Mourners in Australia have fallen silent in honour of the victims of the Bondi beach attack.
The memorial was part of a national day of reflection to mark a week since the shooting in which two gunmen opened fire on an event celebrating the Jewish festival of Hannukah.
A 10-year-old girl, a British-born rabbi and a Holocaust survivor were among the 15 people killed during the attack.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was booed when he arrived at the memorial event - an expression of anger by Australia's Jewish community against his government after a rise of antisemitic attacks over the past few months.
As the sun set over Sydney on Sunday evening, a minute's silence was observed at 18:47 (07:47 GMT) - exactly one week since the first reports of gunfire at the famous beach.
There was heavy security at the memorial event. Some cordoned-off areas were guarded by armed riot squad officers who had their faces covered, while a police patrol boat was visible off the coast of Bondi beach.
For many Australians, this level of security is an unfamiliar sight.
A large crowd - many wearing kippas [the Jewish skullcap] or draped in Australian flags - gathered to listen to speeches after the observing the silence.
Bee balloons floated in the wind in honour of the youngest victim of the attack, Matilda - a reference to her nickname, "Matilda Bee".
And later in the ceremony, the crowd sang Waltzing Matilda, the song for which the 10-year-old was named.
Soon, they were chanting the name of another child - Chaya, a 14-year-old who put herself in the firing line to protect a stranger's children. Shot in the leg, she used crutches to take to the stage and urge the nation to be brave and kind.
"If you guys get inspired by one thing, one thing on all this, be the light in that field of darkness," she said.
The event ended with the lighting of the menorah - something the crowds gathered for Hannukah last week couldn't do.
Sunday's memorial was not limited to Bondi beach - or the state of New South Wales. In a nation-wide gesture of "light over darkness", the windowsills of countless homes were lined with candles.
Watch: Moment Australian PM Anthony Albanese booed at Bondi memorial
As Albanese arrived for the ceremony, one person in the crowd shouted: "Blood on your hands."
The prime minister looked startled at the hostility, his wife Jodie Haydon grasping his arm in support.
At least one member of the crowd was tackled by police after moving towards the prime minister.
The Jewish community in Australia has repeatedly said this attack was a shock, not a surprise after a rise in antisemitic attacks in Australia since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent military retaliation war launched by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
The overwhelming view is that more could and should have been done to prevent the Sydney attack from happening.
Albanese has acknowledged the criticism, saying "I accept my responsibility for the part in that as prime minister of Australia."
More widely, Albanese has been accused by some of siding with the Palestinians over supporting Israel and the relationship worsened when he moved to recognise the state of Palestine earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused him - as well as the leaders of other countries that have recognised a Palestinian state - of rewarding Hamas.
After the Bondi beach attack last Sunday, Netanyahu said Albanese's government "did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia".
In contrast to the reception for the Australian prime minister, Chris Minns, the Premier of New South Wales, was praised at the Sydney memorial service as an exemplary leader, partly for the speed with which he admitted government errors in the lead-up to the attack.
He also attended the funerals of several victims this week. Albanese was not invited to some.
"We are deeply sorry." Minns said at the event. "We grieve with you, and with humility, I acknowledge that the government's highest duty is to protect its citizens. And we did not do that one week ago."
The shooting had "highlighted a deep vein of antisemitic hate in our community", Minns said, adding: "This must be confronted."
The president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, David Ossip, was hailed with loud cheers as he called for a "Royal Commission which goes beyond New South Wales, to get to the bottom of how this catastrophe took place".
Naveed Akram, 24, has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist act. His father Sajid was killed during the attack.
Days after the attack, Prime Minister Albanese announced a raft of measures to crack down on hate speech and incitement to violence.
Before Sunday's ceremonu, he announced a review into the police and national intelligence agencies.
"The ISIS-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation," Albanese said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.
He has also said he will reform gun laws and the government has launched a gun buyback scheme - the largest since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, which left 35 people dead and prompted Australia to introduce world-leading gun control measures.
Trail hunting is set to be banned in England and Wales as part of a new animal welfare strategy to be published by the government on Monday.
The practice sees an animal-based scent trail laid for dogs to follow rather than a real animal, while a group of hunters follows the pack on horseback.
It has remained legal since the 2004 hunting ban came into force, because it does not explicitly involve the killing of animals.
However the government, which made a manifesto commitment to bring in the ban, says the practice is being used as a "smokescreen" for the hunting of wild animals.
Hunting with hounds has been a tradition in parts of the UK for centuries, but the 2004 Hunting Act placed restrictions on the practice.
The act banned the use of dogs to hunt wild mammals - including foxes, hares, deer and mink - across England and Wales.
Trail hunting involves laying a trail using a rag soaked in animal scent which hounds can chase. The intention is to replicate the pursuit across the countryside, without the need to kill animals.
In April, anti-hunting group the League Against Cruel Sports said that nearly 1,600 incidents, including 397 reports of foxes being chased, were recorded nationwide during the last hunting season.
The chief executive of the Country Alliance, Tim Bonner, said revisiting the issue of trail hunting was "completely unnecessary".
He said: "It is unbelievable that the government wants to waste more parliamentary time on hunting.
"This issue was settled 20 years ago as far as Labour was concerned but it does not seem to be able to leave it alone."
Mr Bonner also spoke about the Labour party's relationship with rural constituents, adding: "People across the countryside will be shocked that after Labour's attack on family farms and its neglect of rural communities it thinks banning trail hunting and snares used for fox control are a political priority."
The British Hound Sports Association (BHSA) has previously said trail hunts are "vital" to rural communities as they not only bring in money into the rural economy, but also support mental and physical wellbeing.
Ministers will consult on the details of the ban in the new year.
The minister for animal welfare, Baroness Hayman said the government would start work on implementing the plans.
"In our manifesto we said we would ban trail hunting, and that's exactly what we'll do.
"There are concerns that trail hunting is being used a smokescreen for the hunting of wild animals, and that's not acceptable.
"We are working out the best approach to take the ban forward and will run a consultation to seek views in the new year".
Trail hunting is already banned in Scotland. Hunting with dogs remains legal in Northern Ireland.
The migrants were brought to Dover by Border Force and the RNLI
More than 800 migrants in 13 boats crossed the English Channel on Saturday, according to Home Office data.
The figure is a record for a December day in recent years, and is believed to be due to a backlog of people wanting to get across to Kent because of recent bad weather.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "The number of small boat crossings are shameful and the British people deserve better."
The 803 migrants were brought ashore at Dover by Border Force and RNLI vessels.
While the number of people making the dangerous journey across the Channel has risen more swiftly in 2025 than recent years, the yearly total has still not surpassed that of 2022, when 45,755 arrived.
The government statement added: "This Government is taking action. We have removed almost 50,000 people who were here illegally, and our historic deal with the French means those who arrive on small boats are now being sent back."
Weather forecasts
Charities supporting migrants in Calais say there was an unusually high number of people in the makeshift camps in northern France for this time of year, wanting to get to the UK.
That follows a recent period of 28 days when no small-boat crossings were possible because of windy conditions in the Channel.
Saturday was extremely calm at sea, and the smugglers - adept at studying the weather forecasts - were quick to load large groups of people onto overloaded dinghies.
The English Channel is one of the most dangerous and busiest shipping lanes in the world.
Many migrants come from some of the poorest and most chaotic parts of the world, and many ask to claim asylum once they are picked up by the UK authorities.
Gareth Fuller/PA Media
A total of 41,455 migrants have crossed the Channel in 2025 so far
The Government meanwhile continues efforts to grasp the so-called "upstream" causes of the migration crisis, including through work with neighbouring countries.
Just this week, Germany passed a new law which could see people smugglers face up to 10 years in prison for trying to bring migrants to the UK.
The law change, which will come into force before the end of the year, aims to give more powers to law enforcement and prosecutors, and boost information sharing between the UK and Germany.
It follows a deal agreed between the two countries in December last year to tackle illegal migration, including taking action to remove smugglers' advertising on social media.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "This major change in German law is the result of our close partnership working to tackle illegal migration and organised immigration crime.
"We will continue to ramp up our international co-operation to strengthen our own border security."
The D.S.A. is still small. But as economic inequality keeps burning, Democratic Socialists are attracting intense interest and getting elected to office.
Mourners in Australia have fallen silent in honour of the victims of the Bondi beach attack.
The memorial was part of a national day of reflection to mark a week since the shooting in which two gunmen opened fire on an event celebrating the Jewish festival of Hannukah.
A 10-year-old girl, a British-born rabbi and a Holocaust survivor were among the 15 people killed during the attack.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was booed when he arrived at the memorial event - an expression of anger by Australia's Jewish community against his government after a rise of antisemitic attacks over the past few months.
As the sun set over Sydney on Sunday evening, a minute's silence was observed at 18:47 (07:47 GMT) - exactly one week since the first reports of gunfire at the famous beach.
There was heavy security at the memorial event. Some cordoned-off areas were guarded by armed riot squad officers who had their faces covered, while a police patrol boat was visible off the coast of Bondi beach.
For many Australians, this level of security is an unfamiliar sight.
A large crowd - many wearing kippas [the Jewish skullcap] or draped in Australian flags - gathered to listen to speeches after the observing the silence.
Bee balloons floated in the wind in honour of the youngest victim of the attack, Matilda - a reference to her nickname, "Matilda Bee".
And later in the ceremony, the crowd sang Waltzing Matilda, the song for which the 10-year-old was named.
Soon, they were chanting the name of another child - Chaya, a 14-year-old who put herself in the firing line to protect a stranger's children. Shot in the leg, she used crutches to take to the stage and urge the nation to be brave and kind.
"If you guys get inspired by one thing, one thing on all this, be the light in that field of darkness," she said.
The event ended with the lighting of the menorah - something the crowds gathered for Hannukah last week couldn't do.
Sunday's memorial was not limited to Bondi beach - or the state of New South Wales. In a nation-wide gesture of "light over darkness", the windowsills of countless homes were lined with candles.
Watch: Moment Australian PM Anthony Albanese booed at Bondi memorial
As Albanese arrived for the ceremony, one person in the crowd shouted: "Blood on your hands."
The prime minister looked startled at the hostility, his wife Jodie Haydon grasping his arm in support.
At least one member of the crowd was tackled by police after moving towards the prime minister.
The Jewish community in Australia has repeatedly said this attack was a shock, not a surprise after a rise in antisemitic attacks in Australia since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent military retaliation war launched by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
The overwhelming view is that more could and should have been done to prevent the Sydney attack from happening.
Albanese has acknowledged the criticism, saying "I accept my responsibility for the part in that as prime minister of Australia."
More widely, Albanese has been accused by some of siding with the Palestinians over supporting Israel and the relationship worsened when he moved to recognise the state of Palestine earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused him - as well as the leaders of other countries that have recognised a Palestinian state - of rewarding Hamas.
After the Bondi beach attack last Sunday, Netanyahu said Albanese's government "did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia".
In contrast to the reception for the Australian prime minister, Chris Minns, the Premier of New South Wales, was praised at the Sydney memorial service as an exemplary leader, partly for the speed with which he admitted government errors in the lead-up to the attack.
He also attended the funerals of several victims this week. Albanese was not invited to some.
"We are deeply sorry." Minns said at the event. "We grieve with you, and with humility, I acknowledge that the government's highest duty is to protect its citizens. And we did not do that one week ago."
The shooting had "highlighted a deep vein of antisemitic hate in our community", Minns said, adding: "This must be confronted."
The president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, David Ossip, was hailed with loud cheers as he called for a "Royal Commission which goes beyond New South Wales, to get to the bottom of how this catastrophe took place".
Naveed Akram, 24, has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist act. His father Sajid was killed during the attack.
Days after the attack, Prime Minister Albanese announced a raft of measures to crack down on hate speech and incitement to violence.
Before Sunday's ceremonu, he announced a review into the police and national intelligence agencies.
"The ISIS-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation," Albanese said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.
He has also said he will reform gun laws and the government has launched a gun buyback scheme - the largest since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, which left 35 people dead and prompted Australia to introduce world-leading gun control measures.
England's latest humiliation down under will be remembered as their worst in recent times not only for its rapid nature, but also because this was supposed to be an opportunity to regain the Ashes from a weakened Australia.
This is how England gave themselves no chance, from selection and preparation, to booze and the beach in Noosa.
Seeds sown long ago
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Mark Wood's Ashes series lasted just 11 overs before he flew back to the UK
Hindsight makes experts of us all, but the failings of this tour began long ago.
It was a missed opportunity not to trial a genuine opener when Zak Crawley got injured in the summer of 2024, instead asking Dan Lawrence to do a job for which he is not suited. Lawrence has not been seen since.
If Jordan Cox's broken thumb in New Zealand 12 months ago was unfortunate – Cox could have been a badly needed reserve keeper in Australia – then the decision to send Mark Wood to the Champions Trophy proved immeasurably costly.
England so badly wanted pace on this tour, then managed to injure their fastest bowler in a tournament they were never going to win.
Assistant coach Paul Collingwood disappeared at the beginning of the home summer and has not been replaced, and there was no clarity on the identity of England's fast-bowling coach for this tour right up to the last minute.
Chris Woakes' dislocated shoulder effectively ruled him out of the Ashes, but there were still two other players in England's squad for the last Test against India that did not make it to Australia: Jamie Overton and Liam Dawson.
Overton took a break from red-ball cricket after using up a spot at The Oval which could have gone to Matthew Potts, Matthew Fisher or Sam Cook. Dawson - or any other frontline spinner – would have been pragmatic cover in Australia for Shoaib Bashir, whose form was an accident waiting to happen.
Even the announcement of the Ashes squad was an anticlimactic foreshadowing of things to come.
Whereas the British & Irish Lions unveiled their Australian tour squad in front of 2,000 fans at the O2 in London, England hustled out their team on a press release with no notice a couple of hours after the death of legendary umpire Dickie Bird was announced.
When it came, the 12-month hokey-cokey over Ollie Pope's place continued as he was replaced as vice-captain, adding further fuel to a Jacob Bethell debate that is still to be settled.
Director of cricket Rob Key did not speak to explain the squad until a full 24 hours later, at which point he ended Woakes' international career, taking the moment away from the man himself.
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
England's warm-up against their own Lions team in Lilac Hill was a world away from what they encountered in the first Test at Perth Stadium
For all the criticism of England's pre-series plans in Australia, the immovable obstacle to more warm-up matches was a white-ball tour of New Zealand that had been in the diary for years.
Despite England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Richard Thompson claiming the series against the Black Caps was strong Ashes preparation, England lost three of four completed matches, effectively played at the end of the New Zealand winter.
England ultimately got the Ashes warm-up they wanted – an intra-squad match against the England Lions. However, there is evidence of buyer's remorse through their opening of negotiations with Cricket Australia over an agreement to guarantee better preparation on future Ashes tours.
If there was an offer of a match against a state team or Australia A, it was too close to the tour of New Zealand for England to make it work. England insist they asked for time at the Waca, only to be told the ground was not available. When England made the request is not clear. The Barmy Army managed to book a game there.
The Lilac Hill conditions for the warm-up match were slow and low, far removed from the pace and bounce of Perth Stadium.
The overall attitude was laid back. England team analyst Rupert Lewis donned whites to run the drinks and music played from the dressing rooms throughout the three days. Harry Brook's shots demonstrated his disdain for the exercise.
As the Lions players not involved were sent on laps of the park as part of a tough fitness programme, Bashir's bowling was hammered by his own team-mates and Wood had to go for a scan on his hamstring eight overs into his comeback.
A hint of farce came when the scorecard malfunctioned, showing Wood to be batting despite being in hospital at the time.
Perhaps the most memorable moment of the Lilac Hill week came before a ball was bowled, when captain Ben Stokes described critics of England's plans as "has-beens". It was a slip of the tongue, but one that could have been corrected immediately.
Two down in six days
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Ben Stokes said his dressing room was "no place for weak men" after the second Test defeat in Brisbane
England dealt well with the build-up to the first Test. Josh Tongue and Jamie Smith swatted away questions about golf, stumpings and moral victories.
Dominant at lunch on day two in Perth, England lost before stumps on the same day.
Stokes said he was shell-shocked in some tetchy post-match media interactions, comments that were used against the captain as England lost the PR battle in the days after the Test.
England were followed by photographers to golf courses and even an aquarium, while housing the squad in a hotel attached to a casino was probably a mistake. Some of the group developed a penchant for an Australian brand of takeaway frozen yoghurt.
The decision not to send more players to the Lions' day-night game against a Prime Minister's XI in Canberra was put down to the difference in conditions between the capital and Brisbane.
However, a week's worth of radio silence did not help the tourists. Former Australia pace bowler Mitchell Johnson accused them of being "arrogant".
England instead opted for five days of training in Brisbane, a workload that head coach Brendon McCullum would later claim left his team "overprepared" for the second Test.
When Stokes finally broke the media blackout, he clarified the "has-beens" comment and responded to Johnson by saying England could be called "rubbish", rather than arrogant.
As the build-up to the Test continued, Stokes and Pope had to respond to pictures of the captain, Wood and Smith riding escooters without helmets – an offence punishable by a fine under Queensland law.
On the field, Root's long-awaited first hundred in Australia was rendered useless by some awful shots by his team-mates and England missed five catches.
Following yet another defeat at the Gabba, Stokes said his dressing room is "no place for weak men" – words that could come back later in the tour.
On the beach
Image source, MixFM
Image caption,
Ben Stokes poses with Archie and Bretz, presenters on Sunshine Coast radio station MixFM
England said their four nights in the beach resort of Noosa had been scheduled for more than a year, which possibly leaves it as one of the best-planned parts of the tour.
Some used it in the spirit it was intended. Root, for example, had accommodation with his family away from the main drag and was never spotted near a bar. It was curious that more family members were not present for what was billed as a break from the Ashes.
For others, it was a glorified stag do. Some members of the team followed two days of drinking in Brisbane with four more in Noosa – six in total, as many days as there had been of Test cricket at this point in the tour.
The England party was hardly inconspicuous, drinking by the side of the road, with plenty wearing traditional Akubra hats that became the uniform of the holiday.
There was a three-line whip issued to attend a kick-about on the beach, where England were sledged by local radio DJs and mingled with other holidaymakers.
Stokes was seen out running, while on another occasion strength and conditioning coach Pete Sim invited the entire group for a run along the coast at 07:45am. Smith, Bashir and Tongue were the only players to turn out.
At the end of the trip, a member of the England security staff was accused of a physical confrontation with a cameraman from TV network Seven following a back-and-forth in Brisbane airport.
Despite the gags and attention from Australian media about their time on the beach, England probably put in their best performance of a bad bunch in the Test after their jollies in Noosa.
All over in Adelaide
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
This is the fourth successive Ashes tour in which England have lost the first three Tests
By the third Test, England's messaging had become mixed. Stokes talked of "enjoying the pressure", despite actively looking to remove pressure from his team over the previous three years.
Brook said England had not spoken about cricket in Noosa, whereas Stokes admitted there had been "raw" conversations. Crawley would later claim not to know about the "weak men" comments.
Perhaps aware fielding had let them down, England engaged in some rare fielding drills.
At an Adelaide ground renowned for helping spinners, England left out Bashir, a decision explained by the need for Will Jacks' batting at number eight. Assistant coach Jeetan Patel insisted Bashir had not become "unselectable".
After putting so much emphasis on high pace, England were left with part-time spinner Jacks bowling more overs than anyone else in the match.
Outwardly, England remained relaxed. McCullum's walk to the Adelaide Oval twice passed through BBC Radio 5 live shows being broadcast from outside the team hotel. Patel left a news conference with the words: "Enjoy your evening. Have a pint, because I will be."
England showed some overdue fight and even took the Test into the final day, but the Ashes were lost in 11 days of cricket. It doesn't feel like the squad will fall apart, even if 5-0 seems inevitable.
The year's biggest artists included (L-R): Rosalía, Jarvis Cocker, PinkPantheress, Bad Bunny and Addison Rae
Songs about love, sex, tax and demon hunters ranked among the best music of 2025, according to a "poll of polls" conducted by BBC News.
We compiled more than 30 end-of-year lists from leading music publications to come up with a "super-ranking" of the year's best albums and singles, with artists including Pulp, Lady Gaga and Chappell Roan joined by newcomers like pop singer Addison Rae and indie band Geese.
In total, the critics named more than 200 records among their favourites, although the year's biggest-sellers failed to impress them.
Taylor Swift's blockbuster album The Life Of A Showgirl only picked up a handful of nominations. The year's biggest single, Alex Warren's Ordinary, appeared in just one list of 2025's best songs.
Instead, critics selected music that shifted the tectonic plates of pop... Here's a guide to their favourites.
The 10 best albums of 2025
10) Addison Rae – Addison
Columbia Records
After a shaky start in 2021, Addison Rae's music career took flight with this collection of shimmering, trance-like hymns to desire. The desire for touch, the desire for fame, the desire for inner peace.
Unlike most modern pop albums, it's the work of just three people, with Rae and her collaborators Elvira Anderfjärd and Luka Kloser establishing a stylish, spacey and occasionally off-kilter sonic palette all of their own.
Singles like Diet Pepsi and Headphones On felt simultaneously classic and futuristic, marking Rae out as pop's newest It Girl.
West End Girl is a savage and startlingly detailed portrait of a marriage being torn apart. Allen says some of the details have been exaggerated, but her pain is tangible amongst the artful pop beats and faux insouciance.
The dirty laundry triggered an avalanche of press coverage when the album arrived in November, but the songs have lingered as everyone remembers just how well Allen can craft an intoxicating pop hook.
Listen to Madeline: Where Allen confronts her partner's mistress, and recreates their texts.
Pulp's first album since 2001, More, somehow manages to sound as if it was recorded and shelved in their mid-90s heyday.
The lyrics are the only giveaway that this is the work of a band in their late middle age - as Jarvis Cocker sings movingly about stagnation, divorce and mortality. "You've gone from all you that could be to all that you once were," he laments on Slow Jam.
Yet, at 62, he remains stubbornly committed to the transformative power of love. And the reception Pulp received at Glastonbury this summer went a long way to proving him right.
What a wild year it's been for Dijon Duenas. After contributing to Bon Iver's Sable, Fable and Justin Bieber's acclaimed comeback, Swag, he scored two Grammy nominations for his second album, Baby.
It's a dazzling, harmony-rich R&B record, that channel-hops between genres and moods like a television tuned to the twin spirits of Prince and D'Angelo.
The album's central theme is the ecstasy and chaos of fatherhood, with Dijon addressing the title track to his firstborn, then imploring his wife to expand the family on the subtly-titled Another Baby! Sleepless nights have never sounded so good.
Listen to Yamaha: A swirling 80s funk groove allows Dijon to submerge himself in the bliss of enduring love.
6) FKA Twigs – Eusexua
Atlantic Records
Eusexua, FKA Twigs has said, is a word that describes "the tingling clarity" you get when you're struck by a new idea, when you kiss a stranger, or even "the moment before an orgasm".
The album attempts to recreate that feeling with a series of abstract, futuristic soundscapes and deconstructed club tracks. Echoing Madonna's Ray of Light (most notably on Girl Feels Good), the hooks are as sharp as the dopamine is addictive.
Coronation Street! Social anxiety! Late stage capitalism! Jamie Oliver! Grief! Road rage!
It's all there on Euro-Country, a riotously enjoyable romp through Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson's inner monologue.
Along the way, she tackles everything from male suicide to the impossible beauty standards that had her "trying to wax my legs with tape" at the age of nine.
French artist Oklou – aka Marylou Mayniel – described her debut album as a "quest for meaning, of the need to be touched by anything" in a world where our interactions are stripped of humanity and flattened onto a screen.
Co-produced by Charli XCX collaborators AG Cook and Danny L Harle, it couldn't sound less bratty if it tried.
It's an album of intimate, gauzy pop, almost entirely drumless and built around hypnotic musical loops that short-circuit your emotions. Unplug and absorb.
Listen to Blade Bird: The album's swooning climax, based on a Basque poem about the tension between love and possession.
His sixth album is a jubilant love letter to the music of his homeland, mixing traditional genres like plena, salsa and bomba with the hip-swaying pulse of reggaeton.
The irresistible grooves dare you not to get up and dance, while the lyrics agonise about gentrification and capitalism stealing the island's old magic.
Listen to DtMF: A lament for the loved ones he's lost, the album's title track translates as, "I should have taken more photos".
A savage and unpredictable record, Getting Killed was apparently recorded in just 10 days.
It finds the four members of Brooklyn-based Geese patchworking the best bits of Radiohead, the Strokes, Captain Beefheart and the Velvet Underground into something entirely new and unpredictable.
Frontman Cameron Winter anchors the chaos with his singular warble, and lyrics that swerve wildly between irreverence and incisiveness.
Listen to Taxes: Defiant, taut and full of swagger, Winter chants: "If you want me to pay my taxes / You'd better come over with a crucifix."
1) Rosalía - Lux
Columbia Records
If music brings us closer to God, Rosalía wants her music to bring God closer to us.
The Spanish singer's fourth album is an exhilarating - and profoundly moving - exploration of the human condition, that asks why the earthly and the holy have to be so far apart.
It's a monumental work. She devoted an entire year to the lyrics alone, singing in 14 languages, over music that sits at the lesser explored intersection of classical, flamenco and avant-pop.
In an interview with the New York Times, Rosalía agreed she was "demanding a lot" from listeners, "but I think that the more we are in the era of dopamine, the more I want the opposite".
Accordingly, it's an album that reveals fresh new treasures on every listen, as Rosalía argues we're all capable of grace and beauty. We just have to open our hearts.
Listen to Reliquia: As staccato strings are sucked into a vortex of electronic distortion, Rosalía sings about the sacrifices she's made for art and love, and concludes it's better to contribute to the world than take from it.
There's a sense of unease bubbling under this gentle indie rock song, as though singer Karly Hartzman is perpetually on the brink of divulging an uncomfortable truth. Built around the metaphor of elderberries, a fruit that can heal or poison depending on how it's handled, the song captures the tension of staying in a relationship you know is toxic.
Introduced by nostalgic strings, Folded became Kehlani's first Top 10 hit in her native US, blending classic R&B themes of heartbreak and longing with modern production. Using the simple act of folding an ex-lover's clothes as jumping off point, Kehlani captures the emotional push-and-pull of saying goodbye.
Addison Rae is a student of pop, and Headphones On is her master thesis – a hymn to music that whisks you away from the world for three minutes of distracted, hypnotic solace.
A seduction, a come-on, a hedonistic exploration of physicality. "Ginga me," Amaarae sings repeatedly over a throbbing electro groove – referencing the fluid, hip-swaying movements of the Brazilian martial art Capoeira. You'll succumb, and you'll enjoy it.
This boisterous, captivating salsa was recorded live with student musicians from Puerto Rico's Escuela Libre de la Música (take that, AI). But the celebratory atmosphere masks a broken heart, as Bad Bunny is reminded of the ex who taught him to dance. "I thought I'd grow old with you," he laments.
Netflix
K-Pop Demon Hunters' effervescent soundtrack was a breakout hit
Sometimes a song escapes its origins and goes into orbit. Golden was the last song written for Netflix's hit animation K-Pop Demon Hunters, but its soaring chorus became an anthem for anyone striving to achieve their dreams. An Oscar nomination beckons.
Two things you can expect from Chappell Roan are theatricality and emotional honesty. The Subway delivers both, becoming a map of loss that carries listeners through a breakup on the streets and subways of New York - capturing that confusing limbo of experiencing grief and loneliness, surrounded by hundreds of strangers.
A triumphant return to the sound of her debut album, Abracadabra takes all the Lady Gaga tropes – Nonsense lyrics! Demonic synths! Gothic choruses! – and dials them up to 11. An absolute banger.
Olivia Dean says Man I Need is a song "about knowing how you deserve to be loved and not being afraid to ask for it". The object of her affections just needs a nudge in the right direction, and this playful, soulful melody should easily set the romance on track.
One of pop's most overused clichés is that falling in love is intoxicating, just like drugs!
So it's a credit to PinkPantheress that she's made the idea sound fresh – zoning in on the fraught awkwardness of hooking up, whether it's with a dealer or a potential new partner.
"It feels illegal," she frets, as her heartbeat races with the drumbeat of this smouldering dance-pop anthem.
The methodology
BBC News compiled more than 30 year-end lists published by the world's most influential music magazines and critics - including the NME, Rolling Stone, Spain's Mondo Sonoro and France's Les Inrockuptibles.
Records were assigned points based on their position in each list - with the number one album or single getting 20 points, the number two album receiving 19 points, and so on.
The results were the closest we've ever seen. Just 52 points separated Rosalía's Lux from the number two album, Geese's Getting Killed.
In the singles countdown, PinkPantheress was the runaway winner - but the rest of the field was tightly packed, reflecting a year where there haven't been many universally popular, culturally dominant songs.
The publications we surveyed included: Albumism, Billboard, Buzzfeed, Clash, Complex, Consequence of Sound, Dazed, Daily Mail, Dork, Double J, Entertainment Weekly, Exclaim!, The Fader, Flood, The Forty Five, Gorilla vs Bear, The Guardian, Independent, LA Times, Les Inrocks, Line of Best Fit, MOJO, Mondo Sonoro, NME, New York Times, Paste Magazine, Pitchfork, Pop Matters, Rolling Stone, The Skinny, Slant, Stereogum, The Telegraph, Time Magazine, Time Out, The Times, Uncut and Vulture.
Peek the TV classic among the sea of retro paper chains and garlands
Tinsel, foil garlands, multi-coloured floral lights and a lounge that looks like Christmas threw up all over it are making a return.
Retro-themed decor is in, with trees jam-packed full of bold, mismatching decorations, as more people try to recreate a festive season from their childhood.
The nostalgic shift started last year, say experts, but over-the-top (and tacky to some) has become one of the top decor trends for 2025.
"After a long run of pared-back, neutral or traditional Christmases, people seem much more willing to embrace fun, excess and nostalgia again," says Harry Bradshaw, from events and interiors styling company At Last Events.
Felicity Hayward
No tree branches are being left empty as people embrace the brightly-coloured decorations
Retailers say they're seeing growing demand for decorations that can help recreate that familiar Christmas magic from years gone by.
"Maximalism is making a bold return," says Abi Wilson, head of seasonal and gift buying at Habitat, adding that people are turning to '80s and '90s-style colourful bells and bows, oversized ornaments and paper decorations.
Primark said younger Gen X, millennials, and older Gen Z shoppers were buying decor that reminded them of their childhood.
Marks & Spencer noted strong sales of its tinsel rosettes and tinsel tree skirts this year, while John Lewis said sales of "retro-nostalgic decor" had soared 180% in 2025.
Felicity Hayward is going all out this year to find that Christmas joy.
Back in October, as she browsed the charity shops near where she lives in Margate, Kent, she stumbled across a collection of colourful festive foil stars that reminded her of Christmas at her grandparents' house when she was a child.
The 50p decorations started what became a two-month endeavour, looking for retro baubles, garlands, and anything she could find to recreate those special years growing up in the '90s.
Felicity Hayward
Felicity spent two months trawling round charity shop and antiques stores for Christmas decorations
"Christmas always revolved around my grandparents," Felicity, 37, says. The family would spend the day eating homemade cheese straws, listening to Frank Sinatra, watching Christmas movies and playing board games.
"When I think back to Christmas, I think back to their living room, and I think back to their decorations."
Felicity Hayward
Felicity's grandparents kept the same decorations for decades with her grandad declaring the baubles were "for life"
Felicity hadn't bothered with any Christmas decorations since 2019. The combination of the pandemic and her grandparents' deaths in 2022 and 2023 had left her feeling far from festive.
But this year, her living room is an explosion of colour, bedecked with foil stars, tinsel and homemade paper chains and ribbon garlands.
Some people might see her decorations as "tacky", but Felicity says that "for me, all of those colours bring me calm".
"I literally cannot wait to get home on a night and turn all my Christmas lights on and lie on the sofa," she says.
Felicity Hayward
Felicity says her decorations this year remind her of spending time with her grandmother, Sybil, and grandfather, Geoff
Liza Prideaux agrees understated decorations are overrated and has embraced "nostalgic, vintage" decor at Christmas for the last two years.
"There isn't a strict theme, it's more about colour, texture and creating a cosy, lived-in feeling," the 36-year-old from Devon says.
"The colourful incandescent lights are my favourite," she says. "They make everything feel warm and cosy."
How we sprinkle festive magic in our homes is a "physical representation of what we emotionally need from our Christmas celebrations", says Hannah Bartlett, who runs the business The Christmas Insider.
The season is always a "steady anchor" and coming back to the same rituals and traditions each year can help "ground us", she says.
But Ms Bartlett notes that the current "uncertainty" in the world is making people find even more comfort in those traditions that remind them of their childhood. There's a desire to "return to simpler times", she says.
Decorations like tinsel and brightly-coloured lights "take us back", agrees 52-year-old Pandora Maxton from York, an influencer who means business with her elaborate festive displays.
"I think that's why it's having a revival, because it just takes people back to being kids. And that's what Christmas is about, isn't it?"
Holly Langley
Holly hosted a 1980s-themed Christmas despite not being born that decade
Holly Langley was born in 1990. But that didn't stop her from hosting an '80s-themed Christmas some 40 years later.
Holly, 34, from Reading, hunted in charity shops and vintage fairs for foil decorations, satin baubles, tablecloths and china. On the day, she served Christmas cocktails and jam roly poly, with '80s music playing and a quiz about the decade.
"Every year we do the same thing, right? Everyone gets out their Christmas pyjamas, we watch the same TV shows, we eat the same food," Holly says. Her '80s-themed Christmas was "a little bit different, a bit quirky, a bit fun".
Want to create your own retro Christmas? Here are Felicity, Holly and Lucy's tips:
Check charity shops, especially immediately after Christmas when people might be having a clear-out
Look on resale sites and apps, though be careful buying second-hand electronics like lights
Make paper chains that you can reuse for other celebrations
Ask relatives if they have any unwanted decorations
Play '70s and '80s music videos, films or adverts in the background
So why were decorations so bold and bright in the past?
In 1970s Britain people were looking for a "signal of hope", says vintage decor collector Lucy Scott, in a time of austerity, trade union action and miners' strikes.
It was also the age of flamboyant glam rock - Brits were going crazy for eye-catching style.
But there were also simply fewer options available in the 1970s.
"There wasn't necessarily a massive amount of choice, but the choice was for these kind of bright space age tinsel decorations... the majority from Hong Kong," says Lucy, 45, from Birmingham.
This started to change in the 1980s, when more people owned their homes and retailers like Woolworths and BHS started selling a wider choice of decorations, Lucy says.
Lucy Scott
Lucy, who collects old Christmas decorations, says the bright colours were a "signal of hope"
But Felicity says she bought most of her decorations second hand. "If you think about it, these tinsels are 20 to 30 years old and they're still intact," she says.
And it's not just a trend for her.
"This won't be a Christmas, this will be my Christmas now forever."
Itzik Gvili demands the return of his son Ran, the last dead hostage in Gaza, in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square
In central Tel Aviv, the main stage has now been dismantled in Hostages Square, the focal point for the campaign over the past two years to bring back Israelis held in Gaza.
Nearby, signs and posters have been taken down, and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum has vacated the offices that served as its nerve centre. Of the 251 hostages seized by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in the 7 October 2023 attacks, 168 have been brought back alive from Gaza, eight have been rescued. Only one deceased hostage, Ran Gvili, remains.
With songs and prayers instead of mass rallies, the Gvili family and a small crowd of supporters assemble in Hostages Square each Friday to mark the start of the Jewish Sabbath; this week, a candle for the Hanukkah holiday was also lit.
They are determined to bring back the young police officer who was killed by Hamas fighters after he rushed to help people being attacked in Kibbutz Alumim in southern Israel in October 2023.
"I feel every day is still the 7 October. We didn't pass the 7 October, but we are strong, and we're waiting for him. We do whatever we need," says Itzik Gvili, Ran's father. "This gives us hope: the support of the people."
Reuters
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum's slogan is: "Bring them home now"
From the start, people power has been key to the hostage families. As its operations wind down, members of the Hostages Families Forum have been reflecting on its extraordinary evolution which turned the grassroots group into a powerful international lobbying force.
In the terrible aftermath of the 2023 Hamas-led assault on southern Israel, which also killed some 1,200 people, a huge group of distraught relatives gathered for the first time in Tel Aviv desperately seeking answers about their missing loved ones. Because of the incoming rocket fire from Gaza, they met in an underground car park.
"We were together, shocked, and it fell on me that this is actually real, that now we are going to face this unbelievable challenge of understanding where all these people are, getting them home," recalls Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat had been snatched from Kibbutz Be'eri.
"And the second thing is that we're going to do this together. I'm not going to stand alone."
Reuters
Gil Dickmann (2nd R) said the public support gave him hope after kidnapping of his cousin, Carmel Gat
The formation of the new forum, with its slogan: "Bring them home now", gave the hostages' families a much-needed sense of regaining control.
"It was very, very powerful to feel that when the government and Israeli state, in a way collapsed in those very first few days after 7 October, it felt like nothing was working, what was working was Israeli society," Mr Dickmann says. "So many wonderful people came to help. That brought me a lot of hope."
Dividing its efforts between supporting the families - many of whom were bereaved and displaced from their homes following the attacks - and campaigning in Israel and around the world, the Hostages Families Forum worked with more than 10,000 volunteers. They included former Israeli diplomats, lawyers and security officials.
Funded entirely by donations, it began to pay some staff, and a high-tech company loaned its central Tel Aviv office space.
Reuters
A makeshift tunnel symbolizing Hamas's tunnel network in Gaza was constructed at Hostages Square
In November 2023 - more than six weeks into the brutal war in Gaza, which had by then killed more than 14,000 Palestinians according to the Hamas-run health ministry - Israel and Hamas agreed to a Qatar-mediated truce.
This saw most women and children hostages returned in exchange for Israel releasing more than 240 Palestinian prisoners, all women and children. Hamas also freed some foreign nationals.
But after a week, the fighting resumed with ferocity. About half of the hostages were left in Gaza. In December, three Israeli hostages were killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza despite the fact they were shirtless, waving a makeshift white flag, and calling out in Hebrew.
Israeli Prime Minister's Office/handout via Reuters
Itay Regev and his sister Maya were released during the November 2023 ceasefire
Those were difficult days for the Hostages Families Forum and in early 2024, with polls suggesting more Israelis prioritised eliminating Hamas over the return of those still held captive, it brought in political strategist, Lior Chorev, as campaign manager.
"We were in deep war in Gaza, deep war in Lebanon, there was the Iranian threat, and it appeared that everything was stuck, and public opinion was against us," Mr Chorev explains.
"As a civil society organisation, we could not impact whether or not there's going to be a deal, but we could work hard on the Israeli public opinion to ensure that if a deal came into place, it would have a sound civilian majority within the country."
Reuters
Gaza has been devastated by the two-year war sparked by 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel
As well as Saturday evening demonstrations in the plaza in front of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, now renamed Hostages Square, there were near-daily actions by the Hostages Families Forum ranging from concerts and art installations to civil disruption. Media and diplomatic teams helped keep the hostages at the centre of attention.
"They kept going 24/7 for two years," comments Times of Israel political correspondent Tal Schneider who, like visiting foreign officials, often went to the forum's HQ.
"This place became like a foreign ministry for the country, for the families of 250 people."
Looking back, Michael Levy says his intensive campaigning helped him deal with the "emotional rollercoaster" after his sister-in-law, Einav, was killed at the Nova Festival and his younger brother, Or, was taken hostage alive.
"The only thing that helped me was becoming active. I was interviewed all the time. I went with 15 different delegations to over 12 countries. I spoke to whoever was willing to listen and didn't want to stop and think," Mr Levy says.
"You need to stay optimistic all the time. You need to tell yourself every morning that today is going to be the day that he's going to be released, even though you know you are lying to yourself."
Reuters
Michael Levy's brother, Or, was released during the ceasefire that lasted from January to March 2025
Although a hostage-prisoner exchange deal to end the war laid out in mid-2024 was described by then-US President Joe Biden as an Israeli proposal, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was widely seen as dragging out hostilities to aid his own political survival – a claim he rejected.
Tensions rose between the Hostages Families Forum and Israel's government; there was open animosity from some government supporters.
The situation worsened after a Netanyahu aide was accused of deliberately acquiring and illegally leaking a top-secret document to a German newspaper to influence how Israel's public viewed negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage deal.
The document was misleadingly cast as suggesting that pressure on the prime minister played into the hands of Hamas.
Reuters
Hundreds of people were killed or taken hostage at the Nova music festival during the 7 October 2023 attacks
For Mr Dickmann and Mr Levy, there was a low point when they headed to Washington for Netanyahu's address to a joint meeting of US Congress in July 2024 with other forum members.
They showed off T-shirts saying "Seal the deal" during an ovation for the Israeli leader and were arrested for an unlawful demonstration. "That was one of the moments in which I felt most alone," Mr Dickmann says. "It was one of the most frightening things and it was while Carmel was still alive in captivity."
The worst news came a month later when Carmel and five other hostages were killed by their Hamas captors, as the Israeli military closed in nearby.
Mr Dickmann says it was only an "unbelievable support group" of younger forum members that helped him get through the ordeal.
After the Israeli deaths were confirmed, angry protesters flooded the streets of Israeli cities. The forum puts the total number at 600,000.
In Tel Aviv, a crowd of hostage families and their supporters marched with six prop coffins. A crowd gathered outside Israel's military headquarters and clashed with police on a major road.
EPA
The killing of Carmel Gat and five other hostages by their Hamas captors sparked a huge protest in Tel Aviv
By the start of 2025, international opposition to the devastating Gaza war had reached new heights as the number of Palestinians killed approached 48,000, according to Gaza's health ministry.
In Israel, polls indicated a clear shift in Israeli public opinion, with a growing majority backing a hostage deal to end the war. With the election of a new US president, the Hostages Families Forum was increasingly directing its efforts stateside.
"They needed to bypass their own government," comments Ms Schneider. "The most important person for the job was obviously [US] President [Donald] Trump. There were signs written in English carried by the people and they would pack all their messages into a one-minute video, and they'd send it to him."
Working with regional mediators, the US secured a new Gaza deal between Israel and Hamas in January 2025, just as Trump took office. The first stage brought back 33 hostages – eight of whom were dead – in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Five Thai hostages were also released.
But in mid-March, Israel ended the ceasefire, resuming its heavy bombing of Gaza, without starting talks on the deal's second stage, which involved a full end to fighting and the return of the remaining hostages.
The White House
Released hostages travelled to Washington to ask President Donald Trump to ensure the return of those left behind in Gaza
Frail and emaciated following his release in February under the ceasefire deal, Or Levy was emotionally reunited with his three-year-old son, his parents and brother Michael. However, Michael's joy was short-lived. He quickly resumed his campaigning with others in the Hostages Families Forum.
"I got what I wanted, I got my brother back, but I couldn't just stop," he says, "I couldn't be happy because in those 491 days, they became my family. I almost felt I knew all the other hostages, that every hostage still there was part of my family."
Newly freed hostages gave TV interviews saying they had been starved and beaten in captivity, sometimes in response to the ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Despite their trauma and fragile health, a few of the former hostages travelled to the White House urging President Trump to use his influence to bring back all the living and dead Israelis they had left behind in Gaza.
Reuters
Evyatar David was among the last 20 living hostages freed shortly after the current ceasefire began in October
There were more dramatic moments.
In September, an Israeli air strike unsuccessfully targeted the exiled Hamas leadership as it met in Qatar, a regional mediator, to discuss a new ceasefire proposal presented by the US.
However, the ultimate effect was to push the Trump administration - backed up by its Arab allies – towards a new plan to end the war, which had by then killed more than 67,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry.
Israel and Hamas agreed a ceasefire deal, under which all 20 living and 28 dead hostages still in Gaza would be handed over in return for almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli jails, as well as a surge in humanitarian aid and a partial Israeli withdrawal.
Reuters
Israel released about 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,700 detainees from Gaza in exchange for the living hostages
When Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, arrived in Israel just after the latest ceasefire started on 10 October, they were greeted by rapturous applause on stage in Hostages Square.
On 13 October, the remaining living hostages came back.
"I'll never have a happier day in my life," says Mr Dickmann, remembering seeing his best friends reunited with their loved ones.
Mr Chorev, the Hostage Families Forum's chief strategist, considers that long-held Jewish and Israeli traditions won through.
"This basic value of the Israeli theme that you don't leave anyone behind, that you're responsible for each and every Israeli held by the enemy, this was something that was unclear to certain elements in the Israeli government," he says. "But it was very clear to the Israeli public."
Tali (L) has been helping out hostages' families since the beginning of the war
Slowly, 27 of the dead hostages' bodies have been returned to Israel over the past two months.
Amid the ruins of Gaza, where health ministry officials say the number of Palestinians killed has risen to more than 70,000, Hamas operatives and the Red Cross have been searching for Ran Gvili's body east of Gaza City.
Now, the last funds of the Hostages Families Forum are being used to support the Gvilis and a few dozen volunteers continue to head to Hostages Square on Fridays.
"We have been here in the rain and in nearly 50-degree [Celsius] heat, from winter to summer," says Tali, from Tel Aviv. "Now that this is nearly over, I have mixed emotions. There is still one hostage who hasn't come back. I told myself I would stay until the last one."
A symbolic tunnel, a large "Hope" sign and a piano put in the square in honour of now released hostage, Alon Ohel - a musician - have not yet been removed, nor has the giant countdown board which marks the days since 7 October 2023. A final mass rally is promised for when Ran Gvili's body is returned for burial.
Itzik and Talik Gvili are determined to bring their son Ran home for a proper burial
Israel's prime minister has never appeared in Hostages Square, but he has met with released hostages and hostage families, including those from a small, alternative group to the Hostages Families Forum, the Tikva Forum. The Gvilis belong to both.
The family joined a candle-lighting ceremony on the first night of Hanukkah with Netanyahu.
"We will bring Ran back, just as we brought back 254 out of our 255 abductees," the prime minister said. "Some did not believe. I believe. My friends in the government believed. They said: 'It will be a miracle.' I said: 'This nation performs miracles.'"
But in Israel, painful questions linger over why more hostages' lives were not saved.
The Hostages Families Forum recently released harrowing Hamas videos recovered in Gaza which show the six hostages who were later murdered, including Carmel Gat, celebrating Hanukkah in a tunnel in 2023.
The hostage crisis continues to cast a long shadow over Israeli society; even as many take heart from the families' message of endurance and solidarity.
Additional reporting by Davide Ghiglione and Gidi Kleiman
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