Patriots torment Stroud to beat Texans and set up AFC championship with Broncos

• Houston Texans 16-28 New England Patriots

• New England intercept Houston QB four times

• Broncos and Patriots will play for place in Super Bowl

Drake Maye threw three touchdown passes, Marcus Jones returned one of CJ Stroud’s four interceptions for a score and the New England Patriots defeated the Houston Texans 28-16 on Sunday to advance to the AFC championship game for the first time in seven years.

In Mike Vrabel’s first season as head coach, the Patriots will make their 16th conference championship game appearance and first since their run to their sixth Super Bowl title under Bill Belichick in the 2018 season. New England have won their last nine divisional round games.

Maye finished 16 of 27 for 179 yards, but had an interception and fumbled four times, losing two in cold conditions as snow and rain fell throughout the game. One of Maye’s fumbles set up Houston’s first touchdown.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds review – an electrifying crescendo of faith, fury and fragile joy

Fremantle Park, Perth
Returning to Australian stages after nine years, the band delivers a fierce, generous set that draws on four decades of music

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Dragging his hand across the piano keys, Nick Cave leaps into the air and charges towards the crowd like a preacher breaking from the pulpit. “Bring your spirit down!” he cries repeatedly, arms flung wide as the choir roars behind him.

It’s barely 10 minutes into their set at Fremantle Park in Perth, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds have the audience in the palm of their hands. Touring their 2024 album Wild God in Australia for the first time, they open with the brooding track Frogs and the eponymous Wild God, an explosive crescendo of high-pitched strings, soaring vocals and pounding percussion.

Kyren Wilson holds off John Higgins to secure his first Masters title

• World No 2 defeats ‘legend and idol’ 10-6 in final

• ‘I’m trying not to cry because it means so much’

Kyren Wilson collected his first Masters title to thwart John Higgins’s hopes of making more history after a cagey final replete with uncharacteristic errors from both players.

Higgins was seeking a third Masters title at Alexandra Palace – 20 years after he last lifted the trophy – and, at 50, the Scot had become the oldest player to reach the final of a triple crown event.

High-speed train crash in southern Spain leaves at least 21 dead

Two trains derail near Adamuz, Cordóba province, leaving scores injured, state-owned broadcaster reports

At least 21 people have been killed and several injured after two trains collided in southern Spain on Sunday night, authorities said.

A train travelling from Málaga to Madrid derailed near Adamuz, crossing on to the other track where it hit an oncoming train, which also derailed, Spain’s Adif rail body posted on X.

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

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

EU considers retaliatory measures over Trump Greenland tariff ‘blackmail’

Emmanuel Macron calls on fellow leaders to use powerful anti-coercion instrument if US goes ahead with tariffs

The EU was weighing up retaliatory tariffs on American goods and even deploying its most serious economic sanctions against the US as European leaders lined up to criticise Donald Trump’s threat to levy new taxes on imports from eight nations who oppose his attempt to annex Greenland – which one minister called “blackmail”.

“Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,” the leaders of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland said in a joint statement. “We are committed to upholding our sovereignty.”

In Los Angeles, Iranian-Americans march against government crackdown in Iran

Marchers gathered Sunday in downtown L.A. against the Iranian crackdown on the protests that have taken place over recent weeks.

Pape Gueye fires Senegal to Afcon glory against Morocco after walk-off chaos

This had been, by general agreement, the most predictable, least dramatic Cup of Nations in living memory. And that was true, until injury time in the final, when a video assistant referee decision contrived to produce perhaps the most ludicrous finale to any major final in history.

Senegal won it, but that is a tiny detail in the denouement that erupted. There was a walk-off in protest, a missed Panenka and a brilliant winning goal from Pape Gueye. When the final whistle went, players from both sides collapsed to the turf. For Morocco, extending the 50-year wait since their last Cup of Nations, this was agony.

Romford MP Andrew Rosindell becomes latest Tory to defect to Reform

Veteran MP says ‘time to put country before party’ citing Conservative position on Chagos Islands

Andrew Rosindell, the Conservative MP for Romford since 2001, has announced his defection to Reform UK, the second such departure to Nigel Farage’s party in four days.

Rosindell, who was a shadow Foreign Office minister under Kemi Badenoch, announced in a statement on X that he was joining Reform, giving as the main reason his opposition to the UK’s handover of sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

Democrat Khanna refloats bill to block investors from buying up homes after Trump proposal

President Donald Trump is cultivating an affordability agenda as he and Republicans sink in the polls.

Thomas Frank takes training as uncertainty rages over his Tottenham future

• Frank under intense pressure after West Ham defeat

• Irate supporters call for his sacking with team 14th

Thomas Frank oversaw training at Tottenham on Sunday and maintained a business-as-usual front before the club’s Champions League tie against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night – despite the uncertainty that is raging over this future.

The manager’s continued employment is in the balance after Spurs’ last-gasp 2-1 home defeat against West Ham on Saturday when the club’s supporters called for him to be “sacked in the morning”. The result kept Tottenham 14th in the Premier League and continued their miserable run in the competition. They have won only two of their past 13 games in the league.

Champions Cup roundup: Saracens face last-16 tie at Bath after defeat against Glasgow

• Saracens to play Prem champions after losing to Warriors

• Harlequins defeat La Rochelle to help Leicester progress

Saracens will travel to face Bath in the round of 16 after being beaten 28-3 by Glasgow in their final pool match at Scotstoun. Most of the points came in the first half, with the Warriors scoring three converted tries through Ollie Smith, Kyle Steyn and George Horne while Saracens replied with an Owen Farrell penalty.

Seb Stephen then rumbled over in the closing seconds of the match to secure a fourth successive bonus-point pool-stage victory for Glasgow. Their reward for topping pool 1 is a last-16 tie against the Bulls on the first weekend of April.

‘Leave Greenland alone!’: US anthem heckler at NBA London game draws cheers

• Heckle comes during rendition of Star-Spangled Banner

• US president has threatened tariffs on European nations

Mounting tensions between Europe and the United States moved into the sporting arena on Sunday when a member of the crowd shouted “Leave Greenland alone” as the US national anthem was sung during an NBA game in London.

Actor Vanessa Williams was performing the Star-Spangled Banner before the Memphis Grizzlies faced the Orlando Magic at the O2 Arena when she was interrupted by the heckle. The intervention drew a round of applause and cheers from sections of the crowd.

US reportedly considers granting asylum to Jewish people from UK

Trump lawyer Robert Garson told the Telegraph he discussed refuge for those leaving UK over antisemitism

Discussions are reportedly under way within Donald Trump’s administration about the US possibly granting asylum to Jewish people from the UK, according to the Telegraph, citing the US president’s personal lawyer.

Trump lawyer Robert Garson told the newspaper that he has held conversations with the US state department about offering refuge to British Jews who are leaving the UK citing rising antisemitism.

Ohio man, 83, convicted of killing Uber driver faces sentencing

William Brock fatally shot Lo-Letha Toland-Hall in 2024 after wrongly assuming she was involved in plot to rob him

An 83-year-old Ohio man faces sentencing on Tuesday after being convicted of murder in the shooting of an Uber driver who he wrongly thought was trying to rob him.

William J Brock fatally shot the driver after wrongly assuming she was in on a plot involving scam phone calls that deceived them both to get $12,000 in supposed bond money for a relative, authorities said.

Associated Press contributed

United Nations leaders bemoan global turmoil as the General Assembly turns 80

On Saturday, the UNGA celebrated its 80th birthday in London. Speakers including U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres addressed global uncertainty during the second term of President Trump.

Parts of Florida receive rare snowfall as freezing temperatures linger

Snow has fallen in Florida for the second year in a row.

1,500 soldiers placed on standby for possible deployment to Minneapolis

A U.S. defense official confirmed some 1,500 active-duty soldiers, currently stationed in Alaska, are on standby for possible deployment to Minneapolis amid the city's protests.

Chilean president declares state of catastrophe as wildfires kill at least 18

Fires blaze through 8,500 hectares, forcing 50,000 people to evacuate as firefighters struggle to extinguish flames

Wildfires raging across central and southern Chile have killed at least 18 people, scorched thousands of hectares of forest and destroyed scores of homes, authorities said, as the South American country swelters under a heatwave.

Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, declared a state of catastrophe in the country’s central Biobío region and the neighbouring Ñuble region, about 500km (300 miles) south of Santiago, the capital.

Hundreds of soldiers on standby for possible deployment to Minneapolis amid protests

About 1,500 active-duty soldiers are on standby in Alaska for possible deployment to Minneapolis, a U.S. defense official told CBS News Saturday.

European leaders warn Trump's Greenland tariffs threaten 'dangerous downward spiral'

In a joint statement, leaders of eight countries said they stand in "full solidarity" with Denmark and Greenland. Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen added: "Europe will not be blackmailed."

Supreme Court unlikely to overturn Trump tariffs, his ‘signature economic policy’: Bessent

Bessent's comments come one day after Trump said he would impose new tariffs on some European goods until a deal is struck for the U.S. to acquire Greenland.

Trump wants nations to pay $1 billion for permanent Board of Peace seats

The Trump administration wants nations to pay $1 billion to remain on his Gaza peace board, reports show.

The death of Livye Lewis: A party, a murder, and a man on the run

After a party in Hemphill, Texas, Livye Lewis is discovered dead and her ex-boyfriend Matthew Edgar is found bloodied on the ground nearby. What happened along the side of the road where they were discovered?

Syrian government announces a ceasefire with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces

Syria's new leaders, since toppling Bashar Assad in December 2024, have struggled to assert their full authority over the war-torn country.

Investigators say jealousy was a motive in murder of Texas teen

Matthew Edgar, who claimed to have no memory of how his ex-girlfriend was killed, was convicted of Livye Lewis' murder while on the run from authorities in Texas.

Mom confronts daughter's suspected killer, is charged with assault

Darci Bass was in a convenience store when in walked Matthew Edgar, out on bail while charged with the murder of Bass' daughter Livye Lewis.

Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Jan. 18, 2026

On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey join Margaret Brennan.

Prada show rejects political elite, as Dolce & Gabbana criticised for ‘50 shades of white’

Prada says its tailoring opposes US ‘corporate masculine power’, while D&G’s all-white cast causes controversy in Milan

Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, the two designers behind Prada, are well aware that fashion is about more than clothes. However, backstage after their menswear show in Milan on Sunday, the duo said the volatile present moment was a difficult one to translate to a collection. “You talk about the world now,” said Prada “or you talk about fashion … The two things together, in this moment, are difficult.”

The collection was, therefore, “uncomfortable”. Rather than meaning the clothes were not pleasant to wear – this is luxury fashion, after all – there were disparate elements put together in the same outfit: the top of a red sou’wester over a trenchcoat, for example, or a yellow scoop-neck jumper with cuffs of a shirt falling out the sleeve. (There were also some useful unexpected styling tips, such as wallets stuffed in a back pocket, or brightly coloured shoe laces).

Iran warns attack on Khamenei would be declaration of war

President issues warning amid speculation Donald Trump plans to assassinate or remove supreme leader

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, warned on Sunday that any attack on the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would be a declaration of war.

In an apparent response to speculation that Donald Trump is considering an attempt to assassinate or remove Khamenei, Pezeshkian said in a post on X: “An attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation.”

Trump’s tariff shock suggests EU’s strategy of flattery and appeasement has failed

Next few weeks will show if Trump has finally pushed too far with Greenland levies, as calls grow for bloc to take tougher action

As the sun set over the port of Limassol in Cyprus, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, last Thursday used a tried and tested formula to describe the US – calling it one of “our allies, our partners”. Only 24 hours earlier, Denmark, an EU and Nato member state, had warned that Donald Trump was intent on “conquering” Greenland, but the reflex at the top of the EU executive to describe the US as a friend runs deep.

Trump’s weekend announcement that eight countries that have supported Greenland would face tariffs unless there was a deal to sell the territory to the US was another hammer to the transatlantic alliance, mocking the notion that the US is Europe’s ally. The eight countries include six EU member states, as well as Norway and the UK, the latter unprotected by the much vaunted “special relationship”. It suggests that Europe’s strategy of flattering and appeasing the US president has failed.

After years of criticising Davos, Nigel Farage heads to Davos

Reform UK leader has decried ‘globalist’ event but this year hopes to meet Donald Trump for Greenland talks

For years he has derided the annual gathering at Davos as a smug and conspiratorial meeting of enemies of the nation state. But this week, Nigel Farage will himself be rubbing shoulders with the “globalists” he has so reviled.

Farage’s itinerary at the Swiss ski resort remains unclear, although his Reform UK deputy, Richard Tice, said on Sunday he hoped Farage would get a chance to speak to Donald Trump, who is also attending the event run by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The Guardian view on Trump and Greenland: get real! Bullying is not strength | Editorial

Tariff threats over the Arctic island expose the limits of coercive diplomacy. Europe’s united response and pushback shows fear is fading

For all Donald Trump’s bluster about restoring American strength, his attempt to bully European allies over Greenland reveals a deeper weakness: coercive diplomacy only works if people are afraid to resist. Increasingly, they aren’t. And that is a good thing. Bullies often back down when confronted – their power relies on fear. Mr Trump’s threat to impose sweeping tariffs on Europeans unless they acquiesce to his demand to “purchase” Greenland has stripped his trade policy bare. This is not about economic security, unfair trade or protecting American workers. It is about using tariffs as a weapon to force nations to submit.

The response from Europe has been united and swift. That in itself should send a message. France’s Emmanuel Macron says plainly “no amount of intimidation” will alter Europe’s position. Denmark has anchored the issue firmly inside Nato’s collective security. EU leaders have warned that tariff threats risk a dangerous downward spiral. Even Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, seen as ideologically close to Mr Trump, publicly called the tariff threat a “mistake” – adding that she has told him so.

The Guardian view on microplastics research: questioning results is good for science, but has political consequences | Editorial

Errors in measuring microplastic pollution can be corrected. Public trust in science also needs to be shored up

It is true that science is self-correcting. Over the long term this means that we can generally trust its results – but up close, correction can be a messy process. The Guardian reported last week that 20 recent studies measuring the amount of micro- and nanoplastics in the human body have been criticised in the scientific literature for methodological issues, calling their results into question. In one sense this is the usual process playing out as it should. However, the scale of the potential error – one scientist estimates that half the high-impact papers in the field are affected – suggests a systemic problem that should have been prevented.

The risk is that in a febrile political atmosphere in which trust in science is being actively eroded on issues from climate change to vaccinations, even minor scientific conflicts can be used to sow further doubt. Given that there is immense public and media interest in plastic pollution, it is unfortunate that scientists working in this area did not show more caution.

CBS News poll finds more Americans say ICE being too tough

Looking overseas, there is wide opposition to the idea of taking Greenland by force.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says federal agents are an "occupying force"

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey criticized the administration's immigration operations, calling the surge of federal agents an "occupying force that has quite literally invaded our city."

This week on "Sunday Morning" (Jan. 18)

A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the Emmy-winning program, hosted by Jane Pauley.

Uganda’s president calls opponents 'terrorists' in victory speech

Yoweri Museveni wins seventh term but poll criticised by observers and rights groups over repression of opposition and internet blackout

Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, fresh from winning a seventh term in office at 81, said on Sunday that the opposition were “terrorists” who had tried to use violence to overturn the election results.

Official results showed Museveni winning a landslide with 72% of the vote, but the poll was criticised by African election observers and rights groups due to the heavy repression of the opposition and an internet blackout.

Noem defends Minnesota ICE operations, says judge's order "didn't change anything"

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem defended ongoing immigration operations in Minnesota, and said a federal judge's order limiting the tactics federal agents can use "didn't change anything."

If it wasn’t clear before, it is now: Britain needs an escape plan from the Trump world order | Gaby Hinsliff

The US president’s trade war for Greenland tells us that the time for fence-sitting or wishful thinking is over

One way or the other, President Trump said, he will have Greenland. Well, at least now we know it’s the other; not an invasion that would have sent young men home to their mothers across Europe in coffins, but instead another trade war, designed to kill off jobs and break Europe’s will. Just our hopes of an economic recovery, then, getting taken out and shot on a whim by our supposedly closest ally, months after Britain signed a trade deal supposed to protect us from such arbitrary punishment beatings. In a sane universe, that would not feel like a climbdown by the White House, yet by comparison with the rhetoric that had Denmark scrambling troops to Greenland last week it is.

That said, don’t underestimate the gravity of the moment.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

Nicola Jennings on Greenland, Trump and tariffs – cartoon

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Libyan man in Minnesota for treatment for rare skin condition detained by ICE

Hani Duglof and his brother Mohamad Duklef left Libya more than a decade ago, unable to find relief for a rare condition that threatens to leave their skin torn and blistered at even the slightest provocation.

White House press secretary tells CBS ‘we’ll sue your ass off’ if it edits Trump interview

Karoline Leavitt was recorded warning network to put out new interview with president in full and without edits

Donald Trump’s White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, was recently recorded warning CBS News to broadcast a new interview with the president in full and without edits – or “we’ll sue your ass off”.

Trump “said, ‘Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full,’” Leavitt told CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil after he had interviewed the president, according to an audio exchange first reported on by the New York Times. The 13-minute exclusive segment aired on Tuesday, months after CBS’s parent company Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16m over its editing of an unrelated interview ahead of the 2024 election that vaulted him to a second presidency.

Tom Gauld cartoon on difficult New Year’s resolutions – cartoon

Saturday Night Live: big name cameos can’t save weak Stranger Things-themed episode

A$AP Rocky steals the show during Finn Wolfhard’s first ever go as host with surprise appearances from Sabrina Carpenter, Jason Momoa and more

Saturday Night Live returns from the holiday hiatus to catch us up on all things Trump: the president (James Austin Johnson) addresses the nation from the Oval Office, bragging about his favorite Christmas present: “My very own somebody else’s Nobel prize … and in my stocking: Maduro … we did a reverse Santa on him.”

Joined by cabinet members “Little” Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernández) and JD Vance (Jeremy Culhane, taking over for departed cast member Bowen Yang), who are all trying to “help me do so many legal-ish things to try to get people to stop talking about Epstein.” Said things include an impending invasion of Cuba, “trans in menswear”, new tariffs, and Greenland, only to be interrupted by Trump wandering behind them and looking out the window in a senile fugue state.

U.S. military troops on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota

The move comes after President Trump again threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to control ongoing protests over the immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis.

Nature: Woodpeckers in Florida

We leave you this Sunday morning with red-bellied woodpeckers at Canaveral Marshes near Orlando, Florida. Videographer: Doug Jensen.

Simple blood test can predict which breast cancer treatment will work best, study finds

Exclusive: DNA test means patients could be offered most effective treatment first, boosting their chances of beating the disease

Scientists have developed a simple DNA blood test that can predict how well patients with breast cancer will respond to treatment.

More than 2 million people globally each year are diagnosed with the disease, which is the world’s most prevalent cancer. Although treatments have improved in recent decades, it is not easy to know which ones will work best for which patients.

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream ... about health care

A doctor from Nigeria tells what Martin Luther King Jr. taught him about health, Justice and inequality.

Peak travel: Viewing the U.S. from each state's highest point

"Highpointers" are people with a quirky goal: summiting the highest point in each of the 50 states, from Mr. McKinley in Alaska (elevation: 20,310 feet above sea level), to Florida's Britton Hill (elevation: 345 feet).

Peak travel: Viewing the U.S. from each state's highest point

"Highpointers" are people with a quirky goal: summiting the highest point in each of the 50 states, from Mt. McKinley in Alaska (elevation: 20,310 feet above sea level), to Florida's Britton Hill (elevation: 345 feet). Conor Knighton talks with some intrepid travelers whose mission is to view the United States from the unique perspective of each state's tallest peak.

Abolishing ICE isn’t enough – it’s time to center people’s humanity | Heba Gowayed and Victor Ray

It’s far from radical to reject a system predicated on violence – despite what thinktanks might claim

On 7 January 2026, Renee Good was killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross; video captures a man’s voice calling her a “fucking bitch” afterwards. Kristi Noem, secretary of homeland security, maligned Good as having committed “domestic terrorism”. Good’s killing became a national flashpoint as protests erupted demanding justice for the mother of three.

Good’s killing is no anomaly. A Wall Street Journal investigation revealed 13 instances of ICE firing into civilian vehicles since July 2025, with at least eight people shot and two killed. ICE detentions are notorious for their inhumane conditions; 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025 alone, matching a record set two decades prior in 2004.

Heba Gowayed is an associate professor of sociology at Cuny Hunter College and Cuny Graduate Center and author of the book Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential

Victor Ray is the F Wendell Miller associate professor of sociology at the University of Iowa and author of the book On Critical Race Theory: Why It Matters & Why You Should Care

Voices of the civil rights movement

To mark Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, "Sunday Morning" talks with some of those who were engaged from the very beginning of the civil rights movement, from sit-ins and marches to the Supreme Court.

These United States: Voices of the civil rights movement

As we mark Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, Martha Teichner talks with some of those who were engaged from the very beginning of the civil rights movement: Arthenia Joyner, who was a Black high school student who took part in a sit-in at a Whites-only lunch counter in Tampa, Fla.; Jawana Jackson, who as a child participated with her mother in the Selma-to-Montgomery march in the wake of "Bloody Sunday"; and attorney Fred Gray, who won four civil rights cases before the Supreme Court by the age of 35.

Passage: In memoriam

"Sunday Morning" remembers some of the notable figures who left us this week, including civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin, whose 1955 arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus helped spark the modern civil rights movement.

Anti-ICE protesters face off against supporters of immigration crackdown

In Minneapolis Saturday, demonstrators in support of ICE (led by a pardoned January 6 rioter) were outnumbered by Minnesotans protesting immigration policies and the violent tactics used by federal agents. Meanwhile, the Justice Department, which has refused to pursue a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent, has launched probes into Minnesota officials who have criticized the Trump administration. Ian Lee reports the latest.

A paper dragon and a cold marathon – photos of the weekend

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

America at 250 – and a reckoning for President Trump

In this landmark year for American democracy, historian Lindsay Chervinsky, Washington Post columnist George F. Will, and Atlantic staff writer Vivian Salama talk about what the second year of Trump's presidency may mean for America's future.

America at 250 – and a reckoning for President Trump

One year into President Donald Trump's second term in office (which in recent days has seen military incursions in Venezuela, a Justice Department investigation of the chairman of the Federal Reserve, and the fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis by an ICE agent), "Sunday Morning" national correspondent Robert Costa talks with Lindsay Chervinsky, executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon; Washington Post columnist George F. Will; and Atlantic staff writer Vivian Salama, about what this coming year – the 250th since the colonies declared their independence – will mean for America's future.

Author Julian Barnes confirms new novel will be his last

Booker prize winner, 80, says he has reached point of having ‘played all my tunes’ after new book Departure(s)

The Booker prize-winning author, Julian Barnes, has confirmed his new novel, Departure(s), will be his last book, saying that he has the sense “that I’ve played all my tunes”.

Barnes, who celebrates his 80th birthday on Monday and whose works over a 45-year career include 15 novels and 10 works of nonfiction, said: “One way of thinking about how long you go on is, ‘As long as they’ll still publish you’.

‘Radical and joyous’: Beryl Cook show aims to prove she was a serious artist

Major retrospective in Plymouth, her adopted city, presents her as a skilful chronicler of social transformation

In her lifetime, Beryl Cook’s colourful, vibrant paintings tended to be dismissed by most critics as mere kitsch or whimsy.

A major retrospective of Cook’s work opening in her adopted city of Plymouth next weekend makes the case that she was a serious, significant artist who skilfully chronicled a tumultuous period of social transformation.

My week avoiding ultra-processed foods: ‘Why is it this hard?’

Ultra-processed foods have been linked to various health issues, but are a ubiquitous part of the modern western diet. Can Emma Joyce avoid them for a whole week?

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I’ve been eating ultra-processed foods (UPFs) all my life. Breakfast as a child was often Coco Pops, Rice Bubbles or white toast slathered in spreadable butter. Dinners usually involved processed sauces, such as Chicken Tonight or Dolmio, and my lunchboxes always contained flavoured chippies or plasticky cheese.

I don’t blame my parents for this. Now I’m a parent too, I have cartons of juice and flavoured yoghurt as part of my parenting arsenal. Packaged foods are omnipresent in our lives. But, unfortunately, some of these foods are very bad for our health.

The sudden rise of scabies: ‘I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy’

These microscopic mites, which burrow under your skin and cause ferocious itching, are incredibly hard to get rid of – and cases in the UK have soared. What is causing the outbreak, and is there anything we can do about it?

Louise (not her real name) is listing the contents of a bin liner she has packed with fresh essentials in case of emergency. Clothes, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, a teddy … “Although it should be two teddies,” she re-evaluates, quickly. I can hear her trying to quell her panic.

A diehard survivalist preparing for catastrophe? Actually, a beleaguered 44-year-old mother recovering from scabies – an itchy rash caused by microscopic mites that burrow under human skin. Far-fetched as it sounds, emergency evacuation is exactly what she, her partner and children (six and four) resorted to in November in a desperate bid to beat the bugs. She is now on tenterhooks in case they return.

AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorow

AI is asbestos in the walls of our tech society, stuffed there by monopolists run amok. A serious fight against it must strike at its roots

I am a science-fiction writer, which means that my job is to make up futuristic parables about our current techno-social arrangements to interrogate not just what a gadget does, but who it does it for, and who it does it to.

What I do not do is predict the future. No one can predict the future, which is a good thing, since if the future were predictable, that would mean we couldn’t change it.

Kindness of strangers: stranded on a tiny Indonesian island, a local took us under her wing

Noticing how out of place we looked, she asked in English if she could help us

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

In 1996, I travelled around Indonesia with my then-boyfriend. We’d been exploring Surabaya when we heard about an island off the coast called Madura that could be reached via ferry. It didn’t turn up in any of the tourist guides, which appealed to us, being adventurous types. We knew Madura wouldn’t be touristy, but expected there’d be some streets to explore and somewhere to sit down and have a cup of tea.

As soon as Madura came into sight, we realised our visit may not have been a great idea. We were expecting to see houses and buildings dot the shore, as well as the hawkers who’d typically crowd around piers in Indonesia with food and wares to sell. There was none of that. It was just a pier next to a tiny village.

Mika looks back: ‘Nowadays you wouldn’t get away with the things journalists said about my sexuality in the noughties’

The superstar singer on his itinerant childhood, brutally honest mother, and the moment of anger that led him to write Grace Kelly

Born in Beirut in 1983, Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr, otherwise known as Mika, was raised in Paris and London. He attended the Royal College of Music, before his breakthrough in 2007 with debut album Life in Cartoon Motion and its No 1 single, Grace Kelly. He went on to sell 20m records, and worked as a presenter and judge on TV shows such as Eurovision and The Piano. Mika now lives in Italy and in Hastings, East Sussex, with his partner. His first English-language album in six years, Hyperlove, is out on 23 January.

This was taken in our kitchen in Paris. It doesn’t surprise me that I am covered in chocolate. My earliest memories are of being on the floor surrounded by delicious food.

Trump endorses possible primary challenger to Sen. Bill Cassidy

President Trump pledged to back GOP Rep. Julia Letlow if she launches a bid in the Louisiana Senate race.

Trump threatens to sue JPMorgan Chase for 'debanking' him

President Trump threatened to sue JPMorgan for allegedly "debanking" him following the Jan. 6 insurrection in 2021.

"Hail to Indiana!": Jane Pauley on her alma mater's gridiron success and school anthem

On Monday night the Miami Hurricanes take on the Indiana Hoosiers in the highly-anticipated national college football championship game – and Jane Pauley, a fifth-generation Hoosier on both sides, will be watching. She reflects on Indiana University's come-from-behind underdog story, from holding the NCAA Division I record for most losses, to this year's 15-0 record – IU's first perfect season in 139 years – and fondly remembers the school anthem, "Hail to Old IU."

‘America first’? Trump financial products raise questions about potential presidential conflicts of interest

Five exchange-traded funds have been launched by Trump Media, owner of the president’s social media platform Truth Social

The word “Truth” was plastered all around the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning. At 9.30am, when the market opened, a small crowd stood on the balcony above the trading floor to ring in the day.

The group was celebrating the launch of five exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, that are tied to Truth Social, Donald Trump’s social media platform that has spun into a menagerie of products over the last few years.

Dictator ousted but regime intact – what next for Venezuela’s opposition?

The US snatched Nicolás Maduro but, frozen out by Trump, anti-government activists are unsure how to proceed

As the harsh reality sets in that Venezuela’s authoritarian regime remains essentially unchanged even without Nicolás Maduro, activists who have spent years fighting for the country’s return to democracy are unsure about what the next steps should be.

They agree that the country should very soon either hold new elections or install the retired diplomat Edmundo González – widely believed to have won the 2024 election – but neither option appears to be on the White House’s agenda at the moment.

Web extra: "Hail to Old IU"

The Indiana University Marching Hundred perform their school song, "Hail to Old IU." Gloriana, Frangipana!

Israel far-right ministers reject US-backed postwar Gaza panel

Finance minister says Netanyahu should back annexation and settlement, and attacks Turkey and Qatar’s role on Gaza ‘executive board’

Far-right members of Israel’s governing coalition on Sunday rejected a US-backed plan for postwar governance in Gaza, criticising their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for failing to annex the Palestinian territory and establish new Israeli settlements in the territory.

After the announcement of the White House’s pick of world leaders who will join the so-called Gaza “board of peace”, which includes representatives of Turkey and Qatar, both of which have been critical of Israel’s war in the strip, Israeli far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, described Netanyahu’s “unwillingness to take responsibility for Gaza” as “the original sin”.

Tennis civil war erupts with details of initial players peace deal revealed for first time

• PTPA had launched lawsuit against four grand slams

• Djokovic says he still has issue with PTPA leadership

The civil war engulfing tennis has been laid bare on the opening day of the first grand slam event this year, with details of Tennis Australia’s peace deal with the Professional Tennis Players’ Association published for the first time.

The PTPA launched an anti-trust lawsuit against the four grand slam tournaments, the ATP Tour, WTA Tour, and the International Tennis Federation last year, accusing them of collaborating to reduce prize money, impose a restrictive ranking system and repress player promotional opportunities, but Tennis Australia was dropped from the claim last month after reaching a settlement agreement with the players’ union.

Portugal votes in tight presidential race with far right poised to reach runoff

Opinion polls suggest three candidates, including anti-immigration Chega party leader, close to final two

Portuguese voters queued at polling stations on Sunday to elect a new president, with opinion surveys showing three candidates, including the leader of the far-right Chega party, close to a spot in a probable top-two runoff.

In the five decades since Portugal threw off its fascist dictatorship, a presidential election has only once before – in 1986 – required a runoff, highlighting how fragmented the political landscape has become with the rise of the far right and voters’ disenchantment with mainstream parties.

Emma Raducanu recovers from slow start to ease through at Australian Open

• Briton overcomes Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4, 6-1

• Thai opponent shines in first set before falling away

Sixteen minutes into her opening match at Melbourne Park, Emma Raducanu was 1-3, 15-40 down and flailing badly. Across the net from a relatively unknown opponent playing lights‑out tennis on her grand slam debut, this could have been a moment where panic set in, errors flowed and life became even more difficult.

However, Raducanu remained positive and rallied impressively, recovering quickly from her slow start before moving easily into the second round of the Australian Open with a 6-4, 6-1 win against Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand.

Woman's beloved dog disappears after her mysterious shooting

Bruno Rocuba claimed he shot his wife Melissa Rocuba accidentally, but then he started getting rid of all her belongings. "It's like he wanted her erased," said one of their daughters.

Will a woman's final moments, caught on tape, help prove she was murdered?

Bruno Rocuba claims a freak accident while handling his gun caused the death of his wife, Melissa Rocuba. He was not arrested or charged with any crime. Years later, investigators uncover disturbing new evidence that challenges what really happened that night in their Pennsylvania bedroom.

How can we defend ourselves from the new plague of ‘human fracking’?

Big tech treats our attention like a resource to be mercilessly extracted. The fightback begins here

In the last 15 years, a linked series of unprecedented technologies have changed the experience of personhood across most of the world. It is estimated that nearly 70% of the human population of the Earth currently possesses a smartphone, and these devices constitute about 95% of internet access-points on the planet. Globally, on average, people seem to spend close to half their waking hours looking at screens, and among young people in the rich world the number is a good deal higher than that.

History teaches that new technologies always make possible new forms of exploitation, and this basic fact has been spectacularly exemplified by the rise of society-scale digital platforms. It has been driven by a remarkable new way of extracting money from human beings: call it “human fracking”. Just as petroleum frackers pump high-pressure, high-volume detergents into the ground to force a little monetisable black gold to the surface, human frackers pump high-pressure, high-volume detergent into our faces (in the form of endless streams of addictive slop and maximally disruptive user-generated content), to force a slurry of human attention to the surface, where they can collect it, and take it to market.

‘People saw dollar signs’: a year after devastating wildfires, an LA community is fighting displacement

As survivors face pressure to sell their land in Altadena, a historic Black community, experts say we’re witnessing ‘climate gentrification’

Ellen Williams’ left hand played with her long dark hair as her right hand guided the steering wheel, her phone resting face-down in her lap. Born and raised in Altadena, an unincorporated area in Los Angeles county, she didn’t need to look at a map as she drove to where her home of 22 years burned down.

We passed empty lots with gaping holes where foundations once stood. The banging of hammers rang through the neighborhood and wood frames rose from the dirt, the smell of fresh lumber in the air. Perched on street corners were signs declaring: “Altadena is not for sale.”

‘I looked exceptional but I was out of breath’: the bodybuilder who switched to mindful movement

Ten years ago, Eugene Teo was obsessed with lifting weights. But, gradually, he realised his extreme mindset was making him unhappy. So he changed his outlook

• ‘It felt amazing to be on the start line again’: the rugby pro who became paralysed – and is aiming for the Paralympic Games

Eugene Teo, 34, began lifting weights at the age of 13, looking for validation. “I was short, skinny and I thought it would give me confidence,” he says. “Bodybuilding for me was the ultimate expression of that.”

Now living on the Gold Coast in Australia, with his partner and daughter, the fitness coach spent from age 16 to 24 training and competing. At times, he lifted weights for up to four hours a day, aiming to get as muscular and lean as possible. The ideal he was chasing? “If you grab your eyelid and feel that skin,” he says, “that’s the skin thinness you want on your bum and abs.”

Growing sense of embarrassment at Fifa over Donald Trump peace prize

• Mid-level and senior officials uncomfortable with award

• Fifa says it still ‘strongly’ supports the peace prize

There is a growing sense of embarrassment among mid-level and senior officials within Fifa over the awarding of its peace prize to Donald Trump. The US president was handed the award at the World Cup draw in Washington DC in December with the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, telling Trump: “We want to see hope, we want to see unity, we want to see a future. This is what we want to see from a leader and you definitely deserve the first Fifa Peace Prize.”

Since then, the US has launched airstrikes across Venezuela and captured the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flown them to the US, where he was put in jail. Maduro appeared in court on 5 January, pleading not guilty to drugs, weapons and “narco‑terrorism” charges. Trump has also threatened to invade Greenland because he said the US needs the territory “very badly”.

This is how we do it: ‘Nobody’s enjoyed a night at the Premier Inn Milton Keynes more than us’

Beth’s liberated and open-minded attitude to sex has helped Alex reignite his passion after his former wife came out as a lesbian
• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

We’re always letting our hands wander under restaurant tables, or on the escalator in the Tube

The pub that changed me: ‘We celebrated Christmas in July – and suddenly every night was Saturday night’

At the start of the first festive shift, the other bartender and I silently pulled our crackers and grimly donned paper hats. Yet it worked a treat and taught me the value of making your own fun

I was an employee and a customer at this pub as a teenager in the early 1990s. This was one of four or five pubs clustered around the high street in the town where I grew up in Somerset. We gravitated towards the Blue Ball as teenagers, not because they served underage drinkers. They didn’t. And we could only afford to drink lime and soda anyway. No, we loved this place because it had (drumroll) two bars. So we were not only cool enough to go down the pub (never “to the pub”, strictly “down the pub” or, better still, “down the Blue”), but we even had our own bar.

Venezuela: Maduro's enforcer Cabello still central to power

The ousting of Venezuela's president raised hopes of change — but the politician now controlling the streets shows how little has really shifted.

Emmylou Harris review – spine-tingling goodbye from 78-year-old country legend

Emirates Arena, Glasgow
The lived-in dustiness of her voice only enriches her storytelling, with her greatest songs now more devastating than ever

For Emmylou Harris, it’s no cliche to say that every song is a story. The country legend has spent 50 years roaming between folk, bluegrass, rock’n’roll and Americana, curating her own songbook of deeply humanitarian music. On this first stop of her European farewell tour, she says goodbye to Scottish fans as part of the Celtic Connections festival, offering up a suitably career-spanning set-list accompanied by memories of Gram Parsons, Nanci Griffith, Bill Monroe, Townes Van Zandt and Willie Nelson, to name just a few.

But the show hardly feels like an ending. “I turn 79 in April, so there!” she crows, after the rowdy honky-tonk of Two More Bottles of Wine makes the East End sports hall feel like a dive bar. Her voice is still spine tingling, now with a lived-in dustiness that only enriches her storytelling: Red Dirt Girl, her great blues tragedy, devastates now more than ever. It is majestic to watch her conduct three-part harmonies for an earthy, spiritual a cappella of Bright Morning Stars, and her delight in her band is infectious: “It’s alright to cheer the boys!” she urges, after a show-stopping mandolin solo from Eamon McLoughlin. She even throws in a brand-new cover of Johnny Cash’s Help Him, Jesus (“I’ve always longed to do it”), digging into her lower end with real swagger.

JD Vance: ‘despicable toady for Trump’ – and 2028 candidate in all but name

Vice-president has emerged as key defender of Maga flame – and is backed by big tech billions. Is this the heir apparent?

“We did not have a lot of money,” said JD Vance, placing hand on heart as he recalled his childhood in Middletown, Ohio in the 1990s. “I was raised by a woman who struggled often to put food on the table and clothes on her back.”

There was an earnest cry from the audience. “Mamaw!” shouted a man.

Weight-loss drugs do nothing to address the troubled relationships we have with our bodies | Susie Orbach

The food, beauty and pharmaceutical industries poison our self-image. GLP-1 drugs will only make them richer – and strengthen the hold they have over us

Fifty years ago, I started thinking about the demand for women to look a certain way and the rebellions against the narrow ways in which we were supposed to display (and not display) our bodies. For a while, there was a conversation about the strictures. Some young women refused to conform. Some women risked being in the bodies they had rather than embodying the dominant images of being Madonna or the whore. But troubled eating abounded, even if it wasn’t always visible, stoked by the food and diet industries and their bedfellows in the beauty and fashion industries. These industries targeted appearance as crucial to girls’ and women’s identity and their place in the world.

Today, a new kind of troubled eating is stalking the land, entirely induced by the new GLP-1 weight-loss drugs produced by pharmaceutical companies and promoted by their willing agents on social media. It is totally understandable that people want relief from obsessive and invasive thoughts about their bodies and food. The explosion of GLP-1 drugs has provided a kind of psychological peace for many who feel less frightened of their appetites.

Susie Orbach is a psychotherapist, psychoanalyst and social critic. She is the author of many books, including Bodies and Fat Is a Feminist Issue

Amid ICE clashes, New Hampshire bishop urges clergy to prepare their wills

The Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire told priests protesting ICE to get their wills and affairs in order. Some praise the bishop, while other priests say they never signed up to be martyrs.

‘Even thinking about Coldplay I get tearful’: Denise Lewis’s honest playlist

The former heptathlete throws shapes to Cameo and got gold-medal inspiration from Whitney, but which rapper helps get her out of bed?

The first song I fell in love with
I was at nursery school when Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen was the song of the moment. I remember seeing the video on Top of the Pops, which is chilling at first, but epic when it gets to the big guitar break.

The first single I bought
My mum had this little record player that used to keep me very entertained, so I got her to buy me Ring My Bell by Anita Ward for my birthday or Christmas, from a record shop in Wolverhampton.

Iran cannot be bombed into democracy. But it can be helped to find its way there | Simon Tisdall

Independent media, civil society, the rule of law – these are the things that Iranians truly need. And there are ways for the west to help secure them

Soon after becoming president in 2017, Donald Trump ordered an attack on an Islamic State (IS) underground complex in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. The strike involved the first-ever use in combat of a GBU-43 massive ordnance air blast (Moab) “bunker buster” bomb – the US’s most powerful conventional weapon. The bombing killed about 90 insurgents but failed to crush IS. It also made zero long-term difference to the US’s losing battle with the Taliban.

Yet that was not the point. Inexperienced Trump, who had famously avoided military service, was keen to show he was in charge, a commander-in-chief unafraid to make tough calls and send troops into harm’s way. He craved a big bang – a spectacular demonstration of unmatched US power. Like a teenager who unexpectedly obtains the keys to the family gun cabinet, he could not resist the temptation to play with all those shiny new Pentagon weapons.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Revolutionary imaging of black hole aims to prove they are not ‘evil vacuum cleaners’

Newly appointed Cambridge professor says feat would accelerate scientific knowledge by an order of magnitude

Dark, hungry and inescapable: black holes are often portrayed as the ultimate cosmic villains.

But now astronomers are preparing to capture a movie of a supermassive black hole in action for the first time, in observations that could help reveal another side to these elusive – and perhaps misunderstood – space objects.

Dublin Bay’s oyster graveyard rises from dead in effort to restore rich ecosystem

Pioneering scheme hopes species that thrived for thousands of years in Irish waters can do so again

The dinghy slowed to a stop at a long line of black bobbing baskets and David Lawlor reached out to inspect the first one.

Inside lay 60 oysters, all with their shells closed, shielding the life within. “They look great,” beamed Lawlor. So did their neighbours in the next basket and the ones after that, all down the line of 300 baskets, totalling 18,000 oysters.

Why are onions turning up on Brighton beach?

Food produce and other waste has been littering Sussex coastline as capsized shipping containers wash ashore

Coral Evans was walking along the beach in Brighton on Tuesday evening when she came across an unfamiliar sight.

“Hundreds of dust masks had washed up, along with single-use plastic gloves and cans of dried milk,” she said. “It was odd to see in winter – because nothing surprises us in summertime with the amount of people on the beach.”

Eight of the best affordable beach holidays, from Crete to the Costa de la Luz

Kick back and dream of summer with our pick of seaside gems, including a stylish Andalucian bolthole and a villa with views of Stromboli

Wild, windswept and wonderfully unspoilt, the Costa de la Luz is the Spanish coastline time forgot; a great swathe of Atlantic drama, fringed with sandy beaches and small seaside villages and resorts. Hotel Madreselva, surrounded by the pine forest, wetlands, dunes and sea cliffs of the Breña y Marismas de Barbate nature reserve, makes a suitably tranquil base, with a palm-shaded courtyard, flame-walled pool area and 18 stylish rooms, all with a private patio. A minute’s walk from the beach at Los Caños de Meca, the hotel is perfect for watersports lovers, as well as exploring this unspoilt corner of Andalucia. The hilltop pueblo blanco of Vejer, a 20-minute drive away, has charm in spades, while Cape Trafalgar, a lighthouse with views over the Strait of Gibraltar, is 10 minutes’ walk along the beach.
Doubles from £83 B&B, hotelmadreselva.com

I adore my husband but I feel a fraud at his church | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

Couples not sharing religious beliefs or going to each other’s places of worship isn’t unusual, but perhaps there’s something else going on here

When I met my husband eight years ago, I knew he was churchy, but as a low-church Protestant, I thought this wouldn’t be a problem. Outside church, I am comfortable with our religious differences. I sort of believe in God, and find immense spirituality in nature, but think Christ was simply a good man, whereas my husband believes it. He respects my beliefs and has never imposed his on me.

The problem I have is with the church we attend. I often feel a fraud as I don’t share the beliefs of the rest of the congregation. I feel alienated by the emphasis on theology over Christ’s teachings, and the hymns and rituals. I resent having to sacrifice my Sundays mouthing words I do not believe.

Davos 2026: the last-chance saloon to save the old world order?

Donald Trump will lead the largest US delegation ever at the World Economic Forum, as others plan a fightback against his policies including his latest tariff threats

“A Spirit of Dialogue”: the theme for this year’s World Economic Forum, the gathering of the global elite in the sparkling Alpine air of Davos, seems a heroic stretch, when star guest Donald Trump has spent the past year smashing up the world order.

The president will touch down alongside the snowcapped Swiss mountains with the largest US delegation ever seen at the WEF, including the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and the special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Sleep, stress and sunshine: endocrinologists on 11 ways to look after your metabolism

Hormones impact almost all of our bodily functions, from skin, to the gut, to our moods. Here, experts on hormonal and metabolic health explain how to stay well

“Most people would like to have more energy and be leaner,” says Prof David Ray, an endocrinologist at the University of Oxford who also provides NHS services. “There is a connection between how we choose to live, what our bodies look and feel like, and the hormones that are going around the body. What endocrinologists deal with is disorders of either a lack of hormones, or too much of a hormone.”

1/17: CBS Weekend News

Pro and anti-ICE protesters clash in Minneapolis; Therapy dog helps take the bite out of dental anxiety

Eight people killed in avalanches in Austrian Alps as rescuers urge skiers to heed warnings

Three Czech skiers swept away in Murtal district while five killed in Pongau area near Salzburg

An avalanche killed three Czech skiers in central Austria, police said, bringing the total to eight killed in the country’s Alps on Saturday.

Avalanches across the Alps have claimed victims since last week after heavy snowfall.