At Cop29 the global south needs to unite for sustainable growth, leveraging resources and negotiating transformative climate finance pacts

More than a century of burning coal, oil and gas has fuelled intense heatwaves, prolonged droughts, heavier rains and devastating floods. To prevent even more severe impacts, the UN global climate summit, Cop29 , must deliver tangible results to keep global temperature rises below 2C – the limit defined in the 2015 Paris agreement. Achieving this goal means human societies can only emit a finite amount of additional carbon dioxide, known as the world’s “carbon budget”.

Developed nations have exceeded their carbon budgets, while developing countries remain within theirs. Carbon dioxide lingers in the atmosphere for centuries, turning past unchecked fossil fuel use into a costly planetary bill. Between 1870 and 2019, the US, EU, Russia, UK, Japan, Canada and Australia – home to just 15% of the global population – accounted for over 60% of atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment .

Old-school charm faces off against big-money leagues, as short-form tournaments threaten to sideline the old order

Two cricketing worlds collide next week. Australia and India meet on Friday in Perth in the opening Test of what promises to be an epic encounter – the first five-match series between the two great rivals since 1991-92. Five-match Test series used to be the norm. However, with the exception of England v Australia, they have become rare. One‑day cricket, and especially Twenty20, has eroded the time available for the longest form of the game, forcing series to be shortened to three or even two matches. What used to be a novel lasting all summer has become a novella, over in a trice. But in this Australian summer, something like tradition again rules. Five Tests spread over a month and a half, with the Christmas and new year Tests in Melbourne and Sydney in their time‑honoured place.

The new cricket world, however, won’t let tradition dominate. Just two days after the Perth Test begins, the Indian Premier League (IPL) “mega-auction” will unfold in Jeddah , Saudi Arabia, underscoring the desert kingdom’s growing influence in global sports. Ten IPL franchises will bid on 574 players competing for 204 slots, alongside 46 already retained. In total, 250 players will take part in the two‑month 2025 IPL season next spring.

Readers respond to an article by Gaby Hinsliff told from people on both sides of family rifts, and share their own experiences

Gaby Hinsliff’s article ( ‘I never want you around your grandchild’: the families torn apart when adult children decide to go ‘no contact’, 9 November ) was a hard read, but a very welcome one given the increasing frequency of estrangement between parents and adult children. As parents who have been estranged for three years from our daughter, we too can testify to the sheer pain and sense of bereavement which occurs when estrangement happens out of the blue, and which is rightly highlighted in the article.

Like others, we have followed the psychologist Joshua Coleman’s excellent guidance and observations very carefully in an attempt to try to come to terms with this horrible experience, and welcome the fact that he highlights the role of therapists. There are many excellent professional therapists out there. However, it is our belief that our daughter’s therapist succeeded at a stroke in bringing about the destruction of a previously loving and constant family relationship. This has also included our young grandchildren, who now must be heartbreakingly confused at the sudden loss of their grandparents from their lives.

Jon Levett notes the importance of checking a therapist’s credentials and the action that can be taken, while Stephanie Calman says it would be useful to have one official licensing and regulation body

There is a lack of understanding of the role of voluntary registers in the regulation of those practising psychotherapy ( MPs urge government to regulate UK psychotherapists and counsellors, 9 October ). The UK Council for Psychotherapy’s registers of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors, accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA), only include practitioners who meet our exacting standards , robust training requirements and abide by our ethical and professional code .

For the small minority of clients who are not content with the service they receive from a registered practitioner, we have a clear and effective process for managing and investigating complaints. We will look into cases where there is evidence that calls into question a therapist’s suitability to be on our register. UKCP also accredits training bodies that adhere to our high standards of education and training.

Video showed Charly A, one of 51 men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot, discussing plan with Dominique Pelicot

A young vineyard worker accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot on six occasions over four years when she had been drugged by her husband also proposed drugging and raping his own mother, a court has heard.

Charly A, 30, is one of 51 men on trial over the rape of Gisèle Pelicot, whose then husband, Dominique Pelicot, crushed sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety medication into her food and invited dozens of men to rape her while she was unconscious over a nine-year period from 2011 to 2020 in the village of Mazan in Provence. Dominique Pelicot has admitted the charges, telling the court: “I am a rapist.”

Saatchi Gallery, London
The Wedge Collection, one of the world’s most prominent private assemblages of Black portrait photography – or indeed of any photography – lands in London

How did a Canadian dentist become one of the most important collectors of photography in North America? The story begins with one picture. Specifically, a James Van Der Zee picture of a young couple dressed in raccoon fur coats and posing with their Cadillac V-16 Roadster in Harlem. Everything is gleaming. It’s the ultimate aspirational image.

But this picture was taken 1932, the era of racial segregation in America. Slavery had been abolished 67 years previously but anti-black racism, including lynching, was rife, and rural southerners flocked to northern cities to escape it. Harlem, New York, was in the throes of its renaissance , as Black culture from jazz to literature flourished. The unnamed couple in the photograph, solemn and proud, embody that movement’s gumption, what Tina M Campt has called the ability of Black artists to “twin pain, trauma, loss, with Black people’s virtuosity in survival, and the capacity to inhabit tremendous joy in spite of all these things.”

Far-right president may announce country’s departure from agreement after meeting Donald Trump

There is growing concern that Argentina’s far-right president, Javier Milei , is set to announce his country’s departure from the Paris climate accord.

Earlier this week, negotiators from Milei’s government were ordered to leave the Cop29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, after just three days. Now, the Guardian understands that Milei is considering announcing a formal withdrawal from the agreement, and that a decision could be made after a formal meeting with Donald Trump .

New remit given to FCA by chancellor raises fears of a weakening of rules meant to avert another financial crisis

The financial regulator has been ordered to encourage more risk-taking across the City, raising concerns that the Labour government is in danger of watering down rules meant to avoid another financial crisis.

In an official “remit” letter addressed to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) boss, Nikhil Rathi, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said regulations meant to protect consumers should not stand in the way of “sensible risk-taking” by investors and the wider financial sector, which includes banks, asset managers and insurers.

The legendary documentarian has taken on his first non-American subject for an expansive two-part docuseries

One of the more reassuring aspects of the Donald Trump era has been the emergence of authors and historians as accidental therapists. When some new calamity erupts, there is Doris Kearns Goodwin , Rachel Maddow or Jon Meacham sitting at the national bedside with soothing words about how we’ve been here before and always got through it.

But when the Guardian calls Ken Burns, the quintessential American documentary film-maker who earlier this year delivered a commencement address that described Trump as “the opioid of all opioids”, he is surprisingly taciturn about how last week’s presidential election result affected him.