Europa League reaction, England squad news and more
Get in touch: you can mail Barry with your thoughts
Thomas Tuchel’s England squad: There are a few conspicuous absentees from Tuchel’s maiden England squad, with the names Ollie Watkins, Jack Grealish, Nick Pope, Ethan Nwaneri, Adam Wharton, Morgan Gibbs-White, Conor Gallagher, Harry Maguire and Jarrad Brantwaithe leaping to mind.
It’s worth noting that Watkins came off at half-time during Villa’s win over Club Brugge on Wednesday night and his injury almost certainly accounts for his absence. Tuchel will be explaining himself when he faces the press at 11am (GMT) but in the meantime, feel free to get in touch with your thoughts on his squad via email.
Senate working to avert partial government shutdown before midnight deadline
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has warned Congress has a funding shortfall of $2bn for this fiscal year, Axios reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The European Union has the resources to respond to president Donald Trump’s threats to levy more tariffs on the European Union, French central bank governor and European Central Bank (ECB) board member François Villeroy de Galhau said on Friday.
A Michigan referee was pelted with garbage thrown by a high school assistant basketball coach, a player, and fans upset about his calls after losing a playoff game.
(Big Crown Records) Fuzzy, hypnotic beats, soulful saz-funk and emotive balladry mark Yıldırım’s powerfully imaginative new music, produced by Leon Michels
Since the 1960s, Turkish groups have honed a distinct blend of Anatolian folk and psychedelia. Early pioneers Moğollar and Erkin Koray electrified the lute-like saz, while newer acts such as Baba Zula and Altın Gün have added synths, dub echo and heavy fuzz to the mix. German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım has meanwhile taken a downtempo approach since her 2019 debut album Kar Yağar, singing soaring vocals over hazy reverb to produce soulful saz-funk.
Yıldırım’s third album with her band Grup Şimşek is their first working with analogue soul producer Leon Michels (who produced pop singer Clairo’s acclaimed latest) and the resulting 11 tracks luxuriate in warm acoustics, tape hiss and earthy basslines. Opener Çiçek Açıyor sets the tone with Yıldırım’s powerful falsetto ascending beautifully over a driving, mid-tempo groove of fuzzing bass and softly piping Mellotron keys, while Cool Hand and Direne Direne pick up the pace, highlighting the tight interplay between drummer Helen Wells and bassist Graham Mushnik, who evoke classic 60s soul rhythm sections such as the Funk Brothers as they anchor Yıldırım’s high-register melodies.
The PM sounds like Elon Musk when promising to fight the ‘blockers’, but his government’s plans will weaken the link between peoples and politics
Every new prime minister has an Elon Musk moment. A sudden attack of frustration leads to a burst of machismo, a chainsaw response. The system stinks. Slash the bureaucrats. Smash the machine.
The Golden Globe winner, 23, who is the lead star of the adaptation, attended a promotional event in Segovia, Spain on Tuesday ahead of the film's release on March 21.
Elon Musk’s Tesla has warned that Donald Trump’s trade war could expose the electric carmaker to retaliatory tariffs that would also impact other automotive manufacturers in the US.
In an unsigned letter to Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, Tesla said that it “supports fair trade” but that the US administration should ensure that it did not “inadvertently harm US companies”.
As measles cases continue to spread around the U.S., WebMD chief medical officer Dr. John Whyte shares tips on how to protect yourself from the infection while traveling.
Defense Secretary Hegseth is putting the military budget right in his sights. He has reallocated some spending and allied with DOGE. He is preparing the US for warfighting.
Ordinary Americans are excited for the Trump presidency, but small businesses suffered too much under Biden to be able to cope with the pain of tariffs. They can't play the long game.
The Treasury Department said Iran has increasingly utilized criminal networks to conduct attacks targeting the U.S. as well as attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe.
The billionaire foreshadows cuts to Medicare and social security – despite Trump’s campaign pledges
The Trump administration is setting records and shattering norms in many ways, including in its almost daily policy flip-flops and rhetorical missteps. The latest started on Monday, when Elon Musk torched Trumpism by trumpeting the need to make cuts in federal entitlement programs.
He did not clearly say whether or how those cuts would affect Medicaid, Medicare and social security benefits. But he was clear that those programs will be on his target list.
An investigation into the DRC’s use of hundreds of hired Romanian fighters reveals how a disorganised operation with untrained recruits became a deadly ‘circus’
In January, after the two-year siege of the Congolese city of Goma ended with victory for the M23 rebels and Rwandan troops, an ill-assorted group of nearly 300 white mercenaries were lined up to have their humiliating defeat televised.
“You must not joke with us,” barked Willy Ngoma, the M23’s military spokesperson, at one man he’d ordered to sit on the ground with his hands clasped behind his head.
An 8th grader accused of wearing "blackface" when he wore black paint to a football game had his suspension expunged from his record in a settlement with the school.
The first Mercury retrograde of the year is going down — or slowing down, in the insolent, fire-breathing sign of Aries and the idealistic, hallucinogenic tidal pools of Pisces.
Columbia University's interim President Katrina Armstrong said that she was “heartbroken" by Homeland Security agents searching two students' rooms on campus Thursday night.
Minnesota college senior Joshua Riibe, 28, refused to answer several key questions as he described his final moments with Konaki before she vanished in the Dominican Republic.
The US Postal Service has signed an agreement with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to cut 10,000 workers and billions of dollars from the US Postal Service budget.
Grand prix fans thronged into the heaving Albert Park with renewed zeal, abuzz at the prospects of local hero and title contender Oscar Piastri
As Formula One prepares to open a season the sport hopes will be a spectacular battle royale, it surely could not ask for a finer venue than Melbourne’s Albert Park to see things off in a suitably splendid fashion.
The true form for the year ahead has yet to be discerned from the opening day of practice in Australia. But with the cars fizzing with intent round the glorious circuit in the parkland in the heart of the city, it was a pleasure to welcome Australia back as the opening race of the season for the first time since the Covid pandemic brought proceedings to a desultory close here on the Friday before the race in 2020.
OTTAWA - Danielle Smith and Nimâ Machouf have very little in common. In fact, they may only share one thing: their dislike for federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault. Read More
Mapping out what you are going to wear each day saves you time and gives you peace of mind
I’m sure ayahuasca is probably really great, but have you ever experienced the absolute rush you get when you have prepped a whole week’s worth of outfits in advance? No? Oh, then you haven’t lived. The thrill of it. The next-level smugness. The whole 10 minutes extra in bed every morning. The self-belief that comes from knowing you have nailed a killer look for the meeting you are dreading on Wednesday afternoon. This is what invincibility feels like, my friends.
I’m not saying spontaneity is overrated, not exactly. Just that it has its place. And flicking through clothes hangers on a dark Monday morning when your phone is popping with work emails is not that place. There has always been a lifestyle trend for prepping meals, and it is rapidly advancing into fashion. Batch cooking is in vogue. TikTok is now full of uncannily wholesome looking influencers (possibly AI-generated: “Siri, make a perfect human being”) holding Tupperware boxes filled with colourful diced vegetables, as if proudly carrying a Fendi baguette bag. Meal planning for the week has a whole heap of advantages. It works out cheaper, you make healthier choices than you would in the moment, and it makes life simpler at the end of a busy day.
‘It’s not nice to hear certain things,’ says United captain
Fernandes responds after co-owner’s critical interviews
Bruno Fernandes has aimed a barb at Sir Jim Ratcliffe by stating no player wants to be told they are “not good enough or overpaid”, as Manchester United’s co-owner said this week regarding some of Ruben Amorim’s squad.
The captain was speaking after his hat-trick in Thursday’s Europa League last-16 second leg 4-1 win over Real Sociedad that sealed United’s passage to a quarter-final against Lyon.
Diggs’ harrowing music is a world away from his Hollywood films and a Tony-winning run in Hamilton. But his band’s world-building – setting resource wars in imagined cyberpunk clubs – is no less dramatic
As a child, Daveed Diggs and his schoolfriend William Hutson drew pictures inspired by the space-age album covers of funk legends Parliament, filled with gleaming UFOs and eccentric interplanetary travellers. Diggs would grow up to become an actor, winning a Tony award as the first person to play the roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton. He’s since voiced Sebastian the crab in The Little Mermaid’s live-action remake and appeared in Nickel Boys, which was nominated twice at this year’s Oscars. But away from Hollywood and Broadway, he’s still dreaming up fantastical sci-fi worlds with Hutson – now through one of the most imaginative, harrowing projects in underground rap.
Along with Hutson’s college roommate Jonathan Snipes – who had a similar childhood experience, inspired by the otherworldly paintings adorning classical albums – the friends formed Clipping in Los Angeles in 2010. Over Hutson and Snipes’s production, Diggs weaves blood-soaked horror stories about racial violence or fables of enslaved people in outer space. On their new album Dead Channel Sky, he raps with mechanical precision over warped rave music, creating a noirish cyberpunk world of hackers, clubgoers, future-soldiers and digital avatars.
Pearlescent skin has been on trend for a while – now there are products specifically designed to give you that glow
Glazed skin – very hydrated skin that looks smooth, shiny, glowy and glassy – has been hugely popular since 2022, and all manner of products like facial oils, clear lip glosses and even Vaseline have been used to achieve the look temporarily. But now we’re seeing products come through that have been developed and marketed specifically to give a glazed appearance.
Hailey Bieber’s Rhode brand is really very good across the board, but her most viral product, Glazing Milk (£32) – a beautiful, ceramide-rich skincare essence designed to be sandwiched between cleansed skin and serum – went stratospheric after she appeared in a TikTok video mixing it with her Dior foundation to give the latter a lighter, glassy finish.
"Tunnel Girl" in Herndon, Virginia, "finally" got her tunnel project approved after pausing the project due to a potential violation. Locals and social media users react.
The president’s attacks on diversity and immigration have already affected many artists and will affect many more in the coming months
One of the most pernicious effects of a bully’s intimidation is making victims afraid of being true to themselves, because it’s the essential and authentic parts of them that incite the bully’s contempt.
Terminate diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, positions, and programs in the federal government; terminate equity-related grants and contracts; and repeal prior executive orders designed to ensure equal opportunity in the workplace, including a decades-old executive order from the Johnson Administration ... ”
A fascinating, exciting history of how the agency smuggled subversive books across the iron curtain
In, I think, November 1978, I got a call from a rather grand British journalist who’d heard that I was about to go to Moscow. “A Russian friend of mine would dearly like the latest volume of Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago. I don’t suppose you’d smuggle it in for him?” I did, of course, disguising it rather feebly by wrapping it in the dust jacket of the most boring book I owned: Lebanon, A Country in Transition. A customs official at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport flicked through it briefly, but even though the text was in Russian he didn’t spot what it was about. Two nights later, near the entrance to Gorky Park, I handed over the book to a shifty character who seemed to be a supplier of forbidden goods to the dissident community. He gave me a small 18th-century icon in exchange for it.
It’s only now, all these years later, that I’ve realised I was almost certainly a rather naive mule for a CIA scheme to smuggle subversive books through the iron curtain. According to Charlie English’s vibrant, beautifully researched and exciting The CIA Book Club, the Polish intellectual and political activist Adam Michnik read The Gulag Archipelagoin prison; someone had managed to get a copy to him even there, courtesy of a CIA operation codenamed QRHELPFUL. Solzhenitsyn was far from being the only author whose works the CIA smuggled. George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm were probably the most popular among the dissidents the books were intended for, but a wide range of other authors including Adam Mickiewicz, Albert Camus, Nadezhda Mandelstam and even Agatha Christie also featured on the QRHELPFUL book list.
Connexion
