U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents forced a protester wearing a giraffe costume to the ground during a demonstration outside a federal building in Minneapolis on Monday (12 January).
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A new study has found a way to improve several key markers related to how the body regulates appetite and metabolism
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The actor also appeared in BBC hit ‘Good Old Days’ and Nineties children’s favourite ‘The Queen’s Nose’
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Satirical panel series was cancelled by the BBC at the end of 2022
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With debate still swirling over the unlikeable nature of Marty Supreme’s careless protagonist, Guardian writers have picked their all-time love-to-hate leads
Spoilers ahead
I can remember seeing As Good As It Gets in theaters as a teenager and being pleasantly startled by the sight of Jack Nicholson’s Melvin Udall, romcom super grouch. Here’s a bestselling romance author who disdains love, an OCD sufferer who weaponizes his affliction, a New Yorker who hates crowds (who can’t relate?). In one scene, an adoring fan asks Melvin his secret to writing women. “I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability,” he says, an epic burn forever seared in my brain. Of course Melvin’s anti-charm offensive only goes so far in a James L Brooks project. Before long, the rudeness erodes as Melvin is forced on to a journey of self-discovery with the nextdoor neighbor he can’t abide (Greg Kinnear) and the diner waitress he can’t live without (Helen Hunt). Melvin comes out a changed man in the end, but retains the essence of his super grouch-dom. That was the moment I fell in love with the writer’s life. Andrew Lawrence
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© Photograph: Miramax/Sportsphoto/Allstar
© Photograph: Miramax/Sportsphoto/Allstar
© Photograph: Miramax/Sportsphoto/Allstar
Hyperemesis gravidarum is the most common cause of hospitalisation in early pregnancy
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The irreverent approach of the Colombian hotline Jacarandas has made it the most-followed abortion account on social media in the Spanish-speaking world
What do a purple cartoon cat and abortion have in common? Nothing – and that is the point, say the women behind Jacarandas, a Colombian abortion helpline. Determined to set themselves apart from more traditional reproductive health organisations, Jacarandas commissions street and graphic artists to create eye-catching illustrations – most recently a cartoon feline called Gataranda, inspired by the team’s much-loved office pet.
The aim is not to make light of abortion but to appeal to the teenagers and young women who use Jacarandas’ services. “A lot of people do not connect with [an image of] the uterus on fire, so we thought ‘what can we do to connect more with young women?’” says Carolina Benítez Mendoza, the deputy director.
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© Photograph: Courtesy of Jacarandas
© Photograph: Courtesy of Jacarandas
© Photograph: Courtesy of Jacarandas
Previous meddling has damaged the region, and once again the the US and Israel don’t have Iranians’ best interests at heart
What does it take to shake illusions in western intervention? This is not a question designed to deflect from the barbarism being unleashed by Iran’s theocratic regime. Because it severed the country’s internet connection, facts are difficult to establish, but the respected Human Rights Activists in Iran has confirmed 544 have been killed and well over 10,000 arrested – those numbers are probably significant underestimates.
Here is a regime that consolidated its power in the 1980s by butchering leftists – helped, it should be noted, by both MI6 and the CIA, who supplied them with lists of alleged Soviet agents. Today, trade union activists are arrested and tortured, while women’s activists languish in jails. The economic disaster resulting from sanctions may have helped spark these latest protests, but millions of Iranians are fed up with living under fundamentalist rule – underlined by surveys confirming growing religious non-observance and opposition to the compulsory hijab.
Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist
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© Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
© Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
© Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
The offer of thousands of dollars a month was hard to refuse for those living in poverty in a war-torn country. But while some Yemenis have died on the frontline, others are now prisoners of war
The first time I heard Hussein’s mother’s voice, it wasn’t anger that came through the phone, it was exhaustion.
“There are rumours that he burned to death,” she said to me. “How do you think that makes me feel as a mother? Where are you, Hussein? I’m looking for you. Please my daughter, help me.”
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© Composite: Guardian Design; BBC; Genya Savilov/Getty Images; Akram Alrasny/Alamy
© Composite: Guardian Design; BBC; Genya Savilov/Getty Images; Akram Alrasny/Alamy
© Composite: Guardian Design; BBC; Genya Savilov/Getty Images; Akram Alrasny/Alamy
Given how easy it is to kill plants by overwatering, these devices are tempting – but can they beat simply sticking your finger in the soil?
The problem
Houseplants often die from too much water, not neglect. Might a moisture meter help?
The hack
For around £10, a probe promises to tell you exactly when to water.
© Photograph: mtreasure/Getty Images
© Photograph: mtreasure/Getty Images
© Photograph: mtreasure/Getty Images
All the latest January transfer window news, gossip and rumours
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Exclusive: China Labor Watch says people aged 16-18 employed without required special protections
A labour rights NGO says it has found evidence of worker exploitation in the supply chain of Labubus, the furry toys that took the world by storm last year and which are expected to continue to grow in popularity in 2026.
Labubus, toothy gremlins made by the Chinese toy company Pop Mart, have become one of China’s hottest cultural exports. In the first half of 2025 alone, “the Monsters” line of toys, which includes Labubus, generated 4.8bn yuan (£511m) in sales for the Hong Kong-listed company. In August, Pop Mart’s chief executive, Wang Ning, said the company was on track to reach 20bn yuan in revenues in 2025.
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© Photograph: VCG/Getty Images
© Photograph: VCG/Getty Images
© Photograph: VCG/Getty Images
Ukrainian president says ‘Russia must learn that cold will not help win the war’ as energy infrastructure targeted
Meanwhile, a number of airports in central and eastern Europe faced delays and disruptions due to difficult weather conditions this morning.
Budapest airport was temporarily closed as a precaution due to black ice and extreme icing, the airport said on Facebook.
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© Photograph: Sergey Bobok/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Sergey Bobok/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Sergey Bobok/AFP/Getty Images
Health secretary says: ‘If we tell the public that we can’t make anything work, then why on earth would they vote to keep us in charge’
Here is a fuller version of the quote from Wes Streeting’s speech, from the Times’ Steven Swinford.
Bafflingly, some on my own side of the political divide have begun to parrot the same argument. They complain about the civil service. They blame stakeholder capture.
This excuses culture does the centre-left no favours. If we tell the public that we can’t make anything work, then why on earth would they vote to keep us in charge?
New - Streeting goes full throttle on the idea that politicians can’t make the state work and that “nothing happens” when levers are pulled.
“Where there aren’t levers, we build them. Where there are barriers, we bulldoze them. Where there is poor performance, we challenge it.”
He says the complaints are just poor excuses from the right.
“Bafflingly, some on my own side of the political divide have begun to parrot the same argument... If we tell the public that we can’t make anything work, then why on earth would they vote to keep us in charge?”
My experience now as prime minister is of frustration that every time I go to pull a lever there are a whole bunch of regulations, consultations, arm’s-length bodies that mean that the action from pulling the lever to delivery is longer than I think it ought to be, which is among the reasons why I want to cut down on regulation, generally and within government.
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© Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA
© Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA
© Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA
Chairman has dismissed probe as a political attack brought about because he refuses to lower interest rates in line with ‘the preferences of the president’
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The US tech giant said it has begun ‘a limited number of flights’ from its Darlington test centre
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