Updates from the evening session at Melbourne Park
Qualifier Inglis through | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail Katy

Cilic has punched his ticket into round three for the first time since 2022, with the 37-year-old and 2014 US Open champ taking out the 21st seed Shapovalov in straight sets. Decent win, that. He’ll face the winner of Casper Ruud v Jaume Munar.

Stan is still alive! He’s broken Gea in the final game of the fourth set to snatch it 7-5, finishing off with a vicious backhand winner down the line. It’s got to be one of the most devastating shots in tennis hasn’t it? I don’t think even Federer’s single-handed backhand quite had the equal beauty and brutality that Wawrinka’s does. They’re going to a fifth.

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© Photograph: Dita Alangkara/AP

© Photograph: Dita Alangkara/AP

© Photograph: Dita Alangkara/AP

Three people were killed and another was wounded on Thursday in a shooting in a town in Australia’s New South Wales state, police said.

OTTAWA — Billed as a mere informal chat on the sidelines of a broader international gathering, Prime Minister Mark Carney met last Halloween with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Gyeongju, South Korea for about 40 minutes.  Read More

'I respected my daughter by not kissing my grandbaby. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if she ever got sick cuz of me.'

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the first woman to serve as Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Kirsten Hillman has been described as a powerhouse of a diplomat by business, political, and diplomatic leaders from both sides of the aisle.  Read More

News from the series opener in Colombo, 9am GMT start
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Jamie Overton will open the bowling to Pathum Nissanka. Let’s get this pyjama party started.

From the archive

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© Photograph: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images

Dark obsessions drive this debut about the golden era of magazines – but its vile and hilarious heroine is not someone you want to spend so much time with

Last year the New York Times ran a quiz entitled “Could You Have Landed a Job at Vogue in the 90s?” It was based on the fabled four-page exam Anna Wintour had would-be assistants sit – a cultural literacy test containing questions about 178 notable people, places, books and films. I’m afraid that this former (British) Vogue intern did not pass muster: wrong era, wrong country.

A woman who almost certainly would pass with flying colours is the former Vogue staffer Caroline Palmer, now the author of a novel, Workhorse, set at “the magazine” during the dying days of a golden age of women’s glossies, when the lunches were boozy, the couture was free and almost anything could be expensed. In this first decade of the new millennium, we meet Clodagh, or Clo, a suburban twentysomething “workhorse” trying to make it in a world of rich, beautiful, well-connected “show horses”, and willing to do almost anything to get there.

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© Photograph: Taylor Jewell

© Photograph: Taylor Jewell

© Photograph: Taylor Jewell

‘We do also have concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace,’ the foreign secretary said

Good morning. In his Guardian article published on Tuesday, Gordon Brown, the former PM, said:

Years from now the history books will tell us that [Donald] Trump could have declared a quick victory in negotiations over Greenland – accepting the Danish offer of virtually unlimited military bases and access to Greenland’s 25 critical minerals.

There’s a huge amount of work to do we won’t be one of the signatories today, because this is about a legal treaty that raises much broader issues, and we do also have concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace, when we have still not seen any signs from Putin that there will be a commitment to peace in Ukraine.

And to be honest, that is also what we should be talking about.

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© Photograph: House of Commons/Reuters

© Photograph: House of Commons/Reuters

© Photograph: House of Commons/Reuters

Burkhalter told prospective investors that it was "easy and simple" to invest in the funds and encouraged them to use funds from retirement and savings accounts.

The £11.6bn shortfall is a boost for chancellor Rachel Reeves’ efforts to keep a lid on the public finances

With one breathtaking move, Alijah Arenas announced that he was back.

Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk made a surprise reference to liberal MS NOW host Rachel Maddow while speaking at the inaugural "Make Heaven Crowded" tour.

Does your movie call for a golden, diamond-encrusted Furby or replica nuclear missile? The prop master will find one for you – or even make it from scratch

The red and blue pills in The Matrix. The Rosebud sled in Citizen Kane. Marsellus Wallace’s briefcase in Pulp Fiction, contents unknown. The (real) severed horse head in The Godfather. Every sword, gun, wand and lightsaber that has been brandished by an actor on a screen or stage. What do these items have in common? Nothing, except that they are a tiny sample of the staggering range of objects, from the iconic to the instantly forgotten, known as props – or, to use their formal name, “properties”.

Props are, properly defined, anything used in a performance that is not part of the set or costumes. Sourcing or fabricating them is the job of a team overseen by the prop master; the term is gender-neutral, although the prim-sounding “prop mistress” is occasionally heard. It’s a massive undertaking, but not one that gets much attention. “It’s nice that you are asking about props, because they’re not really acknowledged,” says Jode Mann, a TV prop master in Los Angeles.

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© Photograph: PR IMAGE

© Photograph: PR IMAGE

© Photograph: PR IMAGE

No one is suggesting the sort of decision Brooklyn made is taken lightly, but support networks and the language of therapy seem to lessen the sting

As we continue to unpack the meaning of the Beckham family feud, I don’t think enough attention has been paid to the roast chicken. Perhaps you were busy having a life in December and missed it. But this week’s explosion by Brooklyn Beckham was the culmination of a chain of events triggered last month when Victoria Beckham, advisedly or otherwise, chucked a like at her son’s video of a roast chicken on Instagram.

For some, the takeaway was that Brooklyn’s chicken looked undercooked. For others, it was a reminder that you could draw a face on a balloon and achieve roughly the same level of sentience as Brooklyn in his cooking videos. All of which was to miss the point: that according to the new semiotics of family alienation, Brooklyn’s mother, by liking his post, had crossed a fraught boundary between “NC” (no contact) with her son to “VLC” (very low contact). Had Brooklyn not blocked her and the rest of the family immediately, she may have gone the whole hog and escalated to LC – “low contact” – at which point all bets would’ve been off.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

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© Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA

© Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA

© Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA

Randy thinks throwing in a line or two lightens the mood. Taylor says it’s an avoidance tactic. You decide who’s out of tune

• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

He will throw in lines from songs during serious conversations – it is an avoidance tactic

Yes I should tone it down, but a lyric can lighten the mood and there’s one for every occasion

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© Illustration: Igor Bastidas/The Guardian

© Illustration: Igor Bastidas/The Guardian

© Illustration: Igor Bastidas/The Guardian

Passes, shots and goals are all down on last season. It might keep tacticians happy but it’s not as much fun

By Opta Analyst

Gerard Piqué spoke to his former Spain teammate Iker Casillas on his podcast last February and the topic of goalless draws came up. You might expect a centre-back and goalkeeper to be excited about the art of defending but rather Piqué suggested that teams should be punished for participating in goalless draws.

“It can’t be that you go to a football stadium, spend €100, €200 or €300, and the match ends 0-0,” said Piqué. “Something needs to change. One proposal to consider would be that if the match ends 0-0, the teams would score zero points. Then the match would open up in the 70th minute.”

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© Illustration: Opta Analyst

© Illustration: Opta Analyst

© Illustration: Opta Analyst

Ambitious owners and financial growth have allowed WSL and WSL2 clubs to assert dominance in the transfer market

“If anyone didn’t take our ambition seriously, I hope they really do after this window, because it shows what we’re pushing for.”

Amy Merricks was answering a question about Birmingham City breaking the second-tier transfer record to sign Wilma Leidhammar from Norrköping, but the head coach’s words could easily sum up the English January transfer window as a whole, as teams in the Women’s Super League, and in WSL2, demonstrate where the financial power lies in the women’s game.

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© Photograph: SPP Sport Press Photo./Alamy

© Photograph: SPP Sport Press Photo./Alamy

© Photograph: SPP Sport Press Photo./Alamy

Dear Abby advises a restaurant patron who witnessed a woman brushing her teeth at a nearby table.

With the Knicks finally at full strength, Jordan Clarkson’s playing time has disappeared. 

“We’re trying to open up the potential of what a love letter can be.”

The 55-year-old politician was photographed standing up out of his seat on a United Airlines flight that had reportedly just landed in the Golden Gate State.

“Sometimes you go with your feelings, your gut feeling,” said coach Patrick Roy, referring to the Islanders' revamped fourth line before their 4-1 loss.

A suspect in a $100 million jewelry heist was allowed by U.S. immigration officials to self-deport to Ecuador, avoiding a federal trial and potential prison time.

• Policy allowed Max Verstappen back into 2025 title race

• Team due to unveil new car in Bahrain on 9 February

The McLaren team is to continue its policy of pursuing a rigorous fairness towards Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for the 2026 Formula One season. That is despite their doing so last season allowed a late challenge from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen which might have prevented the team securing the drivers’ title, which was ultimately won by Norris.

Last year McLaren enjoyed the most competitive car for most of the season and from the off, the team insisted their drivers would be free to race one another and the team would apply what they referred to as their “papaya rules” to ensure they were scrupulously fair to both in racing situations.

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© Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA

© Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA

© Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA