Former Trump campaign lawyer sparked FBI probe of Fulton County ballots: Affidavit

The FBI raid of a Fulton County, Georgia, election center generated controversy because of the presence of Trump national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard.

Chelsea v Leeds, Tottenham v Newcastle, Everton v Bournemouth: football – live

⚽️ Latest updates from the Premier League and beyond
⚽️ Live scores | Tables | Follow us on Bluesky | Email Will

I do still write Leroy Rosenior and need to correct myself.

Liam Rosenior looks chipper.

The delayed January jobs report will be released Wednesday. Here's what to expect

Economists expect that the nonfarm payrolls report should show growth that was nil or not much better during the month.

West Ham United v Manchester United: Premier League – live

⚽️ Premier League updates from the 8.15pm GMT kick-off
⚽️ Live scores | Tables | Follow us on Bluesky | Email Scott

Michael Carrick talks to TNT Sports. “[West Ham] are definitely on a good run … the league table is irrelevant … over the years it’s always been a good game down here and a tough place to come … they have got some good attacking players … we have got to be ready … we have got to be good to win the game … we want to be a team … to play together and have good connections when we have the ball and haven’t got the ball … we want individuals to express themselves … we have managed to get a good balance … there’s a lot of work to do … improvements … the boys are in a good place … we’re not getting carried away … but obviously coming here with a lot of confidence … there’s more to push … the boys are in a good rhythm so we’ll go with that tonight.”

Here’s how the Premier League table looks before this match. Manchester United can overtake Aston Villa with a win; they’d be third or fourth depending on the result of Chelsea-Leeds. Meanwhile at the bottom West Ham have the chance to close the gap on Nottingham Forest, one way or another. They’d need an unlikely four-goal win tonight if they’re to overtake Sean Dyche’s strugglers.

Vatican Bank debuts two Catholic-themed equity indexes

The Vatican Bank said the new indexes are "designed to serve as a reference for Catholic investments worldwide."

Pakistan-Afghanistan border closures paralyze trade along a key route

Trucks have been stuck at the closed border since October. Both countries are facing economic losses with no end in sight. The Taliban also banned all Pakistani pharmaceutical imports to Afghanistan.

Democratic congressman Ro Khanna names six men appearing in unredacted Epstein files – live

Khanna, who co-sponsored the Epstein transparency act, named six people including Victoria’s Secret tycoon Leslie Wexner on the House floor

• US commerce secretary says he had lunch with Epstein on private island

• Jeffrey Epstein plotted with lawyer to try to have woman deported

Jamie Raskin, a top House Democrat, accused the justice department of making “puzzling, inexplicable redactions” to documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that obscured the names of abusers, while allowing the identities of the disgraced financier’s victims to become public.

Raskin told reporters that he wanted to view the complete files to better understand how the justice department handled the redaction process.

Winter Olympics 2026 day four: Slovenia win team ski jumping gold as USA v Canada clash in ice hockey – live

• Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results | Briefing

• Follow us over on Bluesky | Get in touch! Mail Geoff

Ooooh, Ariane Raedler of Austria, eighth in the individual event, nails 1:35.65, a time that would’ve been good enough for bronze; she takes the lead, giving Katharina Huber, her partner, a chance in the second portion.

Miradoli of France lays down a quicker time than she did coming 16th in the individual downhill, 1:37.37; I guess she’s used to the course now. Our big names, though, don’t come out for a while: Goggia, who took bronze in the individual event is ninth, Aicher who claimed silver, is doing the slalom portion, and Johnson is 14th with Srobova, Vlhova’s partner, going 28th and last.

FBI releases new photos, videos of subject in Nancy Guthrie disappearance

FBI Director Kash Patel posted videos​ of a person outside the home of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Savannah Guthrie, on the morning of her disappearance.

Lutnick defends visit to Epstein's island with his family

Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein released recently​ show Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Jeffrey Epstein had a closer relationship​ than Lutnick has previously stated.

FBI releases door-camera images of ‘armed individual’ in Nancy Guthrie case

Agency says person ‘appears to have tampered’ with Nest camera as hunt for Savannah Guthrie’s mother continues

The FBI on Tuesday released new photos and video footage of someone the agency’s director described as “an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance”.

Broadcast journalist Savannah Guthrie, host of NBC’s Today and Nancy’s daughter, wrote on social media: “We believe she is still alive. Bring her home.”

Iran tells US not to let Netanyahu thwart nuclear talks before Trump meeting

Tehran’s intervention comes as the Israeli prime minister heads to a hastily arranged White House encounter

Tehran has told the US not to allow Israel to destroy the chance of reaching an agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme amid speculation that Benjamin Netanyahu intends to use a hastily arranged White House meeting with Donald Trump on Wednesday to divert negotiations.

Iran’s intervention came as the Israeli prime minister flew to Washington to plead with Trump not to negotiate a deal with Tehran if it excludes limiting the country’s ballistic missile programme, dropping its support for proxy forces in the region and curtailing human rights abuses at home.

A timeline of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance as search stretches on

Savannah's Guthrie's mom, Nancy Guthrie, was reported missing Feb. 1, and authorities have still not identified a possible suspect or person of interest.

Ireland’s basic income for the arts scheme becomes permanent

When piloted, initiative that provided €325 a week to eligible artists recouped more than its net cost, study shows

Ireland is creating a scheme that will give artists a weekly income in the hope of reducing their need for alternative work and boosting their creativity.

The Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) initiative will provide €325 (£283) a week to 2,000 eligible artists based in the Republic of Ireland in three-year cycles.

EPA will revoke 'endangerment finding' that underpins all climate regulation this week

The endangerment finding gives the EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gases by deeming they pose a risk to public health and welfare.

UK signed deals with US firms that were clients of Mandelson lobbying company

Clients of Global Counsel, co-founded by Mandelson, included OpenAI and Palantir, which have both signed deals with government

A lobbying firm co-owned by Peter Mandelson worked for OpenAI before the US tech company signed a wide-ranging agreement with the UK government to explore deploying AI in Britain’s justice, security and education systems.

In 2024, the $500bn-valued maker of ChatGPT was a client of Global Counsel, which Mandelson co-founded and part-owned. Keir Starmer subsequently appointed Mandelson as ambassador to Washington.

Norway defence chief says Russia could invade to protect nuclear assets

Exclusive: Eirik Kristoffersen, who served in Afghanistan, rejects Trump’s claim that Nato troops stayed off frontlines

Norway’s army chief has said Oslo cannot exclude the possibility of a future Russian invasion of the country, suggesting Moscow could move on Norway to protect its nuclear assets stationed in the far north.

“We don’t exclude a land grab from Russia as part of their plan to protect their own nuclear capabilities, which is the only thing they have left that actually threatens the United States,” said Gen Eirik Kristoffersen, Norway’s chief of defence.

Ford Motor is set to report results after the bell. Here's what Wall Street expects

Investors will be watching for updates on Ford's 2026 forecast and on its F-Series pickup trucks after a supplier fire has impacted business.

‘Wake-up call’ for Greece as air force officer accused of spying for China

Christos Flessas detained in case seen as exposing Beijing’s strategy of infiltrating western military and security services

A Greek air force officer arrested on suspicion of spying for China has been detained pending trial after appearing before a military judge in a case that is seen as exposing Beijing’s determination to infiltrate Europe’s security and intelligence services.

Surrounded by armed escorts, a squadron leader identified as Col Christos Flessas emerged from the court late on Tuesday after giving testimony for more than eight hours.

GOP anxiety over Trump tariffs tests House Speaker Johnson in upcoming vote

The House is slated to take a vote Tuesday that could block challenges to Trump's tariffs through the summer.

Venezuela welcomes Trump-loving US TV channel in ‘marriage of convenience’

Newsmax, granted major access as the first foreign outlet admitted after the US strike, hailed Trump as a ‘liberator’

In the days after Nicolás Maduro was abducted by US special forces, hundreds of journalists from as far away as Japan flocked to Colombia’s border with Venezuela hoping to witness the fallout from one of the most dramatic moments in South America’s recent history. None were granted visas to enter. Those who tried to do so anyway were detained and thrown out.

But last weekend a team of reporters was finally allowed to visit Caracas.

The Guardian view on Jimmy Lai: what Britain’s caution says about its relationship to Beijing’s power | Editorial

Australia defended a detained journalist despite the risks. Britain’s muted response to a media mogul’s harsh sentence suggests a narrowing view of what confrontation is worth

If the sentence handed to the media mogul Jimmy Lai was meant to surprise, it would have been shorter. Twenty years behind bars is not a burst of rage. It is a sentence designed to make repression routine in Hong Kong. The 78-year-old founder of the shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily is now likely to die in prison after being convicted of sedition. The court was telling Hongkongers what kind of place they now live in, and signalling to foreign governments what kind of relationship Beijing expects them to accept.

China’s national security law, imposed on Hong Kong in 2020, was designed to dismantle the former British colony’s pro-democracy movement and to place freedom of expression under permanent political constraint by the Chinese Communist party. From 2020 to 2026, at least 385 individuals have been arrested and 175 convicted under national security-related offences.

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.

Drive the ‘ice road’, Estonians told – just don’t fasten your seatbelt

Cold spell means cars can cross 20km stretch of frozen sea but drivers must be able to exit quickly in case of a problem

Temperatures in northern Europe have been so low that citizens of Estonia can now drive across a 20km stretch of frozen sea linking the country’s two main islands.

The so-called “ice road” connecting the islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, located in western Estonia between the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga, was officially opened on Sunday with a line of cars waiting to use it that afternoon.

Ukrainians angry with IOC after ‘betrayal’ of banning helmet with images of dead athletes

• Luger shares ‘remembrance is not a violation’ message

• Officials will allow racer to wear black armband instead

Ukrainian athletes have stepped up their defiance of International Olympic Committee rules banning them from protesting against the Russian invasion while in competition, amid growing anger over a decision to ban a “helmet of memory” for the ­country’s war dead.

On Tuesday evening the ­skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych revealed that he had continued to use the helmet, which shows athletes killed during the war, during his practice runs in Italy in defiance of the IOC.

Malinowski concedes to Mejia in Democratic House special primary in New Jersey

With the race still too close to call, former congressman Tom Malinowski conceded to challenger Analilia Mejia in a Democratic primary to replace the seat vacated by New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill.

A daughter reexamines her own family story in 'The Mixed Marriage Project'

Dorothy Roberts' parents, a white anthropologist and a Black woman from Jamaica, spent years interviewing interracial couples in Chicago. Her memoir draws from their records.

ICE chief, immigration officials defend deportations at House hearing

The leaders of three major immigration agencies defended the Trump administration's deportations in testimony before lawmakers on Tuesday.

Mark Carney reminds Trump that Canada paid for key border bridge US president says he won’t open

Trump earlier had ranted against bridge and also warned that China would ‘terminate’ hockey in Canada

Mark Carney said he had held a “positive” conversation with Donald Trump after the US leader threatened to block a new key bridge between their two countries, reminding the president that Canada paid for the structure – and that the US shares ownership.

Late on Monday, Trump posted a lengthy message on social media, falsely claiming that the $4.6bn Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan, had “virtually no US content”. The bridge is due to open in early 2026.

Borthwick backs under-pressure Townsend before Calcutta Cup clash

• ‘People should spend more time supporting him’

• Itoje restored as England captain for Six Nations match

Steve Borthwick has called on Scotland supporters to lay off Gregor Townsend before the Calcutta Cup on Saturday, pointing out that his opposite number is his nation’s most successful coach of the professional era.

Townsend is under huge pressure after the defeat against Italy in Rome last weekend came after he bizarrely claimed a report he had agreed to take over at Newcastle Red Bulls after the 2027 World Cup was a ruse designed to distract his side before they welcome England to Murrayfield.

Prediction market Kalshi reached $1bn in trading volume during Super Bowl

Kalshi says ‘incredible weekend’ after $145m in bets on Bad Bunny’s opening song and guests during half-time show

Online prediction market Kalshi hit a daily record on Super Bowl Sunday, surpassing $1bn in trading volume, the company announced on Tuesday.

Kalshi’s CEO, Tarek Mansour, called it an “incredible weekend”, telling CNBC that “Kalshi was the biggest brand of the Super Bowl this year, without running a Super Bowl ad”.

Wallace, Gromit and a new use for lentils: Aardman exhibition opens at Young V&A

Children are encouraged to get hands-on as the world’s leading stop-motion studio showcases its work in east London

What would Wallace – everyone’s favourite amateur Yorkshire inventor – look like with a moustache, straw boater and postal worker’s coat? Would a huge set of teeth suit his faithful beagle, Gromit? How about a nose shaped like a banana?

Such questions are answered by an illuminating and sometimes alarming exhibition at east London’s Young V&A that showcases the work of the world’s leading stop-motion outfit, the Bristol-based Aardman studios. Early sketches for Nick Park’s much-loved characters reveal that Wallace was once just a few bristles short of Hitler, while Gromit had fangs and the ability to speak.

Reporter's notebook: A Dutch speedskater and a U.S. influencer walk into a bar …

NPR's Rachel Treisman took a pause from watching figure skaters break records to see speed skaters break records. Plus, the surreal experience of watching backflip artist Ilia Malinin.

National Guard soldier leaves rifle in New Orleans bathroom

A National Guard spokesperson said the weapon was returned to the Louisiana National Guard "and the soldier and incident are being handled internally," CBS affiliate WWL reported.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi obituary

Muammar Gaddafi’s son determined to make a political return backed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who has died aged 53, shot dead by four masked assailants at his home, was for many years considered the heir apparent to his father Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s long-time dictator, and was still a potential force in his country’s fractured and violent politics.

He was issued with an arrest warrant by the international criminal court in 2011 – and convicted in absentia by a Libyan court in 2015 – over war crimes committed during the 2011 revolution. Saif had promised that the regime would keep fighting the rebels “until the last man standing, even the last woman standing”.

In Beirut, Lebanon's cats of war find peace on university campus

The American University of Beirut has long been a haven for cats abandoned in times if war or crisis, but in recent years the feline population has grown dramatically.

From Melania to Kid Rock’s halftime show: why is Maga art so dreadful?

As the right stokes culture wars, their alternatives to ‘woke’ Hollywood prove to be shoddily made and uninspired

It’s not fair, what they did to rightwing folks on Super Bowl Sunday. Regular viewers could either take in an elaborate and joyful halftime performance from Puerto Rican recording artist Bad Bunny, one of the most popular music stars in the world, or, if they weren’t interested in football or in Bad Bunny’s music, they could quietly find something else to watch or listen to. There are a lot of options out there. Those who wanted to prove their Maga bona fides or loyalties, however, may have felt obligated to watch a parade of similar-sounding country singers lead into a performance from a shorts-wearing Kid Rock, jumping around and seemingly lip-syncing to a novelty hit from 1999.

For rightwingers who couldn’t stomach the Spanish lyrics to Bad Bunny songs, they could take comfort in the clear English of the man also known as Robert Ritchie: “Bawitdaba, da-bang, da-bang, diggy-diggy-diggy.” (These lyrics are actually just what a certain segment of white listeners prefer: something ripped off from Black culture, in this case rapper Busy Bee.) This sad spectacle was provided by Turning Point USA, which is not actually a charity organization for faded turn-of-the-century rap-rockers, but a rightwing advocacy group co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk. When Kid Rock pivoted back to Ritchie and covered the country tune Til You Can’t (with a pious and half-assed new verse added by Ritchie himself), the music was chased with a tribute to Kirk. This means that viewers were treated to all the artistry of a Kid Rock show plus all the cheerfulness of a funeral.

‘Boy kibble’: why are young men turning to dog food for meal inspiration?

The dried food, traditionally for pets, has become an unlikely influence for meal preppers. Some commenters have even claimed the trend could be an antidote to toxic masculinity

Name: Boy kibble.

Age: It’s new.

Ella Baron on Keir Starmer’s last supper – cartoon

Continue reading...

Steady Ed conjours up a Keir in his own image – complete with fake steering wheel | John Crace

Miliband is one minister who doesn’t want to be PM, and is more than happy to let Starmer think he is still in control

It was a day for one of the Top Team. The safest of safe hands. A grownup. That didn’t mean the likes of Emma Reynolds. Emma looks permanently startled at the best of times. Especially when there’s a microphone around. Give her more than 30 seconds and she’ll confess to crimes she didn’t commit.

And certainly not Wes Streeting. Not even Wes trusts Wes. His denials over any involvement with Anas Sarwar’s Monday press conference weren’t 100% convincing. Nor was his insistence that he had never much liked Peter Mandelson. In his WhatsApps, Wes uses one kiss for those he hates and two for those he loves. Apparently.

Ketanji Brown Jackson says Supreme Court justices "get along well"

Ketanji Brown Jackson told "CBS Mornings" that the justices "have learned how to adapt to being in an environment with people who have very strongly held but different views."

Bulgaria gripped by mysterious deaths of six people in mountains

Case is shrouded in fevered speculation as prosecutors say autopsies show two of the deceased were “probably” murdered

It has been dubbed Bulgaria’s “Twin Peaks”: a grim saga involving the mysterious deaths of six people in the middle of the mountains that has gripped the eastern European country.

Zahari Vaskov, the director of the national police general directorate, told a press conference on Monday that the deaths were “a case without comparison in our country”.

Is Starmer out of the woods after Labour showdown? - The Latest

After a day of turmoil where the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, called for Keir Starmer to resign, Labour MPs and cabinet members seem to be rallying around the prime minister. Can Starmer bounce back from this latest blow to his leadership? And what might the road to recovery look like for Labour? Lucy Hough speaks to columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

Jury selection begins for grief book author accused of poisoning husband

Kouri Richins allegedly poisoned her husband Eric by putting a fatal dose of fentanyl in his drink, leading to his sudden death in 2022.

Underwear optional? The health pros and cons of going commando

There are times when it is better to wear underwear than not. Here’s what the experts say

In 2015, during a particularly energetic performance of the song American Woman in Stockholm, Lenny Kravitz split a pair of leather pants right down the crotch, revealing his manhood to the world.

I’m sorry to say I think about this incident somewhat regularly. Not out of titillation, but because it planted in my head a troublesome question: just how many people, rock stars or otherwise, aren’t wearing underwear in public?

Court unseals more records in Fulton County suit over FBI search

A federal court in Georgia unsealed key records related to the FBI's seizure of 2020 election materials from Fulton County last month.

What to know about a new study on coffee, tea and dementia risk

CBS News medical contributor Dr. Céline Gounder said the results of the study on coffee drinkers having lower risk of dementia should be taken "with a massive grain of salt."

Brutal but beautiful: Southbank Centre’s Grade II listing is the cherry on a concrete cake

As one of the longest-running battles in British heritage comes to an end, the listing of the London arts complex vindicates the audacity of this sensational droogs’ paradise

Britain’s battle of brutalism has finally reached an exhausted conclusion with the listing of London’s Southbank Centre. The so-called “concrete monstrosities” of the Hayward Gallery, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall and its skatepark undercroft have finally been Grade II-listed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Traditionalists may be spitting feathers, but as football pundits are apt to assert: “It was the right result.”

However, it turned out to be a very long and very tetchy game. Constructed between 1949 and 1968 in an uncompromisingly brutalist style, the Southbank Centre was once voted Britain’s ugliest building. Since 1991, the Twentieth Century Society (C20), champions of all things modern, and Historic England had recommended listing on six separate occasions, yet their advice was rejected by successive secretaries of state. Until now. The decision brings to an end an unprecedented 35-year-long impasse, one of the longest-running battles in British architectural heritage.

EU moves closer to creating offshore centres for migrants and asylum seekers

MEPs vote to allow people to be deported to places they have never been to, as NGOs express fears over new ‘safe third countries’ list

The EU has moved closer to creating offshore centres for migrants and asylum seekers, after centre-right and far-right MEPs united for tougher migration policies.

MEPs voted for legal changes that will give authorities more options to deport asylum seekers, including sending people to countries they have never been to.

Jon Stewart calls Maga backlash to Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl show ‘actually pathetic’

Late-night hosts discussed rightwing backlash to Bad Bunny’s all-Spanish Super Bowl half-time show

Late-night hosts addressed the performative Maga outrage over Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show.

EFL clubs to vote on expanding Championship playoffs to six clubs

• Vote next month after FA board approves radical plan

• New playoff format would begin as soon as next season

EFL clubs will next month vote on an expansion of the Championship playoffs to six teams after being given approval to pursue the radical change by the Football Association’s board.

The Guardian has learned that the 72 EFL clubs were on Tuesday invited to an extraordinary general meeting on 5 March, when the vote will take place on a new playoff format that would begin next season.

Coca-Cola forecasts modest growth amid demand concerns

Like rival PepsiCo, Coke has seen demand for its drinks fall as budget-conscious shoppers try to save more on their grocery bills.

Disappointing holiday season: December retail sales were flat, falling well short of estimate

Consumer activity slowed sharply for the December holiday shopping season.

Masterpiece, fridge magnet, phone case … opera: how Hokusai’s The Great Wave hit the stage

He survived a stroke, a lightning strike, a fire – and created one of the world’s most recognisable images. Now the Japanese artist’s ‘wild, fascinating’ life has inspired an opera

Opera has inspired many of the 20th century’s greatest artists to create extraordinary sets. Oskar Kokoschka designed a Magic Flute for Salzburg and a Ballo in maschera for Florence. Salvador Dalí produced a controversial Salome for London; David Hockney’s designs for Glyndebourne’s Rake’s Progress complement Stravinsky’s sound-world so miraculously that they are still in use 50 years after their creation. Marc Chagall’s ceiling fresco for Paris’s Opéra Garnier and murals for the New York Met testify to the intimate connection between opera and painting.

And yet remarkably few operas portray visual artists. Something about their painstaking work seems to resist representation in this most extravagant of artforms. Only two operas about artists are regularly performed: Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler, depicting the German Renaissance painter Matthias Grünewald, and Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini – and Cellini gave Berlioz a head-start with his rollicking memoirs about his scandalous adventures in 16th-century Florence.

Judge rejects Trump administration's effort to obtain Michigan voter data

The Trump administration has filed lawsuits against 24 states in an effort to obtain their voter rolls.

Gentrification is pricing artists out of New York, threatening its cultural edge

The city’s artist population has fallen for the first time in decades, a report finds, for want of affordable housing

Rowynn Dumont, a curator, painter, photographer and writer, lived in about 25 places around the world before settling in New York in 2017.

“It’s where my community and the art world infrastructure already were,” said Dumont.

‘A step in the wrong direction’: Israel’s West Bank plans prompt global backlash

US, Britain, EU and Arab nations condemn plans that Israeli ministers say will ‘kill the idea of a Palestinian state’

Israeli measures to tighten its control of the West Bank have prompted a global backlash, including a signal from Washington restating the Trump administration’s opposition to annexation of the occupied territory.

Announcing the measures, which involve extending Israeli control in areas that are currently under Palestinian administration, Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, made clear they were aimed at strengthening Israeli settlements in the West Bank and pre-empting the emergence of an independent sovereign Palestine.

J Cole: The Fall Off review – rap legend’s final album is a self-obsessed hip-hop history lesson

(Interscope)
Bowing out after six consecutive US No 1 albums, Cole references rap greats and even conjures a convo between Biggie and 2Pac – but the lens rarely strays from himself

J Cole released his debut mixtape in 2007, and now, nearly two decades later and after six back-to-back US No 1 albums, the North Carolina MC is still wrestling with the weight of so much hope heaped upon him. He is framing The Fall Off as a graceful bowing out – “to do on my last what I was unable to do on my first”, he has said – and it’s almost as if he is a student coming to the end of a long period of study, with this double album as his graduate thesis.

Across 24 tracks and 101 minutes, The Fall Off is full of technical proficiency, raw lyrical skill, citation, interpolation and sampling, and it attempts nothing less than to embody a half-century of hip-hop. Through direct and indirect references, lessons unfold throughout. The Fall-Off Is Inevitable is inspired by Nas’s 2001 Stillmatic track Rewind. I Love Her Again is an obvious nod to Common’s I Used to Love HER. Bunce Road Blues borrows lyrics from Usher’s Nice & Slow but connects to R&B’s present with guest vocals from Nigerian singer Tems. The Let Out is reminiscent of SpottieOttieDopaliscious from OutKast’s Aquemini, and so forth: all ample material for audiences to think through hip-hop’s past and future.

GOP Sen. Johnson slams Dems' 'obnoxious' judicial warrant demand as another shutdown looms

The Wisconsin senator warned the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Transportation Security Administration would be defunded if DHS appropriations lapse.

Jeffrey Epstein has sparked a political crisis threatening the UK government. Here's what's happening

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has faced calls from some of his own Labour lawmakers to step down in recent days.

Norwegian biathlete wins Winter Olympics bronze and then tells TV interview of affair

• Sturla Holm Lægreid stuns viewers watching in Norway

• ‘Three months ago I made the mistake of my life’

The Norwegian Sturla Holm Lægreid broke down in tears after winning bronze in the men’s 20km biathlon, apologising for having an affair and saying: “It has been the worst week of my life.”

Johan-Olav Botn won gold, with the Frenchman Éric Perrot in second, but it was Lægreid who stunned television viewers in Norway after opening up to the broadcaster NRK about his private life over the past six months.

The EU is working on a blanket ban of ‘forever chemicals’. Why isn't Britain? | Pippa Neill

In Lancashire, I met people living with dangerous levels of Pfas, including in their food. The government is failing them

Last week, on the morning the government published its Pfas action plan, I got a worried phone call from a woman called Sam who lives next door to a chemical factory in Lancashire. Sam had just been hand-delivered a letter from her local council informing her that after testing, it had been confirmed that her ducks’ eggs, reared in her garden in Thornton-Cleveleys, near Blackpool, are contaminated with Pfas.

Pfas – per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment – are a family of thousands of chemicals, and I have been reporting on them for years. Some, including those found in the eggs Sam and her family have been eating, have been linked to a wide range of serious illnesses, including certain cancers.

Ben Ogden becomes 1st U.S. man in 50 years to medal in cross-country

Ben Ogden of Team USA won the silver medal in the cross-country sprint Tuesday at the Winter Olympics in Italy.

How much gold is in an Olympic gold medal, and how much is it worth?

Olympic medals have what's known as a "melt value." But they're worth far more financially than their mineral contents, an auction expert notes.

BP suspends share buyback plan in fresh sign of oil price pressure

BP on Tuesday posted fourth-quarter profit in line with expectations, after crude prices dipped below $60 a barrel for the first time in nearly five years.

‘Coca leaf is life itself’: Andean growers’ hopes fade as WHO upholds global ban

Under US pressure as part of the ‘war on drugs’, the WHO still categorises the sacred Indigenous remedy as akin to heroin or fentanyl, despite its many therapeutic properties

For thousands of years, Andean people living around what is now the town of Coripata, east of La Paz, Bolivia, have used coca leaves to relieve fatigue, hunger and altitude sickness (known as soroche), as well as to treat headaches and digestive problems.

Concerned about the future of this cultural and religious practice, Daynor Choque, heir to this ancient tradition, points to a pile of leaves on the table in front of him.

‘So shameful’: backlash as US national monuments conform to Trump’s rewrite of history

From Pennsylvania to Montana, the White House’s war on ‘woke’ has targeted US monuments that address topics like racism and Indigenous history

Blank spaces now exist where a series of panels about enslavement once appeared on the walls of the President’s House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The site, which honors the home of George Washington and John Adams, is a major landmark that bore artwork and informational signs for more than a decade. But on 22 January, National Park Service (NPS) workers used hand tools to pry off 34 panels to comply with a presidential executive order designed to reframe the national narrative. The panels that highlighted the lives of people enslaved by George Washington when Philadelphia was the US capital in the 1790s are now in storage.

The removal is one of several across the nation, as NPS staff aim to conform with Donald Trump’s executive order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” issued on 27 March 2025. Public markers, monuments and statues that the Trump administration considers disparaging to past or current Americans have been flagged at more than a dozen parks. Two exhibits at Montana’s Little Bighorn battlefield national monument that discuss Indigenous history and the Battle of the Little Bighorn have been targeted and deemed noncompliant. Additionally, signage about climate change at Muir Woods national monument in California and visitor brochures at Medgar and Myrlie Evers home national monument in Mississippi that referred to Medgar Evers’s killer as racist were also removed.

CVS tops quarterly estimates, reaffirms profit outlook as turnaround plan takes effect

The results signal steady progress in the health-care giant's aggressive turnaround plan under CEO David Joyner, who stepped into the role in late 2024.

U.S. hockey star Laila Edwards talks about historic Olympic debut

Hockey star Laila Edwards said she's "just so thankful" to represent Team USA at the Winter Olympics, making her historic debut on the ice Thursday.

At the Super Bowl, Bad Bunny challenged the meaning of ‘America’

The Puerto Rican star’s vision of American identity moved beyond colonial tropes to span an entire hemisphere

By now, many of us have a favorite part of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time performance. It’s a dense, rich set that invites rewatching to take in every thoughtful, exuberant detail – even though it’s barely 14 minutes long.

My most beloved part occurs a little more than nine minutes into the homage, when the cuatro puertorriqueño appears. The stringed instrument has its own moment in the spotlight, shown in the talented hands of the cuatrista José Eduardo Santana just before Ricky Martin performs.

Hong Kong’s once-vibrant press stays silent or celebrates Jimmy Lai’s 20-year jail sentence

Lack of response shows security law and harassment by authorities have muzzled ‘critical voices’, say experts

• The rise and fall of Jimmy Lai, whose trajectory mirrored that of Hong Kong itself

Hong Kong’s once-vibrant media outlets have responded with silence or celebration to the 20-year jail sentence handed down to Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy media tycoon and critic of the Chinese Communist party.

Lai, 78, was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison after being convicted of sedition and colluding with foreign forces under Hong Kong’s national security law. The charges were widely seen as being politically motivated and designed to silence one of Hong Kong’s most influential pro-democracy campaigners.

Video shows small plane landing on busy Georgia road

A small plane was forced to use a busy road in Gainesville, Georgia, as an emergency runway - colliding with several cars as the pilot tried to land. Everyone survived the incident, despite damage to the plane and multiple cars.

Romeo Is a Dead Man review – a misfire from a storied gaming provocateur

PlayStation 5 (version tested), Xbox, PC; Grasshopper Manufacture/Marvelous Inc
After some dumb fun hacking at zombies, legendary developer Suda51’s first original game in a decade sadly only delivers a host of incoherent disappointments

Ever since he baffled GameCube owners with 2005’s Killer7, Japanese game director Suda51 has had a reputation for turning heads. From parodying the banality of open-world games with 2007’s No More Heroes to collaborating with James Gunn for 2012’s pulpy Lollipop Chainsaw, his games often offer a welcome reprieve from soulless, half-a-billion-dollar-budget gaming blockbusters. It was with considerable excitement that I fired up Suda’s first new game in 10 years.

The game kicks off with a slick cartoon that shows our hero, Romeo Stargazer, being eaten by a zombie. Hastily resurrected by his zany scientist grandfather, Romeo returns from the brink imbued with new powers – and then we’re off. Almost immediately I am bombarded by an impenetrable wall of proper-noun nonsense. It’s like this for the next 20 hours.

Trump threatens to block opening of Gordie Howe International Bridge

President Trump said Monday he would block the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Detroit and Canada "until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them."

Stowaway with 789 pounds of cocaine pulled from harbor, Coast Guard says

The stowaway was first spotted as a barge was tugged into San Juan's Old Army Terminal port. Then officials saw them in the water.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was never a love story. It was a warning

Watch Michel Gondry’s 2004 time-twister as a hard sci-fi film and you might heed its advice – on technology and its futility against our romantic woes

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a film about the gap between what we think we can control and what happens when reality hits. Over the years, many critics and fans have celebrated Michel Gondry’s film as a tender-hearted love story. But a rewatch might reveal that Gondry’s second collaboration with postmodern American screenwriter Charlie Kaufman is much closer to another, twistier genre: hard sci-fi.

By now, the story of Eternal Sunshine is familiar. Depressed introvert Joel (Jim Carrey) meets Clementine (Kate Winslet), whose box-dyed hair colour and moods change as often as the weather. A mismatch made in heaven. The troubled couple eventually find a fix for their rocky, codependent relationship: a service provided by a sketchy medical company called Lacuna Inc that offers to erase their memories of each other. Clementine goes first. Out of spite, Joel follows.

Landmark trial accusing social media giants of being addictive and harmful gets underway

Opening statements began Monday in Los Angeles in a landmark trial against Meta and Google, marking the first time these companies are facing a jury. The social media giants are accused of intentionally designing their products to be addictive in a way that is harmful for teens.

Last sexual misconduct lawsuits against NFL QB Deshaun Watson dismissed

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has had the final two of nearly 30 civil lawsuits against him dismissed.

A camel race and Donald Trump taking a Liberty: photos of the day – Tuesday

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

US figure skater Amber Glenn resolves Winter Olympics music dispute with Canadian artist

• Glenn and Seb McKinnon clear up ‘hiccup’ in process

• Skater to compete next in the women’s singles next week

The US figure skater Amber Glenn said Tuesday that she has resolved copyright concerns with the Canadian recording artist Seb McKinnon after the musician expressed surprise that one of his songs appeared in her Olympic free skate program, closing a brief dispute that underscored the growing complexity of music rights in figure skating.

McKinnon, who releases music under the name CLANN, posted on social media after Glenn performed to his track The Return during the Olympic team event, questioning whether the music had been cleared. He later congratulated Glenn on her team gold medal, and both sides have since described the episode as a misunderstanding rather than a conflict.

It’s nothing short of TV gold: mix horror with wild comedy and call it Starmer’s last stand | Marina Hyde

The only reason we might not get our seventh prime minister in 10 years is that no one can find one

Keir Starmer is now the only person to have lost more comms chiefs than Meghan and Harry. After yet another day of drama, we kept hearing that the prime minister would be pressing the reset button. Not again! Starmer’s reset button is like the OK button on your TV remote – worn blank through overuse. He has pressed that thing more often than you’ve decided another 44 minutes of a crap thriller is somehow less of an effort than getting yourself to bed. Anyway, next episode in five, four, three …

Fine. One more.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

Barnsley drug dealer rigged properties with ‘Home Alone’ booby traps

Ian Claughton, 60, jailed after setting up crow scarers, stun guns and homemade flame-thrower to deter intruders

A drug dealer has been jailed for seven years after rigging a series of houses with Home Alone-style booby traps to deter intruders.

Ian Claughton, 60, was found guilty of several drugs and firearms offences in November after standing trial at Doncaster crown court alongside his ex-wife Lesley Claughton, who was given a 21-month sentence suspended for two years.

American Ben Ogden wins silver, breaking 50 year medal drought for U.S. men's cross-country skiing

Ben Ogden of Vermont skied powerfully, finishing just behind Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway. It was the first Olympic medal for a U.S. men's cross-country skier since 1976.

Gavin Newsom’s likely presidential bid is built on broken promises | Gil Durán

The California governor has a record of failed pledges on housing, healthcare and more as he mistakes theatrics for leadership

Gavin Newsom has stumbled upon the perfect slogan for his likely upcoming presidential campaign: “Strong and Wrong.” In a recent interview, California’s governor said Americans prefer crude politicians like Donald Trump over leaders who cling to niceties and norms.

“Given the choice … the American people always support strong and wrong versus weak and right,” he said.

Gil Durán is a California journalist and author of the forthcoming book The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War On Democracy. He was an adviser to several Democratic politicians

I drove hours to see the monks walking for peace. Five minutes with them was the gift of a lifetime

I glimpsed the monks on their 2,300-mile pilgrimage across America – their message of loving-kindness had me in tears

“I’m obsessed with the monks,” my friend Sam told me. “It’s the only thing getting me through the violence of this second Trump administration. The monks, and my meds.”

I nodded. I’d first heard about the monks walking for peace after my brother and sister-in-law traveled to hear them in Alabama, returning with stories of stillness and a grounded sense of hope.

What is fibremaxxing – and how much is too much? | Kitchen aide

Most of us aren’t getting enough fibre in our diet, but, as our panel of experts explain, upping your intake is a case of taking baby steps …

Why is everyone talking about fibremaxxing?
Chris, by email
TikTok-born trends rarely go hand in hand with sage health advice, but that’s not to say upping our fibre – an often-forgotten part of our diets – is a bad idea. “Fibre needed its moment, so this is a good thing,” says dietitian Priya Tew. The non-digestible carbohydrate has two main functions: “There’s insoluble fibre, which is found in things such as whole grains, brown rice or vegetable skins, and I think about it like a broom,” Tew says, “in that it brushes the system out.” Then there’s soluble fibre (oats, beans, lentils), which she likens to a sponge: “It turns into this gel in your gut, and aids digestion and keeps us regular.” But that’s only part of the story, because fibre can also help lower cholesterol and stabilise blood sugar.

So, are you getting enough? “The aim is 25-30g fibre a day, but in reality most of us are maybe getting 15-18g,” Tew says, so we’ve got a little way to go. That said, some folk on the #fibremaxxing train have set their sights higher, which is where things can become problematic. “If you’re having too much fibre, you can end up feeling bloated, constipated or have abdominal pain,” she says, and that can occur when you increase your fibre intake too quickly: “The body needs time to get used to what’s happening.”

Got a culinary dilemma? Email [email protected]

Warren and Hawley team up to try to break up "Big Medicine"

Democrat Elizabeth Warren and Republican Josh Hawley don't agree on much, but they've found common ground on health care and affordability.

Astronomers celebrate cancellation of $10bn Chile project that threatened clearest skies in the world

Astronomers had warned that proximity of INNA facility to telescopes would have irreparably damaged observation

The scientific community is celebrating the cancellation of a project which would have threatened the clearest skies in the world in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

The proposed $10bn, 3,000-hectare green hydrogen and ammonia production facility, known as INNA, included a port, transport links to the coast and three solar power plants, and had been under evaluation by Chile’s environmental regulator for almost a year.

Winter Olympics officials find fix for broken medals and promise repairs

• Downhill champion Breezy Johnson among the affected

• ‘A solution has been identified, and a fix put in place’

After days of embarrassing stories about Winter Olympic medals cracking, snapping, and even breaking in two after falling in the snow, organisers say they have finally fixed the problem.

Officials have also promised to repair any of the medals that were awarded in the opening three days of competition in Milano Cortina, after identifying on Monday that the issue stemmed from the medal’s cord, which is fitted with a breakaway mechanism required by law.

BBC World Service faces funding cliff edge in seven weeks, says Tim Davie

As trust in Russia and China’s state broadcasters grows, director general warns of the dangers of cutting back the service

The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks with no future deal with the government currently in place, the corporation’s director general, Tim Davie, has warned.

In a last-minute pitch to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Davie said the uncertainty came as news organisations were cutting their international reporting and disinformation was “flooding the digital sphere at an incredible speed”.

Best and worst Super Bowl commercials of 2026 as rated by experts

Google and Pepsi were among the best ads of the Big Game, while Coinbase and ai.com got failing grades, according to one ranking.

Florence + the Machine review – ​a thrilling shift in tone towards stark, sombre catharsis

OVO Hydro, Glasgow
Florence Welch is backed by the folk-horror dramatics of a petticoat-clad choir – but quite capable of transfixing the crowd with her billowing voice alone

‘I’ve only sung this once before and it makes me shake,” Florence Welch admits, crouching alone at the far end of a long, narrow thrust stage. Watching her command this arena during the first of two sold-out shows in Glasgow in honour of Florence + the Machine’s sixth album Everybody Scream, it’s hard to imagine Welch fearing anything. Just seconds ago, she was racing barefoot, flouncy skirts gathered in one hand, ripping through Spectrum (the band’s first UK No 1, back in 2012) and its searing demand: “Say my name!”

But the new song she is steeling herself to sing presses on a bruise. With ratcheting intensity, You Can Have It All grieves an ectopic pregnancy which almost killed her, as well as a music industry that punishes its stars for motherhood. Over grungy electric guitar, her tempestuous voice billows like sails in high wind: “Am I a woman now?” It leaves the arena in stunned silence. She gives a wry curtsey.

Irish man held in ICE detention says he fears for his life and asks Ireland for help

Seamus Culleton describes conditions as ‘torture’ as he pleads with taoiseach to raise his case with Donald Trump

An Irish man who has been held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for five months despite having a valid work permit and no criminal record says he fears for his life and has appealed for help from Ireland’s government.

Seamus Culleton said conditions at his detention centre in Texas were akin to “torture” and that the atmosphere was volatile. “I’m not in fear of the other inmates. I’m afraid of the staff. They’re capable of anything.”

F1 2026: a look at the cars for the new season – in pictures

A look at each team’s choice of colours and designs ahead of the new F1 season

‘We feel kinda bad when a solo bird shows up’: Canada sees its first European robin – but how did it get there?

Birdwatchers flock to Montréal for rare sighting of ‘vagrant’ bird that has made its home during a bitterly cold winter

On a quiet Montréal street of low-rise brick apartment buildings on one side and cement barrier wall on the other, a crowd has gathered, binoculars around their necks and cameras at the ready. A European robin has taken up residence in the neighbourhood, which is sandwiched between two industrial areas with warehouses and railway lines and, a few blocks away, port facilities on the St Lawrence River.

Ron Vandebeek from Ottawa, Ontario, is here on a frigid February morning hoping to see the rare bird, which was first spotted at the beginning of January.

An ape, a tea party — and the ability to imagine

The ability to imagine — to play pretend — has long been thought to be unique to humans. A new study suggests one of our closest living relatives can do it too.

Iran’s shadow fleet of old tankers a ticking bomb for sea life, say experts

Exclusive: Analysts say there will be oil spill catastrophe that could be far bigger than Exxon Valdez disaster

Decrepit oil tankers in Iran’s sanctions-busting shadow fleet are a “ticking time bomb”, and it is only a matter of time before there is a catastrophic environmental disaster, maritime intelligence analysts have warned.

Such an oil spill could be far bigger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster that released 37,000 tonnes of crude oil into the sea, they said.

Lindsey Heaps: ‘The Champions League is the baby you always want to win’

US captain reflects on her playing career in France and the need for greater competition as she prepares for a summer move to Denver

Lindsey Heaps is sitting in the heart of Lyon, a city that has witnessed her transformation from a self-described “baby” into the authoritative captain of the US women’s national team. Now wearing the No 10 shirt for OL Lyonnes, inherited this season from Dzsenifer Marozsán, Heaps is reflective. She is a veteran, a leader who has won almost everything, yet she remains a student of the game, constantly seeking the “good struggles” that defined her early years.

The timing of our meeting is poignant. This month Lyonnes reasserted their dominance over the Première Ligue with a 1-0 victory against Paris Saint-Germain, before winning 4-0 against Saint-Étienne in a derby. The results leaves OL in a league of their own: 14 points clear of second-placed Nantes, with PSG cast adrift in fifth place, 17 points behind the leaders. For Heaps, these numbers are not just a source of pride; they are a symptom of a wider problem.

DHS faces funding deadline. And, courts fast-track Somali asylum seeker hearings

Congress has until Friday to reach a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security. And, several asylum cases filed by Somali migrants in immigration courts were suddenly fast-tracked.

How much power does the Fed chair really have?

On paper, the Fed chair is just one vote among many. In practice, the job carries far more influence. We analyze what gives the Fed chair power.

David Squires on … the chaos at Anfield as Manchester City stay in title chase

Our cartoonist looks back at the mayhem on Merseyside as visitors’ late win reminded Arsenal they’re still in the hunt

• Buy a cartoon | David’s favourite work of 2025

• And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now