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We’ve got our first email… and it’s none other than Guy Hornsby:

Morning Daniel. I hope you’ve got your white whale South Africa shirt ready for their next game. As for England, helped by the weather, I’m not sure it’ll mean much. We can, should, and probably will win today. As gutted as I am for Carse, I think Overton’s variations will give us more options today. But Afghanistan are a serious team now and we can’t expect to win. We need to be ruthless and we need to play the situation, or we could fall flat on our faces. So much more needed from this team to get anywhere. Because we won’t stand a chance against SA if we don’t play better.”

All relatively friendly and got resolved soon after. Wasn’t like they were pointing them directly at us...

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© Photograph: Matthew Lewis/ICC/Getty Images

© Photograph: Matthew Lewis/ICC/Getty Images

Brennan Othmann played his first game of the season with the Rangers as the Blueshirts remained without Chris Kreider for a second straight match.

Neither Antonio Conte nor Ange Postecoglou were convinced by Spence but he’s showing his value now

By Ben McAleer for WhoScored

Red Djed Redemption. Return of the Djedi. The Walking Djed. Call it what you like but, in a season of few success stories at Tottenham, Djed Spence’s emergence as a key player is the feelgood story of the campaign. He even scored his first goal in the Premier League at the weekend.

“A kid who had the wildest dreams to play in the Premier League. A kid who had the wildest dreams to score in the Premier League. That dream came true. Never stop believing,” wrote Spence on Instagram after Tottenham’s 4-1 win against Ipswich at Portman Road. Given the first two years of his time at Spurs, that dream did not seem likely to come true this season.

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© Photograph: John Walton/PA

© Photograph: John Walton/PA

Plus: short men’s players scoring headers; Young Boys v Old Boys; and failing to go up with great goal differences

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Burnley’s 4-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Friday was the 12th consecutive Championship game in which they kept a clean sheet,” writes Graham Davidson. “Is this a record for a domestic men’s league?”

It’s now 1,090 minutes (plus added time, which is never included in such lists) since Burnley last conceded a league goal (Watford’s Kwadwo Baah scoring on 21 December). Since that match, which Burnley won 2-1, their record is eye-catching to say the least: P12 W6 D6 L0 F15 A0 Pts 24. We had a related question in 2009 when Manchester United and Edwin van der Sar were racking up clean sheets. That was for individual goalkeepers and, while James Trafford has been in goal throughout Burnley’s Fort Knox period, there are plenty of examples of teams putting together even longer runs in which they used more than one goalkeeper.

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© Composite: Getty, Alamy

© Composite: Getty, Alamy

We used to have sex once a week on a Sunday, but since the menopause there has been no choice but to abstain. What can I do?

My wife and I are in our late 50s, have been married for 20 years and have two children. Our sex life dwindled for a while, then ground to a halt around three years ago. When we were younger, I was very much in love with her and willing to live with our very different levels of sexual need and adventurism. Sleeping together happened almost exclusively on Sunday nights in the dark. She has always found sex in any position other than missionary to be painful. She finds oral sex to orgasm “disgusting” and since the menopause hit there has been no alternative but to abstain. I have a healthy sex drive and want to have what I would regard as a normal sex life again. In addition, we have a very different sense of humour and have often argued. I am the one who has initiated talking about our problems and we have had couples counselling, but it was inconclusive (I believe because we never talked about the elephant in the room that is our sex life). I can’t see how we can become even slightly more compatible when we are so different. I ask myself how we survived for this length of time, but then feel guilty for wanting more, probably with someone else.

Couples counselling can help bring people together, but it can also help by being a path to separation. It seems as though that is secretly what you want, and in that case it would be only fair to tell your wife exactly how you are feeling. But also consider that your wife is experiencing menopause and needs your help and understanding. And experiencing pain during intercourse is something that should be investigated. Perhaps she would return to counselling or even agree to sex therapy, which could really help you both. There are many possible reasons why you have drifted apart but, like many other couples, you have simply tried to adapt and bury feelings that ideally should have been addressed some time ago. Being helped to truly understand each other better and appreciate each other’s current dilemma could be very beneficial to your relationship, so do your best to encourage her kindly to join you in seeking answers.

Pamela Stephenson Connolly is a US-based psychotherapist who specialises in treating sexual disorders.

If you would like advice from Pamela on sexual matters, send us a brief description of your concerns to private.lives@theguardian.com (please don’t send attachments). Each week, Pamela chooses one problem to answer, which will be published online. She regrets that she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions.

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© Composite: Guardian Design; Tetra Images; MirageC/Getty Images

© Composite: Guardian Design; Tetra Images; MirageC/Getty Images

Dear Abby advises a woman who found shocking photos of her husband from 30 years ago.

For the Rangers, it’s all about the March 7 trade deadline and it’s all about a push for the playoffs.

The funeral will be closed to the public.

The Nigerian-American author returns with an astute and moving exploration of female experience

‘Novels had always felt to me truer than what was real,” declares a character in Dream Count, the highly anticipated new novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It is a statement echoed in the accompanying author’s note, which contends that the “point of art is to look at our world and be moved by it, and then to engage in a series of attempts at clearly seeing that world, interpreting it, questioning it”. Since the publication of her extraordinarily assured debut novel, Purple Hibiscus, in 2003, Adichie’s fiction has performed this task of seeing, interpreting and questioning to huge acclaim, garnering her major awards as well as a public profile far beyond most writers, whose work hasn’t been sampled by Beyoncé.

In keeping with her superstar status, Dream Count is billed as “a publishing event 10 years in the making” and is perhaps the surest bet so far for this year’s Women’s prize. However, its publication is also accompanied by difficult personal circumstances: Adichie’s father died in June 2020, followed in March 2021, less than a year later, by the death of her mother, after which, as she writes in the author’s note, her “life’s cover was ripped off”. Having already written about her father’s death in her extended essay Notes on Grief, Dream Count, Adichie asserts, is “really about my mother”. Composed of the interlocking stories of four women, Chiamaka (“Chia”), Zikora, Omelogor and Kadiatou, it is also quintessential Adichie: ambitious, astute and powered by an accumulation of feather-light sentences that build to devastating weight.

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© Photograph: Jared Soares

© Photograph: Jared Soares

An anniversary edition of the 2013 martial arts animation is light on bombast, funny and mischievous

Here is a 10th-anniversary extended edition, with 20 added minutes, of the 18th theatrical outing for Dragon Ball, which was credited with revitalising the franchise. With original series creator Akira Toriyama apparently taking a stronger hand during production, this 2013 film hit the sweet spot where daffy character comedy powered up OTT anime smackdown, in the process laying the groundwork for the brand’s next phase, Dragon Ball Super.

“Such over-the-top naming. It ends up sounding tawdry,” comments a lackey to intergalactic god of destruction Beerus (Kōichi Yamadera) when the pair hear of a “Super Saiyan God” on the loose. Despite being a nap-centric sphynx cat in harem pants, Beerus is impatient for a worthy foe, so he decides to call in on any nearby Saiyans (a race of super-strong aliens) who might point him in the right direction. After wiping the floor with series hero Goku (Masako Nozawa) with just two blows, the apocalyptic kitty turns his hunt towards Earth with Armoggiedon on the cards.

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© Photograph: PR

© Photograph: PR

Despite losing his studio contents in the recent Spanish floods, Ricardo Cases has a new solo exhibition that demonstrates his eye for an arresting image

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© Photograph: Ricardo Cases

© Photograph: Ricardo Cases

The massacre in Bucha, the mass graves in Izium – it is as if these atrocities never happened. Now the truth is being taken out and shot

Orders and statements from the new US president come at us daily now, with unremitting speed, and international politics is reduced to an endless series of justifications and denials of unfounded accusations.

It’s hard to believe, but Ukrainian activists have had to write explainers for a global audience, reminding them who the true dictator is, that it was not Ukraine that started the war with Russia and that we are actually just trying to defend what is ours. And, you know, to survive a little bit.

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© Photograph: Ceng Shou Yi/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Ceng Shou Yi/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

Kaoutar Naqqad, Imane Mallah and Wafae El-Arar were found dead at the Royal Kahal Beach Resort in San Pedro.

When my rheumatoid arthritis became more aggressive, I clung to the idea of still being a ‘walking person’. Letting go of that gave me more freedom than I could have imagined

It started like any normal day – or normal for us, at least. My partner, Stewart, helped me out of bed and on to the wheeled office chair I kept next to it. Then I propelled myself to the top of the stairs before leaning precariously on my crutches as I made my way down, slowly and dangerously, with lots of swearing at the pain (I find it helps). Then, on the way out to the car, I missed my footing and fell.

Not for the first time, Stewart was caught between concern and frustration. Wasn’t it time, he asked, for me to consider using a wheelchair? Once again, I rejected the suggestion.

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© Photograph: Caz Holbrook

© Photograph: Caz Holbrook

The 97th Academy Awards will be held Mar. 2 in Los Angeles, Calif.

Rise comes from very low base and remains far below the 2.1 births per woman needed to stabilise population

South Korea’s birthrate rose last year for the first time in nine years, as a surge in marriages raised hopes that the country may be lifting itself out of its demographic crisis.

Preliminary data released by the government body Statistics Korea on Wednesday showed that the number of babies born per 1,000 people in 2024 stood at 4.7, the first rise since 2014.

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© Photograph: Daewoung Kim/Reuters

© Photograph: Daewoung Kim/Reuters

Two jokes cut from the same hand.

Gardai went on board after Stena Line ferry from Fishguard docked at Rosslare Europort

A woman has died following an incident on a ferry that docked at Co Wexford in Ireland on Tuesday.

One man was arrested after the death of the woman on board the passenger ferry.

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© Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images

The rabid gang of teens only stopped beating on the defenseless man after “witnesses approached to intervene,” police shared.

💾

Thousands of seafarers are left on board their vessels in foreign waters, unpaid, with scant supplies – and no way of getting home

When Vihaan* set off from his home in Tamil Nadu, south India, to work on a vessel crossing the Bay of Bengal into neighbouring Bangladesh, he told his family he would be gone a few months. After delivering his cargo of stone to Bangladesh’s Kutubdia Island, the marine engineer was due to head home in March 2024 to disembark at Thoothukudi port, India.

But that month, the rusting tug, the Navimar 3, which was being operated by Middle East Marine (MEM), was detained by the authorities in Bangladesh due to unpaid fees. For almost a year, Vihaan has become a virtual prisoner on board, he says, forced to work without pay to keep the vessel safe, amid strong currents where it is anchored off the island in the cyclone-prone bay. His passport and certification documents are being held by a local agent for the Dubai-based company. With no means of getting home, no visa to disembark and without supplies, he has to rely on food and water from charities and unions.

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© Photograph: ITF

© Photograph: ITF

Three times in the postwar era Germany made strategic choices that benefited Europe – with the US at its side. Now it must do it in opposition to Trump

Three times in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, its chancellors have made strategic choices that opened the door to a better future for Europe. Today there’s not just an opportunity but an urgent need for a fourth such historic moment. If the country’s new coalition government under Friedrich Merz manages to seize the chance of this crisis, both Germany and Europe will go forward. If it fails, then by the end of the 2020s both may have fallen backwards farther and faster than most of us could have imagined in our worst nightmares.

The big difference with those three earlier pivotal moments is this: in 1949, 1969 and 1989 the Federal Republic’s policy was fundamentally aligned with that of the United States. This time, Germany has to build up a stronger, free, democratic and Ukraine-supporting Europe against the current policy of the US. The most staggering moment of Sunday’s election evening was when the lifelong Atlanticist Merz declared that Europe must “really achieve independence from the US”. (When compared with Emmanuel Macron’s almost British sycophancy in the White House the next day, Germany’s prospective chancellor is sounding more robustly Gaullist than the French president.)

Timothy Garton Ash is a Guardian columnist

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© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Exclusive: Art historian points to ‘bad craftsmanship’ in 17th-century work entitled Samson and Delilah

Doubts about whether Peter Paul Rubens painted the Samson and Delilah picture in the National Gallery have been revived by new evidence.

Forty-five years after it was bought for a then record price, it is being dismissed as a 20th-century copy of a long-lost painting by the 17th-century Flemish master.

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© Photograph: Mariano Garcia/Alamy

© Photograph: Mariano Garcia/Alamy

Nets center Nic Claxton was suspended for one game without pay as a result of picking up his sixth flagrant foul point of the regular season.

Northvolt, which claims to run Europe’s first homegrown gigafactory, admits it depends on Chinese suppliers for cathode active material

The Swedish startup Northvolt has admitted that a vital component of its batteries is imported amid claims that the company, which claims to run Europe’s first homegrown gigafactory, depends on Chinese suppliers.

It comes as a documentary programme to be shown in Sweden on Wednesday by the national broadcaster SVT, exposes the company’s failure to build a truly homegrown battery after its attempts to produce its own cathode active material at its Northvolt Ett factory in Skellefteå, northern Sweden, were unsuccessful.

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© Photograph: Marie Mannes/Reuters

© Photograph: Marie Mannes/Reuters

Officials from US, China, Japan, India and Brazil among those who will not attend this week’s meetings in Cape Town

Former Goldman Sachs banker Kirill Dmitriev is the Kremlin’s go-between with Gulf countries

US tech giant expected to spend as much as $25bn on warehouse automation in broader efficiency drive

Senior doctors and surgeons describe the torture, starvation, humiliation and denial of medical care they endured while being held without charge

• More than 160 Gazan medics held in Israeli prisons amid reports of torture

Many days I was tied to a chair in the interrogation room for maybe 15 hours. I was not allowed to sleep or eat or drink. They tied my arms to the chair very painfully and when they were beating me they would put their hands or legs on my chest to bend my back.

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© Composite: Ahmed Muhanna

© Composite: Ahmed Muhanna

Move comes a day after administration won ruling allowing it to bar AP from the Oval Office and Air Force One

The White House said it will take control over which news organizations and reporters are allowed into the presidential press pool covering Donald Trump.

“The White House press team in this administration will determine who gets to enjoy the very privileged and limited access in spaces such as Air Force One and the Oval Office,” the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing on Tuesday.

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© Photograph: Yuri Gripas/UPI/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Yuri Gripas/UPI/REX/Shutterstock

• Both sides fight back from two-goal deficits in 4-4 draw
• Inter sink Lazio in Coppa Italia; Werder Bremen stunned

Barcelona and Atlético Madrid both rallied from two goals down in a frantic 4-4 draw in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.

Atlético took an early lead with goals from Julián Álvarez in the first minute and Antoine Griezmann in the sixth, but the home side had levelled the game by the 21st minute thanks to two goals two minutes apart from Pedri and Pau Cubarsí.

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© Photograph: Nacho Doce/Reuters

© Photograph: Nacho Doce/Reuters

• Hosts take lead at Hampden before Dutch fight back
• Northern Ireland enjoy dramatic win, Wales hold Sweden

Scotland let slip a half-time lead as they lost 2-1 against the Netherlands at Hampden Park, resulting in back-to-back Nations League defeats for the hosts. The Celtic defender Emma Lawton’s first goal for her country put Scotland in front at the interval, but the visitors hit back with second-half efforts from Lineth Beerensteyn and Chasity Grant.

Michael McArdle, Scotland’s interim head coach, made five changes after the opening 1-0 defeat in Austria on Friday and his side soaked up plenty of early pressure. The Netherlands, who drew their opening match 2-2 in Germany, were denied an early lead when Lee Gibson brilliantly kept out Vivianne Miedema’s header.

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© Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

© Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

• Manager says recruitment and team needs to improve
• Return of Luke Shaw and Mason Mount unknown

Ruben Amorim believes ­Manchester United employees made ­redundant are “paying the price” for poor on‑field performance and that recruitment has to improve to address the problem.

Omar Berrada, United’s chief ­exe­cutive, confirmed on Monday that Sir Jim Ratcliffe is to cut up to another 200 jobs after 250 people were made unemployed last year. Amorim was asked how the ­remaining staff and fans could be confident this will help the club to prosper.

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© Photograph: Paul Greenwood/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Paul Greenwood/REX/Shutterstock

Having recently lost their designer, the house presented a greatest hits package at Milan fashion week

The arithmetic of fashion goes like this: take a status brand, such as Gucci, and multiply it to the power of X by putting it in the hands of a zeitgeist-hitting designer. Pair the right label with the right person at the right moment, and you hit the jackpot.

At this Milan fashion week, Gucci’s numbers were never quite going to add up. Despite having the illustrious, high-value brand name, there is a big fat zero where the designer should be. Sales fell 24% in the last quarter of 2024, and designer Sabato de Sarno exited the brand a fortnight ago. The departure was expected, but the timing spoke of a brand rattled by the failure of recent collections to connect with shoppers.

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© Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has announced a new website to assist federal workers who have experienced job dislocation as a result of DOGE.

A funeral procession for a mother and her two young sons whose remains were handed over by Hamas is being held Wednesday morning in Rishon Lezion, Israel.

Lena Waithe joins American medical drama for two episodes

© Shutterstock

Benefits, state pensions and minimum wage will all rise from April

© Getty Images/iStockphoto

‘President Trump is a man of the people and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other President in history,’ the White House said

© Reuters

Donald Trump and Elon Musk have accused South Africa of enabling ‘genocide’ of white farmers

© AFP via Getty

Birth rate saw modest jump of 0.03 after noting a record low of 0.72 in 2023

© AFP via Getty Images