Airlines cancel hundreds of flights as massive winter storm sweeps across U.S.

U.S. airlines canceled flights and waived change fees for travelers as a cold snap and massive winter storm were forecast to sweep across the country.

What obesity drugmakers see next in the market: More pills, easier access and drug combinations

CNBC spoke to executives from Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer and other drugmakers at the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.

Spurs in talks for Robertson, Emery shrugs off Tielemans row, and more: football – live

⚽ The latest football news heading into the weekend
⚽ Premier League: 10 things to look out for | Mail Dominic

This weekend’s Premier League games are the reverse fixtures of the season openers, back in sun-soaked August. Looking back, the most jarring result was Nottingham Forest 3-1 Brentford, with the teams taking very different trajectories since then.

“It was certainly a tough day for us all, but it is pretty obvious to see the development that we have made in the months since that, and I am delighted with the progress we have made,” Brentford manager Keith Andrews said yesterday.

Maps show where winter storm threatens to bring snow, brutal cold this weekend

Heavy snow, ice and brutal cold are expected to make this winter storm a potentially life-threatening weather event for 35 states.

Australian Open 2026: Ruse v Andreeva; De Minaur and Svitolina through, Norrie out – live

Updates from the evening session at Melbourne Park
Mboko sets up Sabalenka clash after win | Mail John

Norrie and Zverev are going through the pre-match formalities. The umpire tells the players to smile big for the cameras. Not sure how easy that is for Norrie, given the British No 2, the last Brit standing in the singles, has lost to Zverev in all six of their previous meetings. The last time they played at the Australian Open was in 2024, when Norrie was denied 7-6 in the fifth set. But Norrie will at least take something from the fact he was able to push Zverev all the way then, and the fact that this is a night match, with slightly slower conditions, may help Norrie, because the rallies will be longer and more attritional and that’s what he loves.

Up next: we’ve got De Minaur v Tiafoe on Rod Laver and Norrie v Zverev on John Cain and Svitolina v Shnaider on Margaret Court.

Scotland sends baby box to New York after mayor Mamdani cites policy

Scottish social justice secretary says pledge for the city shows shared ‘commitment to tackling child poverty’

New York’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has received a baby box from the Scottish government after modelling part of his election campaign on Edinburgh’s example of providing each expectant mother with a set of essentials.

Scotland’s social justice secretary, Shirley-Anne Somerville, said it would help the city’s leader develop his own plans for a “baby basket”.

Kremlin repeats demand that Ukraine must withdraw from Donbas to end war ahead of joint talks with US – Europe live

With talks of a confrontation over Greenland receding, attention turns back to ending the four-year war between Ukraine and Russia

The European Commission has offered a bit more detail on the deployment of 447 emergency generators from EU reserves to Ukraine, mentioned in the earlier post (12:33).

“The generators – mobilised from rescEU strategic reserves hosted in Poland – will be distributed by the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine in cooperation with the Ukrainian Red Cross to the most affected communities.”

They are designed to break Ukrainian spirit. They will fail.

We won’t let Russia freeze Ukraine. We bring light and warmth where Russia sends darkness.

House passes final funding bills 8 days before shutdown, Senate now will consider

The Senate will still have to pass the measures when it returns to Washington next week.

Davos: ECB’s Lagarde plays down fears of ‘rupture’ in world order, as IMF’s Georgieva warns of AI ‘tsunami’ hitting jobs market – live updates

Rolling coverage of the final day of the World Economic Forum in Davos

Lagarde is also critical about some of the numbers for economic growth being banded around in Davos this week, saying they are usually nominal numbers – the real growth figures (adjusted for inflation) are lower.

It’s important to speak the truth, she says, adding:

“We have to be honest about the numbers we use”.

5 arrested in connection with shooting of judge, wife in Indiana

Five people have been arrested in connection with the Sunday shooting of a judge and his wife​ in Indiana, according to authorities.

ICE takes 5-year-old, dad after using boy as "bait," school district says

School district officials in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, say their sense of security is shaken and their hearts shattered after four students from the district have recently been taken by officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Leaked video shows Venezuela regime’s desperate struggle to control message

Interim leader Delcy Rodríguez told influencers of US threat to kill leaders if they did cooperate after capture of Maduro

The communications minister holds a phone up to a microphone before a gathering of regime-friendly influencers.

On speakerphone is Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, who claims that when US forces captured the dictator Nicolás Maduro, she and other members of his cabinet were given 15 minutes to decide whether to comply with Washington’s demands – “or they would kill us.”

Add to playlist: the Regency-styled 80s synth-pop revivalism of Haute & Freddy and the week’s best new tracks

The LA-based pop duo are sending a jolt through TikTok with maximalist songs that emote wildly in every direction

From Los Angeles
Recommend if you like Erasure, Chappell Roan, Jade
Up next Debut album Big Disgrace out 13 March

Just when you think pop is finally moving away from the synth-heavy 80s sound, another thrilling new act comes along to say: “Nope!” With shades of Erasure and a good dollop of theatre kid energy, Haute & Freddy are the Regency-styled freaks sending a jolt through TikTok. Their latest single Dance the Pain Away is the year’s first true banger, a dazzling sad-pop production that bursts through the January gloom, thrusts a spritzer in your hand and drags you to the dancefloor.

How Trump’s relations with America’s biggest banking boss hit rock bottom

US president’s $5bn lawsuit against JP Morgan and Jamie Dimon follows a steady rise in tensions between the two men

Weeks after Donald Trump’s first shock election win, bosses from across corporate America were scrambling to enter the president’s orbit.

Business leaders ranging from the General Motors boss, Mary Barra, to Disney’s chief, Bob Iger, quickly signed up to a new advisory council in 2016 to help shape the aggressively pro-growth policies of this new populist politician. Among them was the head of America’s largest bank: Jamie Dimon, the chair and chief executive of JP Morgan.

Seductive stitches, Warhol in Nottingham and an Italian giant’s igloo sculpture – the week in art

Jessica Rankin sews up painting, arte povera’s Mario Merz comes in from the cold and Andy Warhol brings pop to the Midlands – all in your weekly dispatch

Jessica Rankin
This New York artist’s abstract works hover between embroidery and painting and have a seductive, lyrical beauty.
• White Cube Mason’s Yard, London, 28 January to 28 February

Millions of Americans brace for winter storm. And, Zelenskyy's warning for Europe

Millions of Americans are bracing for a massive, life-threatening winter storm this weekend. And, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy delivers a stark message to Europe at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

SpaceX lines up Wall Street banks as Musk eyes blockbuster IPO

US aerospace tech company reportedly held talks last year over private share sale that values business at $800bn

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is reportedly lining up four Wall Street banks to help the company list on the stock market as investors prepare for an expected rush of US tech listings.

SpaceX is considering Bank of America, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley for leading roles in an initial public offering, according to the Financial Times and Reuters.

Digested week: Let us focus on the few, brief bright spots we can

Squint hard into the darkness and you’ll find there’s so much to feel positive about. Gwyneth Paltrow and HBO Max for starters

Ah, Blue Monday – it seems to come round quicker every year, no? For those of you not familiar with the term, it denotes the third Monday of January, which is alleged to be the most depressing day of the year. Collectively, I mean – obviously each of us has a birthday, plus a year coming up that will inescapably include bad haircuts, disappointing Vinted purchases and expensively untraceable leaks in the home. And Prue Leith’s leaving Bake Off.

Trump’s Greenland U-turn was spectacular. The lesson for Europe: strongmen understand only strength | Nathalie Tocci

With conflict averted for now, European leaders will be tempted to retreat to their comfort zone of cowardice. But the next crisis will soon be here

Donald Trump’s climbdown, after days of escalation during which he had refused to rule out a military attack to annex Greenland, was spectacular. In his Davos speech, Trump repeated his desire to own Greenland, claiming that you cannot defend what you do not own, only to then announce that he would not conquer the Arctic island by force. Hours later, he claimed that he had reached an unspecified deal on Greenland, and would therefore refrain from imposing additional tariffs on those European countries that had had the audacity to participate in a joint military exercise in Greenland at Denmark’s invitation.

We know neither the details of the framework agreement reached by Trump and the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, nor whether it carries any weight, given the US president’s fickleness. But it appears that the deal, while open to discussing Arctic security, mineral rights and possibly even the sovereignty of US bases, preserves Greenland’s sovereignty within the Kingdom of Denmark. In short, this has been a remarkable U-turn.

Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnist

Democrats are campaigning as if the 2026 election will be fair. That’s a mistake | Austin Sarat

Trump’s remarks and Project 2025’s proposals have made the plan clear. Democrats must focus on stopping it

Last week, during an Oval Office Interview with Reuters, Donald Trump touted his accomplishments and suggested that they are so great that “we shouldn’t even have an election” in November. Not surprisingly, that comment made headlines.

But it is at best a distraction from the real threat: the United States will have elections this year, but they will not be free and fair.

Plant trees, bushes and evergreens now to give your garden structure

In a less flowery garden, you can spot the gaps more easily – and fill them with bare-root plants at this time of year

This time last year we were about to put our old flat on the market – the first proper garden I had as a gardening adult. The one that taught me so much, where I made compost for the first time and cut peonies from the bare roots I’d ordered as soon as we exchanged contracts on the place. Where I painted the back wall pink and strung up lights and held parties and watered the ground with cheap prosecco; where I planted a tree for my newborn son, and lay beneath it with him in languid, too-long summer afternoons, trying to make sense of motherhood.

Anyway, every time I’d show estate agents around our two-bed flat, they’d conjure unconvincing compliments about our airing cupboard, before sticking their head cursorily out the back door and saying: “Oh, it’s winter, no gardens look good in winter, no buyers will be expecting it to look nice,” and I’d seethe.

Economic strike in Minnesota to protest against ICE: ‘No work, no school, no shopping’

Organizers demand ICE leave state and agency be investigated for constitutional violations

• ICE protests – live updates

A “no work, no school, no shopping” blackout day of protest was kicked off by community leaders, faith leaders and labor unions on Friday in protest against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surge in the state.

The “Day of Truth & Freedom” protest comes in the wake of the killing of Renee Good, the unarmed woman killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis earlier this month.

Weather tracker: Record snowfall in eastern Russia leaves people stranded

Town of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky gets 1.8 metres of snow in places, burying cars and cutting off roads and buildings

A record-breaking snowfall event unfolded in far eastern Russia last week when the town of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, located on the Kamchatka peninsula’s east coast, received more than 1.8 metres (6 feet) of lying snow in places.

Strong winds accompanying the snowfall caused extreme drifting of more than 3 metres against buildings and cars. Two key ingredients combined to cause such an extreme snowfall event. Strong Pacific low pressures dragged moist air from the tropics northwards, which clashed with cold Arctic air already over the region.

Piper James autopsy finds ‘evidence consistent with drowning and injuries consistent with dingo bites’

Canadian backpacker, 19, was found dead on K’gari island earlier this week surrounded by pack of wild dingoes

The autopsy of Piper James, whose body was found on K’gari surrounded by a pack of dingoes, has found “physical evidence consistent with drowning and injuries consistent with dingo bites”.

The Canadian backpacker’s trip to Australia ended in tragedy when the 19-year-old was found dead on a beach on Monday on the world heritage-listed island formerly known as Fraser Island off the Queensland coast.

Race is on to rescue some 200 dogs from Mississippi property before storm hits

Animal advocates are racing to rescue more than 200 dogs from a rural Mississippi property before a massive winter storm is forecast to hit.

Spanish court points finger at Israel as it drops Pegasus spyware case again

Judge shelves inquiry into use of Israeli-made software to target ministers’ phones citing chronic lack of cooperation

Spain’s highest criminal court has again shelved its investigation into the use of Israeli-made Pegasus software to target the mobile phones of senior Spanish ministers, including the prime minister, citing a chronic lack of cooperation from the Israeli authorities that has violated “the principle of good faith” between countries.

The investigation began in May 2022 after the Spanish government revealed that the phones of the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the defence minister, Margarita Robles, had been infected the previous year with the spyware, which, according to its manufacturers, NSO Group, is available only to state agencies. It was later established that the phones of the interior minister and the agriculture minister had also been targeted.

Concacaf president revealed to make $3m a year for five hours’ work per week

Victor Montagliani’s compensation is thought to be among the highest in the world for a non-club soccer official

Concacaf president Victor Montagliani is paid over $3m per year for what the organization claims is just five hours per week of work, according to the latest tax filing made to the Internal Revenue Service.

Publicly available filings, first reported by ProPublica, show that the Canadian was paid $2.1m in base compensation and an additional $893,750 in unspecified bonus and incentive compensation for the 2024 tax year. An additional $15,780 was paid in deferred or retirement compensation.

What Trump’s renewed attack on Iran could mean for oil prices

U.S. President Donald Trump's renewed threats against Iran have stoked fears of possible supply disruption in the oil-rich Middle East.

How cuts to federal climate funds could threaten polar vortex research

Tens of millions of people are in the path of a major winter storm. Federal cuts threaten efforts to understand the causes of such weather.

Who's Board of Peace and who's bored of peace? The quiz knows — do you?

Plus: The Oscars, tool-using animals, Nobel drama and more.

NFL conference championship game picks: do the No 1 seed Broncos have any chance of victory?

The Super Bowl match-up will be set this weekend as a weakened Denver take on New England and two NFC West rivals clash in Seattle

What New England need to do to win: Clean up their act. Last week against the Houston Texans, Drake Maye was blindsided too often by edge rushers Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter. The pair wreaked havoc, sacking Maye five times and forcing him into three of his four fumbles. The Los Angeles Chargers also forced two from him in the wildcard round. Denver led the league in sacks (68) in the regular season, and will be intent on causing similar damage on Sunday. But Maye can mitigate that threat if he sharpens his awareness in the pocket and takes the sack rather than rushing into impossible passes. New England’s left tackle Will Campbell is very likely to lose a couple of duels with edge defender Nick Bonitto, so Maye needs to be ready for a helmet sandwich while holding on to the ball for dear life. Simply punting and giving Denver’s second-string quarterback, Jarrett Stidham, tough field position may be all it takes to reach the Super Bowl.

‘We need change, not just as young people but as a country’: Uganda’s youth on 40 years of Museveni

This month the president was reelected for his seventh term, devastating the hopes of many who fear a future of stagnation and unemployment

When Uganda’s electoral commission declared President Yoweri Museveni the winner of the 2026 general election this month, there was little surprise among the country’s younger voters. Those aged under 35 make up more than three-quarters (78%) of Uganda’s population – the second youngest population in the world – and for many, the news of Museveni’s victory confirmed what they had expected. For some, it also crushed the fragile hope inspired by the rise of the opposition leader, Robert Kyagulanyi, known as Bobi Wine.

Sarah Namubiru, 21, a university student hoping to be a teacher, says she did not vote for Museveni because of the low salaries in the teaching profession.

Ali Smith: ‘Henry James had me running down the garden path shouting out loud’

The Scottish author on a masterclass from Toni Morrison, the brilliance of Simone de Beauvoir and the trim novel by Tove Jansson containing everything that really matters

My earliest reading memory
Apparently I taught myself to read when I was three via the labels on the Beatles 45s we had: I remember the moment of recognising the words “I” and “Feel” and “Fine”. It took a bit longer to work out the word “Parlophone”.

My favourite book growing up
Sister Vincent taught primary six in St Joseph’s, Inverness, and was a discerning reader with very good taste, plus the kind of literary moral rectitude that meant she removed Enid Blyton from the class library because she believed Blyton’s books were written by a factory of writers. In 1972 she and I had a passionate argument when the class was choosing a book to be read out loud to us and I championed Charlotte’s Web by EB White, with which I was in love. Sister Vincent put her foot down. “No. Because animals speak in it, and in reality animals don’t speak.” I recently reread it for the first time since I was nine, and it moved me to tears. What a fine book, about all sorts of language, injustice, imaginative power and friendship versus life’s tough realities. Terrific. Radiant. Humble.

'Pain, betrayal, sadness': Danish veterans describe shock of Trump admin rhetoric

Danish veterans say the rhetoric from the Trump administration has been painful. They describe feeling betrayed and abandoned by an ally after standing shoulder to shoulder with American soldiers.

Trump pushes his power to new heights with help from loyal lieutenants

As President Trump finishes the first year of his second term, it is clear there are fewer guardrails than last time.

Football transfer rumours: Palmer to Manchester United? Vinícius Jr set for Saudi move?

Today’s rumours have a northern feel

Casemiro’s decision to leave Manchester United when his contract expires at the end of the season will intensify the club’s search for a midfielder. The Brazilian’s exit will also knock £350k a week off their outgoings, which should bring a smile to Sir Jim Ratcliffe as United look to follow up last week’s derby win when they travel to … oh … Arsenal this weekend.

Not exactly like for like but stories are circulating that Wythenshawe lad Cole Palmer is homesick at Chelsea and pondering a return to Manchester this summer. The twist is that he wouldn’t be heading back to City as Palmer prefers the red of United – the club he, wait for it, supported as a boy. United scouts were also reportedly in Spain last weekend to discuss on-loan Marcus Rashford’s future and check out Real Sociedad’s versatile midfielder/forward Mikel Oyarzabal. Fun fact: both Palmer (equaliser) and Oyarzabal (winner) scored in the final of Euro 2024.

From French drug pricing to 'loser' windmills: A rundown of who Trump criticized at Davos

U.S. President Donald Trump sharply criticized a number of current and former political leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Harry Styles: Aperture review – a joyous, quietly radical track made for hugging strangers on a dancefloor

(Columbia Records)
Styles is wonderfully loose and unhurried on the lead single to his new album, taking a bold path away from the rest of today’s mainstream pop

Now the proud owner of six Brits, three Grammys and seven UK Top 10 singles, it’s fair to say Harry Styles has elegantly sidestepped the potholes that pepper the route from ex-boyband member to solo superstar. His well-earned confidence means that rather than fill the gap between 2022’s Harry’s House and last week’s announcement of his fourth album – the confusingly-titled Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally – with various one-off releases, spurious anniversary variants or curated social media moments, Styles basically disappeared. In fact, the only sliver of excitement for his fanbase to grab on to came last September when he ran the Berlin marathon in a very respectable 2hr 59min.

Having endured the music industry at the height of its #content-heavy obsession in One Direction, there’s something old-fashioned about Styles’ absence between album eras. That’s unlikely to be accidental: since launching his solo career with 2017’s muted, 1970s soft-rock-indebted self-titled debut, Styles has cast himself as a cross-generational throwback beamed into the present, albeit one sporting fashion choices that rile gender conformists. Each album has arrived with a list of influences more akin to the lineup on the Old Grey Whistle Test than the current TikTok algorithms, while 2019’s Fine Line, Styles told us, was crafted under the influence of those vintage psychedelics, magic mushrooms.

Morning news brief

Statewide economic blackout against ICE to be held in Minnesota Friday, Zelenskyy gives scorching critique of Europe in Davos speech, millions of Americans prepare for massive winter storm.

Tessa Rose Jackson: The Lighthouse review | Jude Rogers' folk album of the month

(Tiny Tiger)
Moving from dream pop to acoustic clarity, the Dutch-British songwriter delivers her most personal record yet where loss is transformed into something quietly powerful

The warm sounds of folk guitar provide the roots of Tessa Rose Jackson’s first album under her own name, time-travelling from Bert Jansch to REM to Sharon Van Etten in every strum and squeak. The Dutch-British musician previously recorded as Someone, creating three albums in dream-pop shades, but her fourth – a rawer, richer affair, made alone in rural France – digs into ancestry, mortality and memory.

The Lighthouse begins with its title track. Strums of perfect fifths, low moans of woodwind and thundering rumbles of percussion frame a journey towards a beacon at “high tide on a lonesome wind”. The death of one of Jackson’s two mothers when she was a teenager informs her lyrics here and elsewhere: in The Bricks That Make the Building, a sweet, psych-folk jewel which meditates on “the earth that feeds the garden / The breath that helps the child sing” and Gently Now, which begins in soft clouds of birdsong, then tackles how growing older can cosset the process of grief. Her approach to the subject is inquisitive, poetic and refreshing.

Custody: The Secret History of Mothers by Lara Feigel – why women still have to fight for their children

Feigel uses her own experience as a starting point to examine the past, present and future of separation

This book about child custody is, unsurprisingly, full of pain. The pain of mothers separated from their children, of children sobbing for their mothers, of adults who have never moved on from the trauma of their youth, and of young people who are forced to live out the conflicts of their elders. Lara Feigel casts her net across history and fiction, reportage and memoir, and while her research is undeniably impressive and her candour moving, at times she struggles to create a narrative that can hold all these tales of anguish together.

The book begins with a woman flinging herself fully clothed into a river and then restlessly walking on, swimming again, walking again. This is French novelist George Sand, driven to desperate anxiety as she waits to go into court to fight for the right to custody of her children. But almost immediately the story flicks away to Feigel’s own custody battle, and then back into the early 19th century, with Caroline Norton’s sons being taken away in a carriage in the rain by their father.

TikTok announces it has finalized deal to establish US entity, sidestepping ban

Majority US-owned venture includes Larry Ellison’s Oracle, private-equity group Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX

TikTok announced on Thursday it had closed a deal to establish a new US entity, allowing it to sidestep a ban and ending a long legal battle.

The deal finalized by ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, sets up a majority American-owned venture, with investors including Larry Ellison’s Oracle, the private-equity group Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX owning 80.1% of the new entity, while ByteDance will own 19.9%.

Ari Lennox: Vacancy review – the R&B sophisticate’s loosest and most fun outing yet

(Interscope)
On her third LP, Lennox balances jazz-soaked tradition with flashes of unruly humour and a surefire viral hit

Ari Lennox is one of contemporary R&B’s premier sophisticates, preferring a palette of lush jazz, soul and 90s hip-hop over the more genre-fluid sound pushed by contemporaries SZA and Kehlani. But a few songs into her new album, Vacancy, she makes it eminently clear that tradition and wildness can coexist, with fabulously sparky results: on Under the Moon, she describes a lover as “vicious / Like a werewolf / When you’re in it” and proceeds to howl “moooooooooon” as if she is in an old creature feature.

Vacancy, Lennox’s third album, is far and away her most fun, and if it isn’t quite as ingratiating as her 2022 Age/Sex/Location, it makes up for it with canny lyrics and an airy, open sound. Cool Down is a reggae/R&B hybrid that practically feels as if it is made of aerogel, and which pairs its summery lightness with witty lyrics telling a guy to chill out. On Mobbin in DC, she pairs lounge-singer coolness with withering come-ons (“You know where I be / This ain’t calculus / No ChatGPT”), while the strutting Horoscope, with its hook of “That boy put the ho’ in ‘horoscope’,” is as surefire a future viral hit as I’ve ever heard.

The greatest threat facing Britain may soon be the US – but the establishment won’t recognise it | Andy Beckett

Since the end of the second world war, all eyes have been on Russia. Yet Trump’s increasingly erratic, hostile presidency is shattering old assumptions

One of the things that the depleted, often denigrated British state is still pretty good at is persuading the public that another country is a threat. As a small, warlike island next to a much larger land mass, Britain has had centuries of practice at cultivating its own sense of foreboding. Arguably, preparing for conflict with some part of the outside world is our natural mindset.

Warnings about potential enemy countries are spread by our prime ministers and major political parties, intelligence services and civil servants, serving and retired military officers, defence and foreign affairs thinktanks, and journalists from the right and the left. Sometimes, the process is relatively subtle and covert: reporters or MPs are given off-the-record briefings about our “national security” – a potently imprecise term – facing a new threat.

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

Sports quiz of the week: arguments, insults, fights, protests and drama

Have you been following the big stories in football, tennis, rugby, golf, ice hockey, F1 and the NFL?

‘Some artists thought it was too political’: can Jarvis, Damon, Olivia Rodrigo and Arctic Monkeys reboot the biggest charity album of the 90s?

Oasis, Macca and Radiohead made Help a smash for War Child in 1995. A new reboot packs comparable star power – and was partially produced from a hospital bed

When Kae Tempest was asked to contribute to a new track by Damon Albarn, which would also feature Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten, Tempest says he jumped at the chance. It wasn’t just the artists involved, nor the fact that it was for a new compilation benefiting War Child, called Help(2): a sequel to the charity’s hugely successful 1995 compilation Help. After seven solo albums, Tempest had begun thinking about working with others, and so the night before the recording session, he and Chatten repaired to Albarn’s studio and wrote their verses together, “responding to each other”. It seemed to work really well, he says: “A true collaboration.”

Nevertheless, he concedes, the actual recording of Flags proved to be quite the baptism of fire. “Johnny Marr was on guitar, Femi [Koleoso] from Ezra Collective was drumming,” he laughs. “Plus, there was a children’s choir.”

Alex Honnold’s made-for-Netflix free solo of Taipei 101 draws awe – and unease

The Free Solo star will attempt to climb the 1,667ft skyscraper without ropes in a live Netflix broadcast, drawing awe, ethical concern and global attention

Alex Honnold has spent the past three months training for this moment: free soloing – climbing without ropes or a harness – one of Asia’s tallest skyscrapers, Taipei 101. It is an ambition that began more than a decade ago and is now close to being realized.

The climb will be broadcast globally on Skyscraper Live, Netflix’s latest foray into live sports programming. The star of the 2019 Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo insists that climbing Taipei 101 will feel no different from any other of his ascents.

Trump prompts outrage with claim Nato troops avoided frontline in Afghanistan

UK MPs and veterans condemn US president’s comments and highlight his avoidance of military service in Vietnam

• UK politics live: latest news updates

Donald Trump has provoked outrage among British MPs and veterans after claiming Nato troops stayed away from the frontline in Afghanistan.

The US president made his comments in an interview with Fox News in which he reiterated his suggestion that Nato would not support the US if asked.

1/22: CBS Evening News

More than 200 million Americans brace for powerful winter storm; PETA suggests 3D hologram replace Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day

Wonder Man to Take That: the seven best shows to stream this week

Move over, Wonder Woman! The latest MCU spin-off is an intriguing and surprisingly meta affair. Plus: a brilliant documentary about the boyband – and more regency raunch as Bridgerton returns

In terms of audience recognition, Wonder Man is no Wonder Woman. But, as this latest addition to the MCU shows, that can afford a certain freedom. This miniseries is a surprisingly meta affair; a superhero fantasy by way of the kind of behind-the-camera machinations familiar to fans of Seth Rogen’s The Studio. It tells the story of a pair of struggling actors, Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), who are hustling hard to be cast in eccentric European director Von Kovak’s movie Wonder Man. But what seems like a simple Hollywood satire soon develops special powers as Simon finds he shares certain attributes with his fictional persona. Intriguing.
Disney+, from Wednesday 28 January

Student loans: ‘My debt rose £20,000 to £77,000 even though I’m paying’

Millions of graduates are trapped by ballooning debts, as their repayments are dwarfed by the interest added

Helen Lambert borrowed £57,000 to go to university and began repaying her student loan in 2021 after starting work as an NHS nurse.

Since then she has repaid more than £5,000, typically having about £145 a month taken from her pay packet. But everything she hands over is dwarfed by the £400-plus of interest that is added to her debt every month, thanks to rates that have been as high as 8%.

May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry review – a dazzling puzzle-box of a debut

The plight of a reluctant medieval king is glimpsed through scattered pieces of the past, in an ingenious novel that asks how much we can really know about history

In a medieval palace an unnamed king chafes under the new and unsought burden of power. His uncertain fate plays out in the present-day imagination of an unnamed curator of unspecified gender, who has been employed by the palace to dress some of its rooms for public viewing in the wake of an undescribed personal tragedy.

It’s likely that you’ll either be utterly intrigued or deeply put off by that summary of poet Rebecca Perry’s debut novel, May We Feed the King, a highly wrought puzzle-box of a book which deliberately wrongfoots the reader at every turn. However, the intrigued will find that it richly rewards those who approach it with curiosity – just not in the ways we as readers (and as interpreters of stories in any form) have been trained to expect.

Havergal Brian: The Gothic album review – Ole Schmidt tames a vast, eccentric score

LSO/Schmidt
(Heritage)
A 1980 live recording reveals the Danish conductor’s assured handling of a colossal symphony – a balance of architectural clarity and gothic extravagance

Havergal Brian has often been looked at askance, his vast gothic symphony approached like climbing Everest – merely because it’s there – rather than taken seriously as a milestone in 20th-century British music. For the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth, the Heritage label has brushed off this 1980 BBC live broadcast from the Royal Albert Hall under Danish conductor Ole Schmidt, the fourth recording of the complete work to enter the catalogue.

Written over eight years and completed in 1927, the work was inspired by the magnificence and eccentricities of the gothic age, Brian’s idiosyncratic response ranging from guileless melody to wickedly complex polyphony. The 35-minute part one is a persuasive three-movement symphony all on its own, but it’s the challenging, hour-long setting of the Te Deum that demands the listener’s concentrated attention. Influences include Bruckner, Berlioz and Sibelius.

Microsoft says outage affecting several services has been resolved

Microsoft services were down for thousands of users, according to tracking service Downdetector.

Counter-terrorism police investigating ‘highly targeted’ attacks on Pakistani dissidents in UK

Exclusive: victims in hiding after attacks involving physical assault, attempted arson and the use of firearms

Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command is investigating a series of “highly targeted” attacks on two Pakistani dissidents living in Britain which may bear the hallmarks of states using criminal proxies to silence their critics.

One person has been arrested after a series of four attacks which began on Christmas Eve. One of the attacks involved a firearm.

Doomscrolling won’t bring order to the chaos. It’s OK to put the phone down and take a break | Gaby Hinsliff

Keep Calm and Carry On: that’s not how people felt as the second world war loomed. But maybe, as Trump stalks, that old slogan is finally making sense

It has become known as the “war of nerves”. An apt name for a jittery, jangling time in British history, consumed with fear of what may be coming, in which the sheer unpredictability of life became – as the historian Prof Julie Gottlieb writes – a form of psychological warfare. Contemporary reports describe “threats of mysterious weapons, gigantic bluff, and a cat-and-mouse game intended to stampede the civilian population of this island into terror”.

It all sounds uncannily like life under Donald Trump, who this week marched the world uphill to war, only to amble just as inexplicably back down again. But Gottlieb is actually describing the period between the Munich crisis of 1938 and the blitz beginning in earnest in September 1940. Her fascinating study of letters, diaries and newspapers from the period focuses not on the big geopolitical picture but on small domestic details, and what they reveal about the emotional impact of living suspended between peace and war: companies advertising “nerve tonics” for the anxious, reports of women buying hats to lift their spirits and darker accounts of nervous breakdowns. We did not, contrary to popular myth, all Keep Calm and Carry On. Suicide rates, she notes, rose slightly.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected] or [email protected]. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

Dramatic rise in water-related violence recorded since 2022

Experts say climate crisis, corruption and lack or misuse of infrastructure among factors driving water conflicts

Water-related violence has almost doubled since 2022 and little is being done to understand and address the trend and prevent new and escalating risks, experts have said.

There were 419 incidents of water-related violence recorded in 2024, up from 235 in 2022, according to the Pacific Institute, a US-based thinktank.

ADHD waiting lists ‘clogged by patients returning from private care to NHS’

NHS trust warns that people with ADHD in England are facing gaps in care caused by difficulties with private assessments

Waiting lists for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in England are being clogged by patients returning to NHS care after difficulties with private assessments, a trust has warned.

The major NHS trust said people referred by GPs to private clinics using health service funding were increasingly asking to be transferred back after care stalled.

Trump withdraws 'Board of Peace' invitation to Carney in widening rift with Canada

Trump said he has withdrawn the invitation to Canada to join the new Board of Peace, days after Carney warned against economic coercion by superpowers.

‘I can understand being brought to your knees’: Amanda Seyfried on obsession, devotion and the joy of socks

The Testament of Ann Lee is a bonkers musical fantasia about an obscure religious sect. Its star and writer-director Mona Fastvold talk fear, bonding – and not needing an Oscar

Not many actors take an interest in the audience’s aftercare. When it comes to The Testament of Ann Lee, however, Amanda Seyfried is hands-on. “Did you watch it with someone you could talk to?” she asks, tilting her head sympathetically, then dipping her full-beam headlight eyes and giving a worried look when I admit that I saw it alone. “It’s nice to process it with somebody else.”

Her concern is understandable. Whatever feelings the film provokes, indifference will not be among them. Heady and rapturous, this is an all-round odd duck of a movie, the sort of go-for-broke phantasmagoria – an 18th-century musical biopic complete with feverish visions and levitating – that was once typical of Lars von Trier or Bruno Dumont. I confess I didn’t know exactly what to make of it, but I knew I had been through a singular experience. Its director, Mona Fastvold, seated beside Seyfried on a sofa in a London hotel room, looks delighted. “That’s my favourite sort of feeling,” she says.

European cold snap may increase bird migration to UK

This year’s RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, which begins on Friday, could reveal ‘some surprise migratory visitors’

The chances of spotting a fieldfare or redwing in 2026 have risen, thanks to cold and unsettled weather in Europe, prompting a bumper year in birds migrating to the UK.

The RSPB highlighted the trend on the eve of the Big Garden Birdwatch, an annual event that constitutes the world’s largest garden wildlife survey, which will take place between 23 and 25 January.

The pub that changed me: ‘As soon as I got behind the bar, I panicked’

What could be better than working at the Friendship Inn with my best friend, Ned? Almost anything else, as it turned out

I adored pubs. They were my natural home. And now, thanks to my best friend, Ned, I’d got a job at the Friendship Inn in Prestwich. It was the mid-1980s, and I was in my early 20s, preparing for the first shift. What could be better than working in a pub called the Friendship alongside my bezzy? And I understood drink – you left Guinness to stand, aimed for half an inch of head on a pint of bitter, and if someone asked for water with a whisky you didn’t fill the glass. Easy-peasy.

As soon as I got behind the bar I panicked. There were perhaps half a dozen people waiting to order, but it looked like a sea of thousands. The bar was particularly tricky because it was shaped like the bow of a ship. Every time I went to one side, customers started calling from the other. I couldn’t remember the faces. Nor the drinks they ordered. I took a funny turn. The faces became twisted, distorted, ghoulish, cackling manically or cursing my incompetence. I felt like Mia Farrow confronting the neighbours’ coven in Rosemary’s Baby, only thankfully I didn’t have a knife.

I poured Guinness for people who had ordered a glass of red, Budweiser for those who wanted a Boddingtons. There wasn’t a thing I didn’t get wrong. And then I broke my first glass. The crowd staring at me got more Rosemary’s Baby by the second. My bitter was headless; my lager all head. I broke another glass. I was getting dizzy, struggling to breathe. My legs were collapsing.

Experience: my daughters were born conjoined at the head

Seeing them separated for the first time felt like a miracle

I was already a mother of three when I lay back for my 10-week ultrasound in 2019. At first, seeing the gel on my stomach and the flickering black and white image on screen was familiar and soothing. Then I saw the look on the sonographer’s face.

She dropped the probe and ran out of the room without a word. I tried not to panic, but by the time she sprinted back in with a doctor, who looked at the screen and said, “Oh my goodness”, I was terrified.

‘The sound of mayhem’: witness to New Zealand landslide describes ‘almighty cracking’

Alister McHardy was going out to fish at sunrise on Thursday, when he noticed a ‘mountain of soil’ at the north end of the beach at Mount Maunganui

It was the “almighty cracking” that they heard first, an unmistakable deep rumble before the mountain gave way, swallowing up caravans and cars as it collapsed at speed on the campsite below. Aerial images show the aftermath of the landslide that struck New Zealand’s North Island on Thursday – a massive piece of brown earth gouged out of the green slope, flattened roofs and a few trees sticking out an unnatural angles.

“It was almost like the air pressure changed. It was a real powerful event,” says local Alister McHardy. “It just came down, a lot of cracking and people screaming and car alarms going off … The sounds of mayhem.”

VP JD Vance says Minnesota officials need to "lower the chaos" during visit

Vice President JD Vance was in Minneapolis on Thursday for a roundtable with local leaders and community members amid the federal government's immigration crackdown in the state. Follow live updates on the ICE surge here.

1/18: CBS Weekend News

Active-duty soldiers put on standby as Minneapolis ICE protests continue; European leaders denounce Trump's tariff threat over Greenland.

Carousel review – Chris Pine and Jenny Slate are lost in static romance drama

Sundance film festival: an often lushly made yet frustratingly undercooked small town indie kicks off this year’s festival with disappointment

And so this year’s Sundance has officially begun, with grief over the loss of founder Robert Redford and its move from long-running home Park City likely to drown out the sounds of anyone talking about the first narrative premiere. It wouldn’t be the first time it has started with a whimper (unofficial opening day films have previously included misfires like After the Wedding, Freaky Tales, Netflix’s Taylor Swift doc and last year’s Jimpa) but there’s something specifically disappointing about a film such as Carousel showing at a festival such as Sundance.

It’s the sort of small, character-driven American indie that has served as the festival’s lifeblood for almost 50 years and, as the system has expanded in some ways and shrunk in others, the sort that has often struggled to make it far out of Park City. Back in 2023, a quiet, disarming and perfectly Sundance film called A Little Prayer premiered yet didn’t get released until late last summer and was seen by a precious few. The world is not kind to films like Carousel at this very moment and while I would love to see this particular subgenre flourish in the way it used to back in the 90s and 00s, it’s hard to muster up much in the way of strong feelings here.

Carousel is screening at the Sundance film festival and is seeking distribution

Vance acknowledges Minnesota Department of Corrections cooperating with ICE

Vice President JD Vance's acknowledgement came after he implored state leaders to help deescalate the situation in Minneapolis.

TikTok forms U.S. joint venture, names Adam Presser CEO

TikTok said Thursday that it officially formed a joint venture that will keep the video-sharing app operating in the U.S.

OMB seeks list of federal funding for 14 blue states and D.C., documents show

The Office of Management and Budget is seeking data about federal funding to 14 states and localities led by Democrats, including information from universities, and nonprofits within those states.

Microsoft working to fix Outlook email issues

People reported issues with Outlook on social media, months after the app went down for over 21 hours.

Airlines issue travel waivers ahead of winter storm

Airlines are waiving change fees, but passengers are limited in terms of when and where they can rebook travel.

TikTok finalizes deal with China to avoid U.S. ban, White House official says

A year ago, a law that effectively banned TikTok in the U.S. went into effect, though President Trump has not enforced it.

Jack Smith defends handling of Trump probes in first public testimony

Jack Smith, the former special counsel who oversaw two criminal investigations into President Trump during the Biden administration, testified publicly for the first time.

Elon Musk says Tesla taking safety supervisors out of some Robotaxi vehicles in Austin

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on X that his EV company has removed human safety monitors from some of its Robotaxi vehicles in Austin.

PETA suggests 3D hologram replace Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day is just around the corner, and PETA is again trying to offer up an alternative to Punxsutawney Phil. "CBS Evening News" anchor Tony Dokoupil has the story.

What to know as U.S. and China sign off on TikTok deal

A year after a law that effectively banned TikTok from the U.S. went into effect, China and the U.S. have signed off on a deal, according to a White House official. Kelly O'Grady explains.

Japan pauses restart of world’s largest nuclear power plant one day after it went online

Operator says it does not know when the problem at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata province will be solved, after an alarm sounded during start-up

The restart of the world’s largest nuclear power plant was suspended in Japan on Thursday just a day after it went online for the first time in about 14 years, with the operator saying it does not know when the problem will be solved.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata province had been closed since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, but operations to relaunch it began on Wednesday after it received the final green light from the nuclear regulator.

More than 200 million Americans brace for powerful winter storm

More than 200 million people in 35 states are bracing for heavy snow, ice and bitter cold temperatures ahead of a powerful winter storm. Jason Allen, Kris Van Cleave and Ash-har Quraishi have more. Lonnie Quinn has the forecast.

Magistrate judge rejects charges against Don Lemon over church protest

The Justice Dept. suggested independent journalist Don Lemon could be charged after he was seen in video of a protest inside a church in St. Paul on Sunday.

Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

Mateus Fernandes steels West Ham, Dominic Calvert-Lewin faces a homecoming and Manchester City need Marc Guéhi

• Top scorers: check out the latest standings

The absence of the wantaway Lucas Paquetá has given Mateus Fernandes a chance to take on more responsibility for West Ham. Paquetá, who is said to be nursing a minor back problem, was unavailable again for last week’s win at Spurs but Nuno Espírito Santo’s struggling side coped without the Flamengo target. They called on Fernandes to dictate the flow in midfield and the diligent Portuguese did not disappoint. Fernandes moved the ball cleverly, picked up an assist and looked like that rarest of things: a smart signing from West Ham. They will need the 21-year-old, who joined from Southampton for £38m last summer, to shine again with Paquetá looking unlikely to return against high-flying Sunderland at the London Stadium. Jacob Steinberg

West Ham v Sunderland, Saturday 12.30pm (all times GMT)

Burnley v Tottenham, Saturday 3pm

Fulham v Brighton, Saturday 3pm

Manchester City v Wolves, Saturday 3pm

Bournemouth v Liverpool, Saturday 5.30pm

Judge skeptical of Trump's arguments he has proper authority to build ballroom

A historic preservation nonprofit is trying to block ongoing construction of Trump's new White House ballroom.

Former Des Moines superintendent pleads guilty to falsely claiming citizenship

Ian Roberts, the former Des Moines superintendent, has pleaded guilty in federal court to falsely claiming U.S. citizenship and illegally possessing firearms.

Intel stock plunges 13% on soft guidance, concerns about chip production

Intel reported fourth-quarter earnings Thursday that beat Wall Street expectations but offered soft guidance for the current quarter.

Six injured after knife attack at Kurdish demonstration in Antwerp

Incident outside Opera House that left two people in critical condition is not being investigated as terrorism, police say

Six people have been injured after a knife attack at a demonstration in Belgium on Thursday evening, police said.

Two of the victims were in a critical condition in hospital after the incident in the port city of Antwerp near the Operaplein (Opera Square), police spokesperson Wouter Bruyns said.

Trump sues Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase over debanking the suit calls 'political'

Chase Bank closed Trump's accounts on the heels of the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot and the president exiting the White House later that same month.

NIH ends funding of research that uses human fetal tissue from abortions

Fetal tissue has been used to advance research into diabetes, Alzheimer’s, infertility and vaccines

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will no longer fund research that uses human fetal tissue obtained from “elective” abortions, the world’s biggest public funder of biomedical research announced on Thursday.

The ban marks the latest, and most dramatic, effort by the Trump administration to end research that uses fetal tissue from abortions – a goal that anti-abortion advocates, who oppose the research, have sought for years. In 2019, during Donald Trump’s first term in office, the NIH stopped funding internal research that involved the tissue and implemented a review committee to evaluate research proposals from scientists outside the government. Joe Biden ended that policy in 2021.

House approves final funding measures, sending package to Senate

The House approved the final legislation needed to fund the government through September, sending a package of bills to the Senate.

Most families don't earn nearly enough to afford child care, study finds

"Child care costs are just incredibly daunting for all but the wealthiest Americans," one financial expert said.

Waymo launches robotaxi service in Miami, extending U.S. lead

Miami represents the sixth market for Waymo, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet.

Greenland PM: Don't know details of Trump-NATO deal framework, but sovereignty is a 'red line'

Nielsen criticized Trump's aggression toward Greenland, saying the rhetoric is "unacceptable."

Starmer’s allies launch ‘Stop Andy Burnham’ campaign to block parliamentary return

Speculation has spread over whether Burnham will attempt to return to pursue a Labour leadership bid

Keir Starmer’s allies have launched a “Stop Andy Burnham” campaign to prevent the Labour mayor from returning to parliament after the resignation of a Manchester MP triggered a byelection.

Multiple members of the party’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) predicted it would be impossible for Burnham to make it through the selection process given the number of Starmer loyalists on the body desperate to avoid a leadership challenge.

1/21: CBS Evening News

Trump backs off tariff threats, rules out military force over Greenland; Kindergartener brings 100-year-old great grandpa to 100th day of school

Flex office firm Industrious is seeing major growth. Here's what's driving it

In 2025, Industrious increased its global footprint by 58%, now with more than 250 units open in over 100 cities.

Elon Musk says at Davos that robots will one day outnumber people

The billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, in his first appearance at Davos, said Tesla could start selling its Optimus robots next year.

My rookie era: I once feared water and frizz, now I’m embracing my curls

I was surprised by the dormant ringlets springing to life as I hunched over the basin, squishing in conditioner to define each tendril

• Read more summer essentials

My housemate has a special phrase for some of my old photos: “Ima’s whiteface era” – hair seared straight down the middle with brassy blond highlights.

Where I grew up, in a regional coastal town, the gold standard was sandy blond beach babe.

Fed's main gauge shows inflation at 2.8% in November, edging further away from target

Inflation drifted slightly further from the Federal Reserve's target in November though in line with expectations.

Procter & Gamble is selling diapers made with silk fibers in China as it leans into luxury

China's record-low birth rate means that P&G has to get creative to increase diaper sales, even if fewer babies are born.

The Guardian view on Trump’s Board of Peace: an international body in service to one man’s ego | Editorial

It was supposed to give Gaza a future, but the US president is using it to attack the UN, international law and multilateralism

One glance at the logo of the Board of Peace tells you all you need to know. It is the globe and laurels of the UN – only gold, because this is Donald Trump’s initiative, and showing little of the world beyond North America.

The charter of the board, formally launched in Davos on Thursday, suggests that this is less America First than Trump Always. It is not “the US president” but Mr Trump himself who is named as chair, for as long as he wishes. He can pick his successor, decide the agenda and axe whomever he chooses – even if they have coughed up the $1bn demanded for permanent membership. It is the institutional expression of his belief that he is bound not by law but “my own morality, my own mind”.

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.

The Guardian view on toddlers and screens: more reasons to be fearful of big tech | Editorial

Growing concerns about the impact of smartphones on the youngest children must be addressed

The first UK government guidance on young children’s use of tablets, smartphones and other screens, expected in April, cannot come soon enough. The laissez-faire approach to the boom in social media, handheld devices and other digital technology was arguably nowhere less suitable than when such machines were placed in front of babies. The Department for Education’s ongoing Children of the 2020s study has found that 98% of two-year-olds watch screens on a typical day for more than two hours. Those who spent the most time had smaller vocabularies, and were twice as likely as other children to show signs of emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Correlation must not be mistaken for causation. This is still a relatively new area of research, and much remains uncertain. But the findings of a recent survey by the charity Kindred Squared, combined with observations by teachers, are highly concerning. Answers from 1,000 primary-school staff revealed that 37% of four-year-olds arrived without basic life skills such as dressing and eating in 2025 – up from 33% two years earlier.

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.