Hillary Clinton wants testimony on Jeffrey Epstein in public: 'Let's stop the games'

"You love to talk about transparency. There's nothing more transparent than a public hearing," Hillary Clinton told House Oversight Committee leaders.

Amazon earnings are out – here are the numbers

Investors are expected to focus on cloud growth, AI spending and the recent layoffs in Amazon's corporate workforce.

The White House is launching direct-to-consumer drug site Trump Rx. Here's what to know

It's still unclear if all patients, particularly those with insurance coverage, will see more cost savings from using that site to buy their medicines.

White House doubles down on Tulsi Gabbard’s presence at FBI raid of election center – live

Karoline Leavitt says director of national intelligence was there ‘to make sure that American elections are free of foreign interference’ while offering few details on her role

Amid the various winding comments throughout Trump’s speech today, he said that the Department of Education will officially issue its new guidance to protect the right to prayer in public schools today.

“Now the Democrats will sue us, but we’ll win it,” Trump said, eliciting some laughs from the audience at the National Prayer Breakfast. “They’ll sue us. They sue us for everything. I’m the most sued human being in history.”

France v Ireland: Six Nations 2026 opener – live

Six Nations match updates, 8.10pm GMT kick-off in Paris
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7 mins. The attack is contained by France and a forced pass in midfield is spilled by a green hand. France will have a scrum in their own 22.

5 mins. The Ireland scrum creaks, but holds enough for Gibson-Park to clear their lines. This but of solid work is followed soon after by Osborne banging a MASSIVE 50:22 to give his side their first attacking platform of the game.

Arizona officials confirm blood found at Nancy Guthrie’s home was hers

Pima county sheriff says police do not yet have a suspect in apparent kidnapping of Savannah Guthrie’s mother

Law enforcement chiefs in Arizona on Thursday confirmed that they found blood belonging to Nancy Guthrie, the mother of the TV anchor Savannah Guthrie, on the 84-year-old’s porch after she was reported missing from home at the weekend.

The sheriff of Pima county, Chris Nanos, said during a press conference authorities do not yet have a suspect in the apparent kidnapping.

‘They killed my sons’: chief of Nigerian village where jihadists massacred hundreds recounts night of terror

Umar Bio Salihu, 53, the local head of Woro in Kwara state, says gunmen ‘just came in and started shooting’

The traditional chief of a village in western Nigeria where jihadists massacred residents earlier this week has recounted a night of terror during which the attackers killed two of his sons and kidnapped his wife and three daughters.

Umar Bio Salihu, the 53-year-old chief of Woro, a small, Muslim-majority village in Kwara state, said that at about 5pm on Tuesday the gunmen “just came in and started shooting”.

Nancy Guthrie "still out there," sheriff says, as FBI offers $50,000 reward

Investigators have no proof that the missing mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie is still alive but are holding out hope she is "still out there," the sheriff said.

Plastic, please: Food displays almost good enough to eat

Across Japan, realistic-looking food displays are used by restaurants to demonstrate portion size and to lure customers. The fake food is becoming the best way for out-of-towners to get past the language barrier when they're looking for a meal. Seth Doane reports on the handcrafted food replicas and the ingredients used to make them look almost good enough to eat.

A celebration of fake books

A first-of-its-kind exhibit in New York City is drawing crowds of book enthusiasts. Ironically, none of the books featured are real. People who judge these so-called "Blooks" by their covers will have a surprise in store when they discover what's inside these rare, novelty items. Lee Cowan reports.

Minnesota activist arrested and charged with threatening ICE agents

Prosecutors allege that Kyle Wagner, 37, shared social media posts threatening ICE agents.

Massive release of Epstein files includes 3 million documents and photos

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

Layoffs jumped in January as companies pull back on hiring

Employers cut more than 108,000 jobs in January, the highest total for that month since 2009, new data shows.

Spokesperson says both Trump and Bondi asked Gabbard to be at FBI search

President Trump told NBC News he didn't know why Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was at the search of the Georgia county's elections office.

Sen. Warren, others urge FTC, DOJ to scrutinize tech AI 'acqui-hiring' deals for antitrust violations

The senators wrote that the FTC and DOJ should "carefully scrutinize these deals and block or reverse them should they violate antitrust law."

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.

How the Epstein scandal has shaken the British government to its core

Anger at former US ambassador Peter Mandelson’s relations with the child sex offender threatens to topple the prime minister

It was the one scandal that Donald Trump seemed unable to shake. No matter his best efforts to convince his supporter base that there was nothing to see here, the demands for the administration to release every document it had on the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein only grew.

Yet even after the most shocking revelations in the latest drop about Trump’s inner circle – involving everyone from Elon Musk to the Maga honcho Steve Bannon to the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, not to mention Trump himself – so far, it seems, the administration has escaped largely unscathed. Nobody has resigned, nobody has been fired, and certainly there is no sign that the US president is going anywhere.

Trump would decide whether to investigate Fed pick Warsh over refusal to cut rates: Bessent

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent left the door open to suing Kevin Warsh as Fed chair in testimony to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

The way, the Trump and the lies: prayer breakfast displays US right’s devil’s pact

Trump might not embody Christian values yet is the religious right’s chosen instrument to turn the tide against liberal, godless America

• US politics live – latest updates

They had come to say a prayer for the father, the son and the holy ghost.

The father was Donald Trump, who, despite sending federal militias to roam Minneapolis, threatening to invade Greenland and telling lies by the dozen, remains the lord and saviour of the religious right.

What a crowded congressional primary in N.J. says about the state of Democrats

The contest is one of the first congressional primaries of the year where we will find out what issues are currently resonating with some Democratic voters. Here are some key things to know.

The Winter Olympics in Italy were meant to be sustainable. Are they?

Italy's Winter Olympics promised sustainability. But in Cortina, environmentalists warn the Games could scar these mountains for decades.

Calls to halt UK Palantir contracts grow amid ‘lack of transparency’ over deals

Opposition MPs urge Labour to pause public contracts with the US tech firm after attempts to examine deals blocked

Labour should halt public contracts with the US tech company Palantir, opposition politicians have said, amid growing concern at the lack of government transparency over dealings with the company and Peter Mandelson.

Since 2023, Palantir has secured more than £500m in contracts with the NHS and the Ministry of Defence (MoD), while it employed Global Counsel, the lobbying firm founded by Mandelson. Emails released by the US Department of Justice show Mandelson sought help from Jeffrey Epstein to find “rich individuals” as clients.

Iran is betting that Trump does not have a plan for regime change

Although weakened by airstrikes, sanctions and domestic unrest, Tehran is surprisingly bullish before talks with US

When it comes to Iran and Donald Trump, there is so much bluff, backed by military hardware, that the truth rarely makes an appearance.

It appears that a bullish Iran is going into negotiations with the US on Friday adopting maximalist positions that do not seem greatly different to those it adopted in the five rounds of talks before the negotiations were abruptly halted by the surprise Israeli attack on Iran last June.

Bonobos can play make-believe much like children, study suggests

An ape was able to identify the location of imaginary objects in pretend scenarios, researchers find

Whether it’s playing at being doctors or hosting a toy’s tea party, children are adept at engaging in make-believe – now researchers say bonobos can do it too.

While there have been anecdotal reports of apes using imaginary objects, including apparently dragging pretend blocks across the floor, experts say it is possible such instances have other explanations.

‘Part of our biological toolkit’: newborn babies can anticipate rhythm in music, researchers find

Brain activity suggests newborns can detect and predict patterns relating to rhythm, study says

Newborn babies can anticipate rhythm in pieces of music, researchers have discovered, offering insights into a fundamental human trait.

Babies in the womb begin to respond to music by about eight or nine months, as shown by changes in their heart rate and body movements, said Dr Roberta Bianco, the first author of the research who is based at the Italian Institute of Technology in Rome.

‘Stark warning’: pesticide harm to wildlife rising globally, study finds

Toxicity from farm chemicals increased for most species groups between 2013 and 2019, with insects worst affected

Ecological harm from pesticides is growing globally, a study has found, with bugs, fish, pollinators and land-based plants among six species groups hit hardest.

Insects suffered the greatest increase in harm from synthetic farm chemicals between 2013 and 2019, the study shows, with “applied” toxicity rising by 42.9%, followed by soil organisms, which faced an increase of 30.8%.

Warren to call for reversal of Trump's UAE chip sales after 'Spy Sheikh' revelations

President Donald Trump made a deal in May to send 500,000 of the most advanced U.S. AI chips to the United Arab Emirates.

A timeline of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance as search intensifies

The search for Savannah's Guthrie's mom, Nancy Guthrie, stretches into a fifth day after she disappeared over the weekend.

Who entered Epstein's jail tier the night of his death? Files raise new questions.

Newly released documents from the Epstein files raise more questions about activity seen on video from the jail the night he died.

The Guardian view on Downing Street in crisis: Keir Starmer’s judgment looks fatally flawed | Editorial

The prime minister has said sorry for believing Peter Mandelson’s lies – but the Epstein connection should have been disqualification enough

Accused of terrible misjudgment in appointing Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington, Sir Keir Starmer says that questions were raised but answered with lies. Mandelson “portrayed Jeffrey Epstein as someone he barely knew” and was sacked as soon as it became clear the relationship had been much closer.

Addressing the scale of the deception on Thursday, the prime minister sounded authentically outraged. Mandelson had failed a “basic test of honesty” and “such deceit is incompatible with public service”. Credulity is not a great defence. Focusing on the lies obscures the extent of what was already known to be true when the fateful appointment was made.

The Guardian view on Saudi Arabia and the UAE: as former allies clash, others are likely to pay | Editorial

The growing rift between two Gulf powers will be felt across the Middle East and the Horn of Africa

In 2017, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates spearheaded a blockade of Qatar, disrupting trade, stability and lives in the region. Their de facto leaders – the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and Abu Dhabi’s then crown prince, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, now president of the UAE – had forged a close alliance. The older man had eagerly promoted the younger Saudi royal in Washington and elsewhere, and was seen as his mentor. Riyadh borrowed aspects of the UAE’s model, and the countries together intervened – at huge cost – against Houthi rebels in Yemen. Together they sought to contain the Arab spring and backed authoritarian rule in Egypt, Bahrain and elsewhere.

Yet by 2023 the relationship had soured: the Saudi crown prince reportedly accused the UAE of “stabb[ing] us in the back”. Late last year the disputes became spectacularly public. In Yemen, Southern secessionists backed by the UAE made dramatic advances in oil-rich areas – before being forced out by Saudi-backed forces. Riyadh effectively described the UAE as threatening its national security. Saudi commentators voiced increasing contempt for the kingdom’s former partner. In turn, a senior Emirati official complained of “wickedness” in the media campaign against it.

2 killed in police helicopter crash at active shooting scene in Arizona

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.

Ben Jennings on Keir Starmer, Peter Mandelson and Morgan McSweeney – cartoon

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Rape allegation against ex-Barclays CEO Jes Staley was raised in US Epstein investigation

Newly unsealed files claim the banker, who has denied any wrongdoing, forced a woman to touch his genitals during a massage before raping her

US prosecutors reviewed allegations of rape and bodily harm against the former Barclays boss and former JP Morgan banker Jes Staley, according to newly unsealed files linked to the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Multiple documents in the Epstein files cite serious allegations of sexual misconduct against Staley, including that he forced a woman to touch his genitals during a massage before raping her, and left “bloody marks” on the arms of a woman he called “tinkerbell”.

Cuba open to talks with US ‘without pressure’ after months of Trump threats

Miguel Díaz‑Canel says Cuba is willing to engage Washington amid the island’s deepening economic crisis

After months of threats from Donald Trump, the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has said that his government is willing to talk to the United States, just so long as it is “without pressure”.

Standing in front of a life-sized photograph of Fidel Castro carrying a rifle during the 1959 revolution, Díaz-Canel, the 65-year-old president, said on Thursday that his island nation had been subject to an “intense media campaigns of slander, hatred and psychological warfare”.

Why now is a good time to start house-hunting

Housing affordability is improving as more homeowners list their properties, according to data from Zillow.

Frank says Romero ‘dealt with internally’ for latest volley at Spurs owners

• Manager refuses to criticise captain for outburst

• ‘Too much attention’ given to social media post

Thomas Frank has refused to criticise Cristian Romero following his social media attack on Tottenham’s owners, saying the matter has been “dealt with internally”.

The Tottenham manager made his ambivalence about social media clear – “something I do know is that we all give it too much attention” – but stopped short of condemning his captain’s behaviour after last weekend’s draw with Manchester City, despite it being the second such outburst in as many months.

Mamdani takes sardonic view of Polymarket’s ‘free grocery store’ stunt in New York

Cryptocurrency-based prediction market announced it would open store in apparent nod to mayor’s signature policy

Zohran Mamdani made city-operated grocery stores a key pledge of his campaign for mayor of New York City. So when one company seemed to muscle in on the idea this week, apparently as a PR stunt, Mamdani was quick to reply.

Polymarket, the cryptocurrency-based prediction market, announced on Tuesday it would be opening “New York City’s first free grocery store,” seemingly a nod to the mayor’s signature policy. In a statement the firm said it hoped to “empower every New Yorker to achieve food security for good”, and that it had donated $1m to the Food Bank for NYC.

Shin Bet chief’s brother charged with ‘assisting enemy’ over cigarette smuggling in Gaza

Bezalel Zini accused of role in taking goods into the occupied Palestinian territory during an Israeli blockade

The brother of Israel’s internal security chief has been charged with “assisting the enemy in wartime” for his alleged role in a smuggling network taking cigarettes and other goods into Gaza during an Israeli blockade of the occupied Palestinian territory.

Bezalel Zini was one of more than 10 people charged in relation to the alleged network. His brother, David Zini, is the head of the Shin Bet, the domestic intelligence agency. He was appointed by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, last May and began the job in October.

Feyi-Waboso hands England Six Nations injury scare 48 hours before Wales opener

• Wing unable to complete training session on Thursday

• Daly the leading alternative if Exeter player ruled out

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso has given England a late injury scare before they start their Six Nations campaign against Wales on Saturday after pulling up in training.

The Exeter wing was unable to complete England’s session at Pennyhill Park due to a leg injury with Steve Borthwick’s medical staff investigating its extent on Thursday night.

Their film was shot in secret and smuggled out of Iran. It won an award at Sundance

Between war, protests and government crackdowns, the filmmakers raced to finish and smuggle their portrait of Tehran's underground arts scene to the prestigious film festival.

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.

Restoring Palace of Westminster could cost £40bn and take 61 years

Home of UK parliament spends £1.5m a week on repairs but critics say restoration proposals lack accountability

Plans to restore the crumbling Palace of Westminster could cost £40bn and take up to 61 years, a report by the body set up to investigate how the project should be handled has found.

Critics labelled the cost as “eye-watering” and said the project lacked accountability.

What Savannah Guthrie video reveals about strategy to get mom home

In a video message, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings sought to tell their mother's possible abductor – or abductors – that they are "ready to talk."

Florida euthanizes 5,000 iguanas after cold snap stuns the invasive reptiles

State culled a number of the non-native reptiles after thousands were ‘cold-stunned’ and dropped from trees

Wildlife officials in Florida say they euthanized more than 5,000 non-native iguanas in the state after hordes of the reptiles froze and fell from trees in this week’s cold snap.

The Florida fish and wildlife commission (FWC) authorized the first officially sanctioned cull of “cold-stunned” iguanas as temperatures plunged below freezing in many areas of the state.

U.S. and Russia agree to resume military-to-military communication

The U.S. on Thursday announced the resumption of dialogue with Russia's military, which had been suspended since 2021.

Day 5 of search for Nancy Guthrie: 'We still believe Nancy is still out there'

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the recovery of Guthrie and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.

Eight current and former Toronto police arrested in organized crime inquiry

Investigation exposes ‘corrosive’ reach of organized crime in Canada, with links to bribes, drug trade and a murder plot

At least eight current and former Toronto police officers have been arrested following a sweeping investigation that officials say exposed the “corrosive” reach of organized crime into Canada’s largest municipal police service.

Police allege fellow officers accepted bribes, aided drug traffickers, leaked personal information to criminals who then carried out shootings and helped members of organized crime in a plot to murder a corrections officer.

Criminals plot to sack Super Bowl fans for a loss with these online scams

Lawmakers are warning Americans to beware the many financial scams linked to Super Bowl LX, from fake betting sites to counterfeit tickets.

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

Exclusive: Luxury aircraft owned by property tycoon close to US president’s family has twice flown Palestinian men from Arizona to Tel Aviv

On the morning of 21 January, Israeli authorities left eight Palestinian men at a West Bank checkpoint. Disoriented and cold, they were dressed in prison-issued tracksuits and carried their few belongings in plastic bags.

Hours earlier, they had been sitting with their wrists and ankles shackled on the plush leather seats of a private jet owned by the Florida property tycoon Gil Dezer, a longtime business partner of Donald Trump.

Pipe leaks and puck joy: Milan’s winter wasteland comes alive for ice hockey opener

The hosts managed to just about get the Santagiulia arena ready for Italy’s win over France – and the locals responded

‘Ladies and gentlemen! The women’s preliminary Group B match between Italy and France will get under way in five minutes! And the question is: Are! You! Ready! For! Hockey?!” Well, quite.

That had been the question for the past five months, as it happens, ever since it first became obvious that construction of Milan’s new Santagiulia arena was running massively behind schedule. At the test event last month the ice was grey because there was so much building dust in it, and midway through the match a man had to come on to the rink to repair a melted patch with a watering can.

David Furnish calls alleged phone hacks of him and Elton John ‘an abomination’

Furnish says he and his husband felt ‘violated’ by the Daily Mail, which allegedly used information gained unlawfully

David Furnish has said it is “an abomination” that the publisher of the Daily Mail was able to write “narrow-minded” stories about him and his husband, Elton John, using information allegedly secured by unlawful means.

In evidence submitted to the high court, Furnish said he and John had been “violated” by the Mail, after being told that it had worked with private detectives to intercept their phone calls and personal details.

Republicans pan Democrats' demands for ICE reform as DHS funding cliff nears

Senate Republicans criticized Democrats' list of demands to rein in ICE, further reducing the odds of reaching a deal on DHS funding.

Volcanic vulvas and hermaphrodite marble: Ovid’s Metamorphoses reshaped at the Rijksmuseum

Artists from Bernini to Louise Bourgeois are brought together in a new exhibition exploring the uncomfortable erotic parables of the ancient Roman poet

On three massive screens in a darkened room, snakes glide over the face of artist Juul Kraijer – covering her eyes, caressing her lips. She is the silent but terrifying snake-headed Medusa, and one of the surprises in an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam revolving around Greek and Roman myths.

While the show features rarely lent works from masters such as Caravaggio, Bernini, Rodin and Brâncuși, it marries them with modern artists who reinterpret the legends where male gods do all they can to get their wicked way and the powerless are punished. Transgender bodies, bare breasts and even a volcanic vulva appear in artworks inspired by Roman poet Ovid’s masterpiece, Metamorphoses.

Purr-fect casting: is Orangey the most important movie cat ever?

A new retrospective celebrates the work of the cat credited with roles in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Comedy of Terrors and Rhubarb

In the midst of Oscar season, it becomes evident just how much work it takes to win an Academy Award, both in on-screen work and off-screen campaigning. Consider, however, that multiple actors have won more than one Oscar. (Emma Stone, one of this year’s best actress nominees, won twice in the past decade.) Only a single cat, meanwhile, has twice won the Patsy – the Picture Animal Top Star of the Year. (The award, given by the American Humane Association, not to be confused with the Humane Society, was discontinued in 1986.) That cat is Orangey, the subject of a small retrospective at New York City’s Metrograph cinema. Plenty of rep houses will play a movie like Breakfast at Tiffany’s around Valentine’s Day; the Metrograph is going deeper into the Orangey catalogue for a wider variety of titles and genres.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s does offer Orangey his most famous role: the rather less colorfully named Cat, pet of Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn), who calls him a “poor slob without a name”. Orangey features heavily in the film’s climax, when Holly releases her pet into an alley as she prepares to leave town, only to have Paul (George Peppard) rush to retrieve him. It completes a running thread that Cat is a part of Holly’s wildness as well as her potential domestication. What better animal, of course, than one equally prone to draping himself over his makeshift mistress and making yowling leaps around her apartment?

Former Washington Post executive editor criticizes sweeping layoffs at newspaper

The Washington Post laid off more than 300 journalists, about one-third of its staff. Martin Baron, the former executive editor of The Washington Post, joins CBS News 24/7 Mornings to talk about the recent layoffs at the newspaper.

UK to cut climate finance to poor countries by a fifth despite promising more help

Exclusive: Campaigners say proposed cut from £11.9bn over past five years to £9bn over next five years will cost lives and livelihoods

The UK plans to slash its aid to poor countries stricken by the climate crisis by more than a fifth, the Guardian has learned, despite promises to increase assistance and warnings from campaigners that the move will cost lives and livelihoods.

Ministers plan to cut climate finance for the developing world from £11.6bn over the past five years to £9bn in the next five. In real terms, accounting for inflation, this would represent a cut of about 40% in spending power since 2021, when the £11.6bn budget was agreed.

‘People are turning themselves into lab rats’: the injectable peptides craze sweeping the US

Though lab-made peptides are touted as a cure-all, they are not FDA-regulated and pose serious risks, experts warn

Here’s a new trend that sounds unwise: buying unregulated substances from dealers in foreign countries and injecting them into your body.

And yet, grey-market injectable peptides – a category of substances with obscure, alphanumeric names like BPC-157, GHK-Cu, or TB-500 – have developed a devoted following among biohackers and health optimizers.

Gwen John: Strange Beauties review – Wales’s great modern artist stuns us with the glory of solitude

National Museum, Cardiff
In a superb, mystical retrospective, the painter sheds social trappings – and her clothes – as she uses her enormous intelligence to paint purely

This is Gwen John straight, no chaser. Cardiff’s National Museum has put together a superb, daunting retrospective of the woman who is now, perhaps, the most famous Welsh artist. It is not a blow-by-blow biographical story of how she was born in Haverfordwest in 1876, how she and her brother Augustus both loved art as children, how she insisted on going to the Slade School of Fine Art like him then made her life in bohemian France. Instead, the moment you enter the show, you are plunged into her spiritual, austere existence. We meet her in the glory of her solitude, painting cats and the sparse rooms she rented in Paris and women alone in moments of calm thought.

There is a row of variants of a young woman in a blue dress with long dark hair sitting weakly in an armchair, a table at her elbow, all painted in about 1920. In most there’s a cup and teapot on the table, in one it’s a bowl of soup. She looks down as she reads a letter, occasionally a book. Their titles vary too – The Letter, The Seated Woman, The Convalescent.

Leicester City in relegation danger after six-point deduction for financial rules breach

• Leicester breached PSR rules for period ending 2023-24

• Club outside the relegation zone on goal difference

Leicester have been deducted six points after being found in breach of the Premier League’s financial rules. The punishment, determined by an independent disciplinary commission, leaves them outside the Championship relegation zone only on goal difference.

A hearing took place in November after Leicester were alleged to have breached profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) for the three-season period ending with 2023-24. There were also two further charges against the club for failing to cooperate and failing to submit their financial accounts on time.

We can reverse America’s decline | Bernie Sanders

It is not good enough just to criticize Trump. We must offer a positive vision that will improve the lives of Americans

At this difficult moment in American history, it’s imperative that we have the courage to be honest with ourselves.

The United States, once the envy of the world, is now a nation in profound decline. For the sake of our children and future generations, we must reverse that decline and change, in very fundamental ways, the direction of our country.

Italian investigated over claims he paid to shoot people during siege of Sarajevo

Former truck driver, now 80, allegedly one of many ‘sniper tourists’ who paid Bosnian Serb soldiers to be allowed fire on city

An elderly Italian man is under investigation as part of an investigation by prosecutors in Milan into individuals who allegedly paid members of the Bosnian Serb army for trips to Sarajevo so they could kill citizens during the four-year siege of the city in the 1990s.

The 80-year-old is being investigated on charges of aggravated murder, a source close to the case told the Guardian. The man, a former truck driver from the northern Italian region of Veneto, is the first suspect to be placed under investigation since the inquiry began in November.

Trump says he wants proposed arch to be world's "biggest"

The proposed site is situated along a flight path for nearby Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia.

Trump "deploying all resources" to get Savannah Guthrie's mom home

President Trump said he is directing all federal law enforcement to be at the "complete disposal" of Savannah Guthrie's family as the search continues for her mother, Nancy Guthrie.

Trump officials propose testing a citizenship question amid a push to alter the census

The Trump administration proposes to include a question about U.S. citizenship status in this year's field test of the 2030 census, as Republicans push to alter the counts behind voting maps.

Some Public Health Service officers deployed in detention centers suffer 'moral distress'

A special corps of health care workers have been called in to work with detained immigrants and many feel deeply conflicted about the assignment, saying they're not able to provide good care.

Mr Rules hits tipping point as Mandelson proves the one mistake that can’t be undone

There is a look of despair in Starmer’s eyes – and a feeling in the room that the endgame has begun

It’s beginning to feel terminal. Not that there hasn’t been talk of Labour MPs wanting to remove Keir Starmer before. Just that this time there’s the sense of a tipping point being reached. No more second chances. No praying for a miracle that will never come in the May elections. A quantum shift of collective despair.

You can’t escape the irony. Starmer has always prided himself on being Mr Rules. It’s how he got elected. He might be a bit dull and lack charisma, but you can count on him to be reliable. To play by the rules. And now he has been undone by having given the prime Washington job to a man who was the epitome of Mr No Rules. And he had thought he had been so clever by acting out of character to make Peter Mandelson the US ambassador. Many in his cabinet had congratulated him, as had many Tories. A sleazy diplomat for a sleazy president. A match made in heaven.

Layoffs in January were the highest to start a year since 2009, Challenger says

With the recent narrative centering on a no-hire, no-fire labor market, the data suggests that the layoff part of the equation could be stepping up.

Exclusive discounts from CBS Mornings Deals

On this edition of CBS Mornings Deals, we show you items that might just become essentials in your everyday life. Visit cbsdeals.com to take advantage of these exclusive deals today. CBS earns commissions on purchases made through cbsdeals.com.

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.

Why is monogamy in crisis? The animal kingdom could give us some clues | Elle Hunt

As fewer people choose to pair up, let alone marry, it could be that our species’ mating patterns are moving closer to the natural order

Monogamy, you may have heard, is in crisis. Fewer people are in relationships, let alone opting to be in one ’til death. And even those who have already exchanged vows seem to be increasingly looking for wiggle room. “Quiet divorce” – mentally checking out of your union, rather than going through the rigmarole of formally dissolving it – is reportedly on the rise, as is “ethical non-monogamy” (ENM) and opening up a relationship to include other partners.

This is borne out by my experience on mainstream dating apps. About one profile in every 10 I come across seems to express a preference for “ENM” or polyamory, or mentions an existing wife or girlfriend. The best you can hope for, if you’re prepared to accept those terms, is that the “primary partner” really is across the arrangement as described.

Elle Hunt is a freelance journalist

Liam Rosenior accuses Arsenal of lack of respect after disruption to Chelsea warm-up

• Arsenal staff member was in Chelsea half before cup tie

• ‘There are certain etiquettes in football,’ Rosenior says

Liam Rosenior has accused Arsenal of disrespecting Chelsea by disrupting their warm-up before the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.

Television cameras caught Chelsea’s head coach losing his cool and aiming a foul-mouthed outburst at an unidentified member of Arsenal staff for straying into the wrong half of the pitch before the sides met at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday. Rosenior, who was seen telling someone to stay in their half, looked livid at the time and said on Thursday that there were “certain etiquettes in football” to observe, after being asked why the incident angered him so much.

Summer travel disruption fears over new biometric checks at European borders

Industry leaders urge EU to tell authorities to stand down entry-exit system controls if needed

Travel industry leaders have called on the European Commission to tell all border authorities to stand down the new entry-exit system (EES) if needed as fears increase of summer disruption.

European airports have warned of a potentially “disastrous” experience for passengers and huge queues unless the biometric controls for foreign visitors are relaxed.

The Goldberg Variations album review – Yunchan Lim untangles Bach’s complex web of threads

Yunchan Lim
(Decca)
The 21-year-old pianist gives a fine, muscular account of the Goldbergs, with touches of playfulness, in this live recording from Carnegie Hall

Yunchan Lim recorded the Goldberg Variations live at Carnegie Hall last year, riding the momentum of a run of performances, including two in London. Those who enjoyed his interpretation at Wigmore Hall will find plenty of the same rewarding elements here, not least the seeming ease with which the 21-year-old pianist untangles the music’s complex web of threads. Yet it’s good to find his interpretation wasn’t set in stone. Perhaps the New York performance had a more muscular bent, or perhaps the hints of romanticism in the later variations in London don’t register as strongly on a recording as in the hall.

What is more striking on the recording is a strength in the faster variations that sometimes verges on the mechanical: impressive, and a little overdone. There are touches of playfulness too – when in a couple of the variations he switches to a higher octave, the music sounds like it’s on helium, lighter than air. The slow variation halfway through is deeply felt, the long 25^th variation touchingly done without quite staring into the abyss in the way that some performances do. It will be interesting to hear how Lim’s interpretation of the Goldbergs develops over the years, but this is a fine account to start with.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë audiobook review – Aimee Lou Wood reads the romance of the moment

As Emerald Fennell’s provocative adaptation hits screens, this narration from the White Lotus actor reminds us of the brilliance of Brontë’s tempestuous novel

Rare is the Wuthering Heights adaptation that fails to ruffle the feathers of the Brontë faithful. Andrea Arnold’s 2011 film was criticised for its grit and gloom while Emerald Fennell’s new version, which arrives in cinemas on Valentine’s Day, was described as “aggressively provocative” after test screenings. Perhaps now is the time to return to the source material. In the audioverse, there have already been readings by Michael Kitchener, Daniel Massey, Juliet Stevenson, Patricia Routledge and Joanne Froggatt, though I favour this 2020 edition narrated by Aimee Lou Wood, of Sex Education and The White Lotus fame.

Set in Yorkshire, Emily Brontë’s tempestuous novel opens with Mr Lockwood, the new tenant at Thrushcross Grange, visiting his sullen landlord, Heathcliff, at his remote farmhouse where he gets snowed in. Bedding down for the night, he stumbles upon the diaries of the late Catherine Earnshaw, who writes of her love for Heathcliff, an orphan brought by her father to live with the family. Later Mr Lockwood has a nightmare in which the ghost of Catherine begs to be let in through the window (a scene immortalised in song by Kate Bush). The following day he returns to Thrushcross Grange where he asks the housekeeper, Nellie, to tell him about the Earnshaws. Nellie shares a dark tale of abuse, revenge and doomed love.

‘You should see the cricket ball’ jokes Ben Stokes after being struck in the face

• Test captain has bruised eye and grazes to cheek and lip

• 34-year-old is back in England after dismal Ashes tour

Ben Stokes has sustained a significant facial injury after being struck by a cricket ball.

The England Test captain posted a picture on Instagram showing his right eye heavily swollen and bruised, a graze on his cheek and lip, and a bandage stuffed in his nose. He captioned the picture: “You should see the state of the cricket ball.”

'More relevant every day' in the U.S.: A filmmaker documented Russia's journalists

Julia Loktev's documentary My Undesirable Friends follows young independent journalists covering Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

States and hometowns with the most 2026 Winter Olympic athletes

Explore which states have the highest number of athletes competing for the U.S. Olympic team at the 2026 Winter Games, and search for your own hometown.

Second day of Ukraine-Russia peace talks in UAE end without breakthrough

Prisoner exchange agreed at most significant contact between Kyiv and Moscow in months, but ‘work remains’

Ukraine and Russia concluded a second day of US-led talks in Abu Dhabi on Thursday without a breakthrough towards ending Europe’s most deadly conflict since the second world war.

The two sides agreed to a reciprocal exchange of 157 prisoners of war each, offering a rare concrete outcome from the discussions.

Amazon pulls Melania from Oregon cinema after owner’s criticism as rumours mount over ‘fake ticket sales’

Owner of local cinema says Amazon is upset at way they marketed movie as some in US say healthy ticket sales are not reflected by empty seats

An independent cinema in Oregon has claimed Amazon pulled screenings of their documentary about Melania Trump in protest at the cinema’s marketing strategy.

As reported by local newspaper the Lake Oswego Review, the general manager of the Lake Theater & Cafe has claimed the corporation cancelled future screenings of Brett Ratner’s authorised study of the first lady after being alerted to promotional pushes such as: “To defeat your enemy. You must know them. Melania” and “Does Melania wear Prada? Find out on Friday!”

Dubai’s potent lure: the reality behind the real-estate frenzy

Bankers and billionaires are flocking to the city where income tax is zero but critics say it ignores money laundering – and pay disparities are huge

• Business live – latest updates

Aidan Doyle was an estate agent in Liverpool before he decamped to Dubai and turned a £30,000 annual income into £500,000 a year and climbing.

Acting as an agent for buyers and sellers, Doyle has seen his commission soar beyond anything he could hope to generate in the UK after just three years in the city, one of seven city-states in the United Arab Emirates.

After high school, a friend I was very close to drifted away. Should I seek closure from her? | Leading questions

Getting closure and reaching out are two different questions, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. One may not help with the other

• Read more Leading questions

Should I try to seek closure with a person I used to love but drifted apart from, or is it best to leave them be?

There’s a person I used to be really close to who doesn’t talk to me any more. We didn’t have a fight. We just drifted, but I still think about them all the time.

Postcard-pretty … and filled with pollution: how Brazil’s fishers are reviving Rio de Janeiro’s famous bay

A mangrove conservation project in Guanabara Bay has shown how a dying ecosystem can be transformed into a thriving sanctuary

With deep blue waters flanked by dramatic peaks, Guanabara Bay is the postcard view of Rio de Janeiro – but it is also one of Brazil’s most polluted coastal environments. Raw sewage and solid waste flow into the bay from surrounding cities, home to more than 8 million people. Cargo ships and oil platforms chug in and out of commercial ports, while dozens of abandoned vessels lie rotting in the water.

But at the head of the bay, between the cities of Itaboraí and Magé, the environment feels different. The air is purer, the waters are empty but for small fishing canoes, and flocks of birds soar overhead.

‘Penis injection’ claims in Winter Olympics ski jumping investigated by Wada

• Bild claims acid injections used to alter jumpers’ suits

• ‘If anything was to come to the surface we’d look at it’

During its 26-year history, the World Anti-Doping Agency has faced thousands of questions about athletes using illicit substances. Thursday, however, surely marked the first time it was asked whether ski jumpers were injecting their penises with hyaluronic acid in order to fly further.

The Wada president Witold Banka’s reaction? “Ski jumping is very popular in Poland [Banka’s home country] so I promise you I’m going to look at it,” he said, with a wry smile.

Infantino and Coventry backing Russia’s return shows sport’s soft power is in rotten hands | Emma John

The actions of Fifa’s fawning president as well as the Olympics leader’s call for ‘neutral ground’ underscores the hollowness of the global bodies’ values

In an ever more complex world, it is always good to have figures who can simplify things for us. A single person, making it crystal clear where they stand and what for, can be the light in the darkness that helps you navigate today’s turbulent waters.

That’s why I’m so grateful for Gianni Infantino. The man is the ultimate guide to geopolitics, and a waypost for anyone confused by the moral labyrinth they find themselves living in. Whichever way he’s pointing, you can feel confident you should be headed in the opposite direction.

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.

Anger over Scottish salmon farm inspections amid 35m unexpected fish deaths

Animal Equality says two surprise inspections in three years suggests ‘embarrassingly poor’ level of scrutiny

Scottish salmon farmers recorded more than 35m unexpected salmon deaths in just under three years but there were only two unannounced inspections of facilities over the same period.

In December, the Scottish government’s secretary for rural affairs, Mairi Gougeon, said that there was “a really robust regulatory regime when it comes to fin-fish aquaculture” but animal welfare campaigners say the figures call that claim into question.

Spain hits back at Pavel Durov over mass Telegram post on social media ban plan

Founder’s extraordinary intervention has laid bare rising tensions between European governments and tech firms

• Europe live – latest updates

Spain has accused Pavel Durov of “spreading lies” and seeking to undermine democratic institutions after the Telegram founder used the messaging app to attack government plans to introduce a social media ban for under-16s and to hold tech companies responsible for hateful and harmful content.

Durov’s extraordinary public intervention – which came a day after Elon Musk called Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, a “true fascist totalitarian” over the proposed measures – reveals the rapidly escalating tensions between European governments and powerful global technology chiefs.

The Cardigans’ Nina Persson: ‘Ozzy said our Black Sabbath cover was the creepiest thing he’d ever heard’

The Swedish band’s frontwoman answers your questions on ‘sweet and curious’ Tom Jones, being changed by cancer and whether the Cardigans will ever make new music

Are you a fan of actual cardigans? garythenotrashcougar
I can see the genius of them as items of clothing, but I never looked good in a cardigan. Our [former] songwriter and guitar player [Peter Svensson] suggested the name. We were super anglophiles. We loved British music. Our first album is called Emmerdale because the series was shown on Swedish TV every day, titled Home to the Farm. We romanticised something sort of rainy and hazy and woolly … like the cardigan.

I like covers that have a new take on the original, so I really enjoyed your lounge-style version of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. What made you choose that band [Black Sabbath] and song in particular? NotDrivingAMiniMetro
We were big fans – for a heavy band there’s a real pop sentiment in the songwriting – and I think it’s interesting when a cover is a stretch away from your natural sound. As a woman, I thought singing a song done by very manly men gave it a wonderfully creepy aspect. Ozzy [Osbourne] came to see us in Los Angeles and said it was the creepiest thing he’d ever heard, which coming from him is the biggest compliment.

‘I’m so co-o-old’: ahead of Wuthering Heights, the 20 best films with dreadful weather – ranked!

As we don our oilskins for the release of Emerald Fennell’s rain-lashed romance, we count down the films pitting their stars against the elements

Pathetic fallacy is the literary device in which the environment reflects a character’s mood. It is central to Disney’s animated classic, which is about a woman who gets so annoyed that she literally turns her surroundings into a perpetual winter. As such, she is responsible for untold miseries, not least the fact that her stroppiness directly caused the invention of Josh Gad’s annoying snowman.

Measles continues to spread in the US, but with some letup

As South Carolina's outbreak grows to 876 confirmed cases, vaccinations in the state surged in January. Cases have also been reported in two ICE detention facilities.

Homan to draw down agents in Minnesota. And, U.S.-Russia nuclear arms deal expires

U.S. border czar Tom Homan says 700 federal agents will be leaving Minnesota. And, the New START Treaty between the U.S. and Russia expired today.

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.

Emerald Fennell hopes Wuthering Heights will ‘provoke a primal response’

Speaking in conversation at the BFI Southbank in London, the director of the much-anticipated Brontë adaptation also revealed that Margot Robbie asked to play Cathy

Emerald Fennell has revealed that Margot Robbie asked if she could play the lead role in the adaptation of Wuthering Heights before she had approached the actor to do so.

Robbie, whose production company LuckyChap Entertainment produced the film, asked if she could play Cathy after reading the script. “I sent it to them to produce, and Margot luckily asked if she might play Cathy,” said Fennell in conversation at the BFI Southbank in London.

‘We can learn from the old’: how architects are returning to the earth to build homes for the future

Rammed earth sourced from, or near, the grounds of a proposed building site is attracting attention as an eco-friendly construction material

From afar, the low-rise homestead perched in the Wiltshire countryside may look like any other rural outpost, but step closer and the texture of the walls reveal something distinct from the usual facade of cement, brick and steel.

The Rammed Earth House in Cranborne Chase is one of the few projects in the UK that has been made by unstabilised rammed earth – a building material that consists entirely of compacted earth and which has been used as far back as the Neolithic period.

A Winter Olympics training ski crash and a graduation ceremony: photos of the day – Thursday

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

What a ​four-​year-​old ​taught ​us ​about the ​magic of ​baking​ a chocolate ​cake

In a kitchen ruled by ​a t​iny, adorable dictator, even the most familiar recipe becomes an adventure – filled with dragons, sprinkles and unexpected wisdom

• Sign up here for our weekly food newsletter, Feast

Valentine’s is on the horizon, which means we are about to officially enter chocolate cake season – that soft-focus part of winter when confectionery and romance blur together. For our four-year-old goddaughter, it is always that time of year. Just hearing the two words together makes her roll her eyes and roll out her little tongue in anticipation of pleasure, like a cartoon kid. When we told her we would come and bake a chocolate cake with her, there were squeals of joy.

Settling on a recipe was the first challenge – Ravneet Gill’s fudgy one, Felicity Cloake’s perfect one and Benjamina Ebuehi’s traybaked one were all contenders. We eventually landed on Samin Nosrat’s much-loved, tried-and-tested midnight chocolate cake.

The Winter Olympics get 8 new events, including the first new sport in decades

Ski mountaineering will make its Olympic debut this year, the first winter sport to do so since 2002. Skeleton, luge, ski jumping and moguls are also getting new events.

Mandy, Indiana: Urgh review | Laura Snapes' album of the week

(Sacred Bones)
The Manchester/Berlin band’s second album refines their industrial-club sound, as physical and hyper-detailed as being dragged under by a wave and admiring the flotsam

Mandy, Indiana are not a band inclined to make life easy for themselves. They wanted to record their debut album, 2023’s I’ve Seen a Way, in a Peak District cave known as the Devil’s Arse, although budget restrictions meant they had to settle for one day in Somerset’s Wookey Hole caverns. The Manchester/Berlin-based four-piece’s new album, Urgh, was written in what they’ve called “an intense residency at an eerie studio house” near Leeds; at the time, singer Valentine Caulfield and drummer Alex Macdougall were both undergoing multiple rounds of surgery. Given the industrial, siren-like intensity of their music, in which Caulfield chants about personal and societal horrors in her native French, impounding themselves in such a place might have seemed unnecessarily masochistic.

Mandy, Indiana seem to feel a moral imperative to embrace extremes. Caulfield has often reiterated her (accurate) stance that “if you’re not angry, then you’re not paying attention”; her incantatory lyrics to new song Dodecahedron indict complacency in the face of a burning world. Given the grievous state of things, the band’s short-circuiting assault may hold about as much appeal for some listeners as sticking your fingers in a live socket – but for those inclined to catharsis, they also fully understand the imperative to push beyond merely observing injustice to viscerally embody its head-spinning force. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Donald Trump is making China great again | Steven Greenhouse

The president’s policies have weakened the US’s competitive position and undermined its alliances to China’s advantage

If Donald Trump’s presidency has any theme (beyond self-promotion), it’s that his “America First” agenda will Make America Great Again. Unfortunately for the American people, if Trump’s maneuvers and machinations have made any nation greater, it’s been China, not the United States.

During Trump’s first term, he treated China as a strategic rival and often talked of checking its rise. His administration complained that China was seeking to “challenge American power” and “erode American security and prosperity”. But during his first year back in the White House, Trump – in governing by whim and impulse with little strategic vision - has done lots to Make China Great Again.

Steven Greenhouse is a journalist and author, focusing on labour and the workplace, as well as economic and legal issues

Arctic Fever: new exhibit finds 19th-century parallels to Trump’s Greenland obsession

As far back as 1867, White House officials have viewed Greenland, and Iceland, as having immense strategic value

Shortly before the United States descended into civil war and senior administration officials made a forceful case to purchase Greenland for its natural resources, an American ship appeared in Nuuk’s harbour. Its arrival at Greenland’s largest outpost was newsworthy enough to merit a large picture in the local newspaper.

The clipping, published in 1861, comes from the pages of the Atuagagdliutt, a Kalaallisut-language weekly that was the first in the world to use colour illustrations.