Federal prosecutors ordered to drop charges against New York mayor, who has cultivated relationship with Trump
A top official at the US Department of Justice has ordered federal prosecutors to drop charges against New York mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who has cultivated a warm relationship with Donald Trump.
In a two-page memo obtained by the Associated Press, acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove, an alumnus of the Manhattan office that brought the case, said that the decision to dismiss the charges was reached without an assessment of the strength of the prosecution and was not meant to call into question the attorneys who filed the case.
US president said it was ultimately up to Israel but he warned that ‘all hell is going to break out’ if the remaining hostages aren’t released on Saturday
Trump, when speaking to reporters at the Oval Office, also suggested he could withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if they don’t take Palestinian refugees that he envisions being relocated form Gaza.
If you are just tuning into president Trump’s latest comments on Gaza, the US leader has suggested thata precarious ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas should be canceled if Hamas doesn’t release all the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza by midday on Saturday.
Most answers had ‘significant issues’ when researchers asked services to use broadcaster’s news articles as source
Leading artificial intelligence assistants create distortions, factual inaccuracies and misleading content in response to questions about news and current affairs, research has found.
More than half of the AI-generated answers provided by ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Perplexity were judged to have “significant issues”, according to the study by the BBC.
Microsoft’s Copilot falsely stating that the French rape victim Gisèle Pelicot uncovered crimes against her when she began having blackouts and memory loss, when in fact she found out about the crimes when police showed her videos they had confiscated from her husband’s devices.
ChatGPT said Ismail Haniyeh was part of Hamas’s leadership months after he was assassinated in Iran. It also falsely said Sunak and Sturgeon were still in office.
Gemini incorrectly stated: “The NHS advises people not to start vaping, and recommends that smokers who want to quit use other methods.”
Perplexity falsely stated the date of the TV presenter Michael Mosley’s death and misquoted a statement from the family of the One Direction singer Liam Payne after his death.
Speaking on Theroux’s podcast, the actor also denied accusations of sexual abuse against a number of women and says he did not eat an animal’s entire heart
Armie Hammer has repeated his denial of claims that he is a cannibal and that he sexually abused a number of women.
The actor was speaking on the Louis Theroux Podcast on Spotify, and responded to Theroux’s direct question: “Are you a cannibal?” Hammer replied: “You know what you have to do to actually be a cannibal? You have to actually eat human flesh. So no.”
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford From shocking images of him Sieg Heil-ing to a woodland watercolour haunted by the atrocities of war, the German artist confronts his homeland’s fascist past – and it’s never felt so relevant
When he was 24, Anselm Kiefer found his father’s old Wehrmacht uniform in the attic. This hidden, shameful family history was almost lost to time, almost forgotten, but Kiefer couldn’t let that happen. So he put on the overcoat and “Sieg Heil”-ed all across Europe, taking pictures along the way. This early art project in the late-1960s was the German artist attempting to embody and confront the past.
A picture of him doing the banned salute – forbidden in Germany under the long process of denazification – is at the heart of this show of his early works. He stands, arm raised, against a barbed-wire fence in shimmering, solarised black and white. It’s a ghostly and quiet photo, but amazingly powerful in its simplicity. That overcoat became a historical burden for Kiefer to bear in the first gesture of an artistic career dedicated to raking through history so that it would not be forgotten, or repeated.
The ICC sanction is designed to intimidate and stop it from working against war criminals, Geoffrey Robertson writes
Donald Trump has declared war on international justice by the dictatorial device of an executive order. He has sanctioned the international criminal court. This empowers him to seize any funds belonging to the court or its judges or employees and to ban them from entering the US. He issued a similar sanction, during his previous presidency, but it was overturned by Joe Biden before court challenges to it could be heard. This time it will prevent ICC leaders from entering New York to report to the UN and will end cooperation to provide evidence to ICC prosecutors for action against Russian commanders. The greatest beneficiary of Trump’s sanction will be Vladimir Putin.
Australia is one of the 125 state members of the ICC but, inexplicably, it has not yet spoken out against Trump’s puerile initiative. Seventy-nine state members immediately did so, with allies including the UK, Germany and France describing their support for the court’s independence, impartiality and integrity as “unwavering”. They warned that Trump’s decision might imperil the confidentiality and safety of victims of the crimes being investigated.
Geoffrey Robertson AO KC is the author of Crimes Against Humanity, the Struggle for Global Justice, the next edition of which is published by Penguin this month
Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum on Monday, ramping up his controversial bid to boost the US economy by hiking taxes on imports from overseas.
The modifiedUS duties will be enforced “without exceptions or exemptions”, the president declared, dashing the hopes of countries that hoped to avoid them.
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO and co-founder, responded that he would not accept and offered to buy X instead
Elon Musk escalated his feud with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday. The billionaire is leading a consortium of investors that announced it had submitted a bid of $97.4bn for “all assets” of the artificial intelligence company to OpenAI’s board of directors.
The startup, which operates ChatGPT, has been working to restructure itself away from its original non-profit status. OpenAI also operates a for-profit subsidiary, and Musk’s unsolicited offer could complicate the company’s plans. The Wall Street Journal first reported the proposed bid.
The designer says young adults are ‘being who they want to be and using fashion to give them that confidence’
The models on the Coach catwalk could have walked straight off the New York street outside the venue. Men and women alike wore shrunken T-shirts and silver earrings, handbags jammed under one arm like a skateboard as they loped along, baggy jeans dragging over scuffed trainers.
To make fashion that speaks to the moment, “you have to talk to the younger generation”, said designer Stuart Vevers after the show. “Actually, it’s not about talking to them, it’s about listening to them. What I hear most from them is about self-expression. People being who they want to be and using fashion to give them that confidence.”
An injury crisis means Carlo Ancelotti must get creative in the Champions League playoff against Manchester City
Dani Carvajal, Antonio Rüdiger, David Alaba, Éder Militão and Marcelo were in the team photo before the Madrid derby at the Bernabéu on Saturday night. A seriously impressive defence, it was just a pity they weren’t playing. Instead, Marcelo was there so they could pay homage to the full-back, who won 25 trophies with the club, in the week he announced his retirement. The other four had come to join him and support their teammates. None were dressed in white; all are injured.
All of which would be bad enough, but it was about to get worse. The following afternoon, having been named in the squad to travel to Manchester, the captain pulled out too. In the past fortnight Lucas Vázquez had missed visits to Valladolid and Leganés as a precaution but eventually he too fell, calling from home after Sunday’s training session to say something wasn’t right in his thigh. He was the backup, a midfielder at full-back, albeit one who has played there for so long now that it has become his default role. There have been 36 injuries at Madrid this season, 26 of them muscular.
With the wind swirling, the rain beating down and an opposition brimming with confidence and roared on by a full house, this had all the hallmarks of a tricky evening in the FA Cup for Crystal Palace.
But it is testament to the turnaround in Palace’s season that Oliver Glasner’s side navigated this test routinely, albeit not without a spirited showing from Doncaster Rovers, who can exit the Cup with their heads held high. Their attention now turns to pushing for promotion from League Two after Palace set up a south London derby with Millwall in the fifth round.
Espanyol offering legal services to Daniela Caracas
Espanyol have expressed their “complete discontent and condemnation” of an “unacceptable” incident in which the Barcelona defender Mapi León appeared to gesture towards the crotch area of their player Daniela Caracas during the Liga F match between the sides on Sunday.
The incident, which Espanyol said “should not be overlooked”, occurred in the first half of the derby when León was being marked by Caracas before a set piece was taken. León has since denied touching Caracas’s crotch or having any intention to do so.
John McConnell says administration had defied earlier order to resume disbursement of billions of dollars
A federal judge said on Monday that the Trump administration had defied his order to unfreeze billions in federal funding and issued a directive demanding that the government “immediately restore frozen funding”.
In the order, US district judge John J McConnell Jr in Rhode Island instructed Donald Trump’s administration to restore and resume federal funding in accordance with the temporary restraining order he issued in January, which halted the administration’s freeze of congressionally approved federal funds.
Adam Schiff warns in letter to White House that Trump ally may use role to ‘shield his companies from federal scrutiny’
The California senator Adam Schiff has demanded answers about Elon Musk’s potential conflicts of interest in his role leading the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), as evidence grows of his complex business relationship with agencies now facing cuts.
In a Monday letter to the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, Schiff accused Musk of operating in a legal grey zone, noting that as a “special government employee” Musk is subject to strict conflict-of-interest regulations while retaining “significant financial interests in multiple private companies that benefit from federal government contracts”.
‘Choose Europe and France for AI,’ says president amid speculation US and UK playing hardball over declaration
Emmanuel Macron touted Europe and France as artificial intelligence powerhouses, amid speculation that the US and UK are playing hardball over a diplomatic declaration at the Paris AI summit.
The French president told investors and tech companies attending the summit to “choose Europe and France for AI” as he teased his US counterpart Donald Trump over his swing towards fossil fuels.
After WhatsApp claimed 90 users were targeted last year, experts concerned over how US could use cyberweapons
Even as WhatsApp celebrated a major legal victory in December against NSO Group, the Israeli maker of one of the world’s most powerful cyberweapons, a new threat was detected, this time involving another Israel-based company that has previously agreed contracts with democratic governments around the world – including the US.
Late in January, WhatsApp claimed that 90 of its users, including some journalists and members of civil society, were targeted last year by spyware made by a company called Paragon Solutions. The allegation is raising urgent questions about how Paragon’s government clients are using the powerful hacking tool.
Iya Patarkatsishvili and Dr Yevhen Hunyak sued property developer over infestation that ruined wine and clothes
The daughter of a Georgian billionaire and her husband have been granted a refund after buying a £32m London mansion that was infested with moths.
Iya Patarkatsishvili and Dr Yevhen Hunyak bought the early Victorian seven-bedroom Notting Hill home in May 2019. It boasted a pool, spa, gym, wine room, library, cinema, and a “snoring room” designed for peaceful sleep.
1 min: The Palace fans have travelled up the M1 and M18 in numbers. It looks freezing cold. Doncaster engage the old high press and forced Matt Turner to lose the ball.
Oliver Glasner’s turtle-neck jumper rather unfortunately reminds of the U-Boat captain in Dad’s Army. Don’t tell him, Pike.
Israeli military on alert as mediators fear a breakdown in three-week-old truce as Hamas says ‘door remains open’
Hamas has said it is delaying the release of Israeli hostages indefinitely over “violations” of the ceasefire deal, prompting Israel’s defence minister to put the country’s military on alert with orders to prepare for “any scenario in Gaza”.
Mediators fear a breakdown of the three-week-old ceasefire, Egyptian security sources told Reuters, and have postponed talks until they receive a clear indication of Washington’s intent to continue with the phased deal.
The US president’s tariffs pose as worker protection, but they’re a smokescreen – his bluster trades US credibility for a $4.6tn tax-cutting giveaway to the rich
In 2020, Donald Trump scrapped the North American free trade agreement, replacing it with the “United States Mexico Canada agreement”, which he bragged was “the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial” trade deal ever. That agreement between the three nations explicitly bans tariff hikes beyond what was agreed. Yet, on his return to the White House, Mr Trump immediately threatened steep levies on goods from Canada and Mexico – the US’s key allies – retreating only after they made token concessions on drugs and illegal immigration. Now, he’s vowing fresh steel and aluminum tariffs, a direct hit on Canada.
Mr Trump is exploiting presidential emergency powers to push these tariffs with no real constraints. The bottom line is the US is breaking its word. Friends, such as the EU and the UK, as well as opponents like China are also under threat. Allies will think twice before signing deals with Washington, fearing future betrayals. Yet Mr Trump’s administration doesn’t care – it thrives on defying global norms. Skipping this year’s G20 summit – citing host South Africa’s focus on diversity, equality and climate action, alongside Elon Musk’s fixation on white South African farmers – Mr Trump’s team is mulling an exit from the IMF and World Bank.
A new coalition government may seek to rebuild bridges with western partners, at a perilous geopolitical moment
Seventeen years after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, its future remains shadowed and compromised by relations with Belgrade. More than a decade of normalisation talks have so far been a road to nowhere, stymied principally by Serbia’s refusal to recognise its former territory’s right to the attributes of nationhood. In the country’s four northern Serb-majority municipalities, the deadlock has occasionally turned deadly as Kosovo’s prime minister, Albin Kurti, has attempted to enforce sovereignty, resisted by Belgrade-backed rebels.
There are tentative grounds for hoping that the outcome of Kosovo’s latest election on Sunday, in which Mr Kurti’s ruling party came first but lost its majority, can deliver a route out of this impasse. Mr Kurti’s understandable but sometimes heavy-handed moves to demonstrate Pristina’s control over the north – such as imposing ethnic Albanian mayors after a mass election boycott by ethnic Serbs – have been strongly criticised by both the European Union and the US. On the eve of the poll, Richard Grenell, the newly appointed US special envoy for special missions, said that relations between Washington and Pristina had “never been lower”.
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Vice-president accused of threatening constitution after saying judges have no right to restrain president’s agenda
JD Vance, the US vice-president, has been accused of threatening the US constitution after telling judges who have issued rulings temporarily blocking some of Donald Trump’s most contentious executive orders that they “aren’t allowed” to control the president’s “legitimate power”.
Vance’s intervention came after Judge Paul Engelmayer, a US district court judge, issued an injunction stopping Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) unit from accessing the treasury department’s central payment system in search of supposed corruption and waste.
The revamped competition was supposed to ‘sustain domestic leagues’ but the sums involved are more likely to distort European football even further
The cynics were wrong. It was not about staving off the threat of a breakaway Super League for a few more seasons by offering Europe’s top clubs a face-saving version of it. The new, expanded format of the Uefa Champions League would enable “more teams and therefore more coaches and players to compete in more competitive games on the European stage“. The “common purpose“, Uefa reminded us, was “to sustain domestic leagues”.
However, now that the first phase of the revamped Champions League is over, if the numbers are different (more games, more goals, more money), the story they tell, that of a competition remaining a closed shop for most, is not. The same forces dominate the European football landscape as they have done for close to two decades. None of the continent’s behemoths failed to qualify for the second stage of the tournament, despite the talk of “increased jeopardy” and Manchester City’s best efforts to engineer a self-inflicted shock to what is essentially a self-perpetuating system. The only “change” there has been is a further consolidation of the old order.
Observers have jokingly pointed to Cooper DeJean as a diversity hire for the NFL champions. But they have succeeded by challenging outdated ways of thinking
By now, those who watched Sunday’s Super Bowl have most likely forgotten about the house ads promoting racial and cultural unity. That’s no doubt because a much stronger statement was delivered midway through the second quarter when a pass by the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes was intercepted and returned for an touchdown by Philadelphia’s Cooper DeJean.
DeJean, the first white player to start at cornerback in a Super Bowl in 24 years, has cheekily been described by media figures such as Bomani Jones as the league’s ultimate DEI hire. But while those comments have been made with tongues firmly planted in cheeks, there is some merit in describing the Eagles’ victory as a win for diversity, equity and inclusion – something that suddenly finds itself under attack in America.
We would like to hear your views on President Donald Trumps’s second term
From the get go Trump’s second term has been dominated by a rapid succession of executive orders and policy moves that have made clear the direction of the president’s administration.
From suspending the refugee resettlement programme putting an end to birthright citizenship and declaring a national emergency on the southern border; imposing and threatening international trade tariffs; ending diversity programmes in federal government; establishing the Department of Government Efficiency to exiting the Paris Climate agreement and cuts to USAID.
Tougher rules planned for transgender and DSD athletes
Research reports male advantage exists before puberty
World Athletics is poised to introduce tougher rules for transgender and difference of sex development (DSD) athletes, including a cheek swab test for all elite athletes who want to compete in the female category.
The recommendations from the World Athletics council are based on recent scientific research, which it says shows the male advantage exists even before puberty.
Dr Jocelyn Fitzgerald, who specializes in disorders of the pelvic floor, is ‘begging women to learn’ the physical risks and changes that accompany childbirth
A lot of patients who come to see Dr Jocelyn Fitzgerald – an assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive services at the University of Pittsburgh in the division of urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery – didn’t know that her specialty even existed.
“I like to joke, but actually I’m very serious, that the reason more women don’t know about urogynecology is because we would have to admit that we need urogynecologists,” Fitzgerald says.
Bloc’s leaders also pledge to protect EU interests after US president announces escalation in aggressive trade policy
Europe will not hesitate to retaliate if Donald Trump imposes any new tariffs, the European Commission and EU national leaders have said, after the US president announced another escalation of his aggressive trade policy at the weekend.
Trump said he would announce on Monday 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports that would affect “everybody”, adding that reciprocal tariffs on all countries that tax imports from the US would follow on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The bestselling counterculture novelist, whose books included Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and Another Roadside Attraction, has died at 92
Tom Robbins, the bestselling chronicler of the weird, whimsical and off-the-wall, has died at the age of 92, his family confirmed on Sunday.
A prolific writer and editor, Robbins aligned with the hippie sensibilities of the 1960s, writing books under his guiding philosophy of “serious playfulness” – outlandish characters, absurd metaphors and fantastical prose, like a hit of literary LSD. His novels, including Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Another Roadside Attraction and Still Life With Woodpecker, garnered a cult following, even as they were dismissed by mainstream critics as overwrought.
What I try to do, among other things, is to mix fantasy and spirituality, sexuality, humor and poetry in combinations that have never quite been seen before in literature. And I guess when a reader finishes one of my books … I would like for him or her to be in the state that they would be in after a Fellini film or a Grateful Dead concert.
– to January Magazine, 2000
Minds were made for blowing.
– Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, 1994
Love easily confuses us because it is always in flux between illusion and substance, between memory and wish, between contentment and need.
– Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, 1976
When we’re incomplete, we’re always searching for somebody to complete us. When, after a few years or a few months of a relationship, we find that we’re still unfulfilled, we blame our partners and take up with somebody more promising. This can go on and on – series polygamy – until we admit that while a partner can add sweet dimensions to our lives, we, each of us, are responsible for our own fulfillment. Nobody else can provide it for us, and to believe otherwise is to delude ourselves dangerously and to program for eventual failure every relationship we enter.
– Still Life With Woodpecker, 1980
The highest function of love is that it makes the loved one a unique and irreplaceable being.
– Jitterbug Perfume, 1984
Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won’t adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet. That would mean that security is out of the question. The words “make” and “stay” become inappropriate. My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free.
– Still Life With Woodpecker
Our lives are not as limited as we think they are; the world is a wonderfully weird place; consensual reality is significantly flawed; no institution can be trusted, but love does work; all things are possible; and we all could be happy and fulfilled if we only had the guts to be truly free and the wisdom to shrink our egos and quit taking ourselves so damn seriously.
– to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2007
This was the biggest test yet in the former New England Patriots quarterback’s fledgling television career, and the results were not pretty
The weeks leading up to this Super Bowl saw a predictable swirl of questions about the on- and off-field direction of America’s big game. Could the Philadelphia Eagles neutralize the golden arm of Patrick Mahomes? Would Travis Kelce commit elder abuse against Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid again? How would the crowd react to the presence of the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl? Might half-time show headliner Kendrick Lamar use the big stage to provide further insight into the content of Drake’s character? And would Sunday night cap the successful conclusion of Tom Brady’s years-long search for a personality, or would he remain the same on-screen plank who’s shout-talked his way through his first season as Fox’s top football analyst?
As ever, however, a bigger question hung over these small opportunities for speculation: would it be any good? As a game, as a spectacle, as a raw demonstration of American ingenuity and might, would Super Bowl LIX have the juice?
Brandon Russell, 29, found guilty of plan to blow up power grid in Baltimore as jury rejects claims of FBI entrapment
February was to be Brandon Russell’s moment: facing federal charges of conspiring to blow up a series of power stations around Baltimore and trigger a citywide blackout, the neo-Nazi figurehead decided to take his case to trial and mount an entrapment defense against the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
It did not work. Russell, a 29-year-old native of the Bahamas, had thrown away a promising future involving a college degree at the University of Florida and a national guard position to become a dedicated far-right figurehead previously imprisoned in 2017 over a murderous spat between comrades in the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi guerrilla group he had founded that was involved in five murders and a number of bomb plots before federal agents dismantled it in 2020.
Vehicle headed toward capital city fell 20 metres into polluted ravine, leaving people trapped in wreckage
At least 55 people have died after a bus veered off a highway bridge into a polluted ravine in Guatemala City, leaving survivors trapped in the wreckage.
The densely packed bus was carrying more than 70 people at the time of the accident early on Monday morning. It was traveling into the capital from the town of San Agustín Acasaguastlán when it plunged approximately 20 metres (66ft) from Puente Belice, a highway bridge that crosses over a road and creek.
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he does not “take seriously” Donald Trump’s proposal that Palestinians be forcibly expelled from Gaza.
Speaking in Malaysia, Reuters reports Erdoğan, who has been a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in the region, said “We do not consider the proposal to exile the Palestinians from the lands they have lived in for thousands of years as something to be taken seriously. No one has the power to force the Palestinian people to experience a second Nakba.”
Cloned voice of defence minister, Guido Crosetto, used in some calls asking for money to free kidnapped journalists
Some of Italy’s best-known business leaders, including the fashion designer Giorgio Armani and the Prada chair, Patrizio Bertelli, have been targeted by an artificial intelligence-based scam that involved the mimicking of the defence minister’s voice in telephone calls claiming to seek help to free Italian journalists kidnapped in the Middle East.
Prosecutors in Milan have received four legal complaints, including from Massimo Moratti, the former owner of Inter Milan, and a member of the Beretta family, the world’s oldest producer of firearms. The defence minister, Guido Crosetto, on Monday said he would submit a legal complaint after his voice was cloned and used in at least one of the calls.
Philly fans took to the streets after their team’s 40-22 shellacking of the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night. The city is famous for its rowdy sports culture and fans were exuberant after they cruised home in a game many expected would swing the Chiefs’ way.
Fans climbed light poles, garbage trucks and bus stops as they celebrated their team’s second Super Bowl title in less than a decade. We captured some of the best images.
Birds observed going to lengths to flavour food, with particular penchant for blueberry-flavoured soy yoghurt dip
Whether you savour Ottolenghi’s recipes or prefer a feast from Nigella’s cookery books, humans enjoy mixing flavours and textures when preparing food. Now research suggests some cockatoos do too.
Researchers have previously discovered that some of the birds dunk dry rusks in water before eating them, just as some people enjoy dunking a biscuit in tea, apparently reflecting a penchant for a soggy texture.
Weed? Moss tied in thread. Crack? Organic shea butter. Cocaine bricks? Shrink-wrapped foam blocks. Designers reveal the secrets of faking drugs onscreen – from popping sugar pills to snorting vitamin D
‘Suitcases of drugs are not exactly something you’d expect to bring to work,” says Paul Cross, who was the production designer of Supacell, the crime-laced superhero series that launched last year. Cross has had to handle quite a few in his time though, albeit fake. He recently found himself driving around London with a vanload of fake cocaine bricks. “It’s quite an odd feeling,” he says. “Not something you’d do in your day-to-day life.”
From hip teen shows to crime dramas, scenes involving drugs are often pivotal in modern TV series – and ensuring these moments are safe, legal and realistic has become so important to producers that thousands of pounds can be spent on getting it right. For every brick of fake cocaine off-loaded into a fake drug den, someone like Cross has spent weeks crafting the perfect powder texture. For every pill taken by an actor, a huge amount of toil has gone into making sure it’s not harmful.
Plymouth showed the world’s oldest football competition still has life but Arne Slot won’t be too worried despite his team winning just five of their last 11 games
It was, it has to be acknowledged, a much-changed Liverpool lineup. Of the 11 players who began Sunday’s FA Cup fourth-round match at Plymouth Argyle, only Luis Díaz had made more than 10 league starts this season and only three others had made more than five. Even allowing for that, Plymouth’s victory registers as one of the great shocks of recent times, only the fourth time the leader of the Premier League has ever gone out of the competition to lower-division opposition.
As their quietly charismatic 42-year-old Bosnian coach Miron Muslić pointed out afterward, it was a day that will go down in Plymouth’s history, that will be recalled for generations, as a one-off result more impressive than anything they achieved in reaching the semi-final in 1983-84. It was Liverpool’s ninth defeat to lower-league opposition this century but, in terms of the scale of the shock, it felt perhaps most akin to their exit against non-league Worcester City in 1959 when they were a second-flight club, a defeat that precipitated the decline that led to Phil Taylor making way for the great Bill Shankly.
The conduct of police was “completely unacceptable” in dealing with Matildas and Chelsea star Sam Kerr when she arrived at a police station, her defence barrister told a court.
Kerr, 31, the captain of the Australian women’s football team and Chelsea’s star striker, is on trial at Kingston crown court accused of racially aggravated harassment after calling PC Stephen Lovell “fucking stupid and white” when he doubted her claim of being “held hostage” by a taxi driver. She denies the charges.
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