From rustic cottage charm to old school high ceilings, renovations that hit the mark

Protesters and political prisoners are being drugged, tortured and beaten in state-run institutions, say rights groups

Human rights organisations say they are gravely concerned that a young Iranian woman arrested for stripping down to her underwear could be subjected to torture after she was transferred to a psychiatric hospital by the authorities.

Amnesty International said it had found evidence that the Iranian regime used electric shocks, torture, beatings and chemical substances on protesters and political prisoners taken to state-run psychiatric institutions after being called mentally unstable. It said the situation facing the young woman was “alarming”.

With Germany’s government collapsing and Europeans so divided in their response to Trump, unity is essential yet elusive

The first victim of Donald Trump’s second term as US president is likely to be Ukraine. The only people who can avert that disaster are us Europeans, yet our continent is in disarray. Germany’s coalition government chose the day we woke up to news of Trump’s triumph, of all days, to fall apart in bitter rancour . Unless Europe can somehow rise to the challenge, not just Ukraine but the whole continent will be left weak, divided and angry as we enter a new and dangerous period of European history.

In Ukraine itself, people have been trying to find a silver lining in that orange cloud rapidly approaching Washington. After all, they were increasingly frustrated with the self-deterrence of Joe Biden’s administration . This slender new hope was perfectly captured in a text message sent to me by a frontline Ukrainian commander. Trump, he wrote, “is a surprise-man, maybe things will get better”.

Timothy Garton Ash is a historian, political writer and Guardian columnist

The Joop Swart Masterclass invites emerging photographers to flourish in the field of documentary photography, photojournalism and visual storytelling

Chip, memory, battery and power upgrades add to laptop’s appeal along with new webcam and Apple Intelligence

Apple’s upgraded MacBook Pro for 2024 gets a significant power boost with the M4 chip, double the memory as standard, even longer battery life and a price cut, ending the year on a high.

The longstanding laptop line now starts at £1,599 (€1,899/$1,599/A$2,499), making it £100 or so cheaper than last year’s M3 models . Though still an expensive, premium laptop, it comes with at least 16GB of RAM rather than 8GB, which was an upgrade worth paying extra for on previous models.

Screen: 14.2in mini LED (3024x1964; 254 ppi) ProMotion (120Hz)

Processor: Apple M4, Pro or Max

RAM: 16, 24, 32 or up to 128GB

Storage: 512GB, 1, 2, 4 or 8TB SSD

Operating system: macOS 15.1 Sequoia

Camera: 12MP Centre Stage

Connectivity: wifi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, 3x Thunderbolt 4/USB 4, HDMI 2.1, SD card, headphones

Dimensions: 221.2 x 312.6 x 15.5mm

Weight: 1.55kg

Art nouveau cafes, Ottoman architecture and beer halls make these modest cities a big draw away from the crowds

I got off the train to Venice last summer in Trieste, planning to spend a few hours there, but was so knocked over by its beauty that I stayed for a few days. Tucked away in the north-east of Italy, it’s a crosscultural cocktail of Hapsburg, baroque and Slavic views and vibes – with a slice of Latin lemon thrown in. Piazza Unità d’Italia is an elegant square full of classy art nouveau cafes with the sea on one side – locally known as the Living Room of Italy. I strolled along Barcola for the evening passeggiata after checking out the nearby Miramare castle . There are beaches on the edge of the city that are easy to walk to – I had a swim one day. The food is hearty – Germanic meaty stews and spicy pizzas - while the coffee is strong. Joyce and Hemingway loved lingering over meals and drinks here – and I could see why.
Nigel

Sharon Horgan’s pitch-black comedy is back, plus a gripping new drama about a mother of 10 abducted in Northern Ireland during the Troubles

While season one provided a very satisfactory conclusion to the Garvey sisters’ feud with the monstrous John Paul, the aftermath of a murder can’t easily be shrugged off. So even if it does begin with a blissful Grace remarrying, the second series of Sharon Horgan’s black comedy has plenty to work with. After the body of John Paul’s father is fished out of a lake, the cops are all over his mother’s house and the Garveys have a new antagonist in the shape of Angelica (Fiona Shaw), the sister of Grace’s former neighbour Roger. It’s carried along by the writing, which balances trauma with salty humour, and the glorious performances that perfectly evoke the exasperation of sibling relationships.
Apple TV+, from Wednesday 13 November

Kathryn Bigelow’s action-bromance about bank-robbing surfer dudes is an enduring cult gem, thanks to its joining of tropes and tones

Director Kathryn Bigelow’s crazy action romp from 1991 now gets a rerelease. Eric Hobsbawm might have called it the final moment of The Long Eighties Decade of Action Movies, with shootouts, PAEs (pointless action explosions) and a recurring prosthetic cameo for Ronald Reagan. Bigelow’s feminist achievement in showing she could make an action movie as well as any man was perhaps, but probably not, underscored by a brief scene in which leading man Keanu Reeves gets a savage beatdown from a naked young woman.

Point Break is a freaky mix of Dog Day Afternoon and Big Wednesday; bank robbing meets surfing. Straight-arrow rookie federal agent Johnny Utah, played by Reeves – inscrutable and husky-voiced as ever – is posted to LA, where he’s partnered-cute with an older and irascible officer. This is Pappas, played by Gary Busey, who brusquely remarks how Los Angeles has changed in the past 20 years. “The air got dirty and the sex got clean.” (This is a surfing movie and as such really has to be set on the west coast; we know what Robert Duvall’s surf enthusiast Lt Col Kilgore in Apocalypse Now thought about people from New Jersey who presumed to voice an opinion.)

Egypt hopes the Forever is Now exhibition of contemporary artists, now in its fourth year, will bring even more visitors to the Unesco heritage site

A dismantled chariot, recreated in the form of two unruly metallic horses next to half-submerged wheels, and giant flowers popping out of the sand: visitors to the pyramids of Giza are being greeted by a series of artworks as Egypt stages its annual contemporary art exhibition at the 4,500-year-old Unesco world heritage site.

The Race by Khaled Zaki, which depicts a dismantled chariot. Zaki says putting art in front of the pyramids was an honour and a challenge. Photograph: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters