Oscar nominations for 2026 announced. See the full list of nominees here.

The nominees for the 98th annual Academy Awards were announced Thursday morning, and though "One Battle After Another," "Marty Supreme," "Frankenstein" and "Hamnet" were all nominated for plenty, it was "Sinners" that broke through with a record-smashing 16 nominations.

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

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

Watch Live: Jack Smith testifies publicly for first time on Trump probes

Former special counsel Jack Smith, who oversaw two investigations into President Trump, is testifying publicly for the first time before the House Judiciary Committee.

Simple tips to help you find trust in yourself

Behavioral researcher and peak performance educator Shadé Zahrai, who has coached Fortune 500 leaders, joins "CBS Mornings" to explain the key to finding confidence. Zahrai says it's important not to compare yourself to others and find trust in yourself.

Sri Lanka v England: first men’s cricket one-day international – live

News from the series opener in Colombo, 9am GMT start
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1st over: Sri Lanka 7-0 (Nissanka 3, Mishara 4) This is the first time Overton has opened the bowling in an ODI. He starts with a short ball that is pulled smoothly for two by Nissanka. A single behind square brings the left-handed Mishara on strike; he’s beaten first ball, chasing a short delivery that snaps away off the seam.

Mishara gets off the mark with a cross-bat edge that lands short of Buttler and bounces through for four.

Vonn, Shiffrin and Kim headline US ski and snowboard team for 2026 Olympics

• Lindsey Vonn set for fifth Games after comeback

• US Ski & Snowboard to send 97 athletes to Italy

• Nearly half of US roster are first-time Olympians

Lindsey Vonn will compete in her fifth Winter Olympics next month after being named to a 97-athlete US Ski & Snowboard roster for the 2026 Milano Cortina Games, a team led by some of the most decorated figures in American winter sports history but also notable for its relative inexperience.

US Ski & Snowboard announced Thursday that it had nominated 97 athletes – 73 skiers and 24 snowboarders – to represent Team USA at the Games, which run from 6–22 February across northern Italy. The team will be officially announced on Monday.

What to know about Trump's executive order aimed at boosting housing market

President Trump signed an executive order this week aimed at boosting the housing market. The goal is to increase the supply of homes available to buy by preventing big investors from purchasing single family homes for the rental market. CBS News business analyst Jill Schlesinger explains.

DOJ's call for resources in Minnesota includes military attorneys, auditors

The Justice Dept. is calling for resources to be sent to Minnesota as it expands its fraud investigation in the state.

Ukraine-US-Russia talks to be held this weekend, says Zelenskyy after Trump meeting – latest updates

Ukrainian president, giving speech in Davos, says trilateral meeting will take place in UAE

Zelenskyy’s speech looks to be slightly late, as Indonesia’s president Prabowo Subianto is still speaking.

Don’t worry: I’m keeping an eye on this for you.

“Hardly any details are known yet about the proposed Greenland deal. But we need them in order to decide how to proceed with the implementation of the EU-US trade deal. @EP_Trade will revisit the issue on Monday and discuss the way forward.”

“However there is no room for false security. The next threat is sure to come. That’s why it is even more important that we set clear boundaries use all available legal instruments&apply them as appropriate to the situation. We must continue to act with this level of confidence.”

Justice Dept. kills cases cracking down on auto emissions cheating

The Justice Department ordered prosecutors to drop all pending cases targeting the sale of illicit "defeat devices" in diesel-powered vehicles.

R&B star Jill Scott: ‘I like mystery – I love Sade but I don’t know what she had for breakfast’

The neo-soul singer and actor answers your questions on being taken to a go-go club as a child, training as an English teacher and getting mistaken for footballer Jill Scott

In a recent interview you gave an invaluable life lesson which involved a go-go bar and your mother’s love. What are your tips for living life between adversities? Integrity411
My mother’s ex-husband was a questionable man and after he picked me up from elementary school he used to take me to a go-go bar where ladies were dancing in their panties. I was a child, so I thought: how nice for them, I hate getting dressed too! They dance all day and then some nice people put money in their panties. The ladies would give me milk or Coca-Cola and give me a dollar, so I wanted to be a go-go dancer when I grew up. At that age I didn’t know there was anything wrong with me going there and I learned not to judge people so quickly. However, when my mother discovered why I was coming home late she kicked into fifth gear. She told the bar not to let me in and instead showed me art, opera, ballet – anything that was free – and changed my palate and perspective. In a way, all that brought me here. Art can get you through things. Cry as hard as you can or even laugh as hard as you can, and hold on to the joy.

A Long Walk is my favourite song of yours, not least because I was blessed to have that same experience. Is it something you shared with a special someone or something you yearned for which has not yet come to pass? Soulisasolis33
Oh my goodness. I’ve had many long walks with dogs, my mother, my mate, my friends, my child. To just take a walk and talk is one of my favourite things to do, or just to take a walk in silence. I’d recommend it to anybody.

Arctic Monkeys release first new song since 2022 to benefit War Child

Opening Night will appear on HELP(2), a charity compilation out in March which also features Olivia Rodrigo, Depeche Mode, Pulp and more

Arctic Monkeys have released Opening Night, their first new song since 2022 album The Car, with proceeds benefiting the charity War Child.

Opening Night is taken from HELP(2), a sequel to War Child’s 1995 album Help, which brought together A-list music names to raise £1.2m for children affected by conflict, including Radiohead, Blur, Sinéad O’Connor and the Smokin’ Mojo Filters (a supergroup of Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller).

Barron Trump told police he was ‘very close’ to alleged rape victim, court hears

Donald Trump’s son was on video call with woman when he saw a man repeatedly punch her, court told

Donald Trump’s youngest son said he was “very close” to an alleged rape victim after raising the alarm about a suspected assault against her, a court has heard.

Barron Trump was on a video call a year ago with the woman, who cannot be named, when he saw a man repeatedly punch her, Snaresbrook crown court was told on Wednesday.

Procter & Gamble earnings top estimates, but shrinking demand weighs on sales

Procter & Gamble topped Wall Street's estimates for its quarterly earnings, but the company's revenue was weaker than expected.

GM to move production of China-built Buick SUV to U.S. plant

General Motors plans to move production of a Buick compact SUV from China to the U.S. for domestic sales, the company confirmed Thursday.

Real Madrid could face trial over noise pollution from stadium concerts

Judge has brought indictment after nearby residents launched legal action in 2024 saying the concerts made their lives a misery

Real Madrid could face trial for alleged environmental offences after a Spanish judge ruled there was sufficient evidence that loud concerts held at the club’s Bernabéu stadium, which has been dubbed “the torture-drome” by local residents, could have broken the law.

The Residents’ Association for those Affected by the Bernabéu (AVPB) began legal action against the football club and the city council in 2024, saying a series of punishingly loud concerts held that spring and summer had made their lives a misery. Performers included Taylor Swift, Luis Miguel and the Colombian star Karol G.

Grok AI generated about 3m sexualised images this month, research says

Estimate made by Center for Countering Digital Hate after Elon Musk’s AI image generation tool sparked international outrage

Grok AI generated about 3m sexualised images earlier this month, including 23,000 that appear to depict children, according to researchers who said it “became an industrial scale machine for the production of sexual abuse material”.

The estimate has been made by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) after Elon Musk’s AI image generation tool sparked international outrage when it allowed users to upload photographs of strangers and celebrities, digitally strip them to their underwear or into bikinis, put them in provocative poses and post them on X.

Along comes Trump and our emperors have no clothes | John Crace

There’s no shame in not knowing what he’ll say next: neither does he. But that didn’t stop many claiming to make sense of it

In weeks like this, the mask slips somewhat. Politicians love the illusion of control. It’s the special power that differentiates them from us lower orders. They are the ones pulling all the levers. Nothing ever happens that takes them unawares. They are the ones with answers to everything. They need it to be this way. Not just for their own psyches but for ours. It’s somehow comforting.

And then along comes Donald Trump and our emperors have no clothes. Their limitations on view to everyone. Scrabbling around just to stand still. Trying to make sense of the world in real time, just like the rest of us. Making it up as they go along.

Jet donated by Qatar could start serving as Trump's new Air Force One this summer

President Trump could start flying in a plane donated by Qatar as early as this summer, as the U.S. Air Force confirms it will deliver the refurbished jumbo jet for use as Air Force One within months.

Naomi Osaka battles past Cirstea but emotions boil over in ‘fair play’ row

• Romanian player accuses opponent after defeat

• Osaka: ‘I don’t react well to being casually disrespected’

The courtside photographer pit was already full 10 minutes before call time on Thursday night inside Margaret Court Arena. As all cameras pointed directly at the players’ entrance, it was not difficult to understand why they were there.

A day earlier, Osaka had produced one of the enduring images of the 2026 Australian Open, marching on to Rod Laver Arena in an outrageous outfit inspired by a jellyfish. This time, before her gritty, contentious 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 second-round win over Sorana Cirstea, she opted to leave the hat and veil back in her locker room.

Bach: Sonatas & Partitas album review – Capuçon brings warmth, restraint and reflection

Renaud Capuçon
(Deutsche Grammophon)
These performances of Bach’s solo works are elegant and persuasive – balancing a modern tone with an alert awareness of period style

To celebrate his 50th birthday, Renaud Capuçon has recorded Bach’s solo sonatas and partitas, works the French violinist has been familiar with since childhood. These impressive accounts are elegant and thoughtful, his generous tone lit up from within with sufficient vibrato to caress the ear while simultaneously acknowledging current thinking on period performance practice.

Tempi are steady throughout, occasionally leisurely in slow movements, but always persuasive. There’s a generous body to his sound and a tasteful restraint when it comes to decoration. Phrasing is instinctual, his articulation of Bach’s fugal elements a model of clarity, while his sure-footed handling of the various doubles and prestos eschews any sense of virtuosity for virtuosity’s sake. In the mighty chaconne that ends the D minor partitas, Capuçon finds a reflective lightness and intimacy that frequently draws the ear.

Leicester sign Switzerland forward Alisha Lehmann from FC Como

• Club continues January push for experienced players

• Kelly Gago wants to leave Everton, says Brian Sørensen

Leicester have signed the Switzerland forward Alisha Lehmann from FC Como. The WSL club have been targeting experienced players this month, having often had the youngest average age in the division in their starting XI this season.

Lehmann, who has played in England’s top flight for West Ham, Everton and Aston Villa, has 64 caps and was part of the squad at Euro 2025, hosted by Switzerland. She has signed a contract at Leicester to 2028.

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

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

Newsom shows off knee pads for CEOs 'selling out' to the Trump administration

The Governor of California showed off knee pads that he suggested were for leaders "selling out" to the Trump administration, during an interview at Davos.

VP JD Vance to discuss "restoring law and order in Minnesota" in Thursday's visit

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

Spanish train drivers call three-day strike after deadly railway crashes

Union is demanding better safety standards for workers and passengers after two collisions this week killed 44

Spain’s largest train drivers’ union has called a three-day nationwide strike to demand measures to guarantee the safety of rail workers and passengers after two deadly crashes this week killed at least 44 people, including two drivers.

At least 43 people died and dozens more were injured after two trains collided on Sunday near the town of Adamuz, in the Córdoba province in Andalucía. Two days later, a driver was killed and 37 people were injured when a train was derailed by the collapse of a retaining wall near Gelida in Catalonia.

House aims to vote on final funding measures ahead of shutdown deadline

The House is aiming to vote Thursday on the remaining bills to fund the government as the deadline to avoid another shutdown nears.

Scarlett Johansson and Cate Blanchett back campaign accusing AI firms of theft

Hundreds of writers, musicians and performers urge licensing deals instead of scraping creative work

Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett, REM and Jodi Picoult are among hundreds of Hollywood stars, musicians and authors backing a new campaign accusing AI companies of “theft” of their work.

The “Stealing Isn’t Innovation” drive launched on Thursday with the support of approximately 800 creative professionals and bands. The campaign includes a statement accusing tech firms of using American creators’ work to “build AI platforms without authorisation or regard for copyright law”.

Sinners becomes first film in history to earn 16 Oscar nominations

• Ryan Coogler’s ghost story breaks records

• One Battle After Another in second with 13 nods

• Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value and Frankenstein score nine apiece

• Mescal, Clooney, Paltrow and Wicked snubbed

• Full list of nominees

Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s critically and commercially acclaimed supernatural thriller, has become the first film to be nominated for 16 Academy Awards.

The film starring Michael B Jordan as twin brothers setting up a blues club in 1930s Mississippi while battling racism and vampires has so far taken $368m worldwide. It is nominated for trophies including best picture, director, leading actor, supporting actor (for the British actor Delroy Lindo), supporting actress (for British-Nigerian actor Wunmi Mosaku) and the Academy’s inaugural casting prize.

‘Manosphere’ influencers pushing testosterone tests are convincing healthy young men there is something wrong with them, study finds

Researcher points to ‘medicalisation of masculinity’ after investigating how men’s health is being monetised online

“If you’re not waking up in the morning with a boner, there’s a large possibility that you have low testosterone levels,” an influencer on TikTok with more than 100,000 followers warns his viewers.

Despite screening for low testosterone being medically unwarranted in most young men, this group is being aggressively targeted online by influencers and wellness companies promoting hormone tests and treatments as essential to being a “real man”, a study published in the journal Social Science and Medicine has found.

The revolutionary women of Rojava are in grave danger. That has consequences for us all | Natasha Walter

For a decade, the autonomous territory in Syria has been a bastion of gender equality. It holds important lessons for the fight against authoritarianism

A year ago, I was in north-east Syria, in the Kurdish-dominated area known as Rojava, listening to some of the most determined women that I have ever met. On my first day there, I went to a huge conference where one after another, women in Kurdish, Arab and Assyrian dress roused the audience to chants of “Jin! Jiyan! Azadi!” (Woman! Life! Freedom)!.

When I visited, this region of Syria had for more than a decade been governed not by Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but by an autonomous administration (the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, or Daanes). Its commitment to equal rights has been remarkable – every institution it set up relied on power-sharing between men and women. No wonder many of the women I met there sounded optimistic about their future. “This will be a century of women’s freedom,” one said to me. “We are in solidarity with women in resistance throughout the world.”

Natasha Walter is the author of Before the Light Fades and Living Dolls: the Return of Sexism

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

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

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

Top five takeaways from Trump's interview with CNBC

Trump earlier in the day said he reached a framework with NATO Secretary Mark Rutte that appears to stave off Trump's threats to Greenland.

Danish pension fund says it's selling all its U.S. Treasuries

The chief investment officer of AkademikerPension said the decision was not directly related to the rift between the U.S. and Greenland.

Hatton dismisses LIV tension with McIlroy as talk in Dubai focuses on wines not fines

• No apparent ill-feeling between Ryder Cup pair

• ‘I asked if he had any good wine over Christmas’

The talk was of wines, not fines. Any notion of an awkward 18 holes between Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton was firmly dismissed by the Englishman in the immediate aftermath. McIlroy used pre-tournament media duties at the Dubai Desert Classic to assert that Hatton and Jon Rahm should settle their seven-figure penalties due to the European Tour Group for their participation in LIV Golf.

McIlroy’s sentiment felt especially notable because he was to spend the opening two rounds at the Emirates Club in Hatton’s company. Yet there appeared no ill feeling between the Ryder Cup teammates, which was evident on the course and by what Hatton said later.

Ex-Uvalde officer acquitted of all charges over his response to Robb Elementary shooting

A Texas jury acquitted a former Uvalde school police officer who was on trial for allegedly failing to act during the massacre at Robb Elementary School in 2022 that left 19 students and two teachers dead.

Liz Hurley accuses Daily Mail publisher of bugging windowsill

Actor gives emotional evidence against Associated Newspapers saying articles about her were ‘deeply hurtful’

• Prince Harry v Daily Mail – live updates

Elizabeth Hurley has accused the publisher of the Daily Mail of bugging her windowsill as well as using information obtained from tapping her landline as she gave emotional evidence at the high court.

Hurley had to stop several times to compose herself as she recounted how she had been targeted by “deeply hurtful and damaging” articles.

‘Not a typical day’: makers of Macron’s sunglasses deluged with demand

At Davos the French president wore a pair of shades made by Maison Henry Jullien to cover up a burst blood vessel in one eye

The world leaders and company executives meeting in Davos this week were meant to be discussing the most complex and alarming geopolitical crisis most could remember.

Instead, all eyes were on Emmanuel Macron.

See the full list of 2026 Oscar nominations

Horror movie Sinners has a record 16 nominations this year, including for best picture, actor Michael B. Jordan and a new category: achievement in casting.

Spirit Airlines is in deal talks with investment firm Castlelake as struggling carrier seeks path forward

Spirit Airlines is in talks with investment firm Castlelake for a potential takeover of the discount airline, which is in bankruptcy, CNBC has learned.

Families of Uvalde victims react to not guilty verdict in officer case: "We fight to the end"

A Texas jury ruled in the trial of former school police officer Adrian Gonzales in the 2022 Uvalde mass shooting. Gonzales, who was the first to arrive at the scene, was found not guilty of 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment. There were 376 officers at Robb Elementary, but it took 77 minutes to stop the gunman.

Millions of Americans brace for massive winter storm expected to bring heavy snowfall

A winter storm could cause havoc for Americans from Texas to New York with the possibility of massive power outages and flight cancellations. Around 180 million people are bracing for the winter weather that may bring subzero temperatures and heavy snowfall to much of the country.

Trump claims world ‘richer, safer’ than year ago at launch of his ‘board of peace’

US president repeats claims to have stopped eight wars as he hosts signing ceremony at World Economic Forum

• Davos live – latest updates

Donald Trump has claimed the world is “richer, safer and much more peaceful than it was just one year ago” as he hosted a launch event for his “board of peace” initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

At a signing ceremony for the new organisation, the US president said it would be “one of the most consequential bodies ever created in the history of the world”.

No more sad sandwiches and soggy salads: here’s how to make a proper packed lunch

While we’re slogging through the long, dark days of January, a little preparation can make your midday meal a source of comfort and joy

• Sign up here for our weekly food newsletter, Feast

Even if you have no truck with Blue Monday, Quitter’s Day or any of the other new-year wheezes concocted by enterprising marketeers, the last weeks of January can feel like a bit of a confused slog. Seasonal colds and lurgies abound. The weather is generally at its rain-lashed and blackly overcast worst. Well-intentioned attempts at self-improvement or abstemiousness are starting to creak in the face of a desire for whatever scraps of midwinter comfort we can find.

Nowhere is this more apparent than when it comes to food and, more specifically, the daily puzzle of how to have something nourishing as a working lunch. These can feel like lean days in more ways than one – characterised by tax payments or a painfully slow creep towards the first payday of 2026. And that’s only more apparent now that, after the remote working and pyjama-clad Zoom calls of the post-pandemic era, lots of us have returned to the office for at least the bulk of the week. Even as someone who effectively eats out for a living, there have been plenty of times when I have stood up from the desk of my chosen workspace (often one of the oversubscribed tables at the British Library) with no real plan and wandered aimlessly, only to end up forking out for some insipid sandwich, tepid heat-lamp soup or tray of indeterminate vegetable mulch that is both expensive and unsatisfying.

Nearly 200 arrested in cross-border crackdown on gold mining in Amazon

Cash, gold, mercury and firearms seized in operations in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname

Police and prosecutors from Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname have arrested nearly 200 people in their first joint cross-border operation targeting illegal gold mining in the Amazon region, authorities said.

The operation was backed by Interpol, the EU and Dutch police specialising in environmental crime. It involved more than 24,500 checks on vehicles and people across remote border areas and led to the seizure of cash, unprocessed gold, mercury, firearms, drugs and mining equipment, Interpol said.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launches satellite internet service to rival SpaceX, Amazon

Blue Origin is looking to send the first of TeraWave's 5,408 satellites into space in the fourth quarter of 2027.

Hiker who kept climbing California mountain after friend turned back found dead

A hiker who kept climbing California's Mount Whitney after a fellow hiker turned around has been found dead, according to a volunteer group.

Denmark open to 'Golden Dome' talks after Trump touts framework Greenland deal

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Thursday welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump's Greenland pivot.

Australia’s worst heatwave since black summer made five times more likely by global heating, analysis finds

Extreme heat ‘is getting worse and whether we like it or not … there’s ultimately a limit to what we can actually physically cope with,’ scientist says

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

Human-caused global heating made the intense heatwave that affected much of Australia in early January five times more likely, new analysis suggests.

The heatwave earlier this month was the most severe since the 2019-20 black summer, with temperatures over 40C in Melbourne and Sydney, even hotter conditions in regional Victoria and New South Wales, and extreme heat also affecting Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.

Jordan used Israeli phone-cracking tool to surveil pro-Gaza activists, report finds

Researchers find with high confidence that security officials used Cellebrite to extract data from activists’ phones

Authorities in Jordan appear to be using an Israeli digital tool to extract information from the mobile phones of activists and protesters who have been critical of Israel and spoken out in support of Gaza, according to a new report by the Citizen Lab.

A multiyear investigation found with high confidence that Jordanian security authorities have been using forensic extraction tools made by Cellebrite against members of civil society, including two political activists, a student organizer, and a human rights defender, the researchers said.

Venezuelan immigrants enliven midwest food and culture – now DHS wants to send them home

From food stalls to revitalised downtowns, Venezuelans have shaped midwestern towns, but new US policy threatens their future

At a former Coca-Cola bottling plant in downtown Indianapolis, Venezuelans Juan Paredes Angulo and his mother, Andreina, five years ago delivered on a decades-long dream to open a food stall, sharing regional Venezuelan food with a part of America better used to Tex-Mex and Chinese takeout for international cuisine.

Hearing of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro’s capture by US forces in an overnight military raid earlier this month came as a complete shock.

Rum is booming but only Jamaican classics have the true funk

Spiced rums are a hit but the traditional blends outshine them all

After Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica last October, rum lovers anxiously awaited news from the island’s six distilleries. Hampden Estate, in the parish of Trelawney to the north, was right in the hurricane’s path, and the furious winds deprived its historic buildings of their roofs and the palm trees of their fronds. Then came more alarming rumours: the dunder pits had overflowed.

Dunder pit? This is the one of the most distinctive features of traditional Jamaican rum, a style exemplified by Hampden, which has been in operation since 1753. You typically make rum by fermenting molasses and/or sugar cane juice into an alcoholic “wash”, then distil that into a potent liquor, but local distillers developed several strategies to oomph up the flavour. Dunder is the leftover liquid from the still, and it’s lobbed into the next fermentation for its funky notes, a bit like a sourdough starter. At Hampden, they also use muck, an outrageously smelly, semi-sentient soup containing countless billions of yeast bacteria, plus various bits of decomposing, well, stuff. I’m not sure what would happen if you fell in: possibly die, or perhaps be granted infinite powers, Obelix-style. Then there’s the fermentation process itself: most distilleries use generic industrial yeasts, which typically convert sugars to alcohol over a couple of days, but at Hampden they harness wild yeasts, which can take weeks. Incidentally, Andrew Hussey, Hampden’s owner, has reported that production is now safe, though the communities who live and work around the distillery remain badly affected.

Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez assured US of cooperation before Maduro’s capture

Exclusive: sources say powerful figures in the regime secretly pledged US and Qatari officials they would welcome Maduro’s departure

Before the US military snatched Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this month, Delcy Rodríguez and her powerful brother pledged to cooperate with the Trump administration once the strongman was gone, four sources involved at high levels with the discussions told the Guardian.

Rodríguez, who was sworn in on 5 January as acting president to replace Maduro, and her brother Jorge, the head of the national assembly, secretly assured US and Qatari officials through intermediaries ahead of time that they would welcome Maduro’s departure, according to the sources.

A World Cup boycott over Trump? Football’s hypotheticals cannot be dismissed any more | Nick Ames

Unprecedented times call for previously unthinkable conversations when it comes to the US-shaped problem

Could European countries really decide to boycott the World Cup this summer? It is an astonishing question to be asking in 2026 and an indictment of the bind in which, as Donald Trump sows confusion around a potential annexation of Greenland, the world’s most popular sport finds itself. But the idea is at least seeping into the mainstream and senior figures are asking what, in a worst-case scenario, it would take for football to meet the moment.

Unprecedented times call for previously unthinkable conversations. As the Guardian reported this week, an anniversary party for the Hungarian FA on Monday became the forum for unofficial discussions among national association heads about how a unified approach to the US-shaped problem might take shape.

Half the world’s 100 largest cities are in high water stress areas, analysis finds

Exclusive: Beijing, Delhi, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro among worst affected, with demand close to exceeding supply

Half the world’s 100 largest cities are experiencing high levels of water stress, with 38 of these sitting in regions of “extremely high water stress”, new analysis and mapping has shown.

Water stress means that water withdrawals for public water supply and industry are close to exceeding available supplies, often caused by poor management of water resources exacerbated by climate breakdown.

Soldiers with red balloons and a pepper-sprayed protester: photos of the day – Thursday

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

Trump administration expects the economy to roar this year. Here's why.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick predicts that first-quarter economic growth will heat up to 5%. But sustaining that pace won't be easy, economists say.

World leaders to hold emergency summit on Greenland. And, SCOTUS weighs Fed case

European leaders hold an emergency summit on a possible U.S.-Greenland deal. And, the Supreme Court weighs whether the president can fire Fed governors.

Styles guide: is Harry’s album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. grammatically correct?

The follow-up to 2022’s Harry’s House boasts an esoteric title – but experts say ambiguity might be the goal

We don’t know much about Harry Styles’s first album in four years beyond its title – and it’s already causing some grammatical consternation.

The follow-up to 2022’s Grammy-winning Harry’s House is a bit more esoterically named: Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. In an era when fans clinically investigate every aspect of pop stars’ lives, it was perhaps inevitable that Styles’s choice of punctuation would draw scrutiny.

Megadeth: Megadeth review – conspiracy theories and combustible fingers on thrash metallers’ curtain call

(BLKIIBLK/Frontiers)
Tuneful yet overlong, Dave Mustaine and co’s final album is a recap of Megadeth’s strengths, flaws and familiar grudges

There are long goodbyes, and then there is Megadeth’s retirement from the music industry. A final album and tour by the thrash metal pioneers was announced last August, with an AI-assisted video and a written statement that offered some classic grandstanding on the part of frontman and sole original member Dave Mustaine. Never a man to hide his light under a bushel, he equated Megadeth’s decision to quit with a global catastrophe (“some say this is the end of times”) and suggested that the US band “changed the world”.

Their decision to quit makes sense, given the state of Mustaine’s health. Having conquered throat cancer and radial neuropathy, he’s now suffering from arthritis and something called Dupuytren’s contracture – a thickening of tissue under the skin that causes the fingers to bend, commonly known as the suitably metal-sounding Viking disease – both of which impede his ability to play guitar. The call to end the band was made during the recording of their self-titled 17th studio album. But then three months later Mustaine announced that the farewell dates announced were only the beginning. The tour is scheduled to last “easily … three to five years”. So there seems every chance that Megadeth will still be bidding the world adieu in the next decade.

Residents in legal fight to halt demolition of Clockwork Orange estate

Climate concerns raised over redevelopment of 1960s Brutalist estate in south-east London

A legal challenge has been launched in an effort to halt the demolition of a 1960s Brutalist estate in south-east London that featured in Stanley Kubrick’s dystopian film A Clockwork Orange.

The challenge against Bexley council and Peabody housing association, which will be carrying out the redevelopment, has been launched by the Lesnes estate resident Adam Turk.

K-pop supergroup BTS set to trigger US economic boom with tour: ‘Every stop is going to see a boost’

As the band prepares to tour, economists say pent-up global demand could reshape how concerts boost city economies

Move over, Taylor Swift. Her Eras tour was the highest grossing in history, sparking an estimated $5bn in direct consumer spending across the US. But now another musical phenomenon is preparing to sweep through North America – and economists expect it will generate tens of billions of dollars in economic activity along the way.

K-pop sensation BTS will embark this year on their largest tour yet, spanning 34 regions across five continents, ending a hiatus due to mandatory military service that lasted almost four years.

A bid to clean up shipping industry intensified a coral bleaching event on Great Barrier Reef, study says

The removal of sulphur from shipping fuels caused ‘a lot of extra sunlight’ to get through atmosphere and hit reef in 2022

Steps to clean up the shipping industry by removing sulphur from fuels intensified a major coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef by allowing more of the sun’s energy to hit the oceanic wonder, according to a new study.

Sulphur pollution can cause respiratory problems for humans and cause acid rain, but it also has a shading effect and can make clouds brighter, providing more shade to areas underneath.

I went back to school for a day – and discovered some very unsettling facts about learning | Adrian Chiles

I thought my articles and radio shows made an impact on people. A notice in the staffroom suggested otherwise

I recently spent a day at a secondary school in Birmingham. I agreed to do it because I like being in Birmingham and I like going to schools, and also because the teacher asked nicely. It was only the day before that I read the invitation properly and saw, to my horror, that I was leading what they call a Deep Learning Day. What could they learn from me? Moreover, what could they learn deeply from me?

Whenever I go to schools, I always come away feeling that I’ve learned a lot more from the experience than any students have learned from me. This visit was no different. I came away enriched, but also completely knackered. I’m in awe of the stamina not only of teachers, but also of students. I mean, a whole day of learning, deep or otherwise, is exhausting. Whichever side of it you’re on, it’s a lot.

A notice on the staffroom wall jumped out at me. Apologies to any teachers reading this, for whom the following might well be a hoary old maxim they’re tired of seeing. It went as follows: Learners remember 10% of what they read; 20% of what they hear; 30% of what they see; 50% of what they see and hear; 70% of what they discuss with others; 80% of personal experience; 90% of what they teach someone else.

This all sounds about right to me, dispiriting as it is for someone who earns a crust writing things for people to read, and talking about things on the radio, only to find out that 90% of the former and 80% of the latter aren’t recalled at all. That’s a lot of wasted ink and keyboard taps and airtime. Disappointing. Disappointing too, for someone who used to present a lot of television, to read that what you see and hear at the same time scores rather better. Though I don’t much miss working on television, I do occasionally feel the need to tell myself that radio and writing are nobler arts which linger longer than television in the minds of the audience. Hmm. Not according to this they don’t.

The high scorers here are fascinating too. They rather explain the power of the modern echo chamber. If 70% of what you discuss with like-minded people sticks, as well as 80% of your personal experience – what’s become known, without irony, as “your truth” – you can see how your truth becomes the truth. And then there’s the strikingly high 90% recall you have of the point of view – valid or otherwise – that you’ve so diligently inflicted on others. Bit negative all this, I appreciate, but there you go. Every day’s a school day.

• Adrian Chiles is a writer, broadcaster and a Guardian columnist

The Trump administration has a Nazi problem | Mehdi Hasan

Think I’m exaggerating? Consider the copious amounts of evidence

Which way, western man?

That was the title of a racist tract published in 1978 by William Gayley Simpson, a former leftist Christian pastor turned one of the most influential neo-Nazi ideologues in American history. The book helped radicalize an entire generation of white supremacists in the US, with its vicious antisemitism, opposition to all forms of immigration and open praise for Hitler. The purpose of the book, wrote Simpson, was “to reveal organized Jewry as a world power entrenched in every country of the white man’s world, operating freely across every nation’s frontiers, and engaged in a ruthless war for the destruction of them all”.

Mehdi Hasan is the editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo

Southampton’s Léo Scienza: ‘I am in the most difficult league in the world. It’s a bloodbath’

Brazilian endured hard times in the Swedish fifth tier after his father’s death but has found a home in the Championship

Seven years ago Léo Scienza’s life broke into a thousand pieces. On his 20th birthday his father died and the young footballer locked himself in his room for two months, having lost the will to live. “You know when everything is bad and nothing makes sense any more?” the Southampton midfielder says. “My life had no meaning any more.

“Everyone has a dark side and I’m not the best person to talk about depression or what depression is. In fact, I only understood it later. My father died on my birthday – that will always be marked in my life. After he died I just wanted to stay in my dark room doing nothing. I didn’t want to see anyone, I didn’t want to talk to anyone.”

Blind, slow and 500 years old – or are they? How scientists are unravelling the secrets of Greenland sharks

Described by one researcher as looking ‘already dead’, the enigmatic creatures are one of the least understood species on the planet

It looks more like a worn sock than a fearsome predator. It moves slower than an escalator. By most accounts, it is a clumsy and near-sightless relic drifting in the twilight waters of the Arctic, lazily searching for food scraps.

The Greenland shark, an animal one researcher (lovingly) said, “looks like it’s already dead”, is also one of the least understood, biologically enigmatic species on the planet.

How screen time affects toddlers: ‘We’re losing a big part of being human’

In the UK, 98% of two-year-olds watch screens on a typical day, on average for more than two hours – and almost 40% of three- to five-year-olds use social media. Could this lead to alarming outcomes?

At Stoke primary school in Coventry, there are many four-year-olds among those starting in reception class who can’t sit still, hold a pencil or speak more than a four-word sentence. Lucy Fox, the assistant headteacher and head of foundations, is in no doubt what is causing this: their early exposure to screens, and a lot of it. When the children experiment with materials and creativity, and make things in the classroom, she says, “We notice a lot of children will cut pieces of cardboard out and make a mobile phone or tablet, or an Xbox controller. That’s what they know.”

At another school in Hampshire, a longtime reception teacher says in the last few years she has noticed children getting frustrated if activities aren’t instant and seamless – something she thinks comes from playing games on a phone or tablet. There is a lack of creativity and problem-solving skills, noticeable when the children are playing with Lego or doing jigsaw puzzles and turning the pieces to fit. “I find their hand-eye coordination isn’t very good, and they find puzzles difficult. Doing a puzzle on an iPad, you just need to hold and move it on the screen. They get really frustrated and I feel like there are certain connections the brain is not making any more.”

Jack Smith to defend Trump investigations to House Republicans

Jack Smith's appearance before the House Judiciary Committee marks the first open testimony about his work after presiding over two federal criminal indictments of President Trump.

Murders plummeted more than 20% in U.S. in 2025, study shows

The 2025 national homicide rate might be the lowest recorded in the U.S. since 1900.

Guilty plea in $380 million Ponzi scheme, feds say

A financial adviser in Georgia, Todd Burkhalter, has pleaded guilty in a Ponzi scheme that bilked more than 2,000 people out of $380 million, federal authorities say.

Morning news brief

European leaders to meet for emergency summit about the U.S. and Greenland, Trump's statements about Greenland threaten long-standing world order, SCOTUS weighs Trump's power to fire Fed governors.

Trump's EEOC strikes harassment guidance amid debate over transgender protections

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission voted 2-1 to roll back the agency's 2024 harassment guidance in its entirety. The document gave employers information on what makes up unlawful harassment.

Football transfer rumours: Real Madrid leading race to sign Adam Wharton?

Today’s rumours are squeezing a lot into a short time

Kostas Tsimikas may be enjoying the Roman sunshine on loan, but Nottingham Forest are still peering longingly across the Mediterranean at Liverpool’s spare left-back. The arrival of Milos Kerkez has left Tsimikas firmly behind Andy Robertson in the Anfield pecking order but Forest’s interest has never gone away. Roma would be willing to end his loan period early provided they can find someone else first – understandable given he has only four Serie A starts this season under Gian Piero Gasperini, whose wing-back system does not suit the 29-year-old.

Sunderland are reportedly clutching Noah Sadiki with the kind of white-knuckled intensity usually reserved for a North Sea ferry in a gale. Manchester United are admirers of the 21-year-old DR Congo midfielder and have even toyed with the idea of a player-plus-cash deal involving Manuel Ugarte, but the Black Cats have no interest in a deal. Sadiki’s value has apparently doubled since his £15m arrival from Union Saint-Gilloise and Sunderland seem in no mood to cash in just yet. The player has started every Premier League match under Régis Le Bris bar the games he was away for Afcon.

The ICE surge is fueling fear and anxiety among Twin Cities children

Some families aren't leaving their homes as aggressive ICE operations continue in Minnesota, leaving their children confined and stressed. Across the Twin Cities, kids are anxious and afraid.

Workhorse by Caroline Palmer review – a Devil Wears Prada-style tale of ambition

Dark obsessions drive this debut about the golden era of magazines – but its vile and hilarious heroine is not someone you want to spend so much time with

Last year the New York Times ran a quiz entitled “Could You Have Landed a Job at Vogue in the 90s?” It was based on the fabled four-page exam Anna Wintour had would-be assistants sit – a cultural literacy test containing questions about 178 notable people, places, books and films. I’m afraid that this former (British) Vogue intern did not pass muster: wrong era, wrong country.

A woman who almost certainly would pass with flying colours is the former Vogue staffer Caroline Palmer, now the author of a novel, Workhorse, set at “the magazine” during the dying days of a golden age of women’s glossies, when the lunches were boozy, the couture was free and almost anything could be expensed. In this first decade of the new millennium, we meet Clodagh, or Clo, a suburban twentysomething “workhorse” trying to make it in a world of rich, beautiful, well-connected “show horses”, and willing to do almost anything to get there.

Top of the props: meet the unsung heroes behind the memorable objects in your favourite films

Does your movie call for a golden, diamond-encrusted Furby or replica nuclear missile? The prop master will find one for you – or even make it from scratch

The red and blue pills in The Matrix. The Rosebud sled in Citizen Kane. Marsellus Wallace’s briefcase in Pulp Fiction, contents unknown. The (real) severed horse head in The Godfather. Every sword, gun, wand and lightsaber that has been brandished by an actor on a screen or stage. What do these items have in common? Nothing, except that they are a tiny sample of the staggering range of objects, from the iconic to the instantly forgotten, known as props – or, to use their formal name, “properties”.

Props are, properly defined, anything used in a performance that is not part of the set or costumes. Sourcing or fabricating them is the job of a team overseen by the prop master; the term is gender-neutral, although the prim-sounding “prop mistress” is occasionally heard. It’s a massive undertaking, but not one that gets much attention. “It’s nice that you are asking about props, because they’re not really acknowledged,” says Jode Mann, a TV prop master in Los Angeles.

You be the judge: should my husband stop quoting song lyrics during serious conversations?

Randy thinks throwing in a line or two lightens the mood. Taylor says it’s an avoidance tactic. You decide who’s out of tune

• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

He will throw in lines from songs during serious conversations – it is an avoidance tactic

Yes I should tone it down, but a lyric can lighten the mood and there’s one for every occasion

Why are there so many goalless draws in the Premier League this season?

Passes, shots and goals are all down on last season. It might keep tacticians happy but it’s not as much fun

By Opta Analyst

Gerard Piqué spoke to his former Spain teammate Iker Casillas on his podcast last February and the topic of goalless draws came up. You might expect a centre-back and goalkeeper to be excited about the art of defending but rather Piqué suggested that teams should be punished for participating in goalless draws.

“It can’t be that you go to a football stadium, spend €100, €200 or €300, and the match ends 0-0,” said Piqué. “Something needs to change. One proposal to consider would be that if the match ends 0-0, the teams would score zero points. Then the match would open up in the 70th minute.”

‘Who was this golden creature?’: the stars of London’s black queer nightlife – in pictures

From newbie drag queens to wild voguing performances, a new archival exhibition boasts images from four decades of riotous nightlife

Going beyond the surface in the Karst plateau: exploring the new cross-border geopark in Italy and Slovenia

GeoKarst is a new EU-funded project highlighting a unique landscape of caves, gorges and medieval villages near Trieste

Our guide turns out the lights and suddenly there is nothing. Just total darkness, the sound of gentle dripping and a creeping feeling of unease. The switch is flicked back on and the shadowy world that lies deep beneath the Karst returns. I’m in Vilenica, thought to be the first cave in the world ever opened to tourists, with records of visitors dating back to 1633. It’s a magical sight: a grand antechamber sculpted through erosion, filled with soaring stalagmites and plunging stalactites streaked in shades of red, terracotta and orange by iron oxide, and dotted with shimmering crystals.

Vilenica is just one of a network of thousands of caves located in the Karst region of western Slovenia and eastern Italy, which is known for its porous, soluble limestone rock. Above ground, this creates a distinctive landscape, filled with rocks bearing lined striations and pockmarked by hollows known as dolines, where the limestone has collapsed underneath. But below ground is where it’s really special, with enormous caves, sinkholes and subterranean rivers. Later in the day, I visit the region’s other main visitor cave, Škocjan, where I’m amazed to see an underground river thunder through a chamber almost 150 metres high. It’s an almost surreal sensory experience, with the rush of the rapids echoing around the walls.

‘The emotion you get from the game is insane’: the Roy Keane bust-up film leading a new type of football movie

Saipan, about Keane’s infamous World Cup row with manager Mick McCarthy, has become a hit film in its native Ireland – as it opens in the UK screenwriter Paul Fraser explains how he aimed to avoid the mistakes of the past

The best bit of football action in Saipan happens on a tennis court. The forthcoming movie about the schism between Mick McCarthy and Roy Keane that led to the latter departing the 2002 World Cup before it started does not attempt to recreate any of the action from the tournament. In fact, it largely takes place in a decrepit hotel. But we do get one exception: Keane, played by Éanna Hardwicke, practising alone in the grounds. At the back of a court, the sullen, spartan athlete stands as a ball is fired up and over the net towards him. He tracks it with his eyes, opens up his right foot, takes the ball on his instep and kills it dead. And with that, his sporting bona fides are confirmed.

Saipan is a movie about masculinity, about men and their egos. It’s also about an era in Irish history; the roaring of the Celtic tiger, where questions of national identity came to the fore. What it’s not, really, is a movie about football. Which might be a canny choice, because while the world’s most popular sport only continues to grow its audience, football’s track record on the big screen is, how shall we say, like Manchester United after Sir Alex.

Israeli fire strikes journalists and children in Gaza

Israeli forces on Wednesday killed at least 11 Palestinians in Gaza, including two boys, three journalists and a woman, hospitals said, on one of the enclave 's deadliest days since the ceasefire took effect.

New Zealand storms: people missing after landslide hits campsite as minister compares east coast to ‘war zone’

Record-breaking rains spark landslide at Mount Maunganui campsite, with helicopter teams retrieving families from rooftops and local states of emergency declared

Emergency services in New Zealand are searching for several people, including a child, believed missing after a landslide hit a campsite during storms that have caused widespread damage across the North Island.

Emergency minister Mark Mitchell told RNZ that parts of the east coast looked like “a war zone”, with helicopters deployed to rescue families sheltering on rooftops from flooding, and local states of emergency declared in five regions across Northland and the East Cape due to days of record-breaking torrential rain.

Tenacious D will return: Jack Black and Kyle Gass ‘hashed it out’ after Trump joke controversy

The band went on hiatus after outrage over onstage joke in 2024, but Gass confirms the band will return, saying: ‘It was hard. It is like a marriage’

Tenacious D member Kyle Gass has confirmed that he and bandmate Jack Black have reconciled and will reunite, after outrage over an onstage joke about the assassination attempt on the US president, Donald Trump, led to the band going on hiatus.

While performing in Sydney in July 2024, when Black suggested he make a wish for his birthday while blowing candles on stage, Gass responded, “Don’t miss Trump next time”, referring to the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania earlier that week.

Schools, airports, high-rise towers: architects urged to get ‘bamboo-ready’

Manual for building design aims to encourage low-carbon construction as alternative to steel and concrete

An airport made of bamboo? A tower reaching 20 metres high? For many years, bamboo has been mostly known as the favourite food of giant pandas, but a group of engineers say it’s time we took it seriously as a building material, too.

This week the Institution of Structural Engineers called for architects to be “bamboo-ready” as they published a manual for designing permanent buildings made of the material, in an effort to encourage low-carbon construction and position bamboo as a proper alternative to steel and concrete.

Does the temperature affect the sound of snow underfoot?

Canadians believe they can tell the temperature by the sound of the snow – and there’s science to back this up

Canadians like to claim that they can tell the temperature outside by the sound the snow makes underfoot.

The topic has not been well studied, but researchers from the University of Wisconsin suggest that, at temperatures above -10C, the pressure of a foot causes a thin layer of snow to melt, producing a crunching sound as it compresses. Closer to zero, the sliding of grains becomes a squelch as the snow approaches the condition of slush, but as the temperature approaches -10C the snow becomes progressively crunchier.

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for pasta e fagioli with coconut, spring onion, chilli and lemon | A kitchen in Rome

This bean and pasta dish has always taken on variations from around Italy – and even Thailand

Throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s, under the banner of story, art and folklore, the Roman publishing house Newton Compton published a series of 27 books about regional Italian cooking. Some, such as Jeanne Carola Francesconi’s epic 1965 La Cucina Napoletana, were reprints of established books, while others were specially commissioned for the series. There is considerable variation; some of the 20 regions occupy 650 densely filled pages, sometimes spread over two volumes, while other regions have 236 pages with larger fonts, with everything in between. All of which is great, although I can’t help feeling affectionate towards the regions with 14-point font.

In the face of the vast variation of regional culinary habits, knowledge and rituals, I also feel affectionate towards the common traditions; those that are specific to a place, but at the same time that cross local and national borders, as well as for the stories of the ingredients. Take pasta e fagioli, for which beans are boiled in water with fat, maybe fragrant herbs and vegetables, then pasta is added for a dense dish that probably needs a spoon. Almost all regions (and towns and individuals) have a version that is both extremely general, and specific – white beans, potato, no rosemary in Lazio, say; lardo, sage and plenty of rosemary in Piedmont; nutmeg, bread and pasta in Liguria; lardo, marjoram, tomato and chilli in Abruzzo – inviting a sort of pick and mix. And the embracing of new ideas, too, because cooking is a living, evolving thing.

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

The bathroom door scandal: why hotels are putting toilets in glass boxes

Solid doors are being replaced with sliding ones, or even transparent cubicles. For furious guests, this is a cost-cutting measure too far

Name: Hotel bathroom doors.

Age: Solid doors have existed since ancient Egypt.

Forty years in the Siberian wilderness: the Old Believers who time forgot

In 1978, Soviet scientists stumbled upon a family living in a remote part of Russia. They hadn’t interacted with outsiders for decades. Almost half a century later, one of them is still there

In the summer of 1978, a team of geologists exploring southern Siberia found something rarer than diamonds. While searching for a helicopter landing site amid the steep hills and forested canyons of the western Sayan mountains, their pilot caught sight of what appeared to be a garden, 150 miles from the nearest settlement. Hovering as low as he could, he saw a house. No people were visible, but someone was clearly tending the garden. He and his geologist passengers were shocked to find a dwelling in an area long considered too remote for human habitation.

When the four geologists set up camp 10 miles away, it was the mysterious homestead that was first in their mind. Who could live here? Were the inhabitants the last Mohicans of the Brezhnev era? The geologists ventured to the settlement bearing gifts – and a pistol, just in case. They were greeted by a disheveled old man dressed in patched-up sacking cloth. This was Karp Osipovich Lykov, the patriarch of the family. Inside a tiny, dark cabin, the geologists found Karp’s two adult daughters, Natalia and Agafia, weeping and praying. Four miles away, by the riverside, lived Karp’s two middle-aged sons, Savin and Dmitry. It soon became apparent that none of the members of this ageing family had interacted with outsiders in decades.

Europe must heed Mark Carney – and embrace a painful emancipation from the US | Paul Taylor

Trump’s tariff retreat should lull nobody into dropping their guard. The EU must join forces with Canada, Japan and other like-minded countries

EU leaders would do well to meditate on the seminal lesson that the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, delivered at this year’s World Economic Forum.

In an incisive analysis of the new age of predatory great powers, where might is increasingly asserted as right, Carney not only accurately defined the coarsening of international relations as “a rupture, not a transition”. He also outlined how liberal democratic “middle powers” such as Canada – but also European countries – must build coalitions to counter coercion and defend as much as possible of the principles of territorial integrity, the rule of law, free trade, climate action and human rights. He spelled out a hedging strategy that Canada is already pursuing, diversifying its trade and supply chains and even opening its market to Chinese electric vehicles to counter Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian-made automobiles.

Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre

The Beauty review – a body horror so delicious you could just pass out

Carnage, exploding supermodels, Isabella Rossellini … forget the disastrous All’s Fair – Ryan Murphy is back at his best with this tale of a lethal sexually transmitted virus which also makes people beautiful

Ryan Murphy’s last screen offering was the existentially terrible All’s Fair. It was critically panned, as any show that contains the lines: “He owns, like, all of cosmetics”, “You’re the best lawyers in town – maybe the country!” and a fruit basket “lightly brushed with salmonella and faecal matter”, while somehow managing to bypass humour, camp and brio, deserves to be. It got an unprecedented zero rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a no-stars review here on the grounds that it was so-bad-it-was-bad, and has duly been commissioned for a second series.

By that measure, Murphy’s new show is a triumph. The Beauty has a plot, structure, characters that often act, react and speak as real human beings might, a sense of what it’s doing and where it’s going and – whisper it – even a touch of commentary on the state of society today. It’s almost like old American anthology days, when Murphy threw the likes of The People v OJ Simpson, Feud and The Assassination of Gianni Versace at us one after the other; leasing new lives to Sarah Paulson, Jessica Lange and assorted other glorious figures, and having us believe the good times would roll for ever.

‘It was a wipeout’: how a family came back from a wife and mother’s murder

When Stuart Green’s wife, an environmental rights lawyer, was shot dead in a car in front of her children in the Philippines, he found books on grief little help. So he wrote his own

The dreaded school run is a daily battle for most parents. Even once out of the door and at the school gates, feigned smiles and small talk with other haggard parents can be a mass performance. For Stuart Green, who spent years wrestling his young twins out of car seats and into coats, all the while keeping an eye on his eldest daughter, it was the small talk he dreaded.

“Is Mummy at work?” someone might ask. Green’s response would be a half truth: “I’m a single parent.” The full story could not be explained in a 15-second conversation on the street.

‘We want to make jacket potatoes sexy again!’: how the humble spud became a fast food sensation

After Spudulike closed in 2024, the reign of the jacket potato seemed over in the UK. But now the favourite is back, piled with new toppings, sold by new companies and promoted all over social media by potato influencers

They were once a lunch option that inspired little excitement – but the jacket potato’s time has finally come. After decades in epicurean exile, the humble spud has made a roaring comeback in the UK and piqued the interest of foodies across the world. A-listers, tourists and trend-hopping teenagers are queueing for hours to get their hands on them. For Jacob Nelson, who sells loaded spuds that have gone super-viral on social media, this was all part of the plan. “We thought: how can we make the jacket potato sexy again?” he says.

The 30-year-old, who runs SpudBros with his brother Harley and dad Tony, was among the first crop of social-media savvy spud vendors to give the jacket potato a much-needed makeover. After a slow start in lockdown, the brothers spoke to some youngsters in Preston Flag Market, where they had set up shop, to find out why they were shunning spuds. “It was an absolute ghost town,” says Harley. “We spoke to one student walking past us. He said to get on social media.” The pair listened, filming their interactions with customers while showing off their mouthwatering loaded spuds, and subsequently went stratospheric on TikTok in 2023.

Death of Cuban immigrant in ICE custody in Texas ruled a homicide, autopsy finds

Geraldo Lunas Campos died following an altercation with guards at Camp East Montana, a tent facility on the grounds of Fort Bliss.

1/16: CBS Evening News

New details in death of Minneapolis ICE shooting victim; Winter storm wreaks havoc on Northeast

Appeals court pauses restrictions on tactics federal agents can use in Minnesota

A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily paused a judge's ruling that restricted the use of force federal agents can use on peaceful protesters in Minneapolis.​

FCC says TV talk shows must offer equal time to political candidates

The FCC is warning that daytime talk shows and late-night programs must give equal time to opposing political candidates, taking aim at a genre of TV that has long drawn President Trump's ire.

Ex-DOJ official urges sports leagues to create illegal gambling watchdog

Over a dozen college basketball players are accused of taking bribes to tank their performance — the latest in a series of alleged sports gambling schemes, leading one ex-prosecutor to urge professional leagues to hire an internal investigator.