The Weekender

The Times editors have picked 11 stories for you to enjoy. Welcome to The Weekender.

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Chris George has lived in Israel and Gaza, where he was once held hostage. When his employees ask him to speak out about the latest war, he is torn.

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In Chile’s oldest and most overcrowded prison, prisoners have found solace in hundreds of stray cats.

The study has sparked a dispute over the age of a partially excavated site and warnings about the dangers of nationalist myth-making.

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A plan was devised to make the footballer ‘as famous as the Rock’. It started long before you would guess it.

An interview with one of the music industry’s surprising success stories of the year, known as much for his emotional openness as for his hit songs.

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It’s a very competitive year for the best Oscar. This is what can make the cut.

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A critic whose love for the operas of Giuseppe Verdi dates back almost sixty years, traveled to northern Italy to visit the places that shaped the man and his music.

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A dinosaur fossil for sale in London for $20 million epitomizes one of the most heated debates in paleontology.

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George and Roxanne Miller have moved the world’s largest collection of mechanical puzzles from their Florida home. But first they went on a road trip.

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Prepare for an invigorating new year.

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Thank you for reading. I’ll see you next weekend.

This edition of The Weekender is edited by Jonathan Wolfe.