Good morning. Oil prices have dropped after Donald Trump unilaterally declared that the US war on Iran was “effectively over”. During a White House press conference, Trump said Israel and Gulf allies in the region were well protected from Iran and that an escalation was not needed.

He said, however, that the US remained “locked and loaded, ready to go for any reason”, adding: “We’re seeing momentum toward the end of this conflict. I think it’s going to be ending fairly soon.” Brent crude has dropped below $90, its lowest level since August.

• What is the latest development with Pete Hegseth? A Republican lawmaker has moved to force a vote to impeach the US defense secretary. Thomas Massie, of Kentucky, introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, accusing him of illegally waging war without congressional authorization and abusing his powers.

• What has happened at a US airbase in England? The US military has reportedly evacuated aircraft from a second airbase in ⁠Britain after a threat from Iran. Two US refuelling tankers that were using the RAF Mildenhall military base diverted to Germany on Monday morning, while several other tankers at the base ⁠were moved to Germany and other locations later in the day.

Nvidia and its chief executive, Jensen Huang, have been accused of defrauding shareholders in a lawsuit over the Chinese spying scandal engulfing the $4.3tn company. The legal action came as Donald Trump said the FBI was investigating Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese spy.

There is little public information available about Alice Huang, a fact that has only added fuel to claims she is an intelligence asset. Rebecca Bailey has put together what we know about her, while Aisha Down and Dan Milmo have this exploration of how the affair may have harmed US security.

US supreme court allows construction of Trump’s border wall in Texas’s Big Bend to resume

The US supreme court has allowed Donald Trump to continue his administration’s construction of a border wall in Texas’s Big Bend region, including parts of Big Bend national park. The nation’s highest court granted the Trump administration’s emergency request to suspend a lower court order that had temporarily stopped the project.

Opponents have argued the project threatens wildlife and public lands, and could destroy “iconic sections” of the Rio Grande’s protected river corridor.

Judge clears way for Lindsay Clancy to be retried on murder charges

A Massachusetts judge cleared the way for Lindsay Clancy to be tried again on ⁠murder charges for killing her three young children, saying a retrial would not unconstitutionally subject her to a ⁠double prosecution for the same ⁠crime. He rejected an attempt by Clancy’s attorneys to have the case against her dismissed.

In September the judge declared ⁠a mistrial after the jury reported that a holdout juror was preventing it from reaching a unanimous verdict. March has been floated as the timing for a second trial.

Russell Brand sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for rape and sexual assault

The disgraced actor and comedian Russell Brand has been sentenced in London to more than 10 years in prison for rape and sexual assault.

Brand – who has recently tried to reinvent himself as a Christian influencer and has been a featured speaker for a Maha group allied with RFK Jr – was described by the British judge as a sexual predator who had used his fame and power to carry out crimes and protect himself.

In other news …

• M John Harrison has won the Booker prize for The End of Everything, a post-apocalyptic novel set on a near-future Kent coast in England. The 81-year-old becomes the oldest winner in the award’s history, and the first science fiction author to win it.

• France has said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were behind “unprecedented” cyber-attacks on supermarket fridges in the country last month.

• An Ohio State fraternity has been suspended after a viral video showed two men on fire. The university and police are conducting investigations over the “extremely concerning incident”.

• California voters failed to pass a proposed one-time tax on billionaires’ wealth.

• Joe Biden will undertake only limited promotion of his upcoming White House memoir because of advancing cancer, the former president has said.

• Boeing will cut about 5% of its commercial plane workforce through a mix of layoffs and attrition.

• Hungarian authorities have detained the brother of Viktor Orbán as part of a people-smuggling ⁠investigation.

• The only known handwritten final draft of MLK Jr’s I Have a Dream speech is to be auctioned. The document is expected to fetch more than $10m and the proceeds will be donated to several charities.

Stat of the day: More than 400,000 Russians killed fighting in Ukraine war, leaked data suggests

Death records leaked from the state statistics agency, Rosstat, have revealed losses since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began that are unprecedented in Russia’s modern history. The news comes as talks begin in Abu Dhabi, with US officials seeking a “final end” to the war and a new “long-term security architecture” between Moscow and Europe.

There are small pleasures to be had in The Greatest, but this straightforward retelling of the boxing champ’s life doesn’t have much most viewers haven’t seen before, Andrew Lawrence says. But at least it isn’t All’s Fair. Lucy Mangan gave season one zero stars. Season two has earned one. “Is this getting good?” she asks. No, I suspect is the answer.

Don’t miss this: How Grand Theft Auto became a cultural colossus

I’ve already devoted five minutes to clearing out the storage on my PS5 in anticipation of the mammoth download dropping. Christian Donlan explores the phenomenon that is GTA, with the newest instalment set to arrive next week.

Climate check: Slight fall in carbon emissions from fossil fuels as Iran war drives renewables push

Soaring oil and gas prices following the war in Iran have encouraged people to look beyond fossil fuels, leading to an easing of climate-damaging carbon emissions this year. Carbon dioxide from oil, gas and coal is forecast to flatline for 2026, based on data from the year so far.

Last Thing: KFC’s arrival at Italian ski slopes angers food and mountain purists

KFC will open its first high-altitude restaurants on the slopes of Cortina d’Ampezzo and Madonna di Campiglio, in the Dolomites. The move has not been entirely welcomed, with a prominent local businessman threatening legal action. The conflict hasn’t got quite as spicy yet as a recent food battle in Dortmund, however. Police were attacked as a crowd stormed a kebab shop that was offering introductory meals for the equivalent of $1.10.

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