Sally Hawkins being replaced in the Peruvian bear’s latest romp is nothing new: from Ross’s wife-switch in Friends to Dallas’s short-lived Miss Ellie stand-in, recasting can cause confusion – and even fury

When Paddington returned to cinemas on Friday, audiences may have noticed something unusual about the Brown family. Mrs Brown has had a full body transplant. Sally Hawkins, who played matriarch Mary Brown in the first two films, announced last year that she was stepping down from the furry franchise. In the new “threequel”, Paddington in Peru , she has been replaced by Emily Mortimer. Happily her ursine adoptee doesn’t seem to have noticed, or he might have choked on his marmalade sandwiches.

This isn’t the only major piece of recasting to be hitting our screens soon. The fourth season of Netflix fantasy epic The Witcher sees star Henry Cavill hang up his sword as peroxide-mulleted monster-hunter Geralt of Rivia. Liam Hemsworth will pick up the White Wolf’s weaponry for the climactic two series. Nor will Kim Bodnia return, due to a scheduling clash with Apple TV+ motorsport film F1, so the role of Vesemir, Geralt’s father figure, will be recast.

The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey look at the impact of president-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the US on the Labour party, defence, trade and international relations. Plus Kiran heads to the Cop29 climate summit

Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/politicspod

Over the past 20 years, the symbol of remembrance for the war dead has become increasingly ubiquitous – and a culture of poppy policing has grown with it. By Samira Shackle

Vast human-made Lake Kariba is at near-record low, causing daily power cuts and devastating two African economies

All is not well with the waters of Lake Kariba, the world’s largest human-made lake. A punishing drought has drained the huge reservoir close to record lows, raising the prospect that the Kariba Dam, which powers the economies of Zambia and Zimbabwe, may have to shut down for the first time in its 65-year history.

Under the heat of the dry-season sun, the lake looks vast, serene. But, earlier this year, a severe effect of El Niño caused the worst mid-rainy season dry spell in southern Africa in a century.

Driven mostly by poverty, children as young as 10 have been enlisted by the country’s militias, while NGOs try to reach and reintegrate those who escape

Despite her slight frame, Constance* carried a rocket-propelled grenade into battle against Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. She bears scars on her face from the hot bullet casings that flew through the air in the heat of combat.

Constance was 13 years old when she left her home in the hills of North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to join a militia. “I went to war,” she says, from a displacement camp near the regional capital, Goma. “It was a nightmare.”

Female pilgrims tell of terrifying aggression, the lingering effects and their belief that their cases are far from isolated

It was on the outskirts of the northern Spanish town of Mieres, as she raced past colourful houses built of stone and wood-framed windows, that Sara Dhooma wrestled with the possibility that she might die.

Minutes earlier, the Canadian had been walking a remote section of the Camino de Santiago. After noticing a man was following her, she ducked into a cafe. When she re-emerged, the same man was seemingly waiting for her along another part of the ancient network of pilgrimage routes. This time he unzipped his trousers and grabbed his genitals.

Sexual aggression said to be ‘endemic’ on route through Spain, Portugal and France with solo female pilgrims at risk

• ‘I feared for my life’: stories of sexual harassment on the Camino de Santiago

Lone female pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago have spoken of being subjected to “terrifying” sexual harassment in near-deserted areas of rural Spain, Portugal and France.

In interviews with the Guardian, nine women alleged they had experienced harassment while attempting the pilgrimage route over the past five years, with several saying they had feared for their lives.

Authorities impose restrictions on bike hire after huge group blocks a highway between Zhengzhou and Kaifeng in China, as night biking trend takes off

A night-time cycling trend that started with four Chinese students riding 50km for dumplings blew out to a reported 100,000 people on Friday, jamming major roads, overwhelming a small tourist city and drawing the attention of authorities.

The pack of students, mostly on public share bikes, rode several hours through Henan province from their campuses in Zhengzhou to the ancient city of Kaifeng.

The firing of Garry Conille is the latest blow to political stability in Haiti, which has been wracked with worsening violence

A transitional council created to restore democratic order in Haiti has fired its interim prime minister Garry Conille and is set to replace him with businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, in a further sign of escalating turmoil in the Caribbean nation.

The decision, outlined in a decree by the council that was seen by the Associated Press, is expected to be published on Monday in the official gazette.