House committee opens prospect of using one of its most powerful punishments against an ex-president for first time

House Republicans advanced a resolution on Wednesday to hold former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress over the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, opening the prospect of the House using one of its most powerful punishments against a former president for the first time.

The Republican-controlled House oversight committee approved the contempt of Congress charges, setting up a potential vote in the House. It was an initial step toward a criminal prosecution by the Department of Justice that, if successful, could send the Clintons to prison in a dispute over compelling them to testify before the House oversight committee.

After covering Trump’s immigration policies from Chicago and LA, the Twin Cities operation feels like a marked escalation

The Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial board described the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities as “a military occupation”. Local leaders have used words like “siege” and “invasion”. After a week of reporting in Minneapolis and St Paul, I wouldn’t know how else to describe the scene.

I’ve been covering the administration’s immigration policies since Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January last year. I was in Chicago in January last year, when the administration assigned hundreds of federal agents to conduct “enhanced targeted operations” in the city. I was in Los Angeles last summer, when agents began seizing workers at car washes and garment warehouses, grabbing bicyclists and raiding churches.

As Brendon McCullum and Rob Key limp on, perhaps it is worth retracing the steps that brought us here

There will be consequences. There must be consequences. Perhaps there have already been consequences. Harry Brook is very sorry for getting punched by a bouncer in New Zealand. Rob Key is very sorry for overseeing an Ashes tour that in retrospect could probably have been an email. Brendon McCullum is not sorry, but has promised to “look at things over the next little while”, which is basically the same as an apology, so fine.

In the meantime, the travelling circus of English cricket rolls on. There is a white-ball series in Sri Lanka starting on Thursday morning, for which – consequences, remember – McCullum remains as coach, Key remains as managing director and Brook remains as captain. In addition Zak Crawley returns to open the batting in the 50-over team, a fitting reward for not playing a single 50-over game in the whole of 2024 or 2025. Nature heals.

In victory for Trump administration, appeals court has temporarily lifted injunction as JD Vance set to visit state

An appeals court has temporarily lifted restrictions from a federal judge in Minnesota that blocked ICE agents from pepper-spraying and arresting peaceful protesters.

In a victory for the Trump administration, the eighth US circuit court of appeals on Wednesday granted the justice department’s request for an administrative stay of a preliminary injunction issued last Friday by Judge Katherine Menendez.

Governor’s office says US pavilion bowed to pressure and pulled scheduled ‘fireside chat’ with Fortune magazine

The office of Gavin Newsom, the California governor, said his appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos was canceled under pressure from the Trump administration.

Newsom had been scheduled to sit down with Fortune at an event sponsored by USA House, the country’s official headquarters at the annual gathering of world and economic leaders. But before the talk was due to begin, his team says, the USA House bowed to political pressure from the Trump administration and denied the governor entry.

Analysts warn that Trump will probably demand more action from Mexico to counter drug-trafficking groups

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has defended the latest transfer of 37 Mexican cartel operatives to the US as a “sovereign decision”, as her government strives to alleviate pressure from the Trump administration to do more against drug-trafficking groups.

It was the third such flight in the year since Donald Trump returned to the White House, but analysts warn that while it remains an effective pressure valve, the returns may be diminishing.

The president’s address in Switzerland featured a range of dubious assertions, from exaggerated to false

Donald Trump’s address at the World Economic Forum in Davos featured a parade of dubious claims about everything from peace deals to windfarms. Several assertions ranged from exaggerated to provably false.

Here’s what Trump got wrong.

Brussels to host emergency summit to discuss options including ‘nuclear deterrent’ of retaliatory sanctions

The European parliament has formally suspended the ratification process on its US trade deal, in protest against Donald Trump’s threat to impose 10% tariffs on EU exports unless the bloc agrees he can take over Greenland.

The pause is the strongest material response the EU has shown so far to what several leaders last week called blackmail.

Trump administration acknowledges that Elon Musk’s cost-cutting operation accessed Americans’ sensitive data

After months of denials, the Trump administration has acknowledged in a federal court filing that employees working for Elon Musk’s supposed cost-cutting operation accessed and improperly shared Americans’ sensitive social security data.

The justice department court filing, submitted on Friday in an ongoing lawsuit, reveals that a member of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) signed a secret data-sharing agreement with an unidentified political advocacy group whose stated aim was to find evidence of voter fraud and overturn election results in certain states.

A review of Trump’s bold promises about immigration, the economy, the US’s standing in the world and much more

There was no debate about record crowd sizes this time. With the temperature plunging to 27F (-3C) and a wind chill making it feel far colder, Donald Trump’s second inauguration was held in the rotunda at the US Capitol in Washington on 20 January 2025.

The great and the good of the political elite were there, including former presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama and outgoing president Joe Biden. So were tech oligarchs such as Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. At 12.10pm, they listened intently as Trump began a half-hour-long inaugural address.

⚽ Champions League updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off
⚽ Live scores | Table | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail Michael

Arne Slot speaks to the TNT cameras pitchside:

It’s not the first time we play in a hostile stadium. We played at Galatasaray. It’s a great stadium [here], great atmosphere.

The moments where I didn’t play him, we were struggling and I tried something else. We have steadied the ship now but we miss goals from all the ball possession and chances that we have. Salah is one of the players that can score a goal.

First of all, it’s really sad that Ibrahima can’t be here. But Joe is a good replacement but he has not played a lot since I have been here. But he has shown he can be a really good player for us.

⚽ Champions League updates from the 8pm GMT kick-offs
⚽ Live scoreboard | Table | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail Luke

“Just a heads up that, while I would love it to be true, a win tonight for Newcastle doesn’t put us in the last 16,” writes David. “It puts us in the first round of 16, which is really the last 24 (playoffs), to then get into the actual last 16. Two extra matches just what everyone wants right now …”

Silly me. Thanks David.

Judge issues temporary order after paper had sought return of Hannah Natanson’s devices taken in ‘outrageous seizure’

A US judge temporarily blocked federal prosecutors on Wednesday from reviewing material seized when the FBI raided a Washington Post reporter’s home.

Hours earlier, the Post asked a federal court in Virginia to force the US government to return electronics belonging to Hannah Natanson.

US military says it has transported ‘IS fighters’ to Iraq after Kurdish-controlled prisons and camps changed hands

Concerned western officials said they were closely monitoring the deteriorating security situation in north-east Syria amid fears that Islamic State militants could re-emerge after the Kurdish defeat at the hands of the Damascus government.

The US military said it had transported “150 IS fighters” from a frontline prison in Hasakah province across the border to Iraq, and said it was willing to move up to 7,000 to prevent what it warned could be a dangerous breakout.

• Yankees lock up Bellinger for $32.5m annually

• Lefty slugger hit .302 at Yankee Stadium in 2025

• Deal includes no-trade provision and opt-outs

Cody Bellinger became the last of the top free-agent hitters to reach a deal, agreeing Wednesday to stay with the New York Yankees for a $162.5m, five-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement was subject to a successful physical.

The prime minister has a duty to be candid with the British public about the scale of the global realignment caused by a volatile US president

One foreign policy achievement that Donald Trump prefers not to boast about is his role in helping Mark Carney win last year’s Canadian general election. The incumbent Liberal party faced crushing defeat before Mr Trump threatened to annex Canada. Mr Carney’s candidacy was buoyed up by a patriotic rally against US bullying.

Perhaps because his country has also been coveted by Mr Trump, Mr Carney has given one of the most clear-sighted responses of any democratic leader to the US president’s designs on Greenland. Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, the Canadian prime minister set out the challenge for countries whose security and prosperity have depended on a global system underwritten by the US.

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Jamie Dimon warns of civil unrest but Nvidia’s Jensen Huang argues tech will create rather than destroy jobs

Jamie Dimon, the boss of JP Morgan, has said artificial intelligence “may go too fast for society” and cause “civil unrest” unless governments and business support displaced workers.

While advances in AI will have huge benefits, from increasing productivity to curing diseases, the technology may need to be phased in to “save society”, he said.

Reporters had been in car on way to new camp, says media group, as two 13-year-old boys killed in separate incidents

Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli forces killed at least 11 Palestinians on Wednesday, including two 13-year-old boys and three journalists, in the latest violence to undermine a three-month-old ceasefire.

Palestinian health officials said the Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinian journalists who were travelling in a car to film a newly established displacement camp in the Netzarim area of central Gaza.

Musée Rodin was the venue for the designer’s second men’s show for the house, and he sought to shun normality

He is one of fashion’s greatest ruminators so where better than the Musée Rodin in Paris to stage Jonathan Anderson’s second menswear show for Dior. Guests including the actors Robert Pattinson and Mia Goth, and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton wandered past Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker as they made their way to their seats on Wednesday afternoon.

Speaking backstage before the show, Anderson, dressed in his signature faded Levi’s jeans and a navy cashmere sweater, described the collection as “another character study”, explaining that this time he set out to explore “the idea of a new aristocracy”, questioning “what it means today” and “what can it be?” The-41-year old designer said when it came to the social hierarchy he wanted to “ignore the aspect of money” and instead home in on “their eccentricity”.

PM also accuses Kemi Badenoch of supporting efforts by the US president to ‘undermine the government’s position’

Keir Starmer has noticeably hardened his rhetoric towards Donald Trump, telling the Commons that the US president’s condemnation of the Chagos Islands deal with Mauritius was intended to weaken the UK’s resolve over Greenland.

In a sometimes angry exchange with Kemi Badenoch at prime minister’s questions, Starmer denounced the Conservative leader’s use of Trump’s words to push back against the Chagos deal, saying the president had not been sincere in his objections.

• Villa thought to favour loan for Milan midfielder

• Club also in market for striker, with Mateta among targets

Aston Villa are exploring a move for Milan’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek, as they seek to absorb the absence of Boubacar Kamara amid fears he will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.

Villa are poised to step up interest in the former Chelsea midfielder, who in September was recalled to the England squad after a six-year absence but was omitted from Thomas Tuchel’s most recent camp in November.

The opportunity for this tournament’s legacy is in the fan fests, camps and tune-ups accessible to more than the lucky few

In Germany, fans watched the games on screens in crowded town squares, their roars careening off ancient buildings, or from the banks of rivers, peering at floating, double-sided big screens on barges. At the next World Cup, in South Africa in 2010, people gathered in parks and open-air markets and hotel lobbies and unlicensed, makeshift bars in people’s garages. In Brazil, four years later, fans spilled from the bars on the Copacabana or watched in restaurants or in streets closed for the occasion – not as if anybody was driving during the Seleção’s games anyway.

During the 2018 World Cup, Russia surprised visitors – and its own citizens – with its friendliness as spontaneous parties broke out all over the country. The reason the 2022 World Cup in Qatar didn’t entirely feel like a real World Cup is that those sorts of spontaneous soccer gatherings just didn’t seem to be happening, or not at the same scale, at any rate. The absence of hordes of supporters just milling about everywhere contributed to the feeling of being at a Potemkin World Cup.

Reform leader says he agrees ‘strategically’ with Trump but adds that views of Greenlanders must be respected

The world would be a “better, more secure place” if America took over Greenland, Nigel Farage said at Davos, while insisting that he still believed in the sovereignty of nation states.

During a panel at the World Economic Forum’s “America House” in the Swiss ski resort on Wednesday, the Reform UK leader said he had “no doubt” that the world would be safer if a “strong America” was in Greenland “because of the geopolitics of the high north, because of the retreating ice caps and because of the continued expansionism of Russian icebreakers, of Chinese investment”.