Britain’s ambassador to Washington says Starmer government can influence president and UK’s economic future depends in large part on investment from the US
Britain must respect Donald Trump’s “strong and clear mandate for change”, Peter Mandelson has said, but Keir Starmer’s government could “always make our views known privately and directly” to the US president.
Lord Mandelson, Britain’s ambassador to Washington, said that in dealing with Trump, the government must “understand what drives him”.
Amplifying misinformation is now part of radical right strategy, says Dutch study of tweets by MPs in 26 countries
Far-right populists are significantly more likely to spread fake news on social media than politicians from mainstream or far-left parties, according to a study which argues that amplifying misinformation is now part and parcel of radical right strategy.
“Radical right populists are using misinformation as a tool to destabilise democracies and gain political advantage,” said Petter Törnberg of the University of Amsterdam, a co-author of the study with Juliana Chueri of the Dutch capital’s Free University.
In a case of life imitating art, a 100-metre-wide asteroid has triggered global planetary defence procedures for the first time, after telescope observations revealed it had a chance of colliding with Earth in 2032. To find out what happens now and how worried we should be, Ian Sample hears from Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary sciences at MIT and inventor of the Torino scale, which is used to categorise the threat posed by objects such as asteroids and comets
When details about a scientific study in the 1960s became public, there was shock, outrage and anxiety. But exactly what happened?
In 2019, Shahnaz Akhter, a postdoctoral researcher at Warwick University, was chatting to her sister, who mentioned a documentary that had aired on Channel 4 in the mid-1990s. It was about human radiation experiments, including one that had taken place in 1969 in Coventry. As part of an experiment on iron absorption, 21 Indian women had been fed chapatis baked with radioactive isotopes, apparently without their consent.
Having grown up in Coventry’s tight-knit South Asian community, Akhter was shocked that she had never heard of the experiment. When she looked into it, she found an inquiry by the Coventry Health Authority in 1995 conducted soon after the documentary aired. The inquiry examined whether the experiment put the subjects’ health at risk and whether informed consent was obtained. But the only mention of the women’s perspectives was a single sentence: “At the public meeting, it was stated that two of the participants who had come forward had no recollection of giving informed consent.”
In August 1990, two hikers sent photos of a strange diamond-shaped aircraft to the press – but the story never appeared. Was it a prank, a hoax, an optical illusion or something else entirely?
On a misty evening in August 1990, two men hiking on the moors surrounding Calvine, a pretty hamlet in Perth and Kinross, claimed to have seen a giant diamond-shaped aircraft flying above them. It apparently had no clear means of propulsion and left no smoke plume; it was silent and static, as if frozen in time. Terrified, they hit the ground and scrambled for cover behind a tree. Then a Harrier fighter jet roared into view, circling the diamond as if sizing it up for a scuffle. One of the men snapped a series of photographs just before the bizarre craft shot away vertically and disappeared.
Craig Lindsay was a press officer at the RAF base in Pitreavie Castle in Dunfermline, 50 miles away, when the Daily Record got in touch a few days later. The hikers, who worked as chefs at Fisher’s Hotel in Pitlochry, had sent six photos of the diamond to the newspaper and told their story. The Record’s picture editor, Andy Allen, sent Lindsay the best of the bunch.
Exclusive: Lord Garnier’s comments come after allegations about the ‘absent leadership’ of the Criminal Cases Review Commission
The former solicitor general and conservative peer Lord Garnier has said the situation at the miscarriage of justice watchdog is “beyond a joke” and leaves “a big hole in our criminal justice fleet”.
Following revelations in the Guardian about the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC)’s spending on expensive French business courses for its chief executive and allegations about its “absent” leadership, Garnier said it was time to ask the justice secretary: “Have you got a grip on this?”
A senior New South Wales police officer was caught on camera drinking and dancing with colleagues before he left a Sydney venue and crashed a work car into a barrier on the NorthConnex tunnel before fleeing the scene.
The officer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was fined $1,500 and handed a two-year community corrections order at Sydney’s Downing Centre local court on Tuesday after being convicted of mid-range drink-driving.
Raid on Educational Bookshop branches described by rights groups as attempt to create ‘culture of fear’ among Palestinian intellectuals
Israeli police have raided the leading Palestinian-owned bookshop in occupied East Jerusalem and detained two of its owners, arrests that rights groups and leading intellectuals said were designed to create a “culture of fear” among Palestinians.
Police officers ransacked two branches of the Educational Bookshop on Sunday afternoon, using Google Translate to examine the stock, then detaining Mahmoud Muna, 41, and his nephew Ahmed Muna, 33, on suspicion of “violating public order”.
She was called the worst child serial killer in Britain in modern times. So why are medical experts saying her conviction is unsafe? Josh Halliday and Felicity Lawrence report
Lucy Letby was convicted for the murder and attempted murder of more than a dozen babies. She has been called the worst child serial killer the UK had seen. But even before the trial was over experts had begun raising concerns about her conviction.
Then, last week, came a bombshell press conference in which a panel of renowned neonatal experts said they believed not just that Letby’s conviction was unsafe - but that there was no murder or deliberate harm. Instead they said the deaths had been caused by a series of factors including understaffing and a lack of skills on the ward to treat the babies they were caring for. So what is the evidence that the panel was looking at and why do so many questions seem to swirl around the Letby trial?
Trump to push European allies to buy US arms for Ukraine – report; Zelenskyy expected to meet with JD Vance and US envoy Kellogg. What we know on day 1,084
Weapons approved under Joe Biden’s presidency are still flowing to Ukraine, the new US special envoy to Kyiv, Keith Kellogg, said on Monday. “There’s not necessarily any need in the next 24 hours to [do] it any different,” Kellogg said in an interview with the Reuters news agency.
The Trump administration plans to push European allies to buy more American weapons for Ukraine – as they did under the Biden administration – ahead of potential peace talks with Moscow, Reuters has reported, citing two people with knowledge of the matter. Kellogg will discuss this with European allies this week during the Munich security conference, which begins on Friday, Reuters said, citing its sources. The development, if confirmed, may be reassuring to Ukrainian leaders that the flow of arms will continue.
Kellogg declined to confirm the plan to Reuters but said: “The US always likes selling weapons made in America because it strengthens our economy. There are a lot of options out there. Everything is in play right now.” It is believed that administration officials view an arms purchase deal with Europe as a potential workaround, allowing Washington to support Kyiv without spending US taxpayer dollars. The Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, has said Europe would pay for US arms for Ukraine.
On the potential for peace talks, Kellogg told Reuters: “I wouldn’t say we’re at the beginning of the [peace planning process] because we’ve been thinking through it,” adding that US officials in Munich would “deliver our expectations to the allies … More importantly, we want to hear from them”.
Donald Trump on Monday confirmed that Kellogg would soon visit Ukraine. A source in the Ukrainian president’s office told Agence France-Presse that Kellogg would arrive in Ukraine on 20 February. Zelenskyy spokesperson Sergiy Nikiforov told AFP that Ukraine’s president would meet with the US vice-president, JD Vance, on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich conference.
The pro-Russian separatist region of Moldova, Transnistria, rejected on Monday a new European gas offer despite experiencing a severe energy crisis since Gazprom deliveries via Ukraine stopped. Separatist leadership said the region would instead take Russia-financed gas transported from Hungary, which receives gas from Russia via the Turkstream pipeline through Turkey. Moldova has criticised the whole affair as a destabilisation tactic by Russia. “The European Union’s offer was a solution to free the territory from blackmail and energy instability” but “Russia won’t allow it to accept European aid because it is scared of losing control” of the territory, said the Moldovan prime minister, Dorin Recean.
1News Verian poll shows Christoper Luxon dropped 22% in the preferred prime minister stakes, his lowest result as leader
New Zealand’s National-led coalition government is losing support among voters, new polling shows, amid frustrations over the economy and deepening concern the country is heading in the wrong direction.
Meanwhile, the parliamentary left bloc has taken a narrow lead for the third poll in a row, enough that the opposition would be able to form a government were an election held today.
President says America First ally will oversee operations amid concern about politicization of top US cultural center
Donald Trump has named longtime foreign policy adviser Ric Grenell as interim executive director of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, a move likely to raise concerns about the politicisation of the arts and potential for censorship.
Grenell has been a vocal tribune of Trump’s “America First” ideology, and was not afraid to ruffle feathers during past spells as ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence (he was the first openly gay person to lead the intelligence community). More recently, the 58-year-old has served as the president’s envoy for special missions, and was involved in securing the release of Americans detained in Venezuela.
US President Donald Trump said that if all the hostages held in Gaza are not returned by noon on Saturday he would propose cancelling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and that 'all hell is going to break out'
Ineos accused of ‘breaching agreement’ on six-year deal
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s company has sponsored NZR since 2022
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has launched legal action against Ineos after the company, which is founded and run by the British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, allegedly dropped a sponsorship agreement with three years remaining.
Ineos branding appears on jerseys and other clothing worn by the men’s and women’s senior sides – the All Blacks and Black Ferns – as well as the New Zealand Māori team and New Zealand sevens teams after a deal signed in 2022, which was due to continue until 2028.
Donald Trump has warned that if all the Israeli hostages held in Gaza are not returned by Saturday at noon he would propose canceling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and letting “all hell break loose”.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office late on Monday, the US president also said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if those countries do not take Palestinian refugees being relocated from Gaza.
US government auditors find cuts have ‘degraded USAid’s ability to distribute and safeguard humanitarian assistance’
Nearly half a billion dollars of food aid is at risk of spoilage following the decision of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s “Doge” agency to make cuts to USAid, according to an inspector general (IG) report released on Monday.
Following staff reductions and funding freezes, the US agency responsible for providing humanitarian assistance across the world – including food, water, shelter and emergency healthcare – is struggling to function.
Actor in Here You Come Again says cast left stage because ‘a woman was so disgusted there was a gay character’
A Dolly Parton-themed musical had to be suspended mid-show in Manchester because of homophobic abuse, an actor in the production has said.
Stevie Webb, who plays a superfan of the country music icon in Here You Come Again, said an incident at the Opera House last Wednesday resulted in the whole cast having to “leave the stage, because a woman was so disgusted there was a gay character”.
Even his most ridiculous executive orders have an ugly effect on politics around the world. We can’t just ignore the US president. But nor can we succumb to the momentum of the right
The problem with Trump’s America is that everything happens so fast, and across too many categories. There are moves so stupid and trivial that you can lose hours wondering whether there is a long game or if it’s all just trolling: renaming the Gulf of Mexico, bringing back plastic straws. There are moves so inhumane, causing so much deliberate suffering, that they are hard to fathom. The cancellation of USAid is so consequential that reaction has almost frozen in place, as the world figures out which immediate humanitarian crisis to prioritise, and waits for some grownup, such as the constitution, to step in. Into that baited silence steps Elon Musk, with a hoax about the agency having been a leftwing money-laundering organisation. Then everyone hares off to react to that, first debunking, then considering, what it might mean, for a man of such wealth and power to have come so completely unstuck from demonstrable reality. This is not an accident – and yet it has no meaning. So why is he doing it? To galvanise a base, or make a public service announcement that observable reality can’t help you now, so get used to having it overwritten by fantasy? It’s an understandable thing to worry about.
Then there are the chilling direct legislative moves against sections of US society: banning the use of any pronouns that are not male or female in government agencies, defunding gender-affirming medical care, signalling a ban on transgender people in the military with an executive order that says being trans “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honourable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life”. There’s the assault on immigrant rights, which is vivid and wide-ranging from the resurrection of Guantánamo Bay as a for ever holding-house, to the shackled people deported to Punjab, to the reversal of a convention that schools, churches and hospitals would not be raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A street performance by Ed Sheeran in India's tech capital, Bengaluru, was stopped abruptly by police on Sunday, outraging fans. Footage shows Sheeran singing and playing his guitar on a pavement in the centre of Bengaluru before his concert on Sunday night. A police officer is seen walking up to Sheeran as he was performing Shape of You and unplugging the microphone, as onlookers jeered. Sheeran left soon after.
Police said event organisers had been refused permission for the street performance. Sheeran, who began his career as a busker in the UK, insisted later on his Instagram that he did have permission to perform
Based on a story from pre-colonial Australia, A Piece of Red Cloth is a pioneering, ‘real collaboration’ between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal storytellers
When she was a girl, one of Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs’ grandmothers was kidnapped from the coast of Arnhem Land by foreign traders.
“My grandmother’s sister used to tell me that they went down and saw the footprints of her little sister in the mud, and [the prints of] shoes,” the Yolŋu elder recalls. “And they figured out that the prau [sailing boat] had taken her – because the prau was there, and then suddenly it wasn’t.”
More than 300 pairs of dogs and handlers entered the Commonwealth championship sheepdog trials in Port Fairy, Victoria, vying for the title of Australian dog of the year
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.
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