Why TikTok’s first week of American ownership was a disaster

App endured a major outage and user backlash over perceived censorship. Now it’s facing an inquiry by the California governor and an ascendant competitor

A little more than one week ago, TikTok stepped on to US shores as a naturalized citizen. Ever since, the video app has been fighting for its life.

TikTok’s calamitous emigration began on 22 January when its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, finalized a deal to sell the app to a group of US investors, among them the business software giant Oracle. The app’s time under Chinese ownership had been marked by a meteoric ascent to more than a billion users, which left incumbents such as Instagram looking like the next Myspace. But TikTok’s short new life in the US has been less than auspicious.

Published: February 1, 2026, 11:00 am

‘It’s not just about surviving’: the Ukrainian frontline city where life goes on under cover

Whether in streets draped in anti-drone nets or deep in urban basements, Kherson residents go about their everyday activities with the constant threat of Russian bombing

Galyna Lutsenko, a crisis psychologist, is moving busily among a small group of children seated around a table in a basement in Kherson, unique in being Ukraine’s only leading city almost directly on the frontline with Russian forces – and one where people live with the daily threat of attack.

She dangles a plasticine butterfly on a thread over a playhouse on the table. Her own house in the city, she says, was hit by Russian shelling in 2024, injuring her in the leg and stomach.

Published: February 1, 2026, 6:00 am

PMDD is ruining my life. What can I do?

You’re already doing all the right things for your premenstrual dysphoric disorder, but perhaps it’s time to ask others for more help

I’m 32, and was recently diagnosed with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), though I suspect I have had it for around five years. It severely affects every area of my life.

For 10 days every month I become irritable and impatient, and have debilitating brain fog. At my worst, I am depressed, with uncontrollable crying and suicidal ideation. I go to weekly therapy sessions, take a variety of supplements, and live a healthy lifestyle – exercise, minimal alcohol, eating well, etc, but all these habits become almost impossible during my luteal phase after ovulation and I feel as though I am completely stuck.

Published: February 1, 2026, 6:00 am

Inside Myanmar’s five-year armed resistance – a photo essay

Five years after the junta’s coup, the civil war devastating Myanmar has reached a turning point. The military is carrying out large-scale counter-offensives across the country to reclaim territory seized by pro-democracy rebels of various ethnic and religious backgrounds

In Tanintharyi, the southernmost region of Myanmar, the local resistance has managed to contain the military. After five years of guerrilla warfare, the revolutionary youth there remain determined to restore democracy through armed struggle.

A long, narrow stretch of land at the southern tip of Myanmar, between the Andaman Sea to the west and Thailand to the east, Tanintharyi region is one of the areas where the resistance challenges the military’s authority. For decades, the region has been home to an armed rebellion led by the Karen ethnic minority, which operated mainly in the peripheral mountains.

Soldiers from the Karen National Union (KNU) inspect the ruins of a Buddhist monastery destroyed by a junta airstrike in Myeik district, Tanintharyi region

Published: February 1, 2026, 7:00 am

Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan on his lip-syncing downfall and Grammys comeback: ‘The truth will set you free’

Three decades after having his Grammy rescinded as part of the notorious duo, he is a nominee once more, for the audiobook of his unflinching memoir. ‘I had to tell my story,’ he says

It may not be the most auspicious way to start an interview, but I have to ask: Fab, is it you reading your audiobook? Please confirm you aren’t just a pretty face hired to front it?

Fabrice Maxime Sylvain Morvan considers my question, then laughs. I’m teasing: it definitely is Morvan narrating You Know It’s True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli. But as the recording of his book has been nominated for best audiobook, narration and storytelling recording at the 2026 Grammy awards – and Milli Vanilli are the only winners to have had their Grammy (given in 1990 for best new artist) rescinded, due to the revelation that the duo didn’t sing on their records – I do need confirmation.

Published: February 1, 2026, 10:00 am

‘The best movement is the next movement’: how to really look after your lower back

An estimated 80% of the population will suffer from lower back pain at some point. The good news is that preventing it is a lot easier than treating it

• Read more in The way you move series

Getting out of bed. Picking up a coffee mug. Waving at a friend. Bending down to pat a dog. Turning to flush the toilet.

Many who have experienced “doing their back in” have been baffled by the discrepancy between the mildness of the precipitating action and the severity of the resulting pain. How could such a small, innocent movement trigger such paralysing pain that lasts for weeks, months, years or, in some cases, decades?

Published: January 31, 2026, 7:00 pm

Handling of Epstein files is ‘outrageous’, say attorneys of his sex trafficking survivors

Tranche of government-held files filled with ‘ham-fisted redactions’ and expose survivors’ identities, say attorneys

Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation have reacted to the voluminous – and possibly last – tranche of government-held investigative documents with calls for further accountability for the scheme’s alleged clients.

“It is without question that a significant piece of Epstein and [his convicted associate Ghislaine] Maxwell’s vast sex trafficking operation was to provide young women and girls to other wealthy and powerful individuals,” said Sigrid McCawley, a partner with Boies Schiller Flexner, a firm representing survivors of the scheme.

Published: February 1, 2026, 11:00 am

Judge orders release of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and father from ICE detention

Same judge previously ordered pair not removed from US, after preschooler detained with father on 20 January

A US judge has ordered the release of a five-year-old boy and his father from a Texas detention center by Tuesday after they were taken into custody by immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this month.

Liam Conejo Ramos, an Ecuadorian boy, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis on 20 January after returning from school with his father. Images of the Minnesota preschooler wearing a bunny hat and a plaid coat went viral online, sparking outrage across the country after claims that the child, who was on the driveway of his home during the arrest, was used as bait to try to arrest his mother inside the house.

Published: January 31, 2026, 10:28 pm

Carlos Alcaraz beats Novak Djokovic to complete career grand slam: Australian Open 2026 men’s singles final – live

Updates from the men’s singles final at Melbourne Park
Big-match preview | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail Daniel

Our players are ready to come out. This is going to be special.

I keep saying it, but it bears repetition: we’re at the start of a golden age in women’s tennis. Sabalenka, Rybakina, Gauff, Swiatek and Osaka at their peaks, Anisimova coming, Andreeva getting there, then Mboko, Baptiste and Jovic on the match; ooooh yeah.

Published: February 1, 2026, 12:12 pm

Preparations have begun for reopening of Gaza’s Rafah crossing, officials say

Israel says residents will be allowed to cross on foot only, with a reported 20,000 Palestinians waiting to leave for medical care

Preparations to reopen Gaza’s main border crossing into Rafah have begun, though it is uncertain if any Palestinians will pass through it before the day’s end, officials have said.

Before the war, the Rafah crossing with Egypt was the only direct exit point for most Palestinians in Gaza to reach the outside world as well as a key entry point for aid. It has been largely shut since May 2024.

Published: February 1, 2026, 10:13 am

Calls grow in Iran for independent inquiry into protest death toll

Pressure mounts after government said it would publish names of those killed during recent unrest

Calls are growing inside Iran for an independent inquiry into the number of people killed during recent protests after the government said it would oversee the publication of the names of the deceased.

The highly unusual government move, announced on Thursday, is designed to head off claims that crimes against humanity have been committed and that as many as 30,000 Iranians have been killed. Iran’s official death toll released by the Martyr’s Foundation is 3,117, including members of the security services.

Published: February 1, 2026, 7:00 am

Michael Jackson detailed his thoughts on children in previously unheard audio

Late singer said kids loved his personality and wanted to touch and hug him, and ‘sometimes it got me into trouble’

As Michael Jackson saw it, children would become enamored with his personality as well as want to touch and hug him – and “sometimes it [got] me into trouble,” the late US pop superstar says in previously unheard audio recordings contained in a new documentary.

The UK’s Wonderhood Studios included the recordings of Jackson voicing those thoughts for a new four-episode documentary series beginning on Wednesday that explores his acquittal on child sexual abuse charges after a 14-week criminal trial near Los Angeles in 2005.

Published: February 1, 2026, 7:00 am

US, UK, EU, Australia and more to meet to discuss critical minerals alliance

About 20 countries including G7 states in talks on rare earths including calls for US to guarantee minimum price

Ministers from the US, EU, UK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand will meet in Washington this week to discuss a strategic alliance over critical minerals.

The summit is being seen as a step to repair transatlantic ties fractured by a year of conflict with Donald Trump and pave the way for other alliances to help countries de-risk from China, including one centred on steel.

Published: February 1, 2026, 8:00 am

Living hell of North Korea’s ‘paradise on Earth’ scheme back in spotlight in Japan

Plaintiffs in case say they were lured from Japan, exploited for labour and cut off from families for generations

It has been more than six decades since Eiko Kawasaki left Japan to begin a new life in North Korea. Then 17, she was among tens of thousands of people with Korean heritage who had been lured to the communist state by the promise of a “paradise on Earth”.

Instead, they encountered something closer to a living hell. They were denied basic human rights and forced to endure extreme hardship. Official promises of free education and healthcare plus guaranteed jobs and housing had been a cruel mirage. And to their horror, they were prevented from travelling to Japan to visit the families they had left behind.

Published: February 1, 2026, 5:00 am

Jarrell Miller’s hairpiece punched off during MSG fight … and boxer goes on to claim victory

• Miller’s hairpiece knocked loose during middle of fight

• Heavyweight tosses wig into crowd between rounds

• Fighter goes on to win fight despite mishap

• Stevenson outboxes López to seize title in masterclass

Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller was involved in one of the more unusual moments in recent boxing history on Saturday night when his hairpiece was dislodged during his heavyweight victory over Kingsley Ibeh on the undercard of the Teófimo López–Shakur Stevenson card at Madison Square Garden.

The incident occurred late in the second round as Ibeh landed a flurry of punches along the ropes. One shot snapped Miller’s head backward and caused his hairpiece to lift from the front, briefly exposing a large bald patch before the wig folded backward. The sequence drew gasps and laughter from the crowd.

Published: February 1, 2026, 3:41 am

Trump’s post-truth agenda beaten back as Americans refuse to accept ICE lies

Effort to manipulate killing of Alex Pretti collapsed after footage torpedoed ‘domestic terrorist’ claim – could this be a turning point?

“Our press secretary, Sean Spicer, gave alternative facts.” These were the words of the senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway on NBC television’s Meet the Press in January 2017. “Alternative facts” instantly set a template for the era of Donald Trump.

So when Alex Pretti, 37, an intensive care nurse, was shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis last Saturday, White House officials immediately moved to brand him a “would-be assassin” and “domestic terrorist” who had been brandishing a gun. This time, however, the tried and trusted playbook did not work.

Published: January 31, 2026, 11:00 am

Ukraine war briefing: US reports ’constructive’ peace talks with Russia as Zelenskyy pushes for ‘results’

Steve Witkoff encouraged ‘that Russia is working toward securing peace’ as Ukraine president looks to meetings ‘next week’. What we know on day 1,439

The US envoy Steve Witkoff has said he held constructive talks with a Russian envoy in Florida as part of Washington’s drive to end the war in Ukraine. The meeting on Saturday came just a day before Ukrainian and Russian negotiators were scheduled to meet in Abu Dhabi to discuss a US-backed plan to halt the conflict.

“Today in Florida, the Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev held productive and constructive meetings as part of the US mediation effort toward advancing a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian conflict,” Witkoff posted on X. “We are encouraged by this meeting that Russia is working toward securing peace in Ukraine.” He said the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and White House senior adviser Josh Gruenbaum also attended the talks. Neither side released details of what was discussed.

The second round of peace talks in Abu Dhabi were set to start on Sunday, even if the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, suggested earlier this week that it might be postponed because of the US-Iran crisis. Zelensky said in his evening address on Saturday his negotiators were also waiting to hear from the US on further meetings. “Ukraine is ready to work in all working formats,” Zelenskyy said. “It is important that there are results and that the meetings take place. We are counting on meetings next week and are preparing for them.”

Teams from Ukraine and Russia met last week in Abu Dhabi in their first in-person negotiations on a plan being pushed by Trump. The US says both sides are close to a deal, but they have so far been unable to find a compromise on the key issue of territory in a postwar settlement, according to Kyiv.

An overnight Russian strike in the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk killed two people, authorities said on Sunday. A man and a woman in the city of Dnipro “died due to an enemy UAV strike”, Oleksandr Ganzha, the head of the regional military administration, said in a statement posted on Telegram. Ganzha said the drone caused a fire, destroyed a house and caused damage to two more residences and a car.

Emergency power cuts swept across several Ukrainian cities and neighbouring Moldova on Saturday, officials said, amid a commitment from Russia to pause strikes on Kyiv as Ukraine battles one of its bleakest winters in years. Donald Trump on Thursday claimed Vladimir Putin had agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for a week. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Trump “made a personal request” to Putin to stop targeting Kyiv until Sunday “in order to create favourable conditions for negotiations”. In a post on social media, Zelenskyy noted Russia has turned its attention to targeting Ukrainian logistics networks.

Ukraine’s energy minister, Denys Shmyhal, said that the outages on Saturday had been caused by a technical malfunction affecting power lines linking Ukraine and Moldova. The failure “caused a cascading outage in Ukraine’s power grid”, triggering automatic protection systems, he said. Blackouts were reported in Kyiv, as well as Zhytomyr and Kharkiv regions, in the centre and north-east of the country respectively.

The outage cut water supplies to the Ukrainian capital, officials said, while the city’s subway system was temporarily suspended because of low voltage on the network. The state emergency service said its teams led 500 stranded passengers out of metro stations.

Moldova also experienced major power outages, including in the capital Chisinau, officials said. “Due to the loss of power lines on the territory of Ukraine, the automatic protection system was triggered, which disconnected the electricity supply,” Moldova’s energy minister Dorin Junghietu said in a post on Facebook. “I encourage the population to stay calm until electricity is restored.”

The large-scale outage followed weeks of Russian strikes against Ukraine’s already struggling energy grid, which have triggered long stretches of severe power shortages. Moscow has sought to deny Ukrainian civilians heat, light and running water over the course of the war, in a strategy that Ukrainian officials describe as “weaponising winter”.

Forecasters say Ukraine will experience a brutally cold period stretching into next week. Temperatures in some areas will drop to -30C, authorities said.

Published: February 1, 2026, 2:54 am

Trump news at a glance: president orders homeland security to avoid protests in Democratic-led cities

Kristi Noem’s department told to ‘under no circumstances’ get involved with protests in cities led by Democrats unless they ask for help – key US politics stories from 31 January at a glance

Donald Trump has instructed the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, not to intervene in protests occurring in cities led by Democrats unless local authorities ask for federal help amid mounting criticism of his administration’s immigration crackdown.

On his social media site, Trump posted that “under no circumstances are we going to participate in various poorly run Democrat Cities with regard to their Protests and/or Riots unless, and until, they ask us for help”.

Published: February 1, 2026, 1:21 am

Trump wants to build 250ft Washington DC arch that dwarfs Lincoln Memorial – report

US president reportedly eyes plot near Memorial Bridge for a large-scale structure named the Independence Arch

Donald Trump reportedly wants the arch he is planning to build in Washington DC to dwarf the Lincoln Memorial.

The US president envision the planned arch to be a height of 250ft, or significantly taller than the 100ft-tall Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. It would also be significantly taller than Paris’s 164ft-tall Arc de Triomphe – but less than half the height than the Gateway Arch in St Louis, Missouri, the world’s tallest arch.

Published: January 31, 2026, 5:28 pm

‘We’re fighting for the soul of the country’: how Minnesota residents came together to face ICE

Networks created after police killed George Floyd were reactivated to challenge Trump’s mass deportation policy

Cory never expected he’d spend hours each day driving around after immigration agents, videotaping their moves. The south Minneapolis resident is “not the type of person to do this”, he said.

The dangers of what he’s doing, even after the killings of two observers, largely stay out of his mind when he’s watching Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents – even when he’s gotten hit with pepper spray. In quieter moments, it occurs to him that agents likely know where he lives. Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old whom agents killed while he was filming them, “100% could have been me”, Cory said.

Published: February 1, 2026, 11:00 am

Will corporate America finally stand up to the Trump administration?

The brutal handling of immigration raids and the killing of Alex Pretti have tested the reticence of the corporate class

During Donald Trump’s first term, the US’s corporate titans were prepared to literally turn their backs on the president when they disagreed with him. Weeks of growing national anger over deadly immigration crackdowns in the US have highlighted how much has changed.

Publicly, the US’s top CEOs have stayed – mostly – quiet during Trump’s second term, even as his administration has undermined free trade policies, cracked down on the immigration that many businesses relied on, and attacked the Federal Reserve – a pillar of the US’s financial hegemony.

Published: January 31, 2026, 10:00 am

‘I’m loving this era I’ve been thrust into’: Denise Welch on depression, daytime TV and her dramatic renaissance

She’s gone from ‘queen of the soaps’ to Loose Woman known for her outspoken opinions and rockstar son Matty Healy. Now sober, she is enjoying another reinvention

Denise Welch doesn’t seem the kind of woman who would turn up with an entourage. But here she is having her hair primped in a makeshift changing room by two people. One tickling her fringe, the other tweaking her tufts. Blimey, I say, have you got two assistants? She grins. “No. There are three.” And now it turns out she’s got a fourth. I offer to make her a cup of coffee. She warns me she’s fussy. “Three teaspoons of Coffee-Mate, please.”

Welch is having a moment. She calls it, with a fabulously camp flourish, her renaissance. The actor and Loose Women regular has hardly been invisible in recent years. But this is on another level. For most of the 2000s, she has been best known for dishing out blithe opinions about anything and everything, and being the mother of the 1975’s frontman, Matty Healy. Now, though, it’s the acting that’s getting the attention. Earlier this month, she returned to the drama series Waterloo Road as the hopeless French teacher Steph Haydock after a 15‑year absence. This time around, she’s a supply teacher and is even more hopeless. Welch has also got parts in the new Russell T Davies drama series Tip Toe, the Josh Pugh sitcom Stepping Up, both on Channel 4, and the adaptation of Graham Norton’s novel Forever Home.

Published: February 1, 2026, 6:00 am

Attenzione! The 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo – in pictures

The Winter Olympics was first staged in Italy, 70 years ago. We take a look back at some archive imagery from the settimana bianca

Published: February 1, 2026, 8:00 am

Island-hopping in Sweden: an enchanted maze of tiny isles – only a bus ride from Gothenburg

From a bioluminescent nightime sea to rare wildlife, natural wonders are on tap in the Gothenburg archipelago

Out on the water, paddling across the straits between two small rocky islands, the dusk fades and the stars appear. Jennie has done her best to coach me in local geography before darkness, showing me the map with its patchwork of islands and bays, and describing the shape of each landmark. All to no avail. I’m more than happy to be lost at sea, leaning back in my kayak to gaze at the constellations, occasionally checking that the red light on the stern of her kayak is still visible ahead. We stop in the sheltered lee of an island and hear a hoot. “Eurasian eagle owl,” says Jennie. “They nest here.” Then she switches off all the lights. “Let’s paddle slowly close to shore. Watch what happens.”

As soon as we move, the sea flickers into life, every paddle stroke triggering thrilling trails of cold, blue sparkles. When we stop, I slap my hand on the surface and the sea is momentarily electrified into a nebulous neural network of light, like some great salty brain figuring out this alien intrusion. Below that, squadrons of jellyfish pulse their own spectral contribution.

Published: February 1, 2026, 7:00 am

‘Here we go again’: $75m Melania film embodies venal spirit of Trump 2.0

First lady’s big-screen documentary premieres with criticisms over $28m payday and questions over relevancy

Donald and Melania Trump were walking a charcoal-coloured carpet beneath a stark black-and-white “MELANIA” backdrop. “Do you believe you’d be the man you are today if you hadn’t met your wife?” a reporter asked the US president.

Trump smiled and said: “He’s asking me a very dangerous question!” He went on to praise his wife without answering. When the reporter put the same question to Melania, she ventured: “Well, we will all be in different places, I guess.” With a nervous laugh, she turned to look at Trump and asked, “Right?”

Published: January 31, 2026, 10:02 am

The rise of ‘beef days’: why even meat lovers are cutting back

Inspired by YouTube creators, some people are limiting beef to a handful of ‘feast days’ a year to cut their climate impact

“I love beef,” says Vlad Luca, 25. But unlike most other self-proclaimed steak lovers, Vlad eats it only four times a year, on designated “beef days”.

The “beef days” phenomenon has been popularised by the brothers John and Hank Green, known collectively as vlogbrothers on YouTube. John, 48, is better known for his YA fiction, including The Fault in Our Stars, while Hank, 45, is a self-described science communicator and entrepreneur.

Published: January 31, 2026, 9:00 am

This is how we do it: ‘Having threesomes has totally transformed us – in and out of bed’

Eric’s libido always outstripped Bea’s, but with the perimenopause she experienced a surge of desire. Is Eric fully onboard with their new ménage à trois?
• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

When I kissed him in front of Eric during a meet-up in a bar, the chemistry was pretty electric

Published: February 1, 2026, 11:00 am

‘There’s no way my daughter would have jumped’: why are so many Turkish women falling to their deaths?

Every year in Turkey, hundreds of women are recorded as having taken their lives by ‘throwing themselves from a high place’. But many grieving families maintain that investigators are missing the full story

Almost nothing seemed to scare Şebnem Köker. With her hair dyed fire-engine red, the 29-year-old nurse lived life by her own rules. Friends say she was so headstrong, she’d be getting ready for a night out in their home town, the Turkish coastal city of İzmir, and suddenly suggest a change of plan to a last-minute trip away. Even a prospective move to Canada didn’t seem to daunt her. But there was one thing that had terrified Şebnem: heights. Her father, Abdullah, says she was afraid to even tiptoe on to the slim balcony that wraps around the third-floor apartment they shared in İzmir.

“She wouldn’t even have a cigarette or eat out there. She wouldn’t hang laundry on the balcony,” he says, sitting on the sofa in the darkened living room they once shared. A pouting portrait of Şebnem is tucked into the frame of a mirror on the opposite wall.

Published: January 31, 2026, 11:45 am

Jeffrey Epstein files: don’t be fooled. Millions of files are still unreleased | Moira Donegan

Federal prosecutors had identified 6 million files that were ‘potentially responsive’ to the law, but only released 3.5. Why?

The justice department released a trove of 3.5m files related to the dead financier and pedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, with deputy attorney general Todd Blanche declaring that the release would likely be the last major declassification of files relating to Epstein. Federal prosecutors had identified 6 million files that were “potentially responsive” to the law, meaning that there are millions of files that have still not been released.

The release marked a belated and partial compliance with a bill passed by Congress late last year, which had mandated that all government documents pertaining to Epstein and the various law enforcement investigations into his sexual abuse of girls be made public by 19 December 2025.

Published: January 31, 2026, 4:30 pm

How the left can win back the internet – and rise again | Robert Topinka

In the final part of this series, we look at how infighting has ripped the left apart online while the right has flourished – and how some progressives are turning the tide

• Robert Topinka is a reader in digital media and rhetoric at Birkbeck, University of London

• Part one: How liberals lost the internet

• Part two: How the right won the internet

There is politics before the internet, and politics after the internet. Liberals are floundering, the right are flourishing, and what of the left? Well, it’s in a dire state. This is despite the fact that the key political problems of the last decade – rising inequality and a cost of living crisis – are problems leftists claim they can solve. The trouble is, reactionaries and rightwingers steal their thunder online, quickly spreading messaging that blames scapegoats for structural problems. One reason for this is that platforms originally built to connect us with friends and followers now funnel us content designed to provoke emotional engagement.

Back when Twitter was still the “town square” and Facebook a humble “social network”, progressives had an advantage: from the Arab spring to Occupy Wall Street, voices excluded from mainstream media and politics could leverage online social networks and turn them into real-life ones, which at their most potent became street-level protests that toppled regimes and held capitalism to account. It seemed as though the scattered masses would become a networked collective empowered to rise up against the powerful.

Robert Topinka is a reader in digital media and rhetoric at Birkbeck, University of London

Published: February 1, 2026, 8:00 am

China is leading the charge to nuclear Armageddon – and Starmer barely noticed | Simon Tisdall

The Doomsday Clock is ticking ever more loudly as arms-control mechanisms fail and leaders become more reckless. The time to be alarmed is now

Keir Starmer’s tentative pivot to the Dragon Throne has played well in Beijing, though not in Trumpland. That’s partly because, like other needy western leaders, Britain’s prime minister did not dwell on awkward subjects such as human rights abuses, the Jimmy Lai travesty, spying and Taiwan. But in talks with President Xi Jinping, one vital issue was avoided altogether and should not have been: China’s dangerous, unexplained, secretive and rapid buildup of nuclear weapons.

More than the climate crisis, global hunger, Kaiser Trump’s Prussian militarism and the ever prevalent threat of pandemic disease, the uncontrolled proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is the most immediate, existential threat to humanity. Last week, the Doomsday Clock advanced to 85 seconds to midnight – closer to Armageddon than ever before. “Nuclear and other global risks are escalating fast and in unprecedented ways,” warned the clock-watchers, via the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Published: February 1, 2026, 6:00 am

This one weird trick could stop US women from voting | Arwa Mahdawi

The Save Act – which would do the opposite of its title – could have a huge impact on the midterm elections

If you are anything like me, then you are currently pickling in your own cortisol. As the US grows increasingly violent, increasingly cruel, every day brings a legion of new horrors. So I’m very sorry to say that I’m here to ruin your weekend by giving you yet another thing to worry about. That thing is called the Save Act and, if the Trump administration gets its way, it could have an oversized impact on the November midterms, particularly when it comes to minorities and married women being able to vote.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Published: January 31, 2026, 2:00 pm

Trump is pressuring Minnesota to make a deal with the devil. They should stand firm | Claire Finkelstein

Minnesota should not cave to Trump’s demands. The rights of 49 other states and their citizens are hanging in the balance

Donald Trump appears to be practicing his “art of the deal” on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz: he is attempting to extract concessions from the North Star state in exchange for a “drawdown” of federal ICE agents. While the details of the contemplated agreement are not clear, border czar Tom Homan’s remarks on Thursday morning and reports of his negotiations with state and local leaders suggest dialing back Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is contingent on striking an agreement for increased cooperation between federal and local law enforcement: Minnesota must agree to participate in ICE roundups by turning over undocumented immigrants in its custody, ending various “sanctuary city” protections, and giving ICE agents more direct access to state penitentiaries to conduct their own roundups prior to the release of undocumented inmates. A letter from Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, sent earlier this week went even further and suggested the justice department’s civil rights division might be demanding access to state voter rolls in exchange for the ICE drawdown. Trump’s offhand remark Thursday evening denying plans to draw down ICE confused matters by contradicting Homan’s statement from earlier in the day – but perhaps that was just an indication that negotiations on Thursday did not go all that well for Team Trump.

That would not be surprising. If Walz were to agree to such terms – concessions literally extracted at gunpoint under threat of continued use of unlawful force by federal immigration agents – he would be abandoning critical domains of state autonomy for the fruitless attempt to appease a president that will accept no limits except those forced upon it by necessity or recommended to it by self-interest. As law firms, universities, foreign leaders, and even former partners in crime have discovered, it is perilous to negotiate with a rank opportunist who lives by no other rule than that of self-interest. For Trump, the alternative to getting handed what he wants voluntarily is taking it by force. The FBI raid on the Fulton county elections office in Georgia to seize about 700 boxes of ballots from the 2020 election sent a well-timed message to Minnesota as well as to any other swing state from which the Trump administration may demand such data: if you don’t give us what we asked for, we’ll take it anyway.

Claire Finkelstein is the Algernon Biddle professor of law and professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. She is also the founder and faculty director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law at The University of Pennsylvania

Published: January 31, 2026, 12:00 pm

Young Japanese voters adore their new conservative PM. But that doesn’t mean they are shifting to the right | Karin Kaneko

Sanae Takaichi may seemingly have old-fashioned values, but it’s her economic offering that has captured young people’s imaginations

Japan has rarely seen a prime minister as bold or as social media-savvy as Sanae Takaichi, the country’s first female leader.

Where previous prime ministers have gone viral for unflattering moments, such as the spectacle of one scoffing an onigiri in one messy gulp or another caught dozing off in the parliament during a key vote, Takaichi is being read by supporters as a symbol of a different era of leadership – one they feel Japan has lacked in recent years.

Karin Kaneko is a freelance journalist and a former reporter for the Japan Times

Published: January 31, 2026, 10:00 am

Shakur Stevenson: ‘I picked him apart’ after López clinic as Benn crashes ring

• Stevenson seals title in fourth weight class with win

• Britain’s Benn enters ring, sparks buzz as future foe

Shakur Stevenson described his dominant victory over Teófimo López as the product of discipline, preparation and years of studying his opponent, after producing what many observers viewed as the finest performance of his career at Madison Square Garden.

The unbeaten American outboxed López over 12 rounds to become a four-division world champion, a moment Stevenson said validated his long-held belief that he belonged among boxing’s elite.

Published: February 1, 2026, 11:00 am

Ekitiké and Wirtz sink Newcastle before Konaté seals welcome Liverpool win

You could say Hugo Ekitiké was the one who got away from Newcastle last summer, except there were so many. But with a certain inevitability and a devastating, gamechanging performance, the Liverpool striker haunted Eddie Howe and the club who coveted him all the same.

Pain came in various forms for Newcastle. Superior for 40 minutes and deservedly ahead through Anthony Gordon, the visitors trailed at the interval thanks to a quick-fire brace from the player they tried to sign from Eintracht Frankfurt. Liverpool swept in for Ekitiké instead and their initial £69m outlay, rising to £79m, is proving money very well spent.

Published: January 31, 2026, 10:11 pm

LA Olympics chief says he ‘deeply regrets’ emails with Ghislaine Maxwell

Latest Epstein file release shows 2003 emails between Casey Wasserman and the convicted sex trafficker

Casey Wasserman, the head of the Los Angeles Olympics organizing committee, said on Saturday that he “deeply regrets” emails from 2003 between him and Ghislaine Maxwell that appeared in the latest collection of government files released Friday on Jeffrey Epstein.

Among the exchanges included one from Wasserman telling Maxwell “I think of you all the time. So, what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?”

Published: February 1, 2026, 1:01 am

Sixers’ Paul George suspended 25 games by NBA for anti-drug program violation

• NBA issues 25-game ban for anti-drug policy violation

• Suspension to cost 76ers star about $11.7m in lost salary

• Eligible to return in March with 10 games left in season

Paul George of the Philadelphia 76ers has been suspended 25 games for violating the terms of the NBA’s anti-drug program, the league announced on Saturday.

The NBA did not disclose the nature of the violation or the substance involved. George said in a statement to ESPN that he had taken something “improper” while seeking treatment for a personal issue.

Published: January 31, 2026, 5:01 pm

Milan protesters denounce ICE unit at Winter Olympics and ‘creeping fascism’ in US

• Protest targets ICE role at Milan Games

• Mayor says US agents ‘not welcome’

• Organizers link move to US politics

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered Saturday in Milan to protest the deployment of ICE agents during the upcoming Winter Olympics, unbothered by the fact that agents would be stationed in a control room and not operating on the streets.

The protest in Piazza XXV Aprile, a square named for the date of Italy’s liberation from Nazi fascism in 1945, drew people from the left-leaning Democratic Party, the CGIL trade union confederation and the ANPI organizations that protect the memory of Italy’s partisan resistance during World War II, along with many other people.

Published: January 31, 2026, 4:50 pm

Christian Horner targets F1 return as he breaks silence after Red Bull sacking

• Former team principal was dismissed last September

• ‘I feel like I have unfinished business in Formula One’
  

Christian Horner said he misses Formula One and has unfinished business in the sport as he spoke publicly for the first time since he was ousted by Red Bull but is prepared to wait for an opportunity to “win something”, adding: “I am not in a rush.”

The 52-year-old was dismissed as Red Bull team principal following July’s British Grand Prix before his official exit was agreed in September. He oversaw a period of extraordinary success during his 20-year career with Red Bull, winning eight drivers’ and six constructors’ titles.

Published: January 31, 2026, 4:38 pm

Lindsey Vonn misses final super-G before Winter Olympics after downhill crash

• American still preparing for Milano Cortina Games

• ‘Thank you for the love and support I have received’

Lindsey Vonn sat out a World Cup super-G race on Saturday after crashing and injuring her left knee a day earlier, but remains on track for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, her coach said.

“No, she is not racing today but preparing for Cortina as usual,” Chris Knight, Vonn’s personal head coach, said in a text message. Vonn then posted on Instagram: “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to race today. Thank you for all of the love and support I have received. Means the world to me. Doing my best right now …”

Published: January 31, 2026, 10:07 am

More than 120 dead after multiple suicide and gun attacks in Pakistan, officials say

Military says ‘terrorists’ carried out attacks in Balochistan province in what analysts described it as the deadliest day for militants in decades

Pakistan’s military said on Saturday that multiple suicide and gun attacks by “terrorists” across the restive south-western province of Balochistan killed 33 people, including civilians, while security forces responding to the violence killed 92 assailants.

Analysts described it as the deadliest single day for militants in decades.

Published: February 1, 2026, 2:12 am

Shooting at Mardi Gras parade in Louisiana wounds five people, including child

Louisiana governor says the shooting in Clinton is ‘absolutely horrific and unacceptable’

Five people, including a six-year-old child, have been wounded in a shooting during a parade in Louisiana, sending people in the crowd fleeing for cover, authorities say.

The shooting occurred shortly after the midday start of the Mardi Gras in the Country parade in Clinton, East Feliciana sheriff Jeff Travis told reporters.

Published: February 1, 2026, 5:07 am

Costa Rica heads to polls amid fears of authoritarian turn

Voters to choose president and 57 members of congress, with current president’s hardline pick Laura Fernández expected to win first round

Costa Rica heads to the polls on Sunday in an election dominated by increasing insecurity and warnings of an authoritarian turn in a country long seen as a model of liberal democracy in the region.

Crime is a big concern for many voters as criminal groups battle to control lucrative cocaine trafficking routes to Europe and the US, casting a shadow on the Central American country famous for its wildlife tourism.

Published: February 1, 2026, 10:00 am

Ex-British army chief calls on ministers to back MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans

Nick Carter says easing controls on MDMA will allow drug to be used as alternative treatment for those with PTSD

A former head of the British military is calling for the government to ease restrictions on the party drug MDMA so that it can be tested more cheaply as a treatment for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Sir Nick Carter, who was chief of the defence staff until 2021, said existing regulations meant a single gram of “medical grade” MDMA cost about £10,000 compared with a street price of about £40, inflating the cost of trials.

Published: February 1, 2026, 7:00 am

‘Keep on dreaming’: could Europe really defend itself without the US?

Nato chief has glibly dismissed prospect of coping without US support, but in the age of Trump the case for autonomy is growing

The Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, was typically blunt when he met members of the European parliament this week. From the dais of the blond-wood committee room in Brussels, he was clear: “If anyone thinks that the European Union, or Europe as a whole, can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can’t. We can’t.”

And if Europe wanted to supplant the US nuclear deterrent, existing spending commitments would have to double, he added – “so hey, good luck!”

Published: January 31, 2026, 1:00 pm

Pho, handwarmers, grief and loss: a week on the block where Alex Pretti was killed

Residents line up to support businesses that became refuges from teargas, and refresh the memorial daily

Nothing is quite as it used to be along Nicollet Avenue.

The spot where Alex Pretti was gunned down by federal agents has been cordoned off by orange stakes and caution tape, appearing like a giant gash along the block between 26th and 27th streets.

Published: January 31, 2026, 3:00 pm

Democrats accuse DoJ of not releasing millions of Epstein files despite legal requirement

Justice department on Friday released 3m pages and lawmakers accuse it of not releasing roughly 50% of records

Survivors, lawmakers and watchdog groups accused Donald Trump’s justice department of withholding records it is legally required to release following the disclosure of millions of files from the investigation into the disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The justice department on Friday released 3m pages of documents from its investigation into the millionaire financier’s sexual abuse of young girls and his interactions with wealthy and powerful figures, including Trump and former president Bill Clinton. The release was an effort to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and, according to US deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, includes more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, all subject to “extensive redactions”.

Published: January 31, 2026, 7:31 pm

Children and police officers among at least 30 killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza

Deadly attacks launched day before border crossing due to open as part of ceasefire deal

Israel has carried out some of its deadliest airstrikes on Gaza in months, killing at least 30 Palestinians, some of whom were sheltering in tent cities for displaced people.

Despite a nominal ceasefire, the Israeli military struck a police station in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood west of Gaza City on Saturday, killing 10 officers and detainees, the civil defence said. It indicated the death toll could rise as emergency responders searched for bodies.

Published: January 31, 2026, 2:28 pm

Snow and blizzards move into US east coast as 85 dead from last week’s storm

About 190,000 are still without power in the south-east as states scramble to prepare for more winter weather

Dozens of people have died in the teeth of a severe winter storm across the US south, with further freezing temperatures, snow and blizzards set to assail the east coast on Saturday.

At least 85 people have died across multiple states, according to an Associated Press tally, with frigid conditions and icy roads causing car crashes, hypothermia and other fatal incidents.

Published: January 31, 2026, 3:36 pm

‘Humanity’s favourite food’: how to end the livestock industry but keep eating meat

Bruce Friedrich argues the only way to tackle the world’s insatiable but damaging craving for meat is like-for-like replacements like cultivated and plant-based meat

For someone aiming to end the global livestock industry, Bruce Friedrich begins his new book – called Meat – in disarming fashion: “I’m not here to tell anyone what to eat. You won’t find vegetarian or vegan recipes in this book, and you won’t find a single sentence attempting to convince you to eat differently. This book isn’t about policing your plate.”

There’s more. Friedrich, a vegan for almost four decades, says meat is “humanity’s favourite food”.

Published: January 31, 2026, 7:00 am

Electric ​cars ​go ​mainstream as ​adoption ​surges ​across ​rich and ​developing ​nations

A wave of affordable Chinese-made EVs is accelerating the shift away from petrol cars, challenging long‑held assumptions about how transport decarbonisation unfolds

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Last year, almost every new car sold in Norway, the nature-loving country flush with oil wealth, was fully electric. In prosperous Denmark, which was all-in on petrol and diesel cars until just before Covid, sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) reached a share of 68%. In California, the share of zero-emissions vehicles hit 20%. And at least every third new car now bought by the Dutch, Finns, Belgians and Swedes burns no fuel.

These figures, which would have felt fanciful just five years ago, show the rich world leading the shift away from cars that pump out toxic gas and planet-heating pollutants. But a more startling trend is that electric car sales are also racing ahead in many developing countries. While China is known for its embrace of electric vehicles (EVs), demand has also soared in emerging markets from South America to south-east Asia. BEV sales in Turkey have caught up with the EU’s, data published this week shows.

The Fukushima towns frozen in time: nature has thrived since the nuclear disaster but what happens if humans return?

The UK government didn’t want you to see this report on ecosystem collapse. I’m not surprised

The 16-month battle to reveal the truth about Sydney Water’s poo balls

Powering up: how Ethiopia is becoming an unlikely leader in the electric vehicle revolution

‘My Tesla has become ordinary’: Turkey catches up with EU in electric car sales

The electric vehicle revolution is still on course – don’t let your loathing of Elon Musk stop you joining up

Published: January 31, 2026, 7:00 am

Search for survivors halted after Massachusetts fishing boat lost at sea

One dead and six missing as body and life boat from Lily Jean found after its disappearance from Gloucester port

The search for survivors of a commercial fishing vessel that sank off the coast of Massachusetts with seven aboard has been suspended, the US Coast Guard said Saturday.

The coast guard had launched a search-and-rescue mission early Friday after receiving an alert from the 72ft Lily Jean about 25 miles (40km) off Cape Ann. Searchers found a debris field near where the alert had been sent along with a body in the water and an empty life raft, the coast guard said.

Published: January 31, 2026, 7:47 pm

What to know about the jury trials of Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube

Hundreds of parents, teens and school districts have claimed social media is intentionally addictive and harmful

Social media companies will have to answer to a jury – for the first time – for allegations that their products are intentionally addictive and harmful to young users’ mental health. Hundreds of parents, teens and school districts sued Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube, leading to a series of landmark trials that began this week. Jury selection in the first case started on Tuesday in Los Angeles court.

Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is among the big tech CEOs who are expected to testify. Both sides are likely to bring in experts to hash out the science behind alleged addiction to social media.

Published: January 31, 2026, 10:00 am

Trump news at a glance: Epstein files release shows emails with Trump officials past and present

Democrats question redactions and whether Trump officials are holding back more documents – key US politics stories from 30 January at a glance

• Epstein files latest: updates as more files released

The US justice department has released more than 3m pages of documents related to its investigation into the disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in a long-awaited announcement that appears to represent the bulk of the so-called Epstein files that have dogged Donald Trump politically.

While an analysis is still under way, the release exposes previously unknown financial ties and social connections between Epstein and prominent figures in the US and UK – including some in the president’s orbit.

Published: January 31, 2026, 2:20 am

Record harvest sparks mass giveaway of free potatoes across Berlin

From zoos to soup kitchens, people are hauling away tonnes of surplus spuds after the biggest crop in 25 years

Germans love their potatoes. They eat on average 63kg a person every year, according to official statistics.

But the exceptional glut of potatoes produced by farmers during the last harvest has overwhelmed even the hardiest of fans.

Published: January 31, 2026, 1:00 pm

Mass grave in Jordan sheds new light on world’s earliest recorded pandemic

Researchers tell ‘human story’ about crisis during plague of Justinian, which killed millions in Byzantine empire

A US-led research team has verified the first Mediterranean mass grave of the world’s earliest recorded pandemic, providing stark new details about the plague of Justinian that killed millions of people in the Byzantine empire between the sixth and eighth centuries.

The findings, published in February’s Journal of Archaeological Science, offer what researchers say is a rare empirical window into the mobility, urban life and vulnerability of citizens affected by the pestilence.

Published: January 31, 2026, 11:00 am

South African artist sues minister for blocking her Venice Biennale Gaza entry

Gabrielle Goliath says Gayton McKenzie violating freedom of expression after ‘highly divisive’ artwork Elergy banned from SA pavilion

A South African artist is suing the arts minister after he blocked her from representing the country at the Venice Biennale, having called her work addressing Israel’s killing of Palestinians in Gaza “highly divisive”.

Gabrielle Goliath filed the lawsuit last week, with Ingrid Masondo, who would have curated the pavilion, and the studio manager, James Macdonald. It accuses Gayton McKenzie of acting unlawfully and violating the right to freedom of expression and demands the high court reinstates her participation by 18 February, the deadline for confirming installations with biennale organisers.

Published: January 31, 2026, 10:00 am

French MPs demand explanation over tech firm’s contract to help ICE in US

Revelation that subsidiary of Capgemini is to help trace and expel migrants in US provokes outrage in France

French lawmakers have demanded an explanation after one of the country’s biggest tech companies signed a multimillion dollar contract to help the US enforcement agency ICE trace and expel migrants.

The revelation that a subsidiary of Capgemini, a multinational digital services firm listed on the Paris stock exchange, had agreed to provide “skip tracing” – a technique for locating targeted people – with big bonuses if successful, has provoked outrage in France.

Published: January 31, 2026, 6:00 am

The best theatre to stream this month: big and bold Bacchae ushers in new era at the National

Nima Taleghani’s debut play brings a raucous Greek chorus to the Olivier theatre, while Judi Dench has an enchanting Twelfth Night reunion

The National Theatre’s new artistic director, Indhu Rubasingham, launched her tenure last autumn with a big, bold spin on Euripides in the Olivier theatre – by a debut playwright to boot. Heartstopper star Nima Taleghani’s version, featuring choreography by Kate Prince and with Clare Perkins leading the self-styled “raucous Greek chorus”, comes to NT at Home on 6 February. It’s followed by a Q&A with Rubasingham.

Published: February 1, 2026, 5:00 am

Melania Trump documentary opens to underwhelming reception: ‘It’s not a gripping film’

$75m Amazon-produced paean to the first lady saw empty seats and faint praise as it opened in New York City

At the beginning of her new documentary, Melania Trump tells the viewer that “everybody wants to know” how she spends her time.

“So here it is,” she says. “Twenty days in my life.”

Published: January 31, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘I never imagined this!’ How KPop Demon Hunters could make history at the Grammys and the Oscars

As the film’s megahit song Golden looks likely to sweep everything in awards season, its singer Ejae explains why she’s ready to step out from behind her animated alter ego

‘The directors were crying, the producer was crying, and I thought: Oh my gosh, this is an incredible musical world.” It was February 2025, and Ian Eisendrath was conducting an orchestra through the final flourishes for the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack. He knew that the team had built something special – “but I never thought it would be like this,” he laughs, marvelling at what came next.

Mere weeks after its release in June, the animated film – about Korean girl band Huntr/x who battle soul-hungry demons through song – became Netflix’s most-watched title ever. The film’s soundtrack, a fleet of emotionally charged, devilishly catchy hits crafted by real K-pop heavyweights, became a platinum-rated phenomenon all its own.

Published: January 31, 2026, 5:00 am

‘One of the greatest comic talents’: tributes paid to actor Catherine O’Hara

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney and Schitt’s Creek co-creator Dan Levy lead tributes to award winning actor

• Catherine O’Hara, actor known for Home Alone and Schitt’s Creek, dies aged 71

Tributes have poured in from the world of showbiz and politics for Catherine O’Hara, with the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, and Schitt’s Creek’s co-creator Dan Levy mourning the loss of a “legend” after the actor died at the age of 71.

O’Hara, who won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her role in the TV comedy series, died on Friday at her home in Los Angeles after a brief illness, according to her agency, CAA.

Published: January 31, 2026, 3:05 pm

Tom Gauld on the rewards of enhanced reading – cartoon

Published: January 31, 2026, 3:00 pm

Fatima Bhutto on her abusive relationship: ‘I thought it could never happen to me’

Fifteen years after her explosive memoir of growing up in Pakistan’s ruling political dynasty, the author has written a devastating account of the abuse she has since endured. She talks about a life on the run and finally settling down

Had Fatima Bhutto been left to her own devices, her devastating forthcoming memoir would have been almost entirely about her relationship with her dog, Coco. “I know it sounds nuts,” she laughs. And it’s true that being dog-crazy doesn’t quite track with the public perception of Bhutto as a writer, journalist, activist and member of Pakistan’s most famous political dynasty. But the pandemic had forced something of a creative unravelling and when Bhutto took stock, she found herself only really able to write about Coco. Her agent politely suggested her memoir might need something more. A second draft was written, then abandoned.

“Until I thought, what if I just tell the truth? And then it fell out of me – it didn’t even pour, it fell.” In around three weeks Bhutto had reworked her draft and, in the process, revealed a shocking chapter of her life that she’d kept secret from everyone around her.

Published: January 31, 2026, 9:00 am

‘Menopause gold rush’? Experts warn of brands cashing in on women’s symptoms

As apps and gadgets capitalise on loss of stigma, consumers are advised to look for evidence-based solutions

For any bodily function you want to measure these days there is a gadget – a wristband for step-counting, a watch to track your heart rate or a ring for measuring sleep.

Now the march of wearable tech is coming to the aid of what some say is a long underserved market: menopausal women.

Published: February 1, 2026, 10:00 am

The moment I knew: as we sat on the veranda playing Scrabble, it hit me – I was in love

When Dion Padan met Ben Graetz and his drag queen persona, there was an undeniable energy. A weekend away deepened their connection

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

In 2015, I moved to Sydney from north Wales in the UK. Sydney had always been my dream destination, but then the Australian immigration rules changed, meaning that to get permanent residency with my skillset as a barber, I’d have to move to Tasmania or the Northern Territory. I decided on Darwin because I feared the weather in Tasmania was too much like British weather. So in 2018, I packed my bags and moved to Darwin without knowing anything about the city.

Ben and I first chatted on Grindr and he was very welcoming, offering to show me around town. He was also very interested in my story – how did this Welsh boy end up living here? He asked if I was going to Darwin Pride.

Published: January 31, 2026, 7:00 pm

Blind date: ‘Numbers have been exchanged and dates have been suggested’

Ursula, 29, an events coordinator, meets Culann, 34, a charity worker

What were you hoping for?
To meet someone fun, maybe a bit of romance.

Published: January 31, 2026, 6:00 am

What makes Finland the happiest place on Earth?

For the last eight years, Finland has topped the list of the world’s happiest countries. Our writer embarks on a tour to discover their secret

I’ve been visiting the happiest country on Earth every year since I was a baby. At first glance, Finland doesn’t seem like an obvious breeding ground for happiness. In midwinter the sun only appears for two to five hours a day and temperatures can plummet to below -20C. (It would seem a warm-year-round, sunny climate is not a prerequisite to happiness.)

The World Happiness Report is based on a survey in which people rate their satisfaction with life – and the Finns have been happiest with their lot for the last eight years. Not short of marketing savvy, Visit Finland latched on to this with a “Masterclass of Happiness” advertising campaign. And it’s probably no coincidence that Lonely Planet named Finland in its 2026 Best in Travel guide as a country “for finding happiness in wild places”.

Published: January 31, 2026, 7:00 am

The hard lessons of ignoring storm warnings: Becky Barnicoat on millennial life

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Published: January 31, 2026, 6:00 am

Meera Sodha’s vegetarian recipe for patates yahni

Sometimes, all that’s required for supper is simply stewed Mediterranean vegetables and potatoes with a dollop of yoghurt on top …

The world over, you’ll find home cooks trying to turn bags of potatoes into dinner, myself included. Sometimes, my answer is a Sri Lankan potato curry, or a Gujarati one. Perhaps a slow-cooked Spanish omelette if it’s a date night with Hugh at the kitchen island (like this Friday) but today, the solution is Greek. Yahni is the Greek word for a style of cooking: vegetables braised in plenty of olive oil and tomatoes, until tender. It’s a way of being, a vote for the simple and the slow and the good (but it is also dinner, if you wish).

Published: January 31, 2026, 6:00 am

Trump has tapped a new Federal Reserve chair. Has he finally found his yes-man?

Trump nominated Kevin Warsh, an ex-Fed governor, for the role as the White House continues to attack Jerome Powell

The US Federal Reserve requires “strong, sound and steady leadership”, according to Donald Trump. The president found a man to lead the central bank who would “provide exactly that type of leadership”, he declared.“He’s strong, he’s committed and he’s smart.”

This is not how Trump described Kevin Warsh, the former Fed governor whom he unveiled as his new nominee to chair the central bank on Friday – but how he hailed Jerome Powell, the current Fed chair, when nominating him for the job about eight years ago.

Published: January 31, 2026, 8:00 am

‘I was really surprised by the swimmers’ powerful energy’: Jorge Perez Ortiz’s best phone picture

After undergoing emergency surgery following an accident, the photographer discovered a newfound appreciation for the human body

Three years ago, Jorge Perez Ortiz was on a small wooden boat travelling from Cartagena in Colombia to a group of nearby islands when the sea became unexpectedly rough. As a strong wave hit, Ortiz, sitting at the bow, felt his body lift and come down sharply on his seat. The sudden impact fractured a vertebra. He was taken to hospital and underwent emergency surgery.

“I’ve always been captivated by the power of water and the sense of freedom and escape one feels when diving into it,” Ortiz says, “but until that point, I’d never considered the other side of this freedom and the risks it carries.”

Published: January 31, 2026, 11:00 am