Sunderland 0-1 Liverpool: Premier League – live

⚽ Minute-by-minute updates on the 8.15pm kick-off
⚽ Slot: season ‘worst of my career’ | Email Scott

2 min: … the ball’s played back to Angulo, who tries to trick Alisson at his near post. The keeper reads the danger and claims. That’s got the home fans, already giving it plenty, going some. Meanwhile here’s Peter Oh: “Liverpool have had such bad luck with injuries, shipping comical last-gasp goals, and suspensions. How could things possibly get worse? Running into eleven Black Cats maybe? Sigh.”

1 min: It has been belting down on Wearside all day. It’s still raining. Windy as well. And Sunderland are on the front foot early doors, Mukiele in space on the right and winning a very early corner off Robertson. From which …

Madison Chock and Evan Bates claim silver in ice dance at 2026 Winter Olympics

Madison Chock and Evan Bates claimed a silver medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Wednesday following a stunning free dance routine.

Stellantis issues "do not drive" warning for cars with unrepaired air bags

Stellantis is telling owners of the affected vehicles not to drive them until a potentially dangerous air bag is replaced. See which models are affected.

Instagram chief likens social media addiction to being hooked on a Netflix show in trial testimony

Instagram head Adam Mosseri said during the trial that he thinks there can be problematic usage of social media, but disagrees it is addiction.

Cisco's stock drops 7% on mediocre forecast even as earnings and revenue top estimates

Cisco reported revenue growth in the quarter of close to 10%, topping analysts' estimates.

Athletes to watch from Team USA at the Winter Olympics

American athletes are going for the gold at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. These are some of the top Team USA competitors to watch.

Investigators in Guthrie search get over 4,000 calls to tip line in 24 hours

Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing on Feb. 1 and ransom notes were being investigated.

Some job-seekers are paying thousands of dollars just to land an interview

"Reverse recruitment" firms promise to cut the length of job searches in half and help connect candidates with employers.

FAA abruptly halted El Paso flights over Defense Department's plans for anti-drone technology

A Trump administration official said the Department of Defense disabled Mexican cartel drones that had breached U.S. airspace.

Novo Nordisk faces a defining year in the obesity drug market. It’s off to a dramatic start

The Danish drugmaker kicked off 2026 with its explosive obesity pill launch, but recent challenges have centered around protecting its market share.

McDonald’s earnings beat estimates as chain’s value push pays off

Buzzy promotions have helped McDonald's win over high-income consumers.

Manchester City make quick work of extending Fulham’s misery

Manchester City’s week is moving along sweetly, this win closing the gap to three points to Arsenal, who travel to Brentford on Thursday. On Sunday, they beat Liverpool at Anfield, on Wednesday they downed Fulham at home, to reel off a 20th consecutive victory against them.

The rosiest moment for the title challengers was Erling Haaland’s 39th‑minute strike, a first in the competition from open play in nine games, though Pep Guardiola will be concerned at how City still grasp for supreme control.

Value is the key to McDonald's growth plans, but it's creating tensions with some franchisees

McDonald's has doubled down on value, which will likely help boost sales, but some franchisees are standing ground in their ability to continue to independently set prices.

Musk announces xAI re-org following co-founder departures, SpaceX merger

The reorganization "required parting ways with some people," Elon Musk said Wednesday on X.

Shopify stock drops despite revenue beat, $2 billion buyback

The company missed analysts' expectations for earnings, and it forecast free-cash-flow margins in the first quarter that could be lower than last year.

Washoe Tribe buys 10,000 acres in one of California’s largest ever land returns

Tribe, which was forcibly removed from its lands near Lake Tahoe, used $5.5m grant and private donations for purchase

The Washoe Tribe has purchased more than 10,000 acres of land near Lake Tahoe for conservation in one of the largest tribal land returns in California history.

The sprawling property, located 20 miles north of Reno, Nevada, stretches from the Great Basin through the Sierra Nevada and encompasses sagebrush scrublands and juniper and pine forests.

Man pardoned by Trump for attacking US Capitol found guilty of child abuse

Andrew Paul Johnson was found guilty of five counts including molesting a child under 12 and another under 16

A man who took part in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol and later pardoned by Donald Trump was found guilty on Tuesday of multiple child sexual abuse charges in Florida, officials said.

Andrew Paul Johnson was arrested in Tennessee this August and extradited to Florida. He pleaded not guilty.

The airspace around El Paso is open again. Why it closed is in dispute

The Federal Aviation Administration abruptly closed the airspace around El Paso, only to reopen it hours later. The bizarre episode pointed to a lack of coordination between the FAA and the Pentagon.

Pam Bondi hearing: AG touts record Dow as Democrats grill her over Trump, Epstein

Bondi's sworn testimony came after Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., slammed the DOJ for so far failing to indict any Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirators.

Why the largest U.S. auto dealer isn't interested in Chinese cars — for now

But reasons such as politics, logistics or potential consumer backlash aren't necessarily the main reasons, according to Lithia Motors CEO Bryan DeBoer.

Epstein files: Yale bars David Gelernter from teaching classes amid review of emails

Former Harvard University President Larry Summers last fall stopped teaching classes there after fallout from his dealings with Jeffrey Epstein.

Reading and writing can lower dementia risk by almost 40%, study finds

Cognitive health in later life is ‘strongly influenced’ by lifelong exposure to intellectually stimulating environments, say researchers

Reading, writing and learning a language or two can lower your risk of dementia by almost 40%, according to a study that suggests millions of people could prevent or delay the condition.

Dementia is one of the world’s biggest health threats. The number of people living with the condition is forecast to triple to more than 150 million globally by 2050, and experts say it presents a big and rapidly growing threat to future health and social care systems in every community, country and continent.

Breezy Johnson has plans for her repaired gold medal

Team USA star skier Breezy Johnson talks with CBS News about her broken Olympic medal, a superstition, and what keeps her motivated on the slopes.

Canadian police identify suspect in school massacre that left nine dead

A teacher and five students among those killed in attack in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, on Tuesday

Canadian police have identified the suspect who carried out a school massacre in remote British Columbia as an 18-year old woman with a history of mental health problems.

Six people, including a teacher and five students, were killed in the attack on Tuesday in the town of Tumbler Ridge, in foothills of the Rocky mountains. The victim’s mother and step-brother were later found dead at the family home, police said. The body of the shooter was also found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A new tax break on auto loan interest may help 4 million car owners

New deduction allows taxpayers to deduct up to $10,000 on interest they paid to buy a new American-made vehicle in 2025.

Dispute over Cardi B's Super Bowl cameo roils prediction markets

Cardi B appeared during Bad Bunny's halftime show at the Super Bowl, but one prediction market says it's unclear whether she sang.

Bondi faces heated questions on handling of Epstein files at House hearing

Attorney General Pam Bondi faced contentious questioning from House Democrats about the Justice Department's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Washington Post editor acknowledges ‘genuine trauma’ over mass layoffs

Matt Murray defends paper’s strategy as ‘demoralized’ staffers ask tough questions in contentious town hall

Top Washington Post editor Matt Murray acknowledged “a widespread sense of loss, of genuine trauma” in a contentious town hall meeting with staff on Wednesday after the company laid off nearly a third of its employees a week ago – though he expressed confidence that the Post was now on a path to success.

“There’s no doubt that just the sheer depth of the cuts – and also, with that, the reality of what we face at the Post – has been a very hard thing to wrap our heads around and to grapple with,” Murray said, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by the Guardian.

The jobs picture still looks muddy, even with surprisingly strong January growth

January job gains were better than anything the U.S. economy saw in 2025 but not still enough to sound an all-clear.

Irish man held in ICE detention for five months faces ‘dire conditions’, wife says

Tiffany Smyth is married to Seamus Culleton, who despite having a valid work permit was detained in September

The wife of an Irish man who has been held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for five months - despite having a valid work permit – is pleading for help in instigating his release from the “dire conditions” he is facing in detention.

“I just want him home where he belongs. I want us to be able to finish what we started,” Tiffany Smyth, wife of Seamus Culleton, said during a Wednesday press conference.

De Zerbi, Heitinga and Pochettino the leading contenders after Tottenham sack Frank

• Heitinga could be interim option to end of season

• De Zerbi available after leaving Marseille

Tottenham are exploring their options after sacking Thomas Frank on Wednesday morning, with Roberto De Zerbi and one of their current coaches, John Heitinga, in the conversation.

It is unclear whether the chief executive, Vinai Venkatesham, and the sporting director, Johan Lange, who are overseeing the process, will favour an interim choice which could be Heitinga. If they did, it would buy them time until the summer when other candidates could be available, including Mauricio Pochettino and Andoni Iraola.

Bud Cort, star of Harold and Maude, dies aged 77

Actor best-known for role in Hal Ashby’s black comedy also appeared in films by Robert Altman and Wes Anderson

Bud Cort, the actor best known for his role in dark comedy Harold and Maude, has died at the age of 77.

According to Variety, Cort died in Connecticut after a long illness.

Tariff revenue soars more than 300% as U.S. awaits Supreme Court decision

The U.S. government in January ran up a smaller deficit than a year ago, while tariff collections surged.

James Van Der Beek, "Dawson's Creek" star, dies at 48 after cancer diagnosis

"Dawson's Creek" and "Varsity Blues" star James Van Der Beek has died at 48 years old.

Alleged drones in El Paso airspace cast spotlight on Mexican cartels’ growing arsenals

Closure of airspace draws attention to crime groups’ high-powered weapons – and may give Trump an excuse to attack

An alleged incursion by Mexican cartel drones into US airspace and the sudden closure of El Paso’s airspace has drawn renewed attention to the use of high-powered weapons by organized crime groups in Mexico.

There were conflicting accounts on Wednesday about whether the city’s airspace was shut down due to cartel drones or a disagreement over the Pentagon testing of counter-drone technology, but experts say the use of drones by drug gangs at the border has become increasingly common.

U.S. speedskater Jordan Stolz wins gold in 1,000 meters, sets Olympic record

Jordan Stolz won gold in the men's 1,000 metres at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday, delivering the United States' first speed skating title at Milano Cortina.

Police hold discussions with CPS over investigation into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

Thames Valley police lead assessment of allegations concerning former duke’s links to Jeffrey Epstein

Police have held discussions with specialist prosecutors over investigations into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s links with Jeffrey Epstein while the former duke was acting as the UK’s trade envoy.

Oliver Wright, assistant chief constable of Thames Valley police, said on Wednesday that the force was leading the assessment of allegations against Mountbatten-Windsor of misconduct in public office, specifically relating to documents within the Epstein files released by the US justice department.

Arsenal take giant stride towards WCL last eight with thumping win over Leuven

Arsenal delivered a dominant and efficient display away to OH Leuven to take a 4-0 lead into the second leg of their Women’s Champions League playoff at the Emirates Stadium next week.

Frida Maanum opened the scoring, Olivia Smith added the second, Maanum struck again and Alessia Russo finished things off against the Belgian side before midfielder Kim Little came off the bench late on to put the cherry on top of the evening, making a staggering 400th appearance for the club.

Social workers’ AI tool makes ‘gibberish’ transcripts of accounts from children

Transcription tools used by councils in England and Scotland reported to wrongly indicate suicidal ideation

AI tools are making potentially harmful errors in social work records, from bogus warnings of suicidal ideation to simple “gibberish”, frontline workers have said.

Keir Starmer last year championed what he called “incredible” time-saving social work transcription technology. But research across 17 English and Scottish councils shared with the Guardian has now found AI-generated hallucinations are slipping in.

James Van Der Beek, star of Dawson’s Creek, dies aged 48

Actor who also starred in Varsity Blues and Rules of Attraction revealed in 2024 he had been diagnosed with cancer

• James Van Der Beek: a life in pictures

James Van Der Beek, the actor best known for playing the lead in hit 90s teen drama Dawson’s Creek, has died.

“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith and grace,” reads a statement shared on Van Der Beek’s official Instagram page on Wednesday.

‘You’re a washed-up loser lawyer’: Pam Bondi taunts Democrats over Epstein

US attorney general goes on attack during questioning by House judiciary committee over handling of files

The US attorney general Pam Bondi attacked and insulted Democrats during a House judiciary committee hearing on Wednesday as she defended the justice department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

Democrats pounded Bondi with questions about the way the department has complied with a law last year mandating the complete release of the files with specific and limited room for redactions. Since releasing the documents after the statutory deadline, the justice department has come under intense scrutiny both for releasing the names of survivors and redacting, without explanation, the names of people who may have committed crimes.

Ukrainian skeleton athlete ready to be disqualified over ‘helmet of memory’

• IOC has told Vladyslav Heraskevych he will be banned

• ‘I will not betray these athletes,’ says Ukrainian

The Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych says he is ready to be disqualified on Thursday because he does not want to betray his country’s dead athletes.

In what is likely to be an extraordinary scene in Cortina when the skeleton begins at 9.30am local time (8.30am GMT), Heraskevych has vowed to wear his “helmet of memory”, even though the International Olympic Committee has told him it will kick him out if he does so.

A Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by Trump was convicted of sexually abusing children

A handyman from Florida who received a pardon from President Trump for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was convicted on state charges of child sex abuse and exposing himself to a child.

U.S. payrolls rose by 130,000 in January, more than expected; unemployment down to 4.3%

Job growth was stronger than expected to start 2026, providing some relief to concerns about the state of the U.S. labor market.

Why most democracies won’t touch Trump’s Board of Peace

Whether it’s the $1bn price tag or the US president’s outsized power, key allies are steering clear of the board

• This was originally published in This Week in Trumpland; sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday

Hey, do you like peace? Oh, cool, you do? Then, how about we establish a group of countries, all committed to that concept, working together to create global harmony? No, not the one that has already existed for 80 years. A new one. Who’s in?

It turns out: not that many world leaders or global citizens.

How did Jeffrey Epstein make all of his money?

Newly released documents are renewing interest in how Jeffrey Epstein amassed his fortune. Here's how he made his money.

Lindsey Vonn says success has ‘completely different meaning’ after third surgery on broken leg

• American crashed out of Olympic downhill event

• Bryan Graham: Crash a violent but honest ending

• Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results

Lindsey Vonn says she has had a successful third surgery on the broken leg she suffered during the women’s Olympic downhill on Sunday.

Vonn posted an update on Instagram that included photos of her giving a thumbs up in her hospital bed with a metal frame attached to her leg.

FBI conducting ‘extensive search’ on roads near Nancy Guthrie home

Man who was detained released after several hours of questioning in connection to Guthrie’s disappearance

The FBI announced on Wednesday that it was conducting “an extensive search” along multiple roadways close to the Arizona home of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie who has been missing for 10 days.

The development came after authorities released a man earlier in the day who was detained in a traffic stop following several hours of questioning “in connection to the investigation”, according to reports.

Here are the five key takeaways from the January jobs report

The January nonfarm payrolls report beat Wall Street expectations in both job creation and the unemployment rate.

‘Casey should resign’: Abby Wambach leaves Wasserman after Epstein files

• Wambach is first major sports figure to depart agency

• Agency founder had emailed with Ghislaine Maxwell

• LA 2028 Olympics board says it backs chairman

Former US soccer star Abby Wambach has announced she is leaving the Wasserman talent agency and called for its founder and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics chairman, Casey Wasserman, to resign after emails between him and Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed in the Jeffery Epstein files.

The two-time gold medalist and World Cup winner shared a statement on Wednesday saying she was leaving Wasserman, an agency that represents an extensive roster of athletes and celebrities across the sports and entertainment industries.

The Guardian view on a ‘Made in Europe’ industrial strategy: an idea whose time has come | Editorial

Defending European strategic interests must be a priority to level the economic playing field in an increasingly volatile world

Given the daunting nature of the challenges they face in the era of Donald Trump, it is perhaps understandable that European politicians should wish to get away from it all. This week, in what is being billed as a “leaders’ retreat”, a remote castle in the Belgian countryside has been selected for an EU summit on competitiveness. The pastoral setting may soothe the spirits of attending heads of state; but it belies the urgency of the debate they need to have.

Europe in the postwar period has never felt so insecure. Mr Trump’s America First administration has made clear its intention to bully the continent economically through tariffs and threats, and the transatlantic alliance can no longer be relied upon for its defence. Hi-tech competition from China threatens to overwhelm European industry’s attempts to keep up in key areas, such as the green transition. Across the European Union, support for the far right is on the rise.

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.

SAVE Act: House to vote on Trump-backed voter ID bill

The SAVE America Act's GOP supporters say it would secure elections and prevent fraud. Democrats say it could disenfranchise millions.

Lindsey Vonn shares update after 3rd surgery: "I'm making progress"

The 41-year-old American came out of retirement to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics and crashed seconds into her downhill race on Sunday.

‘I’m happy to defend my country’: meet Greenland’s Olympian defying Donald Trump

Ukaleq Slettemark is a beacon of hope at a time when even the Greenlandic sports minister worries ‘Trump is crazy’

They don’t fly the flag of Greenland at the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee only recognises independent sovereign states, and, as all the world, even the most distant corners of the US, now knows, Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. But the flag, which is known as the Erfalasorput, was there in the grandstands at the Anterselva Biathlon Arena all the same, even if it wasn’t flying from rooftops above it. It was being waved by all the Danish fans who wanted to show their support for the only two Greenlandic athletes competing here at Milano Cortina.

Their names are Ukaleq Slettemark and Sondre Slettemark, brother and sister, and both biathletes. They were born in Nuuk, and raised between Greenland and Norway where their parents, who are also biathletes, took them to learn the sport when they were children. For the last four weeks, the Slettemark siblings have been caught in the middle of a whirlwind of media attention. There aren’t many famous people from Greenland, Ukaleq explains, in what is perhaps the 20th interview she has had to do after she finished 52nd in the women’s 15km event.

Lawyer for lawmaker in video to troops threatens suit after failed charges

An attorney for one of the lawmakers who appeared in a video telling members of the military to reject "illegal orders" demanded that the federal prosecutors preserve records for a potential suit.

Novo Nordisk CEO sees 15 million patient opportunity in Medicare coverage for obesity drugs

Doustdar said Medicare coverage and the launch of Novo's new obesity pill should help gradually boost prescription volumes and offset lower prices in the U.S.

Starmer tells Jim Ratcliffe to apologise for saying UK ‘colonised’ by immigrants

PM calls comments by Man United co-owner, who also hit out at people on benefits, ‘offensive and wrong’

Keir Starmer has said Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe should apologise for his comments that the UK is being “colonised” by immigrants.

In an interview with Sky News on Wednesday, Britain’s seventh-richest man, who moved to tax-free Monaco in 2020, took aim at people receiving state support and immigrants.

Hidden passage linked to Underground Railroad found in New York museum

Small opening cut into floor at Merchant’s House Museum indicates site was probably used as ‘safe house’, experts say

A landmark house in Manhattan preserved as a museum to New York’s 19th-century history has revealed an even more intriguing secret: its previously unknown status as a refuge for people who escaped slavery before and during the civil war.

The Merchant’s House Museum’s link to the Underground Railroad, a network of abolitionists who secured the safe passage of enslaved people to freedom, was discovered when archaeologists looked beneath the drawers of a built-in dresser in the wall of a hallway leading to bedrooms on the building’s second floor.

El Paso airspace closure was tied to Mexican cartel drones, officials say

The Federal Aviation Administration changed course and said flights would resume after halting all air traffic into and out of El Paso.

England to play New Zealand and Costa Rica in final pre-World Cup friendlies

• Matches to take place in Florida in early June

• England based in Kansas City during tournament

England will play World Cup warm-up matches against New Zealand and Costa Rica in Florida and base themselves in Kansas City for the duration of the tournament.

Thomas Tuchel and his squad will fly to Florida at the start of June and take on New Zealand on 6 June and Costa Rica four days later. They will then transfer to the Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, having identified the city as their preferred location in January 2025.

‘We’re all aging. Father Time hasn’t beaten me yet’: Nick Baumgartner on snowboarding in the Olympics at 44

The Upper Peninsula snowboarder races his fifth Olympic Games on Thursday, drawing on a career shaped by construction sites, small-town winters and the belief he could still reach the 2034 Games on home soil

At an age when most Olympic snowboarders have already drifted into coaching, broadcasting or nostalgia, Nick Baumgartner is still doing the hardest thing in his sport: showing up to the start gate believing he can win.

On Thursday at Livigno Snow Park, the 44-year-old American will race the men’s snowboard cross at his fifth Olympic Games – less a farewell tour than another extension of a career that has stubbornly ignored conventional timelines.

Meta launches AI algorithm personalization feature for Threads

The feature, called "Dear Algo," lets Threads users personalize what content they see by publicly posting an AI prompt.

TikTok to launch local feed that taps users' geolocation data

The social media platform changed its privacy policy last month, inviting users to allow it to track their specific location.

England left with no margin for error after defeat by West Indies at T20 World Cup

• Group C: West Indies 196-6 bt England 166 by 30 runs

• Rutherford smashes 76 and England splutter in chase

West Indies are making Group C look plain sailing, England are all at sea. Like, by and large, the ball (unless it was arrowing towards a fielder), England’s pursuit of a target of 197 never got off the ground, and after a largely pedestrian performance veered towards the end into a bilious combination of slapstick and horror they had been dismissed for 166 and, with seven balls remaining, been beaten by 30 runs.

Had the knife-edge result against Nepal on Sunday fallen the other way this would already be another crisis in a winter full of them. As it is they will head to Kolkata, where they complete their group fixtures against Scotland and Italy, confident given the nature of their opponents of securing the wins they require to progress to the Super Eights but knowing they can afford no further stumbles.

Why ex-FBI agent thinks person in Nancy Guthrie video isn't a career criminal

A former FBI agent called the actions of the person seen in video at Nancy Guthrie's home "extremely amateurish."

Ben Jennings on Keir Starmer’s future – cartoon

Continue reading...

Airspace closure followed FAA, Pentagon spat over drone-related tests, sources say

Pentagon officials had undertaken planning to use military technology near Fort Bliss, in El Paso, to practice downing drones.

Employers added 130,000 jobs in January, topping expectations

Surprise burst in hiring across the U.S. last month shows the labor market remains on solid ground.

US labor board drops years-long legal battle with SpaceX in victory for Musk

National Labor Relations Board says it does not have legal oversight of SpaceX and dismisses case

The US labor board is abandoning a years-long legal battle against Elon Musk’s SpaceX and signaling it will steer clear of future cases against the company, according to a letter from the board cited by the New York Times and Bloomberg.

Two years after issuing a complaint accusing the aerospace firm of firing eight engineers because of their involvement in an open letter criticizing Musk, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said it was dismissing the case, disclaiming jurisdiction over it, according to the letter.

Shevchenko plans to tell Infantino face-to-face that Russia’s football ban must stand

• Ukrainian FA president seeks meeting on Thursday

• Fifa president due at Uefa congress in Brussels

Andriy Shevchenko will seek a meeting with Gianni Infantino on Thursday to discuss the Fifa president’s recent comments that favoured Russia’s return to international football competitions.

Infantino sparked condemnation in Ukraine when, speaking in an interview last week, he said the ban on Russia’s participation should be reassessed. Shevchenko, the Ukrainian Association of Football president, is looking to restate Ukraine’s position in private when the pair attend Uefa’s congress in Brussels.

Trump’s racist post about the Obamas was a wake-up call for some. Why did it take so long? | Jamil Smith

The racism was not new. What was new was the inability to look past it. For a moment, at least, the blinders were off

John from New Mexico, a self-professed lifelong Republican, called into C-Span’s Washington Journal earlier this month with penitence on his mind.

“I voted for the president and supported him,” he began. “But I really want to apologize.”

Jamil Smith is a Guardian US columnist

Boom time for anti-racist TV: how an £84 bottle of wine triggered an explosion in British broadcasting

In the 1980s, spearheaded by Channel 4, British TV stopped telling Black and Asian people how to assimilate and gave them a voice. A golden age of dissent, activism and culture ensued – but have we since gone backwards?

One afternoon in 1984, Farrukh Dhondy went for lunch, not realising he was about to become part of British television history. The Indian-born writer was working for Channel 4 at the time on breakout multi-ethnic shows such as No Problem!, a sitcom about a family of Jamaican heritage in London, and Tandoori Nights, a comedy about an Indian restaurant. When Dhondy arrived at the Ivy, Jeremy Isaacs, the burgeoning broadcaster’s founding chief executive, ordered an £84 bottle of wine.

“I thought, ‘What the hell is this all about?’” Dhondy says. It turned out Isaacs wanted him to be the next commissioning editor for Channel 4. “For God’s sake, I’m not an office job man,” he said. “I’m a writer.” But after a brief conversation with the Trinidadian activist-scholar CLR James, who was living with him while going through a divorce, Dhondy changed his mind.

Team USA wins gold and silver in women's moguls at Winter Olympics

Gold medalist Elizabeth Lemley is making her Winter Olympics debut at the Milan Cortina Games.

French biathlete guilty of fraud wins Olympic gold while scammed teammate comes 80th

• Julia Simon holds finger to lips as she crosses line

• Simon found to have spent €2,000 on rival’s credit card

An athlete convicted of committing credit card fraud against one of her national teammates has won an Olympic gold medal for France in the women’s 15km biathlon, beating her victim to do it.

Julia Simon, 29, was handed a €15,000 fine and a three-month suspended sentence last October after she was found to have spent more than €2,000 using card details belonging to Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, also 29, who finished in 80th place in the same race. A third member of the French team, Lou Jeanmonnot, won the silver.

How Team USA's Maxim Naumov carried his parents' legacy onto the ice

A close family friend tells CBS News about the Olympic dream Team USA skater Maxim Naumov shared with his parents, and how "he did it."

Marine Le Pen appeal trial ends with presidential race at stake

Judges’ verdict on embezzlement challenge will determine whether far-right leader can stand in 2027 election

Defence lawyers for Marine Le Pen have told a Paris appeals court she did not orchestrate a system to misuse European parliament funds, at the close of an embezzlement trial that will determine whether the far-right leader can run in the 2027 French presidential election.

Le Pen’s lawyer, Sandra Chirac Kollarik, told the court on Wednesday: “At no moment did Marine Le Pen imagine that she broke the rules.” She added: “Never in her life would she have deliberately accepted making a false contract.”

Empathy engineer: is this the £110k job of your dreams?

British applicants are missing out on lucrative contracts in the tech sector because they haven’t got a clue what the job actually is

Name: Empathy engineer.

Age: New.

What are the latest developments in the Jeffrey Epstein case?

Journalist Vicky Ward first profiled sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. She discusses the fallout from the millions of publicly released documents, and why this story took so long to come out.

‘Letting the sound happen around you’: powerful sonic memorial remembers the dead

Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork has created a sound installation emulating second world war spaces: a Japanese internment camp in California and caves used as bunkers in Okinawa

In 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, the great-uncle of the Japanese-American, Los Angeles-based artist Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork was stationed on the island as a US solider, having volunteered for service probably in the hopes that his family might be spared from the Japanese internment camps back home. They weren’t, and so while his siblings and parents were incarcerated at Tule Lake in northern California, he was on the frontlines in what has been deemed one of the bloodiest conflicts in the Pacific during the second world war.

The caves of Okinawa were used “almost as bunkers to protect people”, Kiyomi Gork explains. “But they were also spaces of mass suicide because of Japanese propaganda.” Local Uchinanchu who took refuge there were instructed by Japanese soldiers to kill themselves, rather than face what they were told would be a violent fate at the hands of the US army. As one of the few American soldiers who spoke Japanese, Kiyomi Gork’s great-uncle worked to ensure their safe passage.

Jimmy Kimmel on Trump: ‘A code orange de-mental emergency going on here right now’

Late-night hosts discussed Trump’s flailing attempts to distract from the fallout of the unsealed Epstein files

Late-night hosts unpacked the Trump administration’s continued attempts to distract from and underplay the Epstein files.

Moscow preparing to evacuate Russian tourists from Cuba amid US oil blockade

Cuban aviation authorities have warned country is running out of jet fuel, threatening to derail tourism industry

• Air Canada cancels all flights to Cuba as US oil blockade cuts off fuel access

Moscow has said it is planning to evacuate Russian tourists from Cuba within days as a fuel crisis triggered by US efforts to choke off the island’s oil supplies deepens.

Russia’s aviation authorities said on Wednesday that two of its airlines serving the Caribbean island would operate outbound-only flights to bring tourists home before suspending services.

Trump Canada tariffs face House vote after Republican leaders fail to block rebellion

Republican House leaders tried, and failed, to pass a measure on Tuesday that would have blocked House disapproval votes on Trump tariffs through July.

Kristin Scott Thomas says male theatre critics fail to grasp plays about women

Actor’s comments came as she accepted a lifetime achievement award for women in the arts

Kristin Scott Thomas has accused male theatre critics of failing to understand plays written by women and about women.

Citing her monologue on menstruation in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag, she said the speech had “ripped through the internet”, proving the appetite for female stories told on their own terms.

US poet laureate of style Ralph Lauren opens New York fashion week

Unabashedly grand collection featuring velvet and beading is teamed with knits and loafers to reflect fashion in the real world right now

Ralph Lauren is the US’s poet laureate of style. His brand came of age in a gilded era of American charm, when Bill Clinton was president, the economy was booming and the twin towers glittered on the Manhattan skyline. His clothes speak to an America of sportsmanship and vigour, where everyone has a firm handshake and perfect teeth.

The US could use some poetry right now, and Lauren is still the man. In fact, at 86, he is the hottest designer at New York fashion week.

‘Deaf people can’t hide behind words!’ Inside the first ever dating show to use British Sign Language

Hold My Hand focuses exclusively on signers – who can be refreshingly blunt and extremely revealing. Heroda and Hermon Berhane, the deaf identical twin presenters, say it reveals their community in a way never seen before

It may not be the first TV programme to describe itself as being “more than just a dating show”, but Hold My Hand is undoubtedly the first to focus exclusively on British Sign Language.

“We’ve been waiting to get a show of our own for such a long time,” says Heroda Berhane, one half of the deaf identical twin presenting duo, Hermon and Heroda. “People have never seen our culture, our identity, the way we discuss the things. So it’s a dating show, yes, but it’s not just about dating; it’s also revealing our identity and our culture, and that has never been seen before.”

Point of no return: a hellish ‘hothouse Earth’ getting closer, scientists say

Continued global heating could set irreversible course by triggering climate tipping points, but most people unaware

The world is closer than thought to a “point of no return” after which runaway global heating cannot be stopped, scientists have said.

Continued global heating could trigger climate tipping points, leading to a cascade of further tipping points and feedback loops, they said. This would lock the world into a new and hellish “hothouse Earth” climate far worse than the 2-3C temperature rise the world is on track to reach. The climate would also be very different to the benign conditions of the past 11,000 years, during which the whole of human civilisation developed.

Crime 101 review – bracing tale of master thief lifts a trick or two from Michael Mann

The pedal is pressed hard to the metal for this very stylish high-stakes armed robbery thriller starring Chris Hemsworth

Bart Layton is the British film-maker who previously gave us American Animals, a true-crime docudrama about the theft of rare books. That film’s title would also have applied perfectly well to this new one, an LA crime thriller adapted from a novella by Don Winslow. It is a little in the style of Michael Mann, though without the military hardware and the overhead shots of SUVs moving in swift convoy that would make it a full Mann homage.

Layton does without the distinctive indirect mannerisms and meta-commentaries of his earlier movies, but he applies his pedal to the metal for what is an enjoyable and very stylish high-stakes armed robbery film about a thief who is highly controlled, super-cool, super-groomed, and naturally looking for the “walkaway money” of the time-honoured one last job.

Reanimal review – you will never turn your back on a pelican again as long as you live

PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox, Switch 2; Tarsier Studios
Childhood terrors come to wretched life in a grim fairytale of a puzzle-platformer that’s as beautifully macabre as it is hard to put down

“I thought you were dead,” are the first words you’ll hear from the child protagonists of this horror puzzle-platformer. It’s your first sign that things were going badly long before you got here. Exploring dark waves and desolated urban environments in a rowboat, they’re on a search for their lost friends across a world of rabid, malformed entities. As the children struggle with their outsize fears, so will you, but you’ve at least got the option to play co-op if you want someone on the couch to brave the horrors with.

In the early 2000s, irreverent gaming blog Old Man Murray pioneered the “crate review system”. The rubric was simple: the sooner the player encountered their first wooden cube of heinous mediocrity, the more uninspired the game. Updating this method for 2026, we’ve got a few new contenders: how soon before you shimmy slowly through a gap, boost a companion over a high ledge so they can pull you up or tediously rotate some mechanism with the analogue stick? Reanimal pulls out all these hits within the first 20 minutes and, by the time the credits roll, six hours in, it feels as if developer Tarsier has wrung the final drops of interactive novelty from its formula of light exploration puzzles, tense but simple stealth and ghastly chases. And yet this grim fairytale is still difficult to put down.

These Democrats aren't ready to jettison big business as party stalwarts shift left

The New Democrat Coalition has a moderate plan — shared first with CNBC — to propel their party to win control of the House in November.

Is Jacob Elordi really the hottest man on the planet? Six things you need to know

Gen Z fell in love with him on the small screen, but with the release of Emerald Fennell’s steamy new adaptation of Wuthering Heights, the Aussie actor’s star is set to shine even brighter

Jacob Elordi is Heathcliff. The 28-year-old Australian actor has scarcely been out of the headlines since his controversial casting in Emerald Fennell’s imminent adaptation of Wuthering Heights. Now, in the week of the film’s release, he’s being hailed as “the hottest man on the planet”, tipped as a future Oscar winner and household name. Not even mixed early reviews seem to be slowing the momentum.

Truly, these heights must seem wuthering to the boy from Brisbane who fell in love with acting after being cast as The Cat in The Hat. “As soon as I was singing and dancing with the big hat on, I knew that that was what I wanted to do,” Elordi said last December. But who is he, and what’s behind his rapid rise?

Moderna says FDA refuses to review its application for experimental flu shot

Moderna said the move is inconsistent with previous feedback from the FDA on the experimental influenza shot, called mRNA-1010.

Musk's xAI loses second co-founder in two days

After SpaceX merger, xAI is shedding co-founders with influential researcher Jimmy Ba the latest to depart.

Iran’s president denies it seeks nuclear weapon and admits ‘shame’ after mass protests

Masoud Pezeshkian tries to convey message of national unity as negotiations with US hang in balance

• US politics live – latest updates

Iran’s president insisted his country was not seeking a nuclear weapon as he acknowledged “great sorrow” after the authorities’ recent crackdown on protesters.

Speaking to crowds gathered across Iran to mark the anniversary of the 1979 revolution, Masoud Pezeshkian sought to claim a message of national unity after demonstrations that roiled the country and triggered an unprecedented crisis for the regime.

Team USA curler from Minnesota says people's rights being quashed at home

Team USA's curlers are trying to focus on the ice at the Winter Games in Italy, but one member from Minnesota says "what's going on there is wrong."

Oscars 2026 class photo: can you spot the tallest nominee – and a camouflaged Diane Warren?

The annual Academy Award nominees luncheon is my favourite part of an otherwise excruciatingly dull affair – and the group picture reveals more than any winners list could

As you will all be aware, the Oscars aren’t particularly fun. They are an overlong celebration of underwatched films that take place in a room where, by the end of the evening, the bulk of those present have been told that they aren’t good enough to win anything. The whole thing is excruciating.

But you know what’s much better than the Oscars? The annual Oscars nominees luncheon. This is when everyone who has been nominated gathers for a nice lunch. It isn’t televised, so nobody has to be on their best behaviour. No awards are handed out, so technically everyone invited is an equal. And, best of all, they take a class photo of everyone at the end.

A plague doctor dances with a rat at a Covid ball: Lisl Ponger’s best photograph

‘In Florida, people were told to keep the length of a baby alligator apart. So I included a character wearing an alligator mask in my pandemic-themed masked ball’

When Covid started, everybody was talking about masks. I thought about the face coverings we all had to wear, and I thought about masks more widely. I researched masked balls and carnival masks and read a lot about the many outbreaks of plague in Venice starting in the 14th century, and about pandemics in general.

This photograph, Danse Macabre, was inspired by Covid. If you take a close look at the paper lamps hanging from the ceiling, you’ll see some Covid-19 viruses smuggled in among them. In the middle of the scene, a doctor in a plague mask – the type still sold at carnival in Venice – is dancing with the rat that caused the plague. The couple on the left reference the fact that the Bolsonaro-led Brazilian government at the time of the pandemic was accused of allowing many Indigenous people to die unnecessarily [he denied any wrongdoing]. So those two deal with colonialism – the woman in the yellow hat represents an Indigenous person, the guy she’s dancing with is wearing a mask with the face of Pedro de Alvarado, a Spanish conquistador responsible for massacring Indigenous populations in Guatemala in the 16th century.

European Super League project officially over after Real Madrid and Uefa deal

• Madrid were sole surviving proponents of breakaway

• Uefa statement suggests club’s legal case will be closed

The Super League project has finally died out after Uefa announced it had reached “an agreement of principles for the wellbeing of European club football” with Real Madrid and the European Football Clubs group.

In a surprise statement released the day before Uefa stages its annual congress in Brussels, the governing body said all parties had agreed a way forward “respecting the principle of sporting merit with emphasis on long-term club sustainability and the enhancement of fan experience through the use of technology”.

White House deletes JD Vance’s social media post referring to Armenian genocide

US vice-president’s post marks first time Trump administration used the word to describe the massacres

The White House has deleted a social media post in which the vice-president, JD Vance, referred to the Armenian genocide, prompting anger from members of the Armenian diaspora as well as opposition politicians across the US.

The post was made during Vance’s two-day trip to Armenia to mark a visit by Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, to a memorial for the up to 1.5 million Armenians killed by Ottoman troops more than a century ago. The now-deleted post on Vance’s official X account said he was visiting the memorial to honour “the victims of the Armenian genocide”.

Briton shot by father in Texas after row about Trump was unlawfully killed, coroner rules

Lucy Harrison died after being shot in chest by alcoholic Kris Harrison while staying at his home in US last year

A Cheshire woman who was shot dead by her “reckless” father while visiting him in the US after a row about Donald Trump was unlawfully killed, a coroner has ruled.

Lucy Harrison, 23, who lived in Warrington and worked as a fashion buyer for Boohoo, was shot in the chest with a semi-automatic handgun by Kris Harrison while staying at his home in Prosper, Texas, on 10 January last year.

Displaced Palestinians, protests and the pope: photos of the day – Wednesday

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