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Posted by Jesse Hassenger

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jan/06/non-traditional-cinema-releases

Netflix’s big-screen release of the Stranger Things finale is estimated to have made over $25m at the US box office, the latest example of event cinema proving popular

It was a lucrative holiday period at the North American box office these past two weeks, with titles like Avatar: Fire and Ash, The Housemaid, Marty Supreme, Anaconda, and Zootopia 2 bringing a welcome diversity of hit movies after an underwhelming fall. But during that period, the biggest single-day gross posted by any release wasn’t really a gross – or a movie. It was the series finale of the Netflix TV show Stranger Things.

Netflix made a deal to put the feature-length episode in theaters simultaneously with its streaming debut, and estimates put the numbers for the 24 hours’ worth of shows, beginning at 8pm on New Year’s Eve and continuing throughout New Year’s Day, around $25m. That’s bigger than any single day of Avatar: Fire and Ash after its opening weekend. In fact, if the Stranger Things release banked over $30m, as some estimated, that would make it the second-biggest 24 hours for any release in December, beaten only by Avatar 3’s opening day.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jan/06/non-traditional-cinema-releases

Posted by Yohannes Lowe (now) and Adam Fulton (earlier)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jan/06/venezuela-live-updates-maduro-trump-us-attack-opposition-machado-return

Spokesperson for UN high commissioner says ‘accountability for human rights violations cannot be achieved by unilateral military intervention’

• Deposed Maduro pleads not guilty after capture in shock US attack on Venezuela

• US foes and allies denounce Trump’s ‘crime of aggression’ in Venezuela at UN meeting

My colleague Sibylla Brodzinsky has reported on the relationship between the US and Colombia, home to significant oil reserves. Here is an extract from her story:

Colombia has long been a close partner of the US in the fight against drug trafficking and enjoyed bipartisan support in Washington but relations have soured dramatically since Trump came to office.

Colombia’s narcotics trade is largely controlled by illegal armed groups such as the Gulf Clan, the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissident factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group, the majority of whose members demobilised after a 2016 peace deal …

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jan/06/venezuela-live-updates-maduro-trump-us-attack-opposition-machado-return

Posted by Eleanor Biggs

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jan/06/theyre-all-bad-but-some-are-worse-than-others-every-harlan-coben-show-rated

From gaping plot holes to television so confusing it’s actually distressing to watch, here’s our ranking of the US author’s TV adaptations

The American novelist Harlan Coben is, by commercial fiction standards, one of the most successful writers working today. A No 1 New York Times bestseller author, he writes pulpy thrillers of the type you buy at the airport, consume feverishly poolside, and never take home.

Coben has written 35 novels, and is 11 adaptations (eight of them English language) into a nine-year, 14-book adaptation deal with Netflix. These series share a tone, style, and even actors – in multiple shows, Spooks heart-throb Richard Armitage pops up like a bad penny.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jan/06/theyre-all-bad-but-some-are-worse-than-others-every-harlan-coben-show-rated

Posted by Robert Reich

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/06/donald-trump-threat-civilization

The moral purpose of civilized society is to prevent the stronger from attacking the weaker. The US was founded on that principle

Trump’s domestic and foreign policies – ranging from his attempted coup against the United States five years ago, to his incursion into Venezuela last weekend, to his current threats against Cuba, Colombia, and Greenland – undermine domestic and international law. But that’s not all.

They threaten what we mean by civilization.

Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com. His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now

Guardian newsroom: Year One of Trumpism: Is Britain Emulating the US? On Wednesday 21 January 2026, join Jonathan Freedland, Tania Branigan and Nick Lowles as they reflect on the first year of Donald Trump’s second presidency. Book tickets here or at guardian.live

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/06/donald-trump-threat-civilization

Posted by Yohannes Lowe (now) and Adam Fulton (earlier)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jan/06/venezuela-live-updates-maduro-trump-us-attack-opposition-machado-return

Spokesperson for UN high commissioner says ‘accountability for human rights violations cannot be achieved by unilateral military intervention’

• Deposed Maduro pleads not guilty after capture in shock US attack on Venezuela

• US foes and allies denounce Trump’s ‘crime of aggression’ in Venezuela at UN meeting

My colleague Sibylla Brodzinsky has reported on the relationship between the US and Colombia, home to significant oil reserves. Here is an extract from her story:

Colombia has long been a close partner of the US in the fight against drug trafficking and enjoyed bipartisan support in Washington but relations have soured dramatically since Trump came to office.

Colombia’s narcotics trade is largely controlled by illegal armed groups such as the Gulf Clan, the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissident factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group, the majority of whose members demobilised after a 2016 peace deal …

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jan/06/venezuela-live-updates-maduro-trump-us-attack-opposition-machado-return

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/video/2026/jan/06/hockey-fans-throw-thousands-of-teddy-bears-on-to-the-ice-for-charity-video

Hockey fans threw thousands of stuffed animals on to the ice for the Hershey Bears annual teddy toss. The stuffed animals collected will now be distributed to over 60 local charities as part of the club’s Hershey Bears Cares program, where they will go to children in need.

The Bears collected 81,796 stuffed animals, increasing the total number of teddy bears and stuffed animals collected to 648,246 since Hershey hosted its first Teddy Bear Toss event in 2001.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/video/2026/jan/06/hockey-fans-throw-thousands-of-teddy-bears-on-to-the-ice-for-charity-video

Posted by Robert Kitson

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jan/06/rugby-union-the-breakdown-stephen-jones

Administrators should emulate departing correspondent’s unflinching take on the game and preserve its spirit

He never won an international cap nor played a single minute of professional rugby. So why did a national newspaper devote four and a half pages of its sports section to celebrating him at the weekend? There have been generational British & Irish legends who spawned less coverage than Stephen Jones in recognition of the latter’s 42-year stint as rugby correspondent of the Sunday Times.

Just think about that for a second. Forty-two years of journalistic thunderbolts and lightning, some of it very, very frightening for those in the firing line. One or two world heavyweight champs have landed fewer career knockout punches than our mate Steve dished out in print every week. If you were to compare his writing to one of the players he most admired, it would probably be Martin Johnson: direct, unflinching to the point of obstinacy, fiercely committed to the sport he adored. When individuals of that calibre step aside, they leave a sizeable hole.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jan/06/rugby-union-the-breakdown-stephen-jones