Powerful storm hits an East Coast still buried under last week's snow

Blizzardlike conditions stemming from a "bomb cyclone" brought heavy snow to the Southeast and ushered in frigid temperatures to much of the East Coast.

Pakistan to play Twenty20 World Cup but will boycott game against India

• Government gives approval to compete in tournament

• Pakistan will not play India in Colombo on 15 February

Pakistan will boycott their Twenty20 World Cup match against India on 15 February, the Pakistan government said on Sunday while approving the team’s participation in the tournament.

“The government ... grants approval to the Pakistan cricket team to participate in the World T20, however, the Pakistan cricket team shall not take the field in the match against India,” the post on the government’s official X account said.

Grammy Awards red carpet – watch live

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Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Feb. 1, 2026

On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado and Rep. Michael McCaul join Margaret Brennan.

European football: Mbappé wins it late for Real Madrid after Bellingham limps off

• Bellingham substituted as Real edge out Rayo Vallecano

• Guirassy double fires Borussia Dortmund to victory

Kylian Mbappé stayed calm to roll home a 100th-minute penalty and secure for Real Madrid a 2-1 win over nine-man Rayo Vallecano on Sunday in a spicy La Liga derby. Los Blancos’ victory cut Barcelona’s lead back to one point at the top of the table after the Spanish champions beat Elche on Saturday.

Vinícius Júnior scored early on for Madrid after Jude Bellingham limped off with an apparent hamstring injury. Jorge de Frutos pulled Rayo level early in the second half, prompting visible anger from the Madrid fans at their team. Frustration was averted when Mbappé netted from the spot following Pathé Ciss’s red card at the death.

United Arab Emirates' 'Spy Sheikh' bought secret stake in Trump crypto company: WSJ

“This is corruption, plain and simple," said Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee.

2/1: Face The Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," we speak to mayors from cities across the country as anger at ICE persists across the country, plus our interview with Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado.

Melania film earns $7m in US, strongest documentary debut in over a decade

Melania, however, cost quite more than a typical documentary, at $40m to make and $35m to promote.

Amazon’s Melania Trump documentary has reportedly beaten box office expectations and recorded the strongest start of any documentary in over a decade, taking $7m at the US box office during its lavishly-promoted opening weekend. But it also cost quite more than a typical documentary, at $40m to make and $35m to promote.

And Amazon – which recently cut 16,000 corporate jobs – has been hit with criticism that making the documentary about the first lady, and paying so highly for it, was little more than a ploy to curry favor with her husband, Donald Trump, during his second presidency.

Epstein files: Ro Khanna says DOJ's latest release is 'not good enough'

The congressional Democrat said that Friday's Epstein disclosure was "significant," but it is only about half of the files that have been collected.

Five-year-old Liam Ramos and his father released from Texas detention center

Boy and his father back in Minneapolis after being detained by ICE and held in immigration facility for more than a week

A five-year-old boy and his father were back in Minneapolis on Sunday after being released from a Texas immigration detention center where they were held for more than a week, according to US House representative Joaquin Castro.

“Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack. Thank you to everyone who demanded freedom for Liam,” Castro, a San Antonio Democrat, said in a post on X. “We won’t stop until all children and families are home.”

Solanke dents Manchester City’s title hopes with stirring comeback for Spurs

At the end of a wild occasion, this the definition of the game of two halves, it was difficult to state the case for Manchester City’s Premier League title-winning aspirations with any confidence. The manner of their second-half capitulation saw to that. If they were impressive before the interval, they were so brittle thereafter, blown off course after Tottenham stirred. Pep Guardiola was beside himself with frustration on the touchline.

The City manager has now seen his team drop seven points since the turn of the year with goals they have conceded in the second half of matches. After a fourth draw in six league matches, a run that has included the defeat by Manchester United, City find themselves six points behind the leaders, Arsenal.

Crystal Palace agree £48m deal for Strand Larsen as Mateta heads for Milan medical

• Palace’s £48m bid accepted as Mateta ready for move

• Slot keen on bulking up squad with versatile defender

Crystal Palace have had a £48m bid for Jørgen Strand Larsen accepted by Wolves, after the south London club reignited their interest in the Norway international.

The striker, who joined Wolves on a permanent deal from Celta Vigo last summer for £23m, has scored one Premier League goal this season. The 25-year-old was a substitute for Wolves’s 2-0 home defeat by Bournemouth on Saturday.

Todd Blanche says review of Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking case ‘is over’

Deputy US attorney general says victims ‘want to be made whole’ but that doesn’t mean ‘we can just create evidence’

The deputy US attorney general, Todd Blanche, the point person on the Trump administration’s Epstein files release, told ABC News on Sunday that prosecutors’ review of the Jeffrey Epstein-Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking case “is over”.

Separately, in comments to CNN about Epstein, Blanche said that “victims want to be made whole” after surviving the scheme attributed to the late convicted sex offender and which led to a 20-year prison sentence for Maxwell beginning in 2022.

Ex-Trump economic adviser says Kevin Warsh will "take the Fed back" to norms

Gary Cohn, IBM vice chairman, said President Trump's nominee for chairman of the Federal Reserve Board is "very highly qualified" and will "take the Fed back to its traditional" norms.

ICE releases 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from custody

Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father were released from ICE custody on Sunday, a day after a federal court ordered their release.

Harry Brook blocks out the noise to lead England to T20 series win in Sri Lanka

• 2nd T20i: England, 173-4, bt Sri Lanka, 189-5, by 6wkts (DLS)

• Banton 54*, Brook hits 36 off 12 balls for 2-0 series lead

Numerous apologies, serious ­scrutiny and, still, he goes and does that. Harry Brook’s 12-ball 36 helped England chase down a revised target of 168 in the second Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka, securing a series victory.

England had initially been set 190, but a rain break changed the equation; when Brook emerged England needed 87 from 7.5 overs. He put on an exhibition over the off-side to turn the chase his team’s way. While the captain’s knock was brief, Tom Banton made his case for a starting spot at the World Cup, putting aside his tough time in the field to stay the course with an excellent, unbeaten 54. He has three red-inkers in successful chases since joining the T20 middle order last summer.

"Melania" documentary opens with better ticket sales than expected

Promoted by President Trump as "a must watch," the Melania Trump documentary "Melania" debuted with $7 million in ticket sales, according to estimates Sunday.

Partial US government shutdown likely to continue amid funding standoff

Speaker Mike Johnson is ‘convinced’ the impasse over homeland security funding will be resolved by Tuesday

The ongoing partial US government shutdown is expected to continue into early next week, with no reopening likely before Tuesday, if what federal officials on both sides of the country’s political aisle are saying is any indication.

House Democrats have so far said they are refusing to guarantee the votes needed to speed passage of a funding measure that would restore government operations.

The Guardian view on the EU’s answer to Trump: trade without threats | Editorial

Europe’s India and Vietnam deals signal a historic shift away from coercion towards cooperation that respects developing countries’ sovereignty

For the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, the EU’s trade pact with India was the “mother of all deals”. Seen from the other end of the telescope, it looked like the mouse of all deals, with just €4bn (£3.5bn) in tariff reductions – a rounding error in a €180bn trading relationship. But that misses the point: this is about economic heavyweights resetting the terms of their cooperation because of Donald Trump’s use of tariffs as a tool of economic and political compulsion.

Last week marked a turning point. In upgrading ties with Vietnam in the wake of its India deal, Europe is no longer trying to lock Asian partners into fixed industrial roles. The EU wants Hanoi to move into hi-tech production. That shift will probably displace Vietnam’s labour-intensive manufacturing elsewhere. India is an obvious beneficiary, able to absorb that demand.

Mexico moves to combat pollution following Guardian investigations

After stories revealed high levels of contamination in neighborhood around factory processing US toxic waste, government announces sweeping array of tactics

The Mexican government has announced it will pursue a sweeping array of tactics to combat industrial pollution, from $4.8m in fines against a plant processing US hazardous waste to the rollout of a new industrial air-monitoring system, following investigations by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, a Mexican investigative unit.

Those stories revealed high levels of heavy-metal contamination in the neighborhood around the factory, Zinc Nacional, in the Monterrey metropolitan area, and showed the broader extent of industrial pollution in the region, linked to Monterrey’s role in manufacturing and recycling goods for the US market.

Russian drone attack on bus carrying mine workers in Ukraine kills at least 12

Employees of Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, DTEK, were travelling about 40 miles from frontline, says police

A Russian drone attack on a bus carrying mine workers in Ukraine’s central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region has killed at least 12 people, officials said.

The bus was driving about 40 miles (65km) from the frontline, according to police. Images published by Ukraine’s state emergency service showed what appeared to be an empty bus, its side windows shattered and windscreen hanging from the front.

Speaker Johnson: 'Confident' government shutdown will end by Tuesday

The government shut down on Saturday after Senate Democrats demanded changes to a spending package following the killings of U.S. citizens in Minnesota.

Nicola Jennings on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor – cartoon

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NHS patients put at risk by ‘sham investigations’, says ex-CEO of hospital

Exclusive: Dr Susan Gilby, who won £1.4m bullying payout, says whistleblower protections must be strengthened

Patients are being put at risk by NHS bosses launching “sham investigations” into whistleblowers to shut down concerns, a former hospital chief executive who won a £1.4m bullying claim has said.

Dr Susan Gilby took over as chief executive at the Countess of Chester hospital in 2018 after it was rocked by the Lucy Letby case. She was awarded the payout – one of the biggest in NHS history – last month after a tribunal ruled she had been unfairly dismissed after raising concerns about alleged bullying and harassment by the chair of the hospital board.

‘Distracting and sad’: Olympics chief laments ICE protests and Epstein fallout

• ICE agents will be in Milan for opening ceremony

• LA Games chair named in new batch of Epstein files

The International Olympic Committee has admitted that it is “distracting and sad” that the buildup to the Winter Olympics has been dominated by the deployment of ICE agents to Milan-Cortina and the appearance of the Los Angeles 2028 chair, Casey Wasserman, in the Epstein files. However Kirsty Coventry, the IOC president, insisted that once the Games begin on Friday, their “magic and spirit” would take over.

Coventry refused to comment directly on the protests in Milan against immigration and customs enforcement agents and said she hadn’t spoken to Wasserman, who has apologised for flirty emails sent to Ghislaine Maxwell in 2003 when he was married, which only surfaced on Friday.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (Feb. 1)

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

UK hospitality firms demand more help with business rates amid questions over Heathrow discount

Airports identified as biggest winners of government’s £4.3bn support package with Heathrow alone taking £900m discount

Struggling hotels, restaurants and nightclubs are calling for more financial help with business rates after it emerged that Heathrow is among the biggest beneficiaries of a multibillion-pound package of state support.

The UK’s biggest airport is in line for a discount of nearly £900m on its rates bill over the next three years. That is a fifth of the total £4.3bn “transitional relief” fund announced by the chancellor in the budget for all businesses facing big bill increases.

Sesko seals dramatic win over Fulham to continue Manchester United revival

Benjamin Sesko will never forget the stoppage-time pirouette and finish in front of the Stretford End that burst Bernd Leno’s net and earned Manchester United a memorable victory over Fulham.

Just 180 seconds earlier Kevin had curled a peach of an equaliser past Senne Lammens that hushed the Old Trafford faithful and seemed to have grabbed a point for the visitors.

'Melania' earns a surprising $7 million, best non-music documentary debut in a decade

Amazon reportedly paid an estimated $40 million to acquire 'Melania' and spent an additional $35 million on marketing.

Aston Villa’s title hopes dealt blow by 10-man Brentford amid VAR drama

Aston Villa were already angry at trailing to 10-man Brentford and then, four minutes into the second half, those frustrations grew tenfold.

Tammy Abraham thought he had made a goalscoring return, his first Villa goal since winning promotion from the Championship seven years ago, but then it was all eyes on the referee, Tim Robinson, and the big screens flagging a review. At Stockley Park, the video assistant referee, Paul Tierney, rewound the clock by 19 seconds, to the moment Leon Bailey, at the opposite end of the pitch, was deemed to have failed to keep the ball in play.

Saturday Night Live: Alexander Skarsgård makes for a game first-time host

The Pillion star gives a so-so episode his all with sketches targeting the tactics of ICE officers, Tarzan and Trump voters changing their minds

The thousandth episode of Saturday Night Live opens with White House “border czar” Tom Homan (Pete Davidson) addressing members of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) amid the continuing chaos in Minneapolis. He stresses that ICE commander Greg Bovino wasn’t dismissed for doing a bad job, publicly lying about the killing of civilians, or even dressing like a Nazi, but because he “was filmed doing these things – the president no likey that.”

When asked what the mission in Minneapolis is, his ICE goons plead ignorance, causing him to flip out: “I’m Tom Homan, OK? I’m the separating families at the border guy. I’m the on film taking a $50,000 bribe guy, and you all are making me look like the upstanding, reasonable adult in the room. That’s crazy!”

Ten-man Nottingham Forest earn valuable point in feisty clash with Crystal Palace

Neco Williams was a very relieved man at the final whistle after his Nottingham Forest teammates held on against Crystal Palace to move a point further away from the relegation zone. The full-back produced a fantastic save and some amateur dramatics but was dismissed, having given away a penalty, in a game his side looked favourites to win.

Ismaïla Sarr scoring the resulting spot-kick to cancel out Morgan Gibbs-White’s opener was the only additional damage, as Forest showed their defensive muscle. If it was not for Palace currently living in striker purgatory, waiting for one to leave and a replacement to arrive, they may have made more of the one-man advantage, rather than extend their winless run to nine matches.

Likeness of restored angel to Giorgia Meloni triggers investigations in Rome

Cherub at landmark church causes ecclesiastical and political uproar with alleged resemblance to Italian PM

Italy’s culture minister and the diocese of Rome have launched investigations after claims were made that an angel in a landmark church in Rome was restored in the likeness of the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.

The resemblance was first flagged by the newspaper La Repubblica, which noted that one of the two angels flanking a marble bust of Italy’s last king in the Basilica of St Lawrence in Lucina now had “a familiar, astonishingly contemporary face”.

‘Adjustments must be made’: how to live well after mid-life

We are living longer and longer, but many of us are unprepared for the challenges age brings, says the novelist and psychotherapist Frank Tallis

We have never lived so long, so well, nor had more available advice on how to do so: don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t eat ultraprocessed foods; lift weights, get outside, learn a language. Cosmetics – or surgery – have never been so available, so advanced, nor so widely used; we take for granted medical procedures that previous ages would have considered miracles. And something’s clearly working: average global life expectancy is the highest in recorded history. The fastest growing demographic is now the over-80s.

There is much public hand-wringing about the burdens this ageing population will place on health and care systems, and on younger people. But what is far less talked about, argues the clinical psychologist Frank Tallis in his new book, Wise, is how to get older well: not just in physical, but in mental good health.

Swiss Alpine bar fire claims 41st victim, an 18-year-old Swiss national

Swiss prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the owners of Le Constellation bar in the ski resort of Crans-Montana, where a fire in the early hours of Jan. 1 killed dozens.

Venice carnival, flamenco fashion and a fire beast: photos of the weekend

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

A widow's grief, and an angel's compassion

After the death of her husband of 26 years, Rhea Holmes, of Syracuse, New York, was left with little money, and slipped into depression. Losing her job and her home, she eventually took to sleeping at the only place she felt she owned: her husband's grave. Then, along came an "angel." Steve Hartman reports.

‘Already a legend’: Djokovic’s praise for Australian Open champion Alcaraz

• Spaniard beat Serbian to complete career grand slam at 22

• Alcaraz also youngest man to win seven grand slam titles

Novak Djokovic called Carlos Alcaraz a tennis legend at the age of 22 after the Spaniard became the youngest male player in history to complete the career grand slam by defeating Djokovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 in the Australian Open final.

The world No 1 had entered this tournament seeking to complete his collection of grand slam titles after previously winning each of the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open twice. He played a mature match against Djokovic, the fourth seed, maintaining his composure after a blistering opening set from the Serbian to win in four sets. Alcaraz is also the youngest man in the open era to win seven grand slam titles.

Extended Interview: Mel Robbins

In this web exclusive, author and podcaster Mel Robbins talks with Norah O'Donnell about "The Let Them Theory."

Deaths of two more patients at Glasgow hospital under investigation

Prosecutors say seven deaths now being looked at in connection with Queen Elizabeth university hospital

The deaths of seven patients at Glasgow’s landmark super-hospital are now being investigated, prosecutors have confirmed.

The revelation that another two deaths are being examined after cancer patients, many of them children, contracted infections linked to Queen Elizabeth university hospital’s (QEUH) contaminated water supply and ventilation system, comes after Scottish Labour made public further evidence of political pressure being applied to open the campus in April 2015, just before the general election.

Mel Robbins on "The Let Them Theory"

Mel Robbins' podcasts, TED Talk and bestselling books, including "The 5 Second Rule" and "The Let Them Theory," have shared her inspirational messages about positivity and empowerment. The former lawyer talks with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell about how she overcame her own sense of failure to become a life coach and motivational speaker, and why the 57-year-old mother of three appreciates success later in life.

Dozens of historic Maseratis recreated for movie about Italian car company

Film with a cast headed by Anthony Hopkins tells the story of a supercar marque that began in a small Bologna garage

Dozens of Maseratis of 1920s and 1930s designs have been built specially for a feature film about the Italian car company’s earliest days, with a cast headed by Anthony Hopkins.

Maserati: The Brothers tells the story of siblings driven by their love of cars to create an automotive company from scratch. It all began in a little garage in the Italian city of Bologna: in 1914 they founded a sports supercar company that went on to make some of the fastest vehicles on the planet.

Ilia Malinin on the pursuit of perfection

The four-time national figure skating champion from Virginia, the only person in the world to have landed a quad axel in competition, is the heavy favorite for gold at this year's Winter Olympics.

Extended Interview: Ilia Malinin

In this web exclusive, figure skating superstar Ilia Malinin talks with correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti in advance of the Winter Olympics. He talks about the artistry of his routines; having his parents (former Olympic skaters Roman Skorniakov and Tatiana Malinina) as coaches; and landing a quad axel.

Ilia Malinin on the pursuit of perfection

Four-time national figure skating champion Ilia Malinin, the only person in the world to have landed a quad axel in competition, is the heavy favorite for gold at this year's Winter Olympics. The 21-year-old from Virginia talks with correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti about his record-breaking skills which have made him a superstar in the sport.

Democrat flips reliably red Texas district in victory that stuns Republican party

Taylor Rehmet’s win adds to Democrats’ record of overperforming in special elections so far this cycle

Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a special election for the Texas state senate on Saturday, flipping a reliably Republican district that Donald Trump won by 17 points when he clinched a second presidency in 2024.

Rehmet, a labor union leader and veteran, easily defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss, a conservative activist, in the Fort Worth-area district. With almost all votes counted, Rehmet had a comfortable lead of more than 14 percentage points.

Death toll from Crans-Montana bar fire rises to 41

Eighteen-year-old Swiss national injured in blaze at Swiss ski resort died on Saturday

A teenager injured in the fire that engulfed a bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana during new year celebrations has died in hospital, taking the death toll from the blaze to 41.

The Wallis canton’s public prosecutor, Beatrice Pilloud, said in a brief statement on Sunday: “An 18-year-old Swiss national died at a hospital in Zurich on January 31. The death toll from the fire at Le Constellation bar on January 1 2026 has now risen to 41.”

Almanac: February 1

"Sunday Morning" looks back at historical events on this date.

Judge orders 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and dad to be released from ICE detention

A federal judge in Texas on Saturday ordered 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos​ and his father to be released from immigration detention.

On the hunt for bear in the Ozarks

Thanks to decades of conservation efforts, black bear populations are rebounding across the U.S. In Arkansas, hunters talk about their annual black bear hunt — a practice they acknowledge is complicated and contentious, yet central to their way of life.

On the hunt

Thanks to decades of conservation efforts, black bear populations are rebounding across the United States. Senior contributor Ted Koppel travels to the Arkansas Ozarks to join a group of hunters on their annual black bear hunt — a practice they acknowledge is complicated and contentious, yet central to their way of life.

Pakistan targets Balochistan separatists after ‘unprecedented’ assaults

Officials say calm restored to province day after dozens killed in suicide and gun attacks in at least 10 cities

Pakistan’s security forces have intensified their operations against separatist militants in Balochistan province who launched a large-scale assault on Saturday in which at least 31 civilians and 17 security personnel were killed.

A day after the militants carried out suicide attacks in the heart of the province’s capital, Quetta, the chief minister of the south-western region, Sarfraz Bugti, said 145 people he described as militants had been killed in 40 hours and that their bodies were in the custody of the authorities.

Leaps of faith: does jumping up and down 50 times in the morning really boost your physical and mental health?

TikTok says it’s the ultimate wake-up call. But does the fitness craze have any downsides – apart from waking up the neighbours?

If you’re an avid viewer of online fitness content (or live below someone who is) you’re probably familiar with TikTok’s 50 jumps challenge. The basic premise is simple: you jump 50 times as soon as you wake up, for 30 days straight. Reach the end of the month and you’re supposedly in for a world of benefits.

The jumps, reassuringly, don’t need to be too extreme. Think gentle bouncing with a soft knee bend, rather than tuck jumps. Some content creators show themselves with arms by their sides, swaying their hips as they go; others have their arms crossed over their chests and maintain a strict up-and-down momentum. Some would find their natural home in a moshpit, others at a dance party. Nobody, yet, seems to have purchased a bedside trampoline.

The kindness of strangers: while we waited outside in the rain, a young boy brought us hot tea and cake

Our youthful enthusiasm was starting to falter when a child came out of a cottage with a basket, sent by his mum

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

It was 1974 and my school friends and I decided to backpack around Tasmania in the middle of winter – go figure. We were three mates in our late teens, without a clear plan.

After arriving on the ferry, we hopped on a train owned by a mining company and travelled through the wild and unpopulated Tasmanian west coast to Queenstown. It was all forest and mountains, and so utterly freezing we sat in our sleeping bags on the train to try to warm up.

America’s contract to protect white women has always been tenuous | Saida Grundy

ICE’s killing of Renee Good has revealed how the state will only defend those who uphold a white racial order. A 1915 film points to the origins of this social pact

In the hours after the 7 January fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis mother of three, gut-wrenching footage of her killing was released, discrediting initial claims from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and the Department of Justice that she was shot in self-defense. As a response to the public outcry, the Trump administration and a chorus of conservative public figures unleashed a litany of dehumanizing and defamatory remarks about Good, a beloved wife, neighbor and dental assistant, in ways that were unduly callous.

The Fox News host Jesse Watters derided Good’s queer identity, and mocked her as a “self-proclaimed poet from Colorado with pronouns in her bio”. The homeland security secretary Kristi Noem vilified Good as a domestic terrorist who “weaponized” her vehicle in an attempt to run over officers – a patently false comment. Laura Loomer, a personal adviser to the president, posted to social media, “She deserved it … I’m shocked her lesbian girlfriend wasn’t shot with her.” JD Vance lobbed the biting accusation that the victim was “a deranged leftist”, before adding that “it’s a tragedy of her own making”. Donald Trump justified the shooting, telling reporters that “at a very minimum, that woman was very, very disrespectful to law enforcement”. And on 17 January, the justice department announced a criminal investigation into claims tying her grieving widow, Becca Good, to unnamed “activist groups” (six federal prosecutors resigned in objection to the investigation).

Sure, kids can be annoying – but making public spaces ‘child-free’ is wrong | Emma Beddington

The French rail operator SNCF has recently installed new ‘adults-only’ carriages. It’s part of a sad culture of suppressing the young that forgets we were all loud and carefree once

As a disapproving, noise-sensitive harpy who once managed to communicate “use headphones” to an Italian tween on a train despite us not sharing a common language, I ought to be the ideal candidate for the French rail operator SNCF’s new “Optimum”, no-kids-allowed carriages. The service was promoted last month as a civilised space in which executives could conduct important business in cosseted peace, unmolested by sticky fingers or La Pat’ Patrouille (Paw Patrol) blaring from an iPad.

Actually, though, I hate it – and a heartening number of other people seem to be hating it, too. The initiative sparked widespread indignation in France (the high commissioner for children, Sarah El Haïry, called it “shocking”) and beyond, leading SNCF to partly backtrack, changing the original “children are not allowed” wording to say the space is only inaccessible to under-12s.

Democrat Christian Menefee wins special election for U.S. House in Texas

Democrat Christian Menefee won a Texas U.S. House seat in a special election Saturday that will narrow Republicans' already-slim majority.

Cuba on the brink as Trump turns up the pressure: ‘There is going to be a real blockade’

Country is already suffering acute fuel shortage; experts say complete cutoff will be ‘catastrophic’ to its infrastructure

It’s just gone midday on Linea, one of the main roads through Havana’s Vedado neighbourhood, and Javier Peña and Ysil Ribas have been waiting since 6am outside a petrol station. They’re passing the time fixing a leak on Ribas’s 1955 gold and white Mercury.

A tanker has pulled up on the forecourt in front of them, and so the queue behind is growing fast. Although this station only takes US dollars, at a cost far out of reach of most Cubans, Peña says it’s their only choice. “There is no gas in the national pesos,” he says, shrugging.

How to make mulligatawny – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass

Have you forgotten how good this spicy soup tastes? Here are nine easy steps to rediscovering the Indian-inspired winter warmer

I have yet to see anyone eating mulligatawny in an Indian restaurant – perhaps unsurprisingly, given that it’s a product of the British occupation, and the very name has an off-putting Victorian feel, which is a shame, because it’s aged a lot better than imperialism. Based, historians think, on the Madrassi broth molo tunny, it’s a lovely, gently spiced winter soup that’s well worth rediscovering.

Prep 15 min
Cook 50 min
Serves 4-6

How accurate are Punxsutawney Phil's Groundhog Day predictions?

Each Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil makes his prediction about a late end to winter weather or early start to spring temperatures. Here's how accurate his forecasts have been over the years.

Alcaraz beats Djokovic to become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam

The 22-year-old Spaniard's win against 38-year-old rival Novak Djokovic at Sunday's Australian Open makes him the youngest male player to win all four major tournaments.

Did an Illinois firefighter have a secret he was willing to kill for?

When Melissa Lamesch is found dead at home in Mt. Morris, Illinois, on the day before Thanksgiving, authorities zero in on Matthew Plote, a man trained to save lives, not take them.

Firefighter accused of staging a house fire to cover up a murder

It was Thanksgiving Eve 2020, and Melissa Lamesch was excited about the upcoming birth of her first child. Investigators would learn there was someone who was not as enthused — the expectant father, firefighter Matthew Plote.

Virginia woman strangled days after dumping her deceptive boyfriend

The prosecutor said Katlyn Lyon Montgomery's ex-boyfriend dressed as a "ninja" to sneak up on her while asleep in her Virginia apartment.

Virginia woman was strangled with her child sleeping nearby, authorities say

Ten days before investigators say Katlyn Lyon Montgomery, 28, was strangled in her sleep in the Virginia apartment she shared with her 4-year-old daughter and a new roommate, she had broken up with Trenton Frye, a North Carolina man she met online months before.

Reading was the key to breaking through the fog of my parents' dementia | Jo Glanville

It was hard to communicate with my mother or father, until reading a book out loud led to a discovery

The novelist Ian McEwan has advocated for the extension of assisted dying to people with dementia, commenting on the deeply distressing experience of his own mother: “By the time my mother was well advanced and could not recognise anyone, she was dead. She was alive and dead all at once. It was a terrible thing. And the burden on those closest is also part of the radioactive damage of it all.”

My mother, Pamela, a journalist, died of vascular dementia 10 years ago. My father, the football journalist and novelist Brian Glanville, died of Parkinson’s last year after living with the illness for five years. He also had a milder form of dementia. “Radioactive damage” is certainly a vivid description of the impact of caring for someone living with a degenerative illness, but the perception that someone in the last stages of dementia may be “dead” feels wrong when I think of my parents. How are you to know what is happening in someone else’s brain?

Adolescence lasts into your 30s – so how should parents treat their adult children?

There are lots of guidebooks for parents of young children – but what happens when your offspring hit adulthood? A psychotherapist shares her guiding principles for raising grownups

When one of my daughters turned 18, our relationship hit a crisis so painful it lasted longer than I knew how to bear. I was a psychotherapist, trained in child and adult development, yet I was utterly flummoxed. Decades have passed since then, but when I recently spoke to her about that time, a flood of distress washed through me as if it were yesterday.

This is how my daughter, now a mother herself, put it when I asked her to describe that era:

Why you should embrace rejection

From building resilience to boosting artistic creativity, there are unexpected benefits to being rebuffed

Rejection hurts. Whether in a professional, social or romantic setting, there is a particularly painful sting to the discovery that one has been judged undesirable in some way. If you have ever experienced proper rejection – and that would be most of us – it may stand out in your mind for a long time, like a boulder lodged in the landscape of memory.

And it can hurt literally. The late anthropologist Helen Fisher, who studied human behaviour in the context of romantic love, showed that rejection and physical injury have much in common. In 2010 she led a study of people who had been recently rejected romantically. Functional MRI scans of their brains revealed that areas associated with distress and physical pain were more active. The passage of time did seem to reduce the pain response for Fisher’s participants, but for some people rejection can resonate for months or years. This overlap in the brain’s response to what we think of as physical and mental pain isn’t limited to romance. Social psychologist Naomi Eisenberger scanned the brains of people who were socially excluded from a ballgame in an experiment. Her results showed that “social pain is analogous in its neurocognitive function to physical pain, alerting us when we have sustained injury to our social connections”.

Anglican clergy in London to be asked to promote antiracism in sermons

Exclusive: Thousands of pounds unlocked to fund more diversity initiatives in diocese of capital

• What is Project Spire and why is it dividing the church?

Church of England clergy will be encouraged to promote antiracism in sermons as senior figures unlock thousands of pounds in funding to promote diversity initiatives in London.

Church Commissioners, the body that manages C of E assets, is funding the Diocese of London, which covers more than 400 parishes and 18 boroughs north of the River Thames, to boost inclusion work as part of the three-year Racial Justice Priority (RJP) project.

Why TikTok’s first week of American ownership was a disaster

App endured a major outage and user backlash over perceived censorship. Now it’s facing an inquiry by the California governor and an ascendant competitor

A little more than one week ago, TikTok stepped on to US shores as a naturalized citizen. Ever since, the video app has been fighting for its life.

TikTok’s calamitous emigration began on 22 January when its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, finalized a deal to sell the app to a group of US investors, among them the business software giant Oracle. The app’s time under Chinese ownership had been marked by a meteoric ascent to more than a billion users, which left incumbents such as Instagram looking like the next Myspace. But TikTok’s short new life in the US has been less than auspicious.

This is how we do it: ‘Having threesomes has totally transformed us – in and out of bed’

Eric’s libido always outstripped Bea’s, but with the perimenopause she experienced a surge of desire. Is Eric fully onboard with their new ménage à trois?
• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

When I kissed him in front of Eric during a meet-up in a bar, the chemistry was pretty electric

At a clown school near Paris, failure is the lesson

For decades, students at the Ecole Philippe Gaulier have been paying to bomb onstage. The goal isn't laughs — it's learning how to take the humiliation and keep going.

In the world's driest desert, Chile freezes its future to protect plants

Tucked away in a remote desert town, a hidden vault safeguards Chile's most precious natural treasures. From long-forgotten flowers to endangered crops.

Iran's supreme leader warns any US attack would spark 'regional war'

Iran's supreme leader warned Sunday that any attack by the United States would spark a "regional war" in the Mideast, further escalating tensions as President Donald Trump has threatened to militarily strike the Islamic Republic.

‘You can tell the mood has changed’: How Plaid Cymru led the Welsh fightback against Reform

Nigel Farage’s party was on the charge in Wales – but after the seismic Caerphilly byelection, progressives now believe they can come out on top in May

The night after Plaid Cymru decisively beat Reform UK in the Caerphilly byelection last autumn, spraypaint reading “Now u can fuck off home” appeared on the shutters of the rightwing party’s offices on Cardiff Street.

It was quickly cleaned off, but stickers bearing Welsh nationalist and anti-fascist slogans have popped up in its place, either scratched off or covered with duct tape. Reform is still there: the lights are on, and a shop owner next door said people go in and out every day, although no one answered the door when the Guardian rang the bell.

Gaza’s Rafah crossing to reopen for Palestinians on Monday, Israel says

Officials say Gaza residents travelling on foot only will be allowed through border point, which was shut in May 2024

Gaza’s main border crossing in Rafah will reopen for Palestinians on Monday, Israel has said, with preparations under way at the war-ravaged territory’s gateway, which has been mostly closed for almost two years.

Before the war, the Rafah crossing with Egypt was the only direct exit point for most Palestinians in Gaza to reach the outside world as well as a key entry point for aid. It has been largely shut since May 2024.

‘Menopause gold rush’? Boom in hi-tech products as stigma starts to recede

The march of wearable tech is coming to the aid of women in what some say is a long underserved market

For any bodily function you want to measure these days there is a gadget – a wristband for step-counting, a watch to track your heart rate or a ring for measuring sleep.

Now the march of wearable tech is coming to the aid of what some say is a long underserved market: menopausal women.

Costa Rica heads to polls amid fears of authoritarian turn

Voters to choose president and 57 members of congress, with current president’s hardline pick Laura Fernández expected to win first round

Costa Rica heads to the polls on Sunday in an election dominated by increasing insecurity and warnings of an authoritarian turn in a country long seen as a model of liberal democracy in the region.

Crime is a big concern for many voters as criminal groups battle to control lucrative cocaine trafficking routes to Europe and the US, casting a shadow on the Central American country famous for its wildlife tourism.

Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan on his lip-syncing downfall and Grammys comeback: ‘The truth will set you free’

Three decades after having his Grammy rescinded as part of the notorious duo, he is a nominee once more, for the audiobook of his unflinching memoir. ‘I had to tell my story,’ he says

It may not be the most auspicious way to start an interview, but I have to ask: Fab, is it you reading your audiobook? Please confirm you aren’t just a pretty face hired to front it?

Fabrice Maxime Sylvain Morvan considers my question, then laughs. I’m teasing: it definitely is Morvan narrating You Know It’s True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli. But as the recording of his book has been nominated for best audiobook, narration and storytelling recording at the 2026 Grammy awards – and Milli Vanilli are the only winners to have had their Grammy (given in 1990 for best new artist) rescinded, due to the revelation that the duo didn’t sing on their records – I do need confirmation.

The Grammy Awards are tonight. Here's how to watch live and what to know.

Music's biggest night returns Sunday with the 68th annual Grammy Awards. Here is how to watch and stream and what to know.

Minnesota citizens detained by ICE are left rattled, even weeks later

The number of immigration agents in Minnesota may be reduced, but they'll leave leave behind a changed community, including many U.S. citizens questioned and detained in recent weeks.

Gaza border crossing buzzes with activity after years of near-complete closure

Reopening the border crossing is a key step as the Israel-Hamas ceasefire moves ahead.

Attenzione! The 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo – in pictures

The Winter Olympics was first staged in Italy, 70 years ago. We take a look back at some archive imagery from the settimana bianca

How the left can win back the internet – and rise again | Robert Topinka

In the final part of this series, we look at how infighting has ripped the left apart online while the right has flourished – and how some progressives are turning the tide

• Robert Topinka is a reader in digital media and rhetoric at Birkbeck, University of London

• Part one: How liberals lost the internet

• Part two: How the right won the internet

There is politics before the internet, and politics after the internet. Liberals are floundering, the right are flourishing, and what of the left? Well, it’s in a dire state. This is despite the fact that the key political problems of the last decade – rising inequality and a cost of living crisis – are problems leftists claim they can solve. The trouble is, reactionaries and rightwingers steal their thunder online, quickly spreading messaging that blames scapegoats for structural problems. One reason for this is that platforms originally built to connect us with friends and followers now funnel us content designed to provoke emotional engagement.

Back when Twitter was still the “town square” and Facebook a humble “social network”, progressives had an advantage: from the Arab spring to Occupy Wall Street, voices excluded from mainstream media and politics could leverage online social networks and turn them into real-life ones, which at their most potent became street-level protests that toppled regimes and held capitalism to account. It seemed as though the scattered masses would become a networked collective empowered to rise up against the powerful.

Robert Topinka is a reader in digital media and rhetoric at Birkbeck, University of London

Democrat Taylor Rehmet wins a reliably Republican Texas state Senate seat, stunning GOP

Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a special election for the Texas state Senate on Saturday, flipping a reliably Republican district that President Donald Trump won by 17 points in 2024.

Trump says feds won't intervene during protests in Democratic-led cities unless asked to do so

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he has instructed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem not to intervene in protests occurring in cities led by Democrats unless local authorities ask for federal help.

Inside Myanmar’s five-year armed resistance – a photo essay

Five years after the junta’s coup, the civil war devastating Myanmar has reached a turning point. The military is carrying out large-scale counter-offensives across the country to reclaim territory seized by pro-democracy rebels of various ethnic and religious backgrounds

In Tanintharyi, the southernmost region of Myanmar, the local resistance has managed to contain the military. After five years of guerrilla warfare, the revolutionary youth there remain determined to restore democracy through armed struggle.

A long, narrow stretch of land at the southern tip of Myanmar, between the Andaman Sea to the west and Thailand to the east, Tanintharyi region is one of the areas where the resistance challenges the military’s authority. For decades, the region has been home to an armed rebellion led by the Karen ethnic minority, which operated mainly in the peripheral mountains.

Soldiers from the Karen National Union (KNU) inspect the ruins of a Buddhist monastery destroyed by a junta airstrike in Myeik district, Tanintharyi region

Calls grow in Iran for independent inquiry into protest death toll

Pressure mounts after government said it would publish names of those killed during recent unrest

Calls are growing inside Iran for an independent inquiry into the number of people killed during recent protests after the government said it would oversee the publication of the names of the deceased.

The highly unusual government move, announced on Thursday, is designed to head off claims that crimes against humanity have been committed and that as many as 30,000 Iranians have been killed. Iran’s official death toll released by the Martyr’s Foundation is 3,117, including members of the security services.

‘It’s not just about surviving’: the Ukrainian frontline city where life goes on under cover

Whether in streets draped in anti-drone nets or deep in urban basements, Kherson residents go about their everyday activities with the constant threat of Russian bombing

Galyna Lutsenko, a crisis psychologist, is moving busily among a small group of children seated around a table in a basement in Kherson, unique in being Ukraine’s only leading city almost directly on the frontline with Russian forces – and one where people live with the daily threat of attack.

She dangles a plasticine butterfly on a thread over a playhouse on the table. Her own house in the city, she says, was hit by Russian shelling in 2024, injuring her in the leg and stomach.

PMDD is ruining my life. What can I do?

You’re already doing all the right things for your premenstrual dysphoric disorder, but perhaps it’s time to ask others for more help

I’m 32, and was recently diagnosed with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), though I suspect I have had it for around five years. It severely affects every area of my life.

For 10 days every month I become irritable and impatient, and have debilitating brain fog. At my worst, I am depressed, with uncontrollable crying and suicidal ideation. I go to weekly therapy sessions, take a variety of supplements, and live a healthy lifestyle – exercise, minimal alcohol, eating well, etc, but all these habits become almost impossible during my luteal phase after ovulation and I feel as though I am completely stuck.

China is leading the charge to nuclear Armageddon – and Starmer barely noticed | Simon Tisdall

The Doomsday Clock is ticking ever more loudly as arms-control mechanisms fail and leaders become more reckless. The time to be alarmed is now

Keir Starmer’s tentative pivot to the Dragon Throne has played well in Beijing, though not in Trumpland. That’s partly because, like other needy western leaders, Britain’s prime minister did not dwell on awkward subjects such as human rights abuses, the Jimmy Lai travesty, spying and Taiwan. But in talks with President Xi Jinping, one vital issue was avoided altogether and should not have been: China’s dangerous, unexplained, secretive and rapid buildup of nuclear weapons.

More than the climate crisis, global hunger, Kaiser Trump’s Prussian militarism and the ever prevalent threat of pandemic disease, the uncontrolled proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is the most immediate, existential threat to humanity. Last week, the Doomsday Clock advanced to 85 seconds to midnight – closer to Armageddon than ever before. “Nuclear and other global risks are escalating fast and in unprecedented ways,” warned the clock-watchers, via the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

U.S. intervention in Venezuela divides Houston

In nearly two dozen interviews, Houstonians expressed everything from admiration and relief to skepticism and dread following the seizure of leader Nicolás Maduro.

Living hell of North Korea’s ‘paradise on Earth’ scheme back in spotlight in Japan

Plaintiffs in case say they were lured from Japan, exploited for labour and cut off from families for generations

It has been more than six decades since Eiko Kawasaki left Japan to begin a new life in North Korea. Then 17, she was among tens of thousands of people with Korean heritage who had been lured to the communist state by the promise of a “paradise on Earth”.

Instead, they encountered something closer to a living hell. They were denied basic human rights and forced to endure extreme hardship. Official promises of free education and healthcare plus guaranteed jobs and housing had been a cruel mirage. And to their horror, they were prevented from travelling to Japan to visit the families they had left behind.

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”

Judge orders release of 5-year-old Liam Ramos, his father from detention

A federal judge ordered the release of 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention in Texas. The boy was detained last week while on his way home from preschool, sparking an international outcry. Ian Lee has more.

Ed Sheeran review: pyrotechnics and technical hiccups in an ambitious, looping one-man show

Optus Stadium, Perth

Premiering his new Loop tour in Australia, the crowd-pleasing British singer-songwriter navigates a few teething issues in an otherwise assured stadium outing

Before Ed Sheeran sets foot on stage, his origin story is already rolling. A pre-recorded video looms across the giant screen, as he narrates his own ascent: “I just pushed and pushed. I was so focused on seeing how far I could take being an acoustic singer-songwriter from Suffolk.”

Then the screen cuts. A hidden platform rises from the centre of the audience and Sheeran appears, charging into his 2011 track You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.

Officials in Minnesota allege Bovino used language offensive to Jews on conference call

Top Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino allegedly used language offensive to Jewish federal officials on a recent call, sources said.

Bitcoin dips below $79,000 as market digests silver sell-off, Trump's Fed chair pick

Bitcoin and Ethereum plunged following wide swings in the commodities market.

New ICE memo gives deportation officers more leeway to conduct warrantless arrests

The memo suggests the rules are designed to give ICE greater flexibility to quickly arrest unauthorized immigrants who are not the original targets of an operation.

Walk this way: new Australian hikes to try in 2026

From accessible urban strolls to multi-day treks through world heritage-listed sites, walkers are spoiled for choice

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There has never been a better time to be a hiker in Australia. Once solely the province of experienced backcountry bushwalkers, the country’s ever-expanding network of hiking trails now offers something for walkers of all abilities.

According to Ausplay, almost 4 million Australians go bushwalking each year, making it the third-most popular form of physical activity in the country, and in 2025 the AllTrails app saw an almost 300% year-on-year increase in distance walked by Australian users. The largest growth has been in long-distance hikes, and it’s no surprise the boom in trail construction is continuing across the country, with multiple big-ticket walks slated to break ground this year.