Guardian writers and readers share the simple tricks they use to bring a bit of joy into their lives

During the pandemic, my husband found some wood on our street and used it to build a tiny, squirrel-sized picnic table. We attached it to the side of our fence with a handful of peanuts on top. Few sights are guaranteed to lift my day more than watching a “dining in” Nutkin parking its rump on the tiny wooden seat, occasionally glancing towards the house as if he’s waiting for you to bring the drinks. If you don’t have as much time on your hands as my husband did during lockdown, you can buy one on Etsy.

The world will be anxious, and rightly so. For a man so bent on a peace prize, Trump appears to revel in conflict

The overthrow and reported capture by invading US forces of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s hardline socialist president, will send a shiver of fear and consternation around the world. The coup is illegal, unprovoked and regionally and globally destabilising. It upends international norms, ignores sovereign territorial rights, and potentially creates an anarchic situation inside Venezuela itself.

It is chaos made policy. But this is the world we now live in – the world according to Donald Trump.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

From squats and lunges to the importance of maintaining a healthy weight, physiotherapists share advice on how to maintain strong knees and avoid pain

Of all the lower body joints, the knee is probably the one most likely to send you to the physiotherapist.

“It carries most of the weight of the body, and being a hinge joint, it means that it doesn’t have a nice socket structure,” says physiotherapist Dr Jillian Eyles, from the University of Sydney. “It relies on the ligaments and the joint capsules and the muscles around it to really stabilise the joint, and it’s fairly easy to injure compared to another joint that’s more supported.”

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Defenders say AI can do good to fight the climate crisis. But spiralling energy and water costs leave experts worried

During a golden sunset in Memphis in May, Sharon Wilson pointed a thermal imaging camera at Elon Musk’s flagship datacentre to reveal a planetary threat her eyes could not. Free from pollution controls, the gas-fired turbines that power the world’s biggest AI supercomputer were pumping invisible fumes into the Tennessee sky.

“It was jaw-dropping,” said Wilson, a former oil and gas worker from Texas who has documented methane releases for more than a decade and estimates xAI’s Colossus datacentre was spewing more of the planet-heating gas than a large power plant. “Just an unbelievable amount of pollution.”

The novelty of eating at a diner owned by the richest person in the world seems to have worn off in just a few months

Less than six months since it opened, Elon Musk’s Tesla Diner has the feel of a ghost town. Gone is the Optimus robot serving popcorn, gone are the carnivore-diet-inspired “Epic Bacon” strips, gone are the hours-long, hundred-person lines wrapped around the block. Even the restaurant’s all-star chef, Eric Greenspan, is gone. The Hollywood burger-and-fries shop seems like a shell of the bustling eatery it was when it opened in late July.

On a balmy Friday afternoon in December, the parking lot for Tesla car charging was, at best, half full. Inside what the company describes as a “retro-futuristic” diner, a handful of people trickled in, ordering burgers and hotdogs or asking for merch. The upstairs deck, AKA “Skypad”, was vacant except for a pair of employees stringing holiday lights. More staff was busy at work, buffing fingerprints off the chrome walls and taking out the trash, than there were customers. The diner was spotless.

From cheaper shopping to tax and travel cash, there is a host of resources to help you out. We pick some of the best

Money is central to many people’s new year resolutions – whether it’s trying to save more, organising what you have already, or improving your spending or saving habits.

If you have promised to tackle your finances this year, there are lots of tools and apps that can help you achieve your goal. Here are 26 to help you in 2026.

US president says ‘we’re going to run the country until a safe, proper and judicious transition’ can take place and that he is ‘prepared’ for a second attack

• Full report: US captures Maduro during ‘large scale’ attack

• Why has US attacked Caracas and captured Venezuela’s president?

• What we know so far about the attack

• Watch: Aircraft fly low over Caracas as explosions hit city

The Reuters news agency says it has been told by a US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, that the US carried out strikes inside Venezuela on Saturday.

The unnamed official did not provide details. As mentioned earlier, the White House and Pentagon did not immediately respond to request for comment on Saturday morning.

US president lauds ‘brilliant operation’ on social media as attorney general says couple will face criminal charges

• US attacks Venezuela – live updates

• What we know so far about the attack

• Watch: Aircraft fly low over Caracas as explosions hit city

Donald Trump has said the US “captured” Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flew them out of the South American country during a pre-dawn assault on Caracas and the surrounding region.

“It was a brilliant operation, actually,” the US president told the New York Times after witnesses in Venezuela reported a series of explosions. “A lot of good planning and [a] lot of great, great troops and great people.”

Trump is no longer bending the rules – he is demolishing them, with consequences far beyond Caracas

• US strikes on Venezuela – live updates

Hardly anyone expected 2026 to be a year of peace, and it was barely three days old when the worst fears were confirmed.

The overnight strikes on Venezuela – and the abduction of its leader, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife – have driven another truck through international law and global norms. But that is not even the most concerning thing about it.

Trump’s unprecedented capture of Nicolás Maduro follows months of military campaign and years of strained relationship

• US attacks Venezuela – live updates

Overnight on Friday, the US carried out airstrikes across Venezuela, with explosions rocking the capital, Caracas, before dawn. Shortly afterwards, Donald Trump announced that US forces had captured the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flown them out of the country.

The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said they will face trial in New York on charges based on a 2020 indictment alleging their involvement in narco-terrorism.