At the root of all our problems stands one travesty: politicians’ surrender to the super-rich | George Monbiot

There are many excuses for failing to tax the ultra-wealthy. The truth is that governments don’t tackle the problem because they don’t want to

There is one political problem from which all others follow. It is the major cause of Donald Trump, of Nigel Farage, of the shocking weakness of their opponents, of the polarisation tearing societies apart, of the devastation of the living world. It is simply stated: the extreme wealth of a small number of people.

It can also be quantified. The World Inequality Report (WIR) 2026 shows that about 56,000 people – 0.001% of the global population – corral three times more wealth than the poorest half of humanity. They afflict almost every country. In the UK, for example, 50 families hold more wealth than 50% of the population combined.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:00 pm

Ferraris for all and wine on tap: satirical candidate shakes up Portugal’s presidential election

The campaign by ‘Candidate Vieira’ mirrors the country’s growing anti-establishment sentiment

In Lisbon’s Campo de Ourique market earlier this week, conversation had turned – a little inevitably – to Sunday’s presidential election, which will decide who will take over from the outgoing Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

But amid the usual claims and counter-claims, promises and pledges, one candidate has been offering voters something a bit more enticing than his competitors.

Published: January 16, 2026, 11:31 am

‘It’s very embarrassing’: Sophie Turner on rage, romance and the horror of watching Game of Thrones

She was a star at 14, learned how to act with the whole world watching, then stepped away to discover herself. Now she’s back in the new Tomb Raider – and a Die Hard-style thriller

Sophie Turner has a screwball comedy vibe in real life – elegant trouser suit, arch but friendly expression, perfect hair, she looks ready for some whipsmart repartee and a sundowner. She seems very comfortable in her own skin, which is unusual anyway when you’re not quite 30, but especially incongruous given her various screen personas: first, in Game of Thrones. Thirteen when she was cast as Sansa Stark, 14 when she started filming, she embodied anxious, aristocratic self-possession at an age when a regular human can’t even keep track of their own socks. Six seasons in, arguably at peak GoT impact, she became Jean Grey in X-Men: Apocalypse, a role she reprised in 2019 for Dark Phoenix, action-studded and ram-jammed with superpowers.

Now she’s the lead in Steal, a Prime Video drama about a corporate heist, though that makes it sound quite desk and keyboard-based when, in fact, it is white-knuckle tense and alarmingly paced. The villains move in a malevolent swarm like hornets; hapless middle managers are slain almost immediately; it’s impossible to tell for the longest time whether we’re looking at gangster thugs or hacking geniuses, motivated by avarice or anarchy. It’s a first-time screenplay by novelist Sotiris Nikias (who writes crime under a pseudonym, Ray Celestin), and it feels original, not so much in the action and hyperviolence as in the trade-offs it refuses to make: whatever explosions are going on, however much chasing around a dystopian pension-fund investment office, you still wouldn’t call it an action drama. It has a novelistic feel, like characters from a David Nicholls book woke up in Die Hard, and there’s a constant swirl, as you try to figure out who’s the assailed and who’s the assailant.

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:00 pm

Is ICE out of control? – podcast

Its agents outnumber police on the streets of Minneapolis, are detaining US citizens and clashing violently with protesters. Caitlin Dickerson and Maanvi Singh report

In Minneapolis, ICE officers now outnumber the city’s police officers five to one. And in the days since the death of Renee Nicole Good, a US citizen, at the hands of an ICE agent, tensions have only been growing in the US city.

The Guardian’s immigration reporter Maanvi Singh has been reporting from the city. She tells Annie Kelly about the atmosphere of fear. “You see these vehicles with ICE agents – SUVs without license plates being driven by masked drivers some carrying weapons.”

Published: January 16, 2026, 3:00 am

‘It’s a loving mockery, because it’s also who I am’: the making of gaming’s most pathetic character

The team behind Baby Steps discuss why they made a whiny, unprepared manbaby the protagonist – and how players have grown to love Nate as he struggles up a mountain

“I don’t know why he is in a onesie and has a big ass,” shrugs game developer Gabe Cuzzillo. “Bennett just came in with that at some point.”

“I thought it would be cute,” replies Bennett Foddy, who was formerly Cuzzillo’s professor at New York University’s Game Center and is now his collaborator. “Working on character design and animation brings you over to liking big butts. I could give you an enormous amount of evidence for this.”

Published: January 16, 2026, 10:00 am

‘If you’re flushing the toilet with grey water, people should know’: how China turned rain into an asset

Architects and designers have recycled ancient practice of collecting rainwater to make buildings ecologically friendly

When the legendary Taiwanese rock band Mayday were due to perform in Beijing one evening in May 2023, some fans were worried that the rainy weather could affect the show. Mayday were taking to the stage in Beijing’s National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest, built for the 2008 Olympics. Like the real-life twig piles that give the building its nickname, the stadium is built with an intricate and highly porous lattice, made of steel.

“Don’t worry too much,” reassured an article published by the official newsletter for China’s ministry of water resources. “The Bird’s Nest also has its ‘secret weapon’!”

Published: January 16, 2026, 5:00 am

Family of man killed by off-duty ICE agent in LA demands charges: ‘The ache will never go away’

After Renee Good’s killing in Minneapolis, calls grow for accountability in the shooting of Keith Porter Jr on New Year’s Eve

Family and friends of a Los Angeles man who was killed by an off-duty US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer over the holidays are urging local officials to arrest and prosecute the federal agent.

Keith Porter Jr, a 43-year-old father of two, was fatally shot by an ICE officer on New Year’s Eve outside his apartment complex, according to LA and federal officials. An LA police department (LAPD) spokesperson said after the incident that Porter had fired gunshots into the air. A US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said the off-duty immigration officer was “forced to defensively use his weapon” while responding to an “active shooter”.

Published: January 16, 2026, 12:00 pm

US envoy says deal on Greenland ‘should and will be made’ - Europe live

Jeff Landry, the US special envoy to Greenland, said Donald Trump is ‘serious’ about his plans to control Greenland

Meanwhile, Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto does not seem to be convinced about the merits of European military deployments to Greenland.

Speaking to journalists, he wondered “what a hundred, two hundred, or three hundred soldiers of any nationality could do” in Greenland. “It sounds like the beginning of a joke.”

“It’s not a competition to see who sends the military around the world.”

“A part of me is not sure how much of this is a distraction, to try and take the attention of the American people away from some very real issues that we have in the United States right now.

The cost of living is a real concern for Americans [and] Donald Trump got elected saying he was going to address the cost of living.

Published: January 16, 2026, 2:30 pm

White House economic adviser says he expects there is ‘nothing to see’ in investigation into Powell – US politics live

Kevin Hassett, chair of White House economic council, downplays inquiry into Fed building cost overruns

Madison Sheahan, a Trump ally and the second-ranking official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said on Thursday she was ditching her leadership position to run for Congress in Ohio.

The 28-year-old, who describes herself as a “Trump conservative”, announced her candidacy in a video in which she highlighted the agency’s expansion under her tenure.

Published: January 16, 2026, 2:29 pm

US mixed messaging on flu shots alarms experts: ‘Children should not be dying’

As hospitals scramble and country reaches record-breaking rates of illness, officials cast doubt on flu shot’s necessity

As the US reaches record-breaking rates of illness and hospitals scramble to care for flu patients, officials have stopped fully recommending the flu shot, casting doubt on the necessity and effectiveness of the vaccine.

“We are in the midst of a very severe flu season,” said Seema Lakdawala, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Emory School of Medicine. Despite this, the US is dismantling many of its vaccine recommendations. Flu vaccine recommendations for children changed in early January to “shared clinical decision-making”, which has typically meant a provider recommends the shot.

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:00 pm

Giving Trump the Nobel peace prize medal is ‘absurd’, say Norwegian politicians

US president criticised for accepting medal awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado

Political leaders in Norway have condemned the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s “absurd” decision to present her Nobel peace prize medal to Donald Trump, accusing the US president of being a “classic showoff” who takes credit for other people’s work.

The Nobel laureate gave her medal to Trump at the White House on Thursday “in recognition [of] his unique commitment [to’] our freedom”. Several hours later, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Machado “presented me with her Nobel peace prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.”

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:20 pm

Khamenei regime will not be able to keep control of Iran, says dissenting film-maker

Jafar Panahi, director of Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident, says Iranian leaders want to destroy country

The Khamenei regime will not be able to maintain control over Iranian society after the violent suppression of the latest wave of protests, one of the country’s leading film-makers has predicted.

“It is impossible for this government to sustain itself in this situation,” the director Jafar Panahi told the Guardian. “They know it too. They know that it will be impossible to rule over people. Perhaps their only goal right now is to bring the country to the verge of complete collapse and try to destroy it.”

Published: January 16, 2026, 8:45 am

‘An attempt to break people’: Bucha holds out amid Russia’s weaponisation of winter

Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power plants as severe frost set in have been described as ‘crimes against humanity’

Outside the main pumping station for Bucha, three engineers, bundled up in parkas, are working on the emergency generator keeping the Ukrainian city supplied with water.

One holds a heat gun to the generator’s filter in an effort to unfreeze it, his face reddened by blowing snow and a daytime temperature of -12C (10.4F). Watching attentively is the city’s mayor, Anatolii Fedoruk. The generator in his office is also frozen when the Guardian visits and he apologises for the lack of coffee.

Published: January 16, 2026, 12:30 pm

Trump administration says detaining college student trying to surprise family was a ‘mistake’

Any Lucía López Belloza was detained at Boston’s airport in November and flown to Honduras two days later

The Trump administration apologized in court for a “mistake” in the deportation of a Massachusetts college student who was detained trying to fly home to surprise her family in Texas for Thanksgiving.

But the administration still argued that the federal government error should not affect her immigration case.

Published: January 16, 2026, 2:04 pm

Kyrsten Sinema sued by former bodyguard’s ex-wife over ‘alienation of affection’

Heather Ammel says ex-Arizona senator pursued romantic relationship with her husband that led to couple’s breakup

Kyrsten Sinema, a former US senator from Arizona, had a romantic relationship with a member of her security detail that led to the breakup of the man’s marriage, his ex-wife alleges in a lawsuit seeking at least $75,000 from Sinema.

Matthew and Heather Ammel had “a good and loving marriage” with “genuine love and affection” before Sinema interfered, pursuing Matthew Ammel despite knowing he was married, Heather Ammel alleges in her lawsuit.

Published: January 16, 2026, 2:29 am

Tortilla, broccoli, ‘a piece of chicken’: US agriculture secretary mocked for ‘money-saving’ meal

Brooke Rollins claimed meal featuring tortilla, broccoli, chicken and ‘one other thing’ can cost around $3

• US politics live – latest updates

The US agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, is facing ridicule from congressional Democrats – among others – after claiming Americans can save money and have their meals align with new Department of Health and Human Services dietary guidelines by simply eating “a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli”, “a corn tortilla” and “one other thing”.

One representative even called the remarks “a slap in the face to struggling working families”.

Published: January 15, 2026, 6:24 pm

Trump news at a glance: The medal may be in Trump’s hands, but peace prize is not his, Nobel officials say

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado ‘presented’ her Nobel prize to Trump in White House meeting – key US politics stories from Thursday 15 January at a glance

In an apparent attempt to win back Donald Trump’s favour, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado told reporters she had “presented” her gold Nobel peace prize medal to the US president during a private meeting at the White House on Thursday.

Machado, who received the award last year for her struggle against Nicolás Maduro’s “brutal, authoritarian state”, told reporters she had done so “in recognition [of] his unique commitment [to] our freedom”. It was not immediately clear whether Trump had accepted the gift.

Published: January 16, 2026, 2:00 am

Trump press secretary launches tirade against reporter who asked about ICE

Karoline Leavitt brands journalist who asked about deaths in ICE custody and killing of Renee Good ‘a leftwing activist’

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, accused a reporter of being a “leftwing activist” during a heated confrontation on Thursday over the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent last week.

Beginning his question during the White House press briefing, Niall Stanage, a White House columnist for the Hill, referred to the Trump administration’s staunch defense of ICE agents and the assertion by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, that ICE are “doing everything correctly”. He pointed to statistics showing that last year 32 people died in ICE custody and 170 US citizens were detained by ICE, before noting that Good was “shot in the head and killed by an ICE agent”.

Published: January 15, 2026, 10:27 pm

Judge allows offshore windfarm halted by Trump to resume construction

Setback for president, who has called windfarms ‘losers’, as Empire Wind project allowed to move forward

A federal judge on Thursday cleared the way for a New York offshore wind project to resume construction, a victory for the developer who said a Trump administration order to pause it would probably kill the project in a matter of days.

District judge Carl J Nichols, an appointee of Donald Trump, ruled construction on the Empire Wind project could go forward while he considers the merits of the government’s order to suspend the project. He faulted the government for not responding to key points in Empire Wind’s court filings, including the contention that the administration violated proper procedure.

Published: January 15, 2026, 10:22 pm

How the ‘abolish ICE’ movement started – and where it’s going after the killing of Renee Nicole Good

To longtime immigrant rights activists, the reckoning around the fatal shooting in Minnesota may feel familiar

As mass protests erupted over the past week after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent killed Renee Nicole Good, thousands of Americans hoisted signs and marched to thunderous chants of “abolish ICE”.

The mantra has quickly captured the bursting anger and grief of a nation; activists and progressive lawmakers like the representative Ayanna Pressley, and even the conservative commentator Bill Kristol have embraced the demand. Shri Thanedar, a Democratic representative from Michigan, said he plans to introduce the “Abolish ICE act”, a bill that would dismantle the federal agency and its current enforcement authority. For the first time, more US adults now support eliminating ICE than those who oppose it, according to a new Economist/YouGov poll.

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:00 pm

Fatberg the size of four buses likely birthed poo balls that closed Sydney beaches – and it can’t be cleared

Exclusive: Secret report suggests fats, oils and grease accumulate in ‘inaccessible dead zone’ at Malabar plant, then dislodge when pumping pressure ‘rapidly increases’

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A giant fatberg, potentially the size of four Sydney buses, within Sydney Water’s Malabar deepwater ocean sewer has been identified as the likely source of the debris balls that washed up on Sydney beaches a year ago.

Sydney Water isn’t sure exactly how big the fatberg is because it can’t easily access where it has accumulated.

Published: January 16, 2026, 2:01 pm

‘I have rewatched the show more than 60 times’: your favourite comfort TV

From Gilmore Girls to Perry Mason, readers reveal the programmes that never fail to bring them joy

I really think Toast of London is Matt Berry’s best work. It’s hilarious. The plots are daft, the cameos are often left-field but work well, and it has loads of great nonsensical gags. It’s a shining example of a sitcom with an unlikable protagonist that you can’t help but root for anyway. I must have watched it from beginning to end at least 15 times. Every friendship and relationship in my life eventually reaches a crossroads: will they like Toast or not? Rhys, 24, Cardiff

Published: January 16, 2026, 10:13 am

The crying game: what Hamnet’s grief-porn debate says about women, cinema – and enormous hawks

Hamnet and H Is for Hawk fuse themes of loss, birds and elemental female emotion. But whose fault is it if you remain dry-eyed?

‘Is it porn or is it art?” A familiar, even dated question where nudity is involved, and (forgive thumbnail) pretty well-resolved– which is to say: we let the tastemakers decide, and it tips the scale towards “art” if one or both protagonists are not that good-looking.

“Is it grief-porn or is it grief-art?” is a more vexed question. Grief-porn, in relation to cinema, would suggest that the film in question is emotionally manipulative, formulaic; grief-art would suggest the film unleashes feelings both universal and true.

Published: January 16, 2026, 8:00 am

‘Garden of Eden’: the Spanish farm growing citrus you’ve never heard of

Todolí foundation produces varieties from Buddha’s hands to sudachi and hopes to help citrus survive climate change

It was on a trip with a friend to the east coast of Spain that the chef Matthew Slotover came across the “Garden of Eden”, an organic farm growing citrus varieties he had never heard of. The Todolí Citrus Foundation is a nonprofit venture and the largest private collection of citrus in the world with more than 500 varieties, and its owners think the rare fruit could hold the genetic secrets to growing citrus groves that can deal with climate change.

The farm yields far more interesting fruit than oranges and lemons for Slotover’s menu, including kumquat, finger lime, sudachi and bergamot.

Published: January 16, 2026, 2:14 pm

BTS named their new album Arirang. What is so striking about their choice?

The title is loaded with meaning for all Koreans, and will give fans globally an insight into the folksong culture that shaped the world’s biggest K-pop group

BTS announced their long-awaited comeback and world tour this week, with their first full-length album in nearly four years set for release on 20 March.

On Friday, the K-pop group revealed its title – Arirang – a choice that carries profound emotional weight for Koreans. So what does it mean, what is its significance for the Koreas, and why did BTS choose it?

Published: January 16, 2026, 5:08 am

I see time as a grid in my mind. I remember the birthdays of friends I haven’t seen for 65 years

Judy Stokes, a retired GP, shares her experience as a spatial-sequence synaesthete

• Read more stories of synaesthesia in the way I feel series

Did someone with spatial-sequence synaesthesia design the calendar app on mobile phones? Because that’s how time and dates look in my brain. If you say a date to me, that day appears in a grid diagram in my head, and it shows if that box is already imprinted with a holiday, event or someone’s birthday. Public holidays and special events like Christmas and Easter are already imprinted for the year, and the diagram goes backwards to about 100,000BC and then forwards all the way to about the year 2500 before tapering off.

It was only in my 60s that I discovered there was a name for this phenomenon – not just the way time appears in this 3D sort of calendar pattern, but the colours seen when I think of certain words. Two decades previously, I’d mentioned to a friend that Tuesdays were yellow and she’d looked at me in the same strange, befuddled way that family members always had when told about the calendar in my head. Out of embarrassment, it was never discussed further. I was clearly very odd.

Published: January 16, 2026, 2:01 pm

Some home truths are unspoken, intuited. In my family it’s: ‘We need each other’

Jessie Cole’s family has survived unimaginable tragedy. Through it she has realised that everything turns on affection

• Warning: This article contains sensitive content

• Read more in the Home Truths series

My family is tight-knit, an ecosystem of sorts. Interspecies, multigenerational. I live with my mother in the house of my childhood, submerged in a forest my parents planted. Both my adult sons dwell nearby. Grandbabies abound. There are pets and there are trees and there are waterways. We are – plant, earth, wood, water, animal – connected through an intricate kinship web. It might seem that this life was gifted to me by a long familial or communal tradition, but it was built, like many things, on the back of great loss.

In the late 1970s, my parents moved to this place and erected a house. They planted a garden that would become a forest. We had no close-by grandparents. All family was chosen. It was, as they say, a fresh slate. Communities sprang up in this time of new beginnings. All around us the flowers bloomed, the fruit trees bore fruit. Ten years in my adolescent sister took her life. Six years later my father followed. The life we had known derailed. My family tumbled, headlong, into the dark.

Published: January 16, 2026, 2:01 pm

Week in wildlife: monkey spa day, a frisky kākāpō and a camouflaged owl

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Published: January 16, 2026, 8:00 am

Are Trader Joe’s tote bags the last vestige of American soft power? | Dave Schilling

No one wants to visit us any more – but they might pay $50,000 for a bag you could get here for $3

There aren’t many escapes from the grim onslaught of terrible news these days. You can stare at a blank wall, obsessively count the hairs on your arm, or, in a true moment of desperation, ponder the state of global fashion. I prefer the last one. I love being on the cutting edge of style, peacocking out in the decaying slopfest that is our planet. A crisp, well-made suit is a cure for all manner of emotionally trying times. I relish being hyper-aware of the goings-on of fashion, so I was one of the first sorry souls to learn of the current global obsession with flimsy canvas Trader Joe’s shopping bags.

For those unaware, Trader Joe’s is an American grocery store chain known primarily for its affordable prices, whimsical tropical branding, and heart-attack-inducing parking lots – apparently designed to be small because the stores themselves are so tiny that they can’t justify more spaces. I don’t naturally see the use in swanning about with a tote bag promoting a demolition derby disguised as a market, but I’m not most people.

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:00 pm

So much for a ‘final battle’ – once again the Iranian people’s peaceful and democratic demands have been silenced | Behrouz Boochani and Mehdi Jalali Tehrani

The protests were hijacked by Reza Pahlavi and notions of Persian supremacy, then brutally repressed by a violent regime

In late December, Iran experienced the beginnings of an uprising driven primarily by economic pressures, initially emerging among merchant bazaaris and subsequently spreading across broader segments of society. As events unfolded rapidly, calls for regime change became the focus of international attention. Consistent with its response to previous protest movements, the Iranian government once again opted for repression rather than engagement, violently suppressing demonstrations instead of allowing popular grievances to be articulated and addressed.

As visual evidence circulated depicting the accumulation of bodies at Kahrizak, it became increasingly evident that the primary instigator of the violence leading to these fatalities was the Islamic Republic itself, which has refused to tolerate civil unrest and has consistently responded to popular mobilisation with force.

Behrouz Boochani is a Kurdish writer. Mehdi Jalali Tehrani is an Iranian political commentator

Published: January 16, 2026, 2:01 pm

Has a Nazi theorist’s vision of a world divided into 'great spaces' found a new advocate in Trump? | Brendan Simms

Carl Schmitt wanted empires that dominated the small countries in their orbits. But the US president’s chaotic actions are not that strategic

It is axiomatic to many of his critics that the US president, Donald Trump, is a fascist. Indeed, some have seen echoes of the work of the Nazis’ “crown jurist” and political theorist, Carl Schmitt, in the Trump administration’s domestic policies, particularly his doctrine of “the exception”, which can be used to suspend certain constitutional rights. After a tumultuous few weeks in geopolitics, his work is being discussed for its contemporary relevance again.

In the wake of the release of the new US National Security Strategy in 2025, its raid on Venezuela, the president’s rhetoric on Greenland, Panama, Colombia, Mexico and Cuba, and his apparent indulgence towards Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the question now being asked is whether Trump is also an advocate of aspects of Schmitt’s concept of “great space”.

Brendan Simms is director of the Centre for Geopolitics at Cambridge University and author of Hitler: Only the World Was Enough

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Published: January 16, 2026, 5:00 am

Say what you will about Trump, but unlike Starmer he knows his own power – and how to use it | Aditya Chakrabortty

The right is unafraid to show its might on the world stage – meanwhile the prime minister is tinkering with potholes. That just about sums up the centre-left

Last weekend, as the world wondered whether Donald Trump would swipe Greenland, Keir Starmer made his own big geographic intervention: he published a map of which councils were fixing potholes.

Yes, potholes. Yes, a map. Barely 18 months into office, with crucial elections just ahead and his party lagging behind the ragtag troops of Nigel Farage and even Kemi Badenoch, this was how Team Starmer kicked off 2026. To be fair, as the young people say, the map is colour-coded.

Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Published: January 16, 2026, 6:00 am

Digested week: Despite the Golden Globes being a joke, the audience keep turning up

Is there any circumstance on Earth that would make these people, in all their finery, skip this thing entirely?

The truest thing ever said about the Golden Globes was by Tina Fey when she hosted the awards in 2019 and described the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of junket hacks, as operating out of the “back booth of a French McDonalds”. The HFPA was disbanded in 2023 after allegations of racism, but 95 former members retained voting rights and on Monday, the show went on.

Published: January 16, 2026, 11:41 am

NFL divisional round predictions: which No 1 seed is set for an unpleasant shock?

The postseason continues with the Broncos and Seahawks entering the fray, but there could be trouble for one of the frontrunners

What the Bills need to do to win: Keep winning short-yardage situations. The tush push on fourth down that propelled Josh Allen 10 yards and helped secure Buffalo’s win over Jacksonville last weekend epitomised how the Bills dominated the game’s crucial moments. The Bills converted four of their five third downs with four yards or to go last Sunday, and they finished fifth in third-down rate in the regular season in the same situations. Denver were eighth this season in third-and-short defensive efficiency (50.6%). Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady will have to find ways to create leverage for Allen and the Bills in those vital moments to keep the scoreboard moving.

Published: January 16, 2026, 10:00 am

Kyle Tucker set for $240m deal with Los Angeles Dodgers as rich get richer

• LA land Tucker on $240m deal with opt-outs

• $60m AAV trails only Ohtani in MLB history

• Injury risks loom for Dodgers’ latest superstar

Kyle Tucker has agreed to a $240m, four-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to a person familiar with the deal, bolstering the team’s chance for a third consecutive World Series championship.

Tucker can opt out of the deal after years two and three, according to the person who spoke to the Associated Press on Thursday night on condition of anonymity because the agreement was pending a physical.

Published: January 16, 2026, 4:40 am

Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

Chelsea need to avoid long-throw blues, plus: a vacant spot for Liverpool and West Ham’s best hope for survival

• Race for the golden boot: Premier League top scorers

Can the 198th derby be any spicier for Manchester United and their latest interim manager, Michael Carrick? This is his second caretaker tenure, though the three games of November-December 2021 (beating Villarreal and Arsenal, drawing with Chelsea) hardly compares with sending out an XI to try to beat Manchester City in Saturday’s early kick-off. Pep Guardiola’s high-performing unit remain in contention on all fronts. Carrick takes charge of a United suffering the aftershocks of a latest manager sacking, hoping to salvage the season via European qualification. The lad from Wallsend has 17 games to do so – his new team are in seventh place on 32 points, so victory over City would be a fine start. But you wonder if the match might end with Carrick and United humbled or, even worse, humiliated. Jamie Jackson

Manchester United v Manchester City, Saturday 12.30pm (all times GMT)

Chelsea v Brentford, Saturday 3pm

Leeds v Fulham, Saturday 3pm

Liverpool v Burnley, Saturday 3pm

Published: January 16, 2026, 12:00 am

Max Verstappen admits new F1 season is step into unknown amid rule changes

• Red Bull first to launch 2026 car under new regulations

• Row brewing over possible loophole in engine rules

Red Bull formally began their tilt at the forthcoming Formula One season, unveiling the livery for their challenger, the RB22, in a showcase event in Detroit on Thursday, with Max Verstappen admitting the sweeping regulation changes for 2026 will be a step into the “unknown”.

Before a highly anticipated season, with a swathe of big rule changes presenting a challenge across the grid, Red Bull are the first in what is due to be a hectic period of launches before pre-season testing begins.

Published: January 16, 2026, 10:45 am

‘Chess Wimbledon’ starts with world champion challenged by rising stars

India’s Gukesh Dommaraju takes on Candidates qualifiers and stars who missed out, plus a talent for the 2030s

The annual “chess Wimbledon” at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands is unusually interesting this year. Its 14-player field matches the reigning world champion, India’s Dommaraju Gukesh, against a range of rivals who include four of the eight Candidates who will meet in March to decide his 2026 challenger, another three grandmasters from the world top 10, the controversial US star Hans Niemann, plus a 14-year-old Turk who is breaking age records.

Gukesh’s unimpressive recent results mean the world Nos 5 and 8, Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, will aim to finish ahead of him. Germany’s world No 4, Vincent Keymer, had a good 2025, while the home nation’s world No 6, Anish Giri, often performs well in this event.

Published: January 16, 2026, 8:00 am

Geopolitical football: Iran? Trump? How the game can stand strong in a fractured world

The 2026 World Cup is set to be a polarising event but, even if it will not be the first to be politically contentious, it will expose a growing unease

Five months out from the World Cup the politics are impossible to avoid. There are concerns relating to one of the host countries, the US, with armed immigration officials roaming through its cities and visa restrictions stepped up against foreign visitors. One qualifying nation, Iran, is experiencing a public uprising against its leadership, with the regime attacking its citizens in response. Among other qualifiers there are concerns over democratic backsliding in Tunisia, ecological crimes in Ecuador and , in the future host country Saudi Arabia. And that’s just for starters.

It sometimes feels as if this summer’s tournament, the one Gianni Infantino recently described as “the greatest show ever on planet Earth”, will serve as an inescapable reminder of the depressing state of the world in 2026. It could yet be an event that goes down in infamy. But it is hardly the only tournament to have prompted ethical concerns and serves as a reminder that the issue of how global sport should engage with such issues has remained largely unresolved.

Published: January 15, 2026, 7:56 pm

‘It’s a long and difficult dream’: João Fonseca on practice, patience and matching Sinner and Alcaraz

Brazilian teenage tennis sensation says he cannot control expectations but is looking forward to challenging the best again in 2026, starting at the Australian Open

‘My dream is to become world No 1, win grand slam titles and make history for Brazil,” João Fonseca says with simple purity as we reach the crux of his huge ambition. Fonseca is 19 and he makes that succinct list of his goals sound almost as casual as a few fun things a more ordinary teenager might aim to do this weekend. But Fonseca is different.

He is a generational talent who, in recent years, has been spoken of as a future superstar amid predictions that he might have the best chance of denting the dominant hold that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner exert over men’s tennis. But, as time in Fonseca’s company proves, he is remarkably grounded and mature for his age. Those attributes underline his credentials far more effectively than the hype that has trailed him.

Published: January 15, 2026, 8:00 pm

US sports say parity is essential for success. The Premier League proves that’s untrue | Leander Schaerlaeckens

There are no salary caps and no luxury taxes, yet the world’s most-watched soccer league is only getting more balanced

David Stern used to tell a joke. In his early years as NBA commissioner, he liked to say, his job was essentially to travel back and forth between Boston and Los Angeles to hand out the championship trophy. In the first five NBA Finals after he took the helm in early 1984, the Celtics and Lakers won all five titles, each missing the decisive series just once.

Current commissioner Adam Silver recalled the anecdote last June, ahead of the 2025 NBA Finals, by which time the league was guaranteed a seventh different champion in seven years. “We set out to create a system that allowed for more competition around the league,” Silver said then in his annual news conference. “The goal being to have 30 teams all in the position, if well managed, to compete for championships. And that’s what we’re seeing here.”

Published: January 15, 2026, 11:00 am

Tour de France reveals plans for six UK stages with historic 2027 Grands Départs

• British roads will host the start of both races next year

• First time both Grands Départs have been outside France

The men’s Tour de France will start in Scotland for the first time in 2027 and make its first visit to Wales when Britain stages the Grand Départ of the men’s and women’s races in the biggest festival of elite cycling on the isles since London 2012.

Across six days of racing on British roads, the men’s Tour will visit Edinburgh, Carlisle, Keswick, Liverpool, Welshpool and Cardiff, while the Tour de France Femmes races from Leeds to Manchester, then to Sheffield and also includes a central London stage. On Thursday night all host cities were illuminated by yellow beams in recognition of them staging the Tour.

Published: January 15, 2026, 6:01 pm

Trump-linked figures lead talks on $200m European pipeline contract

Exclusive: Jesse Binnall and Joe Flynn, who campaigned to overturn 2020 election, seek to win Bosnia deal for little-known US firm

Leading members of Donald Trump’s campaign to overturn the 2020 presidential election are seeking a huge European pipeline contract, the latest figures from the US president’s circle to mix business and geopolitics.

Jesse Binnall, a lawyer who worked on legal actions advancing Trump’s baseless claim that the vote was stolen from him, and Joe Flynn, who also sought to undermine Joe Biden’s victory, have been in Bosnia this week to discuss the project.

Published: January 16, 2026, 6:00 am

Death of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s son prompts calls for overhaul of Nigeria’s healthcare sector

Pleas for scrutiny of system fraught with accusations of negligence after one-year-old’s death in hospital

Nigerians have called for urgent reforms to the healthcare sector after the death of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 21-month-old son prompted an outpouring of grief and accounts of negligence and inadequate care.

In a leaked WhatsApp message, the bestselling author said she had been told by a doctor that the resident anaesthesiologist at the Lagos hospital treating her son Nkanu Nnamdi had administered an overdose of the sedative propofol.

Published: January 16, 2026, 5:00 am

X still allowing users to post sexualised images generated by Grok AI tool

Despite restrictions announced this week, Guardian reporters find standalone app continues to allow posting of nonconsensual content

X has continued to allow users to post highly sexualised videos of women in bikinis generated by its AI tool Grok, despite the company’s claim to have cracked down on misuse.

The Guardian was able to create short videos of people stripping to bikinis from photographs of fully clothed, real women. It was also possible to post this adult content on to X’s public platform without any sign of it being moderated, meaning the clip could be viewed within seconds by anyone with an account.

Published: January 16, 2026, 7:00 am

Canada PM hails strategic partnership with China to adapt to ‘new global realities’

Mark Carney holds talks with Xi Jinping on rare Beijing trip as Canada seeks to diversify trade links away from US

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Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, has hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China as he held talks in Beijing with President Xi Jinping, the first visit by a Canadian leader in eight years.

Addressing Xi in the Great Hall of the People, Carney said: “Together we can build on the best of what this relationship has been in the past to create a new one adapted to new global realities.”

Published: January 16, 2026, 9:37 am

Brazil’s Bolsonaro finds novel way to reduce 27-year sentence: reading books

Former president convicted for coup plot to take advantage of law that knocks four days off jail term for each book read

Jair Bolsonaro’s lawyers appear to have been reading up on the country’s penal code and have found a way to help their client reduce the 27-year prison sentence he received last year for plotting a coup: by reading books.

There is only one problem: the former far-right Brazilian president has never been known as a bibliophile. “Sorry, I don’t have time to read,” Bolsonaro once declared. “It’s been three years since I read a book.”

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:19 pm

Bank of England governor hits out at populism as Trump interferes in US Fed

Andrew Bailey says he and heads of other institutions have responsibility to ‘challenge back’ populist narratives

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The governor of the Bank of England has urged the world’s leading global institutions to fight back against the rise of populism, warning that it represents one of the biggest threats to improvements in living standards.

In a thinly veiled response to Donald Trump’s attempts to interfere with the independence of the US Federal Reserve, Andrew Bailey said that he and the heads of other institutions had a duty to “challenge back” populist narratives.

Published: January 16, 2026, 12:01 pm

South Korea sentences ex-president to five years in first martial law verdict

Yoon Suk Yeol’s conviction for obstructing own arrest separate from main trial that could lead to death penalty

A South Korean court has sentenced former president Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison for mobilising presidential security forces to block his own arrest and abusing his powers. It is the first judicial ruling linked to the events surrounding his failed martial law declaration in December 2024.

The ruling is separate from Yoon’s main insurrection trial, where prosecutors earlier this week sought the death penalty and a verdict is due next month.

Published: January 16, 2026, 9:51 am

Early results show Museveni leading Uganda election amid reports of violence

Veteran president holding off main challenger Bobi Wine after campaign marred by violence at opposition rallies

At least seven people have been killed in violence overnight in central Uganda, police have said, after national elections that looked likely to extend Yoweri Museveni’s rule into a fifth decade.

Results announced by the electoral commission showed the 81-year-old incumbent with more than 75% of the vote in Thursday’s presidential election, based on tallies from 59% of polling stations. His main challenger in Thursday’s election, the singer Bobi Wine, trailed on about 21%, with the remaining votes split among six other candidates.

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:34 pm

Tory ‘arsonists’ still in charge of party, says Jenrick after defecting to Reform UK

Former Conservative minister hits back at allegations of lying from his former party leader, Kemi Badenoch

• UK politics live – latest updates

The “arsonists” who tanked the reputation of the Conservatives are still in charge of the party, Robert Jenrick has said as he and the Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, traded blows a day after his dramatic defection to Reform UK.

Giving his first interview since his announcement on Thursday, the former shadow justice secretary said the Conservatives had not changed since the election, while defending himself against allegations of lying from his former party leader.

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:45 pm

‘We’re in danger of extinction’: can Bolivia’s ‘water people’ survive a rising tide of salt and migration?

The Uru Chipaya, one of South America’s most ancient civilisations, are battling drought, salinity and an exodus of their people as the climate crisis wreaks havoc on their land

In the small town of Chipaya, everything is dry. Only a few people walk along the sandy streets, and many houses look abandoned – some secured with a padlock. The wind is so strong that it forces you to close your eyes.

Chipaya lies on Bolivia’s Altiplano, 35 miles from the Chilean border. The vast plateau, nearly 4,000 metres above sea level, feels almost empty of people and animals, its solitude framed by snow-capped volcanoes. It raises the question: can anybody possibly live here?

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:00 pm

Extreme rainfall inundates South Africa and Mozambique

Flood warning raised to highest level with roads washed away and rain forcing evacuation of Kruger national park

Large areas of north-eastern South Africa and neighbouring Mozambique have been inundated for several days with exceptionally heavy rainfall. Some locations in South Africa recorded hundreds of millimetres of rain over the weekend, such as Graskop in Mpumalanga, where 113mm fell in 24 hours, and Phalaborwa, which recorded about 85mm of rainfall. Rain has continued to fall across the region since the weekend.

The deluge has been driven by a slow-moving cut-off low pressure system that has remained anchored over the region, repeatedly drawing in moisture and triggering intense downpours. Further heavy rainfall is expected on Friday and over the weekend. Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, could expect daily rainfall totals to exceed 200mm by the end of Friday, while western parts of South Africa and north-western Eswatini may record more than 100mm.

Published: January 16, 2026, 10:16 am

See how Victoria’s bushfires spread: a visual guide to the scale of devastation

Authorities and firefighters say the Victorian fires of January 2026 were unlike anything seen before in speed, scale and destruction. And they came much earlier than normal

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• A new fight for Victorian farmers – saving livestock that survived devastating bushfires

Victoria has been battered by some of the most destructive bushfires in its history, with blazes tearing through 400,000 hectares across the state and claiming the life of a cattle farmer, Maxwell Hobson. Almost 900 buildings have been destroyed, including more than 250 homes, and more than 15,000 livestock have been killed, along with countless wildlife.

Both authorities and firefighters on the ground have reported the fires were unlike anything seen before in their speed, scale and destruction. They also came much earlier than the traditional bushfire season, which typically peaks in February.

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:45 am

US says it reached deal with Taiwan to lower tariffs and boost investments

US to lower tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15% as chip and tech businesses pledge $250bn spending in US operations

The US said on Thursday that it had signed a deal with Taiwan to reduce tariffs on goods from the democratic island, while increasing Taiwanese semiconductor and tech companies’ investments in America.

The agreement, the US commerce department said, “will drive a massive reshoring of America’s semiconductor sector”.

Published: January 15, 2026, 10:07 pm

Trump threatens to use Insurrection Act in Minnesota in response to ICE protests

Protests continue across state as governor urges peace a week after ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good

• People affected by the US visa freeze: share your experience

Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota in response to protests in Minneapolis against federal immigration enforcement operations, as Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, overnight urged demonstrators in Minneapolis to be peaceful amid escalating tensions.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he would use the Insurrection Act and “quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place” if the “corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of ICE”.

Published: January 15, 2026, 7:26 pm

US appeals court reverses decision that freed Mahmoud Khalil from ICE detention

Ruling delivers victory to Trump administration in its efforts to deport the pro-Palestinian activist

• People affected by the US visa freeze: share your experience

A federal appeals court on Thursday reversed a lower court decision that ordered the release of the former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from immigration detention, delivering the Trump administration a victory in its efforts to deport the pro-Palestinian activist.

A 2-1 panel of the Philadelphia-based third US circuit court of appeals ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit Khalil filed challenging his detention after finding that federal immigration law stripped the lower court of jurisdiction over his claims.

Published: January 15, 2026, 5:02 pm

Renaming US defense department the Department of War could cost $125m

Congressional Budget Office analysis says renaming – which Congress must approve – would cost US taxpayers millions

Renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War could cost US taxpayers as much as $125m depending on how broadly and quickly the change is made, according to an analysis released on Wednesday from the Congressional Budget Office.

Donald Trump signed an executive order in September that authorized the Department of War as a secondary title for the Pentagon. At the time, Trump said the switch was intended to signal to the world that the US was a force to be reckoned with, and he complained that the Department of Defense’s name was “woke”.

Published: January 15, 2026, 12:53 pm

Cloth wraps treated with ‘dirt cheap’ insecticide cut malaria cases in babies

Soaking fabrics in a commonly used insect repellent is a simple and effective tool as mosquito bites become more common during daytime, study shows

From Africa to Latin America to Asia, babies have been carried in cloth wraps on their mothers’ backs for centuries. Now, the practice of generations of women could become a lifesaving tool in the fight against malaria.

Researchers in Uganda have found that treating wraps with the insect repellent permethrin cut rates of malaria in the infants carried in them by two-thirds.

Published: January 16, 2026, 5:00 am

Rightwing leaders endorse Viktor Orbán in Hungarian election campaign video

Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and France’s Marine Le Pen among figures showing support for Hungary’s prime minister

Rightwing leaders from around the world have come together to endorse Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, hinting at the symbolism that the country’s elections hold for global far-right movements even as the populist leader lags in the polls.

A campaign video published online by Orbán this week includes endorsements from nearly a dozen leaders including Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini, France’s Marine Le Pen and Germany’s Alice Weidel.

Published: January 16, 2026, 5:00 am

Julio Iglesias denies sexual abuse claims of two former female employees

Women allege Spanish singer subjected them ‘to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation … in atmosphere of control’

The Spanish singer Julio Iglesias has broken his silence over allegations that he sexually abused two women who worked in his Caribbean mansions, saying he has never “abused, coerced or disrespected any woman”.

The 82-year-old entertainer, whose career spans six decades, had been accused by two female former employees who allege they had been sexually assaulted and subjected “to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation … in an atmosphere of control and constant harassment”.

Published: January 16, 2026, 7:58 am

£16,000 private jet to extradite HSTikkyTokky ‘not necessary’, judge tells Surrey police

Force paid to fly TikTok influencer back to UK after he avoided police custody for almost 12 months

Using a £16,000 private flight to extradite a TikTok influencer wanted on dangerous driving charges back to the UK was “not necessary or proportionate”, a judge has told Surrey police.

Harrison Sullivan, 24, known as HSTikkyTokky, had to be repatriated to the UK last summer after he avoided police custody for almost 12 months after a car crash in Virginia Water, Surrey, in March 2024.

Published: January 16, 2026, 11:51 am

‘Soon I will die. And I will go with a great orgasm’: the last rites of Alejandro Jodorowsky

The Chilean film-maker’s psychedelic work earned him the title ‘king of the midnight movie’, and a fan in John Lennon. Now the 96-year-old is ready for the end – but first there is more living to do

There is an apocryphal story of an ageing Orson Welles introducing himself to the guests at a half-empty town hall. “I am an actor, a writer, a producer and a director,” he said. “I am a magician and I appear on stage and on the radio. Why are there so many of me and so few of you?”

If a fantasy author were to dream up Welles’s psychedelic cousin, he’d likely have the air of Alejandro Jodorowsky: serene and white-bearded with a crocodile smile, presiding over a niche band of disciples. He has been – variously, often concurrently – a director, an actor, a poet, a puppeteer, a psychotherapist, a tarot-card reader, an author of fantasy books. At the age of 96, Jodorowsky estimates that he’s lived 100 different lives and embodied 100 different Jodorowskys. “Because we are different people all the time,” he says. “I died a lot of times but then I’m reborn. Look at me now and you see I’m alive. I am happy about this. It is fantastic to live.”

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:00 pm

‘We wouldn’t still be playing if we’d got stinking rich’: the Damned celebrate 50 years of punk, goth and holy grail hunting

An appetite for self-destruction left Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies hugely influential but financially insecure. They’re back with a big show and their first album together since 1995

‘There isn’t one songwriter, and so the flavour of the band is always going to change,” says Dave Vanian, reflecting on 50 years of the group of which he has been the sole constant member, the Damned. “Captain Sensible is a great fan of syrupy pop music and prog and glam rock. So his writing is very poppy, melodic and quite wonderful. My writing is more melodramatic, more theatrical. And Rat Scabies was a mod who really loved bands like the Who. That melting pot would either not work at all, or be an absolute firecracker.” As the history of the Damned attests, it has, on occasion, been both.

There have been three break-ups: in the late 70s, late 80s and early 90s; Sensible and Scabies have had repeated spells out of the band; Scabies only started working with them again in 2022, after 27 years away. “The rift was really between him and Captain,” says Vanian, though at one time or another, it seems as though each of the three principals has been in a relationship-ending rage with one or both of the others.

Published: January 16, 2026, 5:00 am

‘Hollywood has stopped making films for adults’: Sentimental Value and Sirāt contend for European Film Awards – with Oscars set to take note

Films by Joachim Trier, Óliver Laxe, Mascha Schilinski and Jafar Panahi will jostle for recognition at tomorrow’s event – which has repositioned itself as a major tastemaker during awards season

The European Film Awards (EFAs) have long styled themselves as “Europe’s answer to the Oscars”, even if, in terms of boosting commercial successes at the box office, their impact has been negligible. But as American studios increasingly prioritise franchise sequels over serious drama, and European films vie for major trophies outside the “best international feature” silo, the EFAs are feeling emboldened about becoming a major tastemaker for grownup cinema.

This year, the European Film Academy has for the first time moved its annual jamboree from December to the middle of the US awards season, right between the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards.

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:46 pm

The arrival of Two-Face in the new Batman sequel bodes well for a doom-laden moral epic

Sebastian Stan is being eyed as district attorney Harvey Dent and his supervillain alter ego – can Gotham residents expect an improvement in the city’s patchy justice system?

The arrival in Gotham City of Harvey Dent, AKA Two-Face, is rarely without consequence in Batman sagas. Tommy Lee Jones’ shrieking, neon-splashed Batman Forever iteration turned the character into a dissociative identity slot machine, endlessly pulling its own lever, while Billy Dee Williams’ take in 1989’s Batman was a promise of future ruin. In Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, the downfall of Aaron Eckhart’s crusading district attorney signalled the dangers of placing too much faith in the moral resilience of a single individual, especially in a city where the very idea of justice is already under existential strain.

With the news this week cautiously announced in the Hollywood Reporter that Sebastian Stan will be playing Dent in Matt Reeves’ highly anticipated forthcoming sequel to The Batman, it’s quite possible the new episode will be less interested in the masked theatrics of the 20th-century big screen caped crusader, and more in the idea that the very concept of justice is about to slowly disintegrate. In Stan, Reeves has an actor who excels at playing men whose morality erodes like damp plaster, which feeds beautifully into his vision of Gotham. In Reeves’ worldview, it is a city that is rotting politely from the inside, not one ruled by a carnival of freaks desperate for the spotlight. So it is hard to imagine this languid, gloriously doom-drenched Gotham giving birth to a Dent who goes down the rampant route of extreme, scenery-chewing theatricality.

There is even the potential here to move on from the Nolan era, with its focus on symbolism and high-stakes ethical thought experiments. Eckhart’s turn is one of the greatest performances in any comic book movie, but by utilising the madness of grief to transform him into Two-Face, rather than relying on the incremental, constantly self-justifying slide into monstrosity seen in the best comics or the excellent 1990s Batman: The Animated Series TV show, something was lost. When he’s at his best, Dent doesn’t “snap”, so much as reason his way into villainy, seemingly convincing himself step by step that the law no longer works and that only he is strong enough to replace it. This Two-Face isn’t chaos dressed up as madness (like the Joker) but justice stripped of empathy, clinging to the illusion of fairness – the semi-ruined coin he still pretends represents due process. His descent into villainy feels almost inevitable in a town as violently decayed as Gotham, and his arrival on the scene simply confirms how impossible Batman’s job is.

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:44 pm

The Rip review – Ben Affleck and Matt Damon tear through flashy Netflix bro thriller

The longtime friends and colleagues add weight to Joe Carnahan’s enjoyably boisterous Friday night crowdpleaser

January has long been a B-movie buffet for those exhausted by prestige awards bait, a month when Gerard Butler and Jason Statham are suddenly commanding wide releases and often No 1 mini-hits. But as the former’s apocalyptic sequel Greenland 2: Migration lingers in the top five and the latter’s action romp Shelter prepares to premiere, we find two more prominent stars – Oscar winners Ben Affleck and Matt Damon – resigned to the small screen instead.

In a non-Netflix world, a film like The Rip – flashy, action-heavy, led by two household names – should be available this weekend on the biggest high-format screens across the country. But then in that same world, at this particular time, it’s doubtful that a film like this would even get made, granted a budget that’s reportedly close to $100m, highly unusual for R-rated non-IP. The streamer was, in fact, so keen to get it made that it has briefly agreed to change its pay structure, allowing Affleck and Damon to bring across their profit-sharing Artists Equity rule, by which each member of the cast and crew gets a bonus if the film performs well. So, as with many films at this weird moment, it’s a take-what-you-can-get situation and while it would have been preferable to see a film like this, which looks and feels like it was made in 2002, on the big screen, the landscape has dictated that the small will have to do.

Published: January 16, 2026, 12:00 am

Steal to The Beauty: the seven best shows to stream this week

Sophie Turner is excellent as an office worker caught up in an armed heist, while Bella Hadid leads Ryan Murphy’s flashy and deeply unserious drama about an injection that comes with the promise: ‘one shot will make you hot’

Zara (Sophie Turner) is half-heartedly slogging away in a mid-ranking job at a pensions company. But her life is dramatically upended when a brutal and terrifyingly efficient gang of robbers appear in her workplace to carry out a £4bn heist. This thriller gives up its secrets gradually: what originally seems to be a taut crime caper soon twists and turns in unsettling and credulity-stretching ways. It’s a smart attempt to reimagine the perfect financial crime for the digital age and Turner’s lead performance is deceptively subtle, with her apparent office-drone apathy eventually barely concealing a surprising level of slick calculation. Archie Madekwe is also excellent as her sidekick Luke.
Prime Video, from Wednesday 21 January

Published: January 16, 2026, 7:00 am

Add to playlist: the dark fog of Los Angeles saxophonist Aaron Shaw and the week’s best new tracks

The woodwind player who taught André 3000 music theory releases his searching debut album next month

From Los Angeles
Recommend if you like Miguel Atwood Ferguson, Shabaka Hutchings’s flute music, the Coltranes
Up next Debut album And So It Is released 13 February

For woodwind players, breath is everything: the lifeforce of artistry, the thing that furnishes sound with personality. But a few years ago, the Los Angeles saxophonist Aaron Shaw realised he was becoming increasingly breathless. In 2023, aged 27, he was diagnosed with bone marrow failure, meaning he wasn’t producing enough oxygen-carrying red blood cells. A change of approach was required.

Published: January 16, 2026, 12:00 pm

A$AP Rocky: Don’t Be Dumb review – a charismatic, playful return, but it’s no slam dunk

(A$AP Rocky Recordings)
Now a father of three and burgeoning actor, Rocky finally comes back to music with his strongest album since his 2013 debut – though there’s plenty of flab

It has been eight years since A$AP Rocky, once and future king of New York rap, released an album. In the world of hip-hop, where even A-list stars such as Rocky’s friend and collaborator Tyler, the Creator are prone to releasing multiple albums a year, this is a lifetime. In the time since Rocky released his third album, 2018’s Testing, Kanye West has rebranded as a born-again Christian, swerved to the right and released five albums. Rocky hasn’t been sitting around: he’s been a press mainstay, thanks to his relationship with pop superstar Rihanna, with whom he now has three children, and last year was acquitted of firing a gun at a former friend, dodging up to 24 years in prison. He has also found acclaim as an actor, starring opposite Rose Byrne in the lauded dark comedy If I Had Legs I’d Kick You and Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest.

Aside from a few one-off singles, such as the Tame Impala collaboration Sundress, Rocky has released music in fits and starts in recent years. (In terms of mainstream stars, perhaps only Rocky’s romantic partner outpaces him when it comes to leaving fans waiting: it has been a decade since Rihanna’s last record.) Testing yielded the Skepta-featuring hit Praise the Lord (Da Shine), but otherwise fell flat with mainstream audiences and critics alike, lacking the dynamism and potent charisma of his breakout albums. That album seemed to leave Rocky at a crossroads. Would it serve him best to continue exploring its slipshod experimentalism, or to make an attempt at retrenchment, and return to the more straightforward music that made him famous?

Published: January 16, 2026, 10:07 am

Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore: Tragic Magic review | Safi Bugel's experimental album of the month

(InFiné)
The composers’ first collaborative album ebbs from epic, cinematic heights to delicate and dreamy lullabies

After years of touring together, Los Angeles-based composers Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore have developed what the former refers to as a “musical telepathy”. Tragic Magic, the pair’s first collaborative album, evidences this bond: born out of a short series of improv sessions in Paris, it’s a wonderfully immersive set of new age and ambient tracks, where Barwick’s airy, reverbed vocals and atmospheric synth washes interweave with, and accentuate, Lattimore’s twinkling harp.

The album sessions took place shortly after last year’s California wildfires, which the two musicians experienced as residents. Accordingly, tragedy and hope cut through the dreamlike haze of these unfurling compositions. With its delicate harp loop and hushed whispers, opener Perpetual Adoration is as sweet and dreamy as a lullaby, while the gorgeous, moving Haze With No Haze carries a quiet desperation in the brittle, staccato melody and Barwick’s yearning high register. As always, her lyrics are indiscernible, words blurring into texture and shapeless whispers, but teem with feeling.

Published: January 16, 2026, 9:00 am

Sleaford Mods: The Demise of Planet X review – vulnerability and versatility widen potty-mouthed appeal

(Rough Trade)
The duo’s 13th album finds Jason Williamson as baffled and infuriated as ever at the state of the world, with help from some unexpected collaborators

Over the course of a dozen albums, Jason Williamson (words) and Andrew Fearn (music) have journeyed from DIY to the album chart Top 5 by providing a gut-punchingly bleak and amusingly absurdist commentary on the financial crash, austerity, Brexit and the rise of the far right. On their 13th LP, Williamson again convinces in the role of a potty-mouthed bystander, baffled and infuriated by what goes on around him, whether empty lives in the digital age (“Weights and wanking / Hard bodies and phone lights / That’s all we got”), Trump’s US (“Maga’s off their tits”) or minor daily irritants: “Lazy dog walkers on short walks, mate, wanker!”

However, developments here should gently broaden their appeal. Williamson displays a welcome new vulnerability on the harrowing Gina Was, about a childhood incident. Meanwhile, Fearn is subtly developing his production, venturing beyond electro-punk to use classical strings on Double Diamond and a broader range of collaborators. The combination of Willliamson, Game of Thrones actor Gwendoline Christie’s furious rap and Big Special’s David Bowie-ish crooning on The Good Life makes for one of the most hauntingly catchy things they’ve done.

Published: January 16, 2026, 8:00 am

The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

The Cut Up by Louise Welsh; The Persian by David McCloskey; The 10:12 by Anna Maloney; Very Slowly All at Once by Lauren Schott; Vivian Dies Again by CE Hulse

The Cut Up by Louise Welsh (Canongate, £20)
This welcome third outing for gay Glaswegian auctioneer Rilke opens with his discovery of a body. Obnoxious jewellery dealer Rodney Manderson has been killed outside the Bowery auction rooms, stabbed through the eye with the Victorian hatpin that his boss, Rose Bowery, has brandished in front of the nation on Bargain Hunt. As she discussed the pin’s virtues as a deadly weapon as well as its millinerial uses, the fiercely loyal Rilke decides – while feeling grateful to have skipped lunch and trying not to think of jelly – to remove it before calling the police. They soon decide they’ve got their man, but Rilke’s not so sure; the roots of the crime may lie in the past – in particular, a notorious reform school. With a central character who feels like an old friend, The Cut Up is as sharply observed, humane and beautifully written as its two superb predecessors.

The Persian by David McCloskey (Swift, £20)
Former CIA analyst McCloskey’s fourth novel centres on Jewish Iranian dentist Kam Esfahani. Dissatisfied with life in Sweden, where his family relocated when driven out of Iran, and wanting the wherewithal to move to California, he accepts an offer from the chief of Mossad’s Caesarea Division. Returning to Tehran, he runs a fake dental practice as cover for assisting in “sowing chaos and mayhem in Iran”. Things go awry when he enlists double agent Roya Shabani, widow of an Iranian scientist killed by the Israelis. The book takes the form of a series of confessions that Kam, now caught and imprisoned, is forced to write by his torturer, and these documents – which may or may not reveal the whole truth – are interspersed with flashbacks. Kam’s cynical tone and mordant humour serve to underline not only the horror, but also the inherent hypocrisy of the endless cycle of violence and retribution: this masterly novel is tragically topical and utterly gripping.

Published: January 16, 2026, 12:00 pm

Chosen Family by Madeleine Gray review – friends, lovers or something in between?

From classmates to co-parents, the changing dynamics of a female friendship are astutely observed in a novel that explores the boundaries between love, lust and companionship

Australian author Madeleine Gray’s award-winning debut novel Green Dot was a smart, funny tale of a doomed office affair. Her new novel, Chosen Family, is a smart, funny tale of a complicated, life-changing relationship between two women.

Nell and Eve meet aged 12 at a girls’ school in Sydney. Gray’s narrative moves smoothly back and forth from the 00s to the present day; as in David Nicholls’s One Day, we learn about our protagonists by meeting them at different moments in their lives, from the pressures of high school to the alcohol-soaked freedoms of university to the frustrations and joys of early parenthood.

Published: January 16, 2026, 7:00 am

H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald audiobook review – a soaring journey through grief

The author brings introspection and humour to their inspiring account of how a young goshawk helped them cope after the loss of their father

It is coming up to 12 years since the publication of H Is for Hawk, about the historian, writer and naturalist Helen Macdonald’s time spent training a Eurasian goshawk after an intense period of grief. Showered with awards, the book was a runaway hit and sparked a literary trend for shared transformative encounters with animals including cats, dogs, magpies and hares.

This month, H Is for Hawk comes to the big screen in a new adaptation starring Claire Foy. But there is still time to get to know the source material, which tells of the sudden death of the author’s father and how Macdonald, an experienced falconer who had previously trained kestrels and peregrines, took delivery of a temperamental young goshawk named Mabel with the aim of taming her and teaching her to hunt. Macdonald, who is non-binary, is the audiobook’s narrator. Their reading is characterised by introspection, curiosity and flashes of humour as they observe this “spooky, pale-eyed psychopath” who, as well as feeding and flying, likes to play ball with scrunched-up bits of paper.

Available via Penguin Audio, 11hr 5min

Published: January 15, 2026, 3:00 pm

‘​How do you really tell the truth about this moment?’: George Saunders on ghosts, mortality and Trump’s America

The Lincoln in the Bardo author is back with another metaphysical tale. He discusses Buddhism, partisan politics and the terrifying flight that changed his life

Like his first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the Booker prize in 2017, George Saunders’s new novel is a ghost story. In Vigil, an oil tycoon who spent a lifetime covering up the scientific evidence for climate change is visited on his deathbed by a host of spirits, who force him to grapple with his legacy. What draws Saunders to ghost stories? “If I had us talking here in a story and I allowed a ghost in from the 1940s, I might be more interested in it. It might be because they are in fact here,” he says, gesturing to the hotel lobby around us. “Or even if it’s not ghosts, we both have memories of people we love who have passed. They are here, in a neurologically very active way.” A ghost story can feel more “truthful”, he adds: “If you were really trying to tell the truth about this moment, would you so confidently narrow it to just today?”

Ghosts also invite us to confront our mortality and, in so doing, force a new perspective on life: what remains once you strip away the meaningless, day-to-day distractions in which we tend to lose ourselves? “Death, to me, has always been a hot topic,” Saunders says. “It’s so unbelievable that it will happen to us, too. And I suppose as you get older it becomes more …” he puts on a goofy voice: “interesting”. He is 67, grizzled and avuncular, surprisingly softly spoken for a writer who talks so loudly – and with such freewheeling, wisecracking energy – on the page. He says death is close to becoming a “preoccupation” for him and he worries that he is not prepared for it.

Published: January 15, 2026, 11:00 am

Commodore 64 Ultimate review – it’s like 1982 all over again!

Showing the value of great design over visual impact, this faithfully resurrected home computer seamlessly integrates modern tech with some wonderful additional touches

The emotional hit was something I didn’t expect, although perhaps I should have. The Commodore 64 Ultimate, a new version of the legendary 8-bit computer, comes in a box designed to resemble the original packaging – a photo of the machine itself on a background of deep blue fading into a series of white stripes. Then when you open it, you find an uncannily accurate replica of what fans lovingly referred to as the breadbox – the chunky, sloped Commodore 64, in hues of brown and beige, the red LED in one corner above the row of fawn-coloured function keys. It’s like 1982 all over again.

My dad bought us a C64 in late 1983. It was our second computer after the ZX81 and it felt like an enormous leap into the future with its detailed colour graphics, advanced sound chip and proper grown-up keyboard. We unpacked it on our dinner table, plugging it into a small portable TV and loading the one game we had, a very basic Donkey Kong clone named Crazy Kong. My life would never be the same again. This contraption was my obsession for the next four years – my friendships and free-time would revolve around games such as Bruce Lee, Paradroid and Hyper Sports. To this day, I treasure the memories of playing golf sim Leaderboard with my dad. The sound effects, speech samples and graphics conjured by that computer have lived rent free in my head for, god, almost 40 years.

Published: January 15, 2026, 10:14 am

Call this social cohesion? The six-day war of words that laid waste to the 2026 Adelaide writers’ festival

How a boardroom flare-up sparked an international boycott – and a looming defamation battle

It began as a quiet programming dispute in the genteel city of churches.

But by Wednesday morning, a frantic, six-day war of words had culminated in the end of the 2026 Adelaide writers’ week and total institutional collapse.

Published: January 16, 2026, 6:29 am

Vevcani carnival – in pictures

The North Macedonian town celebrated the 1,400-year-old festival over two days. The part-pagan, part-satire carnival is believed to scare away evil spirits, and marks the beginning of the Julian calendar’s New Year.

Published: January 16, 2026, 4:14 am

From Dylan to disco, Beyoncé to Bob Marley: the 30 best live albums ever – ranked!

Peter Frampton’s Frampton Comes Alive!, one of the bestselling live albums of all time, is turning 50. You won’t find that on this list, however: instead there’s metal, soul, and an ‘indecently exciting’ No 1 …

Already stars in Black America, Maze became the ultimate if-you-know-you-know band among British fans of underground soul thanks to Live in New Orleans. It perfectly encapsulated their appeal: smooth but not slick, an awesomely tight band making breezily relaxed music, one fantastic song after another.

Published: January 15, 2026, 3:00 pm

Diary of a degenerate: mapping the music and the madness of Carlo Gesualdo

The Renaissance composer wrote hauntingly sublime music – and committed a grisly double murder before descending even further into psychosis. As a new stage work revisits his life, its director asks if art can be separated from artist

Carlo Gesualdo wrote some of the most darkly sublime music of the late Renaissance. He also savagely murdered his wife and her lover in their bed. Now be honest: which would you like to discuss first?

The art will always be secondary to the atrocity, however magnificent the madrigals and sacred music. Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, had been cuckolded by the Duke of Andria in a long-running tryst that had become the scuttlebutt at court. The premeditated double murder of 1590 was a truly grisly affair, concluding in the public display of their mutilated bodies on the steps of the palazzo for several days.

Published: January 15, 2026, 4:31 pm

Experience: I live as a crane

It makes me feel like a proud parent to see them take flight

The International Crane Foundation was set up in 1973, with the aim of safeguarding the world’s 15 crane species – most are endangered or vulnerable due to habitat loss, climate change and hunting. As senior aviculturist at the headquarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin, I’m involved in everything from daily feeding to overseeing chick-rearing.

Whenever possible, chicks are raised by their biological parents or adopted by other adult cranes, but when that isn’t possible, we have to raise them, and teach them how to behave like cranes. Some chicks will later be released into the wild, so it’s important that they learn to stay away from people and other predators.

Published: January 16, 2026, 5:00 am

‘Chore jackets for your feet’: why a pair of gardening clogs is taking over city streets

The Gardanas, a pair of mucus-coloured hemp shoes, are a somewhat paradoxical current must-have. But their appeal goes deeper than the topsoil

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There is every chance that 2026 will be the year you see your first pair of Gardana gardening clogs in the wild. In fact, if you spend much time on TikTok, or live in Brooklyn, you’ve probably already been seeing them for months, if not years. I saw my first pair a few weeks ago. I watched a dad dropping his kids off at school in head-to-toe Carhartt, a pair of Gardanas peeping out from below his trousers like a shy frog.

Pliable, but with a sturdy sole, they go for as little as £25. The work of French “environmental poet” André Ravachol, who founded the Plasticana brand behind the clogs in 1998, they’re made from 100% recycled PVC and hemp, which gives them their earthy-caramel or, as Vogue put it, “bird-pooey” hue. They have since been called “maybe the coolest shoes in London” by one TikToker, as he Lime-biked his way through the capital to try to nab a pair.

Published: January 16, 2026, 7:00 am

Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for Viennese fingers | The sweet spot

Moreish teatime treats that melt in the mouth… go on, you deserve it

If I were to rank my top biscuits of all time, Viennese fingers would sit firmly in my top three. There’s not too much going on: just a good, buttery crumb, melt-in-the-mouth texture and chocolate-dipped ends, which are a must. While they’re pretty straightforward to make, issues often arise when it’s time to pipe the dough, and it can be tricky to strike a balance between a consistency that has enough butter but still holds its shape once baked. I find that the addition of a little milk helps make it more pipeable, as does using a large, open-star nozzle to avoid cramped hands and burst piping bags.

Published: January 16, 2026, 6:00 am

AI as a life coach: experts share what works, what doesn’t and what to look out for

It’s becoming more common for people to use AI chatbots for personal guidance – but this doesn’t come without risks

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If you’re like a lot of people, you’ve probably ditched your new year resolutions by now. Setting goals is hard; keeping them is harder – and failure can bring about icky feelings about yourself.

This year, in an effort to game the system and tilt the scales toward success, some people used AI for their 2026 resolutions. It’s the latest step in an ongoing trend: in September 2025, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, released findings showing that using the AI chatbot for personal guidance is very common.

Published: January 15, 2026, 5:00 pm

'Long johns for my fingers': what people are wearing in the world's coldest places

Whether dog-sledding in Mongolia or braving grocery store trips in Alaska’s 40mph winds, these writers recommend the gear they swear by

• Eight winter clothing essentials Scandinavians swear by – from heated socks to ‘allværsjakke’

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In New York City’s winter months, I’m bundling up for runs and throwing on layers for the office. But compared to Alaska’s glacial mountains and Finland’s snowy forests, the streets of Manhattan are practically a tropical paradise.

If anyone knows exactly what to wear to stay warm in cold weather, it’s the people who live in these places. So I asked seven writers who reside in some of the coldest cities on Earth to recommend the gear they swear by. One writer in Mongolia wore a pair of foot warmers on a nine-day dog sledding adventure. Another in Winnipeg, Canada, shared a pair of gloves she’s dubbed “long johns for your fingers”.

Eight winter clothing essentials Scandinavians swear by – from heated socks to ‘allværsjakke’

I run over 20 miles a week in the winter. Here’s everything I wear to stay warm

The best winter gloves are two pairs, actually (and one is hiding at Home Depot)

Published: January 15, 2026, 8:15 pm

Is it the end of the line for one of India’s most distinctive garments?

The bandhgala jacket will no longer be part of the formal uniform for Indian Railways staff, following claims it symbolises a ‘colonial mindset’

It is one India’s most ubiquitous garments, with origins in the grand Mughal courts and Rajasthani kingdoms of times past, and still widely favoured by sharply dressed grooms at wedding receptions.

But this week, the distinctive high-collared bandhgala jacket – known to many as the “princely jacket” in a nod to its royal origins – found itself at the centre of a lively debate after it was denounced by the Indian railways minister as a symbol of a “colonial mindset”.

Published: January 15, 2026, 5:00 am

The pub that changed me: ‘We’d walk home with kebab sauce dribbling down our chins’

I’d love to claim the Hand & Heart in Nottingham taught me something profound – but it was mostly about bankrolling free rounds

When I was a teenager, before Tripadvisor, pubs lived as mental notes rather than star ratings. There was the one where – exactly like that scene in The Inbetweeners – we realised they’d serve us a pint at 16 if we ordered some food (one shared plate of chips). There was the one you might get lucky in on Christmas Eve; the one you’d take a girl to, to impress her with the romantic views; and the one that only served cider in halves because it was so brain cell-poppingly strong – a pub best tackled before a bank holiday Monday, known colloquially as “Super Cider Sunday”, when you still had a few brain cells to spare.

Published: January 16, 2026, 11:00 am

‘Golden sands meld into the clear turquoise sea’: readers’ favourite beaches in Europe

Our readers bask in the memory of great beach discoveries, from Latvia to Sicily
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Forty miles east of Palermo, the magnificent Sicilian resort town of Cefalù juts out beneath dramatic cliffs. The town has a perfect half-moon beach of golden sands melding into the gorgeous clear turquoise sea. Medieval lanes of stones in a diamond pattern lead up to a lively square offering great Italian food. It’s fronted by a beautiful Norman cathedral with twin towers and Byzantine mosaics inside.
David Innes-Wilkin

Published: January 16, 2026, 7:00 am

You be the judge: should my daughter pay the fine we incurred dropping her at the airport?

Margaret says her daughter didn’t pay the airport charge, so it’s on her. Georgie says this cock up is all her mum’s doing. You decide who got them into this fine mess
• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

We dropped Georgia off in her own car and she didn’t pay the drop-off fee, so the fine is hers

I didn’t know you had to pay for drop-off. Mum knew and didn’t tell me, so she should help pay

Published: January 15, 2026, 8:00 am

How we converted a boxy ‘dump’ into our spacious, light-filled dream home

Reducing the number of rooms while creating more space turned an uninspiring house into a thing of beauty with an exotic garden to match

Already weary from multiple house viewings that didn’t meet their criteria, Purvi Harlalka and Jyothish George were unenthused when details of a large, long-neglected HMO (house of multiple occupancy) in north London dropped into their inbox. First impressions in real life were equally lacklustre, at least for George.

“We arrived for our viewing and he whispered, ‘There’s no way we’re going to buy this dump!’” says Harlalka. “But later, I convinced him of its potential. It had so much light and, importantly, a garden. I knew it was the one.”

Published: January 16, 2026, 11:30 am

Kids with brain cancer were already in a life and death struggle. Then came Trump

The US president vowed to ‘end childhood cancer’. But his administration is dismantling the search for a cure and sending families scrambling for treatment

For seven years, Jenn Janosko cared for children with cancer on the ninth floor of New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital.

It’s the happiest sad place she knows.

Published: January 15, 2026, 11:00 am

Has Joe Rogan fully soured on Trump’s presidency?

With a huge audience and serving as an avatar for millions of centrist Americans, Rogan compares ICE raids to Gestapo

Joe Rogan’s comparison of US immigration raids to Gestapo operations, made during a podcast episode earlier this week, has sparked speculation about whether the wildly popular podcaster, who endorsed Donald Trump in 2024, has fully soured on Trump’s presidency – and what that might say of the millions of mainly young men who listen to Rogan’s show.

Rogan’s views, as expressed in the podcast discussion, were more complicated than the Gestapo remark taken alone might make them seem. Yet even his more measured skepticism about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids feels somewhat significant, given Rogan’s cultural status and the evidence that Americans in general are turning against Trump’s hardline anti-immigration efforts.

Published: January 15, 2026, 1:00 pm

Greenland: new shipping routes, hidden minerals – and a frontline between the US and Russia?

Key maps show the growing strategic importance of Greenland as Arctic ice melts under global heating

Lying between the US and Russia, Greenland has become a critical frontline as the Arctic opens up because of global heating.

Its importance has been underscored by Donald Trump openly considering the US taking the island from its Nato partner Denmark, either by buying it, or by force.

Published: January 15, 2026, 12:10 pm

Tell us: how were you affected by grief over a pet?

We would like to hear about what your pet meant to you and your family

Grief over the death of a pet could be as chronic as that for a human family member, according new research published in the academic journal PLOS One.

According to the study, grieving pet owners can suffer from prolonged grief disorder (PGD) – although currently only those grieving the loss of a person can be diagnosed.

Published: January 15, 2026, 1:41 pm

A floating football pitch and a train evacuation: photos of the day – Friday

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

Published: January 16, 2026, 1:17 pm