Exclusive: Kanak leader Christian Tein, who was freed from prison in June, says France is ‘deliberately dragging out’ re-issue of his passport

A pro-independence leader from the French overseas territory of New Caledonia has accused the French government of “deliberately dragging out” his passport application, preventing him from flying home after his release from prison.

Christian Tein, an Indigenous Kanak leader, was arrested in New Caledonia in June 2024 over allegations that he had instigated the deadly pro-independence protests that had taken place on the island a month earlier.

Billions will be spent on credit over the discount weekend but experts say the payment option is ‘not risk-free’

Black Friday bargain-hunters should be wary of the flood of “buy now, pay later” offers at the checkout, money experts have warned, amid record numbers of people seeking help with shopping debts.

Billions of pounds will be spent online and in shops over the coming weeks, with more than one in three Britons said to be planning to use this form of credit to help stagger their Black Friday spending.

The Norwegian author on his autofictional epic, moving to London, and the psychopath at the heart of his new novel

Fifteen years ago, discussing the success of his six-volume autofictional work My Struggle on Norwegian radio, Karl Ove Knausgård said he felt as if he had “actually sold my soul to the devil”. My Struggle had become a runaway success in Norway – a success that would subsequently be repeated across the world – but the project provoked anger in some quarters for its portrayal of friends and family members. This was a work of art that came at a price. Hence, for its creator, its Faustian aspect.

That experience lies at the root of Knausgård’s latest novel, The School of Night, the fourth volume in his Morning Star sequence, in which his typical character studies and fine-grained attention to the minutiae of daily life are married to a compelling supernatural plot involving a mysterious star appearing in the sky and the dead returning to life. Volumes one and three, The Morning Star and The Third Realm, cycled between the same group of interconnected characters, while the second book, The Wolves of Eternity, moved back to the 1980s and told the story of a young Norwegian man and his discovery of a Russian half-sister. Only towards the end of its 800 pages did the novel intersect with the events of The Morning Star. The School of Night, perhaps frustratingly for some, again moves backwards instead of forwards, this time to 1985 London, and follows the art school career of a young Norwegian, Kristian Hadeland, who is pursuing his dream of fame as a photographer. Kristian, events reveal, is someone who will sacrifice anything, and anyone, to succeed. Charting Kristian’s rise and fall is an addictive and eerie reading experience.

⚽ Latest news and previews as Premier League resumes
⚽ Fixtures | Tables | Check out the talk | Mail matchday live

Hello, football. Welcome to the Guardian’s matchday live, where we will be building up to today’s matches and running through any breaking news and big stories. Readers, any plans for the day? Favourite moment of the international break? Game you’re most looking forward to this weekend? Let me know in the comments.

Whether you’re heading off to the ground later today or not, feel free to get stuck in with all of today’s fixtures right here , along with the latest tables . And to get you set for the Premier League’s return …

Cristhian Mosquera, Piero Hincapié or Riccardo Calafiori could start against Spurs, but none can replicate what the Brazilian offers in defence and attack

Sometimes it is not just about the numbers. Mikel Arteta probably put it best when he was asked to summarise how influential Gabriel Magalhães has been to his Arsenal side so far this season prior to their meeting with Crystal Palace last month. “His belief is tremendous,” said the manager. “I can tell him to go and run to the first post, and he does it with conviction, energy and attitude. The team’s belief in those moments is really high, and Gabriel is at the heart of that. He gives everything for the team and that sets the tone for everyone else.”

So Arteta must have feared the worst when the 27-year-old trudged off with his shirt over his face in Brazil’s win over Senegal at the Emirates Stadium last weekend. And before Sunday’s north London derby, he could not hide his disappointment when confirming a thigh injury that will be assessed further next week means Gabriel is set for an extended spell on the sidelines .

Defeat of Argentina in 2000 was important stepping stone for Clive Woodward’s side on way to winning ultimate prize

It is exactly 25 years since the most fraught pre-match buildup in the history of English international rugby union. In this same week in November 2000 a pay row led to the entire national side walking out on strike, prompting Clive Woodward to threaten that an alternative team of lower-league amateurs would be chosen if his players did not return to training by 11am the following morning.

After a tense standoff they duly did so, a grudging truce was agreed and the weekend game against Argentina went ahead with England winning 19-0. Three years later all but two of that matchday squad (the exceptions were David Flatman and Matt Perry) were lifting the Rugby World Cup in Australia. The moral of the “strike” story? The darkest hour can be the springboard to a spectacular golden dawn.

A pension-pot World Cup looms and with Trump in the White House and a crown prince at his back, it is now a safe space

It was hard to choose one favourite photo from football’s double-header at the White House this week. In part this is because the pictures from Donald Trump’s state dinner with Mohammed bin Salman and his in-house hype men Cristiano Ronaldo and Gianni Infantino were everywhere, recycled feverishly across the internet, dusted with their own drool-stained commentary by the wider Ronaldo-verse.

Mainly there were just so many jaw-droppers. Perhaps you liked the one of Trump and Ronaldo strolling the halls of power, Ronaldo dressed all in black and laughing uproariously, like a really happy ninja. Or the one of Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez standing either side of a weirdly beaming Trump at his desk, holding up some kind of large heraldic key as though they’ve just been presented with their own wind-up wooden sex-grandad.

A moment of peril demands a new approach – on everything from funding to the BBC charter

• Pat Younge is the chair of the British Broadcasting Challenge

We have not been here before. The BBC is used to coming under pressure from political parties, well-funded pressure groups and powerful newspaper publishers. But the threat of a lawsuit from the US president is unprecedented.

This latest furore is dangerous because it comes at a time when democracy faces an information crisis. The foundations of informed democratic debate are under attack across the globe from a combination of AI-generated deepfakes, hostile state propaganda and algorithms that amplify divisions through social media. We have already seen how Elon Musk, the wealthiest man on the planet, is prepared to use his own social media platform, X, to interfere in the affairs of other countries and exert a chilling influence on democracies.

Pat Younge is the chair of the British Broadcasting Challenge, whose recommendations are contained in the report Renewing The BBC

When Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine posted complaints about their local primary school, they never expected six uniformed police officers to turn up at their door

Before it catapulted a small school community in London’s commuter belt into the centre of a global news story, the year-four class WhatsApp group at Cowley Hill school in Borehamwood was unremarkable – a place of snide comments, reminders about non-uniform day and flustered messages about being late for the school run.

“It was mum gossip, you know?” said one member, Sarah. “A bit juicy, but it wasn’t anything nasty.”