The Colour of Home by Sajid Javid review – from one hostile environment to another

The ex-Home Secretary’s memoir of childhood racism is intimate and moving but raises difficult political questions

Sajid Javid’s memoir traces his journey from being a frightened child in racist 1970s Rochdale to becoming a leading member of a political party that attacks and marginalises people like him. However, it is an intimate, and sometimes moving, family portrait as well as a social history of race, class and aspiration in late 20th‑century Britain.

The opening chapters, with their ubiquitous skinheads and “Run, Paki, run” taunts, contain the book’s most arresting scenes. Racism is continuous and targeted: from graffiti on his father’s shop windows to the everyday humiliations at school, and on the buses where his father had bravely fought an informal colour bar to become a bus driver.

Oil giant Shell posts weakest quarterly profit in nearly five years, keeps buybacks steady

The results come as lower oil prices force European energy majors to confront some tough choices this earnings season.

Police helicopter crashes in Arizona after shooting involving officer

A police helicopter crashed near the scene of what authorities in Flagstaff, Arizona called "an active officer-involved shooting investigation," according to police in Page, Arizona.

Newcastle’s Saudi vision is shrouded in bleak suspicion and unfulfilled promises | Jonathan Liew

Vivid dreamscape sold to fans in 2021 is yet to materialise amid layers upon layers of bureaucracy, economics and geopolitics

Layer two: Nick Woltemade, signed for £69m in the hot madness of summer, has stopped scoring. Anthony Elanga, a £55m winger, has struggled for game time and goals. Malick Thiaw, a £35m centre-half bought from Milan, keeps making basic errors. Last summer’s transfer window, conducted without a sporting director and with an outgoing chief executive, looks increasingly like a disaster. The football seems a little slower and less urgent these days, St James’ Park a little quieter and more anxious. Eddie Howe is basically holding this thing together with hugs and smiles.

Layer three: turns out Alexander Isak lighted the exit path so that others might follow. Sandro Tonali’s agent decided to make a little mischief on transfer deadline day, putting Arsenal on alert. Perhaps Tonali will be the next painful transfer saga, perhaps Bruno Guimarães or Lewis Hall or Tino Livramento. The sporting director, Ross Wilson, is still getting his feet under the table. The chief executive, David Hopkinson, reckons Newcastle can be the best team in the world by 2030. They sit 11th in the Premier League. No signings arrived in January.

Heated rivalries and curling couples: 10 things to look out for at the Winter Olympics

Stars could align for USA and Canada in ice hockey, while hosts Italy are getting their downhill hopes up

All eyes are on the, ah, essentials of the Norwegian men’s ski jump team as they try to recover from one of the great botched crotch stitch switch scandals of 2025. Two of their gold medal-winning athletes from Beijing 2022, including the defending Olympic champion on the long hill, were banned for three months after a whistleblower published a video of their coach tampering with the (strictly regulated) crotch stitching on their jumpsuits at the Nordic world championships last year, in an attempt to make them more aerodynamic by adding padding. Groin-gate led to a national debate about ethics in sport and a complete overhaul of the rules. We’re told doctors are now using “3D measurements” to carefully scrutinise all competing athletes before competition.

‘In the end, you feel blank’: India’s female workers watching hours of abusive content to train AI

Women in rural communities describe trauma of moderating violent and pornographic content for global tech companies

On the veranda of her family’s home, with her laptop balanced on a mud slab built into the wall, Monsumi Murmu works from one of the few places where the mobile signal holds. The familiar sounds of domestic life come from inside the house: clinking utensils, footsteps, voices.

On her screen a very different scene plays: a woman is pinned down by a group of men, the camera shakes, there is shouting and the sound of breathing. The video is so disturbing Murmu speeds it up, but her job requires her to watch to the end.

‘I don’t want to do the same thing over and over’: Stacy Martin on risky roles, tequila at the Oscars and her Jurassic Park dream

After experiencing the strangeness of the Academy Awards with her last film The Brutalist, the indie actor has reunited with its creators for period curio The Testament of Ann Lee. But what she’d really like to get her teeth into is a certain dino franchise

Stacy Martin is “not a religious person”. Still, the actor insists things have happened in her life that have made her realise there’s “a whole expanse of things that are unexplainable”. Once, at home in north London, she noticed a lightbulb flickering. She couldn’t solve the mystery: no matter how many times she changed it, the bulb continued to blink. Instead of consulting the internet, Martin went to see her psychic, a tea leaf reader she meets annually, booking in under a fake name.

The psychic suggested that someone was trying to communicate with her. “I was like: ‘What if I just start talking to this person that apparently wants to talk to me?’” says Martin. “And so I did. And that light never flickered again.” Martin prefers not to use the word ghost, but she’s aware there are things the mind can’t make sense of; things the body somehow knows.

Winter Olympics briefing: curling subplots abound as lights go out on first action

British duo Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat get the better of Norway after power failure at curling arena

Curling fans, rejoice! It is only fitting that the one sport played every single day of the Winter Olympics is the one that opens proceedings at Milano Cortina. Dubbed “chess on ice”, curling may not have the brute force of ice hockey or the airtime of snowboarding, but it is a huge test in precision, patience and handling pressure.

Enter mixed doubles, which has its own subplot straight out of a romcom, with husband-and-wife pairings representing Norway, Canada and Switzerland. Norway’s Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten came up against familiar foes on Wednesday, having edged Great Britain’s Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat in a semi-final thriller at Beijing 2022, sealing victory with the last stone.

A local’s guide to Milan: the city’s best restaurants, culture and green spaces

In celebration of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, which starts this week, paralympic swimming champion Simone Barlaam shares his favourite places in his hometown

Born in Milan in 2000, Paralympic swimmer Simone Barlaam, is a 13-time world champion who won three golds and a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He’s a torchbearer and ambassador for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games, which run from 6-22 February (the Paralympic Games run from 6-15 March) at sites across Lombardy and north-east Italy (with events such as speed skating, figure skating and ice hockey in the city). He also worked as a graphic designer for the games.

Barlaam grew up in Milan and lives in NoLo (North of Loreto), a vibrant, artistic neighbourhood. “I’ve lived all over the place, so I can take you around the city and the places that belong to my heart,” he says. Here, he chooses his favourite spots, beyond obvious sights such as the Duomo, La Scala opera house and the glossy Quadrilatero della Moda fashion district.

‘They’d rarely seen television’: childhood magic in rural Colombia – in pictures

Wendy Ewald’s novel Magic Eyes is interspersed with photographs of the children she taught in a village outside Bogotá – and the stunning pictures she taught them to take

Leaving Home by Mark Haddon review – blistering memoir of a loveless childhood

The Curious Incident author describes the upbringing that shaped him – and for which he can’t help feeling nostalgia

Attempting a psychological analysis of a literary work is a fool’s errand, for obvious reasons: you’re trying to assess the inside of the writer’s head from the inside of your own, using the inherently treacherous medium of make-believe. And the aim on their part, of course, is always to beguile, and often to deceive.

And yet the temptation is sometimes too great to resist. Mark Haddon, whose blistering memoir details a mainly miserable and loveless childhood and an adulthood studded with significant hurdles, hit the literary jackpot with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in 2003. In it, a teenage protagonist who struggles to communicate with the world around him uncovers a world of lying adults – most egregiously, he has been told his mother has died, rather than absconded with the nextdoor neighbour – and runs away from home. A more recent novel, The Porpoise, opens with a fatal air crash before morphing into a reworking of Pericles; in Leaving Home, we discover that Haddon is terrified of flying. We also learn that he borrowed heavily from childhood holidays in Brighton to create the atmosphere and texture for his story The Pier Falls, a merciless, documentary-style narration of a cataclysmic seaside disaster.

Nike faces federal probe over allegations of discrimination against white workers

The federal agency for protecting workers' civil rights revealed Wednesday that it is investigating sportswear giant Nike for allegedly discriminating against white employees.

2/4: CBS Evening News

Day four of search for Nancy Guthrie, still no suspect; Department of Homeland Security to pull about 700 agents from Minneapolis.

Japan’s record-breaking snowfalls – in pictures

Snowbanks reach shoulder height and tourists visit giant icy sculptures of baseball players as northern half of country is blanketed in white

• Snow and freezing cold may shape outcome of Japan’s snap general election

ICE can't make warrantless arrests in Oregon unless there's risk of escape, judge rules

U.S. immigration agents in Oregon must stop arresting people without warrants unless there's a likelihood of escape, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Be ‘prudent’ about supplying arms to Taiwan, Xi tells Trump in call

Taiwanese president says ties with Washington ‘rock solid’, hours after leaders of US and China share first call since November

In their first call since November, Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned US president Donald Trump to be “prudent” about supplying arms to Taiwan, according to a readout of their call provided by China’s foreign ministry.

“President Xi emphasised that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” the readout said. “China must safeguard its own sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will never allow Taiwan to be separated. The US must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with prudence.”

‘You can’t progress without a struggle’: Ukrainian sumo star Aonishiki on the next step, and life back home

The 21-year-old, who is close to becoming the first European yokozuna or grand champion in Japan, is motivated by messages from his war-torn home

The swish of feet on clay and sand has a soothing, rhythmic feel, as wrestlers at a sumo stable in Tokyo propel themselves across the ring, their bodies low, eyes fixed on an imaginary foe. But by the time their morning training ends an hour later, all but one of the rikishi are bathed in sweat, gulping lungfuls of air, their strength waning with every shove.

Just one wrestler has spent all but the final minutes of the session at the side of the dohyo ring, guiding his stablemates with words delivered with economy and purpose. After the group bow to a miniature Shinto shrine on the back wall, they gather around their mentor in a communal expression of gratitude.

The Green surge shows British politics has reached a turning point - and it has surprisingly little to do with Zack Polanski | Aditya Chakrabortty

At a party event in a school hall in Lewisham, people told me how disillusionment with Labour has led to this moment

“How many?”

On the end of the phone is a nice press officer for the Greens, head full from a long day in Gorton, Manchester, showing off their would-be MP. And now, as Friday’s sky turns indigo, I’m calling about reports from Lewisham, south London, that tomorrow they’re expecting a flood of 500 Green activists. This comes as a surprise to the party’s own news machine.

Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist

‘It’s an opportunity for bonding’ – my quest to become a Black dad who can do his daughters’ hair

For me – and many other Black men – my experience of hair begins and ends in the barbershop. But as my two daughters get older, I’m determined to make ‘salon night’ pain free – and maybe even enjoyable

In the basement of Larry King’s salon in Marylebone, London, stylist and curly hair advocate Jennie Roberts is giving me a much-needed pep talk. “It’s all about education and making everything simplified,” she says, perhaps sensing my apprehension as I stand uneasily before her with a comb in hand.

“It’s not a big effort, it is not going to cost a lot of money. Managing curly hair, once you know how, is easy,” Roberts says. “It really is. It’s easier than trying to hide it anyway.”

Woody Allen, a Florida mansion rulebook and a Paris ‘wife hunt’: stories you may have missed from the Epstein files

Huge release of files provides extraordinary detail on the extent of the disgraced financier’s network

Among the new trove of 3m files relating to Jeffrey Epstein released last week are a vast number of stories shedding light on his relationships with prominent figures in the US, the UK, and around the world. Inclusion in the files does not imply wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein’s wrongdoing – but a sampling of some of the details they include provides extraordinary detail on the extent of his network.

Trump's EPA issues record low legal actions against polluters, watchdog group finds

The EPA enforced a record low number of environmental laws and regulations during the first year of President Trump's second term in office.

The rise of ‘low contact’ family relationships: ‘I said, Mum, I need to take some space’

Many people are now opting for minimal contact with their parents and other relatives. But while this can provide time to think, it is fraught with emotional complexities

When her mum called her, stress would ring through Marie’s body like an alarm going off. So “I stopped answering the phone,” she says. She forms the words purposefully, as if reading from a script. This was one of the “boundaries” she discussed carefully with her therapist three years ago when she reached a point of crisis in managing her maternal relationship.

She has never explained her decision to her mother, but it followed a lifetime of what Marie, who is in her 40s, feels has been rejection, shaming and feeling like the “black sheep of the family”. Marie’s mother, she says, would always make everything about herself. “Everything I did was just … everybody has it worse. You know, I’d say, ‘I don’t feel very well’ and she’d reply: ‘Yes, well, I’ve got diabetes.’ I was scared to have a voice.”

‘I wondered if I would be a coward or not’: five Ukrainian men on how war has changed them

Russia’s invasion forced Ukrainian men of all ages to the frontlines, most with no experience of combat. Tracy McVeigh spoke to five soldiers about how life in the army transformed them and their relationships

After his mother died when he was very young, Valentyn Polianskyi was raised in the Kherson region by his aunt and his grandmother.

‘The children are not safe here’: the Nigerian couple fighting infanticide

In a few isolated communities in central Nigeria, some babies are believed to be bad omens. Olusola and Chinwe Stevens run a thriving home for babies at risk. But what happens when the families want them back?

Esther Stevens’ life nearly ended as soon as it began. She was born in 2007, in a village on the outskirts of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. Her mother died giving birth to her, and in the eyes of some villagers, that meant the baby was cursed. According to tradition, there was only one way to deal with such a child. The villagers tied the newborn to her mother’s lifeless body and prepared to bury them together.

When word reached a Nigerian missionary living in the community, she rushed to the burial site and pleaded for the baby’s life. After the villagers and relatives refused, she appealed to the traditional priest who had been called on to perform the rite. “Finally, the priest agreed and said, let them give her the evil child and see what the child will become,” Esther said. “The child, that’s me.”

Paul Weiss chairman Brad Karp resigns after Jeffrey Epstein email disclosures

The Department of Justice last week released millions of documents related to the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Sixth person arrested in connection with shooting of judge, wife in Indiana

Police have accused members of a motorcycle club​ and a street gang of targeting the judge.

LaMonte McLemore, singer and founding member of The 5th Dimension, dies at 90

The 5th Dimension had broad crossover success and won six Grammy Awards, including record of the year twice.

ICE can't make warrantless arrests in Oregon unless there's risk of escape, judge rules

A judge says U.S. immigration agents in Oregon must stop arresting people without warrants unless they are likely to escape.

Savannah Guthrie releases video appealing for proof her missing mother is alive

Today show host acknowledges reports of alleged ransom letter and calls for safe return of 84-year-old mother online

Today show host Savannah Guthrie, along with her siblings Annie and Cameron, has published a video statement calling for the safe return of their 84-year-old mother Nancy Guthrie, who was reported missing on Sunday.

In a video posted to Instagram on Wednesday, the siblings said that their mother is in poor health and is without her medication. Savannah Guthrie also acknowledged reports about a reported ransom letter from alleged kidnappers.

Democrats lay out demands for DHS funding, urging GOP to "get serious"

Democratic leaders outlined their demands for funding the Department of Homeland Security beyond next week.

1/31: CBS Weekend News

Bomb cyclone causing blizzard-like conditions hits Eastern Seaboard; Historic recording by “Sly and the Family Stone” released after gathering dust: “Sheer magic”

China's Xi reasserts Taiwan stance in call with Trump, while U.S. president pushes trade

Beijing stressed Taiwan is the most important issue while Trump highlights the trade aspects of the bilateral relations.

Sydney teen accused of threatening to shoot Israeli president Isaac Herzog faces court

Darcy Tinning, 19, allegedly made threat ahead of Herzog’s planned visit and made remark that constitutes hate speech, court hears

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A teenager has appeared in court after allegedly threatening the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, ahead of his contentious visit to Australia.

Darcy Tinning, 19, has been accused of threatening to shoot the head of state with a pistol in a 19 January post on the social media platform X. He’s also accused of threatening to kill Donald Trump.

Family friend calls Nancy Guthrie's disappearance "heart-wrenching"

"Nancy and Savannah have both contributed so much to the Tucson community," Sally Shamrell, the Guthries' family friend of over 30 years, told CBS News.

No suspect identified in disappearance of Savannah Guthrie's mom

The disappearance of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie, is being investigated as a crime.

Nancy Guthrie's children tell possible abductor: "Please, reach out to us"

Savannah Guthrie said she and her family were aware of reports of a ransom note and that they are "ready to talk."

In America, the social fabric is starting to collapse. Australia must also learn that words shape our world | Martin Luther King III

The work of strengthening social cohesion begins with a commitment to responsible language and civility that goes beyond legislation

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As I travel the world, I am reminded again and again that the health of a society is revealed not only in its laws or its institutions but in the way its people speak to, and about, one another. My father taught that nonviolence begins with language and the discipline to choose words that uplift rather than degrade, that clarify rather than distort and that build community rather than fracture it.

Last month in the United States, we marked the holiday that bears his name at a time when our own social cohesion is under immense strain. The rhetoric of public life has grown sharper, more cynical and more divisive. Too often, we speak as if our neighbours are adversaries rather than fellow citizens. But this erosion of respect is not unique to America. It is a global challenge and Australia is not exempt.

Authorities sifting through tips in Nancy Guthrie's disappearance

Investigators in the disappearance of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie, still haven't identified a suspect or person of interest in the Arizona case. Jonathan Vigliotti has the latest.

Penny the Doberman pinscher wins best in show at Westminster Dog Show

A Doberman pinscher named Penny won best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

Doberman gets moment of redemption as Best in Show at Westminster

History was made at the 150th Westminster Dog Show after a doberman pinscher named Penny was awarded the top prize. Tony Dokoupil has more.

Software experiencing 'most exciting moment' as AI fears hammer the stocks

Shares of software companies have been getting beaten up, and the selloff accelerated this week after Anthropic's latest unveiling.

Tesla, Waymo execs defend self-driving cars before Senate committee

"Right now we have the Wild West. I want to see some rules of the road," said Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

Trump says he'll stay out of Netflix, Paramount Skydance fight to take over WBD

Trump in December said he would be involved in the review of whether Netflix should be allowed to buy parts of Warner Bros. Discover, as WBD leadership wants.

Trump says the lesson from Minneapolis is to use a "softer touch" in immigration enforcement

President Trump told NBC News the call to remove 700 immigration officers from Minneapolis came from him.

Waymo and Tesla face lawmakers' questions over safety issues

Top executives at Tesla and Waymo made the case for the safety of their driverless vehicles before a Senate committee, insisting their driving systems are safer than human drivers, despite recent incidents. Kris Van Cleave has details.

Homan announces 700 federal agents being pulled out of Minnesota

Border czar Tom Homan said federal authorities will "draw down" 700 law enforcement personnel in Minnesota immediately. Omar Villafranca has more.

7/27: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, joins to discuss President Trump’s trip to a Federal Reserve facility with Fed Chair Jerome Powell ahead of his departure for Scotland. Meanwhile, The Ohio State University President Ted Carter joins to explain how he’s handling a new era of higher education amid the Trump administration’s push to assert control over private and public institutions across the U.S.

6/15: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," as Iran and Israeli strikes continue for the third day, Holly Williams and Debora Patta have the latest from the Middle East. Plus, Sen. Alex Padilla joins days after he was briefly detained by Homeland Security officers.

4/13: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer and Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari discuss the latest with the U.S. economy. Plus, the FDA's former top regulator, Dr. Peter Marks, joins.

3/16: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," as the U.S. launches airstrikes on Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, Margaret Brennan speaks to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Plus, President Trump's envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, joins.

3/9: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," after a whiplash week of on-again, off-again tariff announcements, Canadian ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman joins to discuss the costs and consequences of a trade war. Plus, former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill discusses President Trump's diplomatic pivot on Ukraine.

3/2: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," as fallout continues from the unprecedented Oval Office meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Margaret Brennan speaks to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, GOP Reps. Mike Turner and John James and Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly.

2/23: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," the president's mission to shrink the federal workforce intensifies, and his foreign policy dealmaking reaches a critical juncture. We'll speak with President Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York and more.

1/5: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Senate Majority Leader John Thune joins to discuss the GOP's priorities with President-elect Donald Trump coming into the White House, while House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi discusses the legacy of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack with the House set to count the electoral votes again.

Google parent beats on revenue, projects significant AI spending increase

Alphabet beat on the top and bottom lines in its fourth-quarter earnings report, and said it expects to significantly increase spending on AI in 2026.

Ciena returns to S&P 500 after getting booted 17 years ago

Ciena is predicting the fastest growth since 2011 in the current fiscal year, thanks to its position in artificial intelligence.

Flawed economic models mean climate crisis could crash global economy, experts warn

States and financial bodies using modelling that ignores shocks from extreme weather and climate tipping points

Flawed economic models mean the accelerating impact of the climate crisis could lead to a global financial crash, experts warn.

Recovery would be far harder than after the 2008 financial crash, they said, as “we can’t bail out the Earth like we did the banks”.

Green energy sector drove more than 90% of China’s investment growth last year, analysis finds

Industry bigger than all but seven world economies, and accounts for more than third of China’s economic growth

China’s clean energy industries drove more than 90% of the country’s investment growth last year, making the sectors bigger than all but seven of the world’s economies, a new analysis has shown.

For the second time in three years, the report showed the manufacture, installation and export of batteries, electric cars, solar, wind and related technologies accounted for more than a third of China’s economic growth.

‘Leave things better than you find them’: the volunteer army cleaning New Zealand’s remote hiking huts

Armed with rubber gloves and cleaning supplies, helpers trek through the wilderness to spruce up remote huts dotted across the country

From two-person shelters to a 54-bunk fortress, New Zealand’s countryside is scattered with huts that offer weary hikers a safe place to rest. Some huts sit along the popular Milford and Routeburn tracks, others are perched in remote valleys in the wilderness, with views ranging from snowy peaks to flourishing bush.

But the publicly owned network is too vast for the government to maintain, so ordinary people in New Zealand are filling their backpacks with cleaning supplies and hiking into the hills to clean and maintain the huts.

Snap shares rise on fourth-quarter earnings that beat on sales

Snap on Wednesday released fourth-quarter earnings that beat on sales but missed on revenue guidance.

Pep Guardiola questions rule that will keep Marc Guéhi out of Carabao Cup final

• Cup rules state new signings must arrive before semi-final first leg

• City will ask EFL to clarify rule: ‘Hopefully they can change it’

Pep Guardiola has questioned the rule which means Marc Guéhi cannot play in the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal in March, though the Manchester City manager has said the club will ask the Football League to reconsider.

City reached the Wembley showpiece after Wednesday’s 3-1 semi-final second-leg win against Newcastle, which gave them a 5-1 aggregate victory after the 2-0 result in the first leg on 13 January.

Fans race to learn Spanish before Bad Bunny's Super Bowl half-time show

The Puerto Rican singer’s highly anticipated Super Bowl half-time show has inspired non-Spanish speakers to study Puerto Rican dialect and slang

Bad Bunny is expected to perform the Super Bowl half-time show on Sunday entirely in Spanish – which has inspired fans to quickly learn the language.

In October, the Puerto Rican singer – born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio – kicked off the 51st season of Saturday Night Live expressing pride over the achievement in Spanish, after which he said in English, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn!”

Washington Post begins sweeping layoffs as it scales back news coverage

Former WaPo executive editor Martin Baron told CBS News the paper's coverage will be "dramatically diminished" because of the job cuts.

Autistic girls much less likely to be diagnosed, study says

By age 20 diagnosis rates for men and women almost equal, research finds, challenging assumptions of gender discrepancy

Females may be just as likely to be autistic as males but boys are up to four times more likely to be diagnosed in childhood, according to a large-scale study.

Research led by the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden scrutinised the diagnosis rates of autism for people born in Sweden between 1985 and 2020. Of the 2.7 million people tracked, 2.8% were diagnosed with autism between the ages of two and 37.

Qualcomm stock sinks as memory shortage drags on forecast

"We're starting to see that memory is going to define the size of the mobile market," Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said in an interview.

Researchers say no evidence of TikTok censorship, but they remain wary

Posts have been going viral on social media accusing TikTok's new owners of suppressing content, but eight academics examined the issue and found no evidence to support the claims.

LaMonte McLemore, Grammy-winning singer with 5th Dimension, dies aged 90

Singer was member of vocal group that scored 1960s hits with Up, Up and Away and Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In

Singer LaMonte McLemore has died. He was a founding member of the 5th Dimension, a vocal group whose smooth pop and soul sounds with a touch of psychedelia brought them big hits in the 1960s and 70s.

McLemore died on Tuesday aged 90 at his home in Las Vegas, surrounded by his family, his representative Jeremy Westby said in a statement. He died of natural causes after having a stroke.

Consumer Reports' top 10 vehicles for 2026 — see which cars made the list

For the first time, the top 10 cars on Consumer Reports' annual list of best new vehicles also include electric or hybrid models.

ICE lawyer in Minnesota tells judge "this job sucks"

A government lawyer who told a judge that her job "sucks" during a court hearing stemming from the Trump administration's immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota has been removed from her Justice Department post.

Broadcom, Nvidia shares rise on surging Google capital expenditures for AI

Much of Google's AI software doesn't run on industry-standard Nvidia chips, but instead on its own tensor processing units. Broadcom helps Google make its TPUs.

Newly released court records reveal misconduct inquiry into federal judge

A federal judge said he retired to speak out about threats to the rule of law. Newly released court orders suggest his exit coincided with a misconduct inquiry that ended when he stepped down.

Michael Jackson: The Trial review – these unheard recordings of the singer make for alarming listening

This troubling documentary charts the events leading up to and surrounding Jackson’s 2005 trial for molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo (of which he was found innocent) – and features newly released tapes of Jackson

In her 2019 essay Lost Boy, the Pulitzer-winning writer Margo Jefferson considered Michael Jackson’s legacy in the wake of Dan Reed’s Leaving Neverland, the HBO/Channel 4 exposé that starkly and devastatingly laid out the testimonies of two men who alleged that they had been sexually abused as children by the singer. “We’ve long seen how charming and generous [Jackson] could be,” opined Jefferson. “Now we’ve also seen how calculating, selfish and gripped by demons he was.”

Leaving Neverland remains the most effective résumé of that apparent duality, and of how – in the case of Wade Robson and James Safechuck – their memories of the singer’s dream-like ranch would take on an infernal quality. Michael Jackson: The Trial isn’t as stylised nor as groundbreaking – many of the people here have been telling their stories for decades, be it in books, podcasts, blogs or otherwise. Yet where Channel 4’s latest series triumphs is in collating these accounts from both sides, and letting you decide what is more plausible, as well as spotlighting details that can’t easily be explained away. And, of course, there are the tapes: recordings of Jackson from 2000 and 2001, many of which have never been heard before. They’re not definitive proof of any wrongdoing, but they’re certainly alarming. In one clip, Jackson declares: “If you told me right now … ‘Michael, you could never see another child’ … I would kill myself.”

Michelle Obama documentary rises 13,000% in views as Melania film opens

Becoming garners 47.5m minutes viewed on same weekend as current first lady’s documentary released in cinemas

Michelle Obama’s 2020 documentary Becoming saw a major rise in views over the same weekend that Melania was released in cinemas.

The film, which followed the former first lady in the wake of her hit book, saw a rise in views of more than 13,000% over the past weekend, with 47.5m minutes viewed, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The weekend before saw only 354,000 minutes watched, according to Luminate.

Welcome to new cold war as world descends on Italy amid global political chaos

Organisers are hoping for a celebration of winter sport at Milano Cortina 2026 but tensions will not be far from the surface

A short stroll from where the grandees of the International Olympic Committee are staying in Milan sits the Museum of Illusions – a place devoted to magic and misdirection. Mirrors distort. Perspectives shift. And nothing is quite what it seems. It is an apposite metaphor for these Winter Olympics, which officially open in Italy on Friday.

Over the following 16 days, the world will be enraptured by the dazzle and spin of these Games: downhill skiers bombing down mountains at 95mph, snowboarders twirling like gyroscopes, the balletic grace of the world’s best skaters. But in Milano Cortina a fresh cold war is also brewing amid global political chaos.

Democrats lay out demands in prickly DHS funding fight as Republicans balk

Funding for the Department of Homeland Security still needs to be worked out after President Trump signed a law that reopened most of the federal government.

US and Iran talks brought back from the brink after White House relents on move to Oman

Talks that had been scheduled in Turkey salvaged after Arab states convince White House not to walk away from negotiations

Talks between the US and Iran scheduled for Friday have been brought back from the brink of collapse after the US initially rejected Iran’s request to move them from Turkey to Oman without the presence of a group of Arab states.

Iran’s foreign minister said late on Wednesday that the talks would proceed in Oman after reports of a last-minute effort by Arab states to convince the White House not to walk away from negotiations.

With latest Minnesota fraud case looming, lead prosecutors have quit

The four prosecutors who spearheaded a $250 million Minnesota fraud case have all left the U.S. Attorney's Office in a growing wave of resignations.

Minnesota girl, 10, released from ICE custody after a month in detention

Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano and her mother released from Texas facility to head back home to reunite with her father

A 10-year-old Minnesota girl has been released from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after a month in detention in Dilley, Texas, school officials said, one of hundreds of children detained at the facility.

Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano, a fourth-grader, and her mother walked free from the immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, on Tuesday night. Elizabeth is a student in the school district of Columbia Heights, a Minneapolis suburb, which is also home to five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was released from Dilley over the weekend amid widespread outrage about his detention.

Moltbook is the newest social media platform — but it's just for AI bots

A new message board for artificial intelligence agents has prompted some strange conversations, and existential questions about the inner lives of bots.

Eli Lilly's GLP-1 growth is only getting started as Novo Nordisk braces for a decline in 2026

The split in outlook underscores Lilly's strong position in the obesity market, underpinned by more effective drugs and its direct-to-consumer sales strategy.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy picks marketplace exec to be his new 'shadow' advisor

Jassy was Jeff Bezos' shadow in the early 2000s before going on to lead Amazon Web Services.

Democrats grill Bessent at House oversight hearing: 'Stop covering for the president'

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took flack from Democrats while testifying before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

Labour MPs say Starmer’s days as PM are numbered amid fury over Mandelson

MPs say release of papers on Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador could trigger leadership challenge

Labour MPs have warned that Keir Starmer’s days as prime minister are numbered after a day of fury over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador despite his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

The government was on the brink of a defeat in the Commons until a mid-debate amendment brokered by Meg Hillier and Angela Rayner to force the release of documents about Mandelson’s appointment and the depth of his relationship with the convicted child sex offender.

Microsoft brings back executive Hayete Gallot to run cybersecurity, as Charlie Bell takes new role

Under Charlie Bell, Microsoft's cybersecurity business grew, but the company also dealt with the fallout from cyberattacks.

Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott believes Fed Chair Powell committed no crime in testimony

President Donald Trump recently said the investigation into Jerome Powell, led by U.S. Attorney for Washington Jeanine Pirro, should continue to the end.

Pinterest CEO rebukes, fires 'obstructionist' employees who created tool to track layoffs

Pinterest CEO Bill Ready lashed out at staffers who created an internal tool to track layoffs at the company, and fired those involved.

The Supreme Court lets California use its new, Democratic-friendly congressional map

The Supreme Court has cleared the way for California to use its new congressional map for this year's midterm election. Voters approved it as a Democratic counterresponse to Texas' new GOP-friendly map.

Last chance, Keir? MPs in despair as crisis engulfs Downing Street

No 10’s misjudgment over Mandelson has left Labour MPs increasingly aware of the fallibility of the PM and his team

The debacle of last summer, when Keir Starmer caved in over welfare changes after promised concessions failed to convince his mutinous backbenchers, was viewed as a low point for his government. Now, amazingly, it has happened all over again.

If the repetition of history was not already enough, with the ructions over releasing government documents about Peter Mandelson, once again Starmer has a certain Angela Rayner to thank, in part, for digging him out of a political hole.

January jobs report will be released on Feb. 11 after shutdown delay

The January jobs report delayed by the brief government shutdown will be released next week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday.

Son of Norway’s crown princess ‘does not remember’ taking videos of alleged sexual assault

Marius Borg Høiby, 29, on trial accused of 38 crimes, broke down in tears as he claimed press had harassed him for years

Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway’s crown princess, has told a court he does not remember taking pictures and videos found on his phone that police say show him sexually assaulting a woman at a royal residence.

Høiby, Mette-Marit’s son from a relationship before her marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, is on trial accused of 38 crimes, including four rapes and assaults.

The Guardian view on Epstein, power and accountability: full transparency is the least survivors deserve | Editorial

As the wheels of justice begin to turn in Britain, a spotlight should also shine on the financier’s wealthy enablers in the US

“The more Epstein documents get released, the more we see how he had so many powerful friends, and that’s ultimately what helped him,” commented the US lawyer Lisa Bloom in an interview with the Guardian this week. As Ms Bloom, who represents 11 of Jeffrey Epstein’s dogged and brave victims, drily notes: “That’s not the way the justice system is supposed to work.”

From the outset, the Epstein affair has offered a textbook example of the ability of the influential and well-connected to avoid scrutiny and intimidate those who would exert it. A ruthless pursuit of transparency, both institutional and personal, is the only way to combat such tactics and hold power to account. In the extraordinary days following the release of further Epstein files last week, the wheels of justice in Britain are belatedly beginning to turn on that basis.

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.

Murdered son of Muammar Gaddafi was perceived as a threat to Libya’s elite

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, shot dead on Tuesday, appealed to ‘a nostalgia for a past that is remembered as more secure’

The assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the second son of Libya’s late dictator Muammar Gaddafi, is a reminder of both how violent Libya remains more than 15 years after his father’s demise – and how much Saif had come to be perceived as a threat to Libya’s governing elite.

The loyalist Gaddafi green movement remained a potent gathering point for some Libyans nostalgic for a return to imagined past security that Saif’s father symbolised.

Is the U.S. heading into a dictatorship?

The Atlantic writer Robert Kagan says as Trump violates norms, laws and the Constitution, including his call to nationalize elections, "we're on the edge of the consolidation of dictatorship."

Nigel Farage’s two-day trip to Davos cost more than £50,000, documents reveal

Reform UK leader received two guest passes from Iranian-born billionaire and declares attendance at event on register of MPs’ interests

Nigel Farage’s two-day trip to Davos cost more than £50,000 after he was given two guest passes by an Iranian-born billionaire, documents show.

The Reform UK leader officially declared his attendance at the conference on the register of MPs’ interests, after giving speeches at the Switzerland summit in which he pledged to “put the global elites on notice”.

Yum Brands posts mixed quarter, Taco Bell shines

Taco Bell's same-store sales spiked 7% in the quarter.

Reporter's notebook: A peek inside the Olympic Village

NPR reporters visited the Milan Olympic Village in the days before the opening ceremony to investigate the dining hall dessert situation and other pressing questions.

Lindsey Vonn forced to wait as first women’s Winter Olympics downhill training cancelled

• US skiing icon must wait to test injured knee

• Coach confident skier will be competitive at Games

Lindsey Vonn has been forced to wait for her chance to test her injured knee after heavy snowfall led to the cancellation of the first women’s downhill training at the Winter Olympics.

The American skiing icon was due to take part in Thursday morning’s training session in Cortina d’Ampezzo as she attempts to compete at the 2026 Games with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.

Boy, 13, who took family campervan on 70mph joyride given points on future licence

Teenager admitted it was not the first time he had taken the vehicle but told the court he ‘won’t do it again’

A 13-year-old boy who drove his family’s Volkswagen campervan on a 70mph road in the middle of the night for a joyride in Dorset has been given penalty points for a future licence, a court heard.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was spotted by other motorists driving the 2.5-litre silver van on the A35, a busy dual carriageway in Poole. His father told the judge at Poole magistrates court his son would be “washing cars for the next year” to pay off his debt.

Gunmen kill more than 160 people in attacks on two west Nigeria villages

Local politician says armed men rounded up residents, bound their hands behind their backs and shot them

More than 160 people have been killed in two villages in western Nigeria in the country’s deadliest armed assaults this year, as communities reel from repeated and widespread acts of violence perpetrated by jihadists and other armed groups.

The death toll from Tuesday’s attacks in Woro and Nuku in Kwara state stood at 162 on Wednesday afternoon, according to Mohammed Omar Bio, a member of parliament representing the area.

Uber reports 20% revenue growth in fourth-quarter, but issues soft profit guidance

Uber said revenue in its food delivery business increased 30%, beating analysts' estimates.