Updates from the evening session at Melbourne Park
Mboko sets up Sabalenka clash after win | Mail Katy

Norrie and Zverev are going through the pre-match formalities. The umpire tells the players to smile big for the cameras. Not sure how easy that is for Norrie, given the British No 2, the last Brit standing in the singles, has lost to Zverev in all six of their previous meetings. The last time they played at the Australian Open was in 2024, when Norrie was denied 7-6 in the fifth set. But Norrie will at least take something from the fact he was able to push Zverev all the way then, and the fact that this is a night match, with slightly slower conditions, may help Norrie, because the rallies will be longer and more attritional and that’s what he loves.

Up next: we’ve got De Minaur v Tiafoe on Rod Laver and Norrie v Zverev on John Cain and Svitolina v Shnaider on Margaret Court.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/AP

© Photograph: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/AP

© Photograph: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/AP

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Since early January 2026 — fresh off his Venezuela operation — U.S. President Donald Trump escalated demands for American ownership of Greenland, threatening a U.S. invasion of the Danish territory and 10 per cent tariffs on NATO allies unless they backed him. Read More

(Tiny Tiger)
Moving from dream pop to acoustic clarity, the Dutch-British songwriter delivers her most personal record yet where loss is transformed into something quietly powerful

The warm sounds of folk guitar provide the roots of Tessa Rose Jackson’s first album under her own name, time-travelling from Bert Jansch to REM to Sharon Van Etten in every strum and squeak. The Dutch-British musician previously recorded as Someone, creating three albums in dream-pop shades, but her fourth – a rawer, richer affair, made alone in rural France – digs into ancestry, mortality and memory.

The Lighthouse begins with its title track. Strums of perfect fifths, low moans of woodwind and thundering rumbles of percussion frame a journey towards a beacon at “high tide on a lonesome wind”. The death of one of Jackson’s two mothers when she was a teenager informs her lyrics here and elsewhere: in The Bricks That Make the Building, a sweet, psych-folk jewel which meditates on “the earth that feeds the garden / The breath that helps the child sing” and Gently Now, which begins in soft clouds of birdsong, then tackles how growing older can cosset the process of grief. Her approach to the subject is inquisitive, poetic and refreshing.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Bibian Bingen

© Photograph: Bibian Bingen

© Photograph: Bibian Bingen

Feigel uses her own experience as a starting point to examine the past, present and future of separation

This book about child custody is, unsurprisingly, full of pain. The pain of mothers separated from their children, of children sobbing for their mothers, of adults who have never moved on from the trauma of their youth, and of young people who are forced to live out the conflicts of their elders. Lara Feigel casts her net across history and fiction, reportage and memoir, and while her research is undeniably impressive and her candour moving, at times she struggles to create a narrative that can hold all these tales of anguish together.

The book begins with a woman flinging herself fully clothed into a river and then restlessly walking on, swimming again, walking again. This is French novelist George Sand, driven to desperate anxiety as she waits to go into court to fight for the right to custody of her children. But almost immediately the story flicks away to Feigel’s own custody battle, and then back into the early 19th century, with Caroline Norton’s sons being taken away in a carriage in the rain by their father.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Lifestyle pictures/Alamy

© Photograph: Lifestyle pictures/Alamy

© Photograph: Lifestyle pictures/Alamy

OTTAWA — Canada’s two main political party leaders won’t boast about the connection, but they have at least one important thing in common these days: As a new session of Parliament opens Monday, they’re both sitting on hot seats. Read More

Rolling coverage of the final day of the World Economic Forum in Davos

Attempts to resolve Donald Trump’s fixation on Greenland has distracted Europe from the urgent task of pushing Russia back in Ukraine, Jane Harman adds.

Davos is now hearing about the geopolitical risks of the year ahead.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

© Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

© Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

(Interscope)
On her third LP, Lennox balances jazz-soaked tradition with flashes of unruly humour and a surefire viral hit

Ari Lennox is one of contemporary R&B’s premier sophisticates, preferring a palette of lush jazz, soul and 90s hip-hop over the more genre-fluid sound pushed by contemporaries SZA and Kehlani. But a few songs into her new album, Vacancy, she makes it eminently clear that tradition and wildness can coexist, with fabulously sparky results: on Under the Moon, she describes a lover as “vicious / Like a werewolf / When you’re in it” and proceeds to howl “moooooooooon” as if she is in an old creature feature.

Vacancy, Lennox’s third album, is far and away her most fun, and if it isn’t quite as ingratiating as her 2022 Age/Sex/Location, it makes up for it with canny lyrics and an airy, open sound. Cool Down is a reggae/R&B hybrid that practically feels as if it is made of aerogel, and which pairs its summery lightness with witty lyrics telling a guy to chill out. On Mobbin in DC, she pairs lounge-singer coolness with withering come-ons (“You know where I be / This ain’t calculus / No ChatGPT”), while the strutting Horoscope, with its hook of “That boy put the ho’ in ‘horoscope’,” is as surefire a future viral hit as I’ve ever heard.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Gizelle Hernandez

© Photograph: Gizelle Hernandez

© Photograph: Gizelle Hernandez

A female student chased a classmate inside a Detroit high school classroom while allegedly wielding a box cutter, a chaotic video showed.

Volumes rose unexpectedly in December, beating forecasts as demand for gold and silver strengthened

State Attorney's Office determined homeowner acted in self-defense when confronting Nicholas Palomo on New Year's Day.

James Bord’s consortium is the preferred bidder to take over Sheffield Wednesday but his data-led player recruitment record is mixed, especially with United

Sheffield Wednesday fans will be delighted to hear that one associate of James Bord describes the preferred bidder for their club as “a mini Tony Bloom”, although the professional poker player’s references from the other side of the Steel City are rather less complimentary.

Until it became clear late last year that Bord was planning to buy Wednesday his data company, Short Circuit Science, had a consultancy contract with Sheffield United to assist with their recruitment, which, as their position in the lower reaches of the Championship indicates, has delivered limited success.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: David Davies/PA

© Photograph: David Davies/PA

© Photograph: David Davies/PA

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock

Since the end of the second world war, all eyes have been on Russia. Yet Trump’s increasingly erratic, hostile presidency is shattering old assumptions

One of the things that the depleted, often denigrated British state is still pretty good at is persuading the public that another country is a threat. As a small, warlike island next to a much larger land mass, Britain has had centuries of practice at cultivating its own sense of foreboding. Arguably, preparing for conflict with some part of the outside world is our natural mindset.

Warnings about potential enemy countries are spread by our prime ministers and major political parties, intelligence services and civil servants, serving and retired military officers, defence and foreign affairs thinktanks, and journalists from the right and the left. Sometimes, the process is relatively subtle and covert: reporters or MPs are given off-the-record briefings about our “national security” – a potently imprecise term – facing a new threat.

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Evan Vucci/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Evan Vucci/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Evan Vucci/AFP/Getty Images

First round at Wijk aan Zee delayed for over an hour after protesters dump coal at venue and unveil banner reading ‘no chess on a dead planet’

Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee, the “chess Wimbledon”, has been sponsored for all its 88 years by the local steelworks, either in its previous incarnations as Hoogovens and Corus or under its current Indian management.

Its relations with the local community have previously been good, but this year protesters targeting Tata Steel drew attention to the company’s heavy use of coal by dumping two tons of coal in front of the entrance, and draping a banner reading “No chess on a dead planet” over the sports hall. Play in the opening round eventually began one and a half hours late.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

© Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

Have you been following the big stories in football, tennis, rugby, golf, ice hockey, F1 and the NFL?

Continue reading...

© Composite: Shutterstock, Getty

© Composite: Shutterstock, Getty

© Composite: Shutterstock, Getty

The Free Solo star will attempt to climb the 1,667ft skyscraper without ropes in a live Netflix broadcast, drawing awe, ethical concern and global attention

Alex Honnold has spent the past three months training for this moment: free soloing – climbing without ropes or a harness – one of Asia’s tallest skyscrapers, Taipei 101. It is an ambition that began more than a decade ago and is now close to being realized.

Th climb will be broadcast globally on Skyscraper Live, Netflix’s latest foray into live sports programming. The star of the 2019 Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo insists that climbing Taipei 101 will feel no different from any other of his ascents.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Corey Rich/Netflix/NETFLIX © 2025

© Photograph: Corey Rich/Netflix/NETFLIX © 2025

© Photograph: Corey Rich/Netflix/NETFLIX © 2025

Fulham, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Liverpool could be making moves before the window closes

By WhoScored

Shock: Chelsea have been linked with another young player. This time it is the Rennes centre-back Jérémy Jacquet, who would offer something the team is lacking.

Continue reading...

© Composite: EPA, Alamy, Reuters, Getty

© Composite: EPA, Alamy, Reuters, Getty

© Composite: EPA, Alamy, Reuters, Getty

Dear Abby advises a woman who says her husband follows very attractive women on Instagram if that is considered cheating, and if so, is worthy of divorce.

UK MPs and veterans condemn US president’s comments and highlight his avoidance of military service in Vietnam

Donald Trump has provoked outrage among British MPs and veterans after claiming Nato troops stayed away from the frontline in Afghanistan.

The US president made his comments in an interview with Fox News in which he reiterated his suggestion that Nato would not support the US if asked.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: UK/REUTERS

© Photograph: UK/REUTERS

© Photograph: UK/REUTERS

Coco Gauff shrugged off a poor start against fellow American Hailey Baptiste en route to a 3-6 6-0 6-3 win, reaching the Australian Open fourth round.

Virginia's new Democratic Governor, Abigail Spanberger, made headlines this week by signing an executive order stating that local and state law enforcement will not cooperate with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

A Nevada judge announced her retirement after a court granted a protective order to an attorney she was allegedly stalking.

After a slow start, the Lakers showed some fight, but ultimately fell to the Clippers, 112-104, on Thursday night in Inglewood, Calif.

An Oklahoma teenager is behind bars after allegedly calling 911 to tell authorities he stabbed his brother to death after becoming "enraged" over a video game.