‘Add blood, forced smile’: how Grok’s nudification tool went viral

The ‘put her in a bikini’ trend rapidly evolved into hundreds of thousands of requests to strip clothes from photos of women, horrifying those targeted

Like thousands of women across the world, Evie, a 22-year-old photographer from Lincolnshire, woke up on New Year’s Day, looked at her phone and was alarmed to see that fully clothed photographs of her had been digitally manipulated by Elon Musk’s AI tool, Grok, to show her in just a bikini.

The “put her in a bikini” trend began quietly at the end of last year before exploding at the start of 2026. Within days, hundreds of thousands of requests were being made to the Grok chatbot, asking it to strip the clothes from photographs of women. The fake, sexualised images were posted publicly on X, freely available for millions of people to inspect.

Published: January 11, 2026, 6:00 am

What unites Greenland, Venezuela and Ukraine? Trump's immoral lies and Europe's chronic weakness | Simon Tisdall

The president’s inability to tell right from wrong fuels his increasingly dictatorial, illegal and erratic behaviour

Donald Trump made 30,573 “false or misleading” claims during his first term, according to calculations published in 2021 by the Washington Post. That’s roughly 21 fibs a day. Second time around, he’s still hard at it, lying to Americans and the world on a daily basis. Trump’s disregard for truth and honesty in public life – seen again in his despicable response to the fatal shooting in Minneapolis – is dangerously immoral.

Trump declared last week that the only constraint on his power is “my own morality, my own mind”. That explains a lot. His idea of right and wrong is wholly subjective. He is his own ethical and legal adviser, his own priest and confessor. He is a church of one. Trump lies to himself as well as everyone else. And the resulting damage is pernicious. It costs lives, harms democracy and destroys trust between nations.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Published: January 11, 2026, 6:00 am

Lamar wants to have children with his girlfriend. The problem? She’s entirely AI

As synthetic personas become an increasingly normal part of life, meet the people falling for their chatbot lovers

Lamar remembered the moment of betrayal like it was yesterday. He’d gone to the party with his girlfriend but hadn’t seen her for over an hour, and it wasn’t like her to disappear. He slipped down the hallway to check his phone. At that point, he heard murmurs coming from one of the bedrooms and thought he recognised his best friend Jason’s low voice. As he pushed the door ajar, they were both still scrambling to throw their clothes on; her shirt was unbuttoned, while Jason struggled to cover himself. The image of his girlfriend and best friend together hit Lamar like a blow to the chest. He left without saying a word.

Two years on, when he spoke to me, the memory remained raw. He was still seething with anger, as if telling the story for the first time. “I got betrayed by humans,” Lamar insisted. “I introduced my best friend to her, and this is what they did?!” In the meantime, he drifted towards a different kind of companionship, one where emotions were simple, where things were predictable. AI was easier. It did what he wanted, when he wanted. There were no lies, no betrayals. He didn’t need to second-guess a machine.

Published: January 11, 2026, 6:00 am

‘There’s nothing better on TV’: behind the scenes of Industry, the high-stakes finance drama that has everyone hooked

Created by two uni mates whose last gig was a David Hasselhoff comedy, the series has become a star-making transatlantic hit. Now it’s back for an intense fourth season that heads everywhere from Ghana to Sunderland

• Spoiler alert: this article contains references to major events in the previous three series of Industry

Industry is not for everyone. Mickey Down and Konrad Kay’s drama about young City bankers is zeitgeisty, iconoclastic and slightly inaccessible. “It is niche,” says Down. “We don’t write to any kind of brief. We don’t write what we think is going to be interesting to other people – or commercial.” For every 10 people that don’t understand a “reference or the thing we’re trying to do with the costume or the subtle hint we’re making about someone’s class, there’ll be one person that gets it. The show’s for that one person.”

And for that one person, Industry is hard to beat. “Not to toot my own horn,” says Myha’la, the mononymous 29-year-old who co-stars as daredevil American trader Harper Stern, “but I think there isn’t anything better than this show out there right now.”

Published: January 11, 2026, 10:00 am

Game On: the Swiss sports brand using hi-tech and chutzpah to challenge Nike and Adidas

Zurich-based firm taps into latest robot tech to ‘fibre-spray’ high-end sports shoes worn by the likes of Roger Federer

A robot leg whirs around in a complex ballet as an almost invisible spray of “flying fibre” builds a hi-tech £300 sports shoe at its foot.

This nearly entirely automated process – like a sci-fi future brought to life – is part of the gameplan from On, the Swiss sports brand that is taking on the sector’s mighty champions Nike and Adidas with a mix of technology and chutzpah.

Published: January 11, 2026, 12:00 pm

Family seeks answers after ICE deported man to Costa Rica in vegetative state

Exclusive: Before Randall Gamboa Esquivel died, his health had deteriorated badly while he was in ICE custody

• Costa Rican family demands answers after ICE deportation and death: ‘Have you ever smelled a cadaver?’

The family of a Costa Rican man who was deported from the United States in a vegetative state and died shortly after arriving back in his home country is still urgently seeking answers from the authorities about what happened to him while he was in detention.

Randall Gamboa Esquivel had left Costa Rica in good health and crossed the United States-Mexico border in December 2024, according to his family. However, Gamboa was detained by the US authorities for re-entering American soil unlawfully, as he had previously lived there undocumented between 2002 and 2013.

Published: January 11, 2026, 12:36 pm

Iran arrests protest leaders as crackdown intensifies amid threat of US intervention

Washington and Tehran step up war of words over Donald Trump’s threat to intervene in response to unrest

Iranian authorities have arrested key members of the protest movement that has rocked the country over the last two weeks, the national police chief has said, as Washington and Tehran threaten each other over the prospect of US intervention in the Islamic republic.

“Last night, significant arrests were made of the main elements in the riots, who, God willing, will be punished after going through legal procedures,” the police chief, Ahmad-Reza Radan, told state TV on Sunday, without specifying the number of those arrested.

Published: January 11, 2026, 2:19 pm

Former Republican chair says US institutions yielded to Trump, ‘the bully’

Michael Steele argues law firms, universities and media capitulated with startling speed and voters want accountability

The biggest surprise of Donald Trump’s first year back in office is how quickly America’s institutions capitulated to “the bully”, said Michael Steele, a former chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) turned arch critic.

But with the midterm elections for Congress looming, Steele predicts a resounding Democratic victory amid a hunger among voters to hold the president and his allies accountable for threatening democracy.

Published: January 11, 2026, 2:00 pm

Nobel Institute rejects María Corina Machado’s offer to share peace prize with Trump

Organisers clarify award ‘cannot be revoked, shared or transferred’ after Venezuelan opposition leader’s comments

The organisers of the Nobel peace prize have said it “cannot be revoked, shared or transferred” after Venezuela’s opposition leader, María Corina Machado, said she wanted to give her award to Donald Trump.

When Machado was named Nobel laureate in October, it was seen as a snub by the White House, despite Machado rushing to dedicate the prize to the US president and his “decisive support of our cause”.

Published: January 11, 2026, 12:59 pm

US protests condemn ICE killing of Renee Good and ‘a regime that is willing to kill its own citizens’

In Philadelphia, protesters demanded ICE leave US communities and Trump end warmongering in Venezuela

On a rainy Saturday in Philadelphia, two separate protests, both with a few hundred people, marched from city hall to the federal detention center. They differed slightly in solutions as well as crowd makeup – white older adults dominated the morning’s march organized by the groups behind the No Kings protests, while a more racially diverse crowd swathed in keffiyehs and N95 face masks led the afternoon’s, planned by the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter. However, both groups shared a goal: for ICE to get out of American communities and to put an end to Donald Trump’s warmongering in Venezuela.

“From Venezuela to Minneapolis, all we’re seeing is a regime that is scrambling, willing to kill its own citizens, willing to kill foreign citizens, to maintain its power,” said Deborah Rose Hinchey, co-chair of the city’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter.

Published: January 11, 2026, 12:25 am

‘Dangerous and alarming’: Google removes some of its AI summaries after users’ health put at risk

Exclusive: Guardian investigation finds AI Overviews provided inaccurate and false information when queried over blood tests

Google has removed some of its artificial intelligence health summaries after a Guardian investigation found people were being put at risk of harm by false and misleading information.

The company has said its AI Overviews, which use generative AI to provide snapshots of essential information about a topic or question, are “helpful” and “reliable”.

Published: January 11, 2026, 7:00 am

Excessive screen time limits vocabulary of toddlers, experts warn

Children aged two with highest screen use can say significantly fewer words, UK government research finds

Excessive screen time is damaging toddlers’ ability to speak, the UK government has warned as it prepares to issue advice to parents for the first time on how to manage screen use in under-fives.

Research has found that children aged two with the highest screen use – about five hours a day – could say significantly fewer words than those with screen use of about 44 minutes a day.

Published: January 11, 2026, 12:54 pm

Syrian forces expel Kurdish fighters as US strikes Islamic State targets

Three hundred Kurds detained and further 400 evacuated following clashes in Aleppo

Syrian government forces have detained 300 Kurds and evacuated more than 400 Kurdish fighters after clashes in Aleppo, the interior ministry has said, as US and allied forces carried out separate “large-scale” strikes against Islamic State targets.

An interior ministry official told Agence France-Presse that about 360 Kurdish fighters and 60 wounded had been bussed to the Kurds’ de facto autonomous zone in the north-east from the Sheikh Maqsoud district, the last area of Aleppo to fall to the army.

Published: January 11, 2026, 11:06 am

Bob Weir, co-founder of rock group the Grateful Dead, dies at age 78

Rhythm guitarist helped guide the legendary jam band through decades of change and success

Bob Weir, the veteran rock musician who helped guide the legendary band the Grateful Dead through decades of change and success, has died at age 78, according to a statement posted to his verified Instagram account on Friday.

The Instagram statement, posted by his daughter Chloe Weir, said he was surrounded by loved ones when he died. Bob Weir had been diagnosed with cancer in July and “succumbed to underlying lung issues”, the statement said.

Published: January 11, 2026, 1:01 am

Rightwing bloggers and Maga minions: meet the Trump-loving Pentagon press corps

A group of reporters meant to hold the Pentagon to account is full of pro-Trump sycophants … what could go wrong?

After US troops swarmed into Venezuela, seizing the country’s president and his wife, there was little to be heard from the Pentagon.

Typically, it would be a time for defense officials to talk to the Pentagon press corps: a group of journalists made up of some of the most talented reporters in the US. The Pentagon could have been expected to be held to account over what has been criticized as a violation of international law.

Published: January 11, 2026, 1:00 pm

Trump’s Greenland threats echo dark moments of cold war alliances

Soviet invasions of allies helped destroy the Warsaw Pact – Trump’s dangerous rhetoric risks repeating the mistake inside Nato

Donald Trump’s echoing of Russia’s talking points in its war against Ukraine has long been a cause for alarm and dismay in the west.

Now an even more disturbing Kremlin precedent dating from the cold war is being evoked by the US president’s fixation on taking over Greenland – that of carrying out attacks on military allies.

Published: January 11, 2026, 8:00 am

Trump administration suspends $129m in benefit payments to Minnesota

USDA notified state’s governor of decision, citing inquiries into alleged fraud by local non-profits and businesses

The Trump administration announced it is suspending $129m in federal benefit payments to Minnesota amid allegations of widespread fraud in the state.

The secretary of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Brooke Rollins, shared a letter on Friday on social media that was addressed to Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, and the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, notifying them of the administration’s decision and citing investigations into alleged fraud conducted by local non-profits and businesses.

Published: January 10, 2026, 5:04 pm

Federal judge blocks White House freeze of childcare subsidies in Democratic states

Funding was paused because health department said benefits were going to people in country illegally

A federal judge ruled on Friday that the Trump administration cannot block federal money for childcare subsidies and other programs aimed at supporting low-income families with children from flowing to five Democratic-led states for now.

The states of California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York argued that a policy announced on Tuesday to freeze billions of dollars in funds for three grant programs was having an immediate impact on them and creating “operational chaos”. In court filings and a hearing earlier on Friday, the states contended that the government did not have a legal reason for withholding the money from them.

Published: January 10, 2026, 2:53 pm

She spent 366 days searching for her cats after losing them in the LA fires: ‘I promised my babies’

After her Altadena home burned down, Darlene Hamilton wondered whether her cats Merlyn and Kiki had escaped. A year later, she hasn’t given up hope

Most nights for the last year, Darlene Hamilton slept four hours and woke at about 4.30am. She wanted to sleep, but she could not.

Instead the 66-year-old started the day at her Altadena rental home in morning darkness with a familiar routine, scouring through websites of local humane societies and lost animal groups in search of two familiar little faces. For a year, her days often began and ended with this ritual.

Published: January 11, 2026, 2:00 pm

Back to the front: Ukrainian troops return to the battlefield – photo essay

Photojournalist Julia Kochetova and reporter Dan Sabbagh stayed with Da Vinci Wolves battalion as infantry and drone pilots rotated from Ukraine’s eastern frontline

It is just before dawn, the December temperature a couple of degrees above freezing; time for troop rotations to start across Ukraine’s 750 mile front.

A crew of four from Da Vinci Wolves battalion are loading up into an M113 armoured personnel carrier at a secret location ready to be driven out to a safe point. From there they will walk to their position and remain on the front for 10 or 12 days.

Drone pilots of Da Vinci Wolves battalion prepare to return to the frontline.

Published: January 11, 2026, 5:00 am

‘It’s more productive than doomscrolling’: film-maker Ben Wheatley on his secret life as musician Dave Welder

While playing with nine-figure Hollywood budgets, the Kill List and Meg 2 director has become a prolific music producer. Next up is his experimental film, Bulk

Dave Welder may just be the most prolific musician you’ve never heard of. In a little more than a year, he has released a staggering 26 records spanning electronica, dub, ambient, kosmische and drone. One of these albums, Thunderdrone, is more than four hours long. Based in Brighton and Hove and described as “a rotating group of musicians and artists”, in reality “Dave Welder” is largely the work of one man who, until now, has been operating in secret: film director Ben Wheatley.

“I’ve always wanted to make music,” says Wheatley, whose films include the independent movies High-Rise, Kill List and Sightseers, along with big-budget Hollywood flicks such as the shark thriller Meg 2: The Trench. “I wanted to do it for my films but there was a dissonance. Of all the art forms, I couldn’t really understand it. I would dream that I could play, but then it was like, no, I can’t.”

Published: January 11, 2026, 1:00 pm

I had an abortion due to climate anxiety. How can I come to terms with it? | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

Counselling should help, but it sounds as if you need to slow down and give yourself time to grieve

I am 37 years old, happily married and have two children, who came along quickly after we got married in my late 20s. I instantly fell in love with them. However, I wasn’t really emotionally or practically ready, and developed postnatal anxiety.

I’ve always cared about the climate crisis, and since after having kids, and knowing it will affect their lives more than mine, I became motivated to make changes. We live a very “green” life.

Published: January 11, 2026, 6:00 am

‘There is one story we never tell’: will old family photos bring joy to my ailing mother – or remind us of dark secrets?

As Alzheimer’s tightens its grip, we have started making our way through the hundreds of albums in my childhood home. But some are too painful to revisit

A couple of months ago, my mother moved into a nursing home. Her Alzheimer’s has progressed to a point where it’s no longer safe for her to live alone, and she now needs round-the-clock care. It has been my task to empty out her house, where she lived for more than 50 years.

It’s not a job I would have asked for; it requires that I trawl through memories that aren’t mine, or shared memories that are painful for one reason or another. But my mother is no longer able  to make these decisions herself, about which of her possessions are worth keeping hold of and which should be discarded, either for practical reasons of space or necessity or because a continued attachment to the stories behind them might do more harm than good. By deciding these things for her I’m curating her life story.

Published: January 11, 2026, 12:00 pm

Joel Dommett looks back: ‘I paid $10 to do a three-minute standup slot in a bar on Sunset Boulevard. I was hooked’

The comedian and presenter on being a quiet child, his alternative youth, and doing 300 gigs in a year

Born in Rockhampton, Gloucestershire, in 1985, Joel Dommett is a comedian and presenter. His career began with acting roles in shows such as Skins and Casualty, before making his name as a standup comedian, performing on Live at the Apollo, and becoming a household name on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! in 2016. Dommett is the host on I’m a Celebrity … Unpacked and The Masked Singer on ITV.

This was taken outside the front door of the bungalow I grew up in. I’m stood next to my grandpa’s yellow pickup truck. That T-shirt was a gift from Uncle John who lived in South Africa.

Published: January 11, 2026, 2:00 pm

‘There’s a dark side to floristry’: are pesticides making workers seriously ill – or worse?

Unlike in food, there is no upper limit on the amount of pesticide residue levels in flowers. But after French officials linked the death of a florist’s child to exposure in pregnancy, many in the industry are now raising the alarm

On a cold morning in December 2024, florist Madeline King was on a buying trip to her local wholesaler when a wave of dizziness nearly knocked her over. As rows of roses seemed to rush past her, she tried to focus. She quickly picked the blooms she needed and left.

I’m not doing this any more, she thought.

Published: January 11, 2026, 2:00 pm

This is how we do it: ‘The dark room is a judgment-free place, where we can live out fantasies together’

Sex parties allow Conrad and Callum to explore their desires in a safe space – and as couple

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

We keep the connection with subtle signals, glances across the room and an unspoken agreement that we won’t disappear

Published: January 11, 2026, 11:00 am

A congresswoman wants to impeach Kristi Noem. She’s right to do so | Jan-Werner Müller

It may be tempting to dismiss the move as hopeless – but it interrupts the Trump administration’s promise of impunity

In the wake of the killing of Renee Nicole Good, Congresswoman Robin Kelly has announced the filing of three articles of impeachment against Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary. Predictably, reactions have been muted at best: with the GOP holding both the Senate and the House, impeachment can be dismissed as purely performative, a helpless response to an in and of itself understandable moral imperative of “just do something!”

But such dismissals are too quick: this administration has been running on a promise of impunity at all levels, and Democrats have to start signaling that actions have consequences. They also need to break out of a fateful dynamic: during Trump 2.0, misdeeds and scandals are following each other in such rapid succession that neither the press nor the public ever seem to get to focus on one. Impeachment can concentrate minds and slow down political time.

Jan-Werner Müller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University

Published: January 11, 2026, 12:00 pm

Trump move for Venezuela’s resources likely to weaken economic might of US | Heather Stewart

Oil is US president’s motivation but his concept of economic success feels as outdated as his music tastes

The word “loot” entered the English language from Hindi in the late 18th century, as the rapacious East India Company plundered its way across the subcontinent.

It was a trading company, not a state – but it had the imprimatur of the English crown and its own large private army, mingling commerce and military force and opening the way for British imperial dominance of India.

Published: January 11, 2026, 11:33 am

Ending the war in Ukraine has more support than ever. So why is peace still not in sight? | Gwendolyn Sasse

The Paris declaration by the ‘coalition of the willing’ supports a nonexistent ceasefire that remains at the mercy of Russian intransigence

• Gwendolyn Sasse is director of the Centre for East European and International Studies

An end to Russia’s war against Ukraine is still not in sight. The frequency of high-level meetings of Ukrainian, US and European representatives in recent weeks, as well as the intermittent US-Russia exchanges, have not changed this fundamental reality. There is no ceasefire in place, European and US military support is not confirmed and, most importantly, Russia does not want the war to end.

The latest talks in Paris managed to bring 35 countries of the “coalition of the willing” together. The core objective was to advance the principle, and implementation, of security guarantees for a future ceasefire. The participation of the US alongside European leaders and a wider coalition of partners was noteworthy. However, the actual result remains vague.

Gwendolyn Sasse is the director of the Centre for East European and International Studies and non-resident senior fellow at Carnegie Europe

Published: January 11, 2026, 1:00 pm

Grab your fidget spinners! Why gen Z are pining for 2016 | Coco Khan

As galling as it is to see young people refer to the items I wore 10 years ago as ‘vintage’, surely the real problem is that so many of them believe their best years are behind them

‘I grow old … I grow old … I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled,” wrote TS Eliot in 1915, in his seminal poem The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock. And as I sit here in 2026 with my jeans turned up (as per the style of the thirtysomething urban millennial), well, I can relate. What has brought on this bout of contemplation? The latest TikTok craze. Loosely known as “Bring Back 2016”, it involves TikTokers urging their mostly gen Z audience to “live 2026 like it’s 2016” – complete with mannequin challenges, a Major Lazer soundtrack and the promise of never-ending summer. And it’s sure to get heads spinning quicker than the fidget spinners it’s resurrecting.

Admittedly, most of the content is just plain silly: 2016 challenges and dances (the bottle flip, the dab); nostalgia for tech crazes (Pokémon Go and that Snapchat dog filter that made you look like a slobbering puppy but in a weirdly sexy way); and a return to 2016 makeup, fashion and low-effort aesthetics. Remember when “vintage film” filters were all the rage (RIP Instagram’s Mayfair and Sierra)? When videos didn’t need a number of takes, lengthy edits, and border on a professional production? When it was OK to just be online without considering what it said about you as a personal brand? Or when the internet wasn’t divisive politics everywhere? Well, that’s 2016 according to TikTok, and it’s time to “Bring! It! Back!”

Published: January 11, 2026, 2:00 pm

As the year begins, don’t look away from the headlines, look better and deeper | Justine Toh

It’s important to cultivate a fresh way of seeing – one that isn’t blind to harsh realities but refuses to be cowed by them

• Making sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life

I once heard that a journalist, stunned by the horrors they’d witnessed while on assignment as a foreign correspondent, was almost equally shocked to find themselves seeking solace in the strangest of places: a church. Not to pray; that wasn’t their thing. But to sit and take stock in silence – perhaps the most appropriate response when processing history’s bloody body count.

If we’re news junkies, or just extremely online, we’re a little like that traumatised journalist. A little. More removed from frontline carnage, sure, but subject to a similar onslaught of non-stop bad news: polarisation, the climate crisis, grim domestic violence statistics. The rising cost of living, the rise of the far right, and AI threatening to upend our livelihoods.

Published: January 11, 2026, 2:00 pm

Williams sparks 18-point fightback as Bears oust Packers for first playoff win in 15 years

• Williams engineers late comeback in playoff debut

• Bears erase 18-point hole to stun rival Packers

• Chicago earn first playoff win since 2010 season

• Stafford’s last-minute TD lifts Rams over Panthers

Caleb Williams dropped back, pump-faked and found DJ Moore wide open down the sideline for the go-ahead touchdown.

His latest clutch throw propelled the Chicago Bears to yet another improbable comeback win and kept their breakout season going for at least another round of the postseason.

Published: January 11, 2026, 5:13 am

Portsmouth v Arsenal: FA Cup third round – live

⚽ Updates from the FA Cup tie kicking off at 2pm GMT
⚽ Live scores | Sign up for Football Daily | Email Daniel

At Pride Park, Leeds have come from behind to lead Derby. They’re playing with so much confidence now they’re setting up in a 3-5-2.

Bad news for Liverpool:

Published: January 11, 2026, 2:47 pm

Stafford’s last-minute TD strike lifts Rams over Panthers in wildcard thriller

• Stafford throws late TD as Rams survive Carolina rally

• Nacua shines with 111 yards and two total touchdowns

• Panthers’ first playoff trip in eight years ends late

• Williams sparks fightback as Bears oust rival Packers

Puka Nacua stepped into the huddle with the Los Angeles Rams trailing by four with 2:38 left, the home crowd roaring and his team’s season on the line.

He never thought twice about losing.

Published: January 11, 2026, 1:17 am

‘I’ve never celebrated a goal at 9-0 down in my life’: inside Exeter’s dressing room on a day to remember

League One club offered behind-the-scenes access for FA Cup tie and manager Gary Caldwell will not let crushing loss at Manchester City define them

“The team to win today, lads” begins Gary Caldwell. Exeter City are two hours from kicking off against Manchester City in the FA Cup third round, and their manager is addressing his players at a hotel shortly before they travel to the Etihad.

“You know why I said that?” he continues, his thick Scottish accent filling the room. No one knows. He explains the phrase is borrowed from Roberto Martínez, under whom Caldwell won the competition with Wigan in 2013. It was used to bring humour and break tension when his team were inevitably written off.

Published: January 11, 2026, 8:00 am

Superb Malinin cruises to fourth US figure skating title as Chock-Bates make history

• Sublime Malinin cruises to fourth US crown

• Chock and Bates claim record seventh US title

• Olympic team selections to be named Sunday

Ilia Malinin, a red-hot favorite for gold at next month’s Milano-Cortina Olympics, cruised to a fourth consecutive national title at the US Figure Skating Championships on Saturday while Madison Chock and Evan Bates captured a record seventh national ice dance crown.

Malinin, who separated himself from the field in St Louis with a remarkable performance in Thursday’s short program, returned to score 209.78 points in the free skate for a 324.88 total in his final tune-up for the Olympics.

Published: January 11, 2026, 2:48 am

Alex Bregman set for Chicago Cubs move on five-year deal worth $175m

• Bregman agrees to five-year, $175m contract with Cubs

• Deal includes no-trade clause, pending physical

• Chicago adds former Astros star to strengthen infield

All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman has agreed to a $175m, five-year contract with the Chicago Cubs, according to two people familiar with the deal.

The people spoke to the Associated Press on Saturday night on condition of anonymity because the agreement was pending a physical. The contract includes a no-trade provision allowing Bregman to block deals without his consent.

Published: January 11, 2026, 5:42 am

Salah inspires Egypt with energy recalling golden generation to evoke recent history | Jonathan Wilson

Liverpool forward will face his former teammate Sadio Mané in Afcon semi against Senegal after arguably the Pharaohs’ best performance since 2008

It is a long time since Egypt had a night this good. There have been two World Cup qualifications since their golden age of three successive Cups of Nations came to an end in 2010, and they’ve got to the finals of two Cups of Nations since, but this had a different feel to the knockout phases in 2017 or 2021 (played in 2022). This wasn’t grinding through, doing just enough (across the knockouts in 2017 and 2021, Egypt won one game without needing extra time or penalties; a grim 1-0 against Morocco in the 2017 quarter-final). It was taking on one of the giants of African football and beating them well. A 3-2 victory over Côte d’Ivoire was probably Egypt’s best single performance since they beat the same opposition 4-1 in the semi-finals of Ghana 2008.

That game in Kumasi was always going to cast its shadow over this quarter-final. Saturday’s coaches were on opposite sides when Egypt beat Côte d’Ivoire on penalties in the 2006 final in Cairo – Hossam Hassan as a 39-year-old squad captain and unused sub and Émerse Faé in the centre of midfield – but it was the semi-final two years later this game most resembled. The 4-1 hurt Côte d’Ivoire far more than the final had, the image of a bewildered Kolo Touré running away from Amr Zaki as he scored Egypt’s third a symbol of the Pharaohs’ superiority that night. Within four minutes on Saturday, Odilon Kossounou had got in a similar mess, legs tangled as Omar Marmoush sped by him to put Egypt ahead.

Published: January 11, 2026, 8:00 am

USMNT’s Ricardo Pepi set for surgery after breaking forearm in PSV win

• Pepi injured after scoring in Eredivisie rout

• PSV confirm surgery and two-month absence

• US striker faces race to be fit for World Cup

United States men’s national team striker Ricardo Pepi is expected to miss roughly two months after suffering a broken forearm while playing for PSV Eindhoven on Saturday, the Dutch club confirmed.

Pepi, 23, was injured after landing awkwardly after scoring PSV’s second goal during their Eredivisie match against Excelsior. Medical examinations carried out later that night at a hospital revealed a fracture, and the club said Pepi will undergo surgery on Sunday. PSV did not indicate any complications but ruled the striker out for the immediate future.

Published: January 10, 2026, 10:58 pm

Lindsey Vonn seals Olympic favourite status with fourth podium in four downhills

• 41-year-old American wins in Zauchensee, Austria

• Veteran skier leads downhill World Cup standings

Lindsey Vonn continued her age-defying comeback with a downhill victory on Saturday to take her career World Cup tally to 84 wins. The 41-year-old American’s second success and fourth podium from four downhills this season increased the veteran skier’s lead in the standings and cemented her favourite status for next month’s Winter Olympics.

Already the oldest World Cup winner of all time, Vonn was fastest by 0.37sec from Norway’s Kajsa Vickhoff Lie with a run of 1min 06.24sec on a cold and cloudy morning with snow falling in Zauchensee, Austria. Another American, Jacqueline Wiles, completed the podium, 0.48 slower than Vonn, on a piste considerably shortened after Friday’s training was cancelled due to heavy snowfall.

Published: January 10, 2026, 1:23 pm

Peter Mandelson declines to apologise for association with Jeffrey Epstein

Former UK ambassador says he is sorry for system that does not give victims protection they are entitled to expect

Peter Mandelson declined to apologise to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims for remaining friends with the paedophile financier after his conviction but said he was sorry for “a system” that meant Epstein’s victims were ignored.

The Labour peer, who was sacked as US ambassador when details of his support for Epstein emerged in September, gave an interview to the BBC on Sunday, saying he had paid a “calamitous” price for his association with the “evil monster”.

Published: January 11, 2026, 11:50 am

Underground church says leaders detained as China steps up crackdown

Early Rain pastor said to be among those held in sweep that followed arrests of members of other unregistered churches

Leaders of a prominent underground church have been detained in south-west China, according to a church statement, the latest blow in what appears to be a sweeping crackdown on unregistered Christian groups in the country.

On Tuesday, Li Yingqiang, the leader of the Early Rain Covenant Church, was taken by police from his home in Deyang, a small city in Sichuan province, according to the statement. Li’s wife, Zhang Xinyue, has also been detained, along with two other church members: Dai Zhichao, a pastor; and Ye Fenghua, a lay member. At least a further four members were taken and later released, while some others remain out of contact.

Published: January 11, 2026, 1:00 pm

Greenlanders ‘don’t want to be Americans’, say political leaders amid Trump threats

Five parties issue joint statement after US president warns he would acquire the island ‘the nice way or the more difficult way’

Greenlanders “don’t want to be Americans” and must decide the future of the Arctic island themselves, politicians in the self-governing Danish territory have said, after Donald Trump warned the US would “do something whether they like it or not”.

The leaders of five political parties in the Greenlandic parliament issued a united statement on Friday night, soon after the US president reiterated his threats to acquire the mineral-rich island.

Published: January 10, 2026, 10:48 am

One person dead as PM visits bushfire-ravaged towns with 300 structures destroyed and 350,000 hectares burned

Almost a dozen emergency warnings remain in place across Victoria, with state premier saying ‘we are not through the worst of this by a long way’

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Australian authorities are assessing the damage after one of the worst heatwaves in years resulted in bushfires igniting across the country’s south-east, with one person dead, hundreds of homes and structures lost, thousands of hectares burned and entire towns evacuated.

A state of disaster remained in place across much of Victoria on Sunday as thousands of firefighters and emergency service workers continued to battle blazes that were “expected to rage “for weeks”.

Published: January 11, 2026, 5:18 am

Mississippi man charged with six murders, including father, brother and a child

Officials expect charge against Daricka Moore, 24, to be elevated to capital murder, with death penalty considered

Authorities in Clay county, Mississippi, say a man has been taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder following the fatal shootings of six people, including a child, on Friday night.

Daricka Moore, 24, is accused of killing multiple relatives as well as a local pastor before his arrest, according to Clay county sheriff Eddie Scott, who addressed the case during a Saturday news conference. Officials said the charge against Moore, who lives in the county, is expected to be elevated to capital murder, and prosecutors could seek the death penalty if he is determined to be mentally competent.

Published: January 10, 2026, 10:52 pm

Freedom from China? The mine at the centre of Europe’s push for rare earth metals

Swedish producer is trying to to accelerate the process of extracting the elements vital for hi-tech products

It is deep winter with temperatures dropping to -20C. The sun never rises above the horizon, instead bathing Sweden’s most northerly town of Kiruna in a blue crepuscular light, or “civil twilight” as it is known, for two or three hours a day stretching visibility a few metres, notwithstanding heavy snow.

But 900 metres below the arctic conditions, a team of 20 gather every day, forgoing the brief glimpse of natural light and spearheading the EU’s race to mine its own rare earths. Despite identification of several deposits around the continent, and some rare earth refineries including Solvay in France, there are no operational rare earth mines in Europe.

Published: January 10, 2026, 12:00 pm

World’s richest 1% have already used fair share of emissions for 2026, says Oxfam

Richest 1% took 10 days while wealthiest 0.1% needed just three days to exhaust annual carbon budget, study shows

The world’s richest 1% have used up their fair share of carbon emissions just 10 days into 2026, analysis has found.

Meanwhile, the richest 0.1% took just three days to exhaust their annual carbon budget, according to the research by Oxfam.

Published: January 10, 2026, 5:00 am

Pardoned January 6 defendant runs for Florida political office

Adam Johnson served 75 days in prison before being pardoned by Donald Trump in January 2025

A Florida man who was convicted then pardoned by Donald Trump after he grabbed then House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern and posed for photographs with it during the US Capitol riot is running for county office.

Adam Johnson filed to run as a Republican for an at-large seat on the Manatee county commission on Tuesday. That was the fifth anniversary of the January 6 riot, when he was photographed smiling and waving as he carried Pelosi’s lectern after the pro-Trump mob’s attack in 2021.

Published: January 10, 2026, 7:47 pm

Nasa announces timeline of astronauts’ early departure from ISS due to ‘serious’ medical issue

Space agency said crew of four will leave ISS next week with goal of touching down in California on 15 January

Nasa has announced when it will commence its first medical evacuation from the International Space Station after an astronaut fell ill with a “serious” but undisclosed issue.

The US space agency announced on social media on Friday night that it will aim to have the crew leave the station no earlier than 5pm EST on Wednesday, 14 January, with the goal of them landing near California early on Thursday morning, 15 January, “depending on weather and recovery conditions”.

Published: January 10, 2026, 2:56 pm

Nicaraguan authorities arrest dozens for reportedly supporting Maduro capture

Human rights groups say ‘at least 60 arbitrary arrests’ have occurred for celebrating the US military operation

Authorities in Nicaragua have arrested at least 60 people for reportedly celebrating or expressing support for the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, a human rights watchdog group and local media outlets said Friday.

Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega and his wife, vice president Rosario Murillo, are staunch allies of Maduro, who was captured by US military personnel in Caracas last Saturday and taken to New York to face trial on drug and weapons charges.

Published: January 10, 2026, 7:25 am

‘History will tell’: as US pressure grows, Cuba edges closer to collapse amid mass exodus

Disillusioned with the revolution after 68 years of US sanctions and a shattered economy, one in four Cubans have left in four years. Can the regime, and country, survive the engulfing ‘polycrisis’?

Hatri Echazabal Orta lives in Madrid, Spain. Maykel Fernández is in Charlotte, in the US, while Cristian Cuadra remains in Havana, Cuba – for now. All Cubans, all raised on revolutionary ideals and educated in good state-run schools, they have become disillusioned with the cherished national narrative that Cuba is a country of revolution and resistance. Facing a lack of political openness and poor economic prospects, each of them made the same decision: to leave.

They are not alone. After 68 years of partial sanctions and nearly 64 years of total economic embargo by the US, independent demographic studies suggest that Cuba is going through the world’s fastest population decline and is probably already below 8 million – a 25% drop in just four years, suggesting its population has shrunk by an average of about 820,000 people a year.

Published: January 10, 2026, 4:00 pm

David Lammy: JD Vance agrees that sexualised AI images on X are ‘unacceptable’

Exclusive: US vice-president ‘sympathetic’ to concerns over Grok-generated pornography, says deputy PM

JD Vance, the US vice-president, has agreed that it is “entirely unacceptable” for platforms such as X to allow the proliferation of AI-generated sexualised images of women and children, David Lammy has told the Guardian.

The deputy prime minister said Vance, usually known as an AI enthusiast, expressed concern about how the technology was being used to fuel “hyper-pornographied slop” online when they met in Washington on Thursday.

Published: January 10, 2026, 5:00 pm

Why pleasure is the key to self-improvement

Forget puritanical self-discipline – the way to really make a new habit stick is to lace it with instant gratification

Like many people, I spent New Year’s Eve making a list of the goals I want to achieve in the year ahead – a habit that never fails to arouse the ire of my boyfriend. “Why do you always have to put yourself under pressure?” he’ll ask, rolling his eyes. “It’s so puritanical!”

And he has a point. When most of us turn our minds to self-improvement, we assume that we need to put pleasure on pause until we’ve reached our goal. This is evident in the motivational mantras that get bandied about – “no pain, no gain”, “the harder the battle, the sweeter the victory”. If we fail, we tend to think it’s our own fault for lacking the willpower needed to put in the hours and stick at it, probably because we’ve given in to some kind of short-term temptation at the expense of long-term gain.

Published: January 11, 2026, 12:00 pm

Succession creator Jesse Armstrong says he struggles with impostor syndrome

Award-winning screenwriter tells Desert Island Discs that success has not silenced self-doubt

The award-winning screenwriter Jesse Armstrong has said a writers’ room can feel like “walking on the moon” when it is working well, but has admitted to experiencing impostor syndrome during his career.

Armstrong was behind the hit HBO drama Succession, starring Brian Cox as the global media tycoon and family patriarch Logan Roy, who sets off a power struggle among his four children.

Published: January 11, 2026, 12:01 am

Heated Rivalry review – these physically perfect people have so much sex it’s tedious

This steamy queer romance between ice hockey rivals is packed with constant shots of muscular bottoms in fancy hotel rooms. But a bit more character development or emotional investment wouldn’t go amiss

I suspect that Chala Hunter is still on a recuperative retreat somewhere. Until about May, I would think. For she was the intimacy coordinator on Heated Rivalry and she has earned a break.

For those not aware: intimacy coordinators gained prominence in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement, when assorted testimonies from actors (largely female) made public and unignorable the shocking fact that actors (largely male) and directors (largely male) will often (largely always) try to get away with more than has been contracted for once they are naked with A N Other person. An intimacy coordinator is there to help arrange scenes and advocate for actors. Think of them as somewhere between a bureaucrat and a contraceptive.

Published: January 10, 2026, 11:05 pm

Golden Globes 2026: who will win and who should win the film awards?

This weekend promises a Hollywood showdown with films including Sinners, Marty Supreme and One Battle After Another up for major awards

After a year that was notoriously close to call (did anyone initially see Anora emerging as the ultimate victor?), this awards season feels a little easier to scope out. Paul Thomas Anderson’s idiosyncratic activism caper One Battle After Another has so far dominated, becoming only the fourth film ever to win best film at both the New York and Los Angeles film circles then the National Board of Review and the National Society of Film Critics. But how far can it go?

It leads this weekend’s Golden Globes with nine nominations but the comedy categories also feature Marty Supreme, now riding high at the box office, and its inescapable leading man Timothée Chalamet. Then on the drama side we have Sinners and Hamnet, two very different films solidifying two very different awards narratives. Here’s how I think it might all play out on Sunday:

Published: January 10, 2026, 10:02 am

‘The Beethoven of our day’: Fans on what David Bowie meant to them 10 years after his death

At the annual gathering at the Starman memorial in south London devotees talk about the immense impact the artist’s life and death had on them

For Debbie Hilton, David Bowie meant “everything”. “My house is a shrine to him. He’s still alive in my house. My Christmas tree was David Bowie, even my bedding is Bowie,” she said.

She travelled from Liverpool to join her fellow Bowie devotees at the Starman memorial in Brixton, south London, where the singer was born, to pay their respects on the anniversary of his death.

Published: January 10, 2026, 4:45 pm

Mass surveillance, the metaverse, making America ‘great again’: the novelists who predicted our present

From Jorge Luis Borges to George Orwell and Margaret Atwood, novelists have foreseen some of the major developments of our age. What can we learn from their prophecies?

This year marks 100 years since the first demonstration of television in London. Elizabeth II sent the first royal email in 1976. The first meeting of the Lancashire Association of Change Ringers took place in 1876. All notable anniversaries. But I’m going with 2026 as the 85th anniversary of a great short story: Jorge Luis Borges’s The Garden of Forking Paths (1941). It’s about chance, labyrinths and an impossible novel. Ts’ui Pên, an ancestor of the narrator, sets himself the task of writing a novel with a cast of thousands: “an enormous guessing game, or parable, in which the subject is time”. In most novels, when a character reaches a fork in the path, they must choose: this way, or that way. Yet in Ts’ui Pên’s novel, all possible paths are chosen. This creates “a growing, dizzying web of divergent, convergent, and parallel times”. The garden of forking paths is infinite.

It’s often said that Borges’s story foreshadows the multiverse hypothesis in quantum physics – first proposed by Hugh Everett in 1957, then popularised by Bryce DeWitt in the 1970s as the “many worlds interpretation” of quantum mechanics. In a 2005 essay, The Garden of the Forking Worlds, the physicist Alberto Rojo investigated this claim. Did the physicists read Borges? Or did Borges read the universe? It turned out that Bryce DeWitt hadn’t known about Borges’s garden. When Rojo questioned Borges, he also denied everything: “This is really curious,” he said, “because the only thing I know about physics comes from my father, who once showed me how a barometer works.” He added: “Physicists are so imaginative!”

Published: January 10, 2026, 9:00 am

The 15 best games to play on the Nintendo Switch in 2026

From the greatest cartoon racing game in history to a remastered version of an Alien-inspired sci-fi shooter, here are the Switch’s must-play games

• The 15 best games to play on the Nintendo Switch in 2025

Although the Nintendo Switch 2 has been out for several months, not everyone has made the leap to the new machine and there is still much to enjoy on the original console in 2026 (and beyond). From timeless Mario adventures to cutesy shooters to chasm-deep role-playing quests, here are 15 games no Switch owner should be without.

Published: January 10, 2026, 10:00 am

My cultural awakening: Losing My Religion by REM helped me escape a doomsday cult

I had been a member of the Children of God for two decades, but was growing disillusioned with its controlling behaviour and worrying sexual practices. Then I heard Michael Stipe’s lyrics and was set on a path to freedom

In 1991, I was living in a commune with 200 other people in Japan, as a member of a cult called the Children of God, which preached that the world was going to end in 1993. Everything I did – from where I slept each night, to who I was allowed to sleep with – was decided by the head of my commune. I was encouraged to keep a diary, and then turn it over to the leaders every night, so they could comb through it for signs of dissent. I was only allowed to listen to cult-sanctioned music, and I was only allowed to watch movies with happy endings, because those were the types of films of which the cult’s supreme leader – David Berg – approved. The Sound of Music was one of Berg’s favourite films, so we watched it on repeat.

By the time I was living in Japan, I was in my mid-30s, and I’d been part of the cult for 20 years. I was indoctrinated by a young hippy couple when I was 16, and persuaded to run away from my family and join a sect of the cult near my home town in Canada. I was a lonely teenager and desperately searching for some kind of meaning. Everybody I knew worked in the lumber mill in my small town, and the thought that I was doomed to live that life scared the hell out of me. The first time I visited the commune, everyone hugged me when I walked in, just to say “hello”. It was intoxicating.

But by 1991, after two decades in the cult, my faith was weakening. It was becoming clearer to me that Berg was wrong about the world ending in 1993. A whole series of events that were meant to directly precede the Second Coming hadn’t happened, and Berg – who lived in secrecy and communicated with his followers by written “prophecies” – kept issuing increasingly unconvincing excuses.

I was also becoming more resistant to the way the cult leaders sought to control the most intimate parts of my life. When I joined the cult, it was very sexually conservative. If you wanted to date another member of the community, you had to ask for permission from the leadership. But as the years went by, Berg started preaching a doctrine of sexual freedom, and ordering his members to couple-swap. I had got married to another cult member in the 1980s, and was living with her in a Children of God commune in Japan. Because I resisted couple-swapping I was forcibly separated from my wife as a punishment – and ordered to live in a different commune on my own.

There was also an even darker side to the Children of God that I was trying to shut my eyes to. Berg had released a written decree which permitted adult cult members to have sex with children. I never witnessed any sexual contact with children, and while I did read that decree when it was released in the 1980s, I refused to accept it. Still, it horrified me.

Forcibly separated from my wife, and with Berg’s teachings becoming more twisted, I was in a state of spiritual turmoil. But it was only when I heard REM’s song Losing My Religion that I was pushed to action. Cult members were allowed to own Walkmans, because the Children of God released their own music on cassette, but we were forbidden from listening to “worldly” music. As my will to blindly obey crumbled, I began to secretly tune in to the American armed forces radio station that broadcast in Japan. (Technically, I’d always had the power to covertly listen to music this way, but it’s a sign of how indoctrinated I was that I had never allowed myself to do so before.) One day, Losing My Religion came on, and I remember hearing it for the first time and freezing. I physically stopped walking.

Published: January 10, 2026, 7:00 am

The kindness of strangers: alone in the crowd at Glastonbury, a stranger hugged me tight while I cried about my dead dad

As I sobbed to U2, she would hug me tighter as we swayed to the music

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

My father died when I was 19, after a short and sharp fight with cancer. Unsure of what to do or how to proceed with life, I took a year off university and went backpacking through Europe. The other side of the world seemed like a good place to be.

I ended up at the music festival Glastonbury in 2011. It was a great lineup that year but there was one act on the bill that really caught my eye: U2. They were my dad’s favourite band, so it seemed only right that I should go and see them. Of course, U2 aren’t exactly a massive draw for people my age, so I ended up alone in the massive crowd at the main stage while my friends saw other bands.

Published: January 11, 2026, 2:00 pm

From boho chic to dressy: the alpha female celebrities reviving flares

Claudia Winkleman is among high-profile women again popularising the trouser style once favoured by hippies

In fashion currently, trouser shape firmly sit in two camps – skin-tight, as with the revival of skinny jeans, or ultra oversized and baggy. But, perhaps, there is a third way. Enter – once again – the flare.

The trouser shape, first popularised in the 70s and flirted with briefly five years ago, is back again in 2026. Resale app Depop says there has been a 30% increase in the searches for the style this month alone.

Published: January 10, 2026, 9:00 am

We tested 37 US lip balms – these are the best to soothe and hydrate

From trusty Vaseline to trendy Supergoop, our top balms will help keep even the driest of lips moisturized this winter

• In the UK? The best moisturising lip balms to hydrate and protect your lips

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Chapped lips can happen any time of year, but winter is especially tough. The skin on your lips is thinner and more sensitive than elsewhere on your body. Lacking oil glands, your lips don’t stand a chance exposed to the elements. Hence: lip balms tucked away in coat pockets, makeup bags, purses, totes, briefcases, diaper bags, and desk drawers.

Many of us have dozens of sticks and tubes and tubs: some add a hint of color, SPF, anti-aging ingredients, a dab or flavor, a drop of medicine, viral internet cachet. But which one do you turn to the most? What is the one that really does the job of keeping you moisturized and preventing (or treating) chapping and cracking lips?

Published: January 10, 2026, 6:15 pm

The moment I knew: huddled under a spooky bridge by the Canal de l’Ourcq, we were like two little penguins

At first Alyssa Moore and Jacob Randell kept their romance a secret from their circus troupe. But as the world shut down they took a leap together

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

The first time Jake and I crossed paths was at a circus festival in Bathurst. It was 2010 and I was in my last year of high school. Aspiring circus troupes from across the country had gathered to showcase their acts.

It felt as though all eyes were on Jake’s group from Adelaide. They were incredibly talented. I definitely remember him – I even took one of his workshops – but didn’t think much more of it.

Published: January 10, 2026, 7:00 pm

Blind date: ‘The register office was next door … but we opted for the pub and more drinks’

Dara, 24, a trainee accountant, meets Alexia, 24, a healthcare worker

What were you hoping for?
Something a little different for a Tuesday night, and a fancy meal with some good company.

Published: January 10, 2026, 6:00 am

Do the tiny, boring exercises: how to really look after your hips

From the best exercise moves to how many steps you really need to aim for a day, experts weigh in on how to maintain hip health

When Elvis the pelvis gyrated and thrust his way across national television screens, audiences were delighted and censors were scandalised. But physiotherapists were probably standing up in their seats cheering at the display of such healthy and limber hip movements.

Hips are a key weight-bearing joint, yet we rarely give them the amount of love and attention they deserve.

Published: January 10, 2026, 7:00 pm

50 inspiring travel ideas for 2026, chosen by readers: beaches, city breaks, family holidays and more

Our popular readers’ tips column has been running for 20 years. We’ve selected some highlights from the past 12 months to help you plan your 2026 adventures
• Enter this week’s competition, on life-changing holidays

Published: January 10, 2026, 7:00 am

Martino’s, London SW1: ‘Beautiful bedlam’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

Does central London really need another fancy Italian restaurant? Well, yes, apparently it does …

Does the area around Sloane Square in central London really need another fancy, Italian-leaning restaurant that serves up tortellini in brodo and veal Milanese? Well, yes, apparently it does. One Saturday lunchtime late last year at Martino’s was hectic even in the delightful reception area, where we were waiting to check in a coat with the elegantly uniformed front-of-house ladies. All the tables in this hot new all-day brasserie were booked and busy, and plenty of walk-ins were champing at the bit for cancellations.

Actually, “delightful reception” is not a phrase I’ve often uttered, or even thought, but this is a Martin Kuczmarski restaurant, so the small things tend to add up to a larger picture – this cocoon-like holding pen keeps would-be queuers away from the diners. Why was I so charmed by this weird, crisply officiated bends chamber that operates as a liminal space between the real grubby world outside and the glitzy, sexy, mock-Italian trattoria inside? Well, it turns out that’s because it solved a problem that I didn’t even realise I had.

Published: January 11, 2026, 6:00 am

AI bubble: five things you need to know to shield your finances from a crash

Some experts have voiced fears a tech meltdown could hit our savings and pensions – here’s how to protect yourself

The new year has started as 2025 ended – with share prices booming amid warnings from some that the growth is being driven by overvalued technology stocks. Fears of an “AI bubble” have been voiced by people from the governor of the Bank of England to the head of Google’s parent company, Alphabet.

Even if you have not actively invested in technology shares, the chances are you have some exposure to companies operating in the sphere. Even if you do not, a collapse could take down other companies’ values.

Published: January 10, 2026, 7:00 am

What does your car say about you? A global portrait of people and their rides, from Shanghai to Santa Monica

You can tell a lot about someone from the vehicle they drive, as Martin Roemers’ collection of photographs show. Introduction by author William Boyd

In my novels I find that I very rarely write “a car” or “a van” or “a lorry” – I always tend to specify the marque and the model, often with some pedantic precision. Why should this be so? After all, I am a non-driver, someone who claims to be able to drive (I did learn), but who never passed his driving test. And yet, paradoxically, I’m something of a car enthusiast – a sort-of petrol-head, I confess – perhaps a consequence of spending many hours, or maybe that should be years,  in the back of minicabs that conveyed me here and there around London. In my long experience of minicab use I’ve found that most conversations with minicab drivers often end up being about cars. I’ve learned a lot.

There is another reason why I like to specify. I have a conviction that the type of car, or vehicle, that you drive is as much an expression of your personality as the clothes you wear or the decor of the home you call your own. Even the blandest of mid-price cars – the Toyota Prius, the Kia Picanto, the Volkswagen Jetta, for example – are making a covert statement about you, the owner. You chose that car – and your choice is surprisingly eloquent.

Published: January 10, 2026, 6:00 am

Trump’s territorial ambition: new imperialism or a case of the emperor’s new clothes?

Trump’s attack on Venezuela suggests expansionism is under way but some argue it is simply standard US foreign policy stripped of hypocrisy

The attack on Venezuela and the seizure of its president was a shocking enough start to 2026, but it was only the next day, when the smoke had dispersed and Donald Trump was flying from Florida to Washington DC in triumph, that it became clear the world had entered a new era.

The US president was leaning on a bulkhead on Air Force One, in a charcoal suit and gold tie, regaling reporters with inside details of the abduction of Nicolás Maduro. He claimed his government was “in charge” of Venezuela and that US companies were poised to extract the country’s oil wealth.

Published: January 10, 2026, 6:00 am

Inside Tony Dokoupil’s chaotic first week as the CBS Evening News anchor

The revamped US broadcast has endured a rough start with changed plans, big interviews, social media criticism and an abrupt firing

As traditional TV audiences continue to decline, and more Americans switch to streaming platforms and social media, it’s often a challenge for networks to get the public’s attention when relaunching a show. That hasn’t been an issue for the CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil.

The nightly broadcast has received close scrutiny – and a heap of criticism – since its official launch on Monday, and unofficial launch two nights earlier, when the anchor hosted a special edition after the US attack on Venezuela.

Published: January 10, 2026, 11:00 am

Ice cold purification and sleeping bike riders: photos of the weekend

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

Published: January 11, 2026, 1:19 pm