Trump trade adviser Navarro says administration may force data center builders like Meta to 'internalize' costs
Data centers powering artificial intelligence have strained the electrical grid and driven utility costs higher for consumers.
15th February 2026 20:24
The Guardian
Authorities appeal for video footage as Nancy Guthrie search enters third week with no arrests
Authorities await DNA test results from pair of gloves found near home as search continues to draw national attention
The search for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC’s Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie, has entered its third week, as investigators ask neighbors within a two-mile radius to share home video footage and authorities await DNA test results from a pair of gloves found near the home.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on the evening of 31 January, when she was dropped off at her home in the Catalina foothills north of Tucson, Arizona, after having dinner with her older daughter and son-in-law. She was reported missing the following day, after she failed to arrive at a friend’s house to watch a church service.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 20:20Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Feb. 15, 2026
On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, Tom Homan and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries join Ed O'Keefe.
15th February 2026 20:15A timeline of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance as search stretches on
Savannah Guthrie's mom, Nancy Guthrie, was reported missing Feb. 1.
15th February 2026 19:43
The Guardian
Fast-spreading measles outbreak takes hold among under-10s in north London
UK Health Security Agency urges parents in Enfield to get their children vaccinated as Easter holiday travels approach
A big measles outbreak in north-east London is affecting unvaccinated children under the age of 10, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed.
UKHSA previously reported 34 laboratory-confirmed measles cases among children who attend schools and nurseries in Enfield from 1 January to 9 February, with some requiring hospital treatment.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 19:37Glove found near Nancy Guthrie's home appears to match suspect in video, FBI says
Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie, was last seen on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day, Feb. 1.
15th February 2026 19:34
The Guardian
UK’s top prosecutor says ‘nobody above law’ amid claims against former prince Andrew
Director of public prosecutions says he is confident police would examine any evidence of potential misconduct
The UK’s top prosecutor has said “nobody is above the law” amid growing pressure on police to fully investigate Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s links with Jeffrey Epstein.
Thames Valley police said earlier this week they were in discussion with the Crown Prosecution Service over allegations of misconduct in public office against the former prince.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 19:24
The Guardian
India rout Pakistan in T20 World Cup grudge match after Kishan’s ‘amazing’ innings
Opener’s 77 proves decisive on tricky pitch
A day of no handshakes, and for Pakistan many head shakes. India coasted to victory in what became global cricket’s most lucrative mismatch after a superlative innings from the opener Ishan Kishan skewed it definitively in their favour.
In its second half a game that was dramatically off and then on again became one where a parade of Pakistan batters were dramatically in and then out again. Chasing a target of 176 they were seven down before they even got halfway, and were eventually skittled for 114 to lose by 61 runs.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 19:06
The Guardian
Weston and Stoecker strike gold to cap GB’s greatest day at Winter Olympics
British pair triumph in mixed team skeleton event
Bankes and Nightingale win mixed snowboard cross
Great Britain had their greatest day at a Winter Olympics, after Matt Weston and Tabby Stoecker won gold in the mixed team skeleton in a combined time of 1min 59.35sec. It was the British team’s second gold medal in the space of just a few hours, following the victory by Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale in the mixed team snowboard cross earlier in the afternoon.
Weston has now become the first British athlete to win two medals at the same Winter Olympic Games, and only the second Team GB athlete, after Lizzy Yarnold, to win two winter gold medals in a career.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 19:04
The Guardian
Rosebush Pruning review – dysfunctional rich family move in strange circles
Jamie Bell and Elle Fanning lead a starry cast in this clumsy satire that provides little fascination in a wealthy family’s suffocating lives
Since Jesse Armstrong’s Succession and Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, wealthy, spoilt, dysfunctional siblings are the new rock’n’roll, and now here is a film from Greek screenwriter Efthimis Filippou (co-author of Yorgos Lanthimos’s Alps and Dogtooth) and directed by Karim Aïnouz. It is a weird-wave contrivance concerning a messed-up US plutocrat clan living in Spain, freely remade from Marco Bellocchio’s 1965 film Fists in the Pocket. Their bizarre and cartoony secrets, involving sex abuse, manipulation and self-harm, are satirically symptomatic of capitalism and the patriarchy, and how the rich, however entrepreneurial and smart, create a next-gen class of useless drones, on whose behalf all this wealth has supposedly been accumulated. I have to admit to finding it heavy-handed and clumsy more often than not, although there are some good performances, notably from Jamie Bell and Elle Fanning.
A strange extended family lives in a luxurious modernist house; the father (Tracy Letts) is a blind widower haunted by the memories of his late wife (Pamela Anderson) who was savaged by wolves in a nearby forest. His grownup children, infantilised by wealth, all live there: highly strung Robert (Lukas Gage) has epilepsy, and is entrusted with supervising his father’s horse riding; Anna (Riley Keough) is a talentless singer-songwriter; and Ed (Callum Turner) is a would-be fashionista. First among equals is Jack (Jamie Bell), who has the intimate honour of helping his father with his nightly teeth-cleaning; their mother’s teeth were always dazzlingly white.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 19:03This week on "Sunday Morning" (Feb. 15)
A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the Emmy-winning program, hosted by Jane Pauley.
15th February 2026 19:01
NPR Topics: News
At least 6,000 killed over 3 days during RSF attack on Sudan's el-Fasher, UN says
More than 6,000 people were killed in over three days when a Sudanese paramilitary group unleashed "a wave of intense violence" in Sudan's Darfur region in late October, according to the UN.
15th February 2026 18:55Steamer that sunk in Lake Michigan more than 150 years ago has been found
The Lac La Belle was one of the most popular steamers on Lake Michigan. It went down in 1872.
15th February 2026 18:53
The Guardian
Eberechi Eze inspires Arsenal to emphatic FA Cup victory against Wigan
It has been a testing few months for the man who scored the winner for Crystal Palace in last season’s FA Cup final. But after being hooked at half-time during the disappointing draw with Brentford on Thursday when Mikel Arteta said he is still adapting to life in north London, perhaps this competition could help breathe new life into Eberechi Eze’s Arsenal career.
As well as providing assists for Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli’s opening goals – albeit against a poor Wigan side who are languishing in League One’s relegation zone – the England midfielder’s swagger was back for the first time since he scored a hat-trick in the north London derby in November.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 18:51
The Guardian
Femke Kok dominates 500m speed skating to end Jackson’s hopes of retaining Olympic title
Dutch star’s years of dominance culminates in gold
Jutta Leerdam wins silver in Dutch one-two
USA’s Erin Jackson misses out on retaining title
Speed skater Femke Kok had admitted that anything but gold in her signature 500m race would be a disappointment after opening her Olympic account last Monday with silver in a Dutch one-two alongside Jutta Leerdam in the 1000m. On Sunday evening, she performed like an athlete insistent on leaving no room for doubt.
Kok leveraged two years of total sprint dominance into the first Olympic gold medal of her career. She blew away the field in the women’s 500m in an Olympic-record time of 36.49sec with the kind of controlled, furious circuit that has made her a three-time world champion at the distance at 25 years old.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 18:48
The Guardian
Youssef Chermiti hat-trick powers Rangers to victory over leaders Hearts
This proved the game of Scotland’s top-flight season. The seriousness given to it by Rangers, plus their scale of full-time celebration, said much about the progress of their opposition. Hearts’ lead at the summit has been cut to two after the Edinburgh side lost out by two goals. As the scoreline suggests, this was pulsating stuff.
Youssef Chermiti was once ridiculed in these parts. His £8m arrival for Everton was used as a stick with which to beat Kevin Thelwell, the now departed sporting director. Chermiti’s hat-trick against Hearts, added to a recent double at Celtic Park, means he at least has a useful knack of standing up on the big occasion. Rangers’ next task is simple; to build on recent progress and overhaul Hearts.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 18:47
NPR Topics: News
Obama responds to Trump sharing racist AI video depicting him as an ape
"There doesn't seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum," Obama said in an interview that was posted on YouTube Saturday.
15th February 2026 18:45
The Guardian
Nicola Jennings on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s move to Sandringham – cartoon
15th February 2026 18:35
The Guardian
US teen who pushed for her father’s release from ICE custody dies of cancer
Ofelia Torres, 16, spotlighted her dad Ruben’s illegal detention last fall during Trump’s crackdown in Chicago
A Chicago teenager, whose father was detained by immigration authorities while she navigated cancer, died on Friday, a family spokesperson said.
Ofelia Torres, a 16-year-old in Chicago, had been undergoing treatment for an aggressive and rare form of cancer since late 2024. As she and her family struggled with the medical procedures, her father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, was detained by immigration authorities while at a Home Depot in October, leading to a contentious and public case that highlighted the human effects of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 18:24
The Guardian
European football: Serie A referees’ chief apologises after controversial Kalulu red card
Juventus lost 3-2 in dramatic fashion away at Inter
Spalletti and Chiellini confronted referee La Penna
Serie A’s referee designator Gianluca Rocchi said match official Federico La Penna was “clearly wrong” in showing Juventus defender Pierre Kalulu a second yellow card during Saturday’s loss at Inter, and apologised over the incident.
Kalulu was sent off after Inter’s Alessandro Bastoni tumbled to the ground and immediately gestured towards the referee demanding a card, indicating that Kalulu had grabbed his shirt to bring him down. Television footage suggested there was no contact between the players. Juventus, down to 10 men after the sending off, lost 3-2, meaning Inter are now eight points clear at the top.
This story will be updated
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 18:19
The Guardian
Top British and German military chiefs press ‘moral’ case for rearmament
Defence leaders write joint appeal urging public on need to be prepared for war with Russia and resulting costs
Britain and Germany’s highest ranking military leaders have made an unprecedented joint appeal to the public to accept the “moral” case for rearmament and prepare for the threat of war with Russia.
The pair said they were making the plea not just as the military leaders of two of Europe’s largest military spenders, but “as voices for a Europe that must now confront uncomfortable truths about its security”.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 18:02
The Guardian
As defence chiefs, we warn you today about Russia, and say this rearmament is not warmongering | Richard Knighton and Carsten Breuer
Our security is more uncertain than in decades. But by working together, and by showing strength, Britain, Germany and the rest of Europe can preserve peace
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton is UK chief of the defence staff. Gen Carsten Breuer is German chief of defence
Top British and German military chiefs press ‘moral’ case for rearmament
We write today not merely as the military leaders of two of Europe’s largest military spenders, but as voices for a Europe that must now confront uncomfortable truths about its security. Through the early years of our careers, Europe was emerging from the shadow of the cold war. Governments of all political colours chose to take what was known as the “peace dividend” – investing in public services and reducing spending on defence. That was an understandable choice at the time. Now it’s clear that the threats we face demand a step change in our defence and security. European leaders, along with military and civilian officials, have just discussed necessary consequences at the annual Munich security conference.
As military leaders, we see every day from intelligence and open sources how Russia’s military posture has shifted decisively westward. Its forces are rearming and learning from the war in Ukraine, reorganising in ways that could heighten the risk of conflict with Nato countries. This is a reality we must prepare for; we cannot be complacent. Moscow’s military buildup, combined with its willingness to wage war on our continent, as painfully evidenced in Ukraine, represents an increased risk that demands our collective attention.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton is UK chief of the defence staff. Gen Carsten Breuer is German chief of defence
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.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 18:00
The Guardian
England’s attacking options narrow with Arundell facing ban for crunch Ireland game
Wing to learn fate after red card in Scotland
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso also out with injury
Steve Borthwick is set for a major selection headache as England seek to get their Six Nations campaign back on track against Ireland on Saturday with Henry Arundell facing a suspension after his red card against Scotland.
England have promised an “honest and emotional” review into their dismal Calcutta Cup defeat before Borthwick contemplates team changes to face Ireland and he is likely to be without Arundell after tournament organisers confirmed he will face a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday. Arundell’s first yellow was shown for not releasing after a covering tackle on Rory Darge, the second for taking out Kyle Steyn in the air.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 18:00
The Guardian
At least 12 Palestinians killed and several hurt in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza
Israel says strikes were in response to Hamas violations of ceasefire as Hamas calls attacks ‘massacre’ of displaced people
At least 12 Palestinians were killed and several more injured across the Gaza Strip on Sunday as the Israeli military said it carried out airstrikes in response to ceasefire violations by Hamas.
The Gaza civil defence agency said five people were killed and several others hurt when an airstrike targeted a tent sheltering displaced people in the northern city of Jabaliya.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 17:52
The Guardian
‘People want to help’: Canadians rally round Tumbler Ridge after school shooting
Tragedy has prompted a wave of support for town from neighbouring communities and across country
When Jim Caruso heard the news of the school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, he knew immediately he needed to be there. He packed his bags and boarded a plane for the community 700 miles away. “I wanted to be here to bring some level of comfort,” he said. “I wanted to hug people, pray for them and, most importantly, to cry with them.”
On Tuesday, a shooter opened fire in the town’s secondary school, killing eight people, most of them young children. It was one of the deadliest attacks in Canada’s history and has left the country reeling.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 17:34
The Guardian
The Guardian view on Donald Trump and the climate crisis: the US is in reverse while China ploughs ahead | Editorial
The president’s destructive policies enrich fossil fuel billionaires, while Beijing has bet big on the green transition
Devastating wildfires, flooding and winter storms were among the 23 extreme weather and climate-related disasters in the US which cost more than a billion dollars last year – at an estimated total loss of $115bn. The last three years have shattered previous records for such events. Last Wednesday, scientists said that we are closer than ever to the point after which global heating cannot be stopped.
Just one day later, Donald Trump and Lee Zeldin, the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, announced the elimination of the Obama-era endangerment finding which underpins federal climate regulations. Scrapping it is just one part of Mr Trump’s assault on environmental controls and promotion of fossil fuels. But it may be his most consequential. Any fragment of hope may lie in the fact that a president who has called global heating a “hoax” framed this primarily as about deregulation – perhaps because the science is now so widely accepted even in the US.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 17:30
The Guardian
Théo Attissogbe leads imperious France to eight-try romp over sorry Wales
Wales 12-54 France
Wales slump to 13th consecutive Six Nations defeat
We are running out of ways to describe this. Another match in what used to be rugby’s most passionate cauldron, another dismantling, another humiliation.
France are good, really good, but we might as well have been in Paris, so loud was the travelling support, so gaping the rows of empty seats. The official attendance was just shy of 60,000. Maybe, but it looked and felt a good deal less than that.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 17:28
The Guardian
The Guardian view on AI: safety staff departures raise worries about industry pursuing profit at all costs | Editorial
Cash-hungry Silicon Valley firms are scrambling for revenue. Regulate them now before the tech becomes too big to fail
Hardly a month passes without an AI grandee cautioning that the technology poses an existential threat to humanity. Many of these warnings might be hazy or naive. Others may be self-interested. Calm, level-headed scrutiny is needed. Some warnings, though, are worth taking seriously.
Last week, some notable ground-level AI safety researchers quit, warning that firms chasing profits are sidelining safety and pushing risky products. In the near term, this suggests a rapid “enshittification” in pursuit of short-term revenue. Without regulation, public purpose gives way to profit. Surely AI’s expanding role in government and daily life – as well as billionaire owners’ desire for profits – demand accountability.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 17:25
The Guardian
Bompastor admits pain of ‘emotional week’ after Chelsea beat Liverpool in WSL
Chelsea continued to steady the ship as they secured a crucial victory against Liverpool in the Women’s Super League. Lauren James inspired Sonia Bompastor’s side to victory at Kingsmeadow, setting up Sjoeke Nüsken’s opener before making sure of the result with a goal in the second half.
It has been a turbulent month for the Blues, both on and off the pitch. Back-to-back defeats against Arsenal and Manchester City all but ended their title defence and it was announced last week that the club had parted ways with Paul Green, their long-term head of women’s football. The news sent shockwaves through the game. Green had been part of the fabric of Chelsea for the past 13 years, playing an instrumental role in the success that included 19 trophies.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 17:12
The Guardian
UK considers new Russia sanctions after Navalny frog toxin finding
Yvette Cooper says claim against Kremlin ‘deeply serious’ while Russia dismisses western ‘feeblemindedness’
The UK is mulling fresh sanctions against Moscow after pinning blame on the Kremlin for the poisoning of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Yvette Cooper has suggested.
The Foreign Office and four of the UK’s allies – Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands – announced on Saturday they had determined that Navalny’s death was most likely the result of poisoning using dart frog toxin arranged by the Russian state.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 16:52
The Guardian
‘The ride was worth the fall’: Lindsey Vonn returning to US for further surgeries after downhill crash
American fractured tibia in downhill last week
Vonn reiterates she has no regrets over crash
Lindsey Vonn is preparing to fly back to America after she fractured her tibia in the Olympic downhill last week, according to the CEO of the US Ski and Snowboard Association.
Sophie Goldschmidt says her team’s medical staff has been coordinating Vonn’s recovery and hopes to accompany her back home to the United States. Vonn has had multiple surgeries in Italy to repair the complex tibia fracture in her left leg.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 16:52
The Guardian
Rallies held across the world in support of Iran’s anti-government protesters
Reza Pahlavi, son of the last shah, tells 200,000 in Munich he is ready to lead Iran to a ‘secular democratic future’
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in rallies around the world to show their solidarity with anti-government demonstrators in Iran whose continued protests have been met with brutal and deadly repression.
On Saturday, Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, addressed a crowd of 200,000 people in Munich, telling them he was ready to lead the country to a “secular democratic future”.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 16:47
The Guardian
US forces board second Venezuela‑linked oil tanker in Indian Ocean
Pentagon tracked sanctioned Veronica III from Caribbean Sea after it left Venezuela on day Maduro was captured
US military forces boarded another sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the vessel from the Caribbean Sea in an effort to target illicit oil connected to Venezuela, the Pentagon said on Sunday.
Venezuela had faced US sanctions on its oil for several years, relying on a shadow fleet of falsely flagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains. Donald Trump ordered a quarantine of sanctioned tankers in December to pressure the president, Nicolás Maduro, before Maduro was apprehended in January during a US military operation.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 16:30
The Guardian
Habib Diarra on the spot as Sunderland ease past toothless Oxford
Precipitation not perspiration was the order of the day here, as the rain hammered down on the banks of a bloated river Thames and Sunderland made it to the FA Cup fifth round without having to break a sweat.
Habib Diarra’s first‑half penalty provided only a narrow margin of victory for Régis Le Bris’s visitors, but the margin flattered Oxford. With two teams of reserves contesting a tie in a competition that is priority for neither club, this was a drab match in sodden surrounds. There was little in the way of the magic of the Cup, but to their credit 9,879 spectators created a decent atmosphere all the same.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 16:25
The Guardian
Offer to join Trump’s new era is met with growing sense of European steeliness
Talk of a stronger, independent Europe was the dominant mood in Munich amid bitter disagreement on Ukraine
If JD Vance’s thuggish speech to last year’s Munich Security Conference, directed at the solar plexus of Europe, marked the moment when a transatlantic breakup started, this weekend’s conference, in a rainy and cold Bavaria, was where the debate about the terms of the divorce settlement got under way.
Marco Rubio, the chosen Washington representative this year, is a diplomat, so he softened the Trumpian tone with references to German beer, the Beatles, Dante and the Mayflower. But his speech was a stern warning that if Europe wanted to continue on its path of civilisational decline, as this US administration sees it, America would not be interested and has different hemispheres on which to focus.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 16:03
The Guardian
Tom Gauld on the modern romance novel – cartoon
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 16:00
The Guardian
Federica Brignone sparks Italian joy with second gold as Mikaela Shiffrin struggles
Italian wins her second gold medal on Cortina slopes
Sara Hector and Thea Louise Stjernesund share silver
Federica Brignone, the racing queen of Cortina, has won her second gold medal in the space of three days at the Winter Olympics. After her victory in the women’s Super-G on Friday, she won the giant slalom by just over six-tenths of a second.
As small as that gap sounds, it was an enormous margin in a race where there were only six-hundredths of a second between the three women who finished behind her; Sweden’s Sara Hector, Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund and Brignone’s Italian teammate Lara Della Mea. The gap between Brignone and second place was the same as that between second and 15th.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 15:50
The Guardian
Starmer facing calls for inquiry into Labour thinktank’s investigation of journalists
Cabinet Office minister commissioned report that made ‘baseless claims’ about reporters who were investigating Labour Together
Keir Starmer is facing calls by MPs for an inquiry into the commissioning of a report that made “baseless claims” about journalists who were investigating a thinktank linked to the prime minister.
The calls add to pressure on the Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons, who commissioned a report in 2023 on journalists investigating Labour Together, the thinktank that would help propel Starmer to power.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 15:48
The Guardian
Renderings show most detailed vision for Trump’s White House ballroom
Trump sparked public backlash when he abruptly began demolishing the East Wing to clear space for his ballroom
New renderings released this week provide the most detailed vision yet of Donald Trump’s proposed $400m White House ballroom addition.
The renderings, submitted by the project’s architects and released on Friday by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), depict a vast sprawling structure, expected to be around 90,000sq ft, from multiple angles.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 15:38
The Guardian
Jonathan Powell rejects overtures to replace McSweeney as Starmer’s chief of staff
Exclusive: Powell, who held post under Blair, is said to be considering leaving current role as national security adviser
Keir Starmer’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, has rejected overtures to become the prime minister’s chief of staff after the resignation of Morgan McSweeney, the Guardian has been told.
Powell’s allies say his decision not to take forward discussions about the job – the same role he undertook under Tony Blair’s premiership from 1997 to 2007 – was largely motivated by an intention to return to the mediation consultancy that he set up in 2011, with little interest in returning to a job he has already done.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 15:32Nature: Whooping cranes in Texas
We leave you this Sunday morning with whooping cranes whooping it up at Aransas Bay in Texas. Videographer: Scot Miller.
15th February 2026 15:30Documenting the bedrooms of school shooting victims
Over six years, the parents of school shooting victims opened their doors to CBS News' Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp, inviting them to see what it's like to live alongside their children's bedrooms, just as they left them. [Originally broadcast Nov. 17, 2024.]
15th February 2026 15:26
NPR Topics: News
Photos: The flying doctors of Lesotho won't let their wings be clipped
This band of airborne health workers bring essential medical care to isolated communities in the southern African nation. In addition to turbulence, they face a new obstacle: budget cuts.
15th February 2026 15:17
The Guardian
Welsh munitions factory seen as crucial to boosting UK stockpiles and aiding Ukraine is yet to open
Exclusive: Delay at Glascoed is latest setback for armed forces and for UK’s capacity to supply shells to Ukraine
A new factory in Wales seen as crucial to boosting UK munitions production remains unopened more than six months after its planned launch, adding to a string of delays dogging the armed forces.
The explosives facility at Glascoed, south Wales, was expected to bring a 16-fold increase in Britain’s capacity to make artillery shells, replenishing dwindling stock and increasing supplies for Ukraine.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 15:16Extended interview: Stephen A. Smith
In this web exclusive, the host of ESPN's "First Take" talks with "Sunday Morning" national correspondent Robert Costa about being an authentic (albeit at times controversial) voice on sports (and, now, politics).
15th February 2026 15:13
The Guardian
Perri makes key save as Leeds sink Birmingham in FA Cup shootout
Leeds advanced to the fifth round of the FA Cup, with sights set on a possible first quarter-final place since 2002‑03. But after scoring a last‑gasp equaliser to take the tie to extra time and then a penalty shootout, Birmingham could draw some consolation from pushing their top-flight opponents.
Sean Longstaff converted the clinching penalty, after Patrick Roberts, who had scored in the 89th minute to gain parity for Birmingham, blasted his kick over the crossbar; the Leeds goalkeeper Lucas Perri also saved from Tommy Doyle, Birmingham’s best player.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 15:10
The Guardian
Progressive Texas organizers hail shock win as far-right Republicans left reeling
Elation as anti-extremists fight back against influence of billionaire megadonors through grassroots organizing
Chris Tackett started tracking extremism in Texas politics about a decade ago, whenever his schedule as a Little League coach and school board member would allow. At the time, he lived in Granbury, 40 minutes west of Fort Worth. He’d noticed that a local member of the state legislature, Mike Lang, had become a vocal advocate for using public money for private schools – despite the fact that Lang campaigned as a supporter of public education.
With a little research, Tackett found that Lang had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from the Wilks brothers and Tim Dunn, billionaire megadonors whose deep pockets and Christian nationalist views have consumed the Texas GOP. Tackett published his findings on social media, and soon enough, people started asking him to create pie charts of their representatives’ campaign funds. These charts evolved into the organisation See It. Name It. Fight It.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 15:00
The Guardian
‘I was so scared’: US trial witnesses allege Alexander brothers worked together to rape women
Real estate agent brothers Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander – known as ‘closers’ – are on trial in New York for sex trafficking
In their time as real estate brokers, the Israeli-American Alexander brothers – twins Alon and Oren and older brother Tal – were known as “closers”, the salesmen who could a get a sale over finish line, often to wealthy hedge funders who were then making hay in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
Their technique, one real estate expert explained outside the 26th floor of the federal court house in lower Manhattan last week, was based on the sense that the property salesmen “were just like their clients” – young, eager and successful. Kim Kardashian and then-husband Kanye West, Jared and Ivanka Trump were clients.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 15:00
The Guardian
Even amid rising economic uncertainty, now is not the time to hug your job
In a rapidly changing job market, it’s not necessarily good for workers to cling to their current employment
After all the employee protests over the past few years – the “great resignations”, the “quiet quittings”, the “bare-minimum Mondays” and “coffee badgings” – we have finally arrived at “job hugging”.
Amid all the economic uncertainty and the rising costs of everything, people aren’t feeling as confident as they once were. Instead of slacking off while you hunt for something better, everyone’s scared about losing their jobs. With all the news about big corporate layoffs and the ominous and still-undefined threat of AI, it’s understandable that people are hugging their jobs.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 15:00
The Guardian
UK far right lines up behind Rupert Lowe in challenge to Reform
MP who fell out with Nigel Farage and has backing of Elon Musk launches anti-immigration party in Great Yarmouth
On a cold night in a dilapidated theatre tucked away at the end of Great Yarmouth’s Britannia Pier, Rupert Lowe was launching a far-right revolution. “Millions will have to go,” the MP said as he pledged a policy of mass deportations to rapturous applause and foot stamping from the hundreds of people gathered for what had been billed as the launch of a local “Great Yarmouth First” party.
But after introducing five councillors who will stand at the next Norfolk county council elections under that banner, the former Reform UK figure went further by announcing that his Restore Britain movement would become a national party.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 14:58
The Guardian
Charity buys £2.2m tract of land for Wales’ biggest rewilding project
Project in Ceredigion aims to help country catch up with large-scale nature recovery projects elsewhere in UK
A Welsh charity has bought more than 480 hectares (1,195 acres) in Ceredigion to establish Cymru’s “flagship” rewilding project, helping the country catch up with large-scale nature recovery projects under way elsewhere in the UK.
Tir Natur (Nature’s Land), founded in 2022, announced it had acquired the site at Cwm Doethie in Elenydd, or the Cambrian mountains, after a fundraising drive launched last year raised 50% of the £2.2m purchase price. A philanthropic bridging loan enabled the sale.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 14:55
The Guardian
Berlin film festival defends Wim Wenders after Arundhati Roy attacked ‘jaw-dropping’ comments
Berlinale head says artists should not be pushed into soundbites after author quit over president’s remarks that film-makers should ‘stay out of politics’
The Berlin film festival has issued a lengthy statement “in defence of our film-makers, and especially our jury and jury president”, after what it described as a “media storm that has swept over the Berlinale” in its first few days.
The defence follows criticism levelled at the jury, in particular president, Wim Wenders, for comments made when fielding questions about the war in Gaza. Asked during the opening press conference if films can effect political change, the German film-maker said that “movies can change the world” but “not in a political way”, adding that film-makers “have to stay out of politics”.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 14:48
The Guardian
Street festivals and a steam train: photos of the weekend
The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 14:41A roller coaster week in the search for Nancy Guthrie
There were promising leads and disheartening setbacks in the investigation into the apparent abduction of the 84-year-old mother of "Today" host Savannah Guthrie. As the search for Nancy Guthrie now enters its third week, Jonathan Vigliotti looks at how her disappearance remains a painful mystery.
15th February 2026 14:30How Washington's crossing of the Delaware presaged a changing world
On the evening of Christmas 1776, Gen. George Washington surprised the King's forces by leading the Continental Army in a surprise crossing of a near-frozen Delaware River - a watershed military maneuver that dramatized a changing America, and a changing climate.
15th February 2026 14:27
NPR Topics: News
Rockstar athletes like Ilia Malinin often get 'the yips' at the Olympics. It can make them stronger
Ilia Malinin's painful falls at the Milan Cortina Games follow in a long tradition of great U.S. athletes who get the "yips" or the "twisties" during the Olympics.
15th February 2026 14:27These United States: George Washington and climate change
On the evening of Christmas 1776, Gen. George Washington surprised the King's forces by leading the Continental Army in an unanticipated crossing of a near-frozen Delaware River. Environmental correspondent David Schechter looks at how Washington's watershed military maneuver dramatized both a changing America, and a changing climate.
15th February 2026 14:26
NPR Topics: News
U.S. Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin finishes another Olympic race without a medal
U.S. Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin looks unstoppable everywhere except the Olympics. She's running out of chances to medal at the Milan Cortina Games.
15th February 2026 14:25
The Guardian
Bankes and Nightingale win mixed team snowboard cross for GB’s first Olympic gold on snow
Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale win a thriller
First time GB have won two golds at a Winter Games
A drinking session, a punch on the nose, an equipment malfunction. It sounds like a typical Saturday night in Hemel Hempstead or Bolton. But it turned out to be the unlikely recipe behind Team GB’s first gold medal on snow at the Winter Olympics – after 102 years of trying.
Amid dramatic scenes in Livigno, Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale carved their way into Team GB history with a staggering display of devilry and nerve to secure mixed snowboard cross glory. For good measure, it was the first leg of what turned out to be Britain’s greatest day at the Winter Games with Tabitha Stoecker and Matt Weston also later winning gold.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 14:22Almanac: February 15
"Sunday Morning" looks back at historical events on this date.
15th February 2026 14:19
The Guardian
‘I want people to be warned’: son forced to remove tubes from father’s septic body after death in Bali hospital
Jake Harvey says he has lasting trauma after trying to get help from the Australian government for critically ill father
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Jake Harvey remembers vividly the moment he was told in a Balinese hospital that he had just two hours to remove his father’s dead body from the intensive care ward.
He had just watched his father, Wayne, die, but within minutes he was told he had to “unplug” him – leaving him to work out how to remove a catheter and a tube that was still down his father’s throat.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 14:00
The Guardian
The kindness of strangers: my new couch was stranded outside – then a burly gym guy helped move it upstairs
I was frantic – I had to get the couch inside before my parents arrived. Out of desperation, I drove to a nearby gym
Read more in the kindness of strangers series
I’d bought a nice new couch after my labrador chewed through the first one. But I didn’t put it in my apartment straight away. My plan was to swap the old couch for the new one right before my parents came to visit from overseas, so the dog wouldn’t have a chance to destroy it before their arrival.
My apartment was upstairs and the new couch was in storage on the ground floor, so I hired removalists to swap the two couches the day my parents arrived. They took the tattered old couch down – but didn’t carry the new one up. Instead, they left it on the street for anyone to grab, and were gone before I had the chance to correct them.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 14:00
The Guardian
Readers reply: can you acquire courage?
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions ponders how to overcome fear and do what is needed
This week’s question: what would be the most socially useful way to spend a billion dollars?
Is it possible to acquire courage if you don’t have it? I was moved by the recent story of the Australian boy who swam to land for several hours in rough waters to raise the alarm that his mother and siblings had been swept out to sea. Despite his exhaustion, he then ran several kilometres to find a phone.
But I’m also thinking of the lesser demands for courage – such as standing up to a friend, or family member, or tackling a company that’s ignoring your polite requests when you’re suffering from its actions. Or I also wonder how people do certain jobs that, to me, require buckets of courage: starting a business or any other sort of professional risk-taking; reporting from a war zone like Lyse Doucet or Jeremy Bowen. Or just being a police officer knocking on the door of a suspect and not knowing what is on the other side.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 14:00
The Guardian
Trump gets the Monroe doctrine wrong. He should take a page from Bad Bunny | Ted Widmer
The US president has twisted the 1823 doctrine to suit his quest for domination. It originally had a very different vision for the Americas
Throughout Bad Bunny’s mesmerizing performance during the Super Bowl, the word “America” kept expanding, like an accordion, stretching out to embrace people of all nationalities. “Together we are all America,” his football read, and he obviously meant it, in the largest, most hemispheric sense. Near the end, after shouting “God bless America” (his only words in English), Bad Bunny ran through a long list of countries in the western hemisphere.
That inclusiveness enraged Donald Trump, who erupted on social media, and tried to take the word back, declaring the half-time show “an affront to the greatness of America”. By which, of course, he meant the United States.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 14:00
NPR Topics: News
'Major travel impacts' expected as winter storm watch issued for northern California
As people travel for the holiday weekend, much of Northern California is under a winter storm watch, with communities bracing for several feet of snow.
15th February 2026 13:45
The Guardian
Starmer has chance to put overseas aid and debt relief on G20 agenda | Heather Stewart
Reclaiming Labour’s internationalist heart could also stop disillusioned voters drifting towards Lib Dems and Greens
If Keir Starmer wants to win back disillusioned voters deserting his party for the Liberal Democrats or the Greens, he could do worse than rediscover Labour’s longstanding moral commitment to international development.
Since cutting the overseas aid budget to fund higher defence spending – losing the excellent Anneliese Dodds in the process – Labour has had little to say on the subject, aside from the fact that 0.3% of national income is the new normal.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 13:16Some European policymakers welcome U.S. Secretary of State Rubio's warm words, others remain cautious
Rubio's comments at the Munich Security Conference struck a softer tone than Vice President JD Vance's at last year's event.
15th February 2026 13:15
The Guardian
Trump touts climate savings but new rule set to push up US prices
Critics accuse administration of ‘cooking the books’ by claiming US would save $1.3tn from climate finding reversal
The Trump administration claims its latest move to gut climate regulations and end all greenhouse gas standards for vehicles will save Americans money. But its own analysis indicates that the new rule will push up gas prices, and that the benefits of the rollback are unlikely to outweigh the costs.
On Thursday, the president and his environmental secretary Lee Zeldin announced the finalized repeal of the endangerment finding, a legal determination which underpins virtually all federal climate regulations. He claimed the rollback would save the US $1.3tn by 2055.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 13:00
The Guardian
Maxwell’s clemency pitch: can Epstein accomplice talk her way out of prison?
Experts question convicted sex trafficker’s motivations as she claims she can reveal ‘truth’ in exchange for freedom
When Ghislaine Maxwell refused to testify before Congress last week, she nonetheless insisted on her willingness to help.
Maxwell, who was convicted of helping Jeffrey Epstein draw teenage girls into a world of sexual abuse, dangled the prospect of revealing truth before Congress and American public – so long as she was freed from jail.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 13:00
The Guardian
How to make the perfect chicken massaman – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …
Thai cuisine’s most delicious curry is also its most complex. Thankfully, our resident perfectionist is here to help you master your massaman
Bickering pleasantly over the menu in a Thai restaurant with my family recently, I realised I was unable to explain exactly what a gaeng massaman was, beyond the fact it was probably a safe bet for those concerned about the three chillies next to the green curry (a dish I first tackled for this column back in 2010). The gap in my repertoire was explained later when I opened David Thompson’s pink bible of Thai Food and learned that “a mussaman curry is the most complex, time-consuming Thai curry to make”. The fact the esteemed Australian chef also describes it as “the most delicious” is scant comfort given I’ve just promised my editor I’ll make at least six of the things … but then I remember how incredibly tasty it is, and knuckle down to my research.
Though the first recipe dates from 1899, massaman, whose name suggests an association with the country’s Muslim minority, probably dates back to the 17th century, and reflects either Persian or Malaysian influence, or perhaps that of the Indian and Middle Eastern spice traders who travelled through southern Thailand on their way to China. It’s unusual in its use of dried spices like cumin and cinnamon, bay leaves and cloves alongside more classic Thai aromatics like lemongrass and galangal to create a richly savoury gravy that cloaks the protein and potatoes like a warm hug direct from Bangkok. Straightforward enough if you have a Thai specialist nearby, it’s still more of a weekend project than a weeknight dinner, but a very worthwhile one nonetheless.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 13:00
NPR Topics: News
Brazil's Pinheiro Braathen wins gold, and South America's first Winter Olympics medal
Once a racer for Norway, Pinheiro Braathen switched to Brazil, his mother's home country. In winning the Olympic giant slalom on Saturday, he earned South America's first medal at a Winter Games.
15th February 2026 12:58
The Guardian
Klæbo leads Norway to relay win and claims record ninth Winter Olympics gold
Norwegian on course for six potential golds at Games
France take cross-country skiing relay silver, Italy bronze
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo led Norway to victory in the men’s 4 x 7.5km cross-country relay at the Milano Cortina Games on Sunday to win a record ninth career gold medal at the Winter Olympics.
The 29-year-old has won four gold medals at these Games and is widely expected to take another two in the men’s team sprint on Wednesday and 50km classic race on Saturday.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 12:33Girl looking for a date to a school dance was murdered a week later
Mary Kay Heese, 17, was found stabbed to death in a field in March 1969. Fifty-five years later, a suspect was arrested — someone who had been on investigators' radar for decades.
15th February 2026 12:25Investigation into Nebraska teen's 1969 murder spans five decades
The unsolved murder of Mary Kay Heese, 17, a high school junior from Wahoo, Nebraska, has hung over the community for five decades. Will what is believed to be the state's oldest cold case finally be solved?
15th February 2026 12:24
The Guardian
I thought my powerlifter father was the strongest man in the world. But a secret steroid addiction took him – and us – to the brink
He didn’t look like a stereotypical ‘drug addict’, but when he fled to South Africa with all our savings it was obvious that is what he had become
When I tell people that a drug addiction nearly killed my dad, I know what most of them are thinking. Heroin. Crack. Maybe meth or ket. Those substances that steal your soul and slowly wreak havoc on your body. They’re imagining Trainspotting; too-skinny frames and protruding hip bones, the physical effects of addiction that are impossible to miss.
But that isn’t how it played out in my family.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 12:00
The Guardian
Weight-loss race: how switch from injections to pills is expanding big pharma’s hopes
Tablets could make treatment more mainstream, with sector predicted to be worth $200bn by end of the decade
“I just felt slow: I want to be able to do anything my kids want to do and not have weight be a factor. Even a ride or a water park – things have weight limits,” says Melody Ewert, 44, from Minnesota.
Ewert has just switched from Eli Lilly’s Zepbound weekly injection to Novo Nordisk’s new daily Wegovy pill. Analysts believe the arrival of easy-to-take tablets could push weight-loss treatments further into the mainstream in a year that has been described as “pivotal” for the booming anti-obesity market. The new pills, like the jabs, mimic the gut hormone GLP-1 that regulates appetite.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 12:00
The Guardian
‘She dared to be difficult’: How Toni Morrison shaped the way we think
The Beloved author’s refusal to conform made her a hero to many – and the only black female writer to have won a Nobel prize in literature
There are many ways to be difficult in this world. You can be demanding, inconvenient, stubborn, complicated, troublesome, baffling, illegible. Black womanhood is one place where all these forms of difficulty overlap. I feel like I have always known this; I have been called difficult more times in my life than I can count. But I only began to understand – to discover the meanings and uses of – my own difficulty because of Toni Morrison.
Morrison has shaped the way we think about everything from literature to politics, criticism to ethics, to the responsibilities of making art. In 1993 she became the only black woman ever to win the Nobel prize in literature. But the facts remain: she is difficult to read. She is difficult to teach. Notwithstanding the voluminous train of profiles, reviews and scholarly analysis that she drags behind her, she is difficult to write about. More to the point, she is our only truly canonical black female writer – and her work is highly complex.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 12:00
The Guardian
Dining across the divide: ‘Kids shouldn’t really have smartphones – it’s akin to tobacco in 60s and 70s’
An Arsenal fan and a Manchester United fan might not agree on football teams, but could they find common ground on mobile phones and AI?
Aaran, 43, Winchester
Occupation Works in executive recruitment
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 12:00
NPR Topics: News
For U.S. pairs skater Danny O'Shea, these Olympics are 30 years in the making
Danny O'Shea turned 35 at his first Olympics, after three decades of skating and two reversed retirements.
15th February 2026 12:00
NPR Topics: News
Want a mortgage for under 3% in 2026? Meet the 'assumable mortgage'
Low mortgage rates from the COVID era might still be attainable for homebuyers, if they find the right house and have the cash.
15th February 2026 12:00
The Guardian
‘Nice shoes, mate’: we road test the brick-shaped £199 Lego Crocs
Lego and Crocs have joined forces to create oversized Lego-shaped shoes. Are they as ridiculous as they sound? We sent our most podophilic writer to find out
Everyone knows that standing on Lego is the worst pain known to man, but standing in Lego Crocs – how bad can they be? And are they really worth £199? I got hold of a prototype pair to test how my feet would survive.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 11:00
The Guardian
This is how we do it: ‘Whether it’s kinky sex in a dungeon or shopping at Costco, it’s all about our bond’
Dan and Zoe met on a train and connected instantly. Twenty years and three kids later, they’re still trying out new things
• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously
We have a cup of tea and a chat with the receptionist then go on to a leather-clad room
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 11:00
The Guardian
‘From misfits to bullies’: how America’s Next Top Model became toxic
It was the reality show that aimed to disrupt the fashion industry but, as a shocking Netflix docuseries details, it also became part of the problem
Even for those who didn’t watch the show religiously, there’s a scene in America’s Next Top Model that has broken through from reality TV infamy to hall-of-fame virality.
It’s when Tyra Banks, model-turned-TV-mogul, loses her temper in spectacular fashion at contestant Tiffany Richardson, after misunderstanding her post-elimination response as something to be read as ungrateful. “I have never in my life yelled at a girl like this!” she screams. “When my mother yells like this, it’s because she loves me. I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you, how dare you!”
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 10:02
The Guardian
‘Every role I do, I’m going to be a Black man first’: David Jonsson on winning Baftas, rebooting Alien and leaving TV’s hottest show
He went from being the east London boy who was expelled from school to becoming the Bafta award‑winning star of Alien: Romulus. Ahead of his prison drama Wasteman, David Jonsson discusses the pressures of being a leading Black British actor
David Jonsson is the kind of actor who disappears so completely into his roles that it’s easy to forget you’re watching the same person each time. In Rye Lane, he’s a lovestruck south Londoner; in Industry, an Etonian banker with ice in his veins; in Alien: Romulus, a paranoid android. He’s now starring as heroin addict Taylor in the ultraviolent British prison drama Wasteman and, for the first time, the 32-year-old actor claims he is playing something close to himself. “This is the most personal role I’ve done,” he says. “It’s so messed up because it’s a dark story about rehabilitation and addiction, but I know these men really well. Especially when you’re growing up somewhere like where I did.”
We meet on a Friday afternoon at a photo studio in Islington, closer to where Jonsson lives now in north London than to Custom House in the East End, where he grew up. He arrives wearing a beanie pulled tight over his cornrows and a windbreaker. He looks stylish but carries a delicate shyness that mirrors his character’s air of desperation. Wasteman, which opens this month after a critically acclaimed festival run that netted five British Independent Film awards (Bifa) nominations including best lead performance for Jonsson, tells the story of Taylor, a young father who has spent 13 years in prison for a crime he committed as a teenager. In the film’s unflinching depiction of the British prison system, he’s referred to as a “nitty” – UK slang for a desperate, pathetic drug addict. Jonsson lost 1.8 stone to embody Taylor’s “wasted” physique. “I was mawga, properly skinny,” he says, slipping into patois.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 10:00The NFL just wrapped a record-breaking season. Here’s why next year’s going to be even bigger
In the days leading up to the Super Bowl, the NFL announced that Paris, Melbourne and Rio de Janeiro will host regular-season games for the first time.
15th February 2026 08:24
The Guardian
‘The most quietly romantic town we have ever visited’ – the enduring charm of Chiavenna, Italy
Writers from George Eliot to Goethe put this Lombardy town on the map, then it fell out of fashion. Today it makes a picture-perfect alternative to the Italian lakes
The ancient settlement of Chiavenna, in Lombardy, near Italy’s border with Switzerland, was once well known among travellers. “Lovely Chiavenna … mountain peaks, huge boulders, with rippling miniature torrents and lovely young flowers … and grassy heights with rich Spanish chestnuts,” wrote George Eliot in 1860.
Eliot wasn’t the only writer to rhapsodise about this charming town. Edith Wharton described it as “fantastically picturesque … an exuberance of rococo”. For Mary Shelley it was “paradise … glowing in rich and sunny vegetation”, while Goethe described it as “like a dream”.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 07:00
The Guardian
No swiping involved: the AI dating apps promising to find your soulmate
Agentic AI apps first interview you and then give you limited matches selected for ‘similarity and reciprocity of personality’
Dating apps exploit you, dating profiles lie to you, and sex is basically something old people used to do. You might as well consider it: can AI help you find love?
For a handful of tech entrepreneurs and a few brave Londoners, the answer is “maybe”.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 07:00
The Guardian
Nobody knows what would follow regime change in Iran – but what happened in 1979 offers some pointers | Jason Burke
The similarities between now and events preceding the shah’s exile are striking. The radical clerics benefited then, but who would prevail this time?
A critical moment looms for Iran, and so for the Middle East. The global consequences of any upheaval in Tehran have been made amply clear since the revolution in 1979 that ushered in the rule of radical Islamist clerics. In Oman, the Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and his team have begun indirect talks with a high-powered US delegation. Many analysts believe the gap between the two sides is too wide to be bridged, and that a conflict is inevitable. Just this weekend, having already threatened military action, Donald Trump said regime change is the “the best thing that could happen” in Iran. The tension, and risks grow higher.
The hold on Iran of those who came to power in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution is now at stake. The ultimate objective of the US appears to be regime change. This may, in fact, already be under way. In December 2025 and January 2026, the most extensive wave of protest since the early 1980s swept Iran, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets from Mashhad to Abadan.
Jason Burke is the international security correspondent of the Guardian and author of The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 06:00
The Guardian
No fuel, no tourists, no cash – this was the week the Cuban crisis got real
Diplomats in Havana are preparing for an alternative Trump tactic: the country being starved until people take to the streets and the US can step in
Among the verdant gardens of Havana’s diplomatic quarter, Siboney, ambassadors from countries traditionally allied to the United States are expressing increasing frustration with Washington’s attempt to unseat Cuba’s government, while simultaneously drawing up plans to draw down their missions.
Cuba is in crisis. Already reeling from a four-year economic slump, worsened by hyper-inflation and the migration of nearly 20% of the population, the 67-year-old communist government is at its weakest. After Washington’s successful military operation against Cuba’s ally Venezuela at the beginning of January, the US administration is actively seeking regime change.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 06:00
The Guardian
Facing meltdown? Over 75% of people suffer from burnout - here’s what you need to know
Does it only affect weak people? Is work always the cause? Burnout myths, busted by the experts
Once, after surviving yet another round of redundancies in a former job, I did something very odd. I turned off the lights in my room and lay face-down on the bed, unable to move. Rather than feeling relief at having escaped the axe, I was exhausted and numb. I’m not the only one. Fatigue, apathy and hopelessness are all textbook signs of burnout, a bleak phenomenon that has come to define many of our working lives. In 2025, a report from Moodle found that 66% of US workers had experienced some kind of burnout, while a Mental Health UK survey found that one in three adults came under high levels of pressure or stress in the previous year. Despite the prevalence of burnout, plenty of misconceptions around it persist. “Everybody thinks it’s some sort of disease or medical condition,” says Christina Maslach, the psychology professor who was the first to study the syndrome in the 1970s. “But it’s actually a response to chronic job stressors – a stress response.” Here we separate the facts from the myths.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 06:00
The Guardian
My husband has started a friendship with a woman he used to work with. Am I right to be worried? | Ask Annalisa Barbieri
It’s possible this is a platonic relationship, but your concerns are valid and your husband isn’t providing any reassurance
My husband and I are in our 60s. We have been married for 40 years, some of it happily, some not so much. Our children are grown up and gone, and we have recently retired. Some of our tensions over the years have been around my husband’s tendency to be undermining and belittling. He claims not to understand why I might find certain things upsetting, yet refuses to engage with couples counselling (apparently I would tell lies). We have muddled through and mostly get on well now, though he dislikes most of my friends and siblings, and won’t socialise with them. To be fair, he is self-contained and doesn’t seem to need friends in the way I do – he has one friend.
A few months ago, an ex-colleague got in touch with my husband and asked to meet for coffee. They met, had a long lunch, and my husband mentioned a few weeks later that they were arranging to meet again as he had enjoyed the catchup. I was a bit thrown. I found it odd that she couldn’t confide in her partner or friends, but my husband exploded and we had one of our worst, most vicious arguments in years. He accused me of not wanting him to have friends (the opposite is true) and threw up the fact that I have platonic male friends; true, but my male friends and I go back 30-plus years and we don’t meet one-to-one. This just feels a bit out of character and potentially inappropriate.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 06:00
The Guardian
Hungarians have had enough of Viktor Orbán. But Trump’s tailwind could save his skin
Opposition challenger Péter Magyar is ahead in the polls on a promise of hope. Orbán is betting on fear of war to stay in power
After 16 years of uninterrupted power, Viktor Orbán is facing his biggest electoral challenge. For years Hungary’s prime minister has spun weak policy performance as success. The rise of a rival, Péter Magyar, and the opposition Tisza party has exposed the limits of that strategy.
The economy is stagnating, despite repeated promises of a long-awaited takeoff. Over the past decade and a half, Hungary has slipped from being one of central and eastern Europe’s strongest performers to one of its weakest. Public services, from healthcare to transport, are widely seen as neglected, and Policy Solutions surveys show that voters have noticed. Hungary is not alone in facing a cost of living crisis, but comparisons offer little consolation to voters who were assured that Orbán’s model would deliver exceptional results.
András Bíró-Nagy is a senior research fellow at the ELTE Centre for Social Sciences in Budapest and director of Policy Solutions. He is the author of The Path of Hungary’s EU Membership
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 05:00
The Guardian
‘You think: Do I really need anyone?’ – the hidden burden of being a hyper-independent person
Self-reliance is often encouraged over asking others for help in the modern world. But doing everything yourself can be a sign that you are scared of intimacy
When a relative was seriously ill and in intensive care for more than a month, Cianne Jones stepped in. “I took it upon myself to be that person in the hospital every single day – chasing doctors, taking notes, making sure I understood why they were doing things.” It was so stressful, she says, that at one point her hair started falling out, but she ploughed on.
It was Jones’s therapist who gently questioned whether she was going to ask for help. Jones laughs. “The hair falling out didn’t suggest to me that I needed help, it was somebody else looking in and saying that.” She has a large, close family who would have helped immediately – and did, once Jones asked – it’s just that it didn’t occur to her to ask. “I had taken that role on: ‘I’m just going to get everything done.’ I just took off, and that was it.”
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 05:00
The Guardian
Assailants kill at least 32 in north-west Nigerian villages, residents say
Residents who escaped violence tell of bandits riding in on motorbikes and shooting indiscriminately
Armed assailants on motorbikes killed at least 32 people and burned houses and shops during raids on three villages in north-west Nigeria’s Niger state early on Saturday, local officials and residents who escaped the violence said.
The dawn raids targeted the communities of Tunga-Makeri, Konkoso, and Pissa.
Continue reading... 15th February 2026 03:14Casey Wasserman, 2028 Olympics chair, to sell agency after Epstein files revelation
Casey Wasserman, the chair of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics organizing committee, says he is selling his eponymous talent agency in the wake of the release of emails between himself and Ghislaine Maxwell.
15th February 2026 02:48After struggling early, U.S. men's hockey team dispatches Denmark 6-3
The U.S. kept pace with also-unbeaten Canada for the top seed in the Olympic men's hockey tournament.
15th February 2026 01:37What services will be affected by the DHS government shutdown?
Funding for the Department of Homeland Security expired at the end of the day Friday. Here's what will be affected.
15th February 2026 01:05Rubio calls for U.S. and Europe to "revitalize an old friendship"
Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it clear the Trump administration would stick to its guns on policy, but offered a tone seen as softer and more reassuring.
15th February 2026 01:03Nancy Guthrie investigators "working a lead" at scene near her home, sheriff says
The FBI and sheriff's department have been investigating the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie, for nearly two weeks.
15th February 2026 00:26Fresh crew arrives at International Space Station to boost numbers back to 7
The Crew 12 docking came one month after a previous crew had to return to Earth early due to a medical issue.
14th February 2026 23:55