England v Wales: Six Nations 2026 rugby union – live

• Six Nations updates from the 4.40pm GMT kick-off

• France 36-14 Ireland | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail Sarah

Are we about to watch the tournament winners? And no I’m not talking about Wales. There are a lot of whispers about England being the favourites to list the silverware but what do you think? Get in touch and let me know. As always do let me know what snacks you are digging into.

Here is Ugo Monye’s column on today’s game:

Newcastle United v Brentford: Premier League – live

⚽ Premier League updates from the 5.30pm GMT kick-off
⚽ Live scores | Tables | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail Dominic

Newcastle still have a formidable home record this season. Before the 2-0 defeat by Aston Villa a fortnight ago, they’d not actually been toppled at St James’s Park in the Premier League since Arsenal beat them 2-1 in September. The FA Cup penalty shootout defeat to Bournemouth and the Carabao Cup shellacking by Manchester City have obviously dented the confidence somewhat, but on their home patch Eddie Howe’s side are strong.

It’s around about this time that I ask you for your score predictions – send them to me via email if you wish.

Arsenal 3-0 Sunderland, Wolves 1-3 Chelsea, Burnley 0-2 West Ham and more: football – live

⚽ Premier League and EFL updates from the 3pm GMT kick-offs
⚽ Live scores | Tables | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail Emillia

Full-time: Manchester United 2-0 Tottenham

Carrick earns his fourth successive win as United’s interim head coach.

Winter Olympics 2026: speed skating gold for Italy, GB await helmets verdict and more – live

• Milano Cortina Games: updates from day one’s action

• Schedule | Results | Medal table | Briefing | Email Tom

Gallery: Roll up, roll up for the very best of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics opening ceremony in pictures …

Curling mixed doubles: We’re in the sixth end and Team GB have extended their lead over Canada to 7-2. Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat are quite literally sweeping all before them in the round robin stages of this comepetition and heading for their sixth consecutive victory.

Revealed: How Substack makes money from hosting Nazi newsletters

Exclusive: Site takes a cut of subscriptions to content that promotes far-right ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism

The global publishing platform Substack is generating revenue from newsletters that promote virulent Nazi ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism, a Guardian investigation has found.

The platform, which says it has about 50 million users worldwide, allows members of the public to self-publish articles and charge for premium content. Substack takes about 10% of the revenue the newsletters make. About 5 million people pay for access to newsletters on its platform.

Automakers largely sit out 2026 Super Bowl advertising amid industry uncertainty

Automakers are largely sitting on the advertising sidelines during this year's Super Bowl amid broader uncertainty in the U.S. automotive industry.

Sloppy Scotland stunned as Italy make winning start to Six Nations amid deluge

• Italy 18-15 Scotland

• Azzurri resist fightback in appalling conditions

They say the Six Nations is all about momentum and Scotland, again, find themselves sliding rapidly downhill. Passion and effort are guaranteed from any Italy team but they were clinical here too and defended magnificently. They ruthlessly capitalised on Scotland’s often rank inaccuracy and a richly deserved win – their second in three years against Scotland – sets them up beautifully for the tournament.

The fly-half Paolo Garbisi played the appallingly wet conditions superbly to celebrate his 50th Test cap, testing the visitors’ defence with regular, spiralling contestable kicks and mostly striking the ball well off the tee. The centres Tommaso Menoncello and Juan Ignacio Brex, also marking his 50th cap, were sensational again while the energy and skill of the wing Louis Lynagh significantly softened the blow of Ange Capuozzo’s injury absence. Collectively, in difficult conditions, Italy’s handling and ball movement were far superior to Scotland’s and arguably, for head coach Gregor Townsend and his players, there is no excuse for that.

Winter Olympics organisers refuse to deny Mariah Carey lip-synced in opening ceremony

• Show director hails singer’s ‘extraordinary’ performance

• IOC plays down booing of US vice president JD Vance

The organisers of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony have refused to deny speculation that the US pop diva Mariah Carey lip-synced her part in the show. Carey took to the stage to sing Domenico Modugno’s Nel Blu, dipinto di Blu in Italian, followed by one of her own songs, Nothing Is Impossible, but many social media users quickly claimed that there were several times where her lip movements were out of time with the music.

When asked directly whether Carey was lip-synching, the director of the show, Maria Laura Iascone, confirmed that there had been a pre-recording – but refused to say whether it had been used or the American had sung live.

Super Bowl food that's bound to go viral

Super Bowl chefs spend an entire year developing the menu for the big game, and "CBS Saturday Morning" gets a sneak peek at some of the mouth-watering options.

Battle of the chatbots: Anthropic and OpenAI go head-to-head over ads in their AI products

New Anthropic campaign suggests other AI platforms will incorporate targeted ads in their chatbot conversations

The Seahawks and the Patriots aren’t the only ones gearing up for a fight.

AI rivals Anthropic and OpenAI have launched a war of ads trying to court corporate America during one of the biggest entertainment nights of the year.

UK trade policy: time to stop the secret deals and get systematic

Liam Byrne is echoing Robin Cook’s ethical trade policy, warning the UK needs deals more open to scrutiny to prevent future issues

Trade can be a dirty business. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was tolerated as a “special representative for trade and investment” in the noughties despite allegations that he kept convicted gun smugglers for friends, while Peter Mandelson’s ability to schmooze the rich and famous repeatedly overruled concerns about his probity.

To close a deal, there are always compromises to be made, and sometimes the terms are unsavoury.

Nearly a thousand Google workers sign letter urging company to divest from ICE, CBP

Hundreds of Google workers signed an open letter urging the company to cut its ties with ICE and CBP after rising violence.

Use of Irish airport for US deportation flights to Israel called ‘reprehensible’

Irish politicians condemn use of Shannon airport by private jet en route to Israel, owned by Trump donor Gil Dezer

• Revealed: Private jet owned by Trump friend used by ICE to deport Palestinians to West Bank

Politicians in Ireland have said the use of an airport in County Clare by planes deporting Palestinians from the US to Israel is “reprehensible”.

A private jet owned by the Donald Trump donor Gil Dezer was chartered by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for two separate flights that took detainees to Israel, a Guardian investigation revealed this week.

UK supreme court hearing interrupted by history podcast played from judge’s phone

Proceedings briefly halted after audio from The Rest Is History broadcast over the courtroom speakers

As the highest court in the UK, the supreme court is usually the forum for proceedings of the utmost gravity. But last week, one hearing was momentarily interrupted by an unlikely and comic intervention.

As one legal professional addressed the bench, the voice of Tom Holland, host of the popular podcast the Rest is History, boomed out through the court’s microphone system, delivering a satirical impersonation of the late US president Jimmy Carter.

Milan Cortina Winter Olympics 2026: day one – in pictures

We take a look at the best images from the opening day of the Games, including curling, downhill skiing, and ice hockey

‘A profound sense of being hunted’: with all eyes on Minneapolis, ICE arrests continue quietly across the US

Immigration operations are still stoking fear and disrupting the ability to go to work, school or doctor’s appointments

With the public’s outrage and attention focused on the deadly surge of federal agents in Minneapolis, immigration operations have quietly continued across the US – albeit in less noticeable but still troubling ways, advocates say.

In recent weeks there have been day laborers swept up at a Home Depot in San Diego. A taco truck vendor chased down outside a church in Los Angeles. Immigrants arrested at check-in in North Carolina, and during traffic stops in the nation’s capital.

Avocados are a Super Bowl staple – but are they truly a miracle food?

Americans are expected to devour nearly 280m pounds of avocados during Super Bowl weekend. Are they actually healthy?

Most American adults today didn’t grow up with avocados, but we’ve certainly developed a hearty appetite for them. In 1990, the United States imported 38m pounds of avocados; by 2023, that number was 2,789m, mostly from Mexico.

On average, each of us eats about 20 avocados, or 9lbs of the fruit, a year – a sixfold increase from 1998. Super Bowl guacamole alone fuels a staggering demand for the fruit; in the lead-up to this Sunday’s game, Americans are expected to devour nearly 280m pounds of avocados, a historical record.

‘We’re used to crowds’: latest Wuthering Heights hype doesn’t faze Yorkshire residents

As Emerald Fennell’s adaptation hits cinemas, a slew of visitors are expected at the sites that inspired Emily Brontë’s novel. People living close by, however, are taking it in their stride

The four-mile trail from the village of Haworth to Top Withens in West Yorkshire is well trodden; numerous footprints squelched into the boggy ground by those seeking the view said to have inspired the setting for Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. The landscape rolls in desolate waves of brown bracken. A lone tree punctuates the scene. It’s bleakly, hauntingly beautiful.

With the release of Emerald Fennell’s new film of the Gothic masterpiece starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi next week, Haworth and many of the filming locations in the Yorkshire Dales national park, where the book is set, are braced for a slew of visitors.

How drones impact Super Bowl security

While drones give Super Bowl viewers some of the coolest shots of the game, they also impact security. "CBS Saturday Morning" explores how.

Internal speculation over racist video centers on Trump or devoted aide

After first dismissing uproar over depiction of Obamas as apes, White House then said it was erroneously posted by staffer

Donald Trump said on Friday he made the call to post a now-deleted video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys but deflected blame for the move, causing new speculation in his orbit about whether the blame lay with the president or his aide Natalie Harp.

The brief clip, shared late Thursday night on Trump’s Truth Social account, appeared in a video pushing conspiracies about the 2020 election. Invoking racist tropes, the video depicted the Obamas’ faces superimposed on the bodies of cartoon apes dancing to The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

Fernandes keeps Carrick’s perfect Manchester United record intact after Romero red card

Michael Carrick’s Manchester United revival has a fourth consecutive league win, while Thomas Frank’s Tottenham sink further, with still no victory in the competition in 2026. Bruno Fernandes’s 81st-minute strike was a feathered touch off a shin – from Diogo Dalot’s cross – that beat Guglielmo Vicario to the left of the Spurs goalkeeper, and confirmed a miserable day for Frank.

“He is our captain and one of our important players,” the Dane had said after retaining Cristian Romero as captain despite the defender’s “disgraceful” outburst regarding there being only 11 outfield players available for last Sunday’s draw with Manchester City.

Zelenskyy says US has set June deadline for Ukraine-Russia peace deal

Ukrainian president says Trump administration has proposed to host next round of trilateral talks in US

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the US has given Ukraine and Russia yet another deadline to reach a peace settlement, and is now proposing the war should end by June. The Ukrainian president also told reporters that both sides had been invited to further talks next week.

Zelenskyy said the Trump administration “will probably put pressure” on Ukraine and Russia to end the war by the beginning of the summer. “They say they want to get everything done by June,” he said. “They will do everything to end the war and they want a clear schedule of all events.”

Authorities say they're "aware of a new message" in Nancy Guthrie's disappearance

Authorities said Friday they were inspecting an apparent new message relating to the disappearance of "Today" host Savannah Guthrie's mom, Nancy, after the family reported her missing from her home on Sunday.

Super Bowl fans warned to leave drones at home amid flight ban

The FAA says it is collaborating with the FBI to detect, track and assess unauthorized drone activity at the Super Bowl.

‘My ACL is 100% gone’: Lindsey Vonn’s improbable comeback at 41 is just another risk

Time has never seemed to stop the US skiing star. Entering Sunday’s Olympic downhill medal race, injuries haven’t either

It was all going a little too easy for Lindsey Vonn. All the nervous apprehension, the paternalistic concern, the arch skepticism and hushed snickers that had rippled through the sports world when she announced her comeback from a six-year retirement had long since gone silent. A once-unthinkable fairytale ending at the age of 41 on the slopes of Cortina d’Ampezzo was practically within touching distance.

Back in November 2024, having been chased from the sport in 2019 by a battered right knee worn down by a string of gruesome crashes and multiple surgeries, Vonn proposed a return to a high-risk sport where no woman had ever won a race past the age of 34. There’s a history of comebacks like these going brutally wrong, and even Vonn’s most dedicated fans were bracing themselves for the worst. Think a shopworn Joe Louis getting battered through the ropes and on to the ring apron by Rocky Marciano. Or Björn Borg returning to the tour in the early 90s with a wooden racket, defiantly flailing through a sport that had moved on without him.

Anthems, agency and arias: baritone Davóne Tines on rewriting his role – and the rules

The acclaimed US opera singer refuses to restrict himself or his audience. His current Barbican residency sees him range across genres. Always ask questions, always engage, he says. He talks ‘capital O opera’ and big ideas

In performance, Davóne Tines is electrifying. In the first concert of the US bass-baritone’s 2025-26 residency at London’s Barbican Centre, he appeared at the back of the auditorium and then slowly descended towards the stage, spotlit and subtly miked. His unaccompanied voice fractured into stentorian booms, spat-out consonants and the violent crackle of mouth noises. This, unmistakably, was the musician whom the New Yorker announced back in 2021 was “changing what it means to be a classical singer”.

Since then, Tines has been named Musical America’s vocalist of the year, he has won a 2024 Chanel next prize for “international contemporary artists who are redefining their disciplines”. And he was awarded the 2025 Harvard arts medal for distinguished alumni of the Ivy League university who have demonstrated achievement in the arts. Recent winners of the latter include architect Frank Gehry and novelist Margaret Atwood. Unlike those cultural figureheads, Tines is not yet 40.

Trump posted something blatantly racist? What a surprise | Arwa Mahdawi

The Obama video should take a toll on the president’s political career – but of course it won’t

Despite Donald Trump’s war on woke, he hasn’t (yet) made Black History Month illegal. In fact, on Tuesday the president issued a proclamation declaring February 2026 to be a celebration of Black history and called “upon public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities”.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Authorities tow car from Nancy Guthrie's home, investigate new message

Local and federal authorities said "investigators are actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity" regarding the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.

White House removes Trump post with racist footage of Obamas hours after defending it

The footage is included in a video that promotes false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Mr. Trump.

Pressure mounts on American Airlines CEO as carrier lags rivals

American Airlines made $111 million last year, while rivals Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, brought in $5 billion and $3.3 billion, respectively.

Bangers and smash: Von Allmen wins first gold of Winter Olympics to fulfil butcher’s dream

• Special sausage named for Swiss champion – the ‘Silberblitz’

• Hosts claim silver and bronze on a perfect day in Bormio

When the Swiss skier Franjo von Allmen first broke through in the junior ranks, his village butcher created a special sausage – the Silberblitz-Wurscht or Silver Lightning – in his honour. After his stunning performance in the men’s downhill on Saturday, it is surely time for an upgrade.

On a beautiful day in Bormio, the 24-year-old dominated a challenging course to win in 1:min 51.61sec and take the first medal of these Olympic Games. That time was good enough to withstand Italy’s Giovanni Franzoni, who finished with the silver medal 0.20sec back. Another Italian, Dominik Paris, who is vocalist of a heavy metal band called Rise of Voltage, claimed bronze.

After the Fall: How Olympic figure skaters soar after stumbling on the ice

Olympic figure skating is often seems to take athletes to the very edge of perfection, but even the greatest stumble and fall. How do they pull themselves together again on the biggest world stage? Toughness, poise and practice.

The women who saw Melania in theaters: ‘If you’re Republican, this is girls’ night’

The Amazon documentary brought in $7m its opening weekend – thanks to admirers eager for a glimpse of the first lady’s secretive life

The dress code for Lisa Copeland’s big night out: what would Melania wear?

The 60-year-old real estate entrepreneur and nine other friends were headed to Amazon’s new documentary Melania, which debuted in theaters nationwide last week. “We all brought our best power suit,” Copeland said, nodding to Melania Trump’s penchant for neat, tailored menswear-inspired looks. But since she lives in Austin, Texas, Copeland put her own country-glam spin on it: black leather pants and a pearl jacket with diamond and pearl beading.

‘It made me cry’: your favourite moments from past Winter Olympics

From Torvill and Dean scoring a perfect 6.0 to radical new boarding and skiing styles, readers recall euphoric moments from past Games

• Winter Olympics live – latest updates

With the 2026 Winter Olympics off to a spectacular start with the opening ceremonies in Milan, Cortina, Livigno and Predazzo, the coming weeks promise medals, memories and iconic moments.

While history awaits this year’s athletes, we asked readers about their most memorable moments of past Games and the performances that still give them chills.

Elon Musk wants to be a trillionaire — here's how SpaceX may get him there

Elon Musk's net worth soared past $800 billion this week after he merged SpaceX with xAI in a deal that valued the combined entity at $1.25 trillion.

Opinion: Alternate endings for modern attention spans

Some film professors are bemoaning the shortcuts students take to avoid watching assigned movies: some don't know what happens at the end. NPR's Scott Simon offers his own synopses.

They're cured of leprosy. Why do they still live in leprosy colonies?

Leprosy is one of the least contagious diseases around — and perhaps one of the most misunderstood. The colonies are relics of a not-too-distant past when those diagnosed with leprosy were exiled.

Starmer accused of hypocrisy over sharp cuts to World Food Programme

UK reduces funding by a third despite pledges to tackle hunger, with critics warning the move will cost lives

• UK politics live – latest updates

Keir Starmer has been accused of hypocrisy after cutting funding to the UN World Food Programme by a third while pledging to tackle “suffering and starvation”.

The reduction in UK funding to the World Food Programme (WFP) from $610m (£448m) in 2024 to $435m last year is part of a wider hit on aid spending that campaigners say is putting lives at risk.

California urges avoiding wild mushrooms after deaths, liver transplants

More than three dozen cases of death cap mushroom poisonings have been reported in California since November, health officials said.

Ralph Towner obituary

Virtuoso musician and composer who was at the forefront of 1970s jazz fusion, notably with the band Oregon

For a quiet man, Ralph Towner, the American multi-instrumentalist and composer, who has died aged 85, had an impressive penchant for sharp epithets about his own creative motives.

Describing himself as a “raconteur of the abstract” was a memorable one. So was his remark in 2023, to Premier Guitar magazine, that throughout his career he felt he had generally been “more obsessive than I’ve been curious”.

Post-Brexit sales of British farm products to EU fall by 37%

NFU warn it could take years to restore Brexit losses despite efforts to smooth negotiations on farming and other elements of UK-EU reset

Exports of British farm products to the EU have dropped almost 40% in the five years since Brexit, highlighting the trade barriers caused by the UK’s divorce from the EU in 2020.

Analysis of HMRC data by the National Farmers’ Union shows the decline in sales of everything from British beef to cheddar cheese has dropped by 37.4% in the five years since 2019, the last full year before Brexit.

Thousands of Malawi businesses close in protest over tax changes

Peaceful demonstrations force a delay in measures aimed at improving revenue collection but which many fear will be fatal for small traders

Demonstrations across Malawi’s four main cities during the past week have achieved a delay in the introduction of a new tax regime that business owners claim will cripple their livelihoods.

Tens of thousands had signed petitions which this week were presented to tax officials and on Monday thousands of small traders shut up shops and businesses to hold protest marches in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Zomba and Mzuzu.

This season, 'The Pitt' is about what doesn't happen in one day

The first season of The Pitt was about acute problems. The second is about chronic ones.

Lindsey Vonn is set to ski the Olympic downhill race with a torn ACL. How?

An ACL tear would keep almost any other athlete from competing -- but not Lindsey Vonn, the 41-year-old superstar skier who is determined to cap off an incredible comeback from retirement with one last shot at an Olympic medal.

Zelenskyy says U.S. gave Ukraine, Russia a deadline for agreement to end war

If the June deadline is not met, the Trump administration will likely put pressure on both sides to meet it, Zelenskyy told reporters.

Waymo is trying to seduce me. But another option is staring us in the face | Dave Schilling

I understand the appeal of avoiding all human contact. Still, good old-fashioned taxis have so much to offer

It’s Super Bowl weekend here in America, which means a few things: copious amounts of gut-busting food, controversial half-time show performances, extravagant commercials, and occasionally a bit of football.

For the tens of thousands rich enough to afford tickets to the Big Game, transportation to and from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, will be paramount. Thankfully, our robotic saviors are here to rescue the throng from the indignity of sharing a ride with an actual human being. This year’s Super Bowl is a test of the driverless taxi industry, currently lorded over by Waymo – a company that’s about to get a $16bn cash injection to further expand its business to cities all around the world. Smaller American metro areas like Sacramento and Nashville are next up to get Waymo service, as are global capitals like London and Tokyo. Fleets of robotaxis are seeming more and more inevitable, yet another soldier in the onslaught of shiny gadgets designed to sand off the sharp edges of modern life. I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

One battle after another: Sam Darnold’s stubborn route to the Super Bowl

The Seahawks quarterback was once seen as just another high-profile quarterback bust. But now he is one win from clinching the NFL title

For the teams, the reality of the Super Bowl hits like deja vu: a ritual they’ve watched and fantasized about for years suddenly arrives, sucking them into its vast, chaotic center.

For Sam Darnold, though, it’s a reality come full circle. San Francisco, after all, was the city that gave him a chance after he crashed and burned in New York and washed out in Carolina, long after most around the NFL had consigned him to history’s pile of first-round draft busts.

Rebecca Hendin on the tyranny of the UK’s stormy weather – cartoon | Rebecca Hendin

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‘The photo we want to take is closer than we think’: Dominic Dähncke’s best phone picture

Cooped up during Covid, the Spanish photographer found inspiration in a broom … and a nail in the wall

“Telekinesis,” says Dominic Dähncke, when asked how this errant broom is standing upright. He took this shot on the rooftop of his home in El Médano, Tenerife; a communal terrace filled with laundry rooms and cleaning supplies. This was 2021, in the throes of a Covid lockdown, so he would walk around in circles on the rooftop of his building, enjoying the fresh air.

“To be honest, there was a nail stuck in the wall, but I didn’t put it there,” he admits. One morning, he absent-mindedly propped the broom against the nail and noticed that it stayed at a 45-­degree angle. He returned to the rooftop for several days, waiting until the shadow of the small ceiling above matched, then captured the moment with his phone.

Where’s Evo? Missing Morales mystery as Bolivia’s ex-president goes to ground

Once a highly visible figure despite being wanted on human trafficking charges, the former leader has not been seen since shortly after the US kidnapped Venezuela’s president

For more than a year, he stayed hidden in plain sight: despite an arrest warrant for human trafficking charges, former president Evo Morales moved freely in at least one region of Bolivia, attended rallies, received foreign journalists and went to the polls to cast his vote in the 2025 presidential election.

But shortly after the United States attack onVenezuela – and the detention of Nicolás Maduro – Morales disappeared from view; a month later his whereabouts remain a mystery.

‘It’s become more about politics than music’: what will Bad Bunny bring to the Super Bowl?

Grammy-winning Puerto Rican star is in the center of US culture wars before leading this weekend’s half-time show

A few days after Christmas 2022, Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican reggaetonero, appeared without warning on one of the most unlikely of stages: the roof of a Gulf Oil gas station in San Juan. To a massive crowd singing every word, he performed a surprise concert, along with friend and collaborator Arcángel, that was part hype-y music video shoot, part exultant post-tour homecoming, and part pointed critique. He ended the set with El Apagón (“The Power Outage”), a clubby protest anthem about local displacement and the rolling blackouts that have plagued Puerto Rico, a US “commonwealth” (read: colony), since Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Bad Bunny sang it from a roof on Santurce’s Calle Loíza, a thoroughfare in a former working-class Black neighborhood now dotted with Airbnbs. But you do not need the full context to get the show’s contagious energy. Though I have never walked Calle Loíza, nor do I speak Spanish, the gas station show is still my favorite concert to rewatch via online fan clips: electric, organic, genuinely popular. In terms of reach, critical acclaim and longevity, Bad Bunny rivals – and sometimes outsells – the likes of Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé and Drake, though it is hard to imagine those peers appearing so unguarded, so public, as he does on that roof.

Victims urge tougher action on deepfake abuse as new law comes into force

Campaigners welcome criminalisation of non-consensual AI-generated explicit images but say law does not go far enough

Victims of deepfake image abuse have called for stronger protection against AI-generated explicit images, as the law criminalising the creation of non-consensual intimate images comes into effect.

Campaigners from Stop Image-Based Abuse delivered a petition to Downing Street with more than 73,000 signatures, urging the government to introduce civil routes to justice such as takedown orders for abusive imagery on platforms and devices.

The CIA World Factbook is dead. Here's how I came to love it

The Factbook survived the Cold War and became a hit online. It mixed quirky cultural notes and trivia with maps, data, and photos taken by CIA officers. But it was discontinued this week.

Billy Crudup: ‘My celebrity crush? I got to marry her’

The actor on a disastrous speech, his rules for how people should get around cities and an embarrassing encounter with a doorman

Born in New York state, Billy Crudup, 57, made his film debut in Sleepers in 1996. His subsequent movies include Almost Famous (2000), Big Fish (2003), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Spotlight (2015), Alien: Covenant (2017) and most recently Jay Kelly. On TV he has a long-running role in The Morning Show, for which he has won two Emmys. He stars in High Noon at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre until 6 March. He has a son and is married to Naomi Watts. He lives in New York City.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Flashes of hubris.

Harry Brook says fallout from nightclub row has been ‘horrendous’

• England T20 captain eager to move on

• ‘It’s not been a very nice time of my life’

Harry Brook wants to draw a line under the past few weeks when revelations about his conduct in Wellington cast doubt on his leadership as he prepares to lead England at the T20 World Cup. More than three months on from Brook being punched by a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand, hours before captaining England, the saga took on fresh legs when the Yorkshireman claimed to have been on his own, only for the Daily Telegraph to uncover he was accompanied by Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue.

The matter is now being investigated by the Cricket Regulator, preventing Brook from elaborating on the night in question, but he has been fined by the England and Wales Cricket Board and given a final warning over his conduct.

Never mind the lit-bros: Infinite Jest is a true classic at 30

Forget its reputation as a performative read for a certain breed of intense young man, thirty years after its publication, David Foster Wallace’s epic novel still delivers, says the Crying in H Mart author

I’m not what you might consider Infinite Jest’s target demographic. The novel’s reputation precedes it as a book infamously few ever finish, and those who do tend to belong to a particular breed of college-age guys who talk over you, a sect of pedantic, misunderstood young men for whom, over the course of 30 years, Infinite Jest has become a rite of passage, much as Little Women or Pride and Prejudice might function for aspiring literary young women.

Most readers come to the novel in their formative years, but I was a late bloomer. It wasn’t until the winter of 2023 that, at the age of 34, smoking outside a party in Brooklyn, I found myself suddenly motivated to embark on the two-pound tome. A boy I knew from high school brought it up, and as I happened at the time to have developed a casual interest in those works one might attribute to the “lit-bro” canon (Bret Easton Ellis, Hemingway, etc), it seemed the appropriate time to take it on.

Guardiola can be both right to speak out and a performative hypocrite | Barney Ronay

Coach should not ‘stick to football’ when football strays into politics and death but his role as fluffer for his club’s autocratic owners cannot be ignored

You may find yourself living in a glass and steel yak-fur-lined penthouse. You may find yourself with six Premier League titles and a sport refashioned in your image. You may find yourself in front of a large advert board covered in words such as Experience Abu Dhabi, haunted by images of suffering, a scythe clanking gently at your shoulder. And you may say, well, how did I get here?

There are only ever two types of Pep Guardiola article. First, articles announcing that Guardiola’s influence has reached some new level of annihilating dominance, that what we have here is our own cashmere-draped, cranium-whirring Ideal Tactics Man, that Pep-ism is bigger than smartphones, bigger than internet porn, bigger than a mother’s love, that playing out from the back is now visible from space.

AI analysis casts doubt on Van Eyck paintings in Italian and US museums

Tests on both versions of Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata were unable to detect brushstrokes of 15th-century master

An analysis of two paintings in museums in the US and Italy by the 15th-century Flemish artist Jan van Eyck has raised a profound question: what if neither were by Van Eyck?

Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata, the name given to near-identical unsigned paintings hanging in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Royal Museums of Turin, represent two of the small number of surviving works by one of western art’s greatest masters, revered for his naturalistic portraits and religious subjects.

What links Derek Malcolm, Roger Ebert and Philip French? The Saturday quiz

From arctos and americanus to North America’s ‘other’ US, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 Who is the only British female singer with seven No 1 singles (including as a featured artist)?
2 What was the alias of 15th-century criminal chaplain Robert Stafford?
3 What became the world’s first $5tn company in 2025?
4 Which hat was banned in Turkey in 1925?
5 D.G.REX.F.D is written on what everyday items?
6 Slightly Included and Very Slightly Included are grades of what?
7 What is North America’s “other” US?
8 Which watersport is usually added to make a quadrathlon?
What links:
9 Arctos (lay down); americanus (fight back); maritimus (goodnight)?
10 Dunkery Beacon; High Willhays; Urra Moor?
11 Fools and Mortals; Hamnet; King of Shadows; Nothing Like the Sun?
12 Roger Ebert; Philip French; Pauline Kael; Derek Malcolm; David Thomson?
13 Harmondsworth Barn, Hillingdon; Mathematical Bridge, Cambridge; Greensted church, Essex?
14 BYD; Changan; Chery; Geely; GWM?
15 Jack Broughton; London Prize Ring; Marquess of Queensberry?

The biggest threat facing Europe is not a Trump invasion. It’s his global political revolution | Mark Leonard

I am convinced that Europe’s ‘new right’ is a radically contemporary movement. Defeating it means understanding its critique of liberalism

European governments are terrified of Donald Trump’s threats on trade, Greenland and the future of Nato. But the biggest threat is not that Trump invades an ally or leaves Europe at the mercy of Russia. It is that his ideological movement could transform Europe from the inside.

A year after Trump’s return to the White House, his “second American revolution” is radiating outward into Europe. The Epstein files reveal how this began clumsily in 2018 with Steve Bannon; but it has become a much more sophisticated partnership with the second coming of Trump and the rise to power of JD Vance. The US National Security Strategy published by the White House in November called for strengthening the growing influence of “patriotic” European parties such as Reform UK, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN), Fidesz in Hungary and Vox in Spain. As with the communist movements of the cold war, these nationalist, populist and in some cases far-right parties are best understood not as isolated national phenomena but as expressions of a shared intellectual project – a movement that is, to varying degrees, now being reinforced by a foreign power.

Mark Leonard is the author of the report The new right: anatomy of a global political revolution. He is director of the Berlin-based European Council on Foreign Relations

Lord of the Flies: the castaway classic is such excellent, surreal horror that you will feel sick throughout

Jack Thorne takes on William Golding – and you’ll never have felt so grateful to live under the rule of law, that ultimate dweeb’s charter

Castaway stories, from Cast Away to The Martian, often make for feelgood classics. They are tales about an ingenious individual overcoming huge odds, a triumphant metaphor for the human spirit. Here’s a funny thing: castaway stories featuring large groups of people lead to the exact opposite. Forced to self-organise, they end up eating each other. The exception is Lost; I don’t know what that was about. Polar bears?

Needless to say, I like them all. So it’s exciting to see a new kid on the block – or rather an old boy. William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, about a group of British schoolboys who crash-land on a desert island, has been part of the UK curriculum for more than 60 years. I wonder if we forget the books we’re forced to study, and are obliged to rediscover them in later life. I know this story well, but am not sure I can say I fully experienced it until this striking new BBC version (Sunday, 9pm, BBC One).

How close have human beings come to the sun? The kids’ quiz

Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes

• ​Submit a question

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World.

Six great reads: romance fraud, pie and mash, and a road sign design genius

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days

Clintons call for their Epstein testimony to be held publicly

Bill Clinton says closed-door depositions would be akin to ‘kangaroo court’ as Hillary Clinton says they have already told House committee what they know

Former US president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary are calling for their congressional testimony on ties to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to be held publicly, to prevent Republicans from politicising the issue.

Both Clintons had been ordered to give closed-door depositions before the House of Representatives’ oversight committee, which is investigating the deceased financier’s connections to powerful figures and how information about his crimes was handled.

Former Super Bowl champion Darron Lee charged with girlfriend’s murder

• 31-year-old arrested in Harrison County, Tennessee

• Former linebacker due in court on 11 February

Former New York Jets linebacker Darron Lee has been charged with murder on Thursday after the death of his girlfriend.

Lee was arrested and taken into custody in Hamilton County, Tennessee, after deputies were called to a medical emergency where first responders were giving a woman CPR at a residence in Ooltewah. The medics were unable to save her, and WTVC NewsChannel 9 reported she had suffered a suspected stab wound as well as other injuries.

Storm-battered Portugal heads to polls as rivals unite to keep out far right

Socialist António José Seguro on course for victory but gains by André Ventura’s Chega could herald watershed

Portuguese voters will return to the polls on Sunday for the final round of a presidential election that has been marked by a push to keep the far-right candidate at bay and overshadowed by deadly storms that have lashed the country in recent days.

The moderate leftwing candidate António José Seguro won the first round of the election, which was held on 18 January, taking 31.1% of the vote.

Tim Dowling: I’ve already used up all my optimism for the year. What now?

The misery of the English winter has made me homesick for extreme US weather. I hate to miss a hurricane

I am sitting in my office shed, cut off from the house by a driving rain. The misery and boredom of the English winter is, I have to admit, beginning to get to me. I spent January talking about the days getting longer, and used up all my optimism.

For the last 10 minutes I’ve been scrolling through the website of my American home town newspaper, which is full of pictures of the recent snowfall – over a foot, with more predicted in the coming days. Extreme weather has a tendency to make me homesick – I hate to miss a hurricane.

Sex and snacks, but no seat at the table: the role of women in Epstein’s sordid men’s club

Files reveal a world of flattery and fratboy tones, where rich men are cultivated and women provide services

Pluck an email at random from the millions in the Department of Justice’s Epstein Library. It is a Saturday evening in February 2013, and Jeffrey Epstein is messaging Bill Gates’s assistant about guests for a dinner he wants to organise.

“People for Bill,” the email begins. Epstein starts listing possible candidates: the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, the film director Woody Allen, the prime minister of Qatar, a couple of Harvard academics, the billionaire CEO of Hyatt hotels, a White House communications director, a former US secretary of defence.

Blind date: ‘We didn’t kiss but we exchanged Instas, which among gay men is close to the same thing’

Alfie, 31, a playwright, meets Sam, 33, who works in tech

What were you hoping for?
To meet a silly softie with a penchant for the occasional deep chat.

Meera Sodha’s vegetarian recipe for haggis dan dan noodles | Meera Sodha recipes

The Burns supper centrepiece is too good to enjoy on only one night a year – especially when it pairs so well with Chinese flavours

I’d like to start a new campaign called Vegetarian Haggis Isn’t Just for Burns Night. Of course, the Scots know this. They know how fantastic this genius concoction of pulses, vegetables, oats and spices is; how meaty without being, well, meaty. I began eating it because I share a birthday with Robert Burns (see haggis kheema) but it deserves to be eaten all year round. Here, I’ve introduced the haggis to another favourite of mine, dan dan noodles, and I’m pleased to report they get on like a house on fire.

Who says the over-40s don’t know how to have fun? The Becky Barnicoat cartoon

Continue reading...

China overturns death sentence of Canadian in sign of diplomatic thaw

Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was detained on drug charges in 2014 before Canada-China ties nosedived in 2018

China has overturned the death sentence of Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian official said on Friday, in a possible sign of a diplomatic thaw as prime minister Mark Carney seeks to boost trade ties with Beijing.

Schellenberg’s lawyer Zhang Dongshuo, reached in Beijing on Saturday, confirmed the decision was announced on Friday by China’s highest court.

‘Can Mette-Marit be queen after this?’: Rape trial and Epstein files bring double crisis for Norway’s royals

Marius Borg Høiby pleads not guilty in court while pressure mounts against his crown princess mother over Epstein friendship

There will be little to celebrate when Norway’s King Harald, Europe’s oldest reigning monarch, turns 89 later this month.

Two multigenerational crises have rocked the institution, causing its popularity to dip in polls of Norwegians and bringing a public glare that far exceeds that of previous scandals.

2/6: CBS Evening News

Authorities investigating "new message" in Nancy Guthrie disappearance; Man who carved scale model of New York City piece by piece gets museum debut

Pentagon says it's cutting ties with "woke" Harvard

The Pentagon says it will cut ties with Harvard University, ending graduate-level military training, fellowship and certificate programs.

Republicans condemn Trump's racist video portraying the Obamas as apes

The criticism continued even after the White House removed the video after the initial backlash.

Trump condemns racist video showing Obamas as apes after removing it, but says he won't apologize

The depiction of the Obamas, posted from Trump's Truth Social account, was included in a video pushing a conspiracy theory about 2020 election voting machines.

One person dead from Nipah virus in Bangladesh, WHO says

The case in Bangladesh, where Nipah cases are reported almost every year, follows two Nipah virus cases identified in neighbouring India

The World Health Organization said on Friday that a woman had died in northern Bangladesh in January after contracting the deadly Nipah virus infection.

The case in Bangladesh, where Nipah cases are reported almost every year, follows two Nipah virus cases identified in neighbouring India, which has already prompted stepped-up airport screenings across Asia.

Truck driver spends decades carving a scale model masterpiece of New York City

Beginning in 2004, Joe Macken carved all five boroughs of New York City out of balsa wood, every site and stadium, and every bridge and building. His creation consists of almost 1 million structures.

Mariah Carey, coffee makers and other highlights from the Olympic opening ceremony

NPR reporters at the Milan opening ceremony layered up and took notes.

NBC appears to cut crowd’s booing of JD Vance from Winter Olympics broadcast

• Vice-president given hostile reception by some in Milan

• US broadcast cuts out crowd’s show of dissent

• IOC calls for ‘fair play’ after jeers for Vance, Israeli athletes

The US vice-president, JD Vance, was greeted by a chorus of boos when he appeared at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Milan on Friday, although American viewers watching NBC’s coverage would have been unaware of the reception.

As speedskater Erin Jackson led Team USA into the San Siro stadium she was greeted by cheers. But when the TV cameras cut to Vance and his wife, Usha, there were boos, jeers and a smattering of applause from the crowd. The reaction was shown on Canadian broadcaster CBC’s feed, with one commentator saying: “There is the vice-president JD Vance and his wife Usha – oops, those are not … uh … those are a lot of boos for him. Whistling, jeering, some applause.”

School bus driver offered rides to kids after finishing route, but officials shut it down

After a licensed school bus driver finished his route, he decided to help after seeing lots of other children walking to school in the cold. As Tony Dokoupil reports, the offer was short-lived.

Heightened security from dozens of local, federal agencies ahead of Super Bowl

More than 35 local, state and federal agencies have been working for the last 18 months to prepare for Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California.

What to know about high-stakes Super Bowl security

With less than 48 hours until kickoff for Super Bowl LX, security preparations are already in motion. Kris Van Cleave has a preview.

Deadly highway pileup as dangerous cold grips Northeast

For nearly 100 million Americans, it will be a good weekend to stay indoors, with Arctic air making it feel far below zero. Rob Marciano has details.

Authorities investigating "new message" in Nancy Guthrie disappearance

Local and federal authorities said Friday they're "aware of a new message" regarding the disappearance of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie's mom, Nancy Guthrie, as the high-profile search continues. Jonathan Vigliotti has the latest.

Massive release of Epstein files includes 3 million documents and photos

The Justice Department released more new documents Friday from the Jeffrey Epstein files, more than a month after the DOJ's original deadline to do so.

Lutnick and Epstein were in business together, Epstein files show

Though the commerce secretary has called his interactions with Epstein as "limited," the two were in business together four years after Epstein's 2008 guilty plea.

‘Take them away, crush them’: Australia faces an ebike surge that some say poses a health emergency

They offer independence, reduce emissions and congestion. But they are also endangering lives

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After the Sydney Harbour Bridge was swarmed by 40 or so ebikes and e-motorcycles on Wednesday, the Australian government said the country faced a “real emergency”.

“[Illegal ebikes] are a total menace on the road,” the health minister, Mark Butler, said on Friday.

A timeline of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance as search stretches into 6th day

Savannah's Guthrie's mom, Nancy Guthrie, went missing over the weekend, and authorities have still not identified a possible suspect or person of interest.

Dow crosses 50K for first time as stocks enjoy best day since May 2025

Resurgent technology stocks drove the rebound after a volatile week, while bitcoin also recouped losses.

Luigi Mangione has outburst in court as judge sets June state trial date

Luigi Mangione appeared in a Manhattan courtroom Friday in the state's case against him for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Prediction markets soar ahead of the Super Bowl

Emboldened by loosened restrictions from federal regulators, prediction markets look to cash in on Super Bowl Sunday.

See the 43 drugs available on new discounted drug site TrumpRx

Here's what to know about TrumpRx, including how it works, who can use it, and how much money it can save.

Uber held liable, ordered to pay $8.5 million in driver rape suit

The case lays the groundwork for about 3,000 other sexual misconduct cases the ridesharing platform is facing nationwide.

NFL plans to have discussions with partners outside of core media for live games, media chief says

NFL plans to look outside traditional media for potential partners for live games, NFL Media chief Hans Schroeder said.

SAVE Act voter ID bill is on the minds of Trump and Congress: What to know

A bill that would make it harder to vote in federal elections is a Republican focus this week, with President Donald Trump calling for enacting the SAVE Act.

Stellantis CEO says automaker is stronger together as stock plummets amid $26 billion charge

The automaker announced $26 billion in charges from a business restructuring that includes pulling back on electrification plans and reintroducing V8 engines.

Nvidia shares rise 8% as Jensen Huang says $660 billion capex buildout is sustainable

Huang's comments come after key Nvidia customers Meta, Amazon, Google and Microsoft reported their latest earnings over the past two weeks.

Shares of Jennifer Garner's Once Upon a Farm pop 17% in public market debut

The company's IPO comes as shoppers and policymakers alike have pushed back on ultra-processed foods.