Madison Keys gets Australian Open title defence off to jittery start

• American beats Ukraine’s Oleksandra Oliynykova 7-6 (8), 6-1

• Last year’s winner recovers after losing first four games

A nervy Madison Keys got the defence of her Australian Open crown off to a stuttering start, losing the first four games before rallying to stay in the title hunt.

The American ninth seed was a bundle of nerves on Rod Laver Arena, but calmed down to clinch a 7-6 (8), 6-1 win over Ukraine’s Oleksandra Oliynykova.

Australians must demand that their cultural custodians uphold freedom of speech | Margaret Simons

As we have seen after Adelaide writers’ week, defending the right of people to speak, even when we deeply disagree with them, is very, very difficult

Is there a way forward for Australia’s cultural life after the cancellation of the 2026 Adelaide writers’ week and all the other controversies played out over the past year, in which the custodians of our culture seem to have crumbled under pressure, only to kinda, sorta and belatedly rally?

I hope so, but it will take a more than rhetorical reflection on what we mean by freedom of speech, and what it requires of us.

After four shark attacks in 48 hours, NSW authorities urge beachgoers ‘just go to a pool’

Surfer taken to hospital with minor injuries after latest shark attack at Point Plomer beach on mid-north coast

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A surfer has been taken to hospital after being bitten by a shark off the coast of a New South Wales national park campground, the state’s fourth incident in 48 hours.

The local health district said the man, 39, was in hospital in a stable condition with minor injuries. The attack took place near the Point Plomer campground, less than 20km up the coast from Port Macquarie, on Tuesday morning.

Top U.S. archbishops denounce American foreign policy

The three most-senior cardinals leading U.S. archdioceses issued the rebuke in a joint statement on Monday, saying recent policies have thrown America's "morale role in confronting evil" into question.

Fierce winter storm causes 100-car pileup, brings snow as far south as Florida

The pileup in Michigan is the latest impact of the major winter storm moving across the U.S. More than 200 million people are in the path of the arctic blasts.

Miami, Indiana face off in college football title game

The College Football Playoff championship game is being held in Miami on Monday night. The Miami Hurricanes will take on the Indiana Hoosiers, who are making their first appearance in the title game. Tony Dokoupil has more.

U.S. Steel CEO says Trump's "golden share" won't stop company from "doing what we want to do"

Nippon Steel's acquisition of U.S. Steel came with an unusual provision, a so-called "golden share" that gives President Trump the power to approve some major corporate decisions. U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt talked to "CBS Evening News" anchor Tony Dokoupil about that golden share and the future of the company.

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy says military innovation will ‘transform’ air defences

President says air force’s new system involves ‘mobile fire groups’ and interceptor drones as he warns of fresh Russian attacks ahead. What we know on day 1,427

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Ukraine’s armed forces are introducing a new facet of air defence, made up of small groups deploying interceptor drones, as the country braces for new mass Russian attacks, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday. Ukraine is still reeling from a wave of Russian strikes earlier this month that knocked out power and heating to thousands of apartment blocks in freezing temperatures, particularly in the capital, and Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for air defences to be strengthened. “There will be a new approach to the use of air defences by the air force, concerning mobile fire groups, interceptor drones and other ‘short-range’ air defence assets,” the Ukrainian president said in his nightly video address. “The system will be transformed.” Zelenskyy announced the appointment of a new deputy air force commander, Pavlo Yelizarov, to oversee and develop the innovation.

Zelenskyy also warned Ukrainians to be “extremely vigilant” ahead of anticipated new Russian attacks. “Russia has prepared for a strike, a massive strike, and is waiting for the moment to carry it out,” he said, urging every region in the country to “be prepared to respond as quickly as possible and help people”. Zelenskyy and foreign minister Andrii Sybiha both warned at the weekend that Ukrainian intelligence had noted Russia was conducting reconnaissance of specific targets, particularly substations that supply nuclear power plants. Ukrainian energy minister Denys Shmyhal said on Monday that he had informed the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about Russian preparations for more strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities, including those that ensure the operations of nuclear plants.

The IAEA said on Monday that a back-up power line had been reconnected to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after repair work carried out under an IAEA-brokered ceasefire. The Ferosplavna-1 line is one of two high-voltage lines supplying electricity to the Russian-controlled plant in Ukraine and was disconnected earlier this month.

Russia launched a barrage of drone strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure overnight to Monday, cutting off power in five regions across the country amid sub-zero temperatures and high demand, Ukrainian officials said. Russian forces had launched 145 drones and air defences shot down 126 of them, the Ukrainian air force said. “As of this morning, consumers in Sumy, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Chernihiv regions are without power,” the energy ministry said. “Emergency repair work is under way if the security situation allows.”

Ukraine will face enormous challenges to organise its first elections since Russia’s 2022 invasion, with its infrastructure shattered and millions of people displaced by war, the country’s election chief said. Bringing Ukraine’s voter registry up to date and making the proper preparations for a vote would take significant time, Oleh Didenko, the head of Ukraine’s Central Election Commission, told Reuters. Amid diplomatic efforts to end the war, US president Donald Trump has demanded Ukraine hold elections, even though they are banned under martial law – in force since the invasion – and a majority of Ukrainians oppose a wartime ballot.

Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev will travel to Davos in Switzerland this week and hold meetings with members of the US delegation on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Reuters has reported, citing two sources. Ukraine’s top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said on Sunday that talks with US officials on ending the war would continue at the WEF this week.

Intense geomagnetic storms could make auroras visible in southern US

Major disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field may make northern lights visible far more south than usual

The aurora could be visible across Canada and much of the northern tier of US states on Monday night, and possibly even further south, following a major disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field, a forecast shows.

The forecast, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s space weather prediction center, comes amid intense geomagnetic and solar radiation storms, said Shawn Dahl, service coordinator at the center.

Fashion designer Valentino Garavani dies at 93

Acclaimed fashion designer Valentino Garavani, known simply as Valentino, has died at age 93. Seth Doane looks back at his life and legacy.

ICE operations, protests continue in Twin Cities as Trump threatens Insurrection Act

Some 3,000 federal agents are still in the Twin Cities area as President Trump is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act over continued protests against immigration operations there. Ian Lee reports.

Judge, wife shot inside their home in Indiana

A state judge and his wife were shot inside their home in Indiana on Sunday. Both survived, and a manhunt is on for the shooter, who apparently fired a shotgun through the door of their Lafayette home. Matt Gutman has the latest.

U.S. Steel CEO says it's "absolutely" still an American company after acquisition

"We have a fiduciary duty to Nippon," U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt said, but noted, "We're still mined, melted and made in the good ol' USA."

Trump ties Greenland threat to perceived Nobel Peace Prize snub

President Trump continued his push for the U.S. to take over Greenland, telling the prime minister of Norway his perceived snub for the Nobel Peace Prize meant he no longer feels obligated to "think only of peace." The prize is awarded by the private Nobel Institute, not the Norwegian government. Ed O'Keefe has more, and then Holly Williams joins with analysis.

‘The struggle continues’: MLK Day celebrated amid tense political climate

Holiday marked with parades and services but tempered by anxieties over racial and social equality under Trump

Martin Luther King Jr Day was marked with parades and services across the US on Monday. But the celebration for the achievements of the slain 60s civil rights leader was tempered by contemporary anxieties over racial and social equality and Trump administration’s crackdown in Minneapolis.

At a rally in Harlem, the Rev Al Sharpton referred to Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother of three who was killed by an immigration officer in Minneapolis earlier this month.

Lake effect snow sweeps Eastern U.S.

The Eastern U.S. was dealing with lake effect snow over the weekend as Arctic air is expected to bring frigid temperatures to much of the country this week. Rob Marciano reports.

Prostate cancer is most commonly diagnosed cancer across UK, study finds

Cancer charity highlights apparent ‘postcode lottery’ of testing and diagnoses across different regions seen in study

Prostate cancer is now the most commonly diagnosed form of cancer across the UK, surpassing breast cancer, according to a leading charity.

There were 64,425 diagnoses of prostate cancer in 2022, an analysis of NHS figures by Prostate Cancer UK found, and 61,640 new cases of breast cancer.

The 2016 trend on social media is giving me absolute chills. But could it be the cure for this new-year funk? | Eleanor Burnard

Millennial pink hair. Thigh-high boots styled with T-shirt dresses. Dare we even mention the Harambe of it all?

Lately, you’d easily believe we’ve travelled back into a sepia-toned, bygone era. Social media has been inundated with grainy images of purple sunsets, selfies adorned with flower crowns and outfits that largely consist of ripped jeans, plastic chokers and olive-green utility jackets.

Where the hell am I? And what year is it?

Extended interview: U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt

U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt talks to "CBS Evening News" anchor Tony Dokoupil about how his company will be investing $14 billion over the next few years, why President Trump's tariffs are a "game changer" and more.

Australia’s largest coal power plant to operate an extra two years to support national grid

Life of Eraring power station in Lake Macquarie extended to April 2029, Origin Energy says

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Australia’s largest coal-fired power plant, Eraring, will stay open for an extra two years until 2029, amid concerns about the national energy grid’s ability to support demand ahead of the station’s planned retirement.

The operator of the plant in Lake Macquarie, Origin Energy, had previously agreed a deal with the New South Wales government to extend Eraring’s closure from 2025 to August 2027. While the state environment minister said the new extension would contribute to NSW’s emissions reductions, climate advocates described it as a “disaster” for emissions targets.

Water firms could be let off pollution fines as part of government overhaul

Exclusive: Campaigners claim changes will let companies ‘off the hook’, as government prepares to unveil new white paper for water industry

Water companies could be let off fines for polluting the environment under changes announced in the government’s new white paper.

The environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, hailed the changes as “once-in-a-generation reforms” featuring “tough oversight, real accountability and no more excuses”.

UK ministers launch consultation on whether to ban social media for under-16s

Move comes as peers prepare to vote on an amendment to a bill that would enact a ban within a year of the bill passing

Ministers have launched a consultation into whether to ban under-16s from using social media as part of a package of measures designed to curb mobile phone use among young people.

Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, announced the consultation on Monday as the government responds to mounting pressure for stricter curbs on social media use for younger teenagers. On Monday afternoon, Esther Ghey, the mother of the murdered teenager Brianna Ghey, became the latest high profile figure to add her name to those in support of a ban.

Kostoulas’s brilliant bicycle kick rescues point for Brighton against Bournemouth

Just when it seemed that another match would be dominated by the dreariness of a debatable video assistant referee decision, a moment of majesty from Charalampos Kostoulas provided a pertinent reminder of the beauty that football can provide.

With his side staring at what would have been a controversial defeat, the 18-year-old Kostoulas found himself facing away from the Bournemouth goal near the penalty spot when the ball bounced towards him in the first minute of injury time. A touch on his chest bought time to set himself, before a wonderful bicycle kick sent the Amex Stadium wild.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms review – this is the Game of Thrones we all need now

The real world is way worse than Westeros – so why not let this heartwarming underdog tale of a simple soul and his ethereal squire be your safe space

‘Bless their little cotton socks!” is not a response one expects to have to any of the inhabitants of Westeros, the land of the bloody, violent, incestuous and often depraved series of Game of Thrones. But the endearing protagonists of the latest spin-off of the franchise, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, invite it.

Their names, as in the George RR Martin novellas on which the series is based, are Dunk – short for Ser Duncan the Tall – and Egg. Dunk (Peter Claffey, a suitably tall former Irish rugby union player, last seen in Bad Sisters) was squire to a hedge – non-noble – knight, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb), who took the boy under his wing but never quite got round to knighting the man before dying. We first meet Dunk burying his mentor under an old elm tree and taking up his arms against the sea of troubles that are about to engulf him. Dunk is a simple soul (very simple, some might say – he may look like a medieval Jack Reacher, but inside he is more of an eager but baffled labrador) and sets out to find a lord he can himself serve as a hedge knight.

I do not want to reconcile with my family, says Brooklyn Peltz Beckham

Son of David and Victoria Beckham takes to Instagram to open up about feud with parents

Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, the son of David and Victoria Beckham, has said he does not want to reconcile with his family.

The 26-year-old has spoken out for the first time and acknowledged the feud between him and his family in a post on Instagram.

LeBron James misses out as NBA All-Star starter for first time in 22 years

• World team will play US teams in mini-tournament

• James could still make team as a reserve

The first-ever World team for the NBA All-Star Game already looks loaded. And the fate of LeBron James’ record streak of All-Star selections will now be decided by coaches, or perhaps even Commissioner Adam Silver.

Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver’s Nikola Jokić, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Dončić and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama were among those announced Monday as starters – an inexact term this year – for next month’s All-Star Game at the Los Angeles Clippers’ home arena in Inglewood, California. They’re likely heading to the World team, which will take on two teams of US players as part of yet another new format for the midseason showcase.

The NBA announced 10 starters, five from each conference. Golden State’s Stephen Curry, New York’s Jalen Brunson, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey and Boston’s Jaylen Brown all are presumably headed to the US squads that will play in the three-team, round-robin tournament on 15 February – all 12-minute mini-games, with the top two teams advancing to a 12-minute championship game.

Thomas Frank insists ‘everything normal’ despite turmoil at Tottenham

• Manager has ‘been feeling the trust’ from club hierarchy

• Spurs hampered by injury crisis before visit of Dortmund

Thomas Frank has insisted the Tottenham hierarchy are standing with him in the face of the storm gripping the club.

The manager’s job is in the balance, his situation precarious after the home defeat against West Ham on Saturday. The Spurs support were so incensed by the result and the continuation of the team’s terrible Premier League form – they have won twice in their past 13 league matches – that they demanded Frank be “sacked in the morning”.

Italian fashion designer Valentino dies at 93

Garavani built one of the most recognizable luxury brands in the world. His clients included royalty, Hollywood stars, and first ladies.

Fed chief Powell to attend Supreme Court arguments on Trump bid to fire Lisa Cook

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's planned attendance comes as he faces a federal criminal probe about the central bank's costly renovation project.

DOJ appeals temporary restraining order on federal agents' response to protests

The Department of Justice on Monday appealed a recent ruling that limits tactics federal law enforcement is permitted to use in the midst of anti-ICE enforcement protests in Minneapolis.

Sheinbaum reassures Mexico after US military movements spark concern

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum quelled concerns on Monday about two recent movements of the U.S. military in the vicinity of Mexico that have the country on edge since the attack on Venezuela.

Karen Solie’s Wellwater wins TS Eliot poetry prize

Poet’s sixth collection explores the destruction of the natural world, with a perspective shaped by her upbringing in rural Canada

The Canadian poet Karen Solie has won the 2025 TS Eliot poetry prize for a collection of work, Wellwater, which explores the destruction of the natural world.

Solie was announced as the winner at a ceremony held at the Wallace Collection on Monday evening, and will receive £25,000 in prize money from the TS Eliot Foundation. Wellwater, her sixth collection, co-won the Forward prize for best collection last October, alongside Vidyan Ravinthiran’s Avidyā.

Spain to hold three days of mourning after train crash that killed at least 40

Officials say death toll likely to rise as rescuers continue to comb through wreckage in remote area of Andalucía

Spain will begin three days of mourning on Tuesday as rescuers continue to comb through the wreckage of twisted train cars and scattered debris to locate victims after a train collision that killed at least 40 people and injured dozens.

On Monday, more than 18 hours after a high-speed train carrying about 300 Madrid-bound passengers derailed and collided with an oncoming train, people across the country were still scrambling to make contact with missing loved ones caught up in Spain’s worst rail disaster in more than a decade.

Europe weighs using trade 'bazooka' against the U.S. as Greenland crisis deepens

European countries are reportedly considering retaliatory tariffs and wider economic counter-measures against the U.S.

Kremlin says Putin has been invited to join Trump’s Gaza ‘board of peace’

Russia says it is seeking to ‘clarify all the nuances’ of offer it claims Washington has made before responding

The Kremlin has announced that Vladimir Putin has been invited to join Donald Trump’s “board of peace”, set up last week with the intention that it would oversee a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists on Monday that Russia was seeking to “clarify all the nuances” of the offer with Washington, before giving its response.

Powell to attend Supreme Court arguments over Trump's move to fire Lisa Cook

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday over President Trump's attempt to fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors.

1/19: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," on the eve of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, a ceasefire deal takes effect and TikTok is shut down. Biden White House Middle East envoy Brett McGurk joins, as does incoming National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.

London City sign six-time Champions League winner Delphine Cascarino

• France winger left San Diego Wave by mutual agreement

• Daniëlle van de Donk delights in London City debut

London City Lionesses have signed the France winger Delphine Cascarino on a three-and-a-half-year deal, the Women’s Super League newcomers continuing their eye-catching recruitment drive by acquiring another highly rated international.

The 28-year-old Cascarino won six Champions League titles with OL Lyonnes. Her most recent club was the NWSL side San Diego Wave, with whom she parted ways on Sunday by mutual agreement, having wanted to move back closer to home.

Dozens of IS prisoners freed in Syria amid clashes between army and Kurdish-led forces

Two sides blame each other for release of inmates, as Syria’s president looks to gain control of north-east

Dozens of inmates from a jail holding Islamic State prisoners have been freed in Syria amid clashes between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and government-affiliated forces in the north-east of the country.

Videos released by the SDF showed what it said were IS members being broken out from a jail in Shaddadi by figures in black balaclavas. It said it had lost control of the building after an attack by government-affiliated fighters that killed or wounded dozens.

Donald Trump needs helpers for his appalling neocolonialist project. What else is this ‘board of peace’? | Owen Jones

Blair, Putin, Erdoğan, Orbán: the names of those invited to serve say it all. And it's about so much more than Gaza

The fate of the Palestinian people offers a warning about the future of humanity. When I recently visited the West Bank, Palestinians kept impressing the same point on me: Israel has turned their land into a laboratory. The technology of oppression that it has deployed – including in its genocide in Gaza – ranges from hi-tech surveillance to military drones and AI on the battlefield. These technologies have been exported to oppressive states across the world. And it doesn’t stop there.

This brings us to Donald Trump’s “board of peace”, now set to rule Gaza. In the sleepy Oxfordshire village of Sutton Courtenay, where George Orwell lies buried, the ground itself ought to be shaking. This isn’t peace. It’s naked neocolonialism.

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Italian fashion designer Valentino dies aged 93

His eponymous label is renowned for its opulent, elegant take on women’s fashion and has a legion of famous fans

Valentino Garavani, the designer central to pioneering Italian glamour with his eponymous fashion house, has died aged 93.

“Valentino Garavani passed away today at his Roman residence, surrounded by his loved ones,” his foundation said on Instagram on Monday. “Valentino Garavani was not only a constant guide and inspiration for all of us, but a true source of light, creativity and vision,” it added.

Donald Trump links Greenland threats to Nobel snub as EU trade war looms

US president tells Norwegian PM he no longer feels obliged to think ‘purely of peace’ as relations with Europe plunge into chaos

Donald Trump has linked his repeated threats to seize control of Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel peace prize, as transatlantic tensions over the Arctic island escalated further and threatened to rekindle a trade war with the EU.

In an extraordinary text message sent on Sunday to the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, the US president wrote that after being snubbed for the prize, he no longer felt the need to think “purely of peace”.

Ben Jennings on the special relationship between Donald Trump and Keir Starmer – cartoon

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Are you a homeowner? See which tax deductions you might qualify for.

It will mostly be business as usual for homeowners this tax season. However, new changes introduced under the "big, beautiful bill" may affect how they file.

‘We had to remove the dead to get to the living’: train crash shocks Spanish town

People in Adamuz rushed to help when two trains smashed into each other and say they will never forget what they saw

Just after 2.45pm on Monday, a huge yellow-and-green crane lorry swung off the main road that cuts through the forested hills of eastern Andalucía and beetled down a track to begin picking up the enormous, wrecked pieces of Spain’s worst rail disaster in more than a decade. Behind it rolled a support lorry and a convoy of police cars.

A few minutes’ drive away, between groves of olive and oak trees, lay the two stricken trains that had smashed into each other on Sunday night, killing at least 39 people and critically injuring at least 12 others. As investigators and Guardia Civil officers walked up and down the line by the twisted carriages, the nearby town of Adamuz was in the early stages of trying to process what had happened a few kilometres from its outskirts.

Woman died after riding Revenge of the Mummy coaster at Universal Orlando

A Florida agency's latest report on theme park injuries says a woman died after becoming unresponsive on Universal Studios' Revenge of the Mummy roller coaster.

Prince Harry accuses Daily Mail publisher of ‘terrifying’ intrusion

Duke of Sussex and six other high-profile figures say media company used unlawful information gathering

Lawyers representing Prince Harry and six other prominent figures have accused the publisher of the Daily Mail of “clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering” to secure stories about them.

In a witness statement submitted to the court, the Duke of Sussex accused the newspaper group of subjecting him to “intrusion [that] was terrifying” for loved ones, creating a “massive strain” on his personal relationships. He said it had the effect of “driv[ing] me paranoid beyond belief, isolating me”.

There’s no gold medal in the stress Olympics – here’s how to start resting

What if the thing we needed more of was to do less? What if this was the year we finally learned to rest?

Every new year – after the holiday glut of travel, parties, shopping and baked goods – there can be pressure to do and be more: more active, more productive, more creative, more thrifty. Maybe this will be the year I finally start meal planning or doing morning pages. New year, new me!

But what if the thing we needed more of was to do less? What if this was the year we finally learned to rest?

Physical rest: making sure you get enough sleep; taking naps.

Mental rest: journaling; meditating; doing tasks that are not mentally taxing, like puzzles.

Emotional rest: talking through feelings and experiences with a friend or therapist.

Social rest: setting aside time alone to recharge; making sure you’re spending time with people who don’t leave you feeling drained.

Sensory rest: spending time outdoors; taking breaks from screens.

Creative rest: engaging in creative hobbies like drawing, reading or dancing.

Spiritual rest: connecting to a cause or tradition that feels meaningful to you.

Did you solve it? Are you cut out for these puzzling slices?

The answers to today’s puzzles

Earlier today, I set you these three geometrical puzzles. Here they are again with solutions.

1. Bonnie Tiler

Noem backtracks on ICE pepper spray denial amid tension in Minneapolis

US justice department announced it is investigating protesters in Minnesota who disrupted church services

Kristi Noem first denied that federal agents were using chemical agents against protesters, then after being shown video footage turned to blaming the protesters themselves, as tensions continued to run high amid the Trump administration’s surge of federal officers into Minneapolis.

The head of homeland security, who has acted as spearhead for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in the city – known as “Operation Metro Surge” – told the CBS show Face the Nation on Sunday that her department had not used pepper spray against crowds.

Face the Nation: Graham, Kaine, Soeripto

Missed the second half of the show? The latest on...No date has been set for Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's controversial choice to lead the FBI. Despite comments by former Trump administration officials about Patel and what Patel wrote in his book, Graham tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that he is "ready to vote for Kash Patel", Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that he believes Hegseth would be a "very dangerous Secretary of Defense", and Save the Children president and CEO Janti Soeripto tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that amid the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, the organization is trying to connect more than 17,000 separated Gazan children with their family members. "It's a real moment of hope and peril at the same time," she said.

Fashion world gets first glimpse of Armani’s post-Giorgio direction

New menswear director Leo Dell’Orco appears to have ditched the ‘greige’ while embracing the brand’s history

What exactly Giorgio Armani looks like without its eponymous founder at the helm has been the burning question in the fashion industry since the designer’s death in September.

In Milan on Monday afternoon, it got its answer as the designer’s collaborator and right-hand man of four decades, Leo Dell’Orco, made his debut at the Italian fashion house where he will oversee menswear for the foreseeable future. It was the first Armani collection in which the late designer had no involvement.

Is this man the future of music – or its executioner? AI evangelist Mikey Shulman says he’s making pop, not slop

Worth a staggering $2.45bn, Suno is an AI music company that can create a track with just a few prompts. Why is its CEO happy to see it called ‘the Ozempic of the music industry’?

‘The format of the future,” says Mikey Shulman, “is music you play with, not just play.” As the CEO and co-founder of the generative AI music company Suno, Shulman currently finds himself in the exhilarating if perhaps unenviable position of being simultaneously regarded as the architect of music’s future – and its executioner.

Suno, which was founded just over two years ago, allows users to create entire songs with just a few text prompts. At the moment, you can’t prompt it with the name of a specific pop star, but asking for “stadium-level confessional pop-country” that “references past relationships” or “public rivalries” might get you a Taylor Swift-style song or thereabouts.

‘Gestapo tactics’: Bruce Springsteen condemns Trump team’s ICE crackdown

New Jersey musician said during concert in home state that US core values ‘have never been as endangered’ as now

Bruce Springsteen used a Saturday concert to decry what he called the “Gestapo tactics” of the Trump administration’s surge of immigration officers and said the country’s founding values “have never been as endangered as they are right now”.

While performing in his home state of New Jersey, Springsteen dedicated his 1978 song The Promised Land to Renee Good, the 37-year-old woman who was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Minnesota.

Champions Cup organisers defend format but consider changes next season

• Pool stages could revert to an October start

• ‘The format is delivering,’ European rugby chief insists

The organisers of the Champions Cup are looking to shift the start of the tournament back to October to add extra impetus to the pool stages. This year’s competition kicked off in December, but there is collective support from coaches and clubs to commence their campaigns before the packed November Test window.

The existing structure and calendar slots are technically in place until 2030, but there is growing recognition that a change could be helpful. Among other benefits, clubs would have a better chance of having their best players fit and firing before the autumn internationals which, in turn, could encourage more early season interest.

Positive thinking could boost immune response to vaccines, say scientists

People picturing positive experiences found to produce more antibodies, hinting at future clinical potential

Positive thoughts may boost the immune system according to research that points to a connection between the mind and our body’s natural defences.

Scientists have found people who used positive thinking to boost activity in the brain’s reward system responded better to vaccination, with their immune systems producing more antibodies than others after having the shot.

Back-scratching bovine leads scientists to reassess intelligence of cows

Brown Swiss in Austria has been discovered using tools in different ways – something only ever seen in humans and chimpanzees

Scientists have been forced to rethink the intelligence of cattle after an Austrian cow named Veronika displayed an impressive – and until now undocumented – knack for tool use.

Witgar Wiegele, an organic farmer and baker from a small town in Carinthia near the Italian border, keeps Veronika as a pet and noticed that she occasionally played with sticks and used them to scratch her body.

Real Sociedad steal a march on Barcelona to get city party started early | Sid Lowe

Carnival drums provided the backdrop to surprise victory over league leaders that was not just down to luck

“There was a little magic in the atmosphere,” Pellegrino Matarazzo said. Real Sociedad’s new coach could feel it; he could hear it too, the sound of drums beating on every street of the city he has embraced and into the stadium that has embraced him back already. When he and his players arrived at Anoeta on Sunday evening, they entered through a guard of honour, a band of soldiers and chefs lined up in the rain, hammering out the club anthem and hoping. By the time they departed around midnight, following 35,346 supporters out into San Sebastián, it had actually happened. La Real had beaten Barcelona 2-1. Celebrations, his captain Mikel Oyarzabal said, had come a day early.

This week is tamborrada, the San Sebastián festival where, at midnight on 20 January, the city flag is raised and marching bands parade through its streets in Napoleonic uniforms and cooks’ costumes grasping sticks, batons and giant cutlery, routes mapped out in loving detail and special supplements. Initially it was a popular pastiche of a military procession, a prelude to carnival, practice runs echoing round in the days before, kids go first, adults next. An expression of civic pride, they sing of “spreading joy,” being “always happy,” and God knows they were happy now. What better way to begin it all than this? What better way to become one of them?

Crossing into Darkness review – Tracey Emin takes her heroes on a descent to the gates of hell

Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate
Munch, Bourgeois, Gormley and Baselitz go shoulder to shoulder with up-and-coming artists in an exhibition that revels in its stygian gloom

Tracey Emin catches me looking from her self-portrait to her as I try to assess the closeness of the resemblance. Not that close. This inky screenprint is bigger than she is, its face wider and taller. But it’s not a picture of the outer person but an inner vision. As we stand in front of it I seem to fall into radiating pools of blackness – to cross into darkness.

Emin has curated an exhibition for the depths of winter. It’s a generous, unexpected show with an eclectic yet profound openness to kinds of creativity many might think incompatible: paintings, installations, performance art all face the night here. She sets artists she nurtures at the Emin Studios alongside her heroes Edvard Munch, Louise Bourgeois and other luminaries of modern art – if luminary is the right word in this stygian setting. For, by a stroke of lighting genius, the Carl Freedman Gallery has been plunged into nocturnal shadow that still lets you see the art.

World’s oldest monastic brewery to be sold as German beer sales slide

Brewing tradition of nearly 1,000 years at Weltenburg Abbey in Bavaria to be bought up by Munich company Schneider Weisse

The world’s oldest monastic brewery, Germany’s Weltenburger, is being sold to the Munich brewers Schneider Weisse as part of consolidation in the sector in response to plunging sales.

Beer has been brewed at Weltenburg Abbey, a stunning, still active monastery on the banks of the Danube in Bavaria, for nearly 1,000 years.

A beginner’s guide to Arc Raiders: what it is and how you start playing

Embark Studios’ multiplayer extraction shooter game has already sold 12m copies in just three months. Will it capture you too?

Released last October Arc Raiders has swiftly become one of the most successful online shooters in the world, shifting 12m copies in barely three months and attracting as many players as established mega hits such as Counter-Strike 2 and Apex Legends. So what is it about this sci-fi blaster that’s captured so many people – and how can you get involved?

So what is Arc Raiders?

Starmer’s calm diplomacy makes mistake of assuming Trump is a sentient being | John Crace

PM’s effort to take heat out of Greenland situation is yet another humiliation in his relationship with The Donald

• UK politics live – latest updates

Toady, or not toady? That is the question. When even Piers Morgan has taken his head out of Donald Trump’s bum far enough to see a glimmer of daylight, then it’s fair to say the US president has probably overstepped the mark.

Not content with threatening tariffs against the UK and seven EU countries for sending troops to Greenland – having previously demanded Nato allies get stuck in to protect the country from Russia and China – The Donald has now sent a letter to the Norwegian prime minister to complain about not winning the Nobel peace prize and to say he was so pissed off he was thinking of starting a war instead.

Trump says he's pursuing Greenland after perceived Nobel Peace Prize snub

"Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize… I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace," Trump wrote in a message to the Norwegian Prime Minister.

At least 1,500 troops on standby for deployment to Minneapolis, Pentagon says

At least 1,500 active-duty U.S. soldiers are on standby for possible deployment to Minneapolis amid ongoing protests over the massive ICE operation in the city. Ian Lee reports.

‘Kids referenced it as they asked for condoms’: the makers of cult hip-hop film House Party look back

‘I wanted Kid ’n Play but the studio said, “Who are these guys?” I replied, “They’ve got platinum records.” I had no idea if they did’

Black music videos weren’t played on MTV in the late 80s. So while I was still at Harvard, I’d make music videos in my head. One day, while listening to Bad Boy/Having a Party by Luther Vandross, I thought: “This could be a great music video or movie.” And I sat down that night and wrote a script for a short film that ended up not only being made but shown at festivals and becoming a big hit in the world of student films. Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It had piqued interest in up-and-coming black film-makers. New Line Cinema saw my short and brought me in for a meeting. I pitched an expanded version of my idea and they said: “Let’s do it.”

Buffalo Bills fire head coach Sean McDermott after latest playoff failure

• Bills lost dramatic overtime game to Broncos

• Buffalo missed Super Bowl under coach’s leadership

The Buffalo Bills have fired Sean McDermott after the team yet again fell short in the NFL playoffs.

The Bills lost a dramatic divisional round game in overtime to the Denver Broncos on Saturday. Buffalo have reached the playoffs in all but one of the seasons since McDermott took over in 2017, when he helped the Bills reach the postseason for the first time in 17 years. However, they have failed to reach the Super Bowl in that time despite the presence of Josh Allen, one of the best quarterbacks of his generation. Under McDermott, the Bills became the first team to win a playoff game in six straight seasons and not claim a Super Bowl.

Chicken sold in 7 states recalled for potential listeria contamination

Thousands of pounds of ready-to-eat chicken products have been recalled due to potential contamination with listeria, officials say. The products were sold in 7 states.

Tickets, travel and Trump: How the 2026 World Cup is shaping up six months from the final

The champion will be decided on 19 July in New Jersey. Here’s a rundown of the issues that will shape the tournament as it comes to North America

We’re only six months from the biggest single sporting occasion in the world. On 19 July in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the men’s World Cup final will kick off and a champion will be crowned (although it will be hard to top the last one).

The final will be more than a coronation (or confirmation, if Argentina repeat as champions). It will also be a culmination of six weeks of near non-stop soccer played across three countries, four time zones, and 16 cities. It’s likely that conclusions will already be drawn at that point on how the whole tournament fared. But for now, at this semi-convenient milestone, it’s worth taking stock of where we are six months out.

Why does Sydney pump sewage into the ocean and put its famous beaches at risk of poo balls?

Experts say Sydney Water should better treat wastewater before sending it offshore at Malabar, Bondi and North Head. The corporation disagrees

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In the first half of the 1900s, the mantra “the solution to pollution is dilution” ruled. The idea was that harmful chemicals and pollutants could be dealt with by spreading them out in the environment.

Now, that approach is derided as outdated and, often, dangerous.

My rookie era: the shame of failing my scuba diving licence sticks to me like my wetsuit

Aside from the actual swimming, every scuba skill I practised in the ocean filled me with dread. Aren’t hobbies supposed to be fun?

• Read more summer essentials

Would you rather go to space or the bottom of the ocean? I have always chosen the ocean, where beauty is bountiful. Under the sea are hundreds of mini-worlds unbothered by life on the surface.

Which is one reason why my friend suggested I get my scuba diving licence. The other was that diving was on the itinerary for an upcoming holiday. I’d never thought about being a certified diver before, but I was excited to have the ability to explore the big blue.

At nine, I disappeared into home schooling. No one came looking

Mom insisted I needed a ‘free-form education’ outside public school. After four years of loneliness, I gave up hope that someone would get me out

“Every mother in the world wishes her kid wouldn’t grow up so fast.”

Mom laughs as she holds me close.

Bill Gates charity trust’s holdings in fossil fuel firms rise despite divestment claims

Trust had $254m invested in companies such as Chevron, BP and Shell in 2024, a nine-year record, analysis shows

The Gates Foundation Trust holds hundreds of millions of dollars in fossil fuel extractors despite Bill Gates’ claims of divestment made in 2019.

End-of-year filings reveal that in 2024 the trust invested $254m in companies that extract fossil fuels such as Chevron, BP and Shell. This was a nine-year record and up 21% from 2016, Guardian analysis found. Adjusting for inflation, it was the highest amount since 2019.

Trump admin's claims of "reverse discrimination" upend DOJ Civil Rights Division

A Trump administration initiative is upending 60 years of efforts by the federal government to prevent discrimination against minority groups in the U.S.

‘Disgustingly educated’: will this trend make you cleverer?

Social media is filling up with influencers telling us how to become much more intellectual. A great, enriching idea – or just another cue to show off?

Name: Disgustingly educated.

Age: About 18 months.

Heavy snow slams Northeast and Midwest

Snowstorms slammed the Northeast and parts of the Midwest over the weekend, causing whiteout conditions for drivers. Rob Marciano has more.

Prince Harry at court and an Afcon victory dance: photos of the day – Monday

The Guardian’s picture editors select photos from around the world

In Davos, the rich talk about ‘global threats’. Here’s why they’re silent about the biggest of them all | Ingrid Robeyns

Economic inequality is at the heart of all humanity’s major problems, but the wealthiest refuse to confront a system that benefits them

This week, hundreds of government leaders, heads of state, and business executives are gathering at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. They will be discussing solutions to the world’s biggest risks and problems.

But everything suggests that, once more, what will not be addressed at their meeting is the biggest threat to humanity and the planet: neoliberal capitalism.

Ingrid Robeyns is an economist and philosopher, and holds the chair in ethics of institutions at Utrecht University. Her most recent book is Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth

Auto giant shares tumble on Trump’s tariff threat over Greenland

Shares of some of Europe's biggest carmakers fell on Monday morning.

Greenland PM issues defiant rebuke over Trump's tariff threats: 'We will not be pressured'

Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Monday that the Arctic island would not be pressured over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats.

Nearly all Epstein files still unreleased a month after Congress deadline

Over 2 million documents are under DoJ review despite ‘legal obligation’ from Epstein Files Transparency Act

The law was clear: Donald Trump’s Department of Justice was required to disclose all investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein by 19 December 2025, with rare exceptions.

One month after this deadline mandated by Congress’s Epstein Files Transparency Act, however, Trump’s justice department has not complied with this law, prompting questions about when – and whether – authorities will ever release investigative documents about the late sex offender.

Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for harissa-spiked orzo with chickpeas and pine nuts | Quick and easy

A store-cupboard saviour for weeknights and ends of the month that you can adapt at will

This is my favourite store-cupboard dinner when faced with the pre-shop complaints that “there’s nothing in the fridge”. The cherry tomatoes provide a welcome fresh note, but otherwise it’s a happy cupboard raid. An old Nigel Slater recipe first put me on to the idea of using yoghurt to finish a pasta dish, and it works brilliantly here to balance the harissa. Excellent for a work-from-home lunch, too.

‘I was told I wouldn’t walk again. I proved the doctors wrong’: the bike-obsessed pensioner who broke his neck and started afresh

In 2021, Harold Price, now 82, broke a vertebra while cycling with a friend, leaving him barely able to use his legs. Then a chance recommendation changed his life

• ‘It took time to love my soft, larger shape’: the body-positive writer who recovered from an eating disorder

Before the accident, Harold Price, 82, loved being on two wheels. A retired engineer from Griffithstown in Wales, he cycled about 95 miles a week on his road bike. “Not bad for 78,” he says. On other days he’d be out on one of his restored motorbikes, as he was in June 2021, with a friend. They were riding at 10 miles an hour on a narrow road when his friend pulled out in front of him. “I had nowhere to go,” Price says. He remembers his head snapping back into his helmet before he blacked out.

Price spent months in hospital. He had broken the fifth vertebra in his neck, resulting in compression of his spinal cord. He was told he wouldn’t walk again. “That was a bit of a downer, obviously,” he says. He was determined to prove the doctors wrong. “My mind told me I could get up and walk out. But when I tried, I collapsed.”

Stellantis stock off 43% as Jeep maker turns five, executes turnaround

Stellantis shares were largely up – as high as 93% in March 2024 – until reporting troubling financial results that year amid cost-cutting efforts and EVs.

Matt Damon is right: phones + Netflix mean we are now in the pub bore age of cinema

The streaming giant has the data that proves we all just watch things with one hand gripping our phones, so need to have the plot explained to us over and over again

Matt Damon has a new film out, a $100m cop thriller co-starring Ben Affleck called The Rip. It is currently the most watched film on Netflix, because it is a Netflix movie. So how is Damon choosing to promote his new Netflix movie? By kind of laying into Netflix.

During an interview on The Joe Rogan Experience, Damon went to great lengths to describe the differences between going to see a film theatrically and watching it on television. Explaining his experience of watching One Battle After Another in an Imax screening, Damon said: “I always say it’s more like going to church – you show up at an appointed time. It doesn’t wait for you.”

Troops stand by to enter Minnesota. And, Trump plans for a Board of Peace

Minnesota braces for federal troops amid immigration protests. And, Trump asks nations to buy into a new U.S.-led board of peace to manage Gaza and other world conflicts.

What's open and closed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2026?

Most stores on Monday are open during their regular business hours on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with a few exceptions.

Who is on the frontline of Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown?

These are the federal agencies detaining people across the US – mostly, but not all, under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security

When the Trump administration ordered a surge of armed federal immigration enforcement personnel on to the streets of Minneapolis, the Department of Homeland Security declared it the largest operation in its history and the liberal midwestern city became Donald Trump’s latest chosen hotspot.

Such escalations mark the US president’s agenda of mass arrests and deportations from the US interior. The highest-profile efforts involve officers from multiple agencies rushing to prominent Democratic-led US cities, against local leaders’ wishes. But coast to coast, federal officers have been raiding homes, businesses, commercial parking lots – even schools, hospitals and courthouses. The efforts have delighted the president’s hardcore Make America Great Again voter base, but are also tearing families apart and spreading fear and even death on the streets and in detention.

MLK Day reminds us to harness ‘urgency of now’ as the US grapples with crisis

People across the US are moving on from the empty platitudes MLK Day often evokes – and embodying King’s words

This year, the Dr Martin Luther King Jr holiday forces Americans to grapple with the crisis and protests that have spread across the country, particularly in Minneapolis. Each year on this holiday, we reflect on King’s life and legacy. We wonder about what he might make of this moment. Though civil rights protesters in the 1950s and 60s were repeatedly met with extreme state violence, Americans are now facing a president who is troublingly more powerful than past figures such as the notorious segregationist and Alabama governor George Wallace.

Militarized and masked federal police forces, abetted by a corrupted justice department, are expansive and employ far more deadly weapons against protesters today. Civil rights leaders often sought federal intervention to combat localized racial violence in the south. But now, local and state officials, along with ordinary citizens who have been galvanized by federal violence, are combating government crackdowns against immigrants and their neighbors. Over the span of a week, ICE agents killed an American wife and mother of three, Renee Good, and shot a man from Venezuela during a traffic stop. They have arrested and detained American citizens and have terrorized neighborhoods, businesses and schools. Their irrational, unprofessional and unconstitutional actions have caused chaos, panic and harm throughout American cities. This is far from the progress King dreamed of, and he used his last years to warn Americans to refuse comfort, the status quo, and bring oppression to an end.

‘No other option’: inside the refugee camp for trans Americans fleeing Trump

Fear, abuse and eroding rights have forced many trans people to leave the US – can they claim asylum in the Netherlands?

• The transgender refugees fleeing the US – podcast

Ter Apel, a small, unassuming Dutch town near the German border, is a place tourists rarely have on their itinerary. There are no lovely old windmills, no cannabis-filled coffee shops and on a recent visit it was far too early for tulip season.

When foreigners end up there, it is for one reason: to claim asylum at the Netherlands’ biggest refugee camp, home to 2,000 desperate people from all around the world.

Morocco to pursue legal action over chaotic end to Africa Cup of Nations final

• Hosts believe Senegal walk-off affected game’s outcome

• Brahim Díaz says his ‘soul hurts’ after Panenka drama

Morocco’s football federation has announced it will pursue legal action over the chaotic and controversial Africa Cup of Nations final on Sunday based on a belief that the decision of Senegal’s players to leave the pitch, causing a 15-minute delay, had a material impact on the result.

Senegal secured their second Afcon title via a 1-0 victory at the Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat, Pape Gueye scoring the only goal on 94 minutes. But that came after an incredible denouement to normal time with Morocco awarded a penalty when El Hadji Malick Diouf was penalised, following a video assistant referee review, for a pull on Brahim Díaz as he defended a corner.

Poem of the week: Now, Mother, What’s the Matter? by Richard W Halperin

An exploration of what constitutes the literary arts – plus all the ‘troubled hearts’ and demons that accompany it – through the lens of Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Now, Mother, What’s the Matter?

Only the monsters do not have troubled hearts.
Life is for troubled hearts. Art is for troubled
hearts. For my whole life, Hamlet has been
a bridge between. Hamlet’s ‘Now, mother,
what’s the matter?’ is life on earth. Something
is always the matter, and not just for mothers.
(As I write this, the Angelus rings.) Every
character in Hamlet is troubled, there are
no monsters in it. I render unto Caesar
the things that are Caesar’s — everything is
troubled there and, if I am lucky, Caesar
is troubled. I render unto God the things
that are God’s and feel — want to feel? Do feel —
that God is troubled. I also render unto art.
But I have no idea what art is. What
Edward Thomas’s ‘Adlestrop’ is. What
the luminous chaos of The Portrait of
a Lady is. What The Pilgrim’s Progress is.
My feet knew the way before I opened
the book: that just before the gate to heaven
is yet another hole to hell.

The pub that changed me: ‘I bonded with a new group of friends there – and it led to my dream job’

Ye Olde Swiss Cottage in London was gaudy, draughty and built on a traffic island. But it was just the escape I needed

Early in my career, I was going through a difficult chapter in work and life. Having moved down to London from Glasgow, I felt socially untethered, unsure of where I belonged. I yearned to feel part of a gang like I’d done back home, but I had no clue about how to find one.

The one change that worked: I tried all the hobbies I thought I’d hate – and found friendship and escape

I was in a work-commute-collapse cycle and didn’t know what to do. Then I began sampling activities I’d previously dismissed – book clubs, line dancing, chess – and it became oddly addictive

For most of my life, I treated taste as fixed. There were things I liked and things I didn’t, and that was that. Hobbies, foods and even social situations were quietly written off with the certainty of personal preference. But sticking to that sentiment had left me in a bit of a rut.

When I moved to London, I threw myself into work: long hours, commuting and networking. In the process, I stopped making time for hobbies or trying anything new.

Here are the European exporters most exposed if Trump’s Greenland tariffs kick in

U.S. President Donald Trump's has threatened a rising wave of tariffs on several European allies, sounding the alarm for businesses across the region.

Never-before-seen home video is earliest footage of Martin Luther King: ‘What a gift!’

In a brief scene, the seminarian known as ML stands with his then girlfriend, a white woman named Betty Moitz

Several years ago, near Chester, Pennsylvania, Jason Ipock’s aunt was looking to downsize now that she had retired. In her possession was a collection of old family home videos that took up too much room.

Some of the films were in worn-out film canisters, and Ipock worried they’d soon be unplayable. “I decided that I should have the family films digitized, so that we’ll always have a copy in the event of a catastrophe,” he said.

Make films shorter if you want them shown in cinemas, says Picturehouse director

Clare Binns says three-hour runtimes deter audiences as she is named Bafta recipient for outstanding British contribution to cinema

Directors should make shorter films if they want their work screened in cinemas, the head of one of the UK’s leading cinema and distribution companies has said.

Clare Binns, the creative director of Picturehouse Cinemas, made the comments after being named the recipient of this year’s Bafta award for outstanding British contribution to cinema, amid concern over steadily lengthening film runtimes.

Morning news brief

Hundreds of active-duty troops on are standby to deploy to Minnesota, Trump escalates tensions across Europe with new threats over Greenland, Israel raises objections over Trump's Board of Peace.

Scientists warn of ‘regime shift’ as seaweed blooms expand worldwide

Study links rapid growth of ocean macroalgae to global heating and nutrient pollution

Scientists have warned of a potential “regime shift” in the oceans, as the rapid growth of huge mats of seaweed appears to be driven by global heating and excessive enrichment of waters from farming runoff and other pollutants.

Over the past two decades, seaweed blooms have expanded by a staggering 13.4% a year in the tropical Atlantic and western Pacific, with the most dramatic increases occurring after 2008, according to researchers at the University of South Florida.

‘Cinematic comfort food’: why Heat is my feelgood movie

The latest entry in our series of writers picking their most rewatched comfort films is a nostalgic trip back to 1995

I meet up at least once a year with a group of university friends. We pick a city, descend on it and then leave 48 hours later, often a little worse for wear. I would say about 60% of all communication on these trips is quotes from Michael Mann’s 1995 heist thriller, Heat. Screaming like Al Pacino’s coked-up Los Angeles police detective Vincent Hanna or calmly saying “I have a woman” like Robert De Niro’s robotic master thief Neil McCauley if any of my friends ask me about my wife.

The comedian and film-maker Stanley Sievers did a skit about a guy whose life is destroyed because his whole personality is the film Heat. I laughed along with that awkwardly, while considering just how many times I said “the action is the juice” the last time I met up with my friends.

Martin Luther King III, Martin Luther King Jr.'s son, reflects on his father's legacy

Martin Luther King III, the son of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, reflects on his father's legacy and what he considers today's most urgent social justice issues.