Seahawks, Patriots set to meet in Super Bowl rematch

The Seahawks and the Patriots previously met in the Super Bowl back in 2015, when a last-second goal line interception by Malcolm Butler sealed the win for New England.

Minneapolis shooting: Obama and Clinton urge Americans to ‘stand up’ as more Republicans call for an investigation – live

Some elected officials condemn Trump’s federal surge in Minnesota and say DHS agents should leave state

• Alex Pretti did not brandish gun, witnesses say in sworn testimony

• Calls mount on Trump administration to fully investigate killing

• Minnesota workers pressure employers to take action against ICE operations

Alex Pretti, a Veterans Affairs Hospital ICU nurse, was said to be deeply upset about the Trump administration’s sometimes brutal immigration crackdown. The 37-year-old has been described as kindhearted by his friends and family (see opening post to read what his parents said about him in a statement issued after he was killed).

Dimitri Drekonja, chief of the Infectious Diseases Section at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital and a colleague of Pretti, called him “a good kind person who lived to help.” Pretti was a nurse working “to support critically ill veterans,” he added.

1/25: CBS Weekend News

Winter storm impacts nearly 200 million Americans; Latest details after Border Patrol kills Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

News live: anti-immigration protesters clash with Invasion Day marchers in Melbourne as rallies take place around Australia

Follow today’s news live

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Several beaches in Sydney are closed this morning after shark sightings in the water.

Lifeguards have evacuated the water at Manly beach, Dee Why beach and Palm beach this morning, all around 9am, after the sightings. The beaches are closed.

The search will continue as is in it current intensity for a number of days yet. We will act on all information coming forward.

America feels like a country on the brink of an authoritarian takeover | Francine Prose

This is the news we should be paying attention to. At least for the moment, everything else is a distraction

When we talk about our inability to pay attention, to concentrate, we often mean and blame our phones. It’s easy, it’s meant to be easy. One flick of our index finger transports us from disaster to disaster, from crisis to crisis, from maddening lie to maddening lie. Each new unauthorized attack and threatened invasion grabs the headlines, until something else takes its place, and meanwhile the government’s attempts to terrorize and silence the people of our country continue.

So let me break it down. There is one story: our country is on the brink of an authoritarian take-over. In Minneapolis an innocent poet and an ER nurse at a VA hospital were both killed in cold blood by federal agents. It is happening now. Toddlers are being sent to detention centers; videos of their gyms for kids recall the youth choruses that the Nazis so proudly showed off at the Terezin concentration camp. Intimidation and violence are being weaponized against the citizens of Minneapolis, some of whom are afraid to leave their houses for fear of being beaten, arrested and shackled, regardless of whether they are US citizens or asylum seekers or people from another country peacefully living and working here for decades.

Francine Prose is a former president of PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Why Germany is racing to rebuild its army

Are the German people on board with the government’s massive militarisation programme? Kate Connolly reports

“Not so long ago, to be a German soldier dressed in German uniform was quite a difficult role to embody. I mean, you could be going down the street and you could be spat on, or you could have names called at you.

“I’ve recently seen people get into conversation with soldiers, which I hadn’t seen in the past, [and] more recently, somebody going up to a soldier and actually getting him into conversation about his role, and at the end of the conversation, thanking him.”

NFC championship game: Los Angeles Rams 27-31 Seattle Seahawks – live

• Seahawks earn place at Super Bowl LX against Patriots

• Darnold and Stafford shine in high-scoring slugfest

Super Bowl LX? Wasn’t Super Bowl L just a few years ago?

Cute ad in which a young girl mimics figure skater Ilia Malinin. I’m duty-bound to inform you that I will indeed be in the commentary position for some Winter Olympics action in a couple of weeks, and that Malinin is from my town.

What we know about latest shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis

A man is dead after a shooting in Minneapolis on Saturday involving federal immigration agents from Customs and Border Protection. Here's what we know so far.

Videos, witness accounts of deadly shooting at odds with official statements

Bystander videos verified by CBS News show the scene from multiple angles before the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Prett in Minneapolis.

Senate Democrats will not provide votes to advance DHS funding bill, Schumer says

Sens. Chris Murphy and Alex Padilla have spent the past two days calling colleagues to whip opposition to the DHS funding bill, according to a source familiar with the process.

Philippines ferry with 350 on board capsizes leaving 15 dead and dozens missing

Rescuers save at least 300 people after inter-island ferry sank early on Monday en route from the port city of Zamboanga to southern Jolo island

At least 15 people have died after a ferry with more than 350 people sunk early on Monday near an island in the southern Philippines, according to local officials, with the coast guard warning that 28 people remained missing.

The M/V Trisha Kerstin 3, an inter-island cargo and passenger ferry, was sailing to southern Jolo island in Sulu province from the port city of Zamboanga with 332 passengers and 27 crew members when it apparently encountered technical problems and sank after midnight, coast guard officials said.

Jessica Pegula defeats Madison Keys in straight sets – as it happened

Sixth seed knocks out defending champion 6-3, 6-4
Three US women through to quarterfinals

Pegula (6) 1-0 Keys (9)* Pegula, in Adidas orange, holds to love. Keys, in Nike lemon and lime, mentioned in their podcast she was wary of her friend’s drop shots, which proved prescient when a delicate angle from Pegula secured the game.

Pegula has breezed through the draw so far, dropping just ten games. Keys has yet to lose a set but has been made to work harder. Fortunately her serve remains massive, and her 194kmh effort is the second fastest so far in the women’s draw.

1/21: CBS Evening News

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

Carney says Canada not pursuing free trade deal with China as Trump threatens 100% tariffs

Trump's rhetoric on Truth Social contrasts with what he said after the agreement between Ottawa and Beijing: "If you can get a deal with China, you should do that."

Flight disruptions from massive winter storm will linger Monday

U.S. airlines canceled tens of thousands of flights and waived change fees for travelers as a massive winter storm swept across the country.

Sundance Film Festival saying goodbye to Park City, Utah

After more than 40 years, the Sundance Film Festival is leaving its longtime host of Park City, Utah, and heading to Boulder, Colorado. Sarah Horbacewicz reports.

China’s top ranking general under investigation for alleged violations amid ongoing purge of leadership

Zhang Youxia, second-in command under president Xi Jinping as chairman of the Central Military Commission, has long been seen as Xi’s closest military ally

China’s most senior general is under investigation, China’s defence ministry has confirmed, in the highest profile case to date in an aggressive anti-graft purge of senior military leadership in recent months.

Zhang Youxia serves as second-in-command under president Xi Jinping as vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission – the supreme command body – and has long been seen as Xi’s closest military ally.

Latest forecast maps show fresh predictions for winter storm

As millions of Americans hunker down for the winter storm, at least 23 states and Washington, D.C., have declared states of emergency.

Trump defends ICE after Minneapolis shooting

President Trump addressed Border Patrol's killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, writing, "Let our ICE patriots do their job." He also accused the mayor of Minneapolis and governor of Minnesota of "inciting insurrection." Willie James Inman reports.

Flight cancellations top 11,000, most in a single day since pandemic

Flight cancellations are continuing to mount as the U.S. is being hit with dangerous winter weather​ from a storm moving across the country.

Latest details after Border Patrol kills Alex Pretti in Minneapolis

Details are emerging about the fatal shooting of an ICU nurse in Minneapolis by federal agents on Saturday. The shooting was caught on video by several eyewitnesses, but local, state and federal officials are providing starkly different accounts of what happened. Lana Zak has more.

What we know as winter storm impacts nearly 200 million Americans

Shanelle Kaul, Tom Hanson, Jason Allen, Dave Malkoff and Rob Marciano provide the latest updates on the massive winter storm that's brought heavy snow and ice to large swaths of the nation.

Dangerous cold temperatures to follow massive winter storm

CBS News meteorologist Rob Marciano takes a look at the latest forecast as extreme winter weather continues across much of the country.

Southern states dealing with ice, power outages from storm

The South was not spared from winter weather conditions this weekend, with heavy ice and snow contributing to widespread power outages. Jason Allen and Dave Malkoff have more.

Powerful winter storm brings heavy snow to Northeast

Boston could see 18 inches of snow as the powerful winter storm impacting much of the country rolls through the Northeast. Shanelle Kaul and Tom Hanson report.

How Minneapolis became ground zero in Trump's immigration crackdown

The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents has further inflamed tensions in Minneapolis, a city at the center of America's immigration debate in recent months. Here's a look at how it started.

Ukraine war briefing: US security agreement ‘100% ready’ to be signed, Zelenskyy says

Ukraine president indicates progress after talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi, ahead of further discussions this weekend. What we know on day 1,433

A US security agreement for Ukraine is “100% ready” to be signed, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said after two days of talks involving representatives from Ukraine, the US and Russia – indicating some progress was made. Further discussions are expected next weekend. Speaking to journalists in Vilnius during a visit to Lithuania on Sunday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is waiting for its partners to set a time and place for the signing of the security guarantees document, after which it would go to the US Congress and Ukrainian parliament for ratification. “For us, security guarantees are first and foremost guarantees of security from the United States. The document is 100% ready, and we are waiting for our partners to confirm the date and place when we will sign it,” Zelensky said.

Ukraine sought more air defence support from allies on Sunday as hundreds of buildings in Kyiv were without heating in freezing temperatures for a second day after Russian strikes. More than 1,300 apartment buildings Kyiv were still without heating, mayor Vitalii Klitschko said on Sunday. Sub-zero temperatures and repeated airstrikes have slowed efforts by repair crews working to restore heating and electricity.

Zelenskyy has also emphasised Ukraine’s push for European Union membership by 2027, calling it an “economic security guarantee.” He described the talks in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi as likely the first trilateral format in “quite a long while” that included not only diplomats but military representatives from all three sides. Zelenskyy acknowledged fundamental differences between Ukrainian and Russian positions, reaffirming territorial issues as a major sticking point.

Polish president Karol Nawrocki called for unity among countries under threat from an “imperial Russia”, at a Vilnius event commemorating the 1863 uprising in Poland and Lithuania against Tsarist Russia, which Zelenskyy also took part in. “The message of these celebrations is that by looking to the past for what we have in common, it’s easier today to face the problems ahead of us. Especially in an era of the revival of imperial Russia,” Nawrocki’s office said on X. “Whether it’s tsarist Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or Vladimir Putin’s Russia, our countries [Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine], now independent, still face the same problem: the threat posed by the Russian Federation,” Nawrocki said in his speech. Zelensky, in his speech, said Europe should cherish its independence and remain alert. “It is too early for Europe to relax while Russia’s war machine is still running, and while dictators around Europe are not weakening,” he said. “They all look at Europe – at us – as prey.”

European nations committed to a new clean energy pact, the Hamburg Declaration, aimed at boosting the region’s energy security. The deal, to be signed at a summit in the German port city on Monday, will bring an “unprecedented fleet” of offshore wind projects to the North Sea that will supply multiple nations, the UK Department for Energy Security said. It comes three years after North Sea countries pledged to build 300GW of offshore wind in that sea by 2050, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the “weaponisation” of European energy supplies.

New Zealand landslide: six missing named as police confirm victims are unlikely to be found alive

Victims of landslide at Mount Maunganui campsite include teenage students, a literacy coordinator and a Swedish national

The families and friends of six people buried in a landslide at a New Zealand holiday park last week have paid tribute to their loved ones, after they were named by officials, and police confirmed they were unlikely to be found alive.

The victims include 15-year-old Pakūranga College students Sharon Maccanico and Max Furse-Kee, literacy coordinator Lisa Maclennan, 50, longtime friends Jacqualine Wheeler and Susan Knowles, both 71, and Swedish national Måns Loke Bernhardsson, 20.

Shutdown odds grow as Senate Republicans won't remove DHS funding after Pretti killing

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York says he'll vote against DHS funding after federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Walz to Trump: "You clearly underestimated the people of this state"

Minnesota's governor spoke out Sunday afternoon following the shooting death of Alex Pretti by federal immigration enforcement agents. "What's the plan, Donald Trump? What is the plan?" Walz said. "Fear, violence and chaos is what you wanted from us, and you clearly underestimated the people of this state and nation."

Power outages and canceled flights as winter storm brings snow, sleet and ice

Reporters from across the NPR Network are covering the storm in each state — the impact and how officials are responding.

Power out for hundreds of thousands, roadways snarled with ice and snow

Power outages were reported in numerous states as a monster storm swept across much of the country.

Israel agrees to ‘limited reopening’ of Gaza’s Rafah crossing once operation to locate hostage completed

The opening of the the Rafah crossing with Egypt is a key part of the US brokered ceasefire

Israel said on Sunday its military was conducting a “large-scale operation” to locate the body of the last hostage in Gaza, adding that it would only reopen the Rafah crossing with Egypt after the mission was completed.

The statement came as Israel’s cabinet met to discuss the possibility of opening the key border crossing, and a day after top US envoys met prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and reportedly urged him to reopen the vital entry point for aid into Gaza.

European football: Lamine Yamal’s stunning strike caps Barcelona win over Real Oviedo

• Three second-half goals put Barça back on top

• Juventus beat Napoli to leave title challenge in tatters

Barcelona capitalised on two defensive mistakes by bottom-of-the-table Real Oviedo to seal a 3-0 victory at a rain-drenched Camp Nou, regaining top spot in La Liga. Goals from Dani Olmo, Raphinha and, acrobatically, Lamine Yamal powered the Catalan club to 52 points, one ahead of Real Madrid, while Atlético Madrid trail in third on 44.

Barça struggled to break the deadlock against a spirited Oviedo until they finally found the breakthrough in the 52nd minute, with Olmo striking home following a defensive lapse. Five minutes later, Oviedo’s struggles deepened, with the defender David Costas under-hitting a back-pass, which Raphinha intercepted before calmly chipping the onrushing Aarón Escandell in Oviedo’s goal to double Barcelona’s lead. Lamine Yamal wrapped up Barça’s win by scoring in the 73rd minute with a brilliant acrobatic volley from an Olmo cross.

Police in England and Wales to get new strict emergency response time limits

Home Office will set out changes to policing on Monday that it claims are biggest overhaul in two centuries

Police forces in England and Wales will be told to respond to emergency calls within strict time limits as part of plans to be announced on Monday.

Officers will be expected to arrive at crime scenes within 15 minutes in urban areas and 20 minutes in the countryside while attending serious crimes, the Home Office said.

A reduction in the number of police forces.

Local policing areas to deal with everyday crimes such as shoplifting.

Home secretaries to be given the power to sack chief constables.

An FBI-style National Police Service to lead on terrorism, fraud and organised crime.

Every police officer in England and Wales to hold a licence to serve.

A fast track for professionals and experts so they can take senior police roles.

A new police commander to lead on violent disorder and rioting.

A new national forensics team to help catch rapists and murderers.

Sen. Angus King says he won't vote for package with ICE funding

Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine said Sunday that he won't vote for a package to fund the government if it includes funding for ICE, but he urged that "we don't have to have a shutdown."

The Gallerist review – Natalie Portman flounders in tiring art world caper

Sundance film festival: the Oscar winner can’t find the right tone for this grating comedy which also wastes Jenna Ortega, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Catherine Zeta-Jones

There’s a mildly amusing on-paper joke at the centre of manic art world comedy The Gallerist: what if someone was accidentally impaled on an exhibit but rather than report it, the corpse became part of the artwork?

Sure, poking fun at the absurdity of modern art might seem a little dated and definitely a little too easy but maybe with a packed cast including Oscar winners Natalie Portman, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, there could be a fun, fast-paced caper here? The answer is a depressing nope, the film a pained and grating misfire played like Weekend at Bernie’s for MoMA members that’s not funny or smart enough to work as farce or satire.

The Gallerist is screening at the Sundance film festival and is seeking distribution

‘We got punished’: Arteta rues errors as Arsenal’s title tilt stalls with United loss

• Zubimendi mistake led to Mbeumo equaliser

• ‘We were dominant … after we gave them the goal’

Mikel Arteta blamed individual errors for Arsenal’s 3-2 defeat against Manchester United, on a weekend when their lead in the Premier League title race was cut to four points.

Arsenal were 1-0 up when the game was transformed by Martín Zubimendi’s mis‑hit back-pass, which presented Bryan Mbeumo with an equaliser. United scored with outstanding strikes from distance by Patrick Dorgu and Matheus Cunha in the second half to stun the leaders.

Videos of Alex Pretti shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis contradict Trump official claims

Footage from at least one of the videos appears to show a federal officer disarming the victim before shots are fired.

Alex Pretti killing: Minnesota CEOs, including UnitedHealth, Target, call for 'immediate deescalation'

The Trump administration has surged federal law enforcement to the city to enforce its immigration crackdown and pursue allegations of widespread welfare fraud.

US winter storm leaves seven people dead as more than 1 million lose power

Snow, sleet and perilously cold temperatures sweep eastern two-thirds of country as thousands of flights grounded

• Snowstorms strike the US: in pictures

At least seven people are dead as the result of a monster winter storm in the US that has brought heavy snowfall and ice from the Gulf coast to the north-east, leaving more than one million in the south without power and cancelling more than 10,000 flights.

The Louisiana department of health confirmed two deaths related to the winter storm in Caddo parish. According to the agency, two men of unknown ages died of hypothermia.

Videos and eyewitnesses refute federal account of Minneapolis shooting

Trump officials have called the victim a "domestic terrorist." State officials warn such unfounded accusations threaten the integrity of the federal investigation.

Mission to Space with Francis Bourgeois review – did we really need to see him be sick in zero gravity?

Can a social media-famous trainspotter become an astronaut? Erm, no. And it’s far from the best use of this hugely genuine, witty personality

Mission to Space with Francis Bourgeois is a tricksy little beast. Unlike, it must be made quite clear, its presenter himself. Bourgeois, for those who have not had the absolute pleasure, is a 25-year-old engineering graduate who came to prominence on social media by making TikTok videos about his great passion: trains. The unforced joy on his face when a locomotive goes by (any locomotive, though his favourite classes are the 37 and 158 and his least favourite the 170), and his ease with his geekiness, quickly made him a star.

His other love, we are told, is space. The animating feature of this overgenerously apportioned documentary (two parts of 45 minutes each) is the question: can a trainspotter become an astronaut?

‘Huge mistake’: Labour in turmoil as Burnham blocked from byelection race

Allies of Greater Manchester mayor say No 10 has ‘chosen factionalism’ as decision leads to a furious backlash

The Labour party faced the prospect of civil war on Sunday night after Keir Starmer and his allies blocked Andy Burnham’s return to parliament to stave off a potential leadership challenge.

There was widespread anger among Labour MPs and union backers after the 10-strong “officers’ group” of the party’s ruling body, including the prime minister himself, voted overwhelmingly to reject Burnham’s request to seek selection for the upcoming Gorton and Denton byelection.

Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Jan. 25, 2026

On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise join Margaret Brennan.

Ella Baron on the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis – cartoon

Continue reading...

Iran president’s son urges authorities to restore internet after protests blackout

Yousef Pezeshkian says nothing will be solved by trying to postpone moment images of violent crackdown circulate

The son of Iran’s president has called for the internet restrictions in the country to be lifted, saying nothing will be solved by trying to postpone the moment when pictures and video circulate of the protests that were violently crushed by the regime.

With a battle under way at the top of the regime about the political risks of continuing to block Iran from the internet, Yousef Pezeshkian, whose father, Masoud, was elected in the summer of 2024, said keeping the digital shutdown would create dissatisfaction and widen the gap between the people and the government.

Senate Democrats and Republicans call for investigation into killing of Alex Pretti

Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., accuses the federal government of a 'cover up,' and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., warns White House against attempts to "shut down an investigation."

The Invite review – A-list ensemble electrify hilarious couples night gone wrong comedy

Sundance film festival: Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton are exceptional in a smart and funny winner about sex, marriage and partner-swapping

Not enough people managed to see last year’s self-billed “unromantic comedy” Splitsville, a shame for how tremendously entertaining it was and for what it represents at this given moment. A rigorously well-directed, genuinely funny, relatably messy look at two couples dealing with the maelstrom of non-monogamy, it was the kind of smart, well-crafted film for adults we are constantly complaining we don’t get enough of.

I had a similar thrill watching The Invite at its sold-out Sundance premiere on Saturday night. Like that film, it is also about two adult couples negotiating anxieties surrounding sex with other people – and also like that film, it’s really, consistently funny and stylishly directed, made with the kind of care and rigidity that comedies just aren’t afforded now. It doesn’t have the same absurdist slapstick streak – it’s much more of this world – but it made me feel equally energised, a reminder that maybe that mid-sized movie gap is finally being filled. I just hope more people see this one.

Watch: Videos refute DHS account of fatal shooting in Minneapolis

Federal officials described the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old U.S. citizen by a federal agent as an act of self-defense. The video evidence that has surfaced so far contradicts that assertion.

Almost a quarter of UK GPs are seeing obese children aged four and under

Exclusive: Almost half of GPs have seen children up to the age of seven who have obesity, research finds

Almost a quarter of GPs are seeing children aged four or under who are obese, according to a survey of UK family doctors.

The “alarming” research also found that almost half (49%) of GPs have seen boys and girls up to the age of seven who have obesity, including a handful younger than a year old.

Almost one in four (23%) said they had seen children aged zero to four where obesity was a clinical concern.

Among the doctors, 81% have seen obesity in those between their first 12 months and the age of 11.

Four in five (80%) find it somewhat or very challenging to talk to the parents of an obese child under the age of 16 about their weight and health, with only 10% saying that is easy to do.

Nearly two thirds (65%) find it hard to talk to obese young people themselves, with just 20% saying that is easy.

The Friend’s House is Here review – timely, secretly made tale of creativity in Iran

Sundance film festival: an underground scene of creatives in Tehran is threatened in this lived-in hangout movie that bravely chooses optimism over negativity

It’s a summer evening in Tehran, and the streets of the Iranian capital are lively. A young creative couple, an actor and a dancer, coolly take in a performance from a band of street musicians. “This country is so full of artists,” the man, Ali (Farzad Karen), says to Hanna (Hana Mana). She replies warily: “Let’s see if they stay like this.”

The remark is delivered casually in Maryam Ataei and Hossein Keshavarz’s stirring new film The Friend’s House Is Here, sprinkled in between airy banter and snippets of various rehearsals, but it’s no trivial matter. Under Iran’s theocratic regime, creative expression is a risky and unstable endeavor. The government tightly polices the contents of all art – visual works, theater, music, film, literature – for strict adherence to state ideology. Failure to receive a permit could result in fines, imprisonment or banishment. The colorful characters amiably populating this loose, organic film, played by a collective of real-life underground artists and improv actors, are liable to be harassed, fined, arrested or disappeared at any moment.

Minneapolis police chief says "people have had enough" after fatal shooting

The police chief said federal immigration enforcement "tactics are very obviously not safe, and it is generating a lot of outrage and fear in the community."

This week on "Sunday Morning" (Jan. 25)

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

The Guardian view on Europe’s payments problem: sovereignty starts at the till | Editorial

Donald Trump’s leverage over Visa and Mastercard highlights a blind spot in Europe’s ‘independence’ strategy. Emulating India’s response might help

When the centre-left French politician Aurore Lalucq posted a warning last Wednesday that Donald Trump could cut off Europe from international payment systems, the clip went viral. To many, her message made sense. After all, if Mr Trump was prepared to test allies’ boundaries over Greenland, it is not far-fetched to imagine Visa and Mastercard becoming used against a recalcitrant Europe.

The US can turn off payment systems it controls. Russia learned this first-hand after sanctions were rightly applied for its invasion of Ukraine. As up to 60% of Russian retail transactions depended on Visa and Mastercard for authorisation, the ban left many ordinary people stranded without access to funds and unable to buy goods. Under Mr Trump, America’s goal is to “help Europe correct its current trajectory”. Given such talk, Ms Lalucq, who chairs the European parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee, is not wrong in calling for an “Airbus of European payments” to protect the EU.

FBI supervisor resigns after trying to investigate agent who shot Renee Good

News of Tracee Mergen’s decision came before agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, another US citizen in Minneapolis

A supervisor in the FBI’s Minneapolis field office who unsuccessfully attempted to investigate the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in the city on 7 January has resigned, according to multiple reports.

News of agent Tracee Mergen’s resignation surfaced shortly before federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday. Pretti and Good were both 37-year-old US citizens.

The Guardian view on the future of cinema: gen Z is falling in love with the big screen | Editorial

Film is in a state of existential crisis. But a new generation of cinephiles might save it from the streaming giants

“It was from a weekly visit to the cinema that you learned (or tried to learn) how to walk, to smoke, to kiss, to fight, to grieve,” Susan Sontag wrote 30 years ago, in an essay to mark 100 years of film entitled The Decay of Cinema. For Sontag, the onset of the “ignominious, irreversible decline” of the 20th century’s greatest art form was the arrival of television. Today it is the advent of streaming.

Cinema is in a state of existential crisis. Netflix is bidding to take over Warner Bros, as the industry is still recovering from lockdown and the 2023 Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes. Leonardo DiCaprio, whose One Battle After Another received 13 Oscar nominations last week, having failed to break even at the box office, asked if people still have “the appetite” for movies, and if cinemas are in danger of becoming “silos – like jazz bars”. Matt Damon has suggested that films are being dumbed-down to cater for changing watching habits. And the director Mary Sweeney said that her ex-husband David Lynch, who died in January last year, would struggle in Hollywood now because of “the dissipation of our concentration and the way the digital world has permeated people’s lives”.

Patrick Reed wins LIV duel with David Puig to secure Dubai Desert Classic title

• Reed seals four-shot victory after final round 72

• Puig tied-seventh following two-stroke penalty

A penny for the thoughts of the PGA Tour hierarchy, who awoke in Ponte Vedra Beach to news of a LIV duel in Dubai. A penny for the thoughts of LIV’s office bearers, who had information they would presumably rather remain private put into the public domain by the new Desert Classic champion.

Patrick Reed emerged from the joust, thereby delivering a reminder that he remains among the finest golfers in the world. David Puig did not even receive the consolation of second place, his slow finish and a strong one from Andy Sullivan elbowing the Spaniard into third.

‘You don’t want to live inside his head’: diplomats’ dilemma in the age of Trump

Flood of boasts, broadsides and conspiracy theories leaves envoys sifting for the signal within the Trumpian noise

How does one keep tabs on, and then interpret, a president who in a single year sent out more than 6,000 social media posts, conducted more than 433 open press events and held free-associating press conferences lasting close to two hours? The White House Stenographer’s Office calculates it has transcribed 2.4 million of Trump’s words, four times the length of Tolstoy’s epic War and Peace.

Tracking Trump is not just a problem for exhausted reporters – but also exhausted diplomats, who are tasked with searching for the signal in the ceaseless Trumpian noise.

Snowstorms strike the US: in pictures

A massive winter storm on 24 January dumped snow and freezing rain from New Mexico to North Carolina as it swept across the US towards the north-east, threatening tens of millions of Americans with blackouts, transportation chaos and bone-chilling cold. After battering the country’s south-west and central areas, the storm system began to hit the heavily populated mid-Atlantic and north-eastern states as a frigid air mass settled in across the nation

Estêvão and Fernández power Chelsea past Crystal Palace as Wharton sees red

If this was a taste of what life on the road under Liam Rosenior might be like for Chelsea fans, then anyone who doubted his appointment may have to think again.

A brilliant performance from Estêvão Willian, who scored the first after a mistake from his fellow ­teenager Jaydee ­Canvot before setting up João Pedro for the second, inspired Chelsea to end a run of five Premier League games without an away win at their new head coach’s first attempt, as they piled on the ­misery for ­Crystal Palace, who also had Adam Wharton sent off.

Amsterdam prepares to ‘ban the fatbikes’ amid rise in serious accidents

Experts say souped-up e-bikes pose big risk for children aged from 12 to 15, who account for many A&E cases

On a busy lunchtime, thick-tyred electric bikes zoom through the leafy lanes of the Vondelpark in Amsterdam. But after a marked rise in accidents – particularly involving children – these vehicles the Dutch call “fatbikes” are to be banned in some parts of the Netherlands.

“It’s nonsense!” said Henk Hendrik Wolthers, 69, from the saddle of his wide-tyred, electric Mate bike. “I drive a car, I ride a motorbike, I’ve had a moped and now I ride a fatbike. This is the quickest means of transport in the city and you should be able to use it.”

Wicker review – Olivia Colman is smelly fisherwoman falling for wicker man in uneven fable

Sundance film festival: an inventively made fantasy boasts eye-catching premise and typically rewarding performance from Oscar-winner but something’s missing

In terms of attention-demanding loglines, this year’s Sundance has a few. There’s body horror Saccharine, about a diet craze that involves eating human ashes, midnight movie Buddy, about a Barney-esque kids TV star who starts murdering children and then there’s Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant which, well, you can probably imagine.

But the annual “wait, what?” prize easily goes to offbeat fable Wicker, the story of a smelly spinster fisherwoman who commissions herself a husband made of, that’s right, wicker. While the film does have its expected amount of audience-provoking moments – wicker-fucking bringing the most noise both on and off the screen – to its credit, there’s an attempt to give us more than just easy shock value, something that can’t always be said for films in this often tedious category. Writer-directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, who previously brought mostly likeable alien invasion comedy Save Yourselves! to the festival, use their far-out premise to touch upon more of-our-world issues like the patriarchal cruelty of marriage and the special fury reserved for those who dare to live outside of the accepted rules. They succeed in brief flashes but ultimately, there’s too much here that doesn’t gel, a tonally uneven mix of mostly unfunny bawdy humour, dark fantasy and unlikely romance, too much wood but not enough fire.

Wicker is screening at the Sundance film festival

Buendía and Watkins stun Newcastle to keep Aston Villa’s title hopes alive

Some wins are a little bit lucky and others downright fluky or simply ground out, but this Aston Villa victory belonged to a different category entirely.

A triumph secured by goals from the impressive Emiliano Buendía and Ollie Watkins, and illuminated by Morgan Rogers’s skill, was firmly of the sort that can be filed under “thoroughly deserved”.

LPO/Jurowski review – Mahler’s 10th is full of colour, and the composer’s pain, in Barshai’s completion

Royal Festival Hall, London
Rudolf Barshai’s audacious completion of Marhler’s final unfinished symphony slathers on the colour, and its diverse timbral details came over loud and clear thanks to the LPO’s playing and Vladimir Jurowski’s textural lucidity

For decades following his premature death at the age of 50, it was believed that the fragments of Gustav Mahler’s 10th symphony were just that: skeletal ideas impossible to flesh out into anything worth hearing. It was British musicologist Deryck Cooke who first took a proper look, discovering that crucial melodic lines were intact throughout the entire work. His subsequent lithe-limbed “performing version” has been embraced by many – but some have adopted a more interventionist approach, the most popular being Russian conductor Rudolf Barshai, whose audacious completion Vladimir Jurowski presented here.

As Jurowski admits, Barshai’s orchestrations bring the music closer to Shostakovich and perhaps Britten – both huge fans of Mahler. On its own terms it succeeds, though for those familiar with Cooke’s version it’s a bit of a culture shock. Where the Englishman deployed restraint and a scrupulously Mahlerian palette, in the movements the composer left most incomplete – the second, fourth and fifth – Barshai slathers on the colour. There’s a clattering xylophone, a guitar (miraculously audible amid the orchestral melee), a Wagner tuba, a cornet, a second tuba to beef up the most terrifying passages, a second harp, celesta, woodblocks, tubular bells and a trio of tiny gongs. That these diverse timbral details came over loud and clear was a testament to Jurowski’s textural lucidity and the outstanding playing of the LPO.

Saturday Night Live: Teyana Taylor’s so-so episode is saved by one standout sketch

The Oscar nominee doesn’t get many chances to shine in an episode with a genius One Battle After Another toy commercial

Saturday Night Live recognizes the first year of Donald Trump’s second term with the 1st Annual Trumps – “the awards honoring the best in being or succumbing to President Trump.” Trump (James Austin Johnson) acts as host for the ceremony, which he hopes will distract from “what all my little freaks and psychos in ICE are doing” and “my dead purple hands”.

He joins vice-president (“for now”) JD Vance (Jeremy Culhane) to give himself the first award. This is followed by horrifying monsters Aunt Gladys (Sarah Sherman) from the movie Weapons and White House adviser Stephen Miller (Andrew Dismukes) handing out the award for best ass kisser to Kristi Noem (Ashley Padilla), only for Trump to interrupt her, Kanye-style, and take that one too. Then, Trump’s “close ex-friend” Elon Musk (Mike Myers) accepts an honorary award for Lifetime Achievement in Comedy (“even if he doesn’t always intend it”), glitching out while also paying tribute to some of the things we lost over the last year: the East Wing of the White House, Nato, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and more. A solid skewering of Trump’s insatiable lust for recognition, as seen by his pathetic acceptance of a re-gifted Nobel Prize from “that woman whose name I already forgot.”

Thousands march in Crowborough over asylum plan for former military camp

Protesters walk to Sussex market town from base where Home Office plans to house up to 500 asylum seekers

Thousands of people have marched through an East Sussex market town to protest against UK government plans to house asylum seekers on a former military site.

Crowds of men, women and children walked to Crowborough from the base, where the Home Office plans to house up to 500 male asylum seekers as part of plans to end the use of hotels for the same purpose.

Tom Gauld on writing in January – cartoon

Continue reading...

Nature: Olympic Peninsula in Washington State

We leave you this Sunday along the rugged coast of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Videographer: Lance Milbrand.

Readers reply: how can we learn from unrequited love?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects trivial and profound considers a heartfelt matter

• This week’s question: To shred or not to shred: is it OK to recycle sensitive documents?

How can we accept that what feels like overwhelming love for someone is unrequited, and how can we get over it? HH, Suffolk, by email

Post your answers (and new questions) below or send them to [email protected]. A selection will be published next Sunday.

Manchester City go nine points clear in WSL after Shaw’s late strike at London City

Manchester City are beginning to look like champions elect after going nine points clear at the top of the Women’s Super League with nine games to play, striking late to claim a precious victory at London City Lionesses.

Khadija Shaw was the calmest person in the ground as she slotted in a low finish in the 86th minute after a goalmouth scramble, before leaping in delight in front of the travelling supporters as they celebrated her winner and avoided what had looked set to be a rare slip-up in Bromley.

I long to have a stay-at-home son. Thankfully, there’s a little guy who will never leave me | Emma Beddington

A surprise family member – a sweet, youthful tortoise – is staving off my maternal hunger pangs after our human offspring recently decamped

It feels pathetic to admit this, but I’m still a bit unmoored by my sons leaving after Christmas. There’s a readjustment required every time – back to tidy silence, to my studiedly casual WhatsApps going unread, to imagining their days by checking their weather. With my caretaking impulses thwarted, I’m anxious and unsettled, forever offering unwanted care parcels and unsolicited advice. “Let them live their lives,” I bleat to myself, while doing everything but.

In my defence, I wonder how natural it is to live in a monogenerational pod. My current round of wondering was prompted by reading about the rise of the “stay-at-home hub-son”. This subcategory of boomerang kids was first identified last year, after 28-year-old Brendan Liaw described himself as a professional stay-at-home son on the US quiz show Jeopardy!, prompting a rash of think pieces (and understandable eye-rolling in many communities where intergenerational living is commonplace).

The kindness of strangers: I was hitchhiking with nowhere to sleep when a man gave me his bed for the night

It was pouring and traffic was drying up. Then a car came along and the driver asked where I was staying the night

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

It was 1970 and I was 17 years old. I had decided to “go west” and seek adventure and fortune in Western Australia’s mineral boom, so I set out hitchhiking from Melbourne to Kalgoorlie, where a lot of mining companies had their offices. I’d heard labour was in short supply and was assured if I knocked on a few doors I’d get a job. I just had to travel almost 3,000km to get there first.

With nothing but the $10 I’d borrowed from my brother in my pocket, I was picked up by a truck driver delivering potatoes to every pub along the way to Bendigo, then a priest with his collar on. The priest dropped me off at a big intersection in Adelaide, which he said was a good spot to get a ride. But not long after he left me it started to pour with rain and I’m not sure any of the passing drivers could so much as see me standing there. Or, if they could, they probably didn’t want a muddy young man hopping in their car.

‘Utterly overwhelmed’: British writer-director’s short film earns Oscar nod

Lee Knight says accolade for A Friend of Dorothy, based on friendship with neighbour, sends message to never give up

A writer-director from Stanmore in Middlesex whose short film has been nominated for an Oscar has said he feels “utterly overwhelmed” by the accolade.

Lee Knight’s film A Friend of Dorothy, starring Miriam Margolyes and Stephen Fry, is in the running for best live action short.

Josh Groban looks back: ‘Music became a liability to my mental health’

The singer-songwriter and actor on depression, becoming a sex symbol and rebelling in his 30s in his ‘middle-finger phase’

Born in Los Angeles in 1981, Josh Groban is a singer-songwriter and actor. His self-titled classical-crossover debut went five-times platinum in 2001, and he has since sold more than 25m albums. As an actor, he has appeared in films such as Crazy Stupid Love and TV shows The Office and The Simpsons. Groban made his Broadway debut in 2016 in Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 – a role that earned him a Tony award nomination. Groban performs his first UK show in six years at a one-off O2 event in London on 1 April.

I went through a lot of phases when I was five – astronaut, firefighter, and, in this photo, cowboy. The look was inspired by the old country and western films I was watching, a kind of homemade blend of gunslinger and headband-wearing guitarist. And it wasn’t just for the back yard – I wore it everywhere. If I dropped something on the street, my mum would say, “Josh, cowboys don’t litter.” She was great at using whatever character I’d invented to teach me a lesson.

‘Alex Pretti was murdered’: NBA’s Haliburton among sports stars to condemn Minnesota killing

• 37-year-old shot dead by federal agents on Saturday

• Angel Reese and Ryan Clark also post about shooting

• Hall of famer Alan Page reportedly at anti-ICE protests

A number of prominent US sports stars have condemned the killing of a registered nurse, Alex Pretti, by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Pretti, 37, is the second person shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis in less than three weeks as protests over Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown sweep the city. Senior Trump administration officials have claimed Pretti intended to “massacre” federal officers with a handgun but video of the killing appears to contradict those claims.

The global rule of law is not collapsing – Trump is the lone problem and he can be defeated | Simon Tisdall

The president’s approval ratings are plummeting and most Americans see him as an aberration. It is now up to them to curtail his despotic reign

Donald Trump is a monster, and a stupid one at that – as his foul slander of British soldiers who served in Afghanistan shows. His bid to seize loyal ally Denmark’s sovereign territory; his norm-shattering, profoundly ignorant speech in Davos last week; and his contemptuous bullying of UK and EU leaders have definitively demonstrated what an existential, unappeasable, unspeakable menace the 47th US president truly is.

All the post-Davos talk is about what the UK, the EU and Nato must do in future to resist and constrain Trump, and how to counter his attempts to demolish the global rules-based order. Yet a sense of proportion is required. If his policies and posturing are removed from the equation, it’s clear that the unedifying but familiar postwar world of great power rivalries and de-facto spheres of influence remains largely unchanged. Continuities outnumber ruptures. It’s also clear this crisis is not ultimately one Europe can solve.

‘If you haven’t served, respect those who have’: Nato soldiers on Trump’s slurs

For those who fought alongside US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, president’s remarks have cut deep

It was shortly before dawn and Bruce Moncur was eating breakfast when the American warplane roared overhead.

The 22-year-old reservist had been stationed in Afghanistan for three weeks when the A-10 Warthog strafed the camp west of Kandahar City where and he and 30 other Canadian soldiers had spent the night.

Alex Honnold free solos Taipei 101 skyscraper in live Netflix climb

US climber takes an hour and half to scale one of Asia’s tallest buildings without ropes or a harness

The US rock climber Alex Honnold climbed one of Asia’s tallest skyscrapers without ropes or a harness on Sunday, fulfilling an ambition that began more than a decade ago and which he hoped would inspire people to pursue their own challenges because “time is finite”.

Honnold, who starred in the 2019 Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo, ascended the 508-metre (1,667ft) Taipei 101 using the skyscraper’s horizontal metal beams to pull himself up with his bare hands. The challenge had originally been scheduled to take place on Saturday but was postponed because of rain.

Sam Altman’s make-or-break year: can the OpenAI CEO cash in his bet on the future?

Altman’s campaigning for his company coincides with its use of enormous present resources to serve an imagined future

Sam Altman has claimed over the years that the advancement of AI could solve climate change, cure cancer, create a benevolent superintelligence beyond human comprehension, provide a tutor for every student, take over nearly half of the tasks in the economy and create what he calls “universal extreme wealth”.

In order to bring about his utopian future, Altman is demanding enormous resources from the present. As CEO of OpenAI, the world’s most valuable privately owned company, he has in recent months announced plans for $1tn of investment into datacenters and struck multibillion-dollar deals with several chipmakers. If completed, the datacenters are expected to use more power than entire European nations. OpenAI is pushing an aggressive expansion – encroaching on industries like e-commerce, healthcare and entertainment – while increasingly integrating its products into government, universities, and the US military and making a play to turn ChatGPT into the new default homepage for millions.

How to make a clootie dumpling – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass

Your famous Scottish suet pud, not unlike spotted dick – wonderful for Burns Night and beyond, with a spot of ice-cream or fried up in butter the next day

Clootie dumpling is, let’s face it, a much better name than spotted dick, but if you were fond of the latter at school, you’ll probably enjoy this very similar, classic Scottish steamed pudding. Not too sweet and, thanks to the apple and carrot, lighter than it sounds, this is a proper winter dessert and the perfect end to a Burns supper, especially when served with custard or ice-cream.

Prep 20 min
Cook 3 hr 15 min
Serves 8-10

Auto executives are hoping for the best and planning for the worst in 2026

Automakers are entering a new phase of uncertainty as they deal with affordability issues and slowing consumer demand.

U.S. rock climber Alex Honnold reaches top of Taipei 101 skyscraper without ropes

Cheers erupted from a street-level crowd as Alex Honnold reached the top of the spire of the 508-meter (1,667-foot) tower, about 90 minutes after he started.

UK politicians welcome Trump’s retreat over British troops’ role in Afghanistan

Home secretary says climbdown was ‘as good as it gets’ from US president despite failure to apologise for remarks

Donald Trump’s climbdown over his claim that UK troops avoided the frontline in Afghanistan has been greeted with cross-party relief in Westminster despite his failure to apologise for remarks widely condemned as offensive and false.

In a rare clarification, the US president praised British troops as being “among the greatest of all warriors” and acknowledged that 457 had died in Afghanistan.

Green Dot author Madeleine Gray: ‘Chosen family is big in the queer community’

Madeleine Gray has followed her hit debut with a sharp take on complicated parenting. She discusses love, sex and famous fans

Madeleine Gray remembers the first time she had an inkling that her debut novel might become a big deal. When she received news of her advance from her agent, she was “expecting a pittance”; the number was in the six figures. “I thought: holy fuck, there’s been a mistake,” the 31-year-old author laughs. “By the time Green Dot was published last autumn, it had already been hailed as one of the most anticipated novels of the year, and was quickly beloved, drawing comparisons with Bridget Jones, Fleabag and Annie Ernaux. Nigella Lawson and Gillian Anderson posted praise for the book.

Were those celebrity endorsements exciting, I ask her. “I’m gay,” she replies, her enthusiasm leaping through the screen; “are you kidding?! I follow Gillian on Instagram, obviously.” When she saw Anderson post a selfie with the book, “the scream that came out of me was primal”.

Should we sell our kidneys?

Allowing payments to organ donors would undoubtedly save lives. So what are the psychological – and political – impediments?

Right now, about 7,000 people are awaiting a kidney transplant in the UK. According to NHS figures, in 2024/25 only 3,302 adult kidney transplants were performed. The charity Kidney Research UK states that “just 32% of patients receive a transplant within a year of joining the waiting list and six people die every week while waiting.”

People who experience kidney failure need either lifelong dialysis or a transplant to survive. Yet even for those lucky enough to get a transplant, that is by no means the end of the story. Kidneys from deceased donors last an average of 10 to 15 years, those from a living person 20 to 25. If (or rather, when) a transplant fails, the affected patient once again needs dialysis or a donated organ.

Dining across the divide: ‘I think certain people need to be locked up’

Can a prison officer turned tram driver and a retired medical tech operations manager agree on incarceration, antisemitism and Trump?

Ian, 60, Manchester

Occupation Retired, used to be an operations manager for medical tech

Here's how 'shared decision making' for childhood vaccines could limit access

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new approach to six shots that were formerly given routinely will introduce new hurdles for getting kids immunized. And it could have a chilling effect on doctors.

Gov. Walz calls on Trump to halt ICE operations in Minnesota after another fatal shooting

"Minnesota has had it. This is sickening. The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota," Walz said.

Minneapolis shooting protests and a free solo in Taipei – photos of the weekend

Warning: this gallery contains sensitive images.

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

AI needs to augment rather than replace humans or the workplace is doomed | Heather Stewart

Tech could lose its social acceptance unless it makes people’s lives better – and trade unions want an urgent conversation

“Who wouldn’t want a robot to watch over your kids?” Elon Musk asked Davos delegates last week, as he looked forward with enthusiasm to a world with “more robots than people”.

Not me, thanks: children need the human connection – the love – that gives life meaning.

Advantage China: Trump’s tantrums push US allies closer to Beijing

In the search for stability, some western nations are turning to a country that many in Washington see as an existential threat

If geopolitics relies at least in part on bonhomie between global leaders, China made an unexpected play for Ireland’s good graces when the taoiseach visited Beijing this month. Meeting Ireland’s leader, Micheál Martin, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China’s president, Xi Jinping, said a favourite book of his as a teenager was The Gadfly, by the Irish author Ethel Voynich, a novel set in the revolutionary fervour of Italy in the 1840s.

“It was unusual that we ended up discussing The Gadfly and its impact on both of us but there you are,” Martin told reporters in Beijing.

5 things to know about the latest Minneapolis shooting

Tensions are escalating in Minneapolis after Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a U.S. citizen, was killed during an encounter with immigration officials on Saturday morning. Here is what to know.

Trump’s Greenland brinkmanship leaves leading Republicans rattled

With midterms looming some in Congress have dissented from the president – but it still falls well short of a rebellion

Donald Trump pulled back from the brink on Greenland but not before causing untold damage to the Nato alliance. The US president’s sabre-rattling may also have shaken the faith of his own Republican party.

Trump’s fleeting threat to conquer the Danish territory prompted the most strident Republican opposition to anything he has done since taking office a year ago. It came on the heels of challenges to his authority over military powers, healthcare legislation and the Jeffrey Epstein files.

This is how we do it: ‘I’d compare myself with other women and end up having panic attacks’

Lana and Jake didn’t talk about sex for years, but since they opened up their love life has been transformed

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

I had some messed up ideas around a woman’s role and the influence of porn on that

Thousands of new Americans opt for 'ultimate act of inclusion' despite obstacles

Three citizenship ceremonies NPR attended in the Washington, D.C. area in January were largely celebratory experiences, despite a year of hurdles and changes to the naturalization process.

40 years after Challenger: Lingering guilt and lessons learned

Forty years after the Challenger disaster, NPR explores the engineers' last-minute efforts to stop the launch, their decades of guilt and the vital lessons that remain critical for NASA today.

‘People can be cruel – I learned that early’: US pop star Madison Beer on child fame and fan attacks

Signed at 13 and dropped by 16, Beer’s path to stardom has not been easy. Now 26, she says she’s finally making music for herself and happy to wear her heart on her sleeve

Madison Beer may only be 26, but she is something of a veteran in the pop industry. She got her start at 13, after Justin Bieber tweeted a link to a YouTube video of her covering Etta James’s At Last, and has spent the intervening decade-plus toiling away in mainstream pop, amassing a huge gen Z fanbase in the process – including more than 60 million followers between Instagram and TikTok. It’s an understatement to say that her career has been a slow burn: the day before we speak, it’s announced that her single Bittersweet, released in October, has become her first song to reach the US Hot 100 chart, entering at No 98. When I suggest congratulations are in order, she shrugs off the achievement. “I’m obviously super excited and thankful whenever a song performs well, but I think I’m at the point where I love what I make, and I’m proud of it regardless,” she says amiably, before laughing. “Only took me like, 15 years! But it’s cool.”

Beer’s attitude is indicative of someone whose career has progressed in fits and starts, a far cry from the kind of meteoric rise that fans and onlookers sometimes expect to see in aspirant pop stars. As she prepares for the release of her third album, Locket, she is in prime position to break through to pop’s upper echelon: Her 2023 album Silence Between Songs featured the sleeper hits Reckless and Home to Another One, the latter a sorely underrated Tame Impala-inspired cut, and in 2024 she released Make You Mine, a Top 50 single in the UK which was nominated for a best dance pop recording Grammy.

‘This is what fascism looks like’: terror in Minneapolis reminiscent of civil war

Alex Pretti’s death could be a moment of reckoning for Democrats to call time on Trump waging war on his people

Wearing helmets, gas masks and camouflage fatigues, the federal agents took aim and prepared to open fire. “It’s like Call of Duty,” one could be heard saying via a TV mic, referring to a first-person shooter military video game. “So cool, huh?”

This was the scene on the streets of Minneapolis on Saturday after armed agents, wearing masks and tactical vests, wrestled 37-year-old Alex Pretti to the ground and shot him dead. The killing took place just over a mile from where Renee Good was fatally shot on 7 January, a scene that itself was less than a mile from where police murdered George Floyd in May 2020.

Meet ‘Amelia’: the AI-generated British schoolgirl who is a far-right social media star

The avatar, created to deter young people from extremism, has been subverted and is breaking out of niche online silos

In certain corners of the internet, on niche news feeds and algorithms, an AI-generated British schoolgirl has emerged as something of a phenomenon.

Her name is Amelia, a purple-haired “goth girl” who proudly carries a mini union flag and appears to have a penchant for racism.