The Minneapolis revolt tells us this: even in Trump’s America, the people have power too | Aditya Chakrabortty

After months of community resistance, the president backed down. Leadership from below succeeded when politics as usual failed

For most politicians and journalists, the answer to nearly every question is to look up. Not at the moon, the stars or even the chimney tops, but at their leaders: the people who sit atop institutions, wield power and set the line that others follow. The top of the totem pole is the sole focal point, and the stories that count usually come from the heights of power.

Bend your neck back far enough and Davos becomes not a talking shop in a Swiss ski resort, but a gathering of world leaders; Keir Starmer flying into Beijing is a summit of great powers; even who should be the MP for Gorton and Denton is really all about the Labour leadership. For this piece, the Guardian’s research librarians counted how many times the words “leader” or “leadership” appeared across the British press. Over the past week alone, the rough total stands at 2,000. A third of those stories concern one man: Donald Trump.

Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist

Published: January 29, 2026, 6:00 am

From incel culture to the White House: American Psycho’s dark hold on modern masculinity

As the musical version of the notoriously gory book returns to the stage, its tale of 80s yuppie nihilism feels more relevant than ever in the era of Andrew Tate, Trump and tech bros

I have just witnessed a murder. Spattered against the white walls of the Almeida theatre are several thin streaks of blood. Underneath them a particularly gruesome-looking hand axe rests on a table. And on the other side of the room, a clue to who the perpetrator might be. Discarded next to someone’s laptop is a business card – bone-coloured, raised black lettering – bearing a familiar name: Patrick Bateman.

Him again.

Published: January 29, 2026, 8:00 am

The rise of Fafo parenting: is this the end of gentle child rearing?

Mothers on social media are advocating a tough, no-nonsense approach to parenting. Does this teach children important lessons – or just make them feel isolated and ashamed?

A couple of weeks ago, a video posted on TikTok by Paige Carter, a mother in Florida, went viral. Carter explained that she had thrown her daughter’s iPad out of the window when she had been misbehaving on the way to school, and she films herself retrieving the tablet, now with a cracked screen. The video has been watched 4.9m times, and Carter was congratulated in the comments, with one person writing “Learning Fafo at an early age: top tier parenting.” Welcome to the parenting trend that doesn’t seem to be disappearing: “Fuck around and find out.”

In another video, when a small child announces he is going to leave home, his mother says “see ya”, shuts the front door behind him, and turns off the outside light – then opens the door to him screaming and pounding to be let back in (it has been liked 1.5m times). He had learned, said his mother, “the meaning of Fafo”.

Published: January 29, 2026, 5:00 am

Bridgerton season four review – fear not nudity fans, the sex scenes continue apace

This period drama’s puddingy mix of clunking soap and fairytale wish-fulfilment is hard to resist. It is, however, utterly bananas

‘I am charting a more venturesome course outside this society and in doing so I am being true to myself!” snorts Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), flaring his philandering nostrils as Lady Violet (Ruth Gemmell) looks on aghast. “But you still have two sisters who must marry and their fate depends on the family reputation,” she snaps, bustle crackling with maternal indignation. “This requires you to be a gentleman and not … a rake!”

At this point, when faced with such period-specific umbrage, it is customary for the casual viewer to insert her monocle and refer to her dog-eared copy of The Crashingly Inevitable Downton Abbey Comparisons Companion. And in many ways Bridgerton, bless its ridiculous socks, continues to invite such comparisons with open arms. There are costumes. There is a house. There are scones (pronounced “scones”, of course, not – heaven forfend – “scones”) and scrunch-faced toffs clearing their throats at news from the shires. There are scullery maids a-titterin’ an’ a-gossipin’ and footmen with calves like bowling balls plotting to relieve dignitaries of their britches. There is a string-heavy score that becomes aroused at times of narrative tension and actively tumescent at the sight of a poorly secured cravat.

Published: January 29, 2026, 8:01 am

What technology takes from us – and how to take it back | Rebecca Solnit

Decisions outsourced, chatbots for friends, the natural world an afterthought: Silicon Valley is giving us life void of connection. There is a way out – but it’s going to take collective effort

Summer after summer, I used to descend into a creek that had carved a deep bed shaded by trees and lined with blackberry bushes whose long thorny canes arced down from the banks, dripping with sprays of fruit. Down in that creek, I’d spend hours picking until I had a few gallons of berries, until my hands and wrists were covered in scratches from the thorns and stained purple from the juice, until the tranquillity of that place had soaked into me.

Published: January 29, 2026, 5:00 am

‘If you want to nuke your life, do crack’: raw Courtney Love documentary hits Sundance

Antiheroine, a new film about the musician’s tumultuous life and career, premiered at the festival with some frank admissions but the star not present

A new documentary about the gen X icon and “queen of grunge” Courtney Love caused a stir at the Sundance film festival – without the legendary Hole frontwoman in attendance.

The musician and actor, now 61, was supposed to attend the premiere of Antiheroine, a new retrospective documentary by Edward Lovelace and James Hall that traces her storied life and career, but did not make it for undisclosed reasons. “We’re really gutted that Courtney couldn’t make it tonight to celebrate this moment with us all,” said Lovelace in his introduction for the film’s premiere in Park City, Utah, calling Love “so unfiltered, so truthful”.

Published: January 28, 2026, 6:42 pm

Videos show altercation between Alex Pretti and federal officers 11 days before he was killed

Three newly discovered videos show the Minneapolis ICU nurse being tackled by federal agents in a prior confrontation

• Senate Democrats demand DHS funding bill include reforms to ‘rein in ICE’

Videos emerged on Wednesday of a previous confrontation between Alex Pretti and federal agents, 11 days before the ICU nurse was fatally shot by federal officers in Minneapolis.

About two minutes of video, published on Wednesday by The News Movement, a digital news outlet, shows an incident on 13 January in Minneapolis in which officers appeared to grab Pretti and bring him to the ground during intense community protests against the federal crackdown in the city.

Published: January 29, 2026, 5:03 am

Iran accused of ‘campaign of revenge’ as doctors arrested for treating protesters

US state department calls for the release of all detained healthcare workers as at least one arrested surgeon reported to be at risk of execution

Doctors are being arrested in Iran for helping save the lives of some of the tens of thousands injured during Iran’s brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests, with at least one surgeon now at risk of being sentenced to death.

The arrests and death sentence are part of a campaign of “revenge”, say human rights groups, after healthcare workers and doctors refused to ignore the plight of badly injured protesters shot or stabbed at close range, and in some cases set up makeshift treatment centres.

Published: January 29, 2026, 5:00 am

US leads record global surge in gas-fired power driven by AI demands, with big costs for the climate

Projects this year expected to triple global gas capacity, forecast finds, as concerns grow over impacts on planet

The US is leading a huge global surge in new gas-fired power generation that will cause a major leap in planet-heating emissions, with this record boom driven by the expansion of energy-hungry datacenters to service artificial intelligence, according to a new forecast.

This year is set to shatter the annual record for new gas power additions around the world, with planned and under-construction projects earmarked for 2026 set to nearly triple the amount of existing gas capacity, a report by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) found.

Published: January 29, 2026, 11:00 am

Baltimore bridge collapse: crew members from ship still held by US two years on

Despite no criminal charges being brought against them, four officers have been detained since the MV Dali struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge, killing six workers

Several crew members of a ship that collided with a bridge in Baltimore almost two years ago are still being held in the US by federal authorities despite the fact that no criminal charges have been brought against them.

In the early hours of 26 March 2024, the MV Dali departed the port of Baltimore bound for Sri Lanka. While navigating the Fort McHenry channel, the 1,000ft-long Singapore-flagged cargo vessel lost power before striking the bridge. The impact resulted in the deaths of six people who were working on the bridge at the time.

Published: January 29, 2026, 11:00 am

Russia ‘trying to bomb and freeze’ Ukrainians to submission, EU’s foreign policy chief warns – Europe live

Kaja Kallas also played down the idea of ‘a European army’ saying that it remained to be a domain for national authorities

The European Union has announced plans to spend €145m on aid for Ukraine “to provide protection assistance, shelter, food, cash assistance, psychosocial support, and access to water and health services” amid worsening humanitarian situation in the country after recent Russian strikes on its energy infrastructure.

The European Commission said:

“After more than a decade of hostilities and almost four years of full-scale war, the people of Ukraine continue to endure immense suffering. Daily civilian casualties, widespread infrastructure destruction, and mass displacement are further exacerbating the massive humanitarian needs.

With Russia’s ongoing attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, millions in the country are exposed to freezing temperatures.”

Published: January 29, 2026, 11:10 am

Millions creating deepfake nudes on Telegram as AI tools drive global wave of digital abuse

Analysis finds at least 150 channels on messaging app that are distributing AI-generated images and video

Millions of people around the world are creating and sharing deepfake nudes on the secure messaging app Telegram, a Guardian analysis has shown, as the spread of advanced AI tools industrialises the online abuse of women.

The Guardian has identified at least 150 Telegram channels – large encrypted group chats popular for their secure communication – that appear to have users in many countries, from the UK to Brazil, China to Nigeria, Russia to India. Some of them offer “nudified” photos or videos for a fee: users can upload a photo of any woman, and AI will produce a video of that woman performing sexual acts. Many more offer a feed of images – of celebrities, social media influencers and ordinary women – made nude or made to perform sexual acts by AI. Followers are also using the channels to share tips on available deepfake tools.

Published: January 29, 2026, 11:00 am

Tesla discontinues Model X and S vehicles as Elon Musk pivots to robotics

High hopes for Optimus robot help company beat forecasts despite yearly revenue decline and flailing car business

In the clearest sign yet that Tesla is pivoting away from its electric car business, CEO Elon Musk announced on Wednesday’s investor call that the company would discontinue production of its Model X SUV and Model S full-size sedan.

“It’s time to basically bring the Model S and X programs to an end,” Musk said. “We expect to wind down S and X production next quarter.”

Published: January 28, 2026, 10:57 pm

A potentially habitable new planet has been discovered 146 light-years away – but it may be -70C

The Earth-size planet HD 137010 b has a ‘50% chance of residing in the habitable zone’ of its sun-like star, scientists say

Astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable new planet about 146 light-years away which is Earth-sized and has conditions similar to Mars.

The candidate planet, named HD 137010 b, orbits a sun-like star and is estimated to be 6% larger than Earth.

Published: January 29, 2026, 5:00 am

Paul Dano reacts to Tarantino criticism: ‘I was incredibly grateful that the world spoke up for me’

Actor says the defence of his peers and fans was ‘really nice’ after Quentin Tarantino’s scathing assessment calling Dano ‘a weak, weak, uninteresting guy’

Paul Dano has responded to Quentin Tarantino’s scathing criticism of his acting abilities, thanking those who came to his defence after Tarantino called him a “weak, uninteresting guy” and “the limpest dick in the world”.

On Wednesday, Dano told Variety that the supportive responses that poured in from his peers and across social media was touching.

Published: January 28, 2026, 11:38 pm

Trump news at a glance: ‘next attack will be far worse’ says president as he ratchets up threats on Iran

US president tells Tehran that time is running out to make a deal on future of nuclear program – key US politics stories from 28 January 2026

President Trump has again raised the spectre of military intervention in Iran, warning the country to “Come to the Table” and quickly negotiate a deal.

Noting that time was running out, Trump threatened that if an agreement could not be reached: “The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again.”

Published: January 29, 2026, 12:42 am

Senate Democrats demand DHS funding bill include reforms to ‘rein in ICE’

Move sets up clash with Republicans that could see government partially shut down in coming days

Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, on Wednesday demanded that legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) include a ban on wearing masks and other reforms aimed at federal agents involved in immigration enforcement, setting up a clash with Republicans that could see the government partially shut down in the coming days.

Congress is racing to head off a lapse in federal funding from beginning after Friday, and the Senate’s Republican leaders plan to hold a key procedural vote on Thursday on the DHS funding measure and five bills that authorize spending by several other government departments.

Published: January 28, 2026, 11:02 pm

Rubio declines to rule out further US military action in Venezuela at Senate hearing

Secretary of state says administration does not intend to take such action but Trump ‘does reserve the option’

Marco Rubio has declined to rule out future US military action in Venezuela but insisted the Trump administration did not intend to take such steps, as he faced questions from lawmakers over Washington’s unprecedented intervention.

The US secretary of state appeared before the Senate foreign relations committee on Wednesday to defend the removal of Nicolás Maduro, which has left Venezuela under the control of interim president Delcy Rodríguez while the US seizes and sells its oil.

Published: January 28, 2026, 5:10 pm

Is this the darkest period of Donald Trump’s second term?

The White House’s tone might be softening after outrage about the Minnesota ICE shootings, but there’s no reason to expect a policy shift

• This was originally published in This Week in Trumpland; sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday

Has the US entered the darkest period of Donald Trump’s second term? It certainly feels like it. The Trump administration’s cruel obsession with immigration had already yielded imprisonments, deaths and deportations, but the recent trend of immigration agents gunning down US citizens in the streets surely represents a painful new step.

The government’s immediate reaction to the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were killed less than three weeks apart in Minneapolis, has only intensified the air of menace.

Published: January 28, 2026, 5:15 pm

A helper and a patriot: Alex Pretti’s family and friends on the life of nurse killed by federal agents

People who knew Pretti describe him as ‘generous with his time’ and denounce the Trump administration’s assessment of him

Travis Vanden Heuvel had been following the recent news out of Minnesota for weeks. On Saturday morning, like many others, he saw video clips of the second fatal shooting by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis this month.

But the story became personal later that day. That afternoon, Vanden Heuvel’s former choir director reached out to tell him that the man who had been shot was Alex Pretti – a childhood friend with whom he had been in choir.

Published: January 29, 2026, 10:00 am

‘Nothing has changed’: Minneapolis on edge despite Trump’s de-escalation vow

The departure of Greg Bovino has not quelled ICE’s raids – and hope that tensions are easing feels distant

In the days after the killing of 37‑year‑old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, signs emerged that the Trump administration understood how quickly anger at federal immigration agents could ignite across Minnesota and the nation.

Early in the week, the president touted “very good” phone calls with Minnesota governor Tim Walz – whom Trump routinely disparages – and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey.

Published: January 29, 2026, 11:00 am

The slopaganda era: 10 AI images posted by the White House - and what they teach us

Under Donald Trump, the White House has filled its social media with memes, wishcasting, nostalgia and deepfakes. Here’s what you need to know to navigate the trolling

It started with an image of Trump as a king mocked up on a fake Time magazine cover. Since then it’s developed into a full-blown phenomenon, one academics are calling “slopaganda” – an unholy alliance of easily available AI tools and political messaging. “Shitposting”, the publishing of deliberately crude, offensive content online to provoke a reaction, has reached the level of “institutional shitposting”, according to Know Your Meme’s editor Don Caldwell. This is trolling as official government communication. And nobody is more skilled at it than the Trump administration – a government that has not only allowed the AI industry all the regulative freedom it desires, but has embraced the technology for its own in-house purposes. Here are 10 of the most significant fake images the White House has put out so far.

Published: January 29, 2026, 10:00 am

Taliban birth control ban: women ‘broken’ by lethal pregnancies and untreated miscarriages

Women across Afghanistan describe the traumatic impact of disappearing clinics and contraception

Parwana* no longer recognises her own children. Once known for her beauty in her village in Kandahar province, the 36-year-old sits on the floor of her mother’s home, rocking silently. After nine pregnancies and six miscarriages, many under pressure from her husband and in-laws, Parwana has slipped into a permanent state of confusion.

“She is lost,” says her mother, Sharifa. “They broke her with fear, pregnancies and violence.”

Published: January 29, 2026, 9:00 am

As Colombia moves to outlaw cockfighting, a bloody night unfolds in Cartagena

Cheers erupt at each killing blow in an arena facing extinction after a landmark court ruling

On the outskirts of Cartagena – far from the brightly coloured facades of the old city and the 500-year-old fortress walls overlooking the Caribbean – a crowd of about 300 people erupted into a roar. Given Colombians’ passion for football, it could have been the celebration of a goal.

But the cheers followed the bloody climax of bout in a cockfighting ring whose white padded walls were now splattered with blood.

Published: January 29, 2026, 11:00 am

You be the judge: should my husband stop expecting me to come to all his family gatherings?

Edwin wants Chloe to join him at all of his large family’s events, but she values her independence. You decide who is playing happy families
• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

It’s thoughtless to wheel me out to his family as a formality. I need my own space sometimes

Published: January 29, 2026, 8:00 am

Is This Thing On? review – funny is as funny does in Bradley Cooper’s John Bishop-inspired tale

Cooper directs Will Arnett in this likable, semi-believable story about a man heading for a divorce who discovers a cathartic outlet in comedy

Comic actor Will Arnett finally gets a straight dramatic role and he’s playing … a comedian. Well, a would-be comedian. But he’s not an outrageously awful or failing one; the point of this film is not the delicious ironic cringe of delusional loserdom, as it is with Arnett’s small-screen roles such as the hopeless magician Gob Bluth in Arrested Development, or the washed-up equine star in the animation BoJack Horseman, or even his scheming figure skater Stranz Van Waldenberg in the movie Blades of Glory.

Arnett plays Alex, a regular guy with a regular job, married with two young kids but unhappily heading for divorce. He discovers standup comedy by performing in an open mic slot one night on a weed-fuelled whim, and finds that audiences love his unfunny but sweetly honest confessional ramblings. And then he kind of improves – but are we supposed to think by the end that he is, in fact, genuinely funny? It’s not entirely clear. And the film, though likable and spirited and nicely acted, isn’t completely convincing on its own terms. It is, after all, intended to be funny on its own account.

Published: January 29, 2026, 7:00 am

‘Of course I’m scared’: people confront their final days – in pictures

Sibylle Fendt’s intimate photographs of terminally ill patients and their carers were inspired by the death of her own husband – a period in which she experienced pain, tenderness and love

Published: January 29, 2026, 7:00 am

Shut it down! The US is better off with no government than with the one it has | Judith Levine

As senators refuse to fund Trump’s immigration crackdown, a partial shutdown is likely. For Democrats, it’s the right move

Shut it down!

It took not one but two killings of unarmed white American citizens by immigration enforcement agents for the Democrats to commit to withholding funds from the Department of Homeland Security, the agency of which Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the border patrol – the killers – are part.

Published: January 29, 2026, 11:00 am

As the Taliban step up their war on women and girls, it is clear that appeasement has failed | Gordon Brown

Major powers have renewed diplomatic links while others seek deals to deport migrants. And all the while gender repression is getting worse

Afghanistan’s Taliban government has now issued its most extreme edict yet. It is already the only regime in the world where girls are excluded from secondary education. Now it has gone further, debarring all Afghan women from any contact with schools or education and doubling down on what has been rightly condemned as “gender apartheid”.

This latest wave of repression, which is likely to be classified by United Nations legal authorities as a crime against humanity, marks the victory of the extreme Kandahar clerical faction over Kabul-based government ministers. It is also the latest step in the plan of supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada to erase girls and women from public life.

Gordon Brown is the UN’s special envoy for global education and was UK prime minister from 2007 to 2010

Published: January 29, 2026, 11:00 am

The post-US world is already taking shape – look at the massive EU-India trade deal | Ravinder Kaur

The ‘mother of all deals’ is as much about the tariff-heavy geopolitics of the Trump era as it is about bilateral trade

The year was 2007. Steve Jobs had announced the launch of the first iPhone, the sub-prime mortgage crisis was bubbling up in the US, the EU had enlarged to include Romania and Bulgaria, and India had for the first time become a trillion-dollar economy. This was when trade talks between Delhi and Brussels were initiated for the first time. But it wouldn’t be until this very week, almost 20 years later, that a deal was signed after a few final months of unusually accelerated negotiations.

On Tuesday, the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Council António Costa and India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced the “mother of all deals”, which promises to bring together about 2 billion consumers and a quarter of the world’s GDP. The agreement opens parts of India’s famously protectionist domestic market with a focus on exporting manufacturing and services; in return, middle-class Indian consumers will find it cheaper to buy European cars and wine. The overarching EU-India comprehensive strategic agenda is really much larger in scope, taking in defence and security, commitments to multilateralism, mobility and cooperation in a range of areas.

Ravinder Kaur is professor of Asian studies at the University of Copenhagen and is writing a book about the history of the global south

Published: January 29, 2026, 8:00 am

Child-free spaces on trains? This isn’t the family-friendly France I know | Helen Massy-Beresford

Manners and respect are the norm for kids here. Treating them like a nuisance won’t do anything to help France’s declining birthrate

In French culture, seven is known as “l’âge de raison”, the age at which children know right from wrong and can take some moral responsibility. France’s national rail operator, it seems, puts the age at which a child can be trusted to behave in a non-annoying way onboard a train a bit higher.

In launching its new Optimum plus tariff earlier this month, offering spaces onboard its weekday TGV trains between Paris and Lyon with bigger, more comfortable seats, fancy food and no under-12s, SNCF was trying to appeal to the many business travellers who make that journey. But the move has sparked a backlash and a philosophical debate about the place of children in society, against the backdrop of a worrying decline in French birthrates. “We can’t on one hand say that we are not having enough children and on the other hand try to exclude them from everywhere,” argues Sarah El Haïry, France’s high commissioner for childhood.

Helen Massy-Beresford is a British journalist and editor who lives in Paris

Published: January 29, 2026, 5:00 am

I’m a tech-savvy zillennial who knows how to safeguard against hacking. Scammers still managed to get me | Caitlin Cassidy

Had I received any suspicious text messages claiming to be from my bank, the fraud team asked. Had I clicked on the links? My stomach dropped

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

The scariest part about getting scammed was not realising it was happening in the first place.

Perhaps naively, I never thought I would be the victim of a cyber scam. I’m reasonably digitally literate and have had it drilled into me to be wary of phishing emails and strange text messages. I’ve even received training at my workplace on how to safeguard yourself against hacking.

Published: January 29, 2026, 1:00 am

Pegula v Rybakina, Sabalenka eases past Svitolina: Australian Open 2026 semi-finals – live

Aryna Sabalenka (1) beats Elina Svitolina (12) 6-2, 6-3
Swiatek backs Gauff over privacy concerns | Mail Daniel

Sabalenka to serve, ready … play.

You can’t argue with Svitolina’s run to the last four. She’s beaten Shnaider, Andreeva and Gauff – who, admittedly, had her absolute worst day – without losing a set, won in Auckland before that, and won’t ever have felt better about her game. I’m excited to see what her plan is, because we can be sure she’ll have one.

Published: January 29, 2026, 11:33 am

Teófimo López: ‘Anything that has haunted me from the past, I’ve let all those things go’

Ahead of his blockbuster Madison Square Garden clash with Shakur Stevenson on Saturday night, boxing’s most mercurial star reflects on pressure, purpose and parenthood

Teófimo López’s boxing career has unfolded in untidy extremes, and few places have captured those contradictions like Madison Square Garden. It’s the building where he boat-raced Richard Commey inside two rounds to win his first world title aged 22, saw his fast track to superstardom abruptly derailed as a heavy favorite, then returned two years later to dismantle Josh Taylor as the underdog and stamp himself as a two-division champion. Now on Saturday night, when he defends his junior welterweight title against Shakur Stevenson in a clash of arguably the two best American fighters active today, the Garden may finally make it clear which version of López is here to stay.

“It’s the magnitude of it all,” says López, one of boxing’s most charismatic and mercurial personalities, filling my screen with warmth and effortless third-person bravado during the final days of his training camp in Hollywood, Florida. “Who’s going to really set the tone for the sport? You’ve got Shakur Stevenson, who wants that baton, and you’ve got Teófimo López who believes he’s the better representation for boxing.”

Published: January 29, 2026, 8:00 am

João Pedro’s double dumps out Napoli as Chelsea make last 16 with late win

Liam Rosenior made a mess, cleaned it up and left Naples praying that Cole Palmer’s injury woes are over. All over the place during a wretched first half, an inspired comeback had Chelsea celebrating at full time. They had looked to Palmer for inspiration and, although the attacker was kept in reserve until the second half, he did enough during his time on the pitch to show why Chelsea have responded to suggestions that their main man is pining for a return to Manchester by branding him untouchable.

It was a cutting cameo from the player whose virtuoso brilliance downed Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final last summer. Introduced with Chelsea 2-1 down against Napoli and staring at the prospect of a two-leg playoff to reach the last 16 of the Champions League, Palmer was minimalistic but impactful. The 23-year-old’s presence alone was enough to restore order and, even if he is still not in peak condition, his first assists of a season disrupted by an array of niggles were a reminder of what Chelsea have been missing while their best player has been recovering from nagging groin and thigh complaints.

Published: January 28, 2026, 10:06 pm

Boxing star Gervonta Davis arrested on kidnapping charges after two-week manhunt

• Davis arrested after US Marshals surveillance operation

• Warrant alleges battery, false imprisonment, kidnapping

• Arrest follows lawsuit and cancelled Jake Paul bout

Gervonta Davis, a three-division world champion and one of boxing’s biggest stars, was taken into custody in Miami on Wednesday, nearly two weeks after police issued an arrest warrant accusing the fighter of battery, false imprisonment and attempted kidnapping in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident last fall.

Miami Gardens police said Davis was apprehended following a multi-day surveillance operation conducted across three counties in coordination with the US Marshals Fugitive Task Force. Authorities said he was arrested without incident in Miami’s Design District and booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center late Wednesday night.

Published: January 29, 2026, 7:12 am

‘Fascism is here now’: the US athletes pushing back on Trump’s America

World Series winner Sean Doolittle, Super Bowl champion Doug Baldwin and college star McKenzie Forbes have strong opinions on a troubled era

At 6.38pm CST on Saturday January 24, Indiana Pacer star Tyrese Haliburton posted on X: “Alex Pretti was murdered.”

The NBA star was one of the first athletes to respond to what can only be described as the public execution by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Pretti’s death was the culmination of a weeks-long campaign of terror conducted against residents of the city, including Renee Good, who was herself killed by DHS forces just two weeks earlier. Indeed, “Operation Metro Surge” in Minneapolis has accounted for two-thirds of homicides in the city in 2026.

Published: January 28, 2026, 11:00 am

ICE agents expected to be deployed for Super Bowl in California, officials say

Local officials confirmed that ICE will conduct immigration operations during 8 February game in Santa Clara

US Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) agents are expected to conduct immigration enforcement operations during next month’s Super Bowl game in Santa Clara, California.

Local officials confirmed to media that ICE is expected to deploy for the game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations team has long worked the Super Bowl and other major sporting events, largely focused on preventing human trafficking and stopping the sale of counterfeit goods, but immigration operations would be unusual.

Published: January 28, 2026, 7:37 pm

Patrick Reed quits rebel LIV Golf tour in latest blow to Saudi-backed breakaway

• American becomes latest major winner to exit

• 2018 Masters champion will be eligible for PGA Tour

Patrick Reed has delivered the ­latest high-profile blow to LIV Golf by announcing he will leave the circuit before the start of its 2026 season.

The 35-year-old American former Masters champion joins Brooks Koepka by instead focusing on the PGA Tour. Reed will spend his immediate time on the DP World Tour, where he won the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday. Reed tees up in Bahrain from Thursday.

Published: January 28, 2026, 5:30 pm

‘Insane’: LeBron and Mahomes lead backlash after Belichick’s reported Hall of Fame snub

• Belichick widely seen as one of greatest ever coaches

• Hall of Fame declines to comments on ESPN report

Six-time Super Bowl champion head coach Bill Belichick has been snubbed by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, according to a report from ESPN.

Citing four unidentified sources, ESPN reported on Tuesday that Belichick didn’t receive the necessary 40 votes from the 50-person panel of media members and other Hall of Famers. ESPN said the longtime New England Patriots coach received a call from the Hall of Fame last Friday with the news. According to the report, Belichick said “Six Super Bowls isn’t enough?” when he was told the news.

The Hall of Fame declined to comment before its class of 2026 is announced at NFL Honors in San Francisco on 5 February.

Published: January 28, 2026, 2:23 am

‘Animals in the zoo’: Iga Swiatek backs Coco Gauff over Australian Open privacy concerns

• American was caught on camera smashing racket

• ‘It would be nice to have some privacy,’ says Swiatek

Iga Swiatek backed up Coco Gauff’s complaints about a lack of privacy at the Australian Open by claiming that players are treated like zoo animals.

Gauff sought a spot away from ­public view to let her frustration out by smashing a racket after her quarter-final defeat against Elina ­Svitolina on Tuesday, only to find out she was on camera after all.

Published: January 28, 2026, 7:44 am

Federal Reserve holds interest rates as Trump piles on pressure

Fed voted to pause cuts to interest rate, which currently sits between 3.5% and 3.75%, after slashing it three times in fall

The US Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged after its first rate-setting meeting of the year on Wednesday, resisting enormous pressure from the White House to lower rates.

A majority of members in the Fed’s federal open market committee (FOMC) voted to pause interest rate cuts after slashing rates three times in the fall. Rates currently sit at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%.

Published: January 28, 2026, 8:36 pm

Meta wows Wall Street despite spending billions on AI and facing social media addiction trial

Firm’s fourth-quarter 2025 beat expectations as it lavishes investment on AI infrastructure and CEO faces questioning

As Meta spends billions on artificial intelligence data centers and its CEO prepares to testify in a landmark social media trial, the company is earning a pretty penny.

Meta reported strong financial results on Wednesday, beating Wall Street expectations of $58.59bn with $59.89bn in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2025. It reported earnings per share (EPS) of $8.88 – which also surpassed Wall Street expectations of $8.23 in EPS. Meta’s stocks jumped nearly 10% in after-hours trading after the release.

Published: January 29, 2026, 12:07 am

FBI executes search warrant at election office in Fulton county, Georgia

County spokesperson says warrant seeks number of 2020 election records while FBI declines to give further details

The FBI executed a search warrant at the election office in Fulton county, Georgia, on Wednesday for records related to the 2020 election, according to a spokesperson for the county and the FBI.

The warrant sought all ballots from the 2020 election in Fulton county, tabulator tapes, ballot images and voter rolls, according to a warrant obtained by the Guardian.

Published: January 29, 2026, 1:51 am

Planes hit by gunfire and blasts heard at airport in Niger capital – reports

Source says two aircraft on ground ‘destroyed’ although authorities yet to comment on situation

Gunfire and loud blasts have been heard at the main airport in the Nigerien capital of Niamey, according to the Reuters news agency and an independent source.

A witness told Reuters they heard explosions just after midnight. The airport is next to Base Aérienne 101, a military base previously used by American and then Russian troops.

Published: January 29, 2026, 10:33 am

Xi-Starmer meeting: Chinese leader tells PM he hopes both countries can ‘rise above differences’

China agrees visa-free travel for British citizens as countries sign agreements on closer economic cooperation

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The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has said the UK’s relationship with his country had gone through “twists and turns” over the years but that a more “consistent” approach was in both their interests.

Ahead of talks with Keir Starmer during the first visit to China by a British prime minister in eight years, Xi said the two men would “stand the test of history” if they could “rise above differences”.

Published: January 29, 2026, 11:22 am

‘Shameful’: Trump’s EPA accused of prioritizing big business over public health

A year into Trump’s second term, critics say the EPA is rolling back dozens of protections and giving a leg up to polluters

After a tumultuous year under the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has adopted a new, almost unrecognizable guise – one that tears up environmental rules and cheerleads for coal, gas-guzzling cars and artificial intelligence.

When Donald Trump took power, it was widely anticipated the EPA would loosen pollution rules from sources such as cars, trucks and power plants, as part of a longstanding back and forth between administrations over how strict such standards should be.

Published: January 28, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘I wasn’t going to be diverted,’ says King Charles about campaign on the environment

Monarch says he has remained focused despite early criticisms of his beliefs, in new film Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision

King Charles has revealed he “wasn’t going to be diverted” from his environmental campaigning despite criticism in the past in a new documentary showcasing his philosophy of “Harmony”.

In the Amazon Prime Video film, his first project with a streaming platform, Charles recalls past attacks on his outspokenness on the environment, saying: “I just felt this was the approach that I was going to stick to. A course I set and I wasn’t going to be diverted from.”

Published: January 28, 2026, 5:30 pm

Pregnant, 19 and facing down a mutiny: how did Mary Ann Patten steer her way into seafaring lore?

Finding herself in charge of her sick husband’s clipper, a self-taught working-class teenager overcame storms, icebergs and a disloyal first mate to get her ship to safety

No one knows exactly what Mary Ann Patten said in September 1856 when she convinced a crew on the verge of mutiny to accept her command as captain. What is known is that Patten, who was 19 and pregnant, was a force to be reckoned with.

After taking the helm from her sick husband in the middle of a ferocious storm off the coast of Cape Horn, the notoriously hazardous tip of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago off southern Chile, she successfully put down the mutiny and navigated her way to safety through a sea of icebergs.

Published: January 28, 2026, 11:00 am

Smothering, bullying, stabbing: how it feels to be in one of the hottest places on Earth

Everything felt like it was swelling, and despite my diligent consumption of water and Hydralyte, I couldn’t quite escape the persistent, low-level nausea. Even thinking took longer

My mother grew up in Warracknabeal, a speck of a town four hours from Melbourne, Australia, in the wide, wheat country of the Wimmera – that part of Victoria where the sky starts to stretch, where you can see weather happening 100 kilometres away.

Once or twice a year, our family would pack into the rattling old LandCruiser and drive up to visit my grandmother. It can’t always have been blistering weather but my memories of those trips are shot through with summer heat: the peeling paint of my grandmother’s house, the blasted-dry grass of the reserve over the road and its ancient metal monkey bars, so hot they burned your hands. Once, a dust storm blew up while we were there, engulfing the small weatherboard house in howling dirty orange.

Published: January 28, 2026, 6:52 am

‘I was violated and put in extreme danger’: women denied abortions sue over Arkansas ban

Suit filed by Amplify Legal says laws violate constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

As Emily Waldorf languished in an Arkansas hospital, she felt like “a ticking time bomb”. It was 2024, and the physical therapist was in the midst of miscarrying a much-wanted pregnancy. But because her fetus still had a heartbeat, hospital officials said Arkansas’s near-total abortion ban blocked them from taking steps to induce labor and end her pregnancy.

Instead, Waldorf had to wait and hope that she didn’t develop a deadly infection.

Published: January 28, 2026, 8:16 pm

Microsoft shrugs off AI bubble fears again with strong financial results

Company reports second-quarter revenues of $81.27bn but posts slowing growth in key cloud computing business

Investor interest in Microsoft shares may have weakened in recent months, but the company posted strong financial results on Wednesday which yet again demonstrated that the AI boom is roaring on.

Microsoft reported earnings for the second quarter of fiscal year that are likely to keep the party going for Wall Street, despite slowing growth in its key cloud computing business.

Published: January 28, 2026, 9:48 pm

Bruce Springsteen releases anti-ICE song dedicated to Minneapolis

Singer says song is in response to ‘state terror’ visiting city, painting image of unrest due to ‘King Trump’s private army’

Bruce Springsteen has released a new song dedicated to Minnesota’s largest city as a response to “the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis” and the recent killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in the city.

In a message shared on social media, Springsteen explained: “I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free.”

Published: January 28, 2026, 6:36 pm

Chicago’s United Center to offer cannabis drinks – could other arenas follow?

Drinks to be sold at concerts under federal legislation but attenders may have to wait to imbibe at sporting events

THC-infused beverages will now be available at special events in the United Center, the home of the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Blackhawks, which some experts suggest may pave the way for other arenas to do the same.

These drinks can be sold outside of state-legal recreational dispensaries because they are part of the hemp-derived cannabis market that is currently legal on the federal level.

Published: January 28, 2026, 1:07 pm

Veteran Indian politician Ajit Pawar dies in plane crash, leaving power vacuum

Three days of mourning were declared in the Indian state of Maharashtra after the death of the state’s deputy chief minister

Three days of mourning have been declared in the Indian state of Maharashtra after the death of the state’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who was killed when his plane went down in flames on Wednesday.

Pawar, who had spent decades in politics in the wealthy and powerful Indian state, was travelling back to campaign in his home constituency when his plane made a failed attempted landing and caught fire as it hit the ground.

Published: January 29, 2026, 6:19 am

Universal basic income could be used to soften hit from AI job losses in UK, minister says

Lord Stockwood says people in government ‘definitely’ talking about idea as technology disrupts industries

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The UK could introduce a universal basic income (UBI) to protect workers in industries that are being disrupted by AI, the investment minister Jason Stockwood has said.

“Bumpy” changes to society caused by the introduction of the technology would mean there would have to be “some sort of concessionary arrangement with jobs that go immediately”, Lord Stockwood said.

Published: January 29, 2026, 10:40 am

US robotaxis undergo training for London’s quirks before planned rollout this year

Waymo cars have been earning their stripes by getting used to zebra crossings while awaiting a government green light

American robotaxis due to be unleashed on London’s streets before the end of the year have been quietly undergoing training to understand the city’s quirks, not least the zebra crossings, their promoters said on Thursday as they showed off one of the UK-specific driverless cars for the first time.

The US self-driving ride-hailing company Waymo has a fleet of about 24 cars in London, each rigged with cameras, radar and lidar (light detection and ranging) sensors.

Published: January 29, 2026, 7:00 am

China executes 11 people linked to Myanmar scam operation

Beijing has stepped up cooperation with south-east Asian nations to crack down on the multibillion-dollar industry

China on Thursday executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” involved in scam operations, state media reported.

Scam compounds have flourished in Myanmar’s lawless borderlands, part of a multibillion-dollar illicit industry.

Published: January 29, 2026, 5:50 am

Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash review – clever comedy for our conspiracy theory age

This tender satire of a dysfunctional American family’s search for moral guidance is precisely what our times need

Making the comic novel succeed is a rich, tricky project in our age of desperate, sometimes weirdly eager apocalypticism. Madeline Cash has spotted that a combination of tenderness and satire may be precisely what our times require. Lost Lambs, her debut novel about the Flynn family, is a witty, quickfire book set in a small American town, punch-drunk on clever, skewering lists and infested typographically by the gnats that plague the local church the family attends (“explagnation”, “extermignation”).

The Flynns are in a mess. It was easy for Catherine and Bud to be passionate when he was a young rock star and she was an aspiring artist. But since then they’ve acquired three daughters and a lot of Tupperware. Catherine succumbs to the advances of Jim, an amateur artist who gives her “the youthful comfort of being understood”. He’s rekindled her artistic ambitions, prompting her to decorate the Flynn house with nude self-portraits and proclaim an open marriage. She doesn’t yet know that Jim has a collection of pottery vaginas in his basement (“each of these pussies has touched my life”).

Published: January 29, 2026, 7:00 am

Infinite Icon: A Visual Memoir review – Paris Hilton’s act of self-love shows there’s nothing behind the mask

A look behind the scenes of the star’s second album turns out to reveal exactly what you’d expect, at arduous length

Paris Hilton here presents us with an unbearable act of docu-self-love, avowedly a behind-the-scenes study of her second studio album, Infinite Icon, and where she’s at as a musician, survivor and mom. But maybe there is, in fact, nothing behind the scenes; judging by this, the scenes are all there is: Insta-exhibitionism, empty phrases and show.

Hilton’s second album no doubt has its admirers and detractors, and her fans are perfectly happy with it. But this film, for which she is executive producer, is an indiscriminate non-curation of narcissism and torpid self-importance that seems to go on and on and on for ever; the longest two hours of anyone’s life, finally signing off with a splodge of uninteresting and unedited concert footage.

Published: January 28, 2026, 5:00 pm

See You When I See You review – familar Sundance-y grief comedy drama has its moments

Sundance film festival: Jay Duplass recruits David Duchovny, Hope Davis and Kaitlyn Dever for a patchy, poignant tale

If anyone can speak to the “end of an era” nostalgia coursing through the legacy-minded 2026 Sundance film festival, its final edition in Park City and its first without founder Robert Redford, it would be Jay Duplass. The film-maker first attended the indie festival along with his brother, Mark, in 2003, with a self-proclaimed “$3 film”, then went on to premiere three projects – The Puffy Chair, Baghead and Cyrus – that epitomized the much-debated, very indie mumblecore movement of yore. For the Duplass brothers, the festival was, as it has been for many a small-budget artist trying to break out, the difference between a career and another $3 film. Without Sundance, he recently joked: “I’d probably be a psychologist right now.”

Psychologist sympathies peek through See You When I See You, Duplass’s feature film return to the festival after 16 years largely focused on acting and directing episodic television, notably for Togetherness, Search Party and the criminally underseen Somebody, Somewhere. An earnest adaptation of comedian Adam Cayton-Holland’s memoir, Tragedy Plus Time, the 102-minute film is both a straightforward tribute to psychotherapy and a tightrope walk of tone, attempting to balance profound grief with breezy comedy for a family reeling from a shocking loss.

See You When I See You is screening at the Sundance film festival and is seeking distribution

Published: January 28, 2026, 6:02 pm

Shrinking season three review – Harrison Ford is the best thing about this unapologetically soapy show

This warm, inoffensive but undeniably mawkish comedy about a therapist is cosy but preposterous. Sometimes it’s like the excellent Ford is in a totally different programme

Such is the surfeit of TV offered up to us in the streaming age that there are whole shows featuring A-list actors that only two of your friends have heard of and even fewer are watching. A case in point: Apple’s Shrinking, a dramedy from the creator of Scrubs and Ted Lasso about a grieving therapist who, rather than merely nodding and looking sad, decides to get brutally honest with his patients.

Now in its third season, its brightest star remains Harrison Ford, who plays our protagonist Jimmy’s (Jason Segel) grouchy but good-hearted boss. It’s probably for the best that it isn’t in the big leagues: while Shrinking has its moments of greatness, the series is – by and large – an unapologetically soapy confection best enjoyed, like most sweet things, in moderation.

Shrinking is on Apple TV now.

Published: January 28, 2026, 8:00 am

Wonder Man review – a Marvel TV show with almost no superhero action … and it’s all the better for it

This gem of a series, about an actor with superpowers, is a clever, tender take on male friendship and the film industry. It’s a triumph of storytelling – and a masterclass in acting

We are back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you feel fatigue stealing over you already, banish it! It’s going to be OK. Even though Wonder Man is (by my incredulous reckoning) about the 30th MCU series produced by Marvel Television and companions – from the dizzying heights of WandaVision to … well, She-Hulk – it is a little gem.

And it is quite little, in MCU terms. Not only are the eight episodes only around half an hour long but they also eschew spectacle in favour of storytelling. It’s a radical idea, but you never know, it might catch on.

Published: January 28, 2026, 5:00 am

Gonna be golden? Who will – and should – win the big awards at the 2026 Grammys

The top categories are stacked with quality, from Bad Bunny to Kendrick Lamar, Chappell Roan and K-pop hits – but here are the artists who most deserve to triumph

Bad Bunny – DTMF
Sabrina Carpenter – Manchild
Doechii – Anxiety
Billie Eilish – Wildflower
Kendrick Lamar & SZA – Luther
Lady Gaga – Abracadabra
Chappell Roan – The Subway
Rosé & Bruno Mars – APT.

Published: January 28, 2026, 10:00 am

‘Fascists threatened us but we always took them on’: the anarchic Bradford club still fighting after 45 years

A new book and podcast tell the story of the 1 in 12, a venue that used community and artistic passion as bulwarks against poverty and grim politics. Its founders and key acts recall gigs, plays and pranks on the NME

“Things were getting grim,” says Gary Cavanagh, reflecting on Bradford in the early 1980s. “There was a hell of a lot of unemployment, and people were thrown on the scrap heap.”

Cavanagh was working for Bradford’s claimants union in 1981, helping the city’s poor and unemployed get benefits, when a government report stated that one in 12 dole recipients were defrauding the state. So he and some friends reclaimed this statistic – which they thought was ludicrous – as an identity. “We became the 1 in 12 Club,” he says.

Published: January 28, 2026, 4:08 pm

The Puma by Daniel Wiles review – a visceral tale of cyclical violence

A father and son move to the Patagonian woods – but intensity wanes when a search for home becomes an obsessive quest for revenge

When the protagonist of Daniel Wiles’s debut novel Mercia’s Take, set in a mining community during the industrial revolution, left a bag of gold downstairs unprotected and then went to bed, I actually closed the book, in an attempt to stop the unfolding disaster. After finding this seam of gold, miner Michael dreams that his son will be able to go to school, rather than join the other children who work in the mine, like “blind, bald rodents unearthing themselves in search of scraps of candlelight”. In the novel, which won the 2023 Betty Trask prize, everything closes in on Michael: lungs clog, tunnels collapse, horse-drawn narrowboats are attacked by robbers in the sooty dusk. It’s a vivid reminder of the cost, in bodily suffering, of resource extraction.

The Puma, Wiles’s second novel, is also a serious and intense historical novel about a father with limited resources who attempts to break a cycle of violence. In the early 1950s Bernardo, a more morally ambiguous figure than Michael, has brought his young son James across the Atlantic from England to the house in the Patagonian woods where he himself grew up. James chatters blithely about becoming a footballer, but Bernardo is distracted. He thinks he sees “shadows of his family walking in and out”, reminding him of a childhood in which “his eyes were wide and hurt by the twilight and he was barefooted and emptyhearted”.

Published: January 28, 2026, 9:00 am

David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God by Peter Ormerod review – the making of a modern saint

An exhilarating account of Bowie’s spirituality and the quasi-religious nature of his work, from Space Oddity to Blackstar

It has become a tired cliche among fans to say that everything went wrong in the world after Bowie died in 2016. It also misses the point: rather than being one of the last avatars of a liberal order that has crumbled around our ears, Bowie prophesied the mayhem that has replaced it.

In his later years, he thought that we had entered a zone of chaos and fragmentation. This is what allowed him to be so prescient about the internet – not its promise, but its menace. There is no plan and no order. There is just disaster and social collapse. Those looking for reassurance should not listen to Bowie (please listen to something, anything, else). His world, from Space Oddity through to the background violence of The Next Day and Blackstar, was always drowned or destroyed or incinerated: “This ain’t rock’n’roll, this is genocide” as he exclaims at the beginning of Diamond Dogs.

Published: January 28, 2026, 7:00 am

A poor surprise reveal for Highguard leaves it fighting an uphill battle for good reviews

​In the fiercely competitive market ​of the online multiplayer game, Highguard​’s rocky start means it now has a lot to prove

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In the fast-paced, almost psychotically unforgiving video game business, you really do have to stick the landing. Launching a new game is an artform in itself – do you go for months of slowly building hype or a sudden shock reveal, simultaneously announcing and releasing a new project in one fell swoop? The latter worked incredibly well for online shooter Apex Legends, which remains one of the genre’s stalwarts six years after its surprise launch on 4 February 2019. What you don’t do with a new release, is something that falls awkwardly between those two approaches. Enter Highguard.

This new online multiplayer title from newcomer Wildlight Entertainment has an excellent pedigree. The studio was formed by ex-Respawn Entertainment staff, most of whom previously worked on Titanfall, Call of Duty and the aforementioned Apex Legends. They know what they’re doing. But the launch has been … troubled.

Published: January 28, 2026, 12:35 pm

Are people really going to see Amazon’s $75m Melania documentary?

This weekend sees the release of a controversially funded film about the first lady, directed by a disgraced film-maker

It’s not often that a presidential administration faces a direct referendum at the box office. Sure, there was more than a hint of rebuke in Michael Moore’s 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 unexpectedly becoming the biggest-grossing non-music-or-nature documentary of all time (and highest full stop in North America) while taking re-election-year shots at George W Bush (who went on to squeak out another victory anyway). But that movie was also sold on Moore himself, a recent Oscar winner and fixture in both film and television by that point. Bush was excoriated, but he wasn’t exactly getting top billing. The unambiguous star of this weekend’s Trump-approved documentary is right there in the title: Melania. It’s coming to 1,500 theaters this weekend from Amazon/MGM.

Relatively few documentaries receive a wide release (though Melania is going out in about half as many theaters as last weekend’s Amazon release, the Chris Pratt vehicle Mercy), so comparison points are relatively few. Box office predictions generally place the movie well under Moore’s unlikely high-water mark for the form. Some are guessing the opening weekend will pull in about $1m, which would comfortably keep it off the list of the worst wide openings of all time (the record low for a new release in around 1,500 theaters is about $330,000) but would nonetheless qualify it as a bomb. Others estimate that it will go as high as $5m, putting it in line with rightwing docs like Am I Racist?, the highest-grossing documentary of 2024, which ended its run with $12m. As the Hollywood Reporter points out, technically inching ahead of Am I Racist? and the recent faith-based After Death would boast the biggest non-music launch for a documentary of the past decade.

Published: January 28, 2026, 5:06 pm

‘Do you want to say I’m dated?’ Artist Anne Imhof on her S&M Venice shocker – and the show that earned a mauling

She was the art world’s hottest ticket after her confrontational goths-and-dobermans show at the Venice Biennale. But did she get too cosy with the worlds of fashion and advertising?

‘I don’t know what you want to know,” says Anne Imhof, three-quarters of the way into our interview. Her cautious smile, between curtains of jet black hair, changes into a sceptical pout. I have just quoted a headline at Imhof, one of Germany’s most important contemporary artists, that described her 2025 New York show as “a bad Balenciaga ad”.

Just a few years ago, Imhof was the hottest ticket on the international art circuit: a Golden Lion winner at the 2017 Venice Biennale, whose transformation of the German pavilion into a sinister, S&M-flavoured “catwalk show from hell” had masses scrambling to join the queue. Imhof was a cultural polymath whose shows combined etchings, paintings, dance, live music and film; a muse to fashion designers whose sporty goth aesthetic – Adidas tracksuit bottoms, chunky trainers, black leather – beseiged the clubs of Berlin and beyond.

Published: January 28, 2026, 4:36 pm

Till DVD release do us part: how far will Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi take their Wuthering Heights showmance?

We’ve had declarations of obsession, we’ve had notification of their matching rings … can someone please throw some cold water over this press tour love-fest?

Even though it isn’t released for another fortnight, you may already have formed strong opinions about Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights. Perhaps you hold the position that the novel is a text so sacred that any adaptation whatsoever is equivalent to sacrilege. Or maybe you are excited to see what a noted iconoclast such as Fennell will do with something as fusty as a 179-year-old book.

Either way, it is likely that your key takeaway from the Wuthering Heights press tour so far is that it’s getting a bit much. It has now been revealed that Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi have matching rings decorated with two hugging skeletons and the phrase “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same”.

Published: January 28, 2026, 4:15 pm

Bluey tops US streaming charts in 2025 for second year in a row, with 45bn minutes watched

Australian children’s cartoon series about a family of blue heelers has yet to announce a new season

Australian-made animated series Bluey was the most streamed show in the US for the second year in a row, topping Nielsen’s annual year-end streaming charts for 2025.

US viewers watched 45.2bn minutes of the show on Disney+ according to Nielsen, down from 55.62bn in 2024, but still impressive given the show comprises 154 episodes – most of them less than 10 minutes’ long.

Published: January 29, 2026, 12:01 am

Sledges, bears and a hotel with Wes Anderson vibes: Switzerland’s quirkiest family ski resort

Forget flashy St Moritz or Zermatt, the unsung village of Arosa has childlike charm, with animal sanctuaries, cool accommodation and kid-friendly tobogganing

On the approach to Arosa in the Graubünden Alps, the road is lined with mountain chapels, their stark spires soaring heavenwards; a portent, perhaps, of the ominous route ahead. The sheer-sided valley is skirted with rugged farmhouses and the road twists, over ravines and round hairpin curves, to a holiday destination that feels like a well-kept secret.

On the village’s frozen lake, young families ice skate, hand in hand. A little farther along, on the snow-covered main street, children sled rapidly downhill, overtaking cars. The resort’s mascots are a happy gang of brown bears. And there are Narnia lamp-posts, which turn the falling snow almost gold every evening. Switzerland is replete with ski towns but none feel quite this innocent and childlike, like stepping into a fairytale.

Published: January 29, 2026, 7:00 am

Can you become ugly if you have ugly thoughts?

Our perception of a person’s physical beauty is colored by our perception of their behavior – but what if we divorced inner and outer beauty?

Hey Ugly,

They say we end up with the face we deserve. When we think “ugly” (hurtful, spiteful, non-constructive) thoughts, our faces tense and harden. Similarly, when I ignore my needs, my face shows me signs of it.

Published: January 28, 2026, 5:00 pm

The potato bed: is this the ultimate sleep solution?

It requires copious pillows and duvets, and has gone viral on social media. Will this elaborate new sleeping set-up give you a cosy night’s rest – or just exacerbate your back pain?

Name: The potato bed.

Age: About two months.

Published: January 28, 2026, 5:51 pm

Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: Still wearing a cross-body bag and French-tucking your shirt? Sorry to say, your wardrobe is cringe

If you’re wearing tight clothes and flashing your ankles, you may want to make some bold changes

Is your wardrobe cringe? Does it make you look out-of-touch and cause younger and cooler people to look upon you with pity? Do you really want me to answer that? Never mind, I’m going to anyway, so buckle up. Brutal honesty is very January, so I will give it to you straight. But before we get down to dissecting your wardrobe, two quick questions for you. Do you put full stops in text messages? Were you baffled by Labubus? If the answer to those two questions is yes, then I’m afraid the signs are that your wardrobe is almost certainly cringe.

Being cringe is essentially being old-fashioned, but worse. Being old-fashioned is what happens when you grow older with grace and dignity. Cringe is when you lose your touch while convincing yourself you are still down with the kids.

Published: January 28, 2026, 2:00 pm

‘A catalyst for change’: how sustainable Copenhagen became fashion’s ‘fifth city’

In 20 years, Danish capital’s fashion week has pushed for greener standards and catapulted homegrown talent to global success

When it comes to fashion weeks, there used to be four key cities: New York, London, Milan and Paris. While they remain titleholders, a host of other cities from Berlin to Seoul and Lagos have been vying for the same recognition to become “the fifth fashion week”. But so far only one real winner has emerged: Copenhagen fashion week.

On Tuesday, the Danish showcase, which has helped catapult homegrown brands including Ganni into the international spotlight while spearheading sustainability initiatives, kicked off the start of its 20th-anniversary celebrations.

Published: January 28, 2026, 2:04 pm

A moment that changed me: I went on holiday – and for the first time I felt I stood out

Leicester, where I grew up, was a ‘super diverse’ city. But when I went on a short trip with a friend, it gave me a glimpse of another world

When I was 24, I visited Ireland for the first time. It was the autumn after I graduated from university, and a friend who had won an award for her dissertation used her prize money to rent a beach hut on Valentia Island, so that we could spend a week working on our novels.

The stone hut stood very close to the water’s edge on the western tip of Ireland, overlooking the expansive metal-blue of the Atlantic. The island possessed a rugged kind of beauty – cliff edges, a lush rainforest, cold frothing water. It astounded us. As did the tranquillity. It was what we had come in search of.

Published: January 28, 2026, 10:54 am

My petty gripe: tempted to start a conversation with the stranger in the elevator? Please don’t

There are unspoken rules about being in an elevator, people! Unspoken being one of the most important

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Most people don’t relish being locked in a confined space, in close proximity to strangers, travelling at speed. And yet, so many people do nothing to elevate the experience for others.

I am floored at the enthusiasm of people who stand at the crack of elevator doors waiting for them to open, as if it were 9am at the Black Friday sales. When the doors open, they recoil in surprise – presumably they were expecting to be the first passengers on the maiden voyage of this metal tube sliding up and down the building’s shaft.

Published: January 28, 2026, 2:00 pm

Rachel Roddy’s puntarelle, radicchio, celery, apple and cheese salad recipe

This crisp and punchy salad is a tribute to the late veg specialist Charlie Hicks and a shared love of the versatile Italian chicory puntarelle

Like many, I remember Charlie Hicks from Veg Talk, a weekly show that ran on Radio 4 from 1998-2005. The show, according to Sheila Dillon, came into being after her interview with Charlie, a fourth-generation fruit and veg supplier at Covent Garden market, for an episode of The Food Programme exploring where chefs bought their produce. Sitting at the kitchen table with her husband the following evening, Sheila recounted her day and Charlie’s enormous knowledge, enthusiasm and ability to communicate both. A few days after that, a similar conversation took place with her colleagues at Radio 4, which resulted in Veg Talk – what’s in and what’s out in the world of fresh produce. As well as Charlie’s market report, each episode included a feature called “vegetable of the week” and the participation of studio guests – Angela Hartnett, Alastair Little, Rose Gray, Darina Allen and Mitch Tonks, to name just a few – and took calls from listeners.

The show had its critics – in a 2005 interview with the Independent, broadcaster Andy Kershaw is quoted as saying, “This show should have been strangled at birth” – but it also had legions of fans (myself included), who tuned in mostly for Charlie’s expertise accumulated over a lifetime of working the markets, cooking with his wife, Anna, talking to growers and reading, so it was both practical and scholarly. Add to this his sharp humour, easy bantering relationships and warm voice.

Published: January 29, 2026, 6:00 am

The place that stayed with me: after a treacherous route through open desert, at Mina Mina I saw holiness

‘One day, Nangala,’ Aunty Agnes would say. ‘We’ll dance together at Mina Mina.’ And one day, for no good reason, I answered her: ‘Let’s do this thing’

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There are places on this Earth that still belong to themselves, places where very few people have stood. And some of those places are holy.

It was the summer of 2018 when we packed my old Hilux and a Troopie and set off from Lajamanu to Mina Mina. It had been Aunty Agnes’s idea. Although she’d painted this place for decades, she’d never set foot on Mina Mina, on her grandfather’s Country, in the jaws of Lake Mackay, Northern Great Sandy Desert.

Published: January 28, 2026, 2:00 pm

Pressure grows on Stephen Miller after Alex Pretti killing but Trump unlikely to cut ties

Outrage followed ‘would-be assassin’ lie but experts say architect of ICE drive too dominant a figure to be shunned

Pressure is growing on the key White House senior adviser Stephen Miller over the killing of the intensive care nurse Alex Pretti by border patrol agents in Minneapolis and its politically divisive aftermath.

Miller, the architect of Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policy, finds himself in the rare position of being contradicted and excluded from crucial decisions by the US president.

Published: January 28, 2026, 12:00 pm

The womanosphere urges dubious followers to back ICE: ‘Don’t let compassion cloud you’

Conservative figures such as Riley Gaines and Allie Beth Stuckey are urging their followers to ward off empathy for victims of ICE’s crackdown

Riley Gaines, the former collegiate swimmer turned anti-transgender activist, makes motherhood and femininity a core part of her brand. Her husband, Louis Barker, is a naturalized US citizen who moved to this country from the UK. The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Margot, in September; Gaines said there was “nothing” she would not do to protect her baby. But do not think that Gaines is at all sympathetic to families targeted by ICE.

This weekend, Gaines spoke on her podcast about Liam Ramos, the five-year-old boy taken by ICE agents from his driveway in Minneapolis. Images of Liam, clad in snowpants and wearing a blue hat with bunny ears, being held by a federal agent prompted widespread disgust in the US. How could a preschooler be considered one of the “dangerous” criminals Trump’s administration rails against?

Published: January 28, 2026, 3:00 pm

How Mormon women fought a Republican-led redistricting initiative in Utah – and won

A 9,000-member group’s legal win could flip a congressional seat to Democrats in the midterms

Emma Petty Addams is used to navigating political divides. She grew up as a conservative Mormon in California’s progressive San Francisco Bay Area. She identified as a Republican while attending the largely liberal Stanford University. At a young age, she learned how to find common ground with those who may not agree with her.

“I was oftentimes one of the most vocal, if not the only vocal, conservative in the room,” she said. “I learned how to speak my mind in a way that was hopefully persuasive.”

Published: January 28, 2026, 4:00 pm

US TikTok users: tell us how you feel about the app after the new US deal

Reports suggest more US users are deleting TikTok after a new agreement secured the app’s future in the US. We’d like to hear why – or why not

TikTok users in the US appear to be deleting the app at higher rates after the announcement of a new deal securing its future in the country, according to reports. The short-form video app, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has faced years of uncertainty in the US amid concerns over data security and a possible ban.

The agreement creates a new US-based entity with majority US ownership and follows a long legal and political battle over the app’s operations. App analytics data suggests deletions have risen sharply in recent days, according to CNBC, as the deal has been accompanied by changes to terms and conditions, reports of technical issues and growing debate among users and creators about privacy, censorship and whether the app feels different to use.

Published: January 28, 2026, 5:37 pm

An artist’s tent in Gaza and Starmer in China: photos of the day – Wednesday

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

Published: January 28, 2026, 1:11 pm