We are living in a time of polycrisis. If you feel trapped – you’re not alone

I hadn’t fully grasped how the idea of a better future sustained me – now I, like many others, find it difficult to be productive

A new year is upon us. Traditionally, we use this time to look forward, imagine and plan.

But instead, I have noticed that most of my friends have been struggling to think beyond the next few days or weeks. I, too, have been having difficulty conjuring up visions of a better future – either for myself or in general.

Published: January 14, 2026, 1:00 pm

What would happen if every state acted like Donald Trump’s America? | Kenneth Roth

In a might-makes-right world, US allies, not to mention the emerging powers of the global south, would begin to hedge their bets in dangerous ways

What is wrong with resurrecting the prerogative of major powers to claim a sphere of influence in which they dictate and others must follow? That idea informs the “Donroe Doctrine” behind the US invasion of Venezuela to seize Nicolás Maduro. Donald Trump seems to believe that, as the world’s strongest military power, the United States should be allowed to invade other countries at will. Trump’s homeland security adviser, Stephen Miller, says “the real world” is “governed by strength”, by “power”, so we should get used to it.

There is a beguiling simplicity to this abandonment of the norms long designed to govern the behavior of states big and small. China has touted it as the reality that its Asian neighbors must live with. Russia, a third-tier power by comparison but still a nuclear-armed regional heavyweight, has periodically treated the boundaries of post-Soviet states as mere suggestions. But do we really want to return to the law of the jungle in which the guy with the biggest stick calls the shots?

Published: January 14, 2026, 11:00 am

Erotic gay smash Heated Rivalry is a well-timed defense of intimacy coordinators | Adrian Horton

The small screen phenomenon, and its publicized use of intimacy coordinators, has arrived as established Hollywood names have started to criticize the role

If you could pinpoint a moment where things change for Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), the two professional hockey players secretly hooking up in the show Heated Rivalry – a moment when the relationship breaks through into fraught emotional territory, when the hazy, undefined thing has become a thing – it would be midway through episode four.

Ilya’s couch, mid-morning, post-breakfast. (The exponentially growing fandom of this six-episode show from Canadian streamer Crave, which premiered in North America in late November with virtually no promotion and has rapidly become one of the most organic TV phenomena in recent memory, knows exactly what I’m talking about.) Hollander overhears Rozanov’s distressing phone call from home and asks how his father is (he doesn’t know Russian, but agitation needs no language); Rozanov responds by wrapping a sculpted arm around his neck. The two then get intimate, in one of the show’s many near-wordless sex scenes, culminating in them each using the other’s first name for the first time.

Published: January 14, 2026, 5:02 pm

‘A cowardly, deluded drunken waster’: readers on their favourite unlikable movie characters

After Guardian writers shared their choices, readers responded with picks from films including Withnail and I, Emily the Criminal and Chopper

The fact that he manages to save a kid’s life while remaining a sweary alcoholic without an ounce of dignity and self-respect … is positively heartwarming. GusCairns

Published: January 14, 2026, 12:01 pm

After the shooting of Renee Good, we see dissent can be fatal in Trump’s America – all bets are off | Emma Brockes

A line has been crossed, and it’s vital to understand that. A system that sends paramilitaries on to the streets will observe no limits

A few years ago, towards the end of the second Obama administration, a friend and her wife flew back to New York from a holiday in Mexico, landing for a connecting flight in South Carolina. At immigration, the officer looked from one to the other, asked their relation to one another and on receiving the reply, made a noise of disgust – “ugh”. On the pretext that American citizens can’t go through the same lane as a spouse on a green card (not true), he sent them to the back of the line, causing them to miss their connection. But that’s not the point of the story.

My friend is a white Australian who is generally conflict-averse; her wife is a Japanese-American who can stop traffic with a single, hard stare, and who teaches in the South Bronx, where many of her students have been harassed by law enforcement since the day they were born. As trouble got under way, my friend kicked off like a good’un, swearing and muttering sarcastically in the Australian style, while her wife shot her desperate, angry looks. Shut up. Shut Up. SHUT UP.

Emma Brockes 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 14, 2026, 5:46 pm

Bronx dog-walkers in the rubble of a dangerous New York: Camilo José Vergara’s best photograph

‘Huge parts of the city were being destroyed. This was part of my attempt to preserve the whole damn thing. The area became a juvenile prison’

I landed in America in 1965 from Chile. I literally arrived on a banana boat. I went to the University of Notre Dame in the midwest and then to Columbia in New York. I had a teacher – also a photographer – who taught foreign students to write and speak better English. I would try to write poetry, which he thought was terrible. I’d never taken a picture before but he encouraged me to try photography and offered to lend me the money for a Pentax Spotmatic he’d seen for sale downtown. After that, I would just walk around New York with it and take photos. It quickly became clear to me how divided the city was. Half was white and the other half was Black and Latino. There was tremendous segregation.

Columbia was very prosperous. The students were well off and many were the sons of extremely rich people. I felt out of place. Also, there’s just a huge sense of loss when you leave your country and you don’t know anybody and are on your own. It made me want to look at what else was going on: to see the other side and the underside of the city. I found it easily because, in the late 60s and early 70s, deindustrialisation was going on. Big companies and car plants were shutting down and there were huge job losses and store closures. That contrast resonated with me. My family had lost a lot of money. The first part of my life was about seeing things disappear and having to make do with less and less. I was interested to see that in the US.

Published: January 14, 2026, 2:59 pm

US military action in Iran could come in next 24 hours, report says – live

Trump appears to have decided on a military strike against Iran, Reuters reports

For the first time in days, Iranians were able to make calls abroad from their mobiles on Tuesday, according to reporting by Associated Press. Texting services have not been restored, however, and nor has the internet.

Although Iranians were able to call abroad, they could not receive calls from outside the country, several people in the capital told Associated Press. The internet remained blocked, they said, though it is possible to access some government-approved websites.

Cloudfare - an internet infrastructure provider, and one of several companies and monitors tracking the status of internet traffic in Iran – said traffic volumes have remained “at a fraction of a percent of previous levels”. Its latest update as of 01:00 UTC (which is about three hours and 30 minutes ago), shows a continued widespread blackout. Iran has been under an internet shutdown since Thursday night.

Brief windows of connectivity were observed on Friday, but these did not last, according to Cloudfare.

Netblocks, an independent global internet monitor, also notes that while some phone calls from Iran are connecting, there is “no secure way to communicate” and the general public remain cut off from the outside world.

Published: January 14, 2026, 6:34 pm

US concludes talks with Denmark and Greenland on Trump’s takeover demands

Danish embassy due to brief journalists on results of negotiations involving JD Vance and Marco Rubio

• Europe live – latest updates

Closely watched talks on Donald Trump’s demands to take over Greenland have ended in Washington after nearly an hour.

The vice-president, JD Vance, and secretary of state, Marco Rubio, hosted the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland on Wednesday in what observers worried could be an ambush meant to pressure the Danes into ceding the territory under US economic and military pressure.

Published: January 14, 2026, 5:45 pm

Half of Americans think ICE is making cities less safe, poll finds – live

Fifty-six percent of Americans said fatal shooting of Renee Good was an inappropriate use of force, survey by CNN finds

Donald Trump repeated his threat to withhold federal funding to sanctuary cities on Truth Social today.

“ALL THEY DO IS BREED CRIME AND VIOLENCE! If States want them, they will have to pay for them!,” the president wrote in a post.

Published: January 14, 2026, 6:53 pm

FBI raids home of Washington Post reporter in ‘highly unusual and aggressive’ move

Agents searched Hannah Natanson’s Virginia home and seized devices in inquiry tied to a classified materials case

The FBI raided the home of a Washington Post reporter early on Wednesday in what the newspaper called a “highly unusual and aggressive” move by law enforcement, and press freedom groups condemned as a “tremendous intrusion” by the Trump administration.

Agents descended on the Virginia home of Hannah Natanson as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials.

Published: January 14, 2026, 6:20 pm

House oversight chair says panel will move to hold Hillary Clinton in contempt

James Comer says action follows refusal by the former first lady and Bill Clinton to testify about Jeffrey Epstein

• US politics live – latest updates

The House oversight committee will move to hold Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress, its Republican chair James Comer said Wednesday, after the former first lady refused to comply with a subpoena for testimony regarding the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The announcement came a day after both Hillary Clinton and her husband, the former president Bill Clinton, said they would not honor subpoenas from the investigative panel to discuss Epstein, a one-time friend who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Published: January 14, 2026, 5:36 pm

Venezuelan regime touts ‘mass release’ of political prisoners but many say repression continues

NGOs estimate that there are still close to 1,000 political prisoners in Venezuela despite claims by new leaders

The United States has welcomed the release of US citizens by Venezuela, which has been freeing political prisoners in a process that NGOs describe as slow and opaque.

Many in the country also warn that, despite efforts by the regime to appear more open after the seizure and rendition of Nicolás Maduro, repression continues, with residents still having their mobile phones searched by armed militias on the streets and afraid to engage in any form of public protest.

Published: January 14, 2026, 1:44 pm

US supreme court rules Republican can challenge Illinois mail-in ballot law

Lawsuit from Mike Bost was viewed by Trump-aligned conservatives as route to continue attacks on mail-in voting

• US politics live – latest updates

The US supreme court on Wednesday revived a lawsuit by a Republican congressman in Illinois that challenges a state law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted if they are received after election day.

The lawsuit from Mike Bost was viewed by Donald Trump-aligned conservatives as an avenue to continue attacks on mail-in voting. Bost argued that the Illinois law allowing ballots to be counted up to two weeks after election day if they are postmarked by the deadline unconstitutionally allows an extension of the election period.

Published: January 14, 2026, 4:33 pm

Musk claims he was unaware of Grok generating explicit images of minors

AI tool faces growing global scrutiny over the spread of nonconsensual sexual images of women and minors on X

Elon Musk said on Wednesday he was not aware of any “naked underage images” generated by xAI’s Grok, as scrutiny of the AI tool intensifies worldwide.

“I not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero,” Musk said in an X post. Musk’s comment comes as xAI and X face growing global scrutiny, including calls by lawmakers and advocacy groups for Apple and Google to drop Grok from app stores, an investigation by UK regulators, and bans or legal action in countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

Published: January 14, 2026, 4:59 pm

Suspended Michigan autoworker who heckled Trump gets outpouring of donations

Tens of thousands of dollars raised for TJ Sabula after he reportedly calls Trump ‘pedophile protector’ during Ford plant tour

Tens of thousands of dollars have been raised for an autoworker at a Ford plant in Michigan who was suspended without pay after heckling Donald Trump.

TJ Sabula is said to have called the president a “pedophile protector” as Trump toured the automotive giant’s River Rouge complex on Tuesday.

Published: January 14, 2026, 3:23 pm

Union leaders accuse Trump labor department of echoing Nazi rhetoric

Labor department rhetoric, such as ‘One Homeland. One People. One Heritage’, prompt comparisons to Nazi slogan

Union leaders have accused the Trump administration of a “rhetorical shift towards white supremacy” after social media posts by the US Department of Labor drew comparison with a Nazi slogan.

Recent posts from the agency include a video captioned “remember who you are, American”, with the phrase: “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage.”

Published: January 14, 2026, 11:00 am

EPA to stop calculating money and lives saved by curbs on air pollution

Agency to focus rules for fine particulate matter and ozone only on cost to industry, aligning with Trump approach

The Environmental Protection Agency says it will stop calculating how much money is saved in healthcare costs avoided and deaths prevented from air pollution rules that curb two deadly pollutants.

The change means the EPA will focus rules for fine particulate matter and ozone only on the cost to industry, part of a broader realignment under Donald Trump toward a business-friendly approach that has included the rollback of multiple policies meant to safeguard human health and the environment and slow climate change.

Published: January 14, 2026, 5:46 pm

Health secretary RFK Jr appoints two vaccine skeptics to CDC advisory panel

Physicians have disputed prevailing scientific views on vaccines and use of antidepressants during pregnancy

The health and human services secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has appointed two new obstetrician-gynecologists to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee. Both are physicians who have publicly disputed prevailing scientific views on vaccines and the use of antidepressants during pregnancy.

Kennedy announced on Tuesday that the two doctors will join the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP), which advises the CDC on vaccine recommendations. The additions bring the committee’s membership to 13, following Kennedy’s controversial decision in June to dismiss the previous panel and replace it with 11 new members of his choosing.

Published: January 14, 2026, 5:24 pm

Trump administration reinstates fired employees of DoJ race relations agency

Justice department says it rescinded 13 layoff notices issued in September for agency known as ‘America’s peacemaker’

• US politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump’s administration is reversing course on firing nearly every employee at a 1960s-era agency within the US Department of Justice known as “America’s peacemaker” that is tasked with quelling racial and ethnic tensions in US communities.

The justice department, in a filing on Tuesday in federal court in Boston, disclosed that it had on Friday rescinded layoff notices it issued in September to 13 of the Community Relations Service’s employees as part of a “reduction in force”.

Published: January 14, 2026, 2:21 pm

‘Are they going to bring their violence here?’: Fear – but little preparation – as threat of invasion looms over Greenland

Ahead of high-stakes talks, people tell of alarm, thoughts of fleeing and lack of information on what to do if US invades

• Europe live – latest updates

When she was living in Denmark, the seemingly unshakeable safety of Greenland was a comforting source of reassurance for Najannguaq Hegelund. Whenever there was any instability in the world, she would joke with her family: “Well we will just go to Greenland, nothing ever happens in Greenland.”

But in the past two weeks – during which Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened military action on the largely autonomous Arctic territory the US president claims he “needs” for national security purposes, despite it being part of the Danish kingdom – Hegelund, 37, has realised this is suddenly no longer true.

Published: January 14, 2026, 1:26 pm

‘The settlers brought the violence’: the ethnic cleansing of a West Bank village

Ras ‘Ein al ‘Auja is a community of about 135 families – and the only one remaining in this part of the Jordan valley

Five decades in the south Jordan valley were ending in a day, and Mahmoud Eshaq struggled to hold back his tears. The 55-year-old had not cried since he was a boy, but as he dismantled the family home and prepared to flee the village where his whole life had played out, he was overwhelmed by grief.

While Eshaq’s children loaded mattresses, a fridge, sacks of flour and suitcases of clothes into a truck, masked soldiers escorted a teenage Israeli shepherd down the main village road, where he posed for photos on his donkey, flashing a V sign.

Published: January 14, 2026, 6:00 am

Iran’s footballers face battle to be heard as regime brutally clamps down on protests

For Mehdi Taremi and others playing abroad, showing solidarity with their home nation can mean threats and possible detention

Mehdi Taremi did what he does best. On Saturday, the Iranian striker turned inside the area and scored for Olympiakos, a well-taken eighth goal of the season for the 33-year-old that clinched a 2-0 win at Atromitos and a place at the top of the Greek Super League. Usually, millions of people in Iran follow every step of Taremi’s European career, one that took off with Porto and has settled in Piraeus via Milan, but not this time.

The ruling regime in Tehran has cut the internet and all communications, which meant that residents of the football‑loving nation also missed the non‑celebration that followed. “It actually has to do with the conditions in my country,” Taremi said. “There are problems between the people and the government. The people are always with us, and that’s why we are with them. I couldn’t celebrate in solidarity with the Iranian people. I know that Olympiakos fans would like me to be happy, but I don’t celebrate the goals, in solidarity with what the Iranian people are going through.”

Published: January 14, 2026, 10:00 am

Why is Stephen A Smith blaming Renee Good for her own death? | Etan Thomas

The ESPN broadcaster’s comments about the ICE shooting in Minnesota moves him closer to the stance of another media figure he has long attacked

This past weekend there were hundreds of demonstrations across the United States after Renee Good, an American citizen and mother of three, was shot dead by Jonathan Ross, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, in Minnesota.

The anger has permeated throughout the NBA as well. Steve Kerr and Doc Rivers, the head coaches of the Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks respectively, described Good’s death as “murder”. Kerr also attacked the Trump administration’s attempts to portray Good as a terrorist.

Published: January 14, 2026, 11:00 am

From Ralph Fiennes to Jeffrey Wright: the most overlooked performances this awards season

Jessie Buckley and Timothée Chalamet might be winning all of the awards but as Oscar voting begins, these actors also deserve inclusion

Every January, if not earlier, awards narratives leading up to the Oscars take shape. While the specifics of the Academy Award nominations are never known in advance, and can always be counted on for some surprises when they’re actually unveiled, critics and pundits and fans all enter into that final stretch with a pretty good idea of who won’t be nominated.

Some of this is because of the endless spitballing. But the “won’t” list is also easy to compile because it ultimately houses almost everyone who acted in a movie over the past year. Twenty performances are selected for the Oscars annually, and given the other high-profile awards bodies with additional preferences, category numbers and a never-complete overlap with the Academy, let’s say about 40 are in the broader competition of real possibilities. But there are so many more great performances every year than that, across all sizes, scopes and genres.

Published: January 14, 2026, 10:02 am

Don’t ‘over-engage your core muscles’ and other tips for looking after your pelvic floor

From not treating your rectum as a storage facility to weight lifting, experts offer advice on how to maintain a healthy pelvic floor for longer

Pelvic floor health has long been relegated to whispered conversations about pregnancy or aging, often reduced to vague instructions to “do your kegels”.

But according to experts, daily maintenance of the pelvic floor is important.

Published: January 14, 2026, 2:00 pm

Jimmy Kimmel on ICE shooting of Renee Good: ‘They’re investigating the victims instead of the perpetrator’

Late-night hosts discussed the Trump administration’s deployment of yet more ICE agents to Minneapolis

Late-night hosts responded to the Trump administration’s escalation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) action in Minneapolis and its criminal investigation into the Fed chair, Jerome Powell.

Published: January 14, 2026, 3:58 pm

Cities and states must hold ICE accountable for violence. The feds won’t | Kristy Parker and Samantha Trepel

As former federal prosecutors, we know an incident like the Minneapolis shooting must be followed by a credible inquiry

Last Wednesday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old American mother. Already, the federal investigation into the killing raises serious concerns, which is why the parallel investigation Minnesota officials are conducting is vital.

Mere hours after Good’s death, the Trump administration prejudged the case before any investigation could begin. The administration was swift to blame the victim, with the president and the DHS secretary making disparaging, accusatory, and prejudicial statements about her motives and conduct; Donald Trump said she was a “professional agitator” who had “viciously” run over the officer, while Kristi Noem accused her of “domestic terrorism”. Additionally, JD Vance, the vice-president, incorrectly claimed the shooter had “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution by state officials. And the FBI has shut state investigators out.

Published: January 14, 2026, 1:00 pm

I witnessed the brutality of America’s prisons first hand. We need urgent reform | Alex Duran

It shouldn’t take suing departments of corrections or capturing atrocities on illegal cellphones to see what happens behind prison walls

When a camera records an act of lethal violence against someone in official custody, the state cannot hide what it typically keeps in the dark. That’s what happened when correction officers murdered Robert Brooks at Marcy correctional facility in New York. Restrained in handcuffs, Brooks was beaten to death by officers unaware that their own body-worn cameras were documenting every blow.

The deaths of Brooks and another handcuffed man, Messiah Nantwi, were the catalysts of a recent investigation by the New York Times that found guards in New York prisons use violence at alarming rates. Because the public is largely unaware of what their tax dollars fund behind prison walls, these revelations are significant. But the violence is not unique to New York.

Alex Duran is program director at Galaxy Gives and a co-producer of The Alabama Solution

Published: January 14, 2026, 3:00 pm

Donald Trump is waging war against human conscience | Osita Nwanevu

The Trump administration’s assaults on liberty are the kinds of abuses that spurred the American revolution that the nation will commemorate this year

It’s garnered less attention than the other events of our already wretched new year. But to understand why Renee Nicole Good was killed on Wednesday, why the White House has designs on Greenland, and why the people of Venezuela may soon be governed, in effect, by a junta of oil companies backed by the US military, we should also consider an email Martin Peterson, a philosophy professor at Texas A&M, received about his course Contemporary Moral Problems last week.

His syllabus, he was informed, contained material banned by the college’s board of regents in December – part of the wave of censorship the Trump administration and the Republican party have encouraged at universities across the country. He was given two options: change the syllabus “to remove the modules on race ideology and gender ideology, and the Plato readings that may include these” or teach another course.

Published: January 14, 2026, 1:00 pm

I’ve been thinking a lot about dog poo | Adrian Chiles

There was a time when nobody picked up after their dogs – and it would have been considered disgusting to do so. What caused the change in attitude?

A PE teacher from Cardiff called Tony is frozen solid after being caught in an avalanche in 1979. There he remains until global heating sees to his thawing and he pops up in the present day, exactly as he was back then. Comedy ensues. This is make-believe, by the way; it’s the premise of Mike Bubbins’ BBC series Mammoth. In the masterful opening scenes, to the sound of Gerry Rafferty’s Get It Right Next Time, we see Tony being scornful, angry, frightened and disgusted by four things that didn’t happen before his big freeze.

He scoffs at a bloke carrying a baby in a sling, gives a charity chugger very short shrift, and jumps out of his skin when a youth on a hoverboard zips past him. But it was Tony’s disgust at a woman picking up her German shepherd’s poo that got me thinking. When did picking up dog poo become the thing to do? Or, put another way, when did just leaving it there become the thing not to do? When did we start becoming disgusted at those who didn’t pick it up rather than those who did? This is a pretty seismic cultural shift, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Published: January 14, 2026, 5:52 pm

Sam Coffey’s Man City move is another blow for a hamstrung NWSL

USWNT stars have a world of options as their domestic league struggles to match European teams’ ambition

Sam Coffey’s transfer from the Portland Thorns to Manchester City marks a tipping point: more than half of the USWNT’s starting lineup that secured the 2024 Olympic gold medal now play their professional soccer in Europe. If free agent Trinity Rodman signs abroad, too, that’ll leave only four players from that lineup on NWSL rosters to start the domestic season.

The distribution of where USWNT players compete has dramatically shifted under Emma Hayes. So many star players have headed to European Goliaths, including Hayes’s former club Chelsea, that last year she had to assure the NWSL board of governors she isn’t pushing her athletes to leave the league, per a report from ESPN. Hayes insists she simply supports her players’ aspirations, whatever they may be. Today, out of the seven players with the most USWNT minutes in 2025, only two of them – Emily Sonnett and Claire Hutton – are playing stateside.

Published: January 14, 2026, 3:43 pm

Senegal v Egypt: Africa Cup of Nations semi-final – live

⚽ Updates from the first semi-final; kick-off 5pm GMT
⚽ Follow us on Bluesky | Read Football Daily | Mail Yara

Koulibaly and Salah shake hands as captains and are all smiles before Salah goes over to Mané before kick-off and the two share an embrace.

The teams are out and the national anthems are being sung. First Senegal and then Egypt. Lots of support for both sides at the Tangier Grand Stadium.

Published: January 14, 2026, 6:59 pm

Giannis Antetokounmpo boos own fans during Bucks’ dismal loss to Timberwolves

• Milwaukee fans show displeasure with team’s form

• ‘When I get booed, I boo back,’ says two-time MVP

Giannis Antetokounmpo couldn’t remember hearing boos from his home crowd during his brilliant 13-year career in Milwaukee. But it happened on Tuesday midway through the Bucks’ 139-106 loss to a Minnesota Timberwolves team playing without Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert.

“I’ve never been a part of something like that before,” Antetokounmpo said after the game. “Something new for me.”

Published: January 14, 2026, 12:50 pm

Amateur stuns pros to win One Point Slam and A$1m in boost for Australian Open

Tennis Australia is the big winner as new format draws full house and makes Jordan Smith a millionaire

A 29-year-old tennis coach from Sydney won the inaugural One Point Slam at the Australian Open and its A$1m prize on Wednesday, after upstaging a field that included Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff.

It is Tennis Australia, however, which won the jackpot, after the new concept – despite its near three-hour duration, often confusing format and awkward exchanges between players – attracted a full house to Rod Laver Arena during opening week as organisers look at non‑traditional ways to attract fans to Melbourne Park.

Published: January 14, 2026, 3:44 pm

Pitch Points: Alonso’s future and Wrexham’s Premier League dreams

The world of soccer throws up no shortage of questions. In today’s column, we endeavor to answer three of them

As damaging as Sunday’s Spanish Super Cup defeat to Barcelona was for Xabi Alonso’s credibility as Real Madrid manager, the scenes after the game ultimately finished him off. The sight of Kylian Mbappé overriding Alonso, insisting his teammates leave the pitch as the manager requested in vain that they give Barça a guard of honour, summed up an untenable situation.

Published: January 14, 2026, 2:00 pm

‘It opened my eyes’: Félix Auger-Aliassime on tennis, Togo and his father’s journey

The world No 7 on his teenage trip to west Africa, his fundraising efforts and finding his form ahead of the Australian Open

ith a smile, Félix Auger-Aliassime says: “Well, imagine you’re 13. I had been to Europe. I had been to America. I live in Canada. And then you go to Togo; it’s a little different, you know?”

Auger-Aliassime, the seventh best tennis player in the world, was describing the homecoming he enjoyed 12 years ago as he first caught a glimpse of Togo, the country his father, Sam, was born in and emigrated from to Canada before his son’s birth. It was a significant moment in his life.

Published: January 14, 2026, 1:48 pm

Pittsburgh Steelers part ways with head coach Mike Tomlin after 19 seasons

• Tomlin never recorded losing season with team

• Steelers had endured long run of playoff losses

Head coach Mike Tomlin is leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers after 19 seasons, the team confirmed on Tuesday.

“Obviously, I am extremely grateful to Mike for all the hard work, dedication and success we have shared over the last 19 years. It is hard for me to put into words the level of respect and appreciation I have for Coach Tomlin,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a statement. “He guided the franchise to our sixth Super Bowl championship and made the playoffs 13 times during his tenure, including winning the AFC North eight times in his career.”

Published: January 13, 2026, 7:29 pm

Canada’s ‘Camp Poutine’ kickstarts a World Cup year with a long-term eye

A January camp for domestic players allows Jesse Marsch to boost a development system that will outlast his tenure

Men have stood broken on her piers. It can be a desolate place, too, especially in winter, which is of course when the lobster boats do the bulk of their fishing. But the weather had improved by the time Canadian men’s national team head coach Jesse Marsch ferried his squad from around the world to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for a training camp ahead of last summer’s Gold Cup. It was the first time the men’s national team had visited the province.

But it was not Marsch’s first time in town, having previously kicked off a cross-country coaching clinic – a whirlwind tour meant to share with local soccer communities what he’d done with the national team at Copa América in 2024 – at a local hotel and convention centre. He’d promised, and pitched a vision, to make the national team truly national in a way no coach had before him. And he was delivering, having also made similar coaching stops in Québec City, Saskatoon and Calgary.

Published: January 14, 2026, 11:00 am

Gaza war leads to 41% fall in births prompting allegations of reproductive violence

Israel’s war in Gaza has caused high numbers of maternal and neonatal deaths, say two reports

Israel’s war in Gaza has led to a 41% fall in births in the territory and high numbers of maternal deaths, miscarriages, newborn mortality and premature births, two reports on the impact of the conflict on pregnant women, babies and maternity care reveal.

Two reports by Physicians for Human Rights, in collaboration with the Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School, and Physicians for Human Rights–Israel (PHRI) document how the war has led to high figures for maternal and neonatal mortality and forced births in dangerous conditions and systematically dismantled health services – consequences of “a deliberate intention of preventing births among Palestinians, meeting the legal criteria of the genocide convention,” researchers said.

Published: January 14, 2026, 5:58 pm

Ukraine able to buy weapons from non-European suppliers with €90bn EU loan

Loan will be repaid only if Moscow pays reparations and plan to use Russia’s frozen assets still on table

• Europe live – latest updates

Ukraine will be able to buy military equipment from non-European suppliers when it is given access to a €90bn (£78bn) EU loan later this year under a proposal outlined by the EU executive.

The European Commission on Wednesday published detailed proposals to lend Kyiv €90bn, but said an alternative plan based on using Russia’s frozen assets remained on the table.

Published: January 14, 2026, 1:11 pm

Saks Global files for bankruptcy after takeover leads to financial collapse

Debt-riddled retail giant’s demise has cast uncertainty over the future of US luxury fashion

Beleaguered high-end department store conglomerate Saks Global filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, a month after missing the deadline on a $100m interest payment, in one of the largest retail collapses since the pandemic.

Barely a year after a deal brought the chains Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus together, Saks Global said it had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy “to facilitate its ongoing transformation”.

Published: January 14, 2026, 1:00 pm

Property of Jewish temple destroyed in Los Angeles fires vandalized

Graffiti included ‘Fuck Zionism’ and ‘RIP Renee’, an apparent reference to killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis

The property of a Los Angeles-area Jewish temple that was destroyed in last year’s wildfires was vandalized this week, officials said.

On Sunday, a member of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center spotted the lines “Fuck Zionism” and “RIP Renee” spray-painted on an exterior wall on the campus – the second line an apparent reference to the killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on 7 January.

Published: January 14, 2026, 1:00 pm

Sex, drugs and sugar babies: first trailer for Euphoria season three drops

Sam Levinson’s hit HBO drama series returns in April with Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi returning

The first trailer for the third season of Euphoria promises more sex, drugs and violence, teasing a troubled life after high school for the show’s characters.

Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer and Jacob Elordi are among those returning for episodes four years in the making. The new season will take place five years after the characters were last seen.

Published: January 14, 2026, 4:42 pm

Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni cleared of fraud over charity Christmas cake scandal

Social media star says ‘justice has been done’ in cases involving cakes and Easter eggs being promoted as charitable initiatives

The Italian fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni has said “the nightmare is over” after being acquitted on fraud charges in a trial linked to Christmas cake and Easter egg charity initiatives.

The social media star, 38, had been on trial in Milan accused of duping consumers in two separate fundraisers – one a Christmas campaign in 2022 promoting pandoro cake, an alternative to the more famous panettone, and the other selling chocolate eggs during Easter campaigns in 2021 and 2022.

Published: January 14, 2026, 5:22 pm

Trump hits back at JP Morgan CEO’s defence of Federal Reserve

US president says Jamie Dimon was wrong to suggest he was undermining independence of central bank

• Business live – latest updates

Donald Trump has hit out at the JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon, saying the Wall Street executive was wrong to suggest he was undermining the independence of the Federal Reserve.

The US president and his administration have come under fire for their attacks on the Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, who is facing a criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice over alleged “abuse of taxpayer dollars” linked to renovations to the central bank’s headquarters in Washington.

Published: January 14, 2026, 3:49 pm

Puppies treated for suspected fentanyl overdose to go up for adoption in Washington

Six puppies were revived and treated by first responders and are now being monitored at a local animal shelter

Six puppies in rural Washington state will soon be up for adoption after being revived following a suspected drug overdose – and some of them might go home with the fire-station staff who saved them.

Two people dropped off three of the sickened puppies at the Sky Valley fire station, about an hour’s drive north-east of Seattle, on Sunday. Officials believe the animals either breathed or ate fentanyl.

Published: January 14, 2026, 3:47 pm

John Forté, Grammy-nominated musician who worked with Fugees, dies at 50

Musician, whose 14-year prison sentence was commuted by George W Bush, was found dead in his Massachusetts home

John Forté, the Grammy-nominated musician known for his work with the Fugees and the Refugee Camp All-Stars among others, has died at age 50.

He was found dead Monday afternoon in his home in Chilmark, Massachusetts, according to police.

Published: January 14, 2026, 2:35 pm

Wolf’s dinner preserved in Siberia for 14,400 years sheds light on woolly rhino

Decoded genome of meat in pup’s stomach helps scientists build picture of what caused extinction of species

Researchers have shed light on the final centuries of the woolly rhinoceros after studying a hairy lump of meat from the stomach of an ancient wolf cub that became mummified in the Siberian permafrost.

The beautifully preserved remains of a two-month-old female wolf cub were discovered in 2011 near the village of Tumat in northeastern Siberia. The animal is thought to have died 14,400 years ago when a landslide collapsed its den, trapping the cub and others inside.

Published: January 14, 2026, 5:01 pm

Human activity helped make 2025 third-hottest year on record, experts say

Data leads scientists to declare 2015 Paris agreement to keep global heating below 1.5C ‘dead in the water’

Last year was the third hottest on record, scientists have said, with mounting fossil fuel pollution behind “exceptional” temperatures.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said 2025 had continued a three-year streak of “extraordinary global temperatures” during which surface air temperatures averaged 1.48C above preindustrial levels.

Published: January 14, 2026, 3:59 pm

US carbon pollution rose in 2025 in reversal of previous years’ reductions

Study from research firm finds that US greenhouse gas emissions grew faster than economic activity last year

In a reversal from previous years’ pollution reductions, the United States spewed 2.4% more heat-trapping gases from the burning of fossil fuels in 2025 than in the year before, researchers calculated in a study released on Tuesday.

The increase in greenhouse gas emissions is attributable to a combination of a cool winter, the explosive growth of datacenters and cryptocurrency mining, and higher natural gas prices, according to the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm. Environmental policy rollbacks by Donald Trump’s administration were not significant factors in the increase because they were only put in place this year, the study authors said. Heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas are the major cause of worsening global warming, scientists say.

Published: January 13, 2026, 9:09 pm

‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body

Exclusive: Some scientists say many detections are most likely error, with one high-profile study called a ‘joke’

High-profile studies reporting the presence of microplastics throughout the human body have been thrown into doubt by scientists who say the discoveries are probably the result of contamination and false positives. One chemist called the concerns “a bombshell”.

Studies claiming to have revealed micro and nanoplastics in the brain, testes, placentas, arteries and elsewhere were reported by media across the world, including the Guardian. There is no doubt that plastic pollution of the natural world is ubiquitous, and present in the food and drink we consume and the air we breathe. But the health damage potentially caused by microplastics and the chemicals they contain is unclear, and an explosion of research has taken off in this area in recent years.

Published: January 13, 2026, 2:20 pm

McKinsey asks graduates to use AI chatbot in recruitment process

Blue-chip consultancy’s boss says firm has an AI ‘workforce’ of 20,000 agents operating alongside its 40,000 staff

• Business live – latest updates

McKinsey is asking graduate applicants to “collaborate” with an artificial intelligence tool as part of its recruitment process, as competence with the technology becomes a requirement in competing for top-level jobs.

The blue-chip consultancy is incorporating an “AI interview” into some final-round interviews, according to CaseBasix, a US company that helps candidates apply for posts at leading strategic consulting companies.

Published: January 14, 2026, 12:30 pm

Accused US grave robber allegedly admits he sold human remains online

Jonathan Gerlach remains in custody after officials say they found skulls, bones and other remains in his car and home

The Pennsylvania man suspected of stealing more than 100 pieces of human remains from a historic cemetery has allegedly admitted to selling some of them online – while the graveyard solicits donations to upgrade its security.

Jonathan Gerlach’s purported admission, along with the most complete account yet of how he caught the attention of law enforcement, are contained in search warrants obtained by authorities investigating a case one government official called “a horror movie come to life”.

Published: January 14, 2026, 11:00 am

Netflix ‘plans to switch to all-cash offer to seal $83bn Warner Bros deal’

Aim is to speed up acquisition of WBD studio and streaming businesses and hold off rival Paramount bid

Netflix is reportedly preparing to switch to an all-cash offer to seal its takeover of the studios and streaming businesses of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), as it tries to speed up the deal and fend off a rival hostile bid from Paramount Skydance.

The changes to Netflix’s $83bn (£62bn) offer, first reported by Bloomberg, are designed to accelerate the acquisition, which is expected to take months to conclude, and make it more palatable for WBD shareholders.

Published: January 14, 2026, 9:12 am

Claudette Colvin, US civil rights pioneer arrested for not giving up bus seat, dies aged 86

Colvin refused to give up seat to white woman in Alabama in 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks’ act of defiance

US civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin, arrested at age 15 for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white woman in Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks’s similar but more famous act of defiance, died on Tuesday at age 86.

Although she remained a largely unsung figure in the civil rights movement for decades, Colvin’s 1955 act of rebellion inspired Parks and others and helped form the basis for the federal lawsuit that outlawed racial segregation in US public transportation.

Published: January 14, 2026, 2:26 am

Julio Iglesias faces claims female staff were told to have sexual health tests, say reports

Spanish singer, 82, had already been accused of sexually assaulting two female former employees

The Spanish singer Julio Iglesias, who has been accused of sexually assaulting two female former employees, is also alleged to have ordered some women who worked for him to undergo tests for sexually transmitted diseases, local media have reported.

The sexual assault allegations against the 82-year-old singer, whose career spans six decades, were published on Tuesday after a three-year joint investigation by the Spanish news site elDiario.es and the Spanish-language TV network Univision Noticias.

Published: January 14, 2026, 12:34 pm

France records more deaths than births for first time since end of second world war

Country joins EU neighbours in demographic crunch of ageing population and falling birthrate

For the first time since the end of the second world war, France has recorded more deaths than births, suggesting that the country’s long-held demographic advantage over other EU countries is slipping away.

Across the country in 2025, there were 651,000 deaths and 645,000 births, according to newly released figures from the national statistics institute Insee.

Published: January 14, 2026, 1:30 pm

Social media time does not increase teenagers’ mental health problems – study

Research finds no evidence heavier social media use or more gaming increases symptoms of anxiety or depression

Screen time spent gaming or on social media does not cause mental health problems in teenagers, according to a large-scale study.

With ministers in the UK considering whether to follow Australia’s example by banning social media use for under-16s, the findings challenge concerns that long periods spent gaming or scrolling TikTok or Instagram are driving an increase in teenagers’ depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions.

Published: January 14, 2026, 1:56 pm

At least 28 killed as crane collapses on train in Thailand

Crane in use on high-speed rail project hits passing train, causing it to derail

At least 28 people in Thailand have been killed and scores injured after a crane collapsed on to a passenger train and derailed it, officials said.

Footage from the scene verified by Agence France-Presse showed the crane’s broken structure resting on giant concrete pillars and smoke rising from the wreckage of the train below.

Published: January 14, 2026, 3:44 pm

‘I fell in love with him on the spot’: Alan Rickman remembered, 10 years after his death

On the anniversary of his death aged 69, stars from Sigourney Weaver to Sharleen Spiteri, Tom Felton to Harriet Walter, remember the wit, charm and endless generosity of one of Britain’s best-loved actors

Ruby Wax

Published: January 14, 2026, 5:00 am

Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy – the follow-up to I’m Glad My Mom Died

Family trauma shapes a student’s affair with her teacher in this bleak and funny fiction debut from the American memoirist

When it was published in 2022, Jennette McCurdy’s memoir lit a touchpaper to a nascent cultural conversation. I’m Glad My Mom Died introduced her mother Debra’s narcissistic personality disorder into a world eager to discuss adult child and parent estrangement. McCurdy had also suffered sexual abuse, and claimed her mother had contributed to her developing an eating disorder. The memoir was a bestseller, walking readers through the realities of generational trauma; a step change for the former Disney child star who had been “the funny one” on obnoxious Nickelodeon kids’ shows.

In her debut work of fiction, Half His Age, McCurdy continues to shake open a Pandora’s box, shedding light on blurred parent-child boundaries and loss of identity due to over-enmeshment, with solid one-liners that feel straight out of a sitcom writers’ room.

Published: January 14, 2026, 7:00 am

Pole to Pole With Will Smith review – every single moment is gorgeous or thrilling

It may feel like a redemption tour, but the star’s epic jolly across seven continents is consistently funny, moving and quite frankly breathtaking

Hollywood stars – they’re just like us! Except that when we want to go on a massive jolly/rehabilitative journey for ourselves and/or our careers, we have to pay for it. And we generally cannot go on a 100-day adventure across seven continents, with experts on hand to introduce us to their indigenous inhabitants, talk us through world-changing research being done in the most isolated regions on Earth, show us new and fascinating species that can be found there that may hold the cure to all known diseases, and guide us through the breathtaking landscapes that make you want to throw yourself to the ground and weep at the beauty laid out before humanity’s largely uncaring eyes.

Not so for Willard Carroll Smith II, the Academy award, Bafta and Grammy-winning actor and rapper who enjoyed an uninterruptedly stellar career from the late 80s until 2022, when he put a crimp in things by lamping the Oscars’ host Chris Rock for insulting Smith’s wife. This was followed by a tour violinist suing him for alleged predatory behaviour, unlawful termination and retaliation, which is working its way through the California legal system now. Smith has categorically denied all allegations. He is getting away from it all in the meantime by doing all the adventuring noted above – a septet of episodes of Pole to Pole With Will Smith (the name by which of course he is known to us) in honour of his late mentor Dr Allen Counter. Counter was a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, the inaugural director of the university’s Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations and – in his spare time, I guess? – a noted explorer. I cannot help but feel a biopic must be in the works, and I hope it comes soon.

Published: January 14, 2026, 8:00 am

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple review – Ralph Fiennes is phenomenal in best chapter yet of zombie horror

A murderous Clockwork-Orangey gang take on the zombies in this gruesome and energised fourquel. It’s the finest of the 28 franchise by a blood-curdling mile

It’s very rare for a fourquel to be the best film in a franchise, but that’s how things stand with the chequered 28 Days Later series. In this one, which follows immediately on from the previous episode, 28 Years Later, Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell bring pure death-metal craziness. There is real energy and drama in this latest iteration of the post-apocalyptic zombie horror-thriller saga, created by director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland back in 2003, with Nia DaCosta taking over directing duties for this film. Fiennes’s dance to Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast is basically one of the most extraordinary moments of his career. At the screening I attended, we were on our feet, looking for a speaker bin to headbang into. The band surely has to rerelease this track with Fiennes’s performance as a new official video. His Voldemort was never so freaky.

It is just so exhilarating to see this intergenerational face-off between such superb actors as Fiennes and O’Connell. That brings us to the point of my agnosticism about this whole franchise; Bone Temple is the best for an interesting reason – because the zombies are almost entirely irrelevant and are at a minimum. The always slightly dull business of zombieism is de-emphasised, and what counts is the conflict between sentient human beings. Even the one important zombie here is interesting because he is being transformed into something else.

Published: January 13, 2026, 9:00 pm

A Gangster’s Life review – funny in parts, but not always deliberately

Despite some interesting visuals, not even Tony Cook and Jonny Weldon can lift this poorly produced tale of a pair of dodgy lads hiding in Greece from a gangster

Here is an odd film about a couple of dodgy lads who get on the wrong side of a bona fide gangster and have to hide out in Greece. It’s not thoughtless per se; rather, it lacks the resources to bring its vision successfully to screen. Its quirks are sometimes appealing and sometimes amateurish and, while a mixture of influences swirl about, from Bond to Kingsman to Guy Ritchie and even Mission: Impossible, the film-makers don’t have the necessary budget, meaning that it feels at times like a TikTok parody of more expensive films.

It is a shame, because there are some interesting visual ideas that go beyond route one filming. Example: a goon beating a man tied to a chair on a crispy manicured lawn is filmed in a lovely wide shot, with a guy in the far distance calmly clipping the hedge. But it’s the post-production that is the biggest letdown: the sound mix is poor, and it’s a real shame that the final image before the credits roll, which should be genuinely nasty, is derailed by risible FX.

Published: January 14, 2026, 7:00 am

From 24 to Danger Mouse: it’s TV’s all-time top spies!

A spy with a superhumanly good bladder, a crime-fighting rodent who lives in a postbox, and piles of dodgy 80s wigs … we rate the best small-screen spooks. Who comes out on top?

With Tom Hiddleston up to his old racy tricks in The Night Manager – not to be confused with Netflix hit The Night Agent, which also returns in February – espionage thrillers are all over our TVs. Anyone would think we lived in unstable times with growing public distrust of governments.

So who is the all-time top small-screen spook? We’ve rated the Top 20. Just make sure you destroy this list after reading …

Published: January 13, 2026, 3:54 pm

The Flower Bearers by Rachel Eliza Griffiths review – a powerful portrait of loss and violence

The death of a friend and the attempted murder of her husband Salman Rushdie loom large in the poet’s moving memoir

The night before her wedding to Salman Rushdie in 2021, the American poet and novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths was fretting about her best friend. Kamilah Aisha Moon was due to read a poem at the ceremony, but no one had heard from her. Her phone was going straight to voicemail and staff at her hotel said she hadn’t checked in. “We’ll find her. She wouldn’t miss your wedding,” Griffiths’s sister, Melissa, assured her. But the next afternoon, in the middle of her wedding reception, Griffiths learned that Moon had died alone at home in Atlanta of unknown causes. On hearing the news she collapsed, hit her head on a table and blacked out. Paramedics pried open her eyes to shine a torch on them: “A particle of light that is so distant from the world I once knew.”

For Griffiths, 47, the death of her best friend and “chosen sister” was one in a series of upheavals stretching across a decade. It began with the death of her mother, who was her greatest cheerleader and fiercest critic. She had instilled in her daughter the importance of “independence above everything. I was raised not to lose myself in the stories of others, especially men.”

Published: January 14, 2026, 9:00 am

Love Machines by James Muldoon review – inside the uncanny world of AI relationships

A sociologist talks to the people putting their faith – and their hearts – in the hands of robots

If much of the discussion of AI risk conjures doomsday scenarios of hyper-intelligent bots brandishing nuclear codes, perhaps we should be thinking closer to home. In his urgent, humane book, sociologist James Muldoon urges us to pay more attention to our deepening emotional entanglements with AI, and how profit-hungry tech companies might exploit them. A research associate at the Oxford Internet Institute who has previously written about the exploited workers whose labour makes AI possible, Muldoon now takes us into the uncanny terrain of human-AI relationships, meeting the people for whom chatbots aren’t merely assistants, but friends, romantic partners, therapists, even avatars of the dead.

To some, the idea of falling in love with an AI chatbot, or confiding your deepest secrets to one, might seem mystifying and more than a little creepy. But Muldoon refuses to belittle those seeking intimacy in “synthetic personas”.

Published: January 13, 2026, 7:00 am

What’s behind the phenomenon of ‘gamer brain’

If you’ve ever refused to knock down a game’s difficulty level, or chased a purposefully pointless achievement, you might have this pernicious but pleasurable affliction

• Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

Studies on gaming’s effect on the brain usually focus on aggression or the cognitive benefits of playing games. The former topic has fallen out of fashion now, after more than a decade’s worth of scientific research failed to prove any causative link between video games and real-world violence. But studies on the positive effects of games have shown that performing complex tasks with your brain and hands is actually quite good for you, and that games can be beneficial for your emotional wellbeing and stress management.

That’s all well and good, but I’m obsessed with the concept of “gamer brain” – that part of us that is drawn to objectively pointless achievements. Mastering a game or finishing a story are normal sources of motivation, but gamer brain is inexplicable. When you retry the same pointless mini-game over and over because you want to get a better high score? When you walk around the invisible boundaries of a level, clicking the mouse just in case something happens? When you stay with a game longer than you should because you feel compelled to unlock that trophy or achievement? When you refuse to knock the difficulty down a level on a particularly evil boss, because that would be letting the game win? That’s gamer brain.

Published: January 14, 2026, 3:00 pm

He lived in a cage, jumped from a window and spent a year roped to a friend: is Tehching Hsieh the most extreme performance artist ever?

He has broken his ankles, endured 365 days in a cell and faced down the 20th century’s worst winter. Yet he says he is not a masochist. We meet the man Marina Abramovich calls ‘the master’

For one year, beginning on 30 September 1978, Tehching Hsieh lived in an 11ft 6in x 9ft wooden cage. He was not permitted to speak, read or consume any media, but every day a friend visited with food and to remove his waste.

The vital context here is that this incarceration was voluntary: Hsieh is a Taiwanese-American artist whose chosen practice is performance art, undertaking durational “actions” for long periods. Marina Abramović has called him the “master” of the form. In 1980, seven months after the end of Cage Piece, Hsieh began another year-long work, Time Clock Piece, which required him to punch a factory-style clock-in machine in his studio, every hour of each day for 365 days.

Published: January 14, 2026, 4:37 pm

Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency review – an electrifying parade of sex, smoke and sullen silence

Gagosian, London
More than four decades on, Goldin’s louche lovers, waxwork royals, divorcing Mexicans and frightening wallpaper feel uncannily present – normal even

Now more than 40 years old, Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency records a lost world, but one that feels as present as it did when I first saw these images. A compilation of photographs taken by the artist between 1973 and 1986, the Ballad has been presented as an ever-changing slide show, with various accompanying soundtracks and voiceovers, since the 1980s.

It has also been presented on video, as a film and a book. I’ve been familiar with these images for much of my adult life, watching Robin smoking, with Kenny in the background in the purple room. The smoke still hangs there beneath the mirrorball and Robin’s profile is still astonishing. I have seen Suzanne in tears and, in another shot, looking at her face in the mirror in a tiled bathroom dizzy with slanting reflections.

Published: January 14, 2026, 2:30 pm

A Day with David Bowie: how a visit to a psychiatric clinic changed him – and his music

In 1994, Bowie and Brian Eno spent a day with ‘outsider’ artists. Intimate photographs, showing in Australia for the first time, reveal the effect it had

From the Thin White Duke to Ziggy Stardust, the Berlin recluse to the late-career elegist, David Bowie’s oeuvre is defined by reinvention. As an artist, he was relentlessly attuned to the conditions that might provoke the next creative rupture. One defining moment, however, has largely slipped from the popular imagination: a day spent inside a psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Vienna – one that would prove unexpectedly formative.

In September 1994, Bowie and Brian Eno – who had recently reunited to develop new music – accepted an invitation from the Austrian artist André Heller to visit the Maria Gugging Psychiatric Clinic. The site’s Haus der Künstler, established in 1981 as a communal home and studio, is known internationally as a centre for Art Brut – or “Outsider Art” – produced by residents, many living with schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders.

Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

Published: January 14, 2026, 2:00 pm

‘I knew these photos wouldn’t be published for decades’: gay cruising in New York – in pictures

In 1969, Arthur Tress started making images at an overgrown corner of Central Park known as the Ramble – the beginning of an archive of a transitional period in queer culture

Published: January 14, 2026, 9:54 am

The woman who made her family disappear: how Karen Palmer escaped her abusive husband

He had threatened her, locked her up and absconded with one of their daughters. Palmer knew she and her girls needed to escape – but it would involve huge risk and total reinvention

In the summer of 1989, Karen Palmer bought a used car for cash, filled it with belongings – some clothes, toys, one pot, one pan and a shoebox of photos – and “disappeared” with her new husband and two young daughters. She didn’t tell her mother, her friends or her neighbours where she was going. She gave no notice to her employers and landlord, leaving items out on her apartment balcony as a sign she still lived there.

“I have such a clear memory of the day we left Los Angeles,” says Palmer. “It was this weird combination of fear and exhilaration, heart pounding, driving into the unknown.” Palmer was fleeing her ex-husband, Gil, the man she feared, and the father of her two daughters, Erin and Amy, then seven and three.

Published: January 14, 2026, 5:00 am

I am terrible at football – but love playing. Can I change my game completely in my mid-30s?

For fifteen years I have been devoted to the sport, but can still barely tackle or shoot. I decided to get a coach and give him the challenge of a lifetime

If I told you I have played football for 15 years, you’d probably assume that I’m decent. Unfortunately, I am not. I have three left feet and a not-very-convincing shot on goal. Despite how many years I have put into the sport, these things show little to no improvement.

I play football for the joy of it: the rush of the first whistle; the exhilaration of making a successful tackle or a clever pass; and the feeling of all fears and concerns melting away the moment the game starts. So until recently, the fact that I’m so bad at it occurred to me as, at worst, incidental. I grew up at a time when football was largely considered a men’s sport. In the 90s, there were about 80 girls’ football clubs in England (there are more than 12,000 now); there wasn’t a women’s premier league until 1994; and by the time I was in my 20s, boring jokes about women knowing the offside rule were wheeled out with disappointing regularity. As someone who still remembers the feeling of getting kicked off the pitch by the boys as soon as I entered year 3, I’ve always just felt blessed to play.

Published: January 14, 2026, 10:00 am

Tired of the wellness industrial complex? Six rules to ditch – and what to do instead

Dr Ezekiel J Emanuel, a former Obamacare adviser, has deceptively simple advice for living a healthy life

Being healthy shouldn’t feel this complicated. Yet every week brings a new wellness fixation, from “fibermaxxing” to “zone 2 training”, creatine and cortisol-hacking.

Between prescriptive plans, complex science and often contradictory advice, it can seem like being healthy is a full-time job – or a hopeless cause.

Published: January 13, 2026, 8:00 pm

The five new gadgets I tried and loved at CES 2026 (that you can buy right now)

From smartglasses to nano phone chargers, these futuristic products from the Consumer Electronics Show are available right away

• I’m a digital nomad who works on the road. These seven travel gadgets go with me everywhere

Every year, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) gives us a glimpse of what’s around the corner in tech: creepy humanoid robots, robovacs that climb stairs, AI baked into everything.

Some of these products will never come to fruition. Some will arrive months later. And some – the rarities we picked out below – are available to order right now. I had a chance to try each one in person on the show floor in Las Vegas. So if you’re looking for a taste of the future today, here’s your fix.

Published: January 13, 2026, 8:15 pm

Mix and mismatch: if it doesn’t go with anything, it goes with everything

Bring your ostracised wardrobe items in from the cold by forgetting about whether they go with each other. Instead, let them shine in all their glory

Fashion is a dance between rules and rebellion. Great style requires a bit of both. The rules are essential, because one of the key emotional benefits that a great wardrobe can deliver is a sense of control in a chaotic world. The rules are there to simplify and clarify, lighting our route to a well put-together outfit. That well put-together outfit has the power to help you feel calmer, simply because you look in the mirror and see a competent person and therefore feel like a competent person. Style rules also come in useful for making sense of the world around us. Dress codes, style tribes, the signals we send – whether as blatant as the slogan on a T-shirt, or as subtle as the brand of your rucksack – hold an important social function, making other people legible to us.

But style also needs friction. Fashion dies if it stops moving, because moving with the times is what makes it fashion rather than just pretty clothes. The restless forward energy that moves hemlines and invents new silhouettes is what drives the plot and keeps us interested.

Published: January 14, 2026, 2:00 pm

Sali Hughes on beauty: if you don’t like strong scents, layering could be the answer

Looking for something gentle and kind for a sensitive nose? The new gen Z brands have you covered

For someone who makes no secret of her obsession with fragrance, I’m always surprised by how frequently people ask me to recommend one for someone who hates the stuff.

Sometimes wearing more potent fragrances is impossible for those prone to allergies or migraines, but mostly it’s an instinctive aversion to being held captive all day by scent too pervasive for one’s liking. And in these instances, I invariably suggest the layering of two more subtly scented products with compatible aromas, to add depth and interest without the same strength as a power perfume.

Published: January 14, 2026, 10:00 am

‘Aisle lice’: bad behaviour on planes – and how public shaming could stop it

Jumping up as soon as the seatbelt sign goes off can provoke fury among fellow passengers. And what goes on at the luggage carousel is possibly even worse …

Name: “Aisle lice”.

Age: Any age, as long as they’re ambulatory.

Published: January 14, 2026, 5:21 pm

How to turn any root vegetables into latkes – recipe | Waste not

It’s not just potatoes that you can turn into these moreish fried cakes – just about any root veg will do the trick

Crisp, savoury and satiating latkes are my idea of the perfect brunch and, rather than sticking to potatoes, I often make them with a mixture of root vegetables, using up whatever I have to hand – just 25-50g of any vegetable will make a latke – and adding some ground linseeds or flax, which gives breakfast some nutrition-boosting omega-3s. I usually have them with a poached egg for protein or apple compote and soya yoghurt.

Published: January 14, 2026, 1:00 pm

A moment that changed me: the Brexit result came through – and my life in Britain fell apart

I had my first teaching job lined up and a mortgage application in process. Now it looked like I would have to return to Germany and start training again from scratch. There were just 72 hours to save my dream of living in the UK

In the early hours of Friday 24 June 2016, the result glowed on my phone: 52%. Barely a majority, but nonetheless a verdict. I lay in my rented bedroom in Devon, still in pyjamas, watching everything I’d planned dissolve. When I saw the headline “UK votes to leave EU”, my first thought wasn’t political. It was: “What does this mean for me?”

It was the final day of my second school placement, the culmination of my teacher training for a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). I’d moved from Germany the year before to train as a Religious Education teacher, convinced I’d found a profession and a place to call home. In Germany, RE meant teaching Protestant children Protestantism or Catholic children Catholicism – separate lessons, separate truths. Here, I could teach all major faiths side by side, invite discussion and let curiosity lead the lesson. In a world pulling itself apart along religious and cultural lines, that felt like the better approach.

Published: January 14, 2026, 6:55 am

Meet the merpeople: ‘Once I put the tail on, my life was changed forever’

Professional mermaids risk hypothermia, seasickness and the cling of skin-tight silicone, but the reward is becoming an ‘ocean ambassador’ – and a bit more colour in the world

Propelled by a shimmering silicon tail, Katrin Gray spins underwater, blowing kisses to the audience as her long, copper hair floats around her face. Her seemingly effortless movement is anything but – a professional mermaid’s free diving and performance skills require training, practice and total concentration.

Mermaiding has become a global cottage industry, with pageants, conventions, retreats and meet-ups, where people gather in “pods” to practise their dolphin kicks. Makers create bespoke tail flukes, bejewelled bras, mermaid hair and even prosthetic gills for professional and hobbyist “seasters”. There is even a Netflix reality series called MerPeople, which documents the occasionally perilous journey of several aspiring professional merfolk. “No dead mermaids” is the motto of one business featured.

Published: January 13, 2026, 2:00 pm

Why Trump’s options are limited when it comes to using force against Iran

As US president tells protesters ‘help is on the way’, any military action would be unlikely to succeed

• Iran crisis live – latest updates

Donald Trump may be unafraid to use military force against Iran, according to the White House, but the reality is the US president has few to no options that could obviously help that country’s protest movement, never mind the fact that the history of US intervention in the region has hardly been a success.

Emboldened by the seizure of the erstwhile Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, after an operation that took months of planning, Trump talked up military intervention against the Iranian regime with no military pre-positioning having taken place. In fact, there has been a drawdown in the last few months, reducing military options further.

Published: January 13, 2026, 5:17 pm

‘They want to break us’: Russian energy grid strikes give freezing Kyiv some of its darkest days

Impact of raid on infrastructure rivals early weeks of war when tanks tried to force their way into Ukrainian capital

On the night of 9 January, amid warnings from Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of massive and imminent Russian airstrikes, Tetiana Shkred began cooking for her children at midnight.

Concerned that the power was once again about to be knocked out in her apartment block on Kyiv’s left bank – the side of the city that has been most affected by Moscow’s attacks on energy infrastructure – she cooked until 3am, when her flat was plunged into freezing darkness.

Published: January 13, 2026, 6:24 pm

‘A perfect, wild storm’: widely loathed datacenters see little US political opposition

Issue dubbed ‘great unifier’ but Republicans and Democrats are instead jockeying for big tech’s financial favor

In late October, an unlikely coalition formed to fiercely oppose controversial plans for more than a dozen Michigan datacenters – rightwing “Stop the Steal” activists joined forces with groups like the Democratic Socialists of America, and people of all political stripes in between.

Polling showed just 28% of residents supported new datacenters, and, amid the furor, Dylan Wegela, a Michigan state congressman, introduced a bill to repeal datacenter tax credits. Despite an opportunity for what looked like an easy political win, the bill has few co-sponsors, is unlikely to move in the state house, and most datacenter plans are poised to be built.

Published: January 13, 2026, 1:00 pm

Young people, parents and teachers: share your views about Grok AI

We’d like to hear from young people, parents and teachers about how Elon Musk’s controversial chatbot is affecting you

Degrading images of real women and children with their clothes digitally removed by Elon Musk’s Grok tool continue to be shared online, despite widespread alarm and a pledge by the platform to suspend users who generate them.

While some safeguards have been introduced, the ease with which the AI tool can be abused has raised urgent questions about consent, online safety and the ability of governments worldwide to regulate fast-moving AI technologies. Meanwhile, the misuse of AI to harass, humiliate and sexually exploit people – particularly women and girls – is rapidly escalating.

Published: January 14, 2026, 11:53 am

Yodellers, bathing monkeys and a ballroom clean: photos of the day – Wednesday

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

Published: January 14, 2026, 2:15 pm