As Wicked: For Good premieres in the UK, find out just how close its costars are, why so many of the cast are vegan and the truth about Grande’s move away from pop

It doesn’t matter if you’ve never seen the musical, have no interest in the film or are left cold by red carpets: Wicked season is here again, and you will be made to pay attention. After last year’s chaotic press tour for the first instalment, giving rise to some of 2025’s biggest and most bizarre pop culture moments, all eyes are now on the rollout of the sequel Wicked: For Good and the theatre-kid capers of its stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Here’s what you need to know.

1. They are still ‘holding space’ for one another …
Last year’s Wicked press tour was an infamous love-in for Grande and Erivo. Such was the intensity of their connection and mutual affection, both were frequently moved to tears in interviews. The enduring image was of Erivo stroking Grande’s index finger in response to a journalist’s unintelligible remark about people “holding space” with the song Defying Gravity. Grande poked fun at her and Erivo’s histrionics, declaring them “insufferable” and “the most annoying” – but their bond still appears unbreakable. At the New York premiere of Wicked: For Good on Monday, Erivo declined to give interviews to preserve her voice. Grande was reported to also be skipping press “in solidarity”, but couldn’t help plugging her costar’s forthcoming projects “as Erivo looked on smiling”, as CNN described the scene . Asked what they were feeling, ahead of the film’s final instalment, Grande spoke for them both: “overwhelming gratitude”. Late on Thursday, she tested positive for Covid.

The man in Washington state had a backyard flock of domestic poultry that had been exposed to wild birds, health officials said

A US man is believed to be the first person to die from a rare strain of bird flu , but state health officials said on Friday the risk to the public is low.

The man in Washington state, an older adult with underlying health conditions, was being treated for a bird flu strain called H5N5 after becoming seemingly the first known human infected by the strain, according to a statement from the Washington State Department of Health.

Decision by Georgia Republican and leading Maga figure to give up House seat comes after dramatic break with Trump

• US politics – follow live

Marjorie Taylor Greene announced on Friday evening she will be resigning from office effective 5 January 2026.

In a four-page statement, the Georgia congresswoman said the legislative branch has been “sidelined” and accused Republican leaders of refusing to advance conservative priorities such as border security or “America First” policies.

Start in Perth: 10.20am local/1.20pm AEDT/2.20am GMT
Day one report | Ashes top 100 | Series omens | Mail Geoff

Have we all got our breath back? That was an absolutely nonsense, absurd, bizarre opening day: 19 wickets in a Test day in Australia that only contained about 70 overs. Can nobody remember how to bat anymore? Was the pitch too difficult? The answer is no, not really, because some players do still bat for long periods of time elsewhere, and the surface had some pace and bounce but nothing inconsistent or unplayable. It’s just that nobody played it well, against some decent fast bowling.

So we’re almost 50% of the way through the match in scoreboard terms, in 20% of the allotted days and 16.4% of the allotted overs. Holy balance sheet, Robin.

No fists, no fire – the president and the mayor-elect met in Washington, and things went bewilderingly, bizarrely well

The armies of lefty America and of Maga were assembled ready to watch their champions do battle. After all, Donald Trump had called Zohran Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and “total nut job.” The incoming democratic socialist New York mayor in turn had called the Republican US president a “despot” and “fascist”.

But anyone expecting to see fists fly and shirts torn in the Oval Office was in for a disappointment. Trump, 79, and 34-year-old Mamdani actually got on rather well . In fact beautifully, bewilderingly, bizarrely well. Instead of Batman v Superman, this was Toy Story besties Woody and Buzz Lightyear.

Tom Player speaks out about incident in which Victoria Bond died along with two Mexicans and two Germans

A survivor of the blizzard that killed a British woman and four others in Chilean Patagonia has said that tourists were concerned about adverse weather conditions ahead of the trek, but were told by staff it was “normal” and they could proceed.

Tom Player, a London-based composer, told the Guardian that during the brutal blizzard about 30 volunteers worked together in an attempt to try to rescue hikers.

UK academics say latest chemicals are ‘wake-up call’ and urge global action to stop weaponisation of neuroscience

Sophisticated and deadly “brain weapons” that can attack or alter human consciousness, perception, memory or behaviour are no longer the stuff of science fiction, two British academics argue.

Michael Crowley and Malcolm Dando, of Bradford University, are about to publish a book that they believe should be a wake-up call to the world.

Wyndham’s theatre, London
Bryan Cranston, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Paapa Essiedu and Hayley Squires achieve theatrical alchemy in Ivo van Hove’s superb production

In 2014 Ivo van Hove’s Young Vic staging of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge drew comparisons to monumental Greek drama. Lightning has struck twice with this magnificent, shuddering production of Miller’s 1946 play – it perfects the art of doing less for more effect and is performed at the same West End venue where its predecessor transferred.

Van Hove, known for giving the classics his own stamp, steps back here, it seems, letting the cast (and what a cast this is) not just inhabit their parts but somehow become them as if by magic. They articulate the devastating truths in this play about the corruptions of the American dream and the toxic inheritance handed down from fathers to sons. How relevant these truths seem today: it is as if Miller were speaking directly about now. A line can be drawn from the play’s themes of selling faulty equipment to government and the unaccountability of corrupt capitalist patriarchs to Trumpian facts and delusions, Grenfell and the Covid-era PPE scandal.

Dozens of traditional boats made as part of a project to reconnect with culture and ‘start of conversation’ on ocean rights

In October in Lifou island, a double-hulled canoe was pushed into the lagoon - a small act that marked a deeply symbolic moment.

It was the first launch of a traditional canoe on Lifou in generations, an event that brought together the island’s three chiefly clans in a rare show of unity.