
China’s coal power habit undercuts ‘unprecedented pace’ of clean energy
Minimum quotas for purchase of coal power and new project approvals threaten major advances in renewable energy production, thinktanks say
China’s energy production is putting coal and renewables in competition with each other, according to a new analysis that found continuing approval of coal-fired projects in 2024 undermined the “unprecedented” surge in clean energy production.
The analysis of China’s 2024 energy production – released on Thursday by two thinktanks, the Global Energy Monitor and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) – found China’s major advances in energy production were being held back by a commitment to coal power.
Continue reading... 13th February 2025 03:11
California insurance plan asks private insurers for $1bn after wildfires
Private plans, such as State Farm, required to give to Fair plan so all residents have access to fire insurance
California’s home-insurance safety net does not have enough money to pay all of the claims from damage caused by the Los Angeles wildfires and has asked private insurers to contribute $1bn toward those claims.
All private insurers operating in California are required to contribute to the Fair plan, a plan of last resort established so all Californians would have access to fire insurance. More than 450,000 California homeowners got their insurance through the Fair plan in 2024 – more than double the number in 2020. As of 4 February, the plan had received more than 4,700 claims from the Palisades and Eaton fires, almost half of which were for “total losses”.
Continue reading... 13th February 2025 02:27
Ukraine war briefing: Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine, say European ministers
If we can’t join Nato we must build our own, says Zelenskyy; Russian trial begins over explosion that crippled Kerch bridge. What we know on day 1,086
Nothing about ending Russia’s war against Ukraine should be decided without the Ukrainians, European ministers said on Wednesday. “Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations,” a joint statement of seven countries and the European Commission said. John Healey, the British defence secretary, told Sky News: “It’s the Ukrainians that are doing the fighting. It’s for them to decide when to start talking and on what terms.”
As ministers from France, Britain, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and the European Commission met with Ukraine’s foreign minister in Paris on Wednesday, the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, said a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders was unrealistic and the US did not see Nato membership for Kyiv as part of a solution to the war.
Hegseth’s comments were followed by a call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, after which Trump said their teams had agreed to start negotiations immediately and he would meet the Russian president in Saudi Arabia. The US president underlined he was “OK” with Ukraine being barred from Nato and cared little if Russia kept the land it had invaded. When asked if any European countries would be involved in peace talks, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “I don’t have any European nations who are involved currently to read out for you.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would need the US to help it build up an army as big as that of Russia as a “Plan B” if it could not join Nato. “If Ukraine is not in Nato, it means that Ukraine will build Nato on its territory,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with the Economist published on Wednesday.
Ukraine said it had detained a high-ranking official within its own security services who was allegedly working for Russia. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said that its head, Vasyl Maliuk, personally carried out the arrest and that Zelenskyy was informed of the operation, codenamed “rat”.
Eight men went on trial in Russia on Wednesday charged with a “terrorist act” over the deadly explosion that tore through the illegal Kerch Bridge built by Russia from its territory to occupied Crimea in Ukraine. The truck bomb collapsed two highway sections of the bridge, fully and then partly closing it for months, and killed four people. The accused are being tried in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don at a military court with hearings held behind closed doors.
Ukraine will need help from partners to import additional gas amid constant Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian gas facilities, deputy energy minister Roman Andarak said on Wednesday.
The US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that a critical minerals deal between Kyiv and Washington could leave Ukraine with “a security shield” once the war with Russia is over. After meeting Bessent in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said Ukraine and the US were drawing up a “new document on security, economic cooperation, and resource partnership” and he hoped to sign an agreement at the Munich security conference beginning on Friday.
Britain said on Wednesday it would give Ukraine military aid worth £150m including drones, tanks and air defence systems.
China is helping Russia’s military drone production by becoming a hub for the smuggling of critical western components for Moscow’s armed forces, Estonia’s foreign intelligence said in its annual national security report published on Wednesday. About 80% of such components reaching Russia now come from China, it said. Previous Ukrainian reports have suggested 60%. A spokesperson for China’s embassy in Tallinn told Reuters the “accusations” were “without any substantial evidence by an unreliable institution … China never provides weapons to the parties to the crisis and strictly controls the export of dual-use articles.”
The previous Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, has accused Zelenskyy of having Ukraine’s national security and defence council adopt “unconstitutional, politically motivated” sanctions against him. Poroshenko, who heads the largest opposition bloc in Ukraine’s parliament, did not disclose terms of the sanctions. Zelenskyy, who won the 2019 poll by a landslide against Poroshenko, said in his nightly video address that the council had approved decisions that would be made public on Thursday. He made no reference to Poroshenko.
Continue reading... 13th February 2025 02:25
Judge rules Trump can downsize federal government with worker buyouts
Legal victory for Republican president is significant progress following string of courtroom setbacks
A federal judge has cleared the way for Donald Trump’s plan to downsize the federal workforce with a deferred resignation program.
It was a significant legal victory for the Republican president after a string of courtroom setbacks.
Continue reading... 13th February 2025 01:46
Grenade thrown into Grenoble bar injures 12, say French authorities
Officials say six people are in a critical condition after blast, which they do not believe is terror-related
Twelve people were wounded when a grenade was thrown into a bar in the city of Grenoble in south-eastern France, officials said on Wednesday.
The attacker entered the bar, which was packed with customers, and threw a grenade before fleeing without saying a word, said prosecutor Francois Touret-de-Courcy. Investigators had not yet identified a motive but did not believe it was a terrorist attack
Continue reading... 13th February 2025 01:34
Champions League: Feyenoord edge out Milan, Club Brugge defeat Atalanta
- Igor Paixão’s strike downs Rossoneri in Rotterdam
- Controversial penalty gives Brugge late success
Feyenoord held out for a 1-0 win at home against Milan in their Champions League playoff first leg after scoring the only goal of the game in the third minute.
Igor Paixão cut in from the left and saw his speculative low drive sneak past Mike Maignan at the near post. Milan drew a blank in response to leave them with work to do in their home fixture.
Continue reading... 13th February 2025 00:02
Kennedy Center board votes to elect Trump as new chair
President accepts ‘great honor’ after terminating Biden appointees and installing loyalist as interim leader
Donald Trump has been named the chair of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC following a vote by its board on Wednesday.
The center, which receives federal funding, is one of America’s leading arts venues with a huge cultural profile in America’s capital and has long enjoyed bipartisan support.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 23:40
Trump says he has spoken to Putin and agreed to negotiate Ukraine ceasefire
US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth says Ukraine would have to cede territory, alarming Kyiv and European allies
Donald Trump has said that he and Vladimir Putin have agreed to begin negotiations to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine, later adding that it was unlikely Kyiv would win back all its territory or join Nato if a deal is to be reached.
Trump said that he was “OK” with Ukraine not having Nato membership and that it was “unlikely” that Ukraine would take much land back in the negotiations.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 23:35
Work on up to 12 new towns in England to begin by next election, says Starmer
About 100 potential locations identified as government vows to sweep away red tape to get them built
Up to 12 new towns will be under construction by the next election after 100 potential locations in England were identified as part of Keir Starmer’s promise to deliver the largest housebuilding programme since the postwar era.
Each new town will have the potential for at least 10,000 homes with accompanying infrastructure, as the government promised to sweep away red tape and overcome environmental objections to get them built.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 23:30
Musk’s ‘efficiency’ agency site adds data from controversial rightwing thinktank
Website of ‘Doge’ includes information published by thinktank CEI, which claims to fight ‘climate alarmism’
Flanked by Donald Trump in the Oval Office this week, Elon Musk claimed his much-vaunted, but ill-defined, “department of government efficiency” (Doge) was providing “maximum transparency” on its blitz through the federal government.
Its official website was empty, however – until Wednesday, when it added elements including data from a controversial rightwing thinktank recently sued by a climate scientist.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 23:30
John Lithgow set to play Dumbledore in Harry Potter TV series – reports
Actor reportedly in final negotiations to follow up performance in Oscar-nominated hit Conclave with key role in much-anticipated HBO series
John Lithgow is nearing a deal to star as Professor Albus Dumbledore in HBO’s hotly anticipated Harry Potter series, sources told Deadline and Variety.
HBO did not confirm any casting for the show based on JK Rowling’s bestselling books. “We appreciate that such a high-profile series will draw a lot of rumor and speculation,” the network said in a statement to Deadline. “As we make our way through pre-production, we will only confirm details as we finalize deals.”
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 23:21
Maeda gives Celtic Champions League hope but Kane wins first leg for Bayern
For 78 minutes, Bayern Munich performed like a team who were irritated at having to play an extra two games before taking a place in the Champions League’s last 16. The return leg next week looked little more than a box-ticking exercise.
What happened next was as curious as it was intriguing. Daizen Maeda’s header afforded Celtic hope to the extent that they actually finished as the stronger side. Bayern, once so vastly superior, started to rock. Vincent Kompany’s team will still be the heavy favourites to progress from this playoff but Celtic will believe they can cause a shock.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 23:03
Everton’s Tarkowski thwarts Liverpool as final Goodison derby ends in brawl
Four goals, four red cards, one mass brawl plus enough controversy, fury and entertainment to elevate the fixture way above the Premier League norm; the Merseyside derby bid a fitting farewell to Goodison Park.
David “Mystic” Moyes had predicted the 120th and final Goodison derby would, by the nature of an emotionally charged occasion, be explosive. James Tarkowski triggered a detonator under the old place. The Everton captain volleyed in a stunning 98th-minute equaliser to ensure Liverpool went seven points clear in the title race rather than nine.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 23:01
Belarus frees three detainees including US citizen and journalist
Journalist with US-funded broadcaster among those in release hailed by ambassador as ‘big day for team America’
Belarus has released three detainees including a veteran journalist for a US government-funded broadcaster and a US citizen, the White House said on Wednesday.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed the release on Wednesday of three people including “one American and two individuals from Belarus, one of whom worked for Radio Liberty”. The released American has not been identified.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 22:01
Trump names oil and gas advocate to lead agency that manages federal lands
Kathleen Sgamma to oversee Bureau of Land Management, agency that manages quarter-billion acres of public land
Donald Trump has nominated a longtime oil and gas industry representative to oversee an agency that manages a quarter-billion acres of public land concentrated in western states.
Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Colorado-based oil industry trade group Western Energy Alliance, was named Bureau of Land Management director, a position with wide influence over lands used for energy production, grazing, recreation and other purposes. An MIT graduate, Sgamma has been a leading voice for the fossil fuel industry, calling for fewer drilling restrictions on public lands that produce about 10% of US oil and gas.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 21:46
Nightclub bouncer jailed over plot to blackmail Michael Schumacher
Racing star’s former bodyguard passed sensitive data to Yilmaz Tozturkan and his son, German court heard
A nightclub bouncer who was part of a plot to blackmail Michael Schumacher for £12m has been jailed after being convicted of conspiring with two other men to obtain private footage of the motor racing legend.
Yilmaz Tozturkan, 53, was sentenced to three years in prison, while his son, Daniel Lins, 30, an IT expert, was given a six-month suspended sentence.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 21:28
Google defends scrapping AI pledges and DEI goals in all-staff meeting
Exclusive: Google executives gave employees details on dropping the company’s promise against weaponized AI and nixing diversity goals
Google’s executives gave details on Wednesday on how the tech giant will sunset its diversity initiatives and defended dropping its pledge against building artificial intelligence for weaponry and surveillance in an all-staff meeting.
Melonie Parker, Google’s former head of diversity, said the company was doing away with its diversity and inclusion employee training programs and “updating” broader training programs that have “DEI content”. It was the first time company executives have addressed the whole staff since Google announced it would no longer follow hiring goals for diversity and took down its pledge not to build militarized AI. The chief legal officer, Kent Walker, said a lot had changed since Google first introduced its AI principles in 2018, which explicitly stated Google would not build AI for harmful purposes. He said it would be “good for society” for the company to be part of evolving geopolitical discussions in response to a question about why the company removed prohibitions against building AI for weapons and surveillance.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 21:27
Semi-automated offside aid for VAR to be trialled in FA Cup fifth round
- PGMOL happy with improvements to delayed technology
- Seven of eight FA Cup ties are at Premier League grounds
Semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) is to be trialled in the FA Cup fifth round next month with a view to it being introduced in the Premier League before the end of the season.
The Guardian has learned that the Football Association has agreed to run an experiment with the new technology, which has been delayed because of teething problems in the testing process.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 20:30
Trump is the most lawless president in American history | Robert Reich
If Trump simply ignores the high court, is that the end of law?
He is the most lawless president in American history.
As Donald Trump’s law-breaking continues, America’s last defense is the federal courts.
It appears that OMB sought to overcome a judicially imposed obstacle without actually ceasing the challenged conduct. The court can think of few things more disingenuous.
It has become ever more apparent that, to our president, the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals. The rule of law is, according to him, something to navigate around or simply ignore, whether that be for political or personal gain.
Within the past few years … elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings. These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected.
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His newest book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 20:27
The Guardian view on spending cuts: behold the grim return of slash-and-burn government | Editorial
Spending public money carefully is a virtue in itself, but running down the public sector can cause huge problems later on
Slash-and-burn government is back in vogue. Whether it is Elon Musk and his engineers taking the axe to US agency spending, the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, wishing she had her own mini-Musk, or Sir Keir Starmer complaining about the “tepid bath of managed decline”, the complaint is that bureaucracy is bloated and needs to be cut down to size.
We’ve heard such charges before. For some it is ideologically driven: they believe that the state is inherently inefficient and that only businesspeople know how to make money count. For others it is prompted by the expansion of government in response to crises ultimately caused by state undercapacity, not overreach. They were wheeled out in the 2010s, after rich states stepped in to save the banks and prop up the economies. Then came the Covid pandemic, in which rich states stepped in to save employees (through such measures as furlough) and support businesses.
Last time, it was David Cameron’s team who styled themselves as “disruptors” and brought in the businessman Philip Green as an “efficiency guru”. This time it’s Donald Trump. Yet, measured as a proportion of all US workers, the US federal government workforce is smaller than it was just after the second world war, when Mr Trump was born. And shifting its work to costlier private-sector operations has not been a boon.
One of the great parables of the consequences of an outsider hacking away at a complex organisation is contained in a history of Britain’s trashy cable channel, Live TV. The authors, Chris Horrie and Adam Nathan, give a picture of what happened when the lifelong print journalist Kelvin MacKenzie suddenly got to be boss. Not understanding many of the technicalities of television, he would apparently charge into the studio gallery while programmes were going out live and demand staff answer his questions. “Who are you? What do you do? … If you can’t tell me in 20 seconds … you’re out.” If the programme fell off air after they’d been given the boot, he would plead with them to come back.
Even Live TV’s viewers are unlikely to have been gravely distressed by its inadequacies. But government touches everyone’s lives, and in the most serious manner.

Arab mediators scramble to save Gaza ceasefire as Israel bolsters troop numbers
Both sides accuse other of violating terms of truce, but Hamas says there are ‘positive signals’ hostage exchange will go ahead
Arab mediators are scrambling to save the Gaza ceasefire as the Israeli military bolsters troop and tank deployments to the strip’s periphery in advance of the possibility the truce breaks down this weekend.
A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to “discuss ways to end the current crisis”, the Palestinian militant group said. Meanwhile, Egyptian and Qatari mediators were working “intensively” to compel Israel to address Hamas’s new demands before Saturday’s scheduled release of three Israeli hostages, Egypt’s state-run al-Qahera television reported.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 19:55
Anatomy of a Tifo: City’s Madrid jibe makes confused super club look small | Barney Ronay
Rodri banner is a worrying sign for an organisation that is slightly losing its own strict and impressive sense of order
It can be a fun exercise during Manchester City games to imagine the contents of Pep Guardiola’s inner monologue, the stream of consciousness inside that whirring cranium as he strides his touchline, arms revolving, dressed these days in flowing Jedi robes, skater trainers and guru scarf, like a bald indie-Gandalf.
Most of the time Guardiola seems to be worrying about tiny details, correctively raging at shape, positioning and pressing patterns, muttering things like Jack, Jack, NO JACK, NO JACK. YES JACK. Who knows? Maybe he’s just wondering if he should have worn the quilted over-gown after all.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 19:18
From Blitz to Gladiator II: the Oscar-aiming films that missed this season
This year’s nominations were led by smaller, less expected films like The Brutalist, Anora and Emilia Pérez, which left bigger bets in the cold
While films such as Wicked and Dune: Part Two amassed multiple Oscar nominations this year, the Academy’s ongoing embrace of the smaller, less conventional movie pushed a number of more traditional contenders out. From the long-awaited sequel to a best picture winner to an inspirational boxing drama to a music biopic starring an Oscar favourite, here are some of the more primed picks that failed to register:
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 19:11
Saturday Night Live is bad, actually
The 50-year-old comedy sketch show lauded for underdog humor has a history of conservatism and a soft spot for powerful people – just ask former host Donald Trump
In case you happen to have missed the giant Post-it notes bearing cast member names hanging from buildings around New York City, or the fawning retropectives that have hit the internet in the past couple of weeks, the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, America’s most beloved sketch comedy TV show, is upon us; with a star-studded anniversary special scheduled for this Sunday.
The press thus far has mostly consisted of breathless praise. SNL, gushed New York magazine, “feels unbound by time, as if it had always existed and always will”. The New Yorker said it had “reinvented television”.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 19:00
Lars von Trier admitted to a care centre following Parkinson’s diagnosis
Danish film-maker made public his condition in 2022, aged 66
Danish film-maker Lars von Trier, who has Parkinson’s disease, has been admitted to a care centre, his production company said on Wednesday.
One of the biggest names in contemporary auteur cinema, Von Trier has directed more than 14 feature films, often disturbing and violent.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 18:55
Goya to Impressionism review – three salmon steaks blow the soppy jugs and flowers away
Courtauld Gallery, London
Is there an ulterior motive to this drearily grand exhibition of paintings borrowed from a Swiss collection? Could it be to show how vastly superior the Courtauld’s own works are?
The bland title of this show reads a bit like a confession, in terms of how little it has to say. Goya to Impressionism – so? Why do we need to see the troubled Spanish painter of war and witchcraft juxtaposed with soft scenes by Renoir and Sisley? No reason, except they all belong to a collection whose home in Winterthur, Switzerland, is closed for renovation, meaning the Courtauld can borrow them as a job lot. The trouble is that the Oskar Reinhart Collection is too similar to the Courtauld’s own to be an overly exciting proposition.
Both hoards were gathered in the early-20th century by wealthy private collectors with a penchant for French art of the late 1800s, yet by and large Samuel Courtauld got the best stuff. Reinhart’s Manets are minor compared with the dazzling masterpieces owned by the Courtauld. This is also true of Renoir. The Courtauld owns La Loge, Renoir’s scintillating early painting of modern love, but Reinhart’s row of soppy, second-rate Renoirs live down to every stereotype of this big impressionist softy.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 18:51
If you thought Elon Musk was bad, look at his dreadful mini-mes and shudder for America | Emma Brockes
They are young and seizing the reins of government on their master’s behalf with an imperial swagger. It will end in many tears
You would be forgiven for thinking we were back at the Bullingdon Club, in the company of Jonty, Munty, Stiffy, Kipper, Chugger and, to use the polite version, Pig Botherer – only in this case it’s Big Balls and a guy with a history of racist tweeting. This is the sudden, startling emergence into American political life of a type deeply recognisable to Brits: that is, jaunty young men with juvenile nicknames and a firm belief they should be running the world.
This being America, the class signifiers are slightly different from those in Britain. But in most regards, the cohort of young men hired by Elon Musk for his cost-cutting taskforce, the department of government efficiency (Doge), will be familiar to anyone who lived through the era of Boris Johnson’s weapons-grade flippancy or reports of David Cameron’s youthful hijinks. (Donald Trump is very flippant, of course, but his style skews locker room rather than debate chamber – or, in this case, maths olympiad.) And while politics has always run on young, volunteer energy, less common in the US, perhaps, is the imperial swagger, the sheer frivolous entitlement accompanying a crowd that has seemingly been given the keys to the kingdom.
Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 18:35
‘Mother Nature thinks people should shut down’: why we’re so unmotivated in winter
It’s normal to have low energy in the colder months – but for some, seasonal affective disorder can shut down their lives
One dark and dreary February, I was bemoaning my lack of motivation. My therapist said this was perfectly normal.
“I just want to stay inside under a blanket in the winter,” she said. It didn’t bother her because she knew that, come spring, she would feel more motivated. This was actually quite a productive insight for me, so maybe she wasn’t giving her winter abilities enough credit.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 18:00
Captain America: Brave New World review – Harrison Ford juggles green screens, red fists and vanilla plotting
Ford has gravitas as the new president and Anthony Mackie makes a charismatic captain, but this is a tired and uninspired dollop of content from the Marvel Cinematic Universe
‘Brave” it might be, but there’s nothing all that “new” about the world revealed in this latest tired and uninspired dollop of content from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s perhaps notable for Harrison Ford playing a US president for the first time since Air Force One in 1997, but now with secret health worries and liable to succumb to a terrifying rage which turns him into Red Hulk (Red State Hulk?) who is the ultimate disruptor, putting his great big red fist through the West Wing.
A novelty there, maybe, though he conforms to the time-honoured Hulk tradition of somehow having miraculously stretchy trousers so that the Red Hulk genitals are not exposed. As for the apparent Maga implications, Mr Ford has himself denied them, and the MCU is as cautiously apolitical as ever, though Ford’s character is certainly keener on international cooperation than the current real-life incumbent.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 18:00
Love rats: Canadians get chance to feed rodents named after old flames to owls
Program is meant to help the endangered northern spotted owl – and it’s only C$5! – but rat lovers are not amused
Revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold. And for an endangered owl breeding program in Canada, it’s also a dish best served dead.
For the price of a coffee, spurned and disgruntled lovers can revel in the satisfaction of having a dead rat named after an ex, before it is fed to a northern spotted owl.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 17:53
‘No one tells you how to not fall on your face’: Christina Hendricks on Mad Men, stardom and her ‘spidey sense’
She went stratospheric in the hit ad agency show, but wishes it had happened 10 years earlier. As Christina Hendricks plays a Hollywood mogul, she talks about the whirlwind of fame – and what happens when it stops
It would be too much of a spoiler to reveal the dark secret at the heart of the new comedy drama Small Town, Big Story, but I can say that it’s huge, weird and unbelievable. In the six-part show, Christina Hendricks plays Wendy Patterson, a Los Angeles TV producer who is back in her small home town in Ireland to shoot a big Hollywood production. She has returned, successful and glossy, to the place where that weird experience changed her life – not least because nobody believed her and she was laughed out of town.
Hendricks plays Wendy spiky and tough. “She’s got a real defence mechanism,” she says. “Something extraordinary happened to her and no one has ever believed her. She’s built up a wall, not letting people get too close, because then she’d have to reveal this big secret that, again, they are not going to believe.”
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 17:39
New inflation numbers are at odds with Donald Trump’s promise to lower prices
The president repeatedly claimed he would lower prices during the election campaign, but that’s not an easy task
As tens of millions of Americans prepared to watch the Super Bowl this weekend, Donald Trump sat for the customary pre-game presidential interview.
Trump was elected after pledging to bring down prices fast as much of the country grappled with the cost of living after years of heightened inflation. So when the Fox News anchor asked would families start to feel the impact, the president changed the subject.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 17:26
Ratcliffe believes latest Manchester United job cuts will help club avoid going bust
- Co-owner feels finances left him with little choice
- Action designed to make United profitable in two years
Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes his decision to cut about 200 more jobs at Manchester United is necessary to help the club avoid going bust, the Guardian understands.
The minority owner is said to feel he has little choice other than to take tough measures after United lost £300m over the past three years, but he is confident that acting now can lead to the club being profitable and highly competitive in two years’ time.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 17:12
‘Give me a Beatles scream’: inside Paul McCartney’s surprise New York show
A last-minute gig at the Bowery Ballroom saw the star play to a smaller crowd than usual, with stories interspersed among classic Beatles and Wings hits
Yesterday, an announcement went out at noon: Paul McCartney would be playing a surprise pop-up show in New York City, tonight. Bear in mind, the last he played in the area, in June 2022, was at the nearby MetLife Stadium with its 82,000 capacity. But for this special engagement, just 575 people would come together to watch the music icon at the comparatively minuscule Bowery Ballroom.
Naturally, tickets disappeared immediately, with stories of hopeful attenders physically running (yes, running!) down to the venue for box office-only sales. And lest you think Macca would use the opportunity to line his coffers, think again: tickets were sold for just $50 a pop, the price of a beer and a snack at most concerts.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 17:08
‘The far right wants us to play by their rules’: Can German Greens survive ‘witch-hunt’?
As AfD says Germany is in grip of ‘eco-dictatorship’, Green party tones down mention of climate action
The crowd had crammed into a concert hall in central Berlin to hear crunch-time election pitches from Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock, the high-profile Green ministers in charge of Germany’s economy and diplomacy. But to the surprise of some supporters, it took half an hour for anyone in the environment-rooted party to mention the climate.
Germany’s Greens are fighting to hold on to power after four years in a coalition government where they have been pilloried by other parties, and during which their core issue of climate action has slipped down the political agenda. Though the party is still far from being considered a Volkspartei – a main party whose voters span demographic groups and issues – the Greens have sought to boost their mainstream appeal with talk of beefing up security and bringing down rents and bills.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 17:03
Weight-loss jabs may help reduce alcohol intake, study finds
Semaglutide, active ingredient of Wegovy and Ozempic, found to reduce cravings and cut drinking by 40%
Weight-loss drugs could be used to help people reduce their intake of alcohol, researchers have said, after a study found they can cut cravings and curb heavy drinking.
The medicines, originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes, have revolutionised the treatment of obesity, and evidence suggests they could have benefits in other areas of health, such as reducing risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 17:00
A frosty flower and dead marshes – readers’ best photos
Click here to submit a picture for publication in these online galleries and/or on the Guardian letters page
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 17:00
Jos Buttler defends England over ‘lazy’ rumours after India seal 3-0 clean sweep
- India 356 beat England 214 by 142 runs in third and ODI
- Captain Buttler: ‘The guys are desperate to perform’
The numbers are ugly as the Champions Trophy approaches. England’s defeat in this final clash with India was their 16th in 23 one‑day internationals since the start of the 2023 World Cup. The one-time world‑beaters have long lost their winning habit, their latest offering a 142-run defeat in Ahmedabad, Rohit Sharma’s team easing to a 3-0 series victory. If that’s not brutal enough, in the aftermath Jos Buttler was having to discuss how much his side trained on the tour.
A chase of 357 could not be ruled out when England were 126 for two inside 18 overs, Joe Root building, Tom Banton beginning to bash. But an India attack built on variety instigated the collapse, the wickets shared around, Banton and Gus Atkinson joint top‑scorers with 38.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 16:29
The whole Icelandic nation in one face: Ragnar Axelsson’s best photograph
‘Guðjón was kind of angry that day. He was looking for a mink that had been killing his eider ducks. This image opened doors for him, leading to advert and movie work’
I first met Guðjón Þorsteinsson through my work as a photographer for the Icelandic daily newspaper Morgunblaðið. He and his older brother, Óskar, ran a farm above the peninsula of Dyrhólaey, a couple of hours’ drive from Reykjavík. A raging storm had broken lots of power lines so the farm had no electricity. I’d heard the brothers were having to milk their cows by hand and thought I might be able to get a good picture for the paper.
When Guðjón opened the door, he just said: “What do you want?” He wasn’t very friendly, though I sensed this was an act. He invited me in for coffee and I ended up getting the shots I wanted, but after they ran in the paper, someone complained that the cows looked dirty and they were taken away. Feeling it was my fault, I went back to the farm to apologise. Guðjón said: “I’m glad – I didn’t want to milk them anyway.”
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 16:28
Talks to form far-right-led coalition government in Austria collapse
Disagreements over key posts and issues like migration mean snap election is likely, with far-right Freedom party ahead in polls
Austria’s Freedom party (FPÖ) has ended coalition talks with the conservatives on forming the country’s first far-right-led government after disagreements over key posts and issues such as migration.
The FPÖ – which topped national polls for the first time in September – has been negotiating with the long-ruling conservative People’s party (ÖVP) since early January.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 16:20
Thom Browne takes flight in New York with feathers, herons and magpies
Fashion grandee takes his love of a suit step further with oversized embroidered jackets in British-made tweeds
Thom Browne has said that if one of his catwalk shows receives only positive reviews, he worries he has played it too safe. He much prefers to ruffle a few feathers.
Literally so, this season. Birds, which along with shrunken grey suits are a Thom Browne signature, were everywhere. The models’ eyelashes, made from bright feathers, had a wingspan that dusted the collar. Above the catwalk, 2,000 origami birds were suspended in flight.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 16:04
Top of the flops: just what does the games industry deem ‘success’ any more?
Dragon Age: The Veilguard has reached 1.5 million gamers around the world – yet its developers have labelled it a disappointment. With unfair expectations, it’s the niche and left-field titles that will suffer
Back in 2013, having bought the series from Eidos, Square Enix released a reboot of the hit 1990s action game Tomb Raider starring a significantly less objectified Lara Croft. I loved that game, despite a quasi-assault scene near the beginning that I would later come to view as a bit icky, and I wasn’t the only one – it was extremely well received, selling 3.4m copies in its first month alone. Then Square Enix came out and called it a disappointment.
Sales did not meet the publisher’s expectations, apparently, which raises the question: what were the expectations? Was it supposed to sell 5m in one month? If a book sells 10,000 copies in a week it’s considered a bestseller. Even at the height of its popularity in the 90s, no Tomb Raider game ever sold more than a few million. Square Enix’s expectations were clearly unrealistic. It wouldn’t be the last time; in a 2016 interview with Hajime Tabata, Final Fantasy XV’s director, he told me that game needed to sell 10m to succeed.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 16:00
Video evidence of January 6 Capitol attack missing from US government website
Press organization submitted legal filing about missing video related to case against Glen Simon
Attorneys representing a collection of news organizations said in a legal filing submitted on Tuesday that video evidence used during the sentencing of a rioter involved in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol had vanished from an online government platform.
Nine videos related to the case against Glen Simon, who pleaded guilty to a count of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, have disappeared and are no longer available in the database, according to the filing.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 15:48
Tracey lost ‘priceless’ goods in a Melbourne storage unit break-in. Then the legal battle began
Advocates argue the case raises questions about the liability of storage facilities even when contracts say the customer bears the sole risk
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Tracey Kruger’s storage unit was meant to be temporary. The 63-year-old had been forced to leave her home and, with no fixed address, she placed nearly everything she owned in a storage shed in Melbourne’s north.
She was left heartbroken – and out of pocket – when her unit was one of more than 10 at the StoreLocal in Campbellfield that police allege were broken into and robbed in June last year.
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Continue reading... 12th February 2025 15:00
Fashion’s ongoing obsession with football jerseys: ‘I would absolutely die for that shirt’
Influenced by 90s nostalgia and celebrity trends, vintage sports shirts have hit the mainstream, and demand for rare kits has ‘skyrocketed’ in Australia
Instagrammer Mariame Choucair has built a steady following from her love of football and obsession with football jerseys. The Sydney pharmacist is a lifelong fan of the game, but it’s her ’fit checks – photos of her, red lipped with a chic brunette bob, sporting a retro football kit – that have positioned her as a style influencer.
“I love wearing my football shirts – and not just to matches,” she says. “I love incorporating them into everyday looks. I like to dress it up in a feminine way; I’ll wear [a jersey] with an A-line skirt, short or long.”
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 15:00
Becoming a migrant was the best thing I’ve ever done – I was lucky that it was by choice | Bertin Huynh
Whenever life was grey in the Birmingham winter, I remembered my parents did a lot more with a lot less when they migrated to Australia more than 40 years ago
Like my parents before me, I arrived in another country with only as much as I could carry. It was colder than I was used to, and a thick coat was one of the first items I bought. I knew no one, everyone I loved was thousands of kilometres away, somewhere sunnier and warmer.
Without the promise of work, home or livelihood, I had packed up my life in coastal Sydney and moved to Birmingham – dubbed the “Venice of the north” for the canals snaking through the city and its suburbs.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 15:00
Noaa imposes limits on scientists, sparking concerns over global forecasts
‘Crackdown on climate’ predicted as oversight enacted over agency staffers’ email and meetings with foreign nationals
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) has placed onerous new restrictions on its scientists that people within the agency say could hamper the quality and availability of the world’s weather forecasts, among other key services.
The new requirements have created a sense of unease within the agency, according to current and former high-level Noaascientists and officials the Guardian spoke with, and alarmed partners at European agencies.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 14:00
Real Madrid do it yet again to stun Manchester City: Football Weekly - podcast
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini and Philippe Auclair as the Champions League playoff round begins, featuring a five-goal thriller in Manchester
Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.
On the podcast today: another one of those games between Manchester City and Real Madrid. An injury crisis in defence for the holders doesn’t deter them from taking a one-goal lead into next week’s second leg at the Bernabéu.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 13:58
Nominate your invertebrate species of the year
We’re asking readers from around the world to nominate their favourite spineless species for our second Invertebrate of the Year competition
They are the unsung heroes of the planet – the silent majority, the innovators, the grafters, our overlooked friends and protectors.
Invertebrates make up the vast majority of animals on Earth – at last 1.3 million species. They are a wondrously diverse bunch, including insects, arachnids, snails, crustaceans, corals, jellyfish, sponges and echinoderms.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 13:40
‘On the brink of a dictatorship’: Democratic state attorneys general condemn Trump’s actions
President’s power grabs, disregard of rule of law and alliance with Elon Musk elicit condemnation during LA conference
Several Democratic state attorneys general warned that the country was in the grip of a full-blown constitutional crisis, as they battle Donald Trump in court over actions they argue are lawless and in some cases brazenly unconstitutional.
“We are on the brink of a dictatorship, and America has never been in a more dangerous position than she is today,” Kris Mayes, the attorney general of Arizona, said at a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 13:32
Firecrackers, robot dogs and Shakira: photos of the day – Wednesday
The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 13:26
How Harrison Ford brought a strike over video game AI to the world’s attention
Voice actors demanding compensation when AI generates performances from their work have taken industrial action since July
When Harrison Ford spoke to the Wall Street Journal last week, praising the performance of voice actor Troy Baker in the recent video game Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, he was doing much more than recognising a great impression of himself. “You don’t need artificial intelligence to steal my soul,” he told the paper. “You can already do it for nickels and dimes with good ideas and talent. [Baker] did a brilliant job, and it didn’t take AI to do it.”
Video game performers in the SAG-AFTRA union have been on strike since July, the major issue being the use of generative AI in the games industry. The union wants members to be compensated when AI performances are generated from their work, and demands consent and transparency around Gen AI technology. Major video game publishers such as Activision Blizzard, Disney, Warner Bros and Electronic Arts are involved in the dispute, and several recent titles including Destiny 2: Heresy and Genshin Impact have been affected, with English-language voice performances missing. AI voice synthesis is being touted as a means of cutting costs in an industry where game budgets are spiralling, but such technologies imperil actors’ livelihoods while relying on their work to seed virtual performances. Plus, the budgetary benefits of the tech are still in question.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 13:03
‘There was a nastiness’: has Peter Kay thrown out his cuddly image along with his ‘garlic bread’ hecklers?
The chummy everyman seemed to let his facade slip as he brutally ejected two hecklers from a recent gig – a misstep that showed he’s out of touch with the current cut-and-thrust of standup
Peter Kay isn’t the first comedian to deal harshly with hecklers – but will this incident be one of the most damaging? His eviction on Saturday night of two overenthusiastic audience members has raised more stink than most such encounters. Why? I think it’s because of the brutality of this kicking-out – and how jarring that is in relation to Kay’s lovable image, and to the nature of his comedy too.
The prime offender at Kay’s gig on Saturday night was a man shouting out the comic’s most famous catchphrase, “garlic bread”. This is not an unusual thing to do at a celebrity comedy show, where joining in on the catchphrase is often encouraged as all part of the communal fun. I’ve seen the show in question, which Kay premiered – after a long absence from the stage – more than two years ago. It is, in a sense, more catchphrase than comedy, fashioning TV themes, advertising jingles and the most popular routines from Kay’s career into one intense hit of relatability and fellow-feeling. If you don’t find yourself joining in, Pavlov’s doggy style, you’re not watching it properly.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 13:02
Trump’s obsession with immigration is really an obsession with segregation | Heba Gowayed
His policies are the latest instantiation of a centuries-long American tradition: laws meant to exclude people of color and privilege whiteness
A barrage of executive orders, many concerning immigration, marked Trump’s first weeks in office. Maligning people immigrating as a “large scale invasion” of “potential terrorists”, “violent” and “hostile actors with malicious intent”, the EOs call for the slashing of physical and legal pathways to admission, lay the groundwork for mass deportation and attack immigrant rights by attempting to (unconstitutionally) revoke birthright citizenship.
People like Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, are using social media strategically to stoke fear, broadcasting images of Ice raids and deportations to the notorious Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. The administration has also sent an additional 1,500 active duty troops to “secure” the southern border.
Heba Gowayed is an associate professor of sociology at CUNY Hunter College and Graduate Center and author of the book Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 13:00
How to make the perfect cannelés – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …
A relatively new addition to French patisserie, these soft-centred batter pastries can be the devil to perfect – luckily, we have our own perfectionist …
With great age comes the confidence to keep things simple, and to see the merits of, say, a margherita pizza over a five cheese and ’nduja, the quiet pleasure of dal and rice, or the discreet charms of an old-school jam doughnut or a digestive biscuit. The canelé de Bordeaux is a prime example of such understated genius. An inexperienced eye might well miss these squat little Doric columns amid the glitz and glaze of a French patisserie, but as my friend Nicola Lamb puts it, discovering them “is like being in a secret club, a club that all shares a valuable piece of knowledge: the canelé is the pastry GOAT”. That unassuming mahogany shell should shatter into caramelised shards to reveal a rich, almost custardy vanilla- and rum-scented interior.
Not that many people who’ve tried making cannelés at home would call them simple; rarely have I sifted through so much agonised discussion and mournful photos of failed attempts that have mushroomed out of their moulds or failed to brown on top. Many thousands of words have been devoted to the correct way to season bespoke hand-tooled copper cannelé moulds with beeswax, the precise temperature of the milk, the optimum time to age the mixture, all creating almost as much mystique around what is basically a batter pudding as there is around its origins. For all the talk of 17th-century nuns with a glut of egg yolks from the local winemaking industry, the first mention of cannelés dates from 1937. In fact, they did not become widely available even in Bordeaux, where they are now omnipresent, until the establishment in 1985 of the Confrérie de Canelé, the organisation that dictated that authentic Bordeaux cannelés should be distinguished by being spelled with just the one n. Henceforth, therefore, I will revert to the original spelling of cannelé out of respect for the Brotherhood, and because such a simple recipe cannot possibly be in the least authentic, however delicious the results.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 13:00
Eating from plastic takeout containers can increase heart failure risk – study
Study, adding to rising evidence of plastic-linked health risks, points to gut biome changes as a cause of heart failure
Eating from plastic takeout containers may significantly increase the chance of congestive heart failure, a new study finds, and researchers suspect they have identified why: changes to gut biome cause inflammation that damages the circulatory system.
The novel two part, peer-reviewed study from Chinese researchers adds to mounting evidence of the risks associated with eating from plastic, and builds on previous evidence linking plastic chemicals to heart disease.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 13:00
Record-breaking growth in renewable energy in US threatened by Trump
Surge in solar, wind and battery capacity comes as president pledges to halt federal support for clean power
The US had record-breaking growth in renewable-energy capacity last year, new research shows, but the future of the sector is uncertain amid threats from Donald Trump’s administration.
The country brought online 48.2 gigawatts of capacity from utility-scale solar, wind and battery storage in 2024, according to a report from the research organization Cleanview; the report is based on an analysis of federal data. That surge in capacity – enough to power some 3.6m homes – was 47% larger than the increase the US saw in the previous year.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 13:00
Kanye West sued, dropped by talent agency and retail platform over antisemitic slurs
Rapper’s fashion brand Yeezy taken offline by Shopify after he sold T-shirt with swastika design and praised Hitler
• Warning: this article contains offensive language and views
Kanye West has been sued and dropped by his talent agency after he posted a stream of antisemitic abuse, put T-shirts with a swastika on sale in his online shop, and was alleged to have described himself as Hitler to a Jewish employee.
Last week West, also known as Ye, wrote a barrage of antisemitic posts on X including, “I’m a Nazi … I love Hitler”.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 12:54
Trump’s shocking plan for Gaza is an all-too-common approach. This is what must happen instead | Lucy Easthope
Far too often, developers treat rebuilding like colonising a planet. Instead, Palestinians must be at the heart of everything, and the sooner the better
- Lucy Easthope is an adviser on disaster response and recovery and author of The Recovery Myth
As world leaders throw around threats about ending the ceasefire in Gaza this week, Palestinians will be surveying the rubble of their homes and praying that it holds. Donald Trump’s suggestion that “we just clean out” the people from Gaza and send them to live in Jordan and Egypt has been widely condemned around the world. But my experience suggests that he won’t have been the only leader thinking it.
Behind his words lie a number of assumptions, the biggest of which is that nobody would want to stay here. Aid agency workers have described a hellscape. In a briefing on 30 January, Maha Khatib, the health coordinator of the International Rescue Committee, described the health system as “completely destroyed, collapsed”. What Palestinians need immediately are medical supplies, water and food, she said. But what they also need is “long-term action” for life to be possible in Gaza.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 12:00
Uline turned to Mexico to staff warehouses, but paid them a fraction of US workers, sources say
At company owned by a Trump mega-donor, workers brought from Mexico earned per day about the same as their US counterparts were paid by the hour
Uline, a Wisconsin-based office supply company owned by one of Donald Trump’s biggest financial backers, paid workers it brought from Mexico to work at its US warehouses just a fraction of what their US counterparts were paid, according to four sources who spoke to the Guardian.
The workers from Mexico earned per day about the same as their US counterparts were paid by the hour, according to the American and Mexican sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of nervousness about speaking out publicly against the company. One pay stub, which was seen by the Guardian, showed that a Mexican worker was paid about $38 per day, plus a weekly bonus of about $225 before taxes. Separately, they were also paid daily food expenses.
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Continue reading... 12th February 2025 12:00
As any woman in the back of a locked taxi knows, Sam Kerr should never have been brought to court | Suzanne Wrack
The Matildas and Chelsea forward won’t be proud of the footage of her in a police station. But her acquittal underlines that the charges and court battle that followed were a waste of time and money
Any woman who has been sitting in a cab and reached for the handle to find the door locked and felt their muscles instinctively tense for a split second until they hear the familiar clink of the car unlocking, even though they have been safely delivered to their requested destination, will have had an opinion on Sam Kerr’s court case.
Drunk or sober, when a woman gets in a taxi at night, they are keeping a close eye on the route being taken, sharing their live location, messaging friends and/or partners and sharing trip details, watching the driver. In an Uber watching the driver go off the recommended route on your phone? Watching out the window as a driver turns off the route you know makes the most sense? Logical answers flash through your mind – there must be traffic, perhaps there are road closures, maybe there’s been an accident – but they do not quell a rising fear that puts you on high alert.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 11:00
Evangelical education nearly ruined me. Now the Christian right is coming for public schools
From Bible stories to the Ten Commandments, public schools are starting to look a lot like the fundamentalist system I escaped
When I got the chance to attend a conservative, evangelical high school in rural Iowa, I was ecstatic. My early education had been in a similar school – where creationism was the one true science, and evolution was satanic propaganda – and I’d spent the interim as a frightened pilgrim in the unholy land of public school. I was a teenage zealot and longed to be among my people.
Throughout those years, my church leaders urged me to proselytize to the public school students, to debate teachers about the age of Earth or the founding of our Christian nation, to be a spiritual exhibitionist, praying loudly at my locker or the flagpole. The apocalypse was at hand, so who had time for algebra?
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 11:00
My no-plastic life: I tried to cut out single-use items for a month – and it almost broke me
Sourcing fruit and veg without wrapping was hard enough, but finding an eco-friendly way to brush my teeth was its own world of pain. And as for my 6pm crisps fix – forget it
The scale of plastic pollution is so terrifying, I mostly try to avoid thinking about it, but some facts stop me in my tracks. According to the UN Foundation, there is already enough plastic in the oceans to fill 5m shipping containers – and if production continues at its current rate, by the middle of this century there will be more plastic in the sea than fish. It is also indestructible – all the plastic ever made is still here, decomposing into microplastics that contaminate every corner of the planet – including our bodies. And it’s not just a case of somehow finding a way to “clean it up”. “Plastic pollution is now altering some major processes at the scale of the entire Earth system,” the Stockholm Resilience Centre reported, chillingly, in November.
In the UK alone, our plastic waste problem is mindblowing: in its 2024 Big Plastic Count, Everyday Plastic got almost 225,000 people to count their plastic waste for a week; the final tally was over 4.6m pieces.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 11:00
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy review – giant laughs for Hugh Grant but weepie sequel is strangely dazed
Renée Zellweger looks as if she’s thinking of something else in weird fourquel that sees our heroine choosing between new suitors Leo Woodall and Chiwetel Ejiofor
The last Bridget Jones film – the second sequel, about Bridget having a baby – executed the daring athletic leap of jumping the shark and then jumping back. There were some tired novelties but, by virtue of its conscientiously maintained stream of likable gags, it leapt back into our hearts and BJ3 seemed a decent way to sign off the franchise and remember Helen Fielding’s inspired creation. But though I was willing myself to enjoy this fourth film, about the heroine’s adventure with a younger man, the Bridget Jones series has frankly run out of steam.
This is a fourquel in the same unhappy tradition as Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. The jokes have been dialled down to accommodate a contrived and unconvincingly mature “weepie” component but the film becomes sad in the wrong way. The actors are mostly going through the motions, there is so little chemistry between each of the two lead pairings they resemble a panda being forced to mate with a flamingo, and Renée Zellweger’s performance is starting to look eccentric.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 10:00
How Ime Udoka resurrected the Houston Rockets from NBA poverty to contender
After a headline-making fall in Boston, Ime Udoka has staged a comeback with the Houston Rockets that has him leading the pack for the NBA’s coach of the year
From the myth of Icarus to countless modern narratives, we see a recurring pattern: how humanity is brought back down to earth, often by our own hubris. Down in the chopped-and-screwed streets of Houston, Ime Udoka is rewriting his own myth, defying the Icarus curse. After a headline-making fall in Boston, he’s back recharged and ruthless, orchestrating a comeback with the Houston Rockets that has him leading the pack for the NBA’s coach of the year.
In his first year in charge of the Boston Celtics, Udoka led the team to the 2022 NBA finals – an extraordinary achievement for a rookie head coach. But after that finals appearance, he was suspended and eventually let go after accusations of an improper relationship with a female Celtics staff member. However, unlike Icarus, he has risen anew. In his second season with the Houston Rockets, he is rebuilding his career after what many see as significant moral failure. After three losing seasons, the Rockets are fourth in the Western Conference and looked to be headed for the postseason.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 10:00
2025 Westminster Kennel Club dog show – in pictures
More than 2,500 dogs in 201 breeds and varieties entered the 149th Westminster Kennel Club dog show, America’s oldest continuously held sporting event after the Kentucky Derby. Here is a look at some of this year’s dogs
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 08:22
Seven ways to save cash by making the most of the food you have at home
Save money and cut waste with our tips, from pickling and fermenting to keeping an inventory and careful storage
First, you must know what you have on hand. Do a thorough inventory of your pantry and make a list of items, noting their expiry dates. Operate a “fifo” rotation system: first in, first out. Arrange items so those with the shortest shelf life are at the front.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 08:00
Condoms, cows and contortions: Peter Hujar’s astonishing vision – in pictures
The photographer was a key figure on New York’s downtown scene – but, as a new exhibition shows, his later works dealt with the great losses of the Aids crisis
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 08:00
A moment that changed me: I arrived in London as a child refugee — and discovered a strange new world
The city sometimes felt achingly lonely. But after seeing my first escalator, trying salt and vinegar crisps and watching an East 17 video on repeat, I began to find my way
A few days after Christmas 1994, aged 10, I arrived in London as a refugee from Somalia. At Heathrow airport, I stood staring in awe at the escalators. I had heard about these “walking machines” from an elderly Somali woman in Addis Ababa who sat on a corner selling sweets, biscuits and cold Fanta in glass bottles. She had painted a picture of London, a city she had never been to, as a place of wonders.
“You won’t need to use your legs to walk there – they have machines that move for you,” she said. My eyes bulged with excitement. I had never seen such machines on the streets of Addis Ababa. In my area, Bole Mikael, there were no pavements, just puddles of dirty water.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 07:55
From the archive: The knackerman: the toughest job in British farming – podcast
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.
This week, from 2021: Between accidents, disease and bad weather, farm animals are prey to so many disasters that dedicated professionals are called out to dispose of the casualties. It’s a grim task, and one that’s only getting more difficult. By Bella Bathurst. Read by Andrew McGregor
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 06:00
Fair and Square? Chinese retail chain’s expansion rankles Kenyan rivals
Local business owners in Nairobi said the rapid expansion of China Square had created an uneven playing field
On a cool Friday morning in an expansive mall in Nairobi, dozens of people thronged outside a retail store covered in colourful banners, balloons and flowers.
When the shutter doors finally rolled up a few hours later, fireworks were let off and music blared through speakers, the crowd now swollen to more than 100.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 06:00
Why giving up the Chagos Islands could cost Britain £9bn – podcast
Eleni Courea discusses the UK’s historic deal to sign sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, and why some inside the Labour party are now regretting it. Campaigner Olivier Bancoult outlines why he hopes the deal will go ahead
In October last year, the UK and Mauritian governments reached a historic agreement to transfer the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, a series of atolls in the Indian Ocean that have been described as Britain’s last African colony.
It seemed, as political correspondent Eleni Courea describes, a diplomatic triumph for the new Labour government, ending decades of legal dispute over the ownership of the islands. And more than that, it offered Chagossians, after more than 50 years of exile, the prospect of returning home. In the late 1960s, when Britain granted independence to the rest of Mauritius, not only did it insist on carving out the Chagos Islands to keep for itself, but it forcibly displaced more than 1,000 people who lived there.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 04:00
‘An act of betrayal’: Japan to maximise nuclear power 14 years after Fukushima disaster
Tokyo wants to drop attempts to lessen its reliance on nuclear power, according to a draft energy plan
More than a decade after the triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, Japan is again turning to nuclear power as it struggles to reach its emissions targets and bolster its energy security.
In a draft strategic energy plan due to be approved by the cabinet this month, the trade and industry ministry signalled it was ditching attempts to lessen Japan’s reliance on nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster – the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chornobyl 25 years earlier.
Continue reading... 12th February 2025 01:01
Bunny Shaw abuse fallout, League Cup and FA Cup drama – Women’s Football Weekly
Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Sophie Downey, and Sanny Rudravajhala to discuss Bunny Shaw, Chelsea and City’s League Cup final showdown, and a dramatic FA Cup weekend
On the podcast today: Manchester City’s Bunny Shaw is subjected to vile racist and misogynistic abuse, leading to her absence from the League Cup semi-final. The panel discusses how football can better protect its players and the broader impact of such incidents.
Elsewhere, Chelsea and Manchester City set up a League Cup final showdown and Crystal Palace made history by reaching the FA Cup quarter-finals. Plus, we break down the Women’s Champions League draw as Chelsea and City prepare for four meetings in 12 days.
Continue reading... 11th February 2025 21:28
'No one will question it': Trump says US will 'take' Gaza not buy it – video
Donald Trump told reporters that the US would not need to 'buy Gaza', saying: 'We’re going to take it, we’re going to hold it, we’re going to cherish it.' When pushed by a reporter under whose authority would the US take Gaza, Trump replied: 'Under US authority.' The US president said that 'there's not going to be any problem and nobody's going to question it'
Continue reading... 11th February 2025 20:42
How Musk and Trump are flooding the zone
Musk raids a dizzying swath of agencies with the goal of ‘slashing waste and fraud’ as the two deploy brinkmanship
Hello, and welcome back to TechScape. This week in tech: Elon Musk and Donald Trump flood the zone and deploy brinkmanship as a negotiating tactic; US Immigration and Customs Enforcement learns search engine optimization amid arrests and deportations; and Spotify tries to soften its algorithmic image with human-centric public relations. Thank you for reading.
Continue reading... 11th February 2025 18:35
How Anora became this year’s surprise Oscar frontrunner
It had seemed like the year of Emilia Pérez or The Brutalist but Sean Baker’s comedy won three major awards over the weekend, turning the best picture race on its head
It had already felt like a weirder Oscars race than usual.
The question of what will win best picture had been asked and then answered by most with a shrug, the frontrunner changing by the day. At various points in the last few months, experienced prognosticators have offered up Conclave, Wicked, A Complete Unknown, September 5, The Brutalist or Emilia Pérez as their pick, the race shifting with the smallest shred of new intel.
Continue reading... 11th February 2025 17:32
Tell us: what have you never understood about PFAS?
We’re inviting you to share your questions, insights, or what you’ve always wondered about PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances)
PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) have become such a pervasive part of modern life, from food packaging to clothing, cosmetics to cookware, these chemicals are all around us. But what do we really know about their long-term impact on our health and the environment?
We hope to shed some light on PFAS, known as “forever chemicals”, with our new video podcast on The Guardian’s new YouTube channel, It’s Complicated. We want to explore the uncertainties, misconceptions, and surprising truths about these pollutants, asking how these chemicals become so widespread? What are they doing to our health? Is there anything we can do to get rid of them? These are a few questions we have but we would like to hear from you.
We’re inviting you to share your questions, insights, or what you’ve always wondered about PFAS.
Your responses will help guide our research and may be answered by guest experts in our video podcast. Join the conversation by filling out the form below — your thoughts are invaluable as we navigate this complex topic together.

Great bunch of fellers: the heroic wartime lumberjills – in pictures
A new photo book captures young women working in Britain’s forests during the second world war – chopping down gender barriers as they went
Continue reading... 11th February 2025 08:00
Don’t look up: is an asteroid heading for Earth? – podcast
In a case of life imitating art, a 100-metre-wide asteroid has triggered global planetary defence procedures for the first time, after telescope observations revealed it had a chance of colliding with Earth in 2032. To find out what happens now and how worried we should be, Ian Sample hears from Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary sciences at MIT and inventor of the Torino scale, which is used to categorise the threat posed by objects such as asteroids and comets
Clips: BBC News, NBC News
Asteroid’s chances of hitting Earth in 2032 just got higher – but don’t panic
Continue reading... 11th February 2025 06:00
Trump warns 'all hell is going to break out' if Gaza hostage deadline not met by Hamas – video
US President Donald Trump said that if all the hostages held in Gaza are not returned by noon on Saturday he would propose cancelling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and that 'all hell is going to break out'
Continue reading... 11th February 2025 01:58
People in the US: Share your thoughts on Trump’s second term in office so far
We would like to hear your views on President Donald Trumps’s second term
From the get go Trump’s second term has been dominated by a rapid succession of executive orders and policy moves that have made clear the direction of the president’s administration.
From suspending the refugee resettlement programme putting an end to birthright citizenship and declaring a national emergency on the southern border; imposing and threatening international trade tariffs; ending diversity programmes in federal government; establishing the Department of Government Efficiency to exiting the Paris Climate agreement and cuts to USAID.
Continue reading... 10th February 2025 18:10
Indian police pull plug on Ed Sheeran's street concert – video
A street performance by Ed Sheeran in India's tech capital, Bengaluru, was stopped abruptly by police on Sunday, outraging fans. Footage shows Sheeran singing and playing his guitar on a pavement in the centre of Bengaluru before his concert on Sunday night. A police officer is seen walking up to Sheeran as he was performing Shape of You and unplugging the microphone, as onlookers jeered. Sheeran left soon after.
Police said event organisers had been refused permission for the street performance. Sheeran, who began his career as a busker in the UK, insisted later on his Instagram that he did have permission to perform
Continue reading... 10th February 2025 15:47
Commonwealth championship sheepdog trials - in pictures
More than 300 pairs of dogs and handlers entered the Commonwealth championship sheepdog trials in Port Fairy, Victoria, vying for the title of Australian dog of the year
Continue reading... 10th February 2025 04:21
UN chief warns against ‘ethnic cleansing’ after Trump’s Gaza proposal – video
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages. Guterres warned against 'any form of ethnic cleansing' in Gaza as he addressed the UN committee on the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, a day after Donald Trump announced plans for the US to take control of the strip and for Palestinians to be 'resettled' in neighbouring countries. 'In the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse,' the UN chief said. He said that any durable peace will require 'tangible, irreversible and permanent' progress toward the two-state solution as well as the establishment of an 'independent Palestinian state with Gaza as an integral part'
Continue reading... 5th February 2025 23:15
Explosions in West Bank as Israel blows up buildings in Jenin refugee camp – video
Large explosions could be seen in the northern occupied West Bank as Israel destroyed buildings in the Jenin refugee camp. The IDF, which had reportedly placed explosives in the structures, said it was destroying 'terrorist infrastructure'. This is the latest escalation in an IDF assault on the Jenin camp that was launched on 21 January. The UN has expressed concern that the ceasefire in Gaza could be endangered by Israel’s tactics in the West Bank, which have involved what the UN human rights spokesperson labelled 'unnecessary or disproportionate use of force'
Continue reading... 2nd February 2025 20:52
Sick and wounded Palestinian children wait for evacuation as Rafah crossing reopens – video
Palestine Red Crescent Society crews prepare sick and wounded children to be evacuated from Gaza into Egypt as Israel reopens the critical Rafah crossing after nine months. The reopening is part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, and allows for medical evacuations for patients with urgent care needs. The crossing is a vital conduit into Gaza, and its closure caused outcry, trapping people with medical needs inside the territory.
Continue reading... 1st February 2025 20:00
Footage shows plane with 64 onboard colliding with helicopter near Washington DC - video
An American Airlines passenger jet collided with a military helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan national airport near Washington DC. Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center shows two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to conjoin in a fireball. The American Airlines Flight 5342 departed from Wichita, Kansas, according to the FAA. According to American Airlines’ website, the jet has a capacity for up to 65 passengers
Continue reading... 30th January 2025 06:05
US homeowners: tell us how you are coping with the rising costs of owning your home
We’re interested to hear how US households are managing the surging costs of homeownership – mortgage interest, home insurance and repairs
We’d like to hear from homeowners in the US who are struggling with the surging cost of homeownership amid climbing property prices, rising costs for home insurance and home repairs, and higher mortgage interest rates.
Have you struggled keeping up with home insurance payments, or put off home repairs due to the cost? Or have you turned to more debt to keep up with the costs of owning your home, for instance credit cards or smaller loans? Have you recently begun letting parts of your home to afford to continue living in it, or made other significant sacrifices?
Continue reading... 29th January 2025 15:37
Joy in Thailand as same-sex couples can finally marry – video
Thailand’s LGBTQ+ community has fought for decades for the right to equal marriage, and on Thursday 878 district offices across the country opened their doors to same-sex couples who wished to register and get married. It has made Thailand the first country in south-east Asia to recognise equal marriage, and only the third in Asia, behind Taiwan and Nepal
Continue reading... 23rd January 2025 13:50
‘They fear for their lives’: Bishop confronts Trump on immigration and gay rights – video
President Donald Trump began his first full day in office attending a prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral. The Episcopal bishop of Washington, Mariann Edgar Budde, pleaded with Trump during the service, asking the newly elected president to protect immigrants and respect gay rights. ‘There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives,’ she said as Trump and his family watched on. After the inauguration, Trump launched a sweeping immigration crackdown and promised mass deportations
Continue reading... 21st January 2025 23:42
The 'new China' in Thailand: ‘if you want hope, you have to leave’ – video
After 30 years of relentless growth and capitalism, a new trend has emerged in China. The search for a simpler, calmer life is leading some Chinese people to seek a life abroad. The trend is so popular that it’s gained its own internet buzzword: the 'run philosophy'.
Chiang mai, in northern Thailand is the country’s second biggest city. It’s a tourist hotspot popular with backpackers but has recently become an unlikely second home for thousands of Chinese people seeking alternative lifestyles.
Continue reading... 7th January 2025 11:47
Inside Syria’s ‘horror city': Sednaya and a country reborn – video
A new Syria is emerging from the shadow of the brutal Assad regime. The Guardian’s Bethan McKernan and Ayman Abu Ramouz meet people celebrating their hard-won freedom, but also those grappling with a traumatic past. The pair travel to the notorious Sednaya prison, where they meet a former prisoner who was liberated by his family just days before
Resistance was not a choice’: how Syria’s unlikely rebel alliance took Aleppo
'The Syrian regime hit us with chemical weapons: only now can we speak out' – video
Syria’s disappeared: one woman’s search for her missing father

Revealed: Israel used US weapons in strike that killed journalists in Lebanon – video explainer
A Guardian investigation has found that Israel used a US munition to target and kill three journalists and wound three more in an attack in south Lebanon on 25 October that legal experts have called a potential war crime. The Guardian's reporter William Christou explains what he uncovered when he visited the site of the strike
Continue reading... 18th December 2024 18:19