Qualcomm stock sinks as memory shortage drags on forecast

"We're starting to see that memory is going to define the size of the mobile market," Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said in an interview.

Google beats on revenue, projects significant AI spending increase

Wall Street will be looking for more details Google's deal to revamp Apple's Siri virtual assistant with the search company's Gemini AI models.

Eli Lilly's GLP-1 growth is only getting started as Novo Nordisk braces for a decline in 2026

The split in outlook underscores Lilly's strong position in the obesity market, underpinned by more effective drugs and its direct-to-consumer sales strategy.

EEOC says it's investigating Nike over alleged bias agains White workers

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Nike may have engaged in "a pattern or practice of disparate treatment against White employees."

Manchester City v Newcastle United: Carabao Cup semi-final, second leg – live

⚽ Carabao Cup updates,, 8pm GMT kick-off (first leg: 2-0)
⚽ Live scoreboard | Follow us on Bluesky | And mail Scott

1 min: Trippier’s first act of the evening is a fine block of O’Reilly’s shot, the City man having drifted in from the left.

Newcastle get the game started. They’re chasing down a two-goal deficit.

No suspect identified in disappearance of Savannah Guthrie's mom

The disappearance of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie, is being investigated as a crime.

Millions of Americans face higher utility bills after rate hike approvals

Over 50 million Americans will face higher utility costs as a result of rate hikes approved in 2025, according to PowerLines.

Man who tried to shoot Trump at Florida golf course gets life in prison

Ryan Routh, the man convicted in a 2024 assassination attempt of President Trump at his Florida golf course, has been sentenced to life in prison.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy picks marketplace exec to be his new 'shadow' advisor

Jassy was Jeff Bezos' shadow in the early 2000s before going on to lead Amazon Web Services.

Democrats grill Bessent at House oversight hearing: 'Stop covering for the president'

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took flack from Democrats while testifying before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

Starmer faces rising anger over Mandelson as MPs agree to release files to security committee – as it happened

Starmer faces criticism from MPs on all sides of the Commons

• This liveblog is now closed. Read the politics team’s report on today’s developments here

PMQs is starting soon. Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

The Reform UK MP Lee Anderson has dismissed claims that his party’s plan to support the pub industry would cost far more than the £3bn it claims.

To be honest with you, we’re not interested in who you’ve been talking to. We’re more interested who we’ve been talking to, and we’ve been talking to landlords and small businesses up and down the country, and every landlord that I speak to … they want this VAT cut.

We can go on all day about the numbers. I’m not interested in the numbers that the BBC have sourced. You’re hardly a bastion of truth at the BBC when it comes to things like this.

This doesn’t add up. This is an unfunded tax cut which also pushes hundreds of thousands of children into poverty.

Reform says that reinstating the two-child limit for most, but not all, families would save £2.29bn in 2026/27. The party claims its package of tax cuts would also cost £2.29bn – making it cost neutral – with the bulk coming from a proposal to halve VAT on hospitality, which it estimates would cost £1.7bn.

Washington Post begins sweeping layoffs as it scales back news coverage

Former WaPo executive editor Martin Baron told CBS News the paper's coverage will be "dramatically diminished" because of the job cuts.

Supreme Court lets California use new congressional map in midterms

The Supreme Court declined to block California's new congressional map​ that could net Democrats five seats in the upcoming midterm elections.

Labour MPs say Starmer’s days as PM are numbered amid fury over Mandelson

MPs say release of papers on Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador could trigger leadership challenge

Labour MPs have warned that Keir Starmer’s days as prime minister are numbered after a day of fury over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador despite his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

The government was on the brink of a defeat in the Commons until a mid-debate amendment brokered by Meg Hillier and Angela Rayner to force the release of documents about Mandelson’s appointment and the depth of his relationship with the convicted child sex offender.

Dupont’s France return can rock Ireland’s unstable foundations in Six Nations opener

If Les Bleus click, the results could be spectacular against a much-altered Ireland with umpteen questions to answer

The Six Nations is kicking off on a Thursday this year to avoid a direct clash with the Winter Olympics opening ceremony. In at least one key respect, even so, the two events are perfectly aligned: one early stumble for France or Ireland and a potentially painful descent awaits.

Despite the possibility of first‑night nerves and some Parisian drizzle it should still make for more intriguing viewing on ITV1 than the alternative of Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice on BBC One. Unless, of course, France are so far out of sight inside 40 minutes that they cannot be caught and the audience are free to switch over in good time to watch Sir Alan Sugar say: “You’re fired!”

Microsoft brings back executive Hayete Gallot to run cybersecurity, as Charlie Bell takes new role

Under Charlie Bell, Microsoft's cybersecurity business grew, but the company also dealt with the fallout from cyberattacks.

Treaty limiting U.S., Russian nuclear weapons expiring as leaders mull what's next

The last remaining nuclear treaty between the U.S. and Russia is set to expire Thursday, ending decades of arms control between the two countries with the largest nuclear arsenals.

US and Iran talks at risk of collapse after US rejects move to Oman

Talks were scheduled in Turkey with Arab states present, but Iran requests move amid attempts to limit agenda

Talks between the US and Iran scheduled for Friday appear to be collapsing after the US rejected Iran’s request to move them from Turkey to Oman without the presence of a group of Arab states.

Iran has also vowed that the talks will be confined to its nuclear programme, while other issues the US would like to discuss, such as the range of Tehran’s ballistic missile programme, will be permanently excluded.

Weston McKennie is in the form of his life for Juventus, in any position

The American has earned the trust of Luciano Spalletti in Italy, but his role with the USMNT remains an open question

Juventus have tried to get rid of Weston McKennie. They even succeeded once, sending him on loan to Leeds United only for the American to return six months later. When he got back to Turin, as US coach Gregg Berhalter told the story at the time, Juve had emptied his locker and given away his parking spot. Despite this, McKennie stuck around.

It’s just as well for the Old Lady that he did – McKennie is now in the form of his life. The 27-year-old has scored four times in just eight games since the start of 2026. He has become one of Juve’s most important players and arguably the biggest driving force behind their recent upturn in form. Luciano Spalletti – among the most big-name coaches currently working in Italian football – has used McKennie to mould the team in his own image.

Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott believes Fed Chair Powell committed no crime in testimony

President Donald Trump recently said the investigation into Jerome Powell, led by U.S. Attorney for Washington Jeanine Pirro, should continue to the end.

Pinterest CEO rebukes, fires 'obstructionist' employees who created tool to track layoffs

Pinterest CEO Bill Ready lashed out at staffers who created an internal tool to track layoffs at the company, and fired those involved.

Want to see Super Bowl 2026 commercials early? These ads are already live.

Many Super Bowl 60 ads are already online, along with teasers for commercials that will be unveiled during the NFL championship on Feb. 8.

The Supreme Court lets California use its new, Democratic-friendly congressional map

The Supreme Court has cleared the way for California to use its new congressional map for this year's midterm election. Voters approved it as a Democratic counterresponse to Texas' new GOP-friendly map.

EU deal on Ukraine loan could boost UK if it agrees to help pay costs

British firms could get more opportunities to supply defence equipment to Kyiv if agreement can be reached

The UK could reap greater benefits from a €90bn (£78bn) EU loan for Ukraine, if it agrees to help pay the cost of borrowing, after European countries signed off long-awaited financial aid for Kyiv.

British firms could have greater opportunities to supply defence equipment to Ukraine funded by the loan if the government agrees a “fair” contribution towards EU borrowing costs.

January jobs report will be released on Feb. 11 after shutdown delay

The January jobs report delayed by the brief government shutdown will be released next week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday.

Tesla, Waymo execs defend self-driving cars before Senate committee

"Right now we have the Wild West. I want to see some rules of the road," said Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

Steve Bannon calls for immigration agents at polling sites during midterms

Ex-Trump adviser adds to elections officials’ concern about potential interference from Trump administration in voting

Steve Bannon, the former White House strategist and rightwing podcast host, said he wants to see immigration agents at the polls in November, a proposal that election officials have feared.

Bannon has no formal power, but is an influential figure on the far right and is closely tied with the Trump administration.

Son of Norway’s crown princess ‘does not remember’ taking videos of alleged sexual assault

Marius Borg Høiby, 29, on trial accused of 38 crimes, broke down in tears as he claimed press had harassed him for years

Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway’s crown princess, has told a court he does not remember taking pictures and videos found on his phone that police say show him sexually assaulting a woman at a royal residence.

Høiby, Mette-Marit’s son from a relationship before her marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, is on trial accused of 38 crimes, including four rapes and assaults.

The Guardian view on Epstein, power and accountability: full transparency is the least survivors deserve | Editorial

As the wheels of justice begin to turn in Britain, a spotlight should also shine on the financier’s wealthy enablers in the US

“The more Epstein documents get released, the more we see how he had so many powerful friends, and that’s ultimately what helped him,” commented the US lawyer Lisa Bloom in an interview with the Guardian this week. As Ms Bloom, who represents 11 of Jeffrey Epstein’s dogged and brave victims, drily notes: “That’s not the way the justice system is supposed to work.”

From the outset, the Epstein affair has offered a textbook example of the ability of the influential and well-connected to avoid scrutiny and intimidate those who would exert it. A ruthless pursuit of transparency, both institutional and personal, is the only way to combat such tactics and hold power to account. In the extraordinary days following the release of further Epstein files last week, the wheels of justice in Britain are belatedly beginning to turn on that basis.

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.

AMD shares drop as forecast comes up short of some expectations

AMD's first-quarter forecast fell short of what some analysts were hoping for amid an AI spending boom.

Murdered son of Muammar Gaddafi was perceived as a threat to Libya’s elite

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, shot dead on Tuesday, appealed to ‘a nostalgia for a past that is remembered as more secure’

The assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the second son of Libya’s late dictator Muammar Gaddafi, is a reminder of both how violent Libya remains more than 15 years after his father’s demise – and how much Saif had come to be perceived as a threat to Libya’s governing elite.

The loyalist Gaddafi green movement remained a potent gathering point for some Libyans nostalgic for a return to imagined past security that Saif’s father symbolised.

Is the U.S. heading into a dictatorship?

The Atlantic writer Robert Kagan says as Trump violates norms, laws and the Constitution, including his call to nationalize elections, "we're on the edge of the consolidation of dictatorship."

Nigel Farage’s two-day trip to Davos cost more than £50,000, documents reveal

Reform UK leader received two guest passes from Iranian-born billionaire and declares attendance at event on register of MPs’ interests

Nigel Farage’s two-day trip to Davos cost more than £50,000 after he was given two guest passes by an Iranian-born billionaire, documents show.

The Reform UK leader officially declared his attendance at the conference on the register of MPs’ interests, after giving speeches at the Switzerland summit in which he pledged to “put the global elites on notice”.

GSK, take two: the bullish tone at the top is finally more convincing | Nils Pratley

New boss Luke Miels knows perils of overpromising but there is growing sense pharma firm is closer to filling potential

It’s a miracle. A mere 25 years after Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham merged to form GSK, the share price on Wednesday got back to where the combo started life – a shade over £20. It has been a very long wait.

A quarter of a century ago, the bosses of the day spoke about creating a “Microsoft of the pharmaceutical world” that would develop new medicines in never-seen-before quantities at faster speeds. A vast new head office in west London was opened by Tony Blair in 2002 to mirror the ambition. By then, however, the share price had already halved as investors twigged that, for all the fanfare, the mega-merger was really about bulking up defensively. The first decade was a blur of expiring patents, clashing egos, quarrels over executive pay and yet more promises of jam tomorrow.

Yum Brands posts mixed quarter, Taco Bell shines

Taco Bell's same-store sales spiked 7% in the quarter.

Reporter's notebook: A peek inside the Olympic Village

NPR reporters visited the Milan Olympic Village in the days before the opening ceremony to investigate the dining hall dessert situation and other pressing questions.

Man who tried to assassinate Trump in Florida sentenced to life in prison

Ryan Routh, who tried to kill president in 2024, also receives a consecutive seven-year sentence for gun conviction

A man convicted of trying to assassinate Donald Trump on a Florida golf course in 2024 was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison.

US district judge Aileen Cannon pronounced Ryan Routh’s fate in the same Fort Pierce courtroom that erupted into chaos in September when he tried to stab himself shortly after jurors found him guilty on all counts.

“It’s clear to me that you engaged in a premeditated, calculated plot to take a human life,” Cannon said.

Democrats lay out demands in prickly DHS funding fight

Funding for the Department of Homeland Security still needs to be worked out after President Trump signed a law that reopened most of the federal government.

Lindsey Vonn forced to wait as first women’s Winter Olympics downhill training cancelled

• US skiing icon must wait to test injured knee

• Coach confident skier will be competitive at Games

Lindsey Vonn has been forced to wait for her chance to test her injured knee after heavy snowfall led to the cancellation of the first women’s downhill training at the Winter Olympics.

The American skiing icon was due to take part in Thursday morning’s training session in Cortina d’Ampezzo as she attempts to compete at the 2026 Games with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.

Suspect in National Guard shooting in D.C. pleads not guilty

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, is accused of shooting two members of the West Virginia National Guard near the White House in November.

Texas man sues California doctor for allegedly sending abortion pills to state

Suit is the first under new law allowing residents to sue providers protected in their states under ‘shield laws’

A physician based in California has become the first medical provider sued under a recently enacted Texas statute that empowers private individuals to file civil lawsuits against providers who mail abortion medication into the state.

The case was brought by Jerry Rodriguez, who claims that Remy Coeytaux, a doctor practicing in the San Francisco Bay Area, violated a Texas law that allows abortion providers to face penalties of at least $100,000 if they mail pills into Texas. The filing alleges Coeytaux mailed abortion medication to end Rodriguez’s girlfriend’s pregnancies twice, once in 2024 and again in early 2025.

Boy, 13, who took family campervan on 70mph joyride given points on future licence

Teenager admitted it was not the first time he had taken the vehicle but told the court he ‘won’t do it again’

A 13-year-old boy who drove his family’s Volkswagen campervan on a 70mph road in the middle of the night for a joyride in Dorset has been given penalty points for a future licence, a court heard.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was spotted by other motorists driving the 2.5-litre silver van on the A35, a busy dual carriageway in Poole. His father told the judge at Poole magistrates court his son would be “washing cars for the next year” to pay off his debt.

Gunmen kill more than 160 people in attacks on two west Nigeria villages

Local politician says armed men rounded up residents, bound their hands behind their backs and shot them

More than 160 people have been killed in two villages in western Nigeria in the country’s deadliest armed assaults this year, as communities reel from repeated and widespread acts of violence perpetrated by jihadists and other armed groups.

The death toll from Tuesday’s attacks in Woro and Nuku in Kwara state stood at 162 on Wednesday afternoon, according to Mohammed Omar Bio, a member of parliament representing the area.

Dark showering: is this the very best way to wash?

A shower before bed, with the bathroom lights off, is said to get you to sleep more quickly and rinse off the day’s stress. No wonder it’s suddenly so popular

Name: Dark showering.

Age: The name is new; the idea is not.

Uber reports 20% revenue growth in fourth-quarter, but issues soft profit guidance

Uber said revenue in its food delivery business increased 30%, beating analysts' estimates.

What is happening in Fulton county is a warning to America | Jamil Smith

The FBI raid in Georgia is not an aberration. It fits a broader playbook, with troubling historic precedents

What in the hell were FBI agents doing in an election facility in Fulton county, Georgia, last week? They surely weren’t investigating a crime. Nor were they serving the public.

Justifying Donald Trump’s “big lie” about winning the 2020 election may seem like his own lost cause – but like his Confederate forebears, he is weaponizing it, damage be damned. Not even his subsequent election victory has quieted Trump’s appetite for more power, earned or otherwise.

Jamil Smith is a Guardian US columnist

Angel that looked like Giorgia Meloni removed from Rome church fresco

Vatican appears to have ordered removal of restored work, which artist confessed he had made to resemble PM

The face of a winged angel bearing a striking resemblance to the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has been erased from a fresco in a historic Rome church, putting an end to a debacle that embarrassed the Vatican.

The image on the wall painting in a chapel of the Basilica of St Lawrence in Lucina in central Rome was removed overnight, leaving the cherub headless.

Democrats lay out demands for DHS funding, urging GOP to "get serious"

Democratic leaders outlined their demands for funding the Department of Homeland Security beyond next week.

Nicola Jennings on Keir Starmer and Peter Mandelson – cartoon

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The Pup Cup: thousands of dogs compete in the Westminster Dog Show – in pictures

Penny, a doberman pinscher, won best in show at the 150th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York

No suspect yet in apparent abduction of Savannah Guthrie’s mother

Sheriff’s department says detectives are speaking with anyone who may have been in contact with Nancy Guthrie

Authorities in Arizona have still not identified a suspect in the investigation surrounding the apparent abduction of Nancy Guthrie, the elderly mother of the Today show host Savannah Guthrie.

In a statement posted on X, the Pima county sheriff’s department said that detectives were continuing to speak with anyone who may have been in contact with Nancy Guthrie and were working with the Guthrie family.

Goofy! Pouty! Unvampy! With nine films on the go, can Charli xcx act?

She’s the edgy British brat who conquered the world with her hard-partying, electro-banging aesthetic. But can the star now go where Beyoncé and Harry Styles stumbled – and smash the silver screen?

In the back of a cab, Charli xcx drags a makeup wipe across her face. A closeup of that face, with its distinctive halo of dark hair, the lipstick-smeared pout and lush, overgrown eyebrows, is perhaps the most striking scene in her new film The Moment. Charli peels a strip of ugly stick-on gems from her lower lash line, regret and shame flashing across her face. It’s a rare raw few seconds in Aidan Zamiri’s clever and knowing satire of 21st-century pop stardom, which wonders what would have happened if the singer had lost her head after the success of her 2024 album Brat. The film is billed as a mockumentary, but its ambition to be taken seriously is no joke.

The Moment is already being positioned as Charli’s pivot from pop to the silver screen, after a buzzy premiere at the Sundance film festival last month. Charli was there to promote it, alongside two other films she’s starring in. I Want Your Sex, a dark romp of a comedy from new queer cinema pioneer Gregg Araki was mostly warmly received, though early consensus has declared The Gallerist, which stars Natalie Portman, something of a dud.

China ramps up threats over Panama Canal ruling that handed Trump a major victory

The Panama Canal has been thrust into the middle of a power struggle between the U.S. and China, the world's two largest economies.

Bill Gates says he ‘regrets’ knowing Epstein as ex-wife alludes to ‘muck’ in marriage

Melinda French Gates insists Microsoft founder has questions to answer over his relationship with Epstein

Bill Gates has said he “regrets” ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein, as his former wife Melinda French Gates alluded to “muck” in their marriage, and insisted the Microsoft founder has questions to answer over his relationship with the deceased child sex offender.

Allegations that Gates hid a sexually transmitted disease from his wife after contact with “Russian girls” surfaced in the latest release of the Epstein files, which have provided remarkable insight into the disgraced financier’s multiple celebrity connections and activities.

Epstein files: did Mandelson commit a crime? - The Latest

Peter Mandelson faces a criminal investigation over allegations he leaked Downing Street emails and market-sensitive information to the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2009. The Metropolitan police are investigating Mandelson, who was then business secretary, on suspicion of misconduct in public office, an offence that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Police are also reviewing fresh allegations about the former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Lucy Hough speaks to the head of national news, Archie Bland.

Search for Nancy Guthrie, mother of 'Today' show host Savannah Guthrie, enters 4th day

Police in Arizona believe Nancy Guthrie, 84, was taken by force from her Tucson area home this weekend. So far, no suspect or person of interest has been identified.

Shamed by the Epstein scandal, riven by infighting: have the UK royals ever been in a bigger mess than this? | Stephen Bates

The sad truth is that we are witnessing a legacy of the over-indulgent late queen: an organisation unable to meet today’s challenges

Curious that the Epstein scandal, which has caused such an overwhelming furore in the US, should so far have done more to damage the British royal family than the US presidency. Even though many Americans have an obsession with the minutiae of the monarchy and all its works – despite proudly revolting against the institution themselves 250 years ago – their concerns have understandably focused more on their own big beasts, Donald Trump and the Clintons, than ours. It’s as if King Charles and his brother, the artist now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, are some quaint curlicue, a baroque adornment to the main event. Which, of course, is how they see the British monarchy anyway.

Kings and queens have always been susceptible to men with money and power. In the past they were able to bestow both on their loyal followers. Now it is more transactional. It is evident that what appealed to Epstein was access to class and status: the chance to sit jokily on the throne in Buckingham Palace or have a weekend in Balmoral or Sandringham and thereby tie a susceptible royal into his web of contacts and obligations. What appealed to Andrew and his importunate and permanently hard-up former wife, Sarah, was access to cash and the luxuries that went with it. Hard to believe given the royal family’s wealth, but what probably appealed most was cosying up to the sort of money that has brownstone mansions in Manhattan to stay in and private islands for holidays in the Caribbean.

Stephen Bates is a former royal correspondent of the Guardian

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.

Fulton county leader says he was warned he faced arrest before FBI raid

Robb Pitts said call came days before federal agents seized 2020 election documents in Georgia

• US politics live – latest updates

The Fulton county commission chair, Robb Pitts, said at a press conference this morning that he received a phone call last Monday – two days before the FBI served a criminal warrant to seize 2020 election documents – to warn that he, Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, former Raffensperger deputy Gabriel Sterling and others in the state were at risk of imminent arrest by federal agents.

“That did not happen on Monday,” Pitts said. “It didn’t happen on Tuesday, but lo and behold on Wednesday, the FBI shows up.”

Things reek, stink and pong – but why are there no verbs for describing a delightful odour? | Adrian Chiles

We don’t have a single verb to express smelling something nice. Welsh and Croatian, by contrast, are never caught short when something fragrant gets right up your nose

I remember the first time I remembered a smell. This was remembering to the extent that it stopped me in my tracks, taking me back to a specific moment, a specific place and a specific feeling. The smell was that of a bike shop. Mainly rubber, with notes of oil and plastic and a strong hint of sheer excitement. In that instant I was about 10 years old, in Bache Brothers Cycles at Lye Cross, near Stourbridge, in the West Midlands. My grandad was next to me, with the shop man. I was getting a bike for my birthday.

When I was talking about the power of smell on the radio, Speth, a Welsh speaker from Manchester, got in touch to say that in Welsh you can hear a smell as well as smell it. At first this sounded charming, if far-fetched. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. While I can’t – in English, anyway – exactly hear the smell of that Black Country bike shop in 1977, I can smell, hear and see it very clearly. I can feel it too. I can feel the shop man’s grip as he lifts me into the saddle. And I can hear him saying to my grandad: “Blimey, he’s a lump, isn’t he?” Ever sensitive about my weight, that was a sour note. But I’ll let it pass, because all I can feel, then and now, is the general joy.

Pinterest fired 2 engineers who built an internal layoff tracker

Pinterest says two engineers lost their jobs after writing custom scripts to identify employees who were cut in a recent round of layoffs.

Private payrolls rose by just 22,000 in January, far short of expectations, ADP says

The U.S. labor market barely budged in January, with hiring below even muted expectations.

Microsoft promotes sales leaders as company pursues AI growth

Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft's commercial business, wants to reduce the customer feedback loop as the company sells artificial intelligence services.

Researcher paid people for testimony about Daily Mail, high court told

Former phone hacker Graham Johnson denies claims, saying payments were part of effort to draw attention to unlawful behaviour by media

A researcher investigating lawbreaking by the media paid private investigators and ex-journalists for their testimony about alleged unlawful activity at the publisher of the Daily Mail, the high court has heard.

Graham Johnson, a former phone hacker who later turned to researching unlawful activity in the press, confirmed he had made payments to six people who all feature in the case Prince Harry and others have brought against Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL).

‘The right has won the family’: my relentless search for lefty mommy bloggers

The most popular mom content tends to be rightwing tradwife propaganda or not political at all – pushing progressive creators out of the algorithm

For someone who doesn’t have a marble island in their kitchen I spend a disproportionate amount of time staring at marble kitchen islands, slack-jawed, brain turned half off. That’s because I consume a lot of videos from mommy bloggers, mom influencers and the like. In kitchen “closing shift” videos, they wipe down their islands and reset by lighting luxury candles, the glow accentuating their respectable cosmetic procedures. Other times I watch them waltz through their morning routines: getting kids out the door, sweating it out in boutique fitness classes, showing off Amazon hauls, or explaining their children’s matching holiday photoshoot outfits.

For better or worse, this is how I have chosen to spend my one wild and precious life: consuming blissfully low-stakes motherhood content on my phone. It is domestically competent ASMR that also satiates my desire to peek into everyone’s bathroom cabinets. I nod in unsolicited approval as a TikTok mom I follow shares her green juice order. Fascinating. I should drink something like that. Another posts timestamps of her baby’s night-time sleep schedule. I, who lives between walls that have never heard the wail of an infant, ingurgitate the entire video.

‘It’s an absolute bloodbath’: Washington Post lays off hundreds of workers

Former Post executive editor blasts owner Jeff Bezos’s ‘sickening efforts to curry favor’ with Trump

The Washington Post laid off hundreds of employees on Wednesday, which its former executive editor said “ranks among the darkest days” in the newspaper’s history. Approximately one-third of employees were affected.

Staffers at the Post have been on edge for weeks about the rumored cuts, which the publication would not confirm or deny. “It’s an absolute bloodbath,” said one employee, not authorized to speak publicly.

Football Daily | Arsenal’s fun boat sails on but quadruple attempt will surely hit the rocks

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Given their near misses in recent seasons, it is entirely understandable that most sentient Arsenal fans are not prepared to publicly entertain the notion that their team will almost certainly win the Premier League this season. While they’re all lying in bed at night secretly fantasising about Martin Ødegaard’s trophy lift, most remain too scarred by ridicule over perceived “bottle jobs” to confidently state that as far as the title is concerned, nothing can possibly go wrong. While they have gladly accepted Mikel Arteta’s invitation to jump on the fun boat, all are wearing life preservers. Quite what these same Arsenal fans make of various pundits blithely weighing up their chances of winning an unprecedented quadruple is anyone’s guess, but since they booked their place in the Fizzy Cup final, the external chatter has begun. Having won the square root of eff all in over five years, assorted experts are seriously suggesting Arsenal – Arsenal! – could win four shiny pots in the next four months.

I have to feel sorry for the Ipswich fans who made plans to visit Fratton Park last night with the game being called off for the second time (frozen pitch previously, now waterlogged). Not sure how we are going to stop the next rearrangement if it doesn’t suit our knack-list but I hear floodlights do lose power sometimes” – Ben North (and no other devious Pompey fans).

No disrespect to anyone – least of all Matt Atkinson – but comparing Timo Werner to the Yorkshire Stakhanovite that is James Milner (Monday’s Football Daily letters) is like comparing a pony to a thoroughbred” – Kev McCready.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Senate Banking Democrats demand delay on Warsh nomination until Powell and Cook investigations end

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has separately vowed to hold up the nomination until the DOJ resolves its criminal investigation of Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

U.S.-Iran talks set for Friday in Oman after drone and tanker incidents

The talks are expected to be held after the U.S. military said it shot down an Iranian drone​ and Iranian forces threatened to seize a U.S.-flagged vessel.

Chipotle stock sinks as restaurant chain reports falling traffic, weak guidance

Chipotle stock has fallen about 33% over the last year, dragging the company's market value down to about $51 billion.

House committee report accuses DHS of Good, Pretti killings cover-up

The Democratic members of a U.S. House committee have released the findings of a report examining last month's fatal shootings in Minneapolis by federal immigration officers.

Relationship Goals review – Kelly Rowland and Method Man flirt through breezy romcom

The Valentine’s Day offerings begin with Amazon’s fast-paced, millennial-coded film that’s a fun enough watch even if its messaging is a little suspect

On its face, Relationship Goals is a classic romcom, calibrated for viewers of a certain generation. The perennially resplendent Kelly Rowland is Leah, a boss babe morning TV producer in line to replace her retiring boss (the omnipresent Matt Walsh) as showrunner. Just as she’s poised to break the glass ceiling, the network higher-ups stick her in a bake-off with Jarrett, a ringer from her romantic past played with devil charm by Method Man. The promise of one of Destiny’s Children playing the will they/won’t they game with the hunk of the Wu-Tang Clan could well prove too strong a lure to stop the scores who grew up on their music from clicking on the Prime Video thumbnail just out of nostalgic curiosity.

It’s a tractor beam made stronger by director Linda Mendoza’s extraordinarily fast pace. I mean, those 90 minutes just breeze by. Relationship Goals’s three-headed writer team – led by Michael Elliott, whose credits include Queen Latifah’s Just Wright and Beyoncé’s Carmen hip-hopera – are bracingly efficient with their paint-by-numbers set-up. Leah’s besties – Treese, the tragically single makeup girl (Flamin’ Hot’s Annie Gonzalez); Brenda, the wistful morning anchor (A Black Lady Sketch Show’s Robin Thede), Roland, the omniscient assistant (Pose’s Ryan Jamaal Swain) – helpfully fast-talk through backstory points and punctuate scenes with snappy one-liners and winks at the audience. (Brenda titles her emergency engagement plan: Project Put a Ring on It.) Only Dennis Haysbert slows things down as Leah’s grieving father, but not enough to be a drag.

A surprising share of homeowners have high mortgage rates. Here's the breakdown

About 20% of borrowers have mortgages with a rate over 6%.

Fed pick: Tillis doubles down on Warsh blockade over concerns about central bank independence

Sen. Thom Tillis told CNBC he is committed to blocking Kevin Warsh's confirmation as Fed chair unless the Trump administration ends its probe of Chair Powell.

Young ladies too tired to stand at a Black debutante ball: Miranda Barnes’s best photograph

‘The girls wait for two or three hours to be introduced. The reason they’re sitting on the ground is because there weren’t any chairs in the waiting room’

My new book Social Season opens with a poem set in the mid-1800s, a time that marked the beginning of a period of increased financial prosperity for some African Americans. Cotillion dances have European origins, but in the poem, Black New Yorkers perform classic dances such as waltzes and quadrilles and are dressed in fine outfits. These Black debutante balls go back a long way, and are one example of African Americans trying to create a better life. Today, they continue to introduce young women into society and retain a strong emphasis on the participants’ education.

Initially, I had been working towards creating a book with a larger overview of Black subcultures in general. I’d photographed cheerleaders, churches, traditional rodeos and other intergenerational community gatherings. I wanted to include a debutante ball in a post-industrial city, and Detroit has a very rich Black history. When I first reached out to the city’s Cotillion Society, I only planned to attend one year’s event. But after that evening in 2022, I realised this was a project in itself and that I was really going to have to work for the images I wanted.

‘One moment it was a little blip. The next, our friends are dying’: the gay porn soundtrack composers lost to the Aids crisis

Gay porn in the 80s was home to beautifully moody synth music that is only now getting rediscovered – tragically too late for many of its creators

Michael Ely knew from the first moment he met James Allan Taylor that he had found someone special. The pair had separately hitchhiked to a gay bar, with fake IDs, in Sunset Beach, California. They connected, they danced and stepped outside for a kiss in the thick fog. “I was only 18 but I knew I had just met my soulmate,” says Ely.

The pair remained a couple until 2015 when Taylor, who was nicknamed Spider, died from liver cancer. A new collection of Taylor’s music, Surge Studio Music – electronic pieces he composed for gay porn films – has just been released. “I was like: wait, there’s a fanbase for 80s gay porn music?” laughs Ely. “I had no idea. When Josh contacted me, I found the cassette tapes in a box in the back of the closet. They’d been there for ever.”

Team GB’s best chance of Winter Olympics gold dealt major blow after helmets ban

• Skeleton crew’s helmets ruled ineligible on eve of Games

• Great Britain appeal to court of arbitration for sport

Great Britain’s best hopes of gold at these Winter Olympics have suffered a setback after skeleton’s governing body banned its new aerodynamic helmets for being the wrong shape.

Team GB’s Matt Weston and Marcus Wyatt have dominated skeleton all season, winning all seven of the World Cup races between them, and are strong favourites to win gold and silver in Milan.

Greetings from Kyiv, where candles are the last option during wartime blackouts

Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.

Amazon makes Alexa+ AI assistant available to everyone in the U.S. nearly a year after launch

Alexa+ launched last year in an "early access" preview, meaning consumers had to join a waitlist or buy a new device to use the service.

‘It’s about hurling yourself into the unknown’: Charmaine Watkiss on turning a UK museum upside down

The artist’s work resurfaces skills and knowledge that colonialism buried. She explains how her drawings and sculpture weave botanical illustration and traditional craft to engage with generational trauma

When the artist Charmaine Watkiss was a child, she frequently visited G Baldwin’s, a herbalist who sold natural remedies and essential oils in London’s Elephant and Castle, to pick up medicinal herbs and sarsaparilla for her mother. “They’ve had an apothecary for over 100 years,” she says. “It’s a place Black women used as a resource in the 1970s and 80s. You’d say: ‘I’ve got this ailment’ and they’d recommend something.”

Watkiss’s mother was part of the Windrush generation who migrated from the Caribbean to the UK, and these memories sparked a new area of research for the artist before her first gallery show in 2021, The Seed Keepers, which explored the botanical links connecting the Caribbean, the UK and the African continent in the context of the transatlantic slave trade. “While in my studio, I thought: all this knowledge must have travelled with the enslaved.” Thus began Watkiss’s large-scale illustrated portraits depicting women of African descent alongside medicinal plants. Evoking historical botanical illustrations, the artist traces how the enslaved relied on herbal knowledge for survival.

Make the orchestra great again: how a painting of Trump as conductor misunderstands the symphony | Tom Service

A new painting by the maestro of Trumpian kitsch offers a fever dream of musical unity – and fundamentally misunderstands orchestras and conductors. And where are the music stands?

Events in the United States of Trumpland continue to reveal staggering new dimensions to the possibilities of orchestral music. Trump’s announcement that his “Trump Kennedy Center” is to be shut for a refit is a brilliantly cynical way to stop the noise when artists try to cancel their appearances during the rest of his presidential tenure: it’s shut already! Bigly losers, all of you!

But that’s not the new dawn for the artform I’m talking about. I mean the inspirational painting unveiled by the maestro of Trumpian kitsch, Jon McNaughton (and stamped with the presidential seal of approval – ie a post on Truth Social).

Mauricio Pochettino’s odd jab at Tim Weah misread the player and the moment | Leander Schaerlaeckens

The USMNT manager said players should stay out of conversations that don’t deal with soccer

Last week, Mauricio Pochettino began a World Cup year with an unforced error.

At the tail-end of a virtual press conference that covered a wide range of ongoing USMNT business, the 53-year-old Argentine – who has made himself commendably available to the American soccer press – was asked about recent comments by Tim Weah.

Leander Schaerlaeckens’ book on the United States men’s national soccer team, The Long Game, is out on 12 May. You can preorder it here. He teaches at Marist University.

Eli Lilly blows past quarterly estimates, posts strong outlook as Zepbound and Mounjaro sales soar

Eli Lilly's full-year guidance comes in stark contrast to the outlook of Novo Nordisk, which warned it sees sales and profit declining as much as 13% this year.

Bezos orders deep job cuts at 'Washington Post'

The Washington Post embarked on severe cuts despite appeals by the newsroom to owner Jeff Bezos. The paper is to narrow its focus largely to politics and national security.

Revealed: Israel bulldozed part of Gaza war cemetery containing allied graves

Satellite images and witness testimony show destruction as IDF claims it was forced to take defensive measures

Israeli forces have bulldozed part of a Gaza cemetery containing the war graves of dozens of British, Australian and other allied soldiers killed in the first and second world wars, satellite imagery and witness testimony reveal.

Satellite imagery of the Gaza war cemetery in al-Tuffah, a district of Gaza City, shows extensive earthworks in the southernmost corner of the graveyard. Bomb craters can be seen around the cemetery, but in this area the destruction appears to have been more systematic.

An ‘amazing feat’: how was 13-year-old Austin Appelbee able to swim for four hours to save his family?

Saltwater, survival backstroke and sheer mind over matter may have helped the teenager save his family, experts say

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An Australian 13-year-old who swam 4km (2.49 miles) to shore and then ran 2km (1.24 miles) to get help for his stranded family has been described as “superhuman”.

Experts say Austin Appelbee’s feat of endurance exceeded the limits of what is normally perceived as possible. So how was the teenager able to save the day, and is there any precedent for it?

Not delivering any Aukus nuclear submarines to Australia explored as option in US congressional report

Report offers alternative of the US navy retaining boats and operating them out of Australian bases

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A new United States congressional report openly contemplates not selling any nuclear submarines to Australia – as promised under the Aukus agreement – because America wants to retain control of the submarines for a potential conflict with China over Taiwan.

The report by the US Congressional Research Service, Congress’s policy research arm, posits an alternative “military division of labour” under which the submarines earmarked for sale to Australia are instead retained under US command to be sailed out of Australian bases.

Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: lift your winter look with a pop of white

Like the first cluster of snowdrops, a burst of white is a reminder to focus on the positive – just don’t go full snowman

Everyone knows that the prettiest scraps of winter are the precious snow days. At this time of year, when it feels like we’ve been scurrying around in near-constant darkness like moles for as long as we can remember, we crave the brightness you get with snowfall – and the glamour of it, too. The disco-ball sparkle of frost is a counterpoint to chapped lips and three-week sniffles that won’t budge.

We can’t make it snow, but we can create our own little flurry. A pop of snowy white is the best boost you can give an outfit right now. White is to January what rust and orange are to October: a colour pulled from nature to remind us of the best bits of the season. After all, autumn has grey skies and muddy puddles too, but we ignore them and lean into its gorgeous falling-leaf colours instead.

Skinning, boot-packing and downhill skiing: welcome to skimo at the Winter Olympics

The Games’ newest sport combines the seemingly impossible task of ascending a mountain on skis with hiking and then a rapid descent

No one could suggest that the Winter Olympics are lacking in challenge. Skiers zipping down the slopes and flying through the air. Skeletons hurtling around at more than 100km/h. Ice skaters, metal-bladed, spinning, leaping and twisting. Slopestyle athletes pulling off the most outrageous tricks while landing the biggest air. But everyone from recreational skiers to the most extreme sports enthusiasts knows there is always room for more.

Enter the new kid on the ice block at Milano Cortina 2026: ski mountaineering. The new challenge? How about going up the mountain, hiking a bit, followed by a rapid descent on the tiniest skis possible. Before you ask, “why”? Cast your mind over the other disciplines on the schedule and remember that the answer is almost always, “why not”?

May-a: ‘I was not in a good place – no one’s in a good place when they get a neck tattoo’

She’s just 24, but Maya Cumming has won the Hottest 100, survived LA, played with Cyndi Lauper – and is only now releasing her first album, which ‘was driven by spite’

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At just 24, the Australian singer-songwriter Maya Cumming – known to fans as May-a – has already experienced the promise and heartache of Los Angeles as a star-making town. In 2021, she signed with Atlantic Records in the US ahead of her debut EP, Don’t Kiss Ur Friends – a moment she described at the time as “a dream”. The following February, she featured on Flume’s precision-made festival anthem Say Nothing, which went on to win the 2022 Triple J Hottest 100.

Amid that whirlwind period, Cumming was flown back and forth to LA for arranged studio sessions with producers and artists she felt little connection to, ultimately relocating there in 2024. What should have felt like a career arrival was instead a dispiriting eye-opener.

Jill Biden's ex-husband charged with murdering his second wife

Authorities in Delaware announced a first-degree murder charge against William Stevenson, the ex-husband of former first lady Jill Biden. Stevenson is accused of murdering his second wife. The Biden family has not commented on the case.

Rough winter weather hits homebuyers, tanking mortgage demand

Mortgage demand dropped sharply last week, even though interest rates moved slightly lower. The culprit was likely the recent winter storm.

Waymo and Tesla executives face questions from lawmakers over safety

Executives from Waymo and Tesla, the country's two leading self-driving robotaxi companies, will face questions on Capitol Hill Wednesday amid scrutiny over safety. Kris Van Cleave reports.

Thousands remain without power more than a week after winter storm

More than a week after a major winter storm slammed much of the U.S., tens of thousands of homes and businesses remain without power in Mississippi and Tennessee. Kati Weis reports on the recovery efforts.

Penny the Doberman pinscher wins best in show at Westminster Dog Show

A Doberman pinscher named Penny won best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

Police dog helps rescue boy with special needs during snowstorm

The child walked away from his home during a snowstorm Saturday night, as temperatures fell below freezing.

Photos: Scenes from the 150th Westminster Dog Show

Hundreds of dogs competed for the top prize at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show this week. Penny the Doberman pinscher was named best in show.

Dancing robots and a military parade: photos of the day – Wednesday

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

‘A small Africa in Colombia’: the palenqueras of Cartagena

In the south American port city, an expressive Black ancestral community live full, self-fashioned lives protected by culture and identity

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Hello and welcome to The Long Wave. This week, it comes to you from Cartagena, Colombia, where I was attending a literary festival but, to be honest, have been mostly eating empanadas. It was my first time in Latin America, and I was not quite ready for a strange sort of culture shock, one that was as much about alienation as it was about recognition. I walked around the city in circles, trying to pound my way into absorbing a place of complex, layered histories.

But it was Cartagena’s racial legacy that, at points, I found overwhelming. It sounds naive, but there is something about travelling halfway across the world to meet others of African descent that brings home the scale of the impact of centuries of enslavement. And it was in the “palenqueras” of Cartagena that I felt that history, in all its contradictions and legacies, resided.

Goodbye, breast implants: why I went back to having a flat chest

At 56, I want to age naturally. Having breast implants ran counter to that, so I got explant surgery, which has surged in demand recently

For 22 years, I ran around with small bags of saline water on my chest – a fact I shared with only a handful of close friends. I felt ashamed of having chosen artificial enhancement.

I’m an outdoorsy mountain runner. At 56, I want to model aging naturally, but having breast implants ran counter to that. Now they are gone, thanks to explant surgery – implant removal without replacement.

Pro-gun groups quickly rallied for Alex Pretti. Why didn’t they do the same for a Black gun owner?

Philando Castile, a lawful gun owner, was shot and killed by a police officer in 2016 – gun rights groups were largely silent

The killing of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis has sparked a thorny conversation among gun rights groups and Trump administration officials about the second amendment and the right to carry concealed firearms at protests and demonstrations. Among the questions is which cases the movement rallies behind – and which it doesn’t.

In the hours and days after Pretti’s killing, dozens of local national and local gun rights groups lambasted federal officials including Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, and Gregory Bovino, a senior border patrol official, who baselessly claimed that Pretti’s carrying of a handgun proved that he planned to harm and kill border patrol agents. Prominent gun rights organizations, including Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the National Rifle Association (NRA), called for an independent investigation into the shooting and defended Pretti’s right to carry a gun.