Hims & Hers pulls copycat weight-loss pill after threats of legal action

Hims & Hers on Saturday announced it would stop offering its copycat of the weight-loss pill Wegovy after threats of legal action.

Winter Olympics 2026: speed skating gold for Italy, Cas upholds ban on GB skeleton helmets and more – live

• Milano Cortina Games: updates from day one’s action

• Schedule | Results | Medal table | Briefing | Email Tom

Gallery: Roll up, roll up for the very best of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics opening ceremony in pictures …

Curling mixed doubles: We’re in the sixth end and Team GB have extended their lead over Canada to 7-2. Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat are quite literally sweeping all before them in the round robin stages of this comepetition and heading for their sixth consecutive victory.

Pressure mounts on American Airlines CEO as carrier lags rivals

American Airlines made $111 million last year, while rivals Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, brought in $5 billion and $3.3 billion, respectively.

Judge orders U.S. to return families affected by Trump's separation policy

A judge ordered the U.S. to return three migrant families who were affected by  President Trump's family separation policy​ in his first term and then deported in his second.

RSF drone attack kills 24 people fleeing fighting in central Sudan, says doctors group

Eight children including two infants among dead in vehicle carrying displaced people, says Sudan Doctors Network

A drone attack by a paramilitary group has hit a vehicle carrying displaced families in central Sudan, killing at least 24 people, including eight children, a doctors’ group said on Saturday.

The attack by the Rapid Support Forces took place close to the city of Er Rahad in North Kordofan province, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country’s war. The vehicle was transporting displaced people who fled fighting in the Dubeiker area, the group said in a statement. Among the dead children were two infants.

Who's performing at the Super Bowl halftime show? Here's the full list

Bad Bunny is set to take the stage at halftime for the 2026 Super Bowl. Here's who else is performing at Super Bowl 60.

Dango Ouattara tips seesaw contest Brentford’s way to sink Newcastle

What price Keith Andrews for manager of the season? Thomas Frank’s surprise successor certainly added to his fanclub as he choreographed Brentford’s fourth win in six Premier League games to leave Eddie Howe looking even gloomier than the unremittingly wet Tyneside weather.

While outstanding performances from Dango Ouattara and Keane Lewis-Potter left Andrews’s seventh place side appearing genuine European contenders, Howe’s Newcastle have won only one of their last eight matches in all competitions and lost four of their past five.

Trump lawyers aim to deport five-year-old boy after judge ordered his release

Liam Conejo Ramos and his father were seized by ICE in Minneapolis last month before a judge ordered their release

Attorneys for the Trump administration are aiming to deport Liam Conejo Ramos, the five-year-old boy whose photograph wearing a bunny hat in snowy Minneapolis circulated globally after his detention last month by federal officials during the aggressive anti-immigration crackdown there.

The child, Liam returned home to Minnesota earlier this week after being taken into custody alongside his father last month and transferred to a notorious family detention facility in Texas.

Ohio man charged with threatening to kill Vance, processing child abuse files

An Ohio man has been charged with threatening to kill Vice President JD Vance​ while he was visiting his home state last month.

The moment I knew: ‘He told me my mum would have wanted him to help, so he would’

Best friends at school, Gabby Amadio and Russell lost touch for 40 years – but a message on Facebook brought them back into each other’s lives

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

I’m not sure when Russell and I became close friends, but in years 9, 10 and 11 at Turramurra high in Sydney in the mid-1980s we were inseparable. It was platonic, though to be honest I was probably in love with him at some point!

My mum, Nadine, was an author and arts editor for the Financial Review, so we have lovely memories of going to the opera, ballet and theatre together: me, mum, Russell. She adored him. Mum and I lived in a converted church and he was always offering to work around the house. We’d listen to music, hang out – he tried to teach me about football and I watched it because he liked it, even though I found it tedious.

‘It’s bigger than just coach and athlete’: Jess Hull’s family ties bind an Olympic dream

Australian middle-distance runner is building on a 1500m silver medal at Paris 2024 after a bold move to return to being coached by her dad

When Jessica Hull races, she knows exactly when to make her move. And in 2023, Hull made a move that would become career-defining: returning to Australia to be coached by her dad. Now, she is one of the world’s fastest middle-distance runners.

It was a full circle moment for the 29-year-old. Simon Hull first coached his daughter in her early teens, the difference now being that they write the training together. “He’s like, ‘you’re driving this, and I’m supporting it in every way I can. But these are your goals, these are your dreams,’” Hull says.

Arundell hat-trick fires England to emphatic Six Nations win against Wales

• England 48-7 Wales

• Earl, Roebuck and Freeman also score tries for hosts

No surprises here, not even a hint of one. England have had tougher training sessions in preparation for this Six Nations and by the end the scoreboard spoke for itself. Wales were not so much beaten as buried beneath an avalanche of seven white tries including a first-half hat-trick for the pacy Bath wing Henry Arundell on his first England start since the 2023 World Cup.

If not quite as big a rout as England’s 68-14 win in Cardiff 11 months ago, the flashing red warning lights were visible from the moment the visitors had two players sent to the sin bin in the first quarter. They never looked like recovering and, in its own way, this disappointment will sting as much as the 73-0 defeat by South Africa in November.

Jake Paul joins JD Vance to watch U.S. women's hockey team at Olympics

The U.S. women's hockey team eased to a 5-0 win over Finland on Saturday afternoon.

Authorities tow car from Nancy Guthrie's home, investigate new message

Local and federal authorities said "investigators are actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity" regarding the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.

Suryakumar’s brilliant blitz denies USA seismic shock in India’s T20 World Cup opener

• India, 161-9, bt USA, 132-8, by 29 runs

• Suryakumar’s 84 from 49 balls proves the difference

There was, in the end, no shock – but there was not a lot of awe either. India’s form over the last two years has made them the most feared side in world cricket but for a while as they got their World Cup campaign under way the only dread was being experienced by their own fans as the USA threatened a humiliating upset. But for some missed chances, a hugely unfortunate injury and the brilliance of Suryakumar Yadav it might well have happened.

As it was, Suryakumar’s late acceleration took him to 84 off 49 balls and his team to 161 for nine, while the USA reply started with three early wickets – the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, ruled out by illness, doing little to dull India’s cutting edge – and the margin in the end was 29.

‘Hurry for justice’: Windrush victims dying without redress, commissioner says

Clive Foster says action needed now to deliver justice to UK residents who had been wrongly classified as illegal immigrants

The Windrush commissioner has warned of a “hurry for justice” as more victims of the scandal die without redress, while stakeholders call for a public inquiry and legislative changes amid fears that a Reform government could stall progress toward justice.

Speaking on the sidelines of a people’s inquiry symposium for those affected by the Windrush scandal, Rev Clive Foster said action was needed “now” to deliver justice for those British residents whose lives were upended after being wrongly classified as illegal immigrants.

Spot-on Cole Palmer fires first-half hat-trick as Chelsea win at woeful Wolves

A few minutes after the final whistle, victory boxed off, most of Chelsea’s players had headed for the tunnel but Cole Palmer was wandering around the halfway line in search of lost property. Enveloped by his space-grey puffer coat, making a circle with his hands, bemused staff and teammates soon caught his drift: Palmer wanted evidence of his handiwork, a 25-minute first-half hat-trick that put this game beyond Wolves, even if Liam Rosenior’s side eased off in the second.

After retrieving the match ball from a pitchside attendant, Palmer juggled it halfway across the pitch, embarking on a warm-down of keepie-uppies. It would be easy to paint this as a Palmer masterclass, the England midfielder completing his hat-trick on 38 minutes, but it is fair to say by the time he was substituted on the hour, his work was done. At that point it was 3-1 to the visitors, Wolves pulling a goal back nine minutes into the second half when Tolu Arokodare spun in the box to convert at a corner.

Gyökeres double keeps Arsenal on title track in stroll past sloppy Sunderland

There are times when the best thing for a side is an uneventful win. Titles are won less in the big set-piece games than against mid-table teams in the easily forgotten circumstances of a Saturday afternoon. Arsenal weren’t brilliant against Sunderland, but they were good enough to win comfortably, and that increases their lead at the top of the table to nine points, adding a degree of extra pressure to Manchester City’s Sunday visit to Liverpool.

“They’re really tough opponents, really good at what they do,” said Mikel Arteta. “It’s very difficult to get sequences with threat and momentum, so I’m delighted with the performance.”

Revealed: How Substack makes money from hosting Nazi newsletters

Exclusive: Site takes a cut of subscriptions to content that promotes far-right ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism

The global publishing platform Substack is generating revenue from newsletters that promote virulent Nazi ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism, a Guardian investigation has found.

The platform, which says it has about 50 million users worldwide, allows members of the public to self-publish articles and charge for premium content. Substack takes about 10% of the revenue the newsletters make. About 5 million people pay for access to newsletters on its platform.

Tom Brady reverses course after backlash and now wants Patriots to win Super Bowl

• Former QB initially said he had no ‘dog in the fight’

• Comments had angered fans and former teammates

As the New England Patriots prepare for Sunday’s Super Bowl, Tom Brady has decided he is backing his former team after all.

Brady, who won six Super Bowls with the Patriots, came under heavy criticism this week after saying he won’t have a “dog in the fight … may the best team win” when New England take on the Seattle Seahawks in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday.

Automakers largely sit out 2026 Super Bowl advertising amid industry uncertainty

Automakers are largely sitting on the advertising sidelines during this year's Super Bowl amid broader uncertainty in the U.S. automotive industry.

Frank backs Romero as Spurs captain despite red card at Manchester United

• Head coach says defender apologised to he and his team

• ‘There is not any regret in making him captain’

Thomas Frank will not consider stripping Cristian Romero of the Tottenham captaincy despite the defender invoking a four-game ban after he was sent off in the 2–0 defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday. It was Romero’s second red card in 10 matches following his two yellows in the 2-1 defeat at Liverpool on 20 December and the ban is his fourth this season.

Romero’s off-field conduct has also been a source of concern for the Spurs manager. Following last Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City, Romero described the depth of Spurs’ squad as “disgraceful”. The outburst on social media called into question his status as captain after the Argentinian was critical of the club’s ownership following the 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth in early January. “They only show up when things are going well, to tell a few lies,” Romero posted on social media, but later deleted the reference to lies.

Sloppy Scotland stunned as Italy make winning start to Six Nations amid deluge

• Italy 18-15 Scotland

• Azzurri resist fightback in appalling conditions

They say the Six Nations is all about momentum and Scotland, again, find themselves sliding rapidly downhill. Passion and effort are guaranteed from any Italy team, but they were clinical and defended magnificently in Rome. Gonzalo Quesada’s side ruthlessly capitalised on Scotland’s often rank inaccuracy and this richly deserved win – a second in three years against Scotland – sets them up beautifully for the tournament.

The fly-half Paolo Garbisi played the appallingly wet conditions superbly to celebrate his 50th Test, testing the visitors’ defence with spiralling contestable kicks and striking the ball sweetly off the tee. The centres Tommaso Menoncello and Juan Ignacio Brex, also marking his 50th cap, were sensational again while the energy and skill of the wing Louis Lynagh significantly softened the blow of Ange Capuozzo’s injury absence.

Winter Olympics organisers refuse to deny Mariah Carey lip-synced in opening ceremony

• Show director hails singer’s ‘extraordinary’ performance

• IOC plays down booing of US vice president JD Vance

The organisers of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony have refused to deny speculation that the US pop diva Mariah Carey lip-synced her part in the show. Carey took to the stage to sing Domenico Modugno’s Nel Blu, dipinto di Blu in Italian, followed by one of her own songs, Nothing Is Impossible, but many social media users quickly claimed that there were several times where her lip movements were out of time with the music.

When asked directly whether Carey was lip-synching, the director of the show, Maria Laura Iascone, confirmed that there had been a pre-recording – but refused to say whether it had been used or the American had sung live.

Super Bowl food that's bound to go viral

Super Bowl chefs spend an entire year developing the menu for the big game, and "CBS Saturday Morning" gets a sneak peek at some of the mouth-watering options.

Battle of the chatbots: Anthropic and OpenAI go head-to-head over ads in their AI products

New Anthropic campaign suggests other AI platforms will incorporate targeted ads in their chatbot conversations

The Seahawks and the Patriots aren’t the only ones gearing up for a fight.

AI rivals Anthropic and OpenAI have launched a war of ads trying to court corporate America during one of the biggest entertainment nights of the year.

UK trade policy: time to stop the secret deals and get systematic

Liam Byrne is echoing Robin Cook’s ethical trade policy, warning the UK needs deals more open to scrutiny to prevent future issues

Trade can be a dirty business. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was tolerated as a “special representative for trade and investment” in the noughties despite allegations that he kept convicted gun smugglers for friends, while Peter Mandelson’s ability to schmooze the rich and famous repeatedly overruled concerns about his probity.

To close a deal, there are always compromises to be made, and sometimes the terms are unsavoury.

Nearly a thousand Google workers sign letter urging company to divest from ICE, CBP

Hundreds of Google workers signed an open letter urging the company to cut its ties with ICE and CBP after rising violence.

Use of Irish airport for US deportation flights to Israel called ‘reprehensible’

Irish politicians condemn use of Shannon airport by private jet en route to Israel, owned by Trump donor Gil Dezer

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

Politicians in Ireland have said the use of an airport in County Clare by planes deporting Palestinians from the US to Israel is “reprehensible”.

A private jet owned by the Donald Trump donor Gil Dezer was chartered by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for two separate flights that took detainees to Israel, a Guardian investigation revealed this week.

UK supreme court hearing interrupted by history podcast played from judge’s phone

Proceedings briefly halted after audio from The Rest Is History broadcast over the courtroom speakers

As the highest court in the UK, the supreme court is usually the forum for proceedings of the utmost gravity. But last week, one hearing was momentarily interrupted by an unlikely and comic intervention.

As one legal professional addressed the bench, the voice of Tom Holland, host of the popular podcast The Rest is History, boomed out through the court’s microphone system, delivering a satirical impersonation of the late US president Jimmy Carter.

Milan Cortina Winter Olympics 2026: day one – in pictures

We take a look at the best images from the opening day of the Games, including curling, downhill skiing, and ice hockey

‘A profound sense of being hunted’: with all eyes on Minneapolis, ICE arrests continue quietly across the US

Immigration operations are still stoking fear and disrupting the ability to go to work, school or doctor’s appointments

With the public’s outrage and attention focused on the deadly surge of federal agents in Minneapolis, immigration operations have quietly continued across the US – albeit in less noticeable but still troubling ways, advocates say.

In recent weeks there have been day laborers swept up at a Home Depot in San Diego. A taco truck vendor chased down outside a church in Los Angeles. Immigrants arrested at check-ins in North Carolina, and during traffic stops in the nation’s capital.

Avocados are a Super Bowl staple – but are they truly a miracle food?

Americans are expected to devour nearly 280m pounds of avocados during Super Bowl weekend. Are they actually healthy?

Most American adults today didn’t grow up with avocados, but we’ve certainly developed a hearty appetite for them. In 1990, the United States imported 38m pounds of avocados; by 2023, that number was 2,789m, mostly from Mexico.

On average, each of us eats about 20 avocados, or 9lbs of the fruit, a year – a sixfold increase from 1998. Super Bowl guacamole alone fuels a staggering demand for the fruit; in the lead-up to this Sunday’s game, Americans are expected to devour nearly 280m pounds of avocados, a historical record.

‘We’re used to crowds’: latest Wuthering Heights hype doesn’t faze Yorkshire residents

As Emerald Fennell’s adaptation hits cinemas, a slew of visitors are expected at the sites that inspired Emily Brontë’s novel. People living close by, however, are taking it in their stride

The four-mile trail from the village of Haworth to Top Withens in West Yorkshire is well trodden; numerous footprints squelched into the boggy ground by those seeking the view said to have inspired the setting for Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. The landscape rolls in desolate waves of brown bracken. A lone tree punctuates the scene. It’s bleakly, hauntingly beautiful.

With the release of Emerald Fennell’s new film of the Gothic masterpiece starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi next week, Haworth and many of the filming locations in the Yorkshire Dales national park, where the book is set, are braced for a slew of visitors.

How drones impact Super Bowl security

While drones give Super Bowl viewers some of the coolest shots of the game, they also impact security. "CBS Saturday Morning" explores how.

Trump shifts blame to aide as he refuses to apologize for racist video of Obamas

After first dismissing uproar over depiction of Obamas as apes, White House then said it was erroneously posted by staffer

Donald Trump said on Friday he made the call to post a now-deleted video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes but deflected blame for the move, causing new speculation in his orbit about whether the blame lay with the president or his aide Natalie Harp.

The brief clip, shared late Thursday night on Trump’s Truth Social account, appeared in a video pushing conspiracies about the 2020 election. Invoking racist tropes, the video depicted the Obamas’ faces superimposed on the bodies of cartoon apes dancing to The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

Fernandes keeps Carrick’s perfect Manchester United record intact after Romero red card

Michael Carrick’s Manchester United revival has a fourth consecutive league win, while Thomas Frank’s Tottenham sink further, with still no victory in the competition in 2026. Bruno Fernandes’s 81st-minute strike was a feathered touch off a shin – from Diogo Dalot’s cross – that beat Guglielmo Vicario to the left of the Spurs goalkeeper, and confirmed a miserable day for Frank.

“He is our captain and one of our important players,” the Dane had said after retaining Cristian Romero as captain despite the defender’s “disgraceful” outburst regarding there being only 11 outfield players available for last Sunday’s draw with Manchester City.

Zelenskyy says US has set June deadline for Ukraine-Russia peace deal

Ukrainian president says Trump administration has proposed to host next round of trilateral talks in US

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the US has given Ukraine and Russia yet another deadline to reach a peace settlement, and is now proposing the war should end by June. The Ukrainian president also told reporters that both sides had been invited to further talks next week.

Zelenskyy said the Trump administration “will probably put pressure” on Ukraine and Russia to end the war by the beginning of the summer. “They say they want to get everything done by June,” he said. “They will do everything to end the war and they want a clear schedule of all events.”

Authorities say they're "aware of a new message" in Nancy Guthrie's disappearance

Authorities said Friday they were inspecting an apparent new message relating to the disappearance of "Today" host Savannah Guthrie's mom, Nancy, after the family reported her missing from her home on Sunday.

Super Bowl fans warned to leave drones at home amid flight ban

The FAA says it is collaborating with the FBI to detect, track and assess unauthorized drone activity at the Super Bowl.

‘My ACL is 100% gone’: Lindsey Vonn’s improbable comeback at 41 is just another risk

Time has never seemed to stop the US skiing star. Entering Sunday’s Olympic downhill medal race, injuries haven’t either

It was all going a little too easy for Lindsey Vonn. All the nervous apprehension, the paternalistic concern, the arch skepticism and hushed snickers that had rippled through the sports world when she announced her comeback from a six-year retirement had long since gone silent. A once-unthinkable fairytale ending at the age of 41 on the slopes of Cortina d’Ampezzo was practically within touching distance.

Back in November 2024, having been chased from the sport in 2019 by a battered right knee worn down by a string of gruesome crashes and multiple surgeries, Vonn proposed a return to a high-risk sport where no woman had ever won a race past the age of 34. There’s a history of comebacks like these going brutally wrong, and even Vonn’s most dedicated fans were bracing themselves for the worst. Think a shopworn Joe Louis getting battered through the ropes and on to the ring apron by Rocky Marciano. Or Björn Borg returning to the tour in the early 90s with a wooden racket, defiantly flailing through a sport that had moved on without him.

Anthems, agency and arias: baritone Davóne Tines on rewriting his role – and the rules

The acclaimed US opera singer refuses to restrict himself or his audience. His current Barbican residency sees him range across genres. Always ask questions, always engage, he says. He talks ‘capital O opera’ and big ideas

In performance, Davóne Tines is electrifying. In the first concert of the US bass-baritone’s 2025-26 residency at London’s Barbican Centre, he appeared at the back of the auditorium and then slowly descended towards the stage, spotlit and subtly miked. His unaccompanied voice fractured into stentorian booms, spat-out consonants and the violent crackle of mouth noises. This, unmistakably, was the musician whom the New Yorker announced back in 2021 was “changing what it means to be a classical singer”.

Since then, Tines has been named Musical America’s vocalist of the year, he has won a 2024 Chanel next prize for “international contemporary artists who are redefining their disciplines”. And he was awarded the 2025 Harvard arts medal for distinguished alumni of the Ivy League university who have demonstrated achievement in the arts. Recent winners of the latter include architect Frank Gehry and novelist Margaret Atwood. Unlike those cultural figureheads, Tines is not yet 40.

Trump posted something blatantly racist? What a surprise | Arwa Mahdawi

The Obama video should take a toll on the president’s political career – but of course it won’t

Despite Donald Trump’s war on woke, he hasn’t (yet) made Black History Month illegal. In fact, on Tuesday the president issued a proclamation declaring February 2026 to be a celebration of Black history and called “upon public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities”.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

White House removes Trump post with racist footage of Obamas hours after defending it

The footage is included in a video that promotes false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Mr. Trump.

Bangers and smash: Von Allmen wins first gold of Winter Olympics to fulfil butcher’s dream

• Special sausage named for Swiss champion – the ‘Silberblitz’

• Hosts claim silver and bronze on a perfect day in Bormio

When the Swiss skier Franjo von Allmen first broke through in the junior ranks, his village butcher created a special sausage – the Silberblitz-Wurscht or Silver Lightning – in his honour. After his stunning performance in the men’s downhill on Saturday, it is surely time for an upgrade.

On a beautiful day in Bormio, the 24-year-old dominated a challenging course to win in 1:min 51.61sec and take the first medal of these Olympic Games. That time was good enough to withstand Italy’s Giovanni Franzoni, who finished with the silver medal 0.20sec back. Another Italian, Dominik Paris, who is vocalist of a heavy metal band called Rise of Voltage, claimed bronze.

After the Fall: How Olympic figure skaters soar after stumbling on the ice

Olympic figure skating is often seems to take athletes to the very edge of perfection, but even the greatest stumble and fall. How do they pull themselves together again on the biggest world stage? Toughness, poise and practice.

‘It made me cry’: your favourite moments from past Winter Olympics

From Torvill and Dean scoring a perfect 6.0 to radical new boarding and skiing styles, readers recall euphoric moments from past Games

• Winter Olympics live – latest updates

With the 2026 Winter Olympics off to a spectacular start with the opening ceremonies in Milan, Cortina, Livigno and Predazzo, the coming weeks promise medals, memories and iconic moments.

While history awaits this year’s athletes, we asked readers about their most memorable moments of past Games and the performances that still give them chills.

The women who saw Melania in theaters: ‘If you’re Republican, this is girls’ night’

The Amazon documentary brought in $7m its opening weekend – thanks to admirers eager for a glimpse of the first lady’s secretive life

The dress code for Lisa Copeland’s big night out: what would Melania wear?

The 60-year-old real estate entrepreneur and nine other friends were headed to Amazon’s new documentary Melania, which debuted in theaters nationwide last week. “We all brought our best power suit,” Copeland said, nodding to Melania Trump’s penchant for neat, tailored menswear-inspired looks. But since she lives in Austin, Texas, Copeland put her own country-glam spin on it: black leather pants and a pearl jacket with diamond and pearl beading.

Elon Musk wants to be a trillionaire — here's how SpaceX may get him there

Elon Musk's net worth soared past $800 billion this week after he merged SpaceX with xAI in a deal that valued the combined entity at $1.25 trillion.

Opinion: Alternate endings for modern attention spans

Some film professors are bemoaning the shortcuts students take to avoid watching assigned movies: some don't know what happens at the end. NPR's Scott Simon offers his own synopses.

They're cured of leprosy. Why do they still live in leprosy colonies?

Leprosy is one of the least contagious diseases around — and perhaps one of the most misunderstood. The colonies are relics of a not-too-distant past when those diagnosed with leprosy were exiled.

Starmer accused of hypocrisy over sharp cuts to World Food Programme

UK reduces funding by a third despite pledges to tackle hunger, with critics warning the move will cost lives

• UK politics live – latest updates

Keir Starmer has been accused of hypocrisy after cutting funding to the UN World Food Programme by a third while pledging to tackle “suffering and starvation”.

The reduction in UK funding to the World Food Programme (WFP) from $610m (£448m) in 2024 to $435m last year is part of a wider hit on aid spending that campaigners say is putting lives at risk.

California urges avoiding wild mushrooms after deaths, liver transplants

More than three dozen cases of death cap mushroom poisonings have been reported in California since November, health officials said.

Deafening, draining and potentially deadly: are we facing a snoring epidemic?

Experts say dangerous sleep apnoea affects an estimated 8 million in the UK alone, and everything from evolution to obesity or even the climate crisis could be to blame

When Matt Hillier was in his 20s, he went camping with a friend who was a nurse. In the morning she told him she had been shocked by the snoring coming from his tent. “She basically said, ‘For a 25-year-old non-smoker who’s quite skinny, you snore pretty loudly,’” says Hiller, now 32.

Perhaps because of the pervasive image of a “typical” sleep apnoea patient – older, and overweight – Hillier didn’t seek help. It wasn’t until he was 30 that he finally went to a doctor after waking up from a particularly big night of snoring with a racing heartbeat. Despite being young, active and a healthy weight, further investigation – including a night recording his snoring – revealed that he had moderate sleep apnoea. His was classed as supine, the most common form of the condition, meaning it happens when he sleeps on his back, and is likely caused by his throat muscles.

Ralph Towner obituary

Virtuoso musician and composer who was at the forefront of 1970s jazz fusion, notably with the band Oregon

For a quiet man, Ralph Towner, the American multi-instrumentalist and composer, who has died aged 85, had an impressive penchant for sharp epithets about his own creative motives.

Describing himself as a “raconteur of the abstract” was a memorable one. So was his remark in 2023, to Premier Guitar magazine, that throughout his career he felt he had generally been “more obsessive than I’ve been curious”.

Thousands of Malawi businesses close in protest over tax changes

Peaceful demonstrations force a delay in measures aimed at improving revenue collection but which many fear will be fatal for small traders

Demonstrations across Malawi’s four main cities during the past week have achieved a delay in the introduction of a new tax regime that business owners claim will cripple their livelihoods.

Tens of thousands had signed petitions which this week were presented to tax officials and on Monday thousands of small traders shut up shops and businesses to hold protest marches in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Zomba and Mzuzu.

This season, 'The Pitt' is about what doesn't happen in one day

The first season of The Pitt was about acute problems. The second is about chronic ones.

Lindsey Vonn is set to ski the Olympic downhill race with a torn ACL. How?

An ACL tear would keep almost any other athlete from competing -- but not Lindsey Vonn, the 41-year-old superstar skier who is determined to cap off an incredible comeback from retirement with one last shot at an Olympic medal.

Zelenskyy says U.S. gave Ukraine, Russia a deadline for agreement to end war

If the June deadline is not met, the Trump administration will likely put pressure on both sides to meet it, Zelenskyy told reporters.

Blood droplets, a white van, a ransom note: where is Savannah Guthrie’s mother?

The astonishing case of the missing Today morning show anchor’s mom is six days in so far and without resolution

A missing 84-year-old mother of a famous TV morning show anchor; droplets of blood and a mysterious white van; a ransom note sent to a celebrity news website; no suspects; a city surrounded by desert near the US-Mexico border; frustrated investigators; and a concerned US president.

It is for all these reasons that the astonishing case of the missing Nancy Guthrie has captivated US public attention in a six-day mystery that still has no resolution. It leads the US news and dominates the headlines, fusing crime and celebrity together in ways not seen since OJ Simpson or the Lindbergh baby.

Waymo is trying to seduce me. But another option is staring us in the face | Dave Schilling

I understand the appeal of avoiding all human contact. Still, good old-fashioned taxis have so much to offer

It’s Super Bowl weekend here in America, which means a few things: copious amounts of gut-busting food, controversial half-time show performances, extravagant commercials, and occasionally a bit of football.

For the tens of thousands rich enough to afford tickets to the Big Game, transportation to and from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, will be paramount. Thankfully, our robotic saviors are here to rescue the throng from the indignity of sharing a ride with an actual human being. This year’s Super Bowl is a test of the driverless taxi industry, currently lorded over by Waymo – a company that’s about to get a $16bn cash injection to further expand its business to cities all around the world. Smaller American metro areas like Sacramento and Nashville are next up to get Waymo service, as are global capitals like London and Tokyo. Fleets of robotaxis are seeming more and more inevitable, yet another soldier in the onslaught of shiny gadgets designed to sand off the sharp edges of modern life. I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

Rebecca Hendin on the tyranny of the UK’s stormy weather – cartoon | Rebecca Hendin

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‘The photo we want to take is closer than we think’: Dominic Dähncke’s best phone picture

Cooped up during Covid, the Spanish photographer found inspiration in a broom … and a nail in the wall

“Telekinesis,” says Dominic Dähncke, when asked how this errant broom is standing upright. He took this shot on the rooftop of his home in El Médano, Tenerife; a communal terrace filled with laundry rooms and cleaning supplies. This was 2021, in the throes of a Covid lockdown, so he would walk around in circles on the rooftop of his building, enjoying the fresh air.

“To be honest, there was a nail stuck in the wall, but I didn’t put it there,” he admits. One morning, he absent-mindedly propped the broom against the nail and noticed that it stayed at a 45-­degree angle. He returned to the rooftop for several days, waiting until the shadow of the small ceiling above matched, then captured the moment with his phone.

Where’s Evo? Missing Morales mystery as Bolivia’s ex-president goes to ground

Once a highly visible figure despite being wanted on human trafficking charges, the former leader has not been seen since shortly after the US kidnapped Venezuela’s president

For more than a year, he stayed hidden in plain sight: despite an arrest warrant for human trafficking charges, former president Evo Morales moved freely in at least one region of Bolivia, attended rallies, received foreign journalists and went to the polls to cast his vote in the 2025 presidential election.

But shortly after the United States attack onVenezuela – and the detention of Nicolás Maduro – Morales disappeared from view; a month later his whereabouts remain a mystery.

‘It’s become more about politics than music’: what will Bad Bunny bring to the Super Bowl?

Grammy-winning Puerto Rican star is in the center of US culture wars before leading this weekend’s half-time show

A few days after Christmas 2022, Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican reggaetonero, appeared without warning on one of the most unlikely of stages: the roof of a Gulf Oil gas station in San Juan. To a massive crowd singing every word, he performed a surprise concert, along with friend and collaborator Arcángel, that was part hype-y music video shoot, part exultant post-tour homecoming, and part pointed critique. He ended the set with El Apagón (“The Power Outage”), a clubby protest anthem about local displacement and the rolling blackouts that have plagued Puerto Rico, a US “commonwealth” (read: colony), since Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Bad Bunny sang it from a roof on Santurce’s Calle Loíza, a thoroughfare in a former working-class Black neighborhood now dotted with Airbnbs. But you do not need the full context to get the show’s contagious energy. Though I have never walked Calle Loíza, nor do I speak Spanish, the gas station show is still my favorite concert to rewatch via online fan clips: electric, organic, genuinely popular. In terms of reach, critical acclaim and longevity, Bad Bunny rivals – and sometimes outsells – the likes of Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé and Drake, though it is hard to imagine those peers appearing so unguarded, so public, as he does on that roof.

Victims urge tougher action on deepfake abuse as new law comes into force

Campaigners welcome criminalisation of non-consensual AI-generated explicit images but say law does not go far enough

Victims of deepfake image abuse have called for stronger protection against AI-generated explicit images, as the law criminalising the creation of non-consensual intimate images comes into effect.

Campaigners from Stop Image-Based Abuse delivered a petition to Downing Street with more than 73,000 signatures, urging the government to introduce civil routes to justice such as takedown orders for abusive imagery on platforms and devices.

The CIA World Factbook is dead. Here's how I came to love it

The Factbook survived the Cold War and became a hit online. It mixed quirky cultural notes and trivia with maps, data, and photos taken by CIA officers. But it was discontinued this week.

Billy Crudup: ‘My celebrity crush? I got to marry her’

The actor on a disastrous speech, his rules for how people should get around cities and an embarrassing encounter with a doorman

Born in New York state, Billy Crudup, 57, made his film debut in Sleepers in 1996. His subsequent movies include Almost Famous (2000), Big Fish (2003), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Spotlight (2015), Alien: Covenant (2017) and most recently Jay Kelly. On TV he has a long-running role in The Morning Show, for which he has won two Emmys. He stars in High Noon at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre until 6 March. He has a son and is married to Naomi Watts. He lives in New York City.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Flashes of hubris.

Never mind the lit-bros: Infinite Jest is a true classic at 30

Forget its reputation as a performative read for a certain breed of intense young man, thirty years after its publication, David Foster Wallace’s epic novel still delivers, says the Crying in H Mart author

I’m not what you might consider Infinite Jest’s target demographic. The novel’s reputation precedes it as a book infamously few ever finish, and those who do tend to belong to a particular breed of college-age guys who talk over you, a sect of pedantic, misunderstood young men for whom, over the course of 30 years, Infinite Jest has become a rite of passage, much as Little Women or Pride and Prejudice might function for aspiring literary young women.

Most readers come to the novel in their formative years, but I was a late bloomer. It wasn’t until the winter of 2023 that, at the age of 34, smoking outside a party in Brooklyn, I found myself suddenly motivated to embark on the two-pound tome. A boy I knew from high school brought it up, and as I happened at the time to have developed a casual interest in those works one might attribute to the “lit-bro” canon (Bret Easton Ellis, Hemingway, etc), it seemed the appropriate time to take it on.

Guardiola can be both right to speak out and a performative hypocrite | Barney Ronay

Coach should not ‘stick to football’ when football strays into politics and death but his role as fluffer for his club’s autocratic owners cannot be ignored

You may find yourself living in a glass and steel yak-fur-lined penthouse. You may find yourself with six Premier League titles and a sport refashioned in your image. You may find yourself in front of a large advert board covered in words such as Experience Abu Dhabi, haunted by images of suffering, a scythe clanking gently at your shoulder. And you may say, well, how did I get here?

There are only ever two types of Pep Guardiola article. First, articles announcing that Guardiola’s influence has reached some new level of annihilating dominance, that what we have here is our own cashmere-draped, cranium-whirring Ideal Tactics Man, that Pep-ism is bigger than smartphones, bigger than internet porn, bigger than a mother’s love, that playing out from the back is now visible from space.

AI analysis casts doubt on Van Eyck paintings in Italian and US museums

Tests on both versions of Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata were unable to detect brushstrokes of 15th-century master

An analysis of two paintings in museums in the US and Italy by the 15th-century Flemish artist Jan van Eyck has raised a profound question: what if neither were by Van Eyck?

Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata, the name given to near-identical unsigned paintings hanging in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Royal Museums of Turin, represent two of the small number of surviving works by one of western art’s greatest masters, revered for his naturalistic portraits and religious subjects.

What links Derek Malcolm, Roger Ebert and Philip French? The Saturday quiz

From arctos and americanus to North America’s ‘other’ US, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 Who is the only British female singer with seven No 1 singles (including as a featured artist)?
2 What was the alias of 15th-century criminal chaplain Robert Stafford?
3 What became the world’s first $5tn company in 2025?
4 Which hat was banned in Turkey in 1925?
5 D.G.REX.F.D is written on what everyday items?
6 Slightly Included and Very Slightly Included are grades of what?
7 What is North America’s “other” US?
8 Which watersport is usually added to make a quadrathlon?
What links:
9 Arctos (lay down); americanus (fight back); maritimus (goodnight)?
10 Dunkery Beacon; High Willhays; Urra Moor?
11 Fools and Mortals; Hamnet; King of Shadows; Nothing Like the Sun?
12 Roger Ebert; Philip French; Pauline Kael; Derek Malcolm; David Thomson?
13 Harmondsworth Barn, Hillingdon; Mathematical Bridge, Cambridge; Greensted church, Essex?
14 BYD; Changan; Chery; Geely; GWM?
15 Jack Broughton; London Prize Ring; Marquess of Queensberry?

The biggest threat facing Europe is not a Trump invasion. It’s his global political revolution | Mark Leonard

I am convinced that Europe’s ‘new right’ is a radically contemporary movement. Defeating it means understanding its critique of liberalism

European governments are terrified of Donald Trump’s threats on trade, Greenland and the future of Nato. But the biggest threat is not that Trump invades an ally or leaves Europe at the mercy of Russia. It is that his ideological movement could transform Europe from the inside.

A year after Trump’s return to the White House, his “second American revolution” is radiating outward into Europe. The Epstein files reveal how this began clumsily in 2018 with Steve Bannon; but it has become a much more sophisticated partnership with the second coming of Trump and the rise to power of JD Vance. The US National Security Strategy published by the White House in November called for strengthening the growing influence of “patriotic” European parties such as Reform UK, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN), Fidesz in Hungary and Vox in Spain. As with the communist movements of the cold war, these nationalist, populist and in some cases far-right parties are best understood not as isolated national phenomena but as expressions of a shared intellectual project – a movement that is, to varying degrees, now being reinforced by a foreign power.

Mark Leonard is the author of the report The new right: anatomy of a global political revolution. He is director of the Berlin-based European Council on Foreign Relations

Lord of the Flies: the castaway classic is such excellent, surreal horror that you will feel sick throughout

Jack Thorne takes on William Golding – and you’ll never have felt so grateful to live under the rule of law, that ultimate dweeb’s charter

Castaway stories, from Cast Away to The Martian, often make for feelgood classics. They are tales about an ingenious individual overcoming huge odds, a triumphant metaphor for the human spirit. Here’s a funny thing: castaway stories featuring large groups of people lead to the exact opposite. Forced to self-organise, they end up eating each other. The exception is Lost; I don’t know what that was about. Polar bears?

Needless to say, I like them all. So it’s exciting to see a new kid on the block – or rather an old boy. William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, about a group of British schoolboys who crash-land on a desert island, has been part of the UK curriculum for more than 60 years. I wonder if we forget the books we’re forced to study, and are obliged to rediscover them in later life. I know this story well, but am not sure I can say I fully experienced it until this striking new BBC version (Sunday, 9pm, BBC One).

How close have human beings come to the sun? The kids’ quiz

Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes

• ​Submit a question

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World.

Six great reads: romance fraud, pie and mash, and a road sign design genius

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days

Clintons call for their Epstein testimony to be held publicly

Bill Clinton says closed-door depositions would be akin to ‘kangaroo court’ as Hillary Clinton says they have already told House committee what they know

Former US president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary are calling for their congressional testimony on ties to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to be held publicly, to prevent Republicans from politicising the issue.

Both Clintons had been ordered to give closed-door depositions before the House of Representatives’ oversight committee, which is investigating the deceased financier’s connections to powerful figures and how information about his crimes was handled.

Storm-battered Portugal heads to polls as rivals unite to keep out far right

Socialist António José Seguro on course for victory but gains by André Ventura’s Chega could herald watershed

Portuguese voters will return to the polls on Sunday for the final round of a presidential election that has been marked by a push to keep the far-right candidate at bay and overshadowed by deadly storms that have lashed the country in recent days.

The moderate leftwing candidate António José Seguro won the first round of the election, which was held on 18 January, taking 31.1% of the vote.

Bermuda snail thought to be extinct now thrives after a decade’s effort

Special pods at Chester zoo helped conservationists breed and release more than 100,000 greater Bermuda snails

A button-sized snail once feared extinct in its Bermudian home is thriving again after conservationists bred and released more than 100,000 of the molluscs.

The greater Bermuda snail (Poecilozonites bermudensis) was found in the fossil record but believed to have vanished from the North Atlantic archipelago, until a remnant population was discovered in a damp and overgrown alleyway in Hamilton, the island capital, in 2014.

Tim Dowling: I’ve already used up all my optimism for the year. What now?

The misery of the English winter has made me homesick for extreme US weather. I hate to miss a hurricane

I am sitting in my office shed, cut off from the house by a driving rain. The misery and boredom of the English winter is, I have to admit, beginning to get to me. I spent January talking about the days getting longer, and used up all my optimism.

For the last 10 minutes I’ve been scrolling through the website of my American home town newspaper, which is full of pictures of the recent snowfall – over a foot, with more predicted in the coming days. Extreme weather has a tendency to make me homesick – I hate to miss a hurricane.

Blind date: ‘We didn’t kiss but we exchanged Instas, which among gay men is close to the same thing’

Alfie, 31, a playwright, meets Sam, 33, who works in tech

What were you hoping for?
To meet a silly softie with a penchant for the occasional deep chat.

Meera Sodha’s vegetarian recipe for haggis dan dan noodles | Meera Sodha recipes

The Burns supper centrepiece is too good to enjoy on only one night a year – especially when it pairs so well with Chinese flavours

I’d like to start a new campaign called Vegetarian Haggis Isn’t Just for Burns Night. Of course, the Scots know this. They know how fantastic this genius concoction of pulses, vegetables, oats and spices is; how meaty without being, well, meaty. I began eating it because I share a birthday with Robert Burns (see haggis kheema) but it deserves to be eaten all year round. Here, I’ve introduced the haggis to another favourite of mine, dan dan noodles, and I’m pleased to report they get on like a house on fire.

Who says the over-40s don’t know how to have fun? The Becky Barnicoat cartoon

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China overturns death sentence of Canadian in sign of diplomatic thaw

Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was detained on drug charges in 2014 before Canada-China ties nosedived in 2018

China has overturned the death sentence of Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian official said on Friday, in a possible sign of a diplomatic thaw as prime minister Mark Carney seeks to boost trade ties with Beijing.

Schellenberg’s lawyer Zhang Dongshuo, reached in Beijing on Saturday, confirmed the decision was announced on Friday by China’s highest court.

‘Can Mette-Marit be queen after this?’: Rape trial and Epstein files bring double crisis for Norway’s royals

Marius Borg Høiby pleads not guilty in court while pressure mounts against his crown princess mother over Epstein friendship

There will be little to celebrate when Norway’s King Harald, Europe’s oldest reigning monarch, turns 89 later this month.

Two multigenerational crises have rocked the institution, causing its popularity to dip in polls of Norwegians and bringing a public glare that far exceeds that of previous scandals.

2/6: CBS Evening News

Authorities investigating "new message" in Nancy Guthrie disappearance; Man who carved scale model of New York City piece by piece gets museum debut

Pentagon says it's cutting ties with "woke" Harvard

The Pentagon says it will cut ties with Harvard University, ending graduate-level military training, fellowship and certificate programs.

Republicans condemn Trump's racist video portraying the Obamas as apes

The criticism continued even after the White House removed the video after the initial backlash.

Trump condemns racist video showing Obamas as apes after removing it, but says he won't apologize

The depiction of the Obamas, posted from Trump's Truth Social account, was included in a video pushing a conspiracy theory about 2020 election voting machines.

Truck driver spends decades carving a scale model masterpiece of New York City

Beginning in 2004, Joe Macken carved all five boroughs of New York City out of balsa wood, every site and stadium, and every bridge and building. His creation consists of almost 1 million structures.

Mariah Carey, coffee makers and other highlights from the Olympic opening ceremony

NPR reporters at the Milan opening ceremony layered up and took notes.

NBC appears to cut crowd’s booing of JD Vance from Winter Olympics broadcast

• Vice-president given hostile reception by some in Milan

• US broadcast cuts out crowd’s show of dissent

• IOC calls for ‘fair play’ after jeers for Vance, Israeli athletes

The US vice-president, JD Vance, was greeted by a chorus of boos when he appeared at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Milan on Friday, although American viewers watching NBC’s coverage would have been unaware of the reception.

As speedskater Erin Jackson led Team USA into the San Siro stadium she was greeted by cheers. But when the TV cameras cut to Vance and his wife, Usha, there were boos, jeers and a smattering of applause from the crowd. The reaction was shown on Canadian broadcaster CBC’s feed, with one commentator saying: “There is the vice-president JD Vance and his wife Usha – oops, those are not … uh … those are a lot of boos for him. Whistling, jeering, some applause.”

School bus driver offered rides to kids after finishing route, but officials shut it down

After a licensed school bus driver finished his route, he decided to help after seeing lots of other children walking to school in the cold. As Tony Dokoupil reports, the offer was short-lived.

Heightened security from dozens of local, federal agencies ahead of Super Bowl

More than 35 local, state and federal agencies have been working for the last 18 months to prepare for Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California.

What to know about high-stakes Super Bowl security

With less than 48 hours until kickoff for Super Bowl LX, security preparations are already in motion. Kris Van Cleave has a preview.

Deadly highway pileup as dangerous cold grips Northeast

For nearly 100 million Americans, it will be a good weekend to stay indoors, with Arctic air making it feel far below zero. Rob Marciano has details.

Authorities investigating "new message" in Nancy Guthrie disappearance

Local and federal authorities said Friday they're "aware of a new message" regarding the disappearance of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie's mom, Nancy Guthrie, as the high-profile search continues. Jonathan Vigliotti has the latest.

Lutnick and Epstein were in business together, Epstein files show

Though the commerce secretary has called his interactions with Epstein as "limited," the two were in business together four years after Epstein's 2008 guilty plea.

‘Take them away, crush them’: Australia faces an ebike surge that some say poses a health emergency

They offer independence, reduce emissions and congestion. But they are also endangering lives

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After the Sydney Harbour Bridge was swarmed by 40 or so ebikes and e-motorcycles on Wednesday, the Australian government said the country faced a “real emergency”.

“[Illegal ebikes] are a total menace on the road,” the health minister, Mark Butler, said on Friday.

A timeline of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance as search stretches into 6th day

Savannah's Guthrie's mom, Nancy Guthrie, went missing over the weekend, and authorities have still not identified a possible suspect or person of interest.