Ryan Wedding’s journey from Olympic snowboarder to alleged cocaine kingpin

The native of Thunder Bay, Canada, has been compared to Pablo Escobar and El Chapo – but is he really as big a figure as US prosecutors have claimed?

To compete at the highest levels of snowboarding, racers must master carving, edging and balance at speeds stretching the limits of imagination. They can fluently read the nuances of snow and fine-tune their bodies to cross the finish line faster than anyone else.

The Canadian snowboarder Ryan Wedding had these skills – but also the quality that catapults amateurs to an elite level: a highly competitive instinct to succeed that can at times manifest in a desire to crush fellow competitors.

Published: January 24, 2026, 10:00 am

Cosy coats and blankets, iconic games: 26 products to get you through a winter storm

Affordable gear for power outages, cozy home activities and recommendations for the warmest clothing you can wear all winter long

• This piece was originally published in the Filter US newsletter on buying fewer, better things. Sign up here to read more

This weekend, it’s predicted that much of the US will experience severe winter storms. Piles of snow and below-freezing temperatures could last for much for the week.

It’s recommended to stay indoors (perhaps under a fluffy blanket while finally finishing the ambitious jigsaw puzzle you started over the holidays). And if you must venture into the treacherous weather, wearing proper gear is a must.

For an ultra-warm coat: Patagonia Down Drift Parka

To keep your toes and feet warm: Ignik Compostable Foot Warmers

Published: January 24, 2026, 5:44 pm

How we draw the age of Trump and turmoil: two cartoonists go head-to-head | Martin Rowson and Ella Baron

Martin Rowson has been drawing for the Guardian since the 1980s; Ella Baron since 2022. In paint and pixels, each is tasked with capturing the chaos and absurdity of our political moment

Photographs and video by David Levene

• Gallery: cartoonists Martin Rowson and Ella Baron at work – in pictures

Martin Rowson and Ella Baron are both regular contributors to the Guardian’s daily political cartoon. Martin has been with the Guardian for decades; Ella has been contributing since 2022. This week, we challenged the pair to draw on the same subject (Trump and a world in turmoil), on the same day, to see what each – with their different styles, tools and perspectives – would come up with. Martin landed on a Shakespearean scene, with a warped “King Leer” flanked by snickering world leaders. Ella proposed him squatting in a dystopian nest, surrounded by his spoils. Below, each reflects on their process, the challenges and joys of political cartoons, and what they have learned from one another.

Published: January 24, 2026, 6:00 am

I heard the news on the radio: my parents and sister had died in a helicopter crash. How would I survive their sudden loss?

I was 16 when the course of my life changed, and for years I was unable to speak about about what had happened

I am lying in bed listening to the radio at my boarding school as my roommate is getting dressed. As she walks out of the door she says, “See you at breakfast – don’t be late.” I’m about to get up when the early morning news comes on the radio, and I hear the announcer saying my parents’ names.

By the time my roommate arrives at breakfast, everyone has heard. My friends run to be with me. The housemaster and his wife stand in the corridor outside my bedroom, not allowing anyone in. All they can hear are my screams and the smashing of furniture. It is beyond comprehension, but then everything from now on is beyond comprehension.

Published: January 24, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘The invisible man’: Joe Biden has disappeared in almost every way – except in Trump’s daily commentary

The 46th president largely exists as Trump’s foil, with his successor blaming him for the country’s woes

In bitter cold beneath the US Capitol dome, he walked to a marine helicopter and shared parting words with Donald Trump. Then, arriving at Joint Base Andrews, Joe Biden offered farewell remarks to his loyal staff. “We’re leaving office,” he said, “We’re not leaving the fight.”

But, one year later, Washington, and the world, have mostly moved on from the 46th president. Biden, 83, has been writing a lucrative memoir, planning a presidential library and fighting prostate cancer. He was once the most powerful man on the planet, but now Biden’s public appearances have been scarce and his influence has palpably diminished.

Published: January 24, 2026, 1:00 pm

Lajuana is 89, with the body and mind of someone decades younger. What are the secrets of the superagers?

Why do some people age better than others? Five extraordinary individuals – who scientists are studying – share their tips

Lajuana Weathers is determined to be the healthiest version of herself. She starts each day with a celery juice, is always trying to increase her step count, and meditates daily. Weathers is also 89 years old. And she has no plans to slow down. “I wake up in the morning and feel blessed that I have another chance at a day of life,” says the grandmother of six, and great‑grandmother of six more, who lives in Illinois in an independent living facility for seniors. “I look at my life as a holistic entity, and in that life is my physical, social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. I have to take care of all of those. That’s what I like about the ageing process. All the clutter of raising children is out and I can concentrate on the wellness of me.”

Weathers is a superager. This isn’t a self-proclaimed label, but one backed up by science – she is part of the SuperAging Research Initiative at the University of Chicago. To qualify for the study, you have to be over 80 years old and have memory performance that’s at least as good as the average 50- to 60-year-old. There are about 400 superagers enrolled across North America.

Published: January 24, 2026, 6:00 am

Minneapolis shooting: Governor Tim Walz condemns ‘sickening’ fatal shooting of man believed to be 37-year-old US citizen – live

Minnesota governor decries ‘federal occupation’ after another deadly shooting less than three weeks after ICE officer killed Renee Good in the city

• Man believed to be 37-year-old US citizen shot by federal agents

• ‘How many more Americans need to die?’: mayor lambastes Trump

In a statement sent to the Guardian, assistant secretary of homeland security Tricia McLaughlin said that at 9.05am local time, “as DHS law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis” against a person they said was in the country illegally, who she said was “wanted for violent assault”, “an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.”

McLaughlin said that “the officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted” and that “more details on the armed struggle are forthcoming.”

Published: January 24, 2026, 8:11 pm

Man believed to be 37-year-old US citizen shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis

Fatal shooting comes less than three weeks after Renee Good was killed by federal immigration agent in city

• Minneapolis shooting - live updates

• The occupation of Minneapolis: resisting Trump’s ICE ‘invasion’

A person was shot to death by federal law enforcement officers on Saturday in Minneapolis for the second time in less than three weeks.

Saturday morning’s shooting comes after Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen, was shot and killed on 7 January by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis after video showed her trying to drive away from a confrontation, sparking protests nationwide.

Published: January 24, 2026, 8:29 pm

‘How many more Americans need to die?’: Minneapolis mayor lambastes Trump after fatal shooting

Jacob Frey’s full response after federal agents shoot and kill 37-year-old US citizen on 24 January

• Minneapolis shooting - live updates

• The occupation of Minneapolis: resisting Trump’s ICE ‘invasion’

The following text is a statement given by Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey at a press conference in the wake of the fatal shooting of a local citizen by federal law enforcement on Saturday.

I just saw a video of more than six masked agents pummeling one of our constituents and shooting him to death.

Published: January 24, 2026, 6:28 pm

‘We need Target to stand up’: activists in Minneapolis press retailer amid ICE arrests at its stores

Activists say the retailer has met with clergy but not spoken out against ICE or safeguarded employees and customers

While thousands of protesters marched through downtown Minneapolis yesterday to demand that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents leave the city, a smaller group of activists set their sights on a specific destination: the downtown headquarters of national retailer Target.

Dozens of clergy members and their supporters planted themselves in the atrium of the store. “Say it loud and say it clear, immigrants are welcome here,” the group chanted. “Something ’bout this isn’t right – why does Target work for ICE?”

Published: January 24, 2026, 4:00 pm

ICE raids turn life into a daily terror for Minneapolis schoolkids: ‘This is a generational trauma’

As Trump-deployed agents pervade the region, students struggle to carry on with lessons while carrying grief and fear that they or their loved ones will be taken

In south Minneapolis, a special education student logged on for their online class from the basement. They were hiding because immigration agents were banging at the door.

A second grader started having a panic attack in the middle of art class because agents had arrested his dad. His teacher had to ask a colleague to watch the other students, bring him outside, and hold him for half an hour to help calm him.

Published: January 24, 2026, 3:00 pm

Winter Storm Fern live updates: nearly 135,000 homes and businesses without power and more than 11,000 flights cancelled

Winter storm system brings emergency declarations as snow and ice create unsafe driving conditions and power shortages

• Snow, sleet and power outages: 140m Americans under warnings for massive winter storm

The severe cold weather has created unsafe driving conditions on many roads throughout the midwest and southern US today. Sheets of ice are currently coating several streets and highways, causing increasing risk to drivers.

Even after the ice has been cleared away, it often quickly comes back due to precipitation and freezing temperatures. Officials are urging people to stay off the roads. Sgt Ellis from the Tennessee highway patrol posted a video on social media demonstrating the dangerous conditions.

Published: January 24, 2026, 8:42 pm

Russia launches ‘brutal’ attack on Ukraine as peace talks continue

Kyiv says Moscow used 396 drones and missiles in ‘another night of Russian terror’ on second day of talks in UAE

Russia launched a major drone and missile attack targeting Ukraine’s two largest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, early on Saturday, as US, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met in the United Arab Emirates for a second day of tripartite peace talks.

“Peace efforts? Trilateral meeting in the UAE? Diplomacy? For Ukrainians, this was another night of Russian terror,” the country’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said after the latest Russian assault on critical infrastructure.

Published: January 24, 2026, 3:01 pm

Donald Trump will not attend Super Bowl because it’s ‘too far away’

• Trump tells New York Post he will skip Super Bowl

• NFL stands by Bad Bunny amid rightwing backlash

Donald Trump said he will not attend next month’s Super Bowl in northern California, citing the distance to the game, amid an ongoing culture-war backlash over the NFL’s choice of half-time and pre-game performers.

Trump told the New York Post he plans to skip the 8 February championship game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara because the trip is “just too far away”, adding that he would have considered attending if it were a shorter flight. The decision means Trump will not repeat his appearance at last year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, where he became the first sitting US president to attend the NFL’s showcase event.

Published: January 24, 2026, 6:53 pm

Trump threatens Canada with 100% tariff over possible deal with China

President also claimed US refineries will process seized Venezuelan oil, saying ‘we take the oil’

Donald Trump on Saturday said he would impose a 100% tariff on all Canadian imports if the North American country makes a trade deal with China.

Beside that tariff threat, another Trump foreign policy maneuver to make news on Saturday involved the president announcing the US had taken the oil that was on recently seized Venezuelan tankers.

Published: January 24, 2026, 3:04 pm

Donald Trump walks back comments about UK soldiers in Afghanistan

After criticism of claim that Nato troops ‘stayed off front lines’, US president says UK forces were ‘great and very brave’

Donald Trump has said UK soldiers who fought in Afghanistan were “among the greatest of all warriors” after previously drawing criticism for his claims that Nato troops stayed away from the frontlines during the conflict.

In a post on social media on Saturday, the US president said: “The great and very brave soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America.

Published: January 24, 2026, 6:14 pm

Google AI Overviews cite YouTube more than any medical site for health queries, study suggests

Exclusive: German research into responses to health queries raises fresh questions about summaries seen by 2bn people a month

• How the ‘confident authority’ of AI Overviews is putting public health at risk

Google’s search feature AI Overviews cites YouTube more than any medical website when answering queries about health conditions, according to research that raises fresh questions about a tool seen by 2 billion people each month.

The company has said its AI summaries, which appear at the top of search results and use generative AI to answer questions from users, are “reliable” and cite reputable medical sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Mayo Clinic.

Published: January 24, 2026, 5:00 pm

Syrian and Kurdish forces agree to extend ceasefire as threat of war looms

Ceasefire to be extended for one month to allow transfer of suspected Islamic State members from Syria to Iraq

The Syrian government and Kurdish forces agreed to extend a ceasefire on Saturday, according to Syrian diplomatic sources, temporarily staving off a looming war between the two sides in the north-east of the country.

Sources told Agence France-Presse the ceasefire would be extended for “a period of up to one month at most”, citing the need to facilitate the transfer of suspected members of Islamic State from Syria to Iraq.

Published: January 24, 2026, 12:47 pm

‘Disheartening’: US justice department slashes funding to programs combating child sex trafficking

Prosecutors say cuts to funding and training limits their ability to bring child predators to justice

The US Department of Justice has slashed funding and training resources for law enforcement working on investigations and prosecutions of sex crimes against children under the Trump administration, which limits their ability to carry out this work.

Major cuts include the cancelation of 2025 National Law Enforcement Training on Child Exploitation, due to be held in Washington DC in June. The conference is an annual event that provides technical training to prosecutors, state and federal law enforcement officers on investigating online crimes against children.

Published: January 24, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘My body has changed’: Naomi Osaka pulls out of Australian Open

• Osaka cites abdominal injury linked to pregnancy

• Two-time champion withdraws before Inglis match

Naomi Osaka withdrew from the Australian Open hours before she was due to take the court against the qualifier Maddison Inglis. She cited an abdominal injury linked to body changes from her pregnancy.

The withdrawal propelled the Australian into a fourth-round match with Iga Swiatek. The world No 2 and second seed was given an almighty scare by the Russian Anna Kalinskaya before earning a 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 victory in 1hr 44min.

Published: January 24, 2026, 9:40 am

Is the supreme court ready to stand up to Trump over Federal Reserve attack?

Conservative majority appears eager to hand president greater power – with one exception: the US central bank

Donald Trump has tried his usual tactics when it comes to getting the US Federal Reserve to lower interest rates: bully when persuasion doesn’t work, and then fire when bullying doesn’t work.

In an unprecedented assault on the central bank, the president has called the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, “stupid” and threatened to fire him for not cutting interest rates as quickly as Trump would like. Most recently, the justice department instigated a criminal investigation against Powell for testimony he gave about renovations at the Fed’s headquarters. Even so, the Fed has not budged.

Published: January 24, 2026, 12:00 pm

Trump news at a glance: Starmer rebukes Trump for ‘diminishing’ British soldiers who fought and died in Afghanistan

Starmer suggested Trump should apologise for claiming Nato troops stayed ‘a little off the frontlines’ – key US politics stories from 23 January at a glance

The UK prime minister Keir Starmer has accused Donald Trump of “diminishing” the sacrifice of fallen British soldiers, as the US president faced a fierce backlash from UK political leaders and families of veterans over his comments about Nato troops.

In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Trump said: “[Nato will] say they sent some troops to Afghanistan … and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the frontlines.”

Published: January 24, 2026, 2:21 am

White House doctoring Minnesota woman’s photo unlikely to derail case, say experts

Altered image shows Nekima Levy Armstrong sobbing after arrest during protest outside a Minneapolis church

The White House’s decision to post a doctored photo of a woman arrested in Minneapolis on Thursday will probably be raised in court as her criminal case proceeds, though it is unlikely to derail the case entirely, legal experts said.

The woman in the image, Nekima Levy Armstrong, is one of three people who was arrested on Thursday in connection with a disruptive protest at a church service. About 30 minutes after Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, posted a picture of her arrest, the White House posted a digitally altered photo of Armstrong in which her skin appears to be darkened and with tears running down her face. Noem posted pictures of two other defendants arrested on Thursday in connection with the protest, but only posted an altered image of Armstrong.

Published: January 23, 2026, 9:23 pm

Trump’s second term has been rife with bizarre moments – here are seven

From derailing meetings by telling fictional stories about serial killers to Davos, the president has left people confused and concerned

Donald Trump vowed to “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars” during his inauguration speech last year, a bold promise that spoke to otherworldly achievements.

But during the first year of his second term, it is on the planet Earth where Trump has sought to plant the US flag. He has deployed troops to US cities, as waves of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents terrorize communities. Trump has ordered the invasion of Venezuela and the capture of its leader, is engaged in ongoing saber-rattling over Greenland, and has threatened historic US allies should they oppose his efforts to seize the autonomous territory of the Danish kingdom. He has amplified online claims that Nato is a bigger threat to the US than historical adversaries China and Russia.

Published: January 23, 2026, 5:16 pm

When brand meets blood: inside the business of being a Beckham

Brooklyn’s Instagram bombshell tested decades of image control, revealing how fame, PR and power collide behind the scenes

On a personal level, it’s all extremely sad. A once close family ripped apart by feuding and bitterness. A much-loved son blocking all contact with his parents and siblings.

From another perspective, however, for those who have followed the movements of David and Victoria Beckham in their 30 years in the (carefully curated) spotlight, the public falling out this week of Britain’s alternative royal family has been a car crash from which it is hard to look away.

Published: January 24, 2026, 6:00 am

Vicha Ratanapakdee’s killing sent fear through San Francisco. Five years on, the case sparks controversy again

A jury in San Francisco found Antoine Watson guilty of manslaughter and assault – rather than murder and elder abuse

The 2021 killing of 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee sent shockwaves through San Francisco and brought national attention to violence against Asian Americans during the pandemic.

This month, five years on, the case has returned to the headlines, sparking renewed controversy. Last week, a jury declined to convict the perpetrator in the attack on charges of murder and elder abuse. Instead, Antoine Watson, 24, was found guilty of manslaughter and assault.

Published: January 24, 2026, 5:00 pm

Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus: ‘Bass players are just cool. We’re the one that brings it all together’

The bass player and singer on naming his chickens, selling his Banksy and surviving cancer

You used to keep chickens named after women from Blink-182 songs. Which was your favourite?

There was Wendy, Holly, Josie … I forget the others. We lived in London, but also had a 25-acre farm out in Somerset with a Georgian farmhouse that was built in 1750. A guy from the British Beekeeping Association, who worked at the local church, would come over and help me open up my hives and harvest the honey. It was crazy how much honey we got – up to 150 jars a season. It was the best honey I’ve ever tasted.

Published: January 24, 2026, 7:00 pm

Leviticus review – queer desire is a deadly curse in haunting horror

Sundance film festival: Conversion therapy has gory results in a smart and surprisingly romantic debut feature from Australian writer-director Adrian Chiarella

Something rather nasty is unfolding in Sundance horror Leviticus. If you asked the god-fearing residents of the isolated Australian town at its centre, they would say it’s the curse of homosexuality, quietly infecting the youth. If you asked the gay teens themselves, they would say it’s something far more horrifying.

In writer-director Adrian Chiarella’s indelible debut feature, queer desire is not only a danger to one’s safety from the bigots that you live, work and pray with, but it’s also a supernatural affliction. We first see teens Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen) as they engage in a clandestine hang, that familiar dance of a play-fight leading into a kiss. For Naim, it’s a new world opening up, a reason to believe there might be something to be happy about in an otherwise dull new town with his warm yet clueless single mother (Mia Wasikowska). But when Naim sees Ryan engaging in a similar tryst with Hunter (Jeremy Blewitt), the son of the local preacher, he allows his heart to overrule his head and does something he’ll live to regret.

Leviticus is screening at the Sundance film festival and is seeking distribution

Published: January 24, 2026, 8:13 pm

‘What the hell happened’ to Tucker Carlson? A new book tries to find out

Hated by All the Right People is the first book to reckon critically with arguably the most dangerous media personality of the Trump age

Tucker Carlson, the podcaster and former Fox News host, once told a hostile conservative crowd that rightwing media needed to be more responsible. In a 2009 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, he argued that publications on the right should hold themselves to a higher standard.

“This is the hard truth,” Carlson said. “If you create a news organization whose primary objective is not to deliver accurate news, you will fail.” Conservatives loved to complain about the New York Times, he added, when what they really needed was their own New York Times. The crowd jeered and booed at him.

Published: January 24, 2026, 5:00 pm

Do dryer balls actually work? Yes, if you treat them like reusable dryer sheets

We tested side-by-side loads of laundry with and without dryer balls, and while not every claim panned out, they’re still worth buying for softer, nicer-smelling clothes

• Break up with your liquid detergent. Try these plastic-free laundry sheets instead

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

Whether you’re renting or simply a homeowner on a tight budget, it’s common to feel stuck with whatever clunker of a dryer lurks in your closet or basement. That’s why upgrades like dryer balls can be a tempting purchase: an inexpensive bag of tennis-ball-sized spheres promise faster drying, less energy use, softer clothes, and even less static cling – just by tossing them in with every load.

But is any of that true? I’ve been a professional product reviewer for over a decade with a focus on laundry: testing washers, dryers, detergents and gadgets like sonic cleaners and color catchers. I decided to put the claims of dryer balls to the test. And while they don’t live up to every promise, they’re still well worth adding to your laundry routine.

Expert-recommended wool dryer balls
Handy Laundry Wool Dryer Balls

Essential oils for fresher smelling laundry
Positive Essence Spray

Published: January 24, 2026, 8:15 pm

What else can be done to force Trump’s DoJ to release all the Epstein files? Legal experts weigh in

The deadline for Trump’s justice department to release the files came and went, but experts say there are still options

For months, the 2025 news cycle was dominated by the disgraced financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Public outrage over the continued secrecy surrounding Epstein investigative files – which Donald Trump failed to release fully early in his second term, despite campaign promises – was growing.

Published: January 24, 2026, 1:00 pm

The moment I knew: ‘He put down the camera and asked permission to kiss me’

Susan Hayes and Craig got to know each other through an online game. When they finally met in person, it felt like a real-life romance novel

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

When 2023 rolled around, I was ready for a change. I’d spent the Covid years locked down in Victoria, Canada. I had quit my day job at the end of 2019 to write full-time and travel, only for the world to shut down.

During those long, lonely years, I kept myself distracted by playing an online game. Nothing fancy, just a phone game about surviving a zombie apocalypse. It was a bit of fun and a way to connect with people from around the world. One of those people was a fellow named Craig.

Published: January 24, 2026, 7:00 pm

‘It’s such a complex little area’: how to really look after your wrists

The structure of wrists mean we have the capacity to do both handstands and neurosurgery. A lot can go wrong

• Read more summer essentials

It’s a bad time of year for wrists. Parents – and sometimes grandparents – full of enthusiasm and holiday cheer hop on their child’s new scooter or bike, keen to show said child how great the new toy is, and forget that gravity isn’t as kind to the body when we’re older. Falls happen, and wrists often take the brunt.

“It’s got its own name: ‘fall on an outstretched hand’,” says Brigette Evans, an occupational therapist at Bathurst Hand Therapy. As we fall, our instinct is to put our arms out in front of us to protect our body, face and head, and the wrist takes a lot of that force.

Published: January 24, 2026, 7:00 pm

The taking of Liam Ramos reveals the sheer sadism of ICE | Moira Donegan

It has become difficult to feel shock at the actions of the Trump administration. But this useless cruelty is shameless

Liam Ramos is five. In photographs of his arrest on Tuesday, released by the school district where he is enrolled as a preschooler, he is wearing a large blue hat with a bunny face and ears. According to the superintendent, Liam had just arrived home from school with his father when ICE agents apprehended the two and arrested them. Allegedly, one of Liam’s relatives, who was outside at the time, begged for the little boy to be allowed to stay there in their care; instead, both father and son were captured by the federal agents and quickly transported to a detention camp in Dilley, Texas. Liam’s father has no apparent criminal record; he has a pending asylum case. Does it need to be said that the child does not have a criminal record, either? In one picture, a white man’s hand clutches, claw-like, on to the back of Liam’s Spider-Man backpack. In another, a masked man stands behind Liam, stooping slightly to reach the small child, as the boy stands at the front door of his home. According to school officials, the agent instructed Liam to knock on the door and ask to be let into the house “in order to see if anyone else was home – essentially using a five-year-old as bait”.

Liam is the fourth child from his Minneapolis-area school district to be seized by ICE agents since the surge of federal immigration forces in the city. According to school officials, two 17-year olds were also taken – one snatched alone from their car, another captured at home with her mother. Another child, a 10-year-old girl in the fourth grade, was allegedly also taken by the federal forces – while on her way to school with her mother.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

Published: January 24, 2026, 2:00 pm

Here’s how Europe can file for divorce from Donald Trump | Phillip Inman

Amid the tumult of the WEF in Davos this week, some investors are leading the way by ditching US government bonds

There is a way to file for divorce from Donald Trump and Europe needs to grab the opportunity.

To the public it will look as if nothing has changed. But behind the scenes the EU and the UK could close the joint bank account and cut up the credit cards, or at least set in motion a form of financial separation that limits the power of a controlling former partner.

Published: January 24, 2026, 4:00 pm

The EU finally used an economic threat against Trump. But the markets forced his climbdown | Rosa Balfour

While the threat of retaliatory measures to stop the annexation of Greenland worked, it remains to be seen if Europe has the unity to follow through

The past couple of weeks have seen the most spectacular crisis escalation in the transatlantic relationship, over the US threat to annex Greenland, a self-governing territory of Denmark. It risked becoming a major conflict among the members of Nato, the most powerful security alliance in world history – until now.

On Wednesday, after a meeting with Nato’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, the US president, Donald Trump, backtracked on his threats to slap tariffs on countries that got in the way of his annexation project. As European leaders huddled together over dinner for a post-crisis debrief in Brussels on 22 January, they congratulated themselves on their unity and appreciated the intervention of Rutte, or “Daddy diplomacy”. If these really were the conclusions of the latest debacle in transatlantic relations, they are missing important parts of the story.

Rosa Balfour is director of Carnegie Europe

Published: January 24, 2026, 10:00 am

A knock at the door: fear of ICE is transforming daily life in America | Abdul Wahid Gulrani

Does a society truly become safer when part of its population learns to live in constant fear?

On 15 June 2025, the Trump administration issued an official statement directing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to begin what it described as “the largest mass deportation operation in American history”. Major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and New York were identified as primary targets. The stated goal was to keep communities “safe and free from illegal alien crime, conflict, and chaos”. Federal agents rapidly became a part of many residents’ everyday lives.

No stable state can protect its borders, public order and the legitimate interests of its citizens without immigration law and effective enforcement mechanisms.

Abdul Wahid Gulrani is a political sociologist from Afghanistan, whose work focuses on migration, gender and national security. He is currently engaged in teaching and research at Georgetown University and the George Washington University

Published: January 23, 2026, 3:00 pm

Adli scrambles last-gasp winner as Bournemouth take down Liverpool

Where to start with this intoxicating Premier League white-knuckle ride? As second-half stoppage time ticked into a fifth minute, the Bournemouth defender James Hill hurled a long throw into the box and, with Alisson slipping and sliding on the sodden turf, Amine Adli wellied in a winner with almost the last kick of the game to condemn Liverpool to defeat. Fifteen minutes earlier Dominik Szoboszlai cannoned in a stunning free-kick to haul Arne Slot’s side level from two goals down. Slot clenched both fists and gave his assistant Giovanni van Bronckhorst a high 10, but it was Andoni Iraola, beaming from ear to ear, who departed the pitch high-fiving his staff.

For Liverpool, this was another rather sobering experience. Virgil van Dijk made amends for presenting Bournemouth the lead and Milos Kerkez, who struggled on his return to the club and was exposed when Álex Jiménez doubled the hosts’ lead, was hooked at the interval. On this evidence Liverpool would be naive to allow Andy Robertson to depart for Tottenham. Mohamed Salah was anonymous, his greatest contribution backheeling the ball to Szoboszlai for his goal. Slot and Liverpool looked shell-shocked when Adli scored to earn their second win since October.

Published: January 24, 2026, 7:43 pm

Pittsburgh Steelers line up Mike McCarthy as next head coach

• Steelers to turn to McCarthy after Tomlin exits role

• McCarthy won Super Bowl with Packers in 2010

• Hire rekindles link with former QB Aaron Rodgers

Mike McCarthy’s next job is set to bring him back to where it all began.

The Pittsburgh Steelers intend to hire the Super Bowl-winning coach as their next head coach, according to multiple reports, with ESPN first breaking the news. A person familiar with the discussions told the Associated Press the sides are moving toward an agreement, though a deal has not yet been finalized.

Published: January 24, 2026, 7:07 pm

Shiffrin returns to giant slalom podium as US stack top eight in Czechia

• Shiffrin returns to GS podium weeks before Cortina

• Hector wins first giant slalom since January 2025

• Moltzan second, O’Brien fifth and Hurt eighth for US

Mikaela Shiffrin earned a place on the podium of a World Cup giant slalom for the first time in two years Saturday, finishing third in the last GS before the Milan Cortina Olympics.

The race was won by defending Olympic champion Sara Hector, who held on to her opening run lead for her first victory since January 2025.

Published: January 24, 2026, 2:50 pm

‘A long time coming’: table tennis world hails Marty Supreme-fueled boom

Once dismissed as a basement game, table tennis is enjoying an unlikely US revival as the Oscar-tipped biopic Marty Supreme collides with a wave of new players

For decades in the US, table tennis has lived a double life: one of the most widely played sports in the country, yet still dismissed by many as a basement pursuit. Now, unexpectedly, it is having a cultural moment.

The release of Marty Supreme, a film steeped in obsession and myth, and loosely based on postwar American table tennis champion Marty Reisman, has pushed ping-pong into the pop-culture mainstream – just as US Major League Table Tennis sells out matches, clubs report growing interest, and younger players pick up paddles for the first time.

Published: January 24, 2026, 8:00 am

Brenden Aaronson enters peak form at the right time for Leeds and the US

The Philadelphia Union product has added end product to his trademark hustle – can he keep the good form going?

Timing is everything in a World Cup year, and Brenden Aaronson’s has been pretty much perfect.

Scoring a goal and putting in a top performance against your team’s biggest rival is something all players dream of. To do so when your family is watching in the stands and a reporter from your home town newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, is in the press box makes it all the better. Aaronson did all of the above at Elland Road for Leeds United against Manchester United earlier this month.

Published: January 24, 2026, 10:00 am

Rory McIlroy backs Muirfield for Open return despite ‘lowest point’ in 2013

• Scottish links last staged championship 13 years ago

• ‘It’s one of the best courses on the rota and in the UK’

Rory McIlroy has endorsed Muirfield’s case for an Open revival despite reaching a golfing nadir there when the major was last staged at the Scottish links in 2013. McIlroy declared he felt “unconscious” and “brain dead” while en route to a missed cut in East Lothian 13 years ago.

The refusal of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers to admit women – a scenario that changed in 2017 – and the low attendance at Muirfield on that last visit played a part in the absence of the Open. Yet the venue is still rightly regarded as one of the finest in the world.

Published: January 24, 2026, 12:04 pm

‘St Paul has been under siege’: mayor confronts ICE as federal raids roil Twin Cities

Minneapolis protests have transfixed the US, but Kaohly Her’s city, home to a large immigrant population, has been targeted by ICE for half a year

Kaohly Her has one of the most striking background stories in US politics – a Hmong refugee born in a bamboo hut in the mountains of Laos who came to the US at age three as part of a Vietnam-war era resettlement program.

Now, as the newly installed mayor of Saint Paul, the city twinned with Minneapolis, she has emerged as an important figure in Minnesota, the solidly Democratic state targeted by the Trump administration’s exercise of controversial immigration policies.

Published: January 24, 2026, 5:00 pm

Gas explosion and fire in New York City apartment building kills 1, injures 14

Fire department was responding to report of gas odor in Bronx building when explosion occurred during frigid night

A gas explosion sent fire racing through the top floors of a high-rise apartment building in New York City early on Saturday, killing one person and injuring 14 others as temperatures plunged into the single digits overnight, authorities said.

Firefighters responded shortly before 12.30am to the 17-story New York City housing authority (Nycha) building in the Bronx, where people were seen leaning out of windows calling for help as flames engulfed parts of the top floors, officials said.

Published: January 24, 2026, 2:36 pm

Health groups sue EPA over insecticide that causes testicular damage in rats

Groups say EPA did not adequately consider adverse health effects to children when it approved the pesticide

Public health groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its approval of a Pfas “forever chemical” insecticide that industry research found likely reduces testicle size, lowers sperm count and harms the liver in rats.

The pesticide, isocycloseram, is used on food crops and could especially threaten children and developing fetuses, but the EPA did not factor those risks into its safety assessment, said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director with the Center for Biological Diversity, a plaintiff in the suit.

Published: January 24, 2026, 2:00 pm

Latest ChatGPT model uses Elon Musk’s Grokipedia as source, tests reveal

Guardian found OpenAI’s platform cited Grokipedia on topics including Iran and Holocaust deniers

The latest model of ChatGPT has begun to cite Elon Musk’s Grokipedia as a source on a wide range of queries, including on Iranian conglomerates and Holocaust deniers, raising concerns about misinformation on the platform.

In tests done by the Guardian, GPT-5.2 cited Grokipedia nine times in response to more than a dozen different questions. These included queries on political structures in Iran, such as salaries of the Basij paramilitary force and the ownership of the Mostazafan Foundation, and questions on the biography of Sir Richard Evans, a British historian and expert witness against Holocaust denier David Irving in his libel trial.

Published: January 24, 2026, 2:00 pm

‘A lot of fear’: the families bearing brunt of Sweden’s immigration crackdown

Many of those moved into an asylum return centre have held jobs for years and can speak the language

“Sweden did this for us,” said Sofiye*, making a supportive scooping up gesture with her hands. “And then, bam.” She dropped them to the ground.

Sofiye, who has three children, arrived in Sweden from Uzbekistan as an asylum seeker in 2008, and for much of that time she was able to build a life in the Scandinavian country. The family lived in a flat in a Stockholm suburb and Sofiye worked for the municipality in the home help department. She learned Swedish and her children went through the Swedish school system. Her youngest son was born in Sweden and her 18-year-old son, Hamza, who is studying in college to be a technician, doesn’t know life anywhere else.

Published: January 24, 2026, 2:00 pm

Week in wildlife: a proud eagle, an adorable axolotl and a goofy seal

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Published: January 23, 2026, 8:00 am

New filtration technology could be gamechanger in removal of Pfas ‘forever chemicals’

Researchers found a new way to filter and destroy Pfas chemicals at 100 times the rate of current systems

New filtration technology developed by Rice University may absorb some Pfas “forever chemicals” at 100 times the rate previously possible, which could dramatically improve pollution control and speed remediations.

Researchers also say they have also found a way to destroy Pfas, though both technologies face a steep challenge in being deployed on an industrial scale.

Published: January 23, 2026, 1:00 pm

Dramatic rise in water-related violence recorded since 2022

Experts say climate crisis, corruption and lack or misuse of infrastructure among factors driving water conflicts

Water-related violence has almost doubled since 2022 and little is being done to understand and address the trend and prevent new and escalating risks, experts have said.

There were 419 incidents of water-related violence recorded in 2024, up from 235 in 2022, according to the Pacific Institute, a US-based thinktank.

Published: January 23, 2026, 6:00 am

Indonesia takes action against mining firms after floods devastate population of world’s rarest ape

Conservationists hail the ‘desperately needed’ measures and urge greater protection after up to 11% of endangered Tapanuli orangutans wiped out

The floods and landslides that tore through Indonesia’s fragile Batang Toru ecosystem in November 2024 – killing up to 11% of the world’s Tapanuli orangutan population – prompted widespread scrutiny of the extractive companies operating in the area at the time of the ecological catastrophe.

For weeks, investigators searched for evidence that the companies may have damaged the Batang Toru and Garoga watersheds before the disaster, which washed torrents of mud and logs into villages, claiming the lives of more than 1,100 people.

Published: January 23, 2026, 5:00 am

US immigration agents detain two-year-old Minnesota girl: ‘depravity beyond words’

DHS detain a toddler and her father on Thursday and fly them to Texas before returning child on judge’s order

Federal immigration agents detained a two-year-old girl and her father in Minneapolis on Thursday and transported them to Texas, according to court records and the family’s lawyers.

The father, identified in court filings as Elvis Joel TE, and his daughter were stopped and detained by officers around 1pm when they were returning home from the store. By the evening, a federal judge had ordered the girl be released by 9.30pm. But federal officials instead put both of them on a plane heading to a Texas detention center.

Published: January 24, 2026, 1:38 am

Arrested Louisiana priest was accused of ‘inappropriately touching a child’, report says

Korey LaVergne was jailed on three counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile and was released after posting bail

The arrest of a Roman Catholic priest in south-west Louisiana occurred after local authorities were told that the clergyman had “inappropriately touched a child” over the course of a year, according to investigators’ initial report on the case.

The Guardian obtained the report Friday through a public records request, a week after the sheriff’s office of Acadia parish, Louisiana, booked Korey LaVergne with three counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile.

Published: January 24, 2026, 11:00 am

Death of Cuban migrant in Texas facility officially classified as homicide

Autopsy report concluded Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, died from ‘asphyxia due to neck and torso compression’

The death of a Cuban migrant inside a Texas immigration detention facility has been officially classified as a homicide, according to an El Paso county autopsy report.

Wednesday’s autopsy report from the El Paso county medical examiner’s office concluded that Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, died from “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression”, according to Adam Gonzalez, a deputy medical examiner.

Published: January 23, 2026, 10:33 pm

Colorado investigators confirm Hunter S Thompson’s 2005 death was a suicide

Journalist’s wife had contacted authorities with concerns and ‘potential information’ regarding inquiry into his death

A review of the 2005 shooting death of the journalist Hunter S Thompson has confirmed authorities’ original finding that his death was a suicide, Colorado investigators said on Friday.

The review by the Colorado bureau of investigation (CBI) was announced in September after Thompson’s wife, Anita Thompson, contacted authorities with “new concerns and potential information regarding the investigation” into Thompson’s death, the agency said in a news release.

Published: January 23, 2026, 10:45 pm

‘You feel obligated’: African workers on the pain – and pride – of the ‘black tax’

For workers sending money to support their relatives, payments are both a burden and badge of pride

From Senegal to Somalia and Egypt to South Africa, credit alert notifications from fintech apps such as Western Union or WorldRemit often set the mood for the rest of the day, week or even month.

Transfers from workers within the continent and the diaspora to their relatives are often referred to as the “black tax”, whereby one person’s salary and relative success can become the safety net for a whole extended family.

Published: January 24, 2026, 6:00 am

‘Repatriate the gold’: German economists advise withdrawal from US vaults

Shift in relations and unpredictability of Donald Trump make it ‘risky to store so much gold in the US’, say experts

Germany is facing calls to withdraw its billions of euros’ worth of gold from US vaults, spurred on by the shift in transatlantic relations and the unpredictability of Donald Trump.

Germany holds the world’s second biggest national gold reserves after the US, of which approximately €164bn (£122bn) worth – 1,236 tonnes – is stored in New York.

Published: January 24, 2026, 8:00 am

US military says it struck vessel in eastern Pacific, killing two people

Since September, military has carried out more than 30 strikes against boats that it alleges smuggle drugs

The US military said on Friday that it carried out a strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing two people.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the US Southern Command said in a statement.

Published: January 23, 2026, 11:48 pm

The Moment review – Charli xcx struggles through defanged Brat summer satire

Sundance film festival: There’s a smart idea at play here, with the star playing a hellish version of herself fighting against corporate forces, but there’s not a lot else

In April 2025, the pop singer Charli xcx posted a TikTok reflecting on nearly a year of her seminal album Brat: “It’s really hard to let go of Brat and let go of this thing that is so inherently me and become my entire life, you know?” she said. “I started thinking about culture, and the ebbs and flows and lifespan of things … ” She acknowledged that over-saturation is perilous, and that maybe she should stop, but “I’m also interested in the tension of staying too long. I find that quite fascinating.”

The frank, informal admission fit with Brat, a pop culture-shifting album that channeled, with stunning immediacy, the imperious ego and bristling insecurity of an artist keenly aware of her own precarious level of fame. Her ambivalence was understandable – Brat rapidly turned Charli, who spent over a decade as a fixture of pop’s so-called middle class, into a main pop girl, an artist played at midwest sorority weddings and used by a US presidential campaign. But her interest in “the tension of staying too long” also felt a little trite, the type of smart-sounding musing that dead-ends in self-awareness. Brat summer was heady, hedonistic, fun – a meme, an aesthetic, a vibe, a moment. That said moment passes? Well … yeah.

Published: January 24, 2026, 7:12 pm

I Want Your Sex review – vampy Olivia Wilde almost saves Gregg Araki’s tame dom-sub romp

Sundance film festival: As a provocative artist using sex to wield power, the actor is electric but the writer-director’s return to his campy, dayglo roots is largely underwhelming

While Sundance is traditionally focused on the importance of looking to the future of American film, a lineup filled with more first-timers than any other major festival, this year has been all about looking back. There are misty eyes over the loss of founder Robert Redford along with host state Utah and also for the many films that have premiered here over the years. Alongside more retrospective screenings than one usually expects, even the new films have a touch of old Sundance to them.

On opening day, Rachel Lambert’s small town drama Carousel conjured up memories of quiet character driven indies of the late 90s and early 00s and then, on a Friday full of packed out premieres, I Want Your Sex took us back to the era’s more in-your-face acts of provocation, made by renegade outsiders who would have otherwise struggled to find a place in the industry. It’s the new film from Gregg Araki, a film-maker who was at the forefront of this particular wave, one of Sundance’s most loved enfants terribles. He’s premiered most of his films here, from “heterosexual movie” The Doom Generation to magnum opus Mysterious Skin to all-time stoner comedy Smiley Face to 2014’s misbegotten drama White Bird in a Blizzard, his last film until now.

I Want Your Sex is screening at the Sundance film festival and is seeking distribution

Published: January 24, 2026, 4:15 pm

The History of Concrete review – John Wilson’s first movie is an absurd triumph

Sundance film festival: the documentarian’s feature debut, essentially an extended episode of his HBO series, turns an exploration of concrete into a meditation on change

For those in the know, the release of the Sundance film festival lineup last December contained one perfect, tantalizing log line, for a documentary plainly called The History of Concrete: “After attending a workshop on how to write and sell a Hallmark movie, filmmaker John Wilson tries to use the same formula to sell a documentary about concrete.”

Wilson, a film-maker from the Nathan Fielder school of meandering, bone-dry observational comedy, is a master of the modern documentary-essay-memoir, with an uncanny eye for the idiosyncratic, unintentionally hilarious and disturbing vignettes hiding in plain sight. Over three near-perfect seasons, his peerless HBO series How To With John Wilson, executive-produced by Fielder, spun spoofs of practical guides (“How to Cook the Perfect Risotto”) into profound meditations on the loudness, loneliness and ridiculousness of modern urban life, each half-hour episode a magic trick of elaborate, bizarre tangents reined in at the last second. For fans of the show – in my opinion, the single best TV series about New York this decade – Wilson’s feature documentary debut, supposedly about the most iconic element of urban life, was a must-see.

The History of Concrete is screening at the Sundance film festival and is seeking distribution

Published: January 23, 2026, 8:43 pm

‘Every single frame was sweated over’: how Becoming Led Zeppelin became the biggest documentary of the year

Bernard MacMahon’s film about the 70s giants took advantage of audience enthusiasm to make a major impact in cinemas – and it’s just the latest in a string of films about the era of classic rock

Bare-chested swagger, out of control hair, thunderous guitar riffs … the heroes of 1970s hard rock are back, and burning up the cinema box office. Becoming Led Zeppelin, a film about the British band that dominated the music industry in the 1970s, was the most successful feature documentary at the US box office in 2025, taking over $10m, with a worldwide gross of over $16m. (Taylor Swift’s The Official Release Party of a Showgirl grossed considerably more, with $34m, but as an album-promoting clipshow it is evidently in a different category.)

Despite breaking up in 1980 after the death of drummer John Bonham, Led Zeppelin remain one of the world’s bestselling music acts, with estimated sales of over 200m records and 14.9bn streams. The band were famously press-shy in their prime, but agreed to take part in Becoming Led Zeppelin, which focuses on their early years up to the release of groundbreaking second album, Led Zeppelin II, in 1969. And contemporary audiences have responded – especially to the film’s presentation on the giant Imax screens, where it recorded Imax’s best ever opening weekend for a music documentary and became the format’s highest-grossing documentary of 2025.

Published: January 23, 2026, 4:48 pm

The Incomer review – Domhnall Gleeson tries to lift aggressively quirky comedy

Sundance film festival: The actor is a charming presence in the otherwise overly twee and consistently unfunny tale of isolated siblings dealing with a visitor

Once upon a time, two siblings lived on an abandoned Scottish isle, isolated from the modern world and suspicious of all outsiders. The siblings, a brother and sister, believed themselves to be descended from the gulls that peppered the island’s scenic cliffs; they also believed, on some level, that they too were gulls – or, at least, they acted like it, flapping and squawking about.

Debauched fairytales like these loom large over The Incomer, Scottish writer-director Louis Paxton’s odd and aggressively quaint first feature, which asks a high conceptual buy-in of its audience. From the first shots of Isla (Gayle Rankin) and Sandy (Grant O’Rourke) caw-caw-ing like birds and beating sacks labeled “incomer” with clubs, Paxton commits to an askew, often alienating angle of humor – quirky, at times juvenile, a touch dark, altogether difficult to settle into for anyone with an aversion to twee.

The Incomer is screening at the Sundance film festival and is seeking distribution

Published: January 24, 2026, 2:51 pm

Extra Geography review – a sweet and spiky coming-of-age debut

Sundance film festival: two teenage girls find their friendship put to the test in a witty and charmingly odd British comedy

If you know, you know that first best friendship is a world unto itself – lush, rugged and expansive, nutritive and intoxicating, vulnerable to freak changes in the weather. Its specific terrain stays invisible to outsiders; only the two within it know, and they themselves are likely to lose it in time. So goes the perilous trekking in Extra Geography, Molly Manners’ nimble and frequently funny debut film, which astutely maps the peaks and valleys of one charged friendship between two adolescent girls at an English boarding school.

Minna and Flic, played by remarkable newcomers Galaxie Clear (coming for Chase Infiniti’s name game) and Marni Duggan, begin year 10 sometime in the early 2000s, in a sunny meadow of boundless, heady entanglement. They move in playful unison, share beds and mannerisms, hold common goals (Oxbridge) and disdain (for boys, and those who covet them). Manners, a Bafta nominee for her work on the better-than-it-should-be Netflix series One Day, is particularly attuned to the energizing rhythm of platonic-ish intimacy; the first third of this brisk, 94-minute film is a mesmerizing symphony of female mind-meld, the girls slamming lockers, opening notebooks, flopping on the floor and hatching plans to a swift, synchronous beat.

Published: January 24, 2026, 2:45 am

‘Some artists thought it was too political’: can Jarvis, Damon, Olivia Rodrigo and Arctic Monkeys reboot the biggest charity album of the 90s?

Oasis, Macca and Radiohead made Help a smash for War Child in 1995. A new reboot packs comparable star power – and was partially produced from a hospital bed

When Kae Tempest was asked to contribute to a new track by Damon Albarn, which would also feature Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten, Tempest says he jumped at the chance. It wasn’t just the artists involved, nor the fact that it was for a new compilation benefiting War Child, called Help(2): a sequel to the charity’s hugely successful 1995 compilation Help. After seven solo albums, Tempest had begun thinking about working with others, and so the night before the recording session, he and Chatten repaired to Albarn’s studio and wrote their verses together, “responding to each other”. It seemed to work really well, he says: “A true collaboration.”

Nevertheless, he concedes, the actual recording of Flags proved to be quite the baptism of fire. “Johnny Marr was on guitar, Femi [Koleoso] from Ezra Collective was drumming,” he laughs. “Plus, there was a children’s choir.”

Published: January 23, 2026, 8:00 am

Ari Lennox: Vacancy review – the R&B sophisticate’s loosest and most fun outing yet

(Interscope)
On her third LP, Lennox balances jazz-soaked tradition with flashes of unruly humour and a surefire viral hit

Ari Lennox is one of contemporary R&B’s premier sophisticates, preferring a palette of lush jazz, soul and 90s hip-hop over the more genre-fluid sound pushed by contemporaries SZA and Kehlani. But a few songs into her new album, Vacancy, she makes it eminently clear that tradition and wildness can coexist, with fabulously sparky results: on Under the Moon, she describes a lover as “vicious / Like a werewolf / When you’re in it” and proceeds to howl “moooooooooon” as if she is in an old creature feature.

Vacancy, Lennox’s third album, is far and away her most fun, and if it isn’t quite as ingratiating as her 2022 Age/Sex/Location, it makes up for it with canny lyrics and an airy, open sound. Cool Down is a reggae/R&B hybrid that practically feels as if it is made of aerogel, and which pairs its summery lightness with witty lyrics telling a guy to chill out. On Mobbin in DC, she pairs lounge-singer coolness with withering come-ons (“You know where I be / This ain’t calculus / No ChatGPT”), while the strutting Horoscope, with its hook of “That boy put the ho’ in ‘horoscope’,” is as surefire a future viral hit as I’ve ever heard.

Published: January 23, 2026, 8:30 am

Add to playlist: the Regency-styled 80s synth-pop revivalism of Haute & Freddy and the week’s best new tracks

The LA-based pop duo are sending a jolt through TikTok with maximalist songs that emote wildly in every direction

From Los Angeles
Recommend if you like Erasure, Chappell Roan, Jade
Up next Debut album Big Disgrace out 13 March

Just when you think pop is finally moving away from the synth-heavy 80s sound, another thrilling new act comes along to say: “Nope!” With shades of Erasure and a good dollop of theatre kid energy, Haute & Freddy are the Regency-styled freaks sending a jolt through TikTok. Their latest single Dance the Pain Away is the year’s first true banger, a dazzling sad-pop production that bursts through the January gloom, thrusts a spritzer in your hand and drags you to the dancefloor.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:00 pm

Dijon review – a dense and dramatic forest of futurist sound from Grammy-nominated R&B auteur

Brixton Academy
Nominated for producer of the year for his album Baby and work with Justin Bieber, the US musician’s passion and experimentalism shine in this daring performance

Dijon may have sold out two nights at Brixton Academy, but the first feels more like the audience are witnessing a joyous jam session between friends: musicians who are totally attentive to one another and unabashed in their passion.

Following an extensive US tour of his acclaimed album Baby – and ahead of next weekend’s Grammys, where he is up for producer of the year thanks to his work with Justin Bieber – the US singer-songwriter clutches the mic as if it’s giving him life, seemingly preoccupied only with the sounds surrounding him. His music is a kind of lo-fi but densely produced R&B, but his setup here is the stuff of electronic prog rock, with soundboards and decks, a vast array of synthesisers, a live kit, electric guitar and bass, a violin and backing vocals. That ambition is matched by the setlist: 21 songs in two hours played in quick succession.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:58 pm

Ali Smith: ‘Henry James had me running down the garden path shouting out loud’

The Scottish author on a masterclass from Toni Morrison, the brilliance of Simone de Beauvoir and the trim novel by Tove Jansson containing everything that really matters

My earliest reading memory
Apparently I taught myself to read when I was three via the labels on the Beatles 45s we had: I remember the moment of recognising the words “I” and “Feel” and “Fine”. It took a bit longer to work out the word “Parlophone”.

My favourite book growing up
Sister Vincent taught primary six in St Joseph’s, Inverness, and was a discerning reader with very good taste, plus the kind of literary moral rectitude that meant she removed Enid Blyton from the class library because she believed Blyton’s books were written by a factory of writers. In 1972 she and I had a passionate argument when the class was choosing a book to be read out loud to us and I championed Charlotte’s Web by EB White, with which I was in love. Sister Vincent put her foot down. “No. Because animals speak in it, and in reality animals don’t speak.” I recently reread it for the first time since I was nine, and it moved me to tears. What a fine book, about all sorts of language, injustice, imaginative power and friendship versus life’s tough realities. Terrific. Radiant. Humble.

Published: January 23, 2026, 10:00 am

Custody: The Secret History of Mothers by Lara Feigel – why women still have to fight for their children

Feigel uses her own experience as a starting point to examine the past, present and future of separation

This book about child custody is, unsurprisingly, full of pain. The pain of mothers separated from their children, of children sobbing for their mothers, of adults who have never moved on from the trauma of their youth, and of young people who are forced to live out the conflicts of their elders. Lara Feigel casts her net across history and fiction, reportage and memoir, and while her research is undeniably impressive and her candour moving, at times she struggles to create a narrative that can hold all these tales of anguish together.

The book begins with a woman flinging herself fully clothed into a river and then restlessly walking on, swimming again, walking again. This is French novelist George Sand, driven to desperate anxiety as she waits to go into court to fight for the right to custody of her children. But almost immediately the story flicks away to Feigel’s own custody battle, and then back into the early 19th century, with Caroline Norton’s sons being taken away in a carriage in the rain by their father.

Published: January 23, 2026, 9:00 am

May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry review – a dazzling puzzle-box of a debut

The plight of a reluctant medieval king is glimpsed through scattered pieces of the past, in an ingenious novel that asks how much we can really know about history

In a medieval palace an unnamed king chafes under the new and unsought burden of power. His uncertain fate plays out in the present-day imagination of an unnamed curator of unspecified gender, who has been employed by the palace to dress some of its rooms for public viewing in the wake of an undescribed personal tragedy.

It’s likely that you’ll either be utterly intrigued or deeply put off by that summary of poet Rebecca Perry’s debut novel, May We Feed the King, a highly wrought puzzle-box of a book which deliberately wrongfoots the reader at every turn. However, the intrigued will find that it richly rewards those who approach it with curiosity – just not in the ways we as readers (and as interpreters of stories in any form) have been trained to expect.

Published: January 23, 2026, 7:00 am

Children and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels

Caring canines; daring donuts; a golden monkey; a boy from another planet; a dark take on Little Women and more

The Good Deed Dogs by Emma Chichester Clark, Walker, £12.99
Three very good dogs’ attempts to help others keep backfiring with chaotic consequences – until they pull off a successful kitten rescue in this exuberantly charming picture book.

Auntie’s Bangles by Dean Atta and Alea Marley, Orchard, £12.99
Everyone misses Auntie, especially the jingle of her jewellery; but eventually Theo and Rama are ready to put on her bangles and dance to celebrate her memory. A sweet, poignant picture book about loss, joy and remembrance.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘I can understand being brought to your knees’: Amanda Seyfried on obsession, devotion and the joy of socks

The Testament of Ann Lee is a bonkers musical fantasia about an obscure religious sect. Its star and writer-director Mona Fastvold talk fear, bonding – and not needing an Oscar

Not many actors take an interest in the audience’s aftercare. When it comes to The Testament of Ann Lee, however, Amanda Seyfried is hands-on. “Did you watch it with someone you could talk to?” she asks, tilting her head sympathetically, then dipping her full-beam headlight eyes and giving a worried look when I admit that I saw it alone. “It’s nice to process it with somebody else.”

Her concern is understandable. Whatever feelings the film provokes, indifference will not be among them. Heady and rapturous, this is an all-round odd duck of a movie, the sort of go-for-broke phantasmagoria – an 18th-century musical biopic complete with feverish visions and levitating – that was once typical of Lars von Trier or Bruno Dumont. I confess I didn’t know exactly what to make of it, but I knew I had been through a singular experience. Its director, Mona Fastvold, seated beside Seyfried on a sofa in a London hotel room, looks delighted. “That’s my favourite sort of feeling,” she says.

Published: January 23, 2026, 5:00 am

‘I have the power!‘: Is the new He-Man film taking itself too seriously again?

Any attempt to add a down-to-Earth note to this wildly psychedelic 80s cartoon risks missing the point of its gloriously overblown origins

There is a rule in the science fiction and fantasy milieu – or at least there ought to be – that these types of properties should never, ever set any of the action in our own solar system. With the notable exception of Alien: Earth, which cleverly reframes the franchise’s xenomorphs as little more than fluffy house cats compared with humanity’s own talent for self-destruction, it is almost always a terrible idea. Who remembers Galactica 1980, the early-80s offshoot of Battlestar Galactica that lasted all of one season? Or the later seasons of Lexx, which took one of television’s most glorious space operas and promptly shrank it by parking large chunks of the action in this solar system.

And then there was the 1987 big-screen adaptation of Masters of the Universe, which somehow decided to send Nordic lunk Dolph Lundgren to LA before audiences had even finished adjusting to the idea of him being He-Man at all – as if the true stuff of epic fantasy was not skull-faced castles, cosmic sorcery and men built like exploded anatomy textbooks, but shopping malls, car parks and the vague promise of a California food court.

Published: January 23, 2026, 2:51 pm

Seductive stitches, Warhol in Nottingham and an Italian giant’s igloo sculpture – the week in art

Jessica Rankin sews up painting, arte povera’s Mario Merz comes in from the cold and Andy Warhol brings pop to the Midlands – all in your weekly dispatch

Jessica Rankin
This New York artist’s abstract works hover between embroidery and painting and have a seductive, lyrical beauty.
• White Cube Mason’s Yard, London, 28 January to 28 February

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:00 pm

My fellow gen Z have spoken: these 22 products still scream ‘2016’

Beats headphones, army green jackets and ‘blinding highlights’ – I asked my fellow gen Z to name the 2016 fads they can’t let go of

• ‘Put a rubber band on your phone’: I asked experts how to reduce screen time – here’s what they said

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At the ripe age of 24, I didn’t believe I was old enough to feel nostalgic for my youth. But the internet thinks otherwise.

Overnight, my TikTok feed went from dewy makeup, six-seven memes and Heated Rivalry fan edits to blinding highlights, matte lipstick and mannequin challenge videos.

Fifteen nostalgic gifts in the US that will take you back to simpler times

What’s in your ‘analog bag’? Unpacking the viral trend – in a stuffed tote

Published: January 23, 2026, 3:15 pm

Blind date: ‘He referenced the “six seven” meme. We’re two generations too old for it and I had no idea how to react’

Toby, a data analyst, meets Liam, a civil servant. Both are 29

What were you hoping for?
I wanted to go in with no expectations.

Published: January 24, 2026, 6:00 am

Our family has a unique approach to grievances: ‘If you make peace, you heap coals of fire on your enemy’s head’

Advice about how to deal with barbs and those who throw them has trickled down from the Bible and through the generations for Meg Keneally and her father Thomas

• Read more in the Home Truths series

I’ve always been a dramatic soul. As a young teenager, I would stumble home from early high school, fresh from another day of taunts about my weight, the strange protrusions developing on my chest, or the perm I gave myself from a home kit at the weekend (it was the 1980s!). And, of course, I would relay every insult, every slight, every barb to my parents.

Published: January 23, 2026, 2:00 pm

Could a surfing retreat in Morocco conquer my fear of the sea?

The process of learning to catch a wave is an all-consuming activity that can prove to be a powerful therapeutic tool

I can’t remember when my terror of waves began in earnest. Maybe it was a singular incident that triggered it, like that monster wave in Biarritz, France, almost 20 years ago that body-slammed me on to the seabed, taking all the skin off my chin.

More likely is that my transition from fearless to frightened had been more of a slow creep, and a perfectly rational one when you consider the danger of riptides, hidden rocks, sharks and concussion. But for me, I feel it goes deeper. Almost inevitably my job will have had something to do with this. Nearly two decades of working as a journalist reporting on the very worst things that human beings can do to other human beings in a wide array of contexts has definitely eroded my sense that I can keep myself – and others – safe from harm in a dangerous world.

Published: January 24, 2026, 7:00 am

As stars wear black at Valentino’s funeral, tributes are dressed in red

Fashion designer’s death has brought the red dress – and his distinctive shade of the colour – back into the spotlight

“The red dress,” said Valentino Garavani in 1992, “is always magnificent”.

This week, after the announcement of his death at the age of 93, the red dress – and the distinctive shade of red long associated with the designer known simply as Valentino – is back in the spotlight.

Published: January 23, 2026, 2:56 pm

Consider the optics: why men have fallen back in love with spectacles

Slim frames and tinted lenses are reshaping how men present themselves. Glasses have become the must-have accessory – even if you don’t have a prescription

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Last spring, Tom Broughton, founder of eyewear brand Cubitts, was asked to comment on a meme that was going viral, that featured a pair of his company’s ‘Plimsoll’ frames. The small, delicate, and slightly round unisex shape had been worn by British actor, Jonathan Bailey, in leaked stills from the 2025 movie, Jurassic World Rebirth – and had been dubbed by the internet as a pair of ‘slutty little glasses’.

“It all just blew up,” remembers Broughton, noting how the brand struggled to deal with the sudden demand for what had become the sexiest specs on the market. A subsequent capsule collection, made in partnership with Bailey’s LGBTQ+ charity the Shameless Fund, sold out almost instantly, too. Thousands of pairs were gone in minutes, and after multiple restocks, “we’re maybe down to our last 15 pairs,” adds Broughton. Nearly the entire run was bought by men.

Published: January 23, 2026, 7:00 am

Tim Dowling: the dung men are here. The tortoise is out. Surely it’s not spring already …

I see the manure sellers as part of some lost and deeply English tradition, which is why I prefer my wife to deal with them

I am in the kitchen watching the dog and the cat fight when the tortoise suddenly appears. Or to put it another way: I watched the dog and the cat fight for a while, until it became tiresome; the next time I looked up – possibly 15 minutes later – the tortoise was also there. That’s what I mean by suddenly. In real terms, the tortoise doesn’t do anything suddenly.

“Where have you been?” I say, even though I know the answer. I haven’t seen the tortoise in six weeks, but I’m certain he’s been butted up against the left rear leg of the sofa for that whole period.

Published: January 24, 2026, 6:00 am

Experience: my daughters were born conjoined at the head

Seeing them separated for the first time felt like a miracle

I was already a mother of three when I lay back for my 10-week ultrasound in 2019. At first, seeing the gel on my stomach and the flickering black and white image on screen was familiar and soothing. Then I saw the look on the sonographer’s face.

She dropped the probe and ran out of the room without a word. I tried not to panic, but by the time she sprinted back in with a doctor, who looked at the screen and said, “Oh my goodness”, I was terrified.

Published: January 23, 2026, 5:00 am

Having synaesthesia is a lot like being a twin – we don’t know any different

Identical twins Helen Besgrove, a marketing executive, and Kirsty Neal, a GP, share their different experiences perceiving the world

Helen Besgrove: My twin sister, Kirsty, and I have a very similar experience of synaesthesia in that our experiences of sounds, tastes, smells, words, noises and motion is very visual. Whether it’s a name, a personality, a sound or a smell – everything has a colour and a texture in our mind’s eye.

What’s interesting is that the colours and the textures Kirsty and I see can be very different. When I drink a glass of chardonnay, I get these swirls of custardy oil but Kirsty might describe the same wine as fuzzy or blobby. It’s the same with people’s personalities, which we both see as a coloured and textured aura around that person. My best friend Jenn’s personality is poo brown, which she hates. For Kirsty, Jenn’s personality is yellow and blue with a brown stripe in the middle.

Published: January 23, 2026, 2:00 pm

The pub that changed me: ‘As soon as I got behind the bar, I panicked’

What could be better than working at the Friendship Inn with my best friend, Ned? Almost anything else, as it turned out

I adored pubs. They were my natural home. And now, thanks to my best friend, Ned, I’d got a job at the Friendship Inn in Prestwich. It was the mid-1980s, and I was in my early 20s, preparing for the first shift. What could be better than working in a pub called the Friendship alongside my bezzy? And I understood drink – you left Guinness to stand, aimed for half an inch of head on a pint of bitter, and if someone asked for water with a whisky you didn’t fill the glass. Easy-peasy.

As soon as I got behind the bar I panicked. There were perhaps half a dozen people waiting to order, but it looked like a sea of thousands. The bar was particularly tricky because it was shaped like the bow of a ship. Every time I went to one side, customers started calling from the other. I couldn’t remember the faces. Nor the drinks they ordered. I took a funny turn. The faces became twisted, distorted, ghoulish, cackling manically or cursing my incompetence. I felt like Mia Farrow confronting the neighbours’ coven in Rosemary’s Baby, only thankfully I didn’t have a knife.

I poured Guinness for people who had ordered a glass of red, Budweiser for those who wanted a Boddingtons. There wasn’t a thing I didn’t get wrong. And then I broke my first glass. The crowd staring at me got more Rosemary’s Baby by the second. My bitter was headless; my lager all head. I broke another glass. I was getting dizzy, struggling to breathe. My legs were collapsing.

Published: January 23, 2026, 5:00 am

The occupation of Minneapolis: how residents are resisting Trump’s ICE 'invasion' – video

Following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agents in Minneapolis, the Guardian’s Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone travel to the heart of affected neighbourhoods to speak with residents who are fighting to defend their community from violence and intimidation. They embed with ICE watch groups, hear from Somali-American residents, and witness a swarm of federal agents conduct a sweep in the suburbs

Published: January 23, 2026, 11:00 am

‘There are kids not going to school’: fear of ICE is keeping children from classes in Connecticut

In New Haven, where one in six residents is foreign born, children’s education suffers as they are afraid to step out

“They took her, they took her, they took her.”

Those were some of the words Cora Muñoz, the Wilbur Cross high school assistant principal, could discern while on the phone with the guardian of one of her students. As the caller sobbed and struggled to speak, Muñoz realized that immigration enforcement agents had detained a kid from Wilbur Cross, the high school she helps lead.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:00 pm

Meet the OB-GYNs fighting back against Trump’s ‘guerrilla war on science’

As some medical groups cave to the Trump administration, the American College of OB-GYNs is taking a stand

When Steven Fleischman took over as president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) in 2025, he knew that controversy was practically part of the job description. But the Connecticut-based physician at Yale University School of Medicine never predicted that things would get this dire.

As the premier membership group for US-based OB-GYNs, ACOG provides its more than 62,000 members with clinical guidance, educational opportunities and career help. It also advocates for abortion rights – a stance that has long made the organization far more politically active than many other major medical societies. And in the last year, the non-partisan organization has become a leading voice in the fight against Donald Trump’s anti-science crusade and the US government’s embrace of medical misinformation, especially on the topic of pregnancy and childbirth.

Published: January 23, 2026, 12:00 pm

Tell us your favourite TV moments of all time

As television turns 100, we would like to hear your highlights of the century

As television turns 100, we’ve charted TV history in a timeline of 100 extraordinary moments. Now, we would like to hear your highlights. Did we miss anything? What is your favourite TV moment of all time?

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Published: January 23, 2026, 2:10 pm

‘Displaying the cloth like this showed its true beauty’: Aung Chan Thar’s best phone picture

A beautiful lake, gorgeous fabric: how could the Myanmar photographer resist?

When Aung Chan Thar was 25, he was selected to represent Myanmar as part of Asean Centre for Biodiversity’s (ACB) Young Asean Storytellers programme. A cohort of 20 young artists and writers visited Asean Heritage Parks in their own countries to tell stories of biodiversity, nature and culture.

Aung first travelled to Inlay Lake Wildlife Sanctuary, known for its floating gardens, in 2022. “The Intha people live around the lake and build floating houses: structures made from bamboo on stilts,” Aung says. “Fishing is a common occupation; they use their feet to paddle their boats. So is the production of colourful cloth.”

Published: January 24, 2026, 11:00 am