison and its knowingly anaesthetised single Headphones On placing in the Guardian’s top five albums and tracks of 2025 respectively, she’s our artist of the year.

So it’s crazy to flick back just two years to when Rae wasn’t just a flop, but a punchline. In 2023, she released her debut single Obsessed, a perfectly average Benny Blanco-produced single that attracted disproportionate hatred because Rae was then just a TikTok star whose breezy dance videos had made her the platform’s fifth most-followed figure. The song flopped. Five months later came the AR EP: featuring a Charli guest verse – she asked to feature on a leaked demo that she loved – it made Rae a cult favourite. Last summer, she returned the favour, guesting on a remix of Charli’s Von Dutch: “While you’re sitting in your dad’s basement … Got a lot to say about my debut!” Rae taunted.

The broadcaster becomes president of Humanists UK in the new year. She talks about juggling TV work with single motherhood, losing her husband, and why she’d rather have specialised in acting

Janet Ellis is exactly as you might remember her from her days as a Blue Peter presenter: elfin movements, lively eyes, a penetrating aspect that could smell bullshit a mile away but would never be so discourteous as to mention it. She lives in London with her 21-year-old grandson and a gentle Italian spinone called Angela, who follows her everywhere. The dog is a surprise, being the size of a horse. It adds an element of slightly fairytale jeopardy to the scene, as you watch them pad down the stairs and think, “What happens the day Angela decides to go a bit faster?”

Ellis, 70, will become the next president of Humanists UK at the start of 2026, taking over from the geneticist and broadcaster Adam Rutherford. She supports the group’s campaigns – for secular schools and assisted dying laws. More broadly, she says she has “always been struck” by its “steady calmness” – a port of irreligious decency in stormy times. “Since I was a child, I’ve found the idea of prioritising what came next over this bit a really weird concept. Everything starts and finishes in our minds.”

Scott McTominay has come in at 19th in the world in our rankings and is joined by Declan Rice and Désiré Doué for places 40 to 11

• Our methodology | The top 100 female players for 2025

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Scientists say government must prepare for unlikely but ‘plausible’ 4C rise in temperature and a 2-metre rise in sea levels

The worst-case impacts of the climate crisis for the UK have been laid bare by scientists, ranging from a scorching 4C rise in temperatures to a 2-metre rise in sea level. Another scenario sees a plunge of 6C in temperature after the collapse of key Atlantic Ocean currents, massively disrupting farming and energy needs.

The impacts, some of which are linked to climate tipping points, are seen as low probability but plausible. The researchers said the scenarios filled a gap in forecasting that had left the UK unprepared for extreme outcomes.

The Home Office has published the government’s strategy for tackling violence against women and girls

Richard Adams is the Guardian’s education editor.

The British public supports the government’s decision to rejoin the Erasmus youth education and work experience programme, according to snap polling released by YouGov.

Ukrainian president says case for transfer of assets to fund war effort is ‘morally clear and just’ and similar to confiscating money from drug-traffickers

Germany’s chancellor Friedrich Merz confirms his support for the EU’s reparations loan, saying he sees “no better option.”

He diplomatically acknowledges Belgium’s concerns, and says he hopes “we can address them together” to “send a signal of strength and resolve … towards Russia.”

Rate-setters back quarter-point cut after steep fall in inflation and weak economic data but vote remained close

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The Bank of England has cut interest rates by a quarter point, giving a pre-Christmas boost to the struggling UK economy, but a split vote among its rate-setters pointed to continued concerns about inflation.

The Bank’s nine-member monetary policy committee (MPC) opted by five votes to four to reduce its key base rate from 4% to 3.75%, signalling that it now expects inflation to be “closer” to the 2% target in the first quarter of the new year.