Special forces veteran Bryan Stern says he told US defence officials some of his planned route to reduce airstrike risk

The most dangerous moments came when salvation seemed finally assured.

Many miles from land, the small fishing skiff carrying the Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel prize laureate María Corina Machado had been lost at sea for hours, tossed by strong winds and 10ft waves. A further hazard was the ever present risk of an inadvertent airstrike by US warplanes hunting alleged cocaine smugglers.

Police appeal for witnesses after tree put up in tribute to war dead cut down in act of ‘mindless vandalism’

A Christmas tree that had stood in a village for more than a decade has been chopped down hours after having its lights switched on.

The tree, in Shotton Colliery in County Durham, was felled between 10pm and 11pm on Wednesday. It is believed to have been cut down deliberately. Police are appealing for witnesses.

Lyttelton theatre, London
Coughlan plays a barmaid, alongside Derry Girls co-star Siobhán McSweeney, in JM Synge’s 1907 classic

Every woman loves a bad boy, or so the cliche goes. Here it is tested when Christy Mahon walks into a pub to confess he has killed his father with a farming tool. It’s not quite the truth but he is, to his own surprise, turned into a local celebrity. Women flock to see him and men hail him a hero.

John Millington Synge’s unromanticised comic portrayal of a farming community in the west of Ireland caused moral outrage at its 1907 premiere at Dublin’s Abbey theatre. This revival by the Abbey’s current artistic director, Caitríona McLaughlin, makes clear that it is something of a woman’s play, ahead of its time, with two female leads abjuring conservative Catholic morality to hope for something bigger than a small, scratching country existence.

Gaza has been hit by heavy rains and low temperatures, deepening the misery of most of its 2.2 million population who are living in tents after two years of Israeli bombardment. Thousands of homeless people have been washed out of their makeshift shelters and forced to seek emergency refuge

The PM’s social media sortie has not been a total embarrassment, which may be a shame for him

The scene opens on the interior of an aeroplane.

A suited man in a luxurious seat looks pensively out the window, his face partially obscured, his chin delicately resting on his hand.

As the classic album hits 50, Nick Mason talks about the often difficult process of making it and how it has since fit into their larger catalogue

By almost every measure, from commercial reward to creative reach, Pink Floyd scaled its peak on Dark Side of the Moon. But, when I asked drummer Nick Mason how he would rank the album in their catalogue, he slotted it below the set that came next, Wish You Were Here. Speaking of Dark Side, he said, “the idea of it is almost more attractive than the individual songs on it. I feel slightly the same about Sgt. Pepper. It’s an amazing album that taught us a hell of a lot, but the individual parts are not quite as exciting, or as good, as some of the other Beatles’ albums.”

By contrast, he says of Wish You Were Here, “there’s something in the general atmosphere it generates – the space of it, the air around it, that’s really special,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons I view it so affectionately.”

Whether giving as a festive gift or just enjoying during your own yuletide celebrations, these whiskies – and whiskeys – will bring the warmth

• I tried 60 low- and no-alcohol drinks: here are my favourite beers, wines and spirits

Searching for a whisky this Christmas? From Speysides to single malts, Japanese whiskies and special edition bottlings, the sheer choice can be overwhelming.

If you’re looking for a delicious dram to enjoy with your mince pie, a versatile bottle to have on standby this party season or the perfect gift, there’s a whisky out there with your name on it. It needn’t cost the earth either: I’ve found sustainable B Corp whiskies and pocket-friendly blends along with higher-end options to suit everyone’s budget.

Martin Compston and Meera Syal are among the names in this tale of divorcees hitting back at their exes. It’s a thriller, comedy and psychodrama all at once – but could maybe do with being more simple

Sometimes three-in-one type things are good. Phone chargers with lots of leads for all your devices that have stupidly different ports. Those woolly hats that cover your neck and lower face, so you look daft but are impregnable to winter cold. The Nars blusher stick that is also a lipstick and eyeshadow.

When it comes to dramas, however, it’s best to stick to one field of endeavour. The Revenge Club is a gallimaufry of tones, styles and performances. Watching it is like looking through a kaleidoscope that someone twists for you every few minutes; it’s fun but quite disorienting after a while.

Women are trailblazing efforts in the UK and US to improve sustainability on film and TV sets, from donating catering and rehoming props to reducing emissions

It’s two days before Thanksgiving and Hillary Cohen and Samantha Luu are trying to figure out how they’re going to cook 120 turkeys with limited oven space in their food warehouse in downtown LA. “We’re going to have to do a bit of spatchcocking. It’s not very showbiz,” Cohen says.

It’s the busiest time of year for Cohen and Luu, assistant directors who founded not-for-profit organisation Every Day Action during the Covid pandemic. Designed to help unhoused people and those facing food insecurity across the city, the idea was born when Cohen noticed the amount of food waste on film and TV sets, and looked into redistributing it to those in need. “I remember asking, ‘Why can’t we donate this food?’ I kept being told it was illegal and that people could sue us if they got sick.” It didn’t take Luu, who grew up working in a soup kitchen her father founded, long to establish this was not the case. “In the US, there’s the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act that’s been around since 1996,” she says. “It protects food donors from liability issues.”