The peer said he resigned his membership of the party to avoid causing it ‘further embarrassment’ after emails appeared to show Jeffrey Epstein sent former US ambassador $75,000

Peter Mandelson was facing already disciplinary action from the Labour party when he announced he was resigning his membership, the party has revealed.

A Labour party spokesperson said:

It is right that Peter Mandelson is no longer a member of the Labour party. Disciplinary action was underway prior to his resignation.

Jeffrey Epstein’s heinous crimes destroyed the lives of so many women and girls, and our thoughts remain with his victims.

I think there is a lot that needs to be looked into, including investigating how he ever came to be appointed, and all levers which can be pulled in order to remove him from public office looked into, including removal from the House of Lords.

A US judge will decide if, as research suggests, a chemical tyre additive is harming endangered fish species

Last week, a district judge in San Francisco, California, presided over a three-day trial brought by west coast fishers and conservationists against US tyre companies. The fishers allege that a chemical additive used in tyres is polluting rivers and waterways, killing coho salmon and other fish. If successful, the case could have implications far beyond the United States.

Residents of Sebastia say heritage project is pretext for massive land grab and expansion of Jewish settlements

The Byzantine-era church lies half hidden in the shade. Roman columns rise from among the olive trees, even older ruins linked to Israelite kings are overgrown. To the west, the Mediterranean is just visible on the horizon. To the north and south, rise the hills of the occupied West Bank.

In the small town of Sebastia, a hundred metres or less east of the ruins, everyone is very worried.

Promo for the much-anticipated sequel, in which Streep is reunited with Stanley Tucci, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt, clocks up 2.5m views in eight hours

The first full-length trailer for The Devil Wears Prada 2 has been released, and given more details on David Frankel’s hotly anticipated follow-up. In the promo, Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly and her right-hand man Nigel, played by Stanley Tucci, are seen reuniting with Anne Hathaway’s Andy and, later, Emily Blunt’s Emily.

Priestly remembers neither, nor even her habit of referring to all her fashion magazine assistants as Emily – presumably on account of her withering alpha-editor status rather than, say, dementia.

From the Cure winning their first Grammys to a posthumous award for Chick Corea, it was a night of heartening wins and robust politics
• Grammy awards 2026: list of winners

There are arguments to be made about the efficacy or not of celebs making political statements at awards ceremonies – some might say it is just as impotent as celebrities endorsing US presidential candidates. In the case of last night’s Grammys, we hardly need musicians to reiterate that what ICE is doing is morally reprehensible. And yet the sheer force and variety of these statements was bracing, making it clear that the issue should remain paramount in any context.

Do the people imprisoning these kids like Liam Ramos have no children of their own? Do they have no decency, compassion or basic humanity?

Liam Conejo Ramos. We have all seen his picture, or by now we all should have seen the image of the adorable five-year-old in his bright blue hat, its floppy bunny ears so appropriate for a child whose middle name means “rabbit.” In the photo, he is wearing his Spider-Man backpack, which, like so many kids his age, he loves and is very proud of. And we know – or we should know – what happened to him.

On January 20, 2026, the pre-K student was seized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on his way home from school in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. His family, which had emigrated from Ecuador in 2024, had applied for political asylum. No order of deportation had been issued against them, nor had any of them –obviously, not little Liam– been accused of a crime.

Francine Prose is a former president of the PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

With less than six months until kickoff, Guardian readers share their experiences of buying World Cup tickets – or deciding not to

The 2026 World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada is less than six months away. Fifa’s ticketing process has been met with demand and controversy. Security concerns for fans traveling to the US have risen.

We asked readers to share their experiences of buying World Cup tickets – or deciding not to. These are some of the stories we received.

Heather Jones of Alabama says two-year probation agreement leaves her ‘free and clear’ of legal matter

An Alabama woman has resolved a misdemeanor case that authorities opened against her within days of speaking out about a Roman Catholic priest whom she accused of predatory behavior.

Heather Jones had publicly recounted that she was 17 when the priest, Robert “Bob” Sullivan, arranged to provide her financial support in exchange for companionship including sex – prompting him to resign from the clergy in November.

Allegations prompt questions about officials’ contentions that there isn’t evidence to investigate third parties

The disclosure of more than 3m files related to Jeffrey Epstein suggests that other men were involved in his sexual abuse, prompting questions about officials’ contentions that there isn’t evidence to investigate third parties for potential involvement in the late financier’s crimes.

Some newly released documents contain allegations that Epstein provided victims to other men. Documents released in prior disclosures, as well as court documents, also point to others’ possible criminal involvement with Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

New Mexico attorney general accuses Meta of failing to safeguard children against trafficking and sexual abuse

Meta’s second major trial of 2026 over alleged harms to children begins on Monday.

The landmark jury trial in Santa Fe pits the New Mexico attorney general’s office against the social media giant. The state alleges that the company knowingly enabled predators to use Facebook and Instagram to exploit children.

The Gunners had home comforts while the other teams had to travel long distances and cope with inferior facilities

Arsenal are world champions. It’s a weird thing to say about the team fourth in the WSL, albeit with a game in hand, and who failed to qualify automatically for the Champions League quarter-finals and face a two-leg knockout phase playoff. However, the 3-2 defeat of the Copa Libertadores champions, Corinthians, by the Uefa Champions League holders secured their global title. If Arsenal had lost – and at times it felt as if they were trying to – it would have been quite the spectacle given how much the tournament favoured them. Arsenal were in season and match fit, unlike Gotham FC and Corinthians, and not only did Fifa stick the tournament in England, it placed it in London and the final in Arsenal’s ground. The Gunners were in their own beds and benefiting from the elite facilities at their training ground and the backing of their fans, while the three other sides (the Moroccan champions AS Far completed the quartet) had to travel long distances, stay in hotels and manage with inferior facilities. A rethink is needed if this tournament is going to be taken seriously, with timing and location top of the agenda. Suzanne Wrack

Cat-sitting can only be relied upon for pocket money, but it has enriched me in other ways. The most unexpected benefit has been finally meeting my neighbours

I am a crazy cat lady, except for one small obstacle: I do not own a cat. Though my boyfriend and I discuss names for cats, like other couples do for children, renting in London has put a stop to adding one to our family. So I had pushed dreams of filling the cat-sized hole in my life to one side, only allowing myself momentary relapses when friendly cats crossed my path in the street. That was until I stumbled across the best solution to being reluctantly feline free: becoming a cat-sitter.

It started when I decided to quit my job. Faced with the daunting prospect of living without a guaranteed salary, I was lured in by social media videos promising that any number of “simple” side hustles would make me happier, richer and freer.

Not to mention my dad’s lifesize wooden sheep. All homes are wacky in little and large ways. Instagram pundits please stand down

‘Your home isn’t weird enough.” So says the US interior designer Lily Walters. Her popular Instagram series urges people to make their homes “personal and slightly unhinged”, suggesting what they need is an alligator toilet flush, a decorative stained-glass traffic cone, or a snail-adorned table.

The statement makes me feel as if Walters might not see inside many homes (odd, given her job), because all homes are weird! And not cultivated and curated to add a whimsical touch of eccentricity, but properly weird, verging on disturbing. In the room I’m working in, there’s a feather-filled shrine to various dead hens, two candles in the shape of Saint Lucy’s eyes, a stuffed Australian magpie, a wig, three pewter goats and a French revolutionary cockade made from a jam pot lid (an illustrative selection; there’s much more).

An offhand comment from my mother meant we suddenly owned a donkey. I loved him – but was embarrassed when I had to ride him to school

I was four when Cocolo accidentally became part of our family, so my memories are a bit patchy and predominantly sensory (I still remember the pleasant feel of his furry ears). But my mum has filled me in on the details.

We’d gone to live in Jerusalem for a year as my dad was doing some work over there. For a Sunday treat we sometimes went to the American Colony hotel for a buffet lunch, and on one such occasion Mum was chatting with the doorman. A man was passing in the street leading a donkey, and Mum casually told the doorman that she’d always wanted a donkey.

He has the chance to be the steward of a national treasure, but he’s blowing it

Would you inherit a rare Stradivarius violin, polish it up for a few years, and then decide to take a hammer to it?

Would you somehow acquire the Hope diamond, set it in a blue velvet case, and then toss the whole thing into the Potomac River?

Robin Vanbiesen’s documentary uses the killing of Mawda Shawri in Belgium as the starting point to explore the dehumanising machinery of border policy

Here is an insightful but perhaps over oblique Belgian documentary that sets itself an ambitious goal: to expose the hidden infrastructure of state coercion that supports European migration policy, even down to the point of using reductive language such as “immigrant”. It arrives at these abstractions via the horrific story of the 2018 killing of Mawda Shawri, a two-year-old German-born Iraqi Kurd shot during a bungled border control raid on the van she was travelling in with her parents.

Director Robin Vanbiesen reveals this tragedy through documents and testimony read out for the audience of activists seen here. The infant’s body is dumped in a bin bag by the presiding officers, and her parents, Phrast and Shamden, refused access; the lies of the police, who played to the myth of immigrant barbarity by claiming Mawda had been thrown on to the highway by her fellow passengers; the justice system closing ranks by putting the onus of responsibility on the van driver for dangerous conduct that supposedly forced the police officer to fire.

• Rose wins Farmers Insurance Open with 72-hole record

• 265 total pips Woods’ 1999 mark by one shot

Justin Rose became the first wire-to-wire winner at Torrey Pines in 71 years, starting with a six-shot lead and never letting anyone get any closer to him Sunday as he closed with a 2-under 70 to win the Farmers Insurance Open.

Rose opened with a 62 on the North course at Torrey Pines and really never let up all week, playing even better on the South course that has hosted two U.S. Opens. He wound up breaking the 72-hole tournament record at 23-under 265, one better than Tiger Woods in 1999. George Burns also shot 266 in 1987.

Winning a career grand slam at 22 is confirmation the world No 1 is on a unique path and justified the decision to jettison long-time coach

There were many things that could have rushed into Carlos Alcaraz’s mind that followed his attainment of a goal he has chased his entire life, the career grand slam, achieved by defeating Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.

He could have thought about the immense hard work and discipline it took to achieve all of this, his comically large, tight-knit team and family that faithfully follows him around the world or even how close he came to losing his semi-final two days earlier.

Mehdi Mahmoudian detained after signing statement condemning Iran’s supreme leader for recent bloodshed

A co-writer of Oscar-nominated film It Was Just an Accident has been arrested in Tehran just weeks before the Academy Awards, after signing a statement condemning Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, for recent bloodshed in the country.

The human rights campaigner Mehdi Mahmoudian was detained on Saturday after adding his name to a statement declaring that “the primary responsibility for these atrocities lies with Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, and the repressive structure of the regime”.

Exclusive: Andy George, who has been subject to several investigations, believes there is an effort to marginalise the views of those he represents

“I tell you now, there is an attempt by some of the longer serving chief constables to get rid of me,” says Ch Insp Andy George. “I can guarantee I know exactly what they think of me: that I’m a wee upstart, so I am, that doesn’t know my place,” he adds with a smile.

The eldest son of a Protestant mother from Armagh in Northern Ireland and a father who was born in Malaysia but served in the British army, George is the longest-serving president of the National Black Police Association (NBPA).

Writing towards the end of the first world war, the poet, novelist, journalist and suffragist Benson here dreams of a secure peace

The Secret Day

My yesterday has gone, has gone and left me tired,
And now tomorrow comes and beats upon the door;
So I have built To-day, the day that I desired,
Lest joy come not again, lest peace return no more,
Lest comfort come no more.

The latest in our series of writers paying tribute to their most rewatched comfort films is a trip back to 1992 for the unique rock comedy

When the conversation of the most overrated band in history crops up I often want to put Queen forward as my suggestion. Their omnipresent hits represent the worst of bands who favour stadium-sized grandeur over true ambition. However, I can never truly get behind the idea of trashing Freddie and co when their music helped create one of my most beloved scenes in cinema history.

Early in 1992’s Wayne’s World, a bunch of rockers squeeze into an AMC Pacer with custom flames painted on the side. As they drive past the automarts, car washes and beef stands of downtown Chicago, Bohemian Rhapsody plays on the car stereo. The song’s operatic verses are used for laughs (the “Let me go” line becomes a cry for help from a friend who is partied out and might “honk” in the backseat) while the breakdown in the middle creates space for a spot of high-speed headbanging. To me it’s as thrilling a car scene as anything in Bullitt or the Mad Max franchise.

Core X programme is working to lift match officials from underrepresented communities into the professional game

“If you can’t manage personalities on the field and you can’t articulate your decisions, refereeing might not be for you,” says Dan Meeson, Professional Game Match Officials’ development director. We are in the cafe area of the Burleigh Court hotel, tucked away on Loughborough University’s campus, where a promising group of officials are being put through their paces by the elite refereeing body as they try to reach the top level.

The 29-strong group forms part of the Core X programme, designed to elevate into the professional game match officials from historically underrepresented ethnic communities who operate at semi-professional level. The programme, launched in 2023, runs in collaboration with the Football Association and is supported by the advocacy group Bamref. It accounts for more than three‑quarters of Black, Asian and mixed-heritage referee promotions into the professional game.

Yuji Nishida’s dramatic gesture after accidentally striking courtside judge with ball seen by millions

If Yuji Nishida ever decides to give up volleyball, he might want to take up the skeleton.

In a moment of chivalry that has been widely shared online, the Japanese player displayed majestic sliding skills as he took a traditional apology to extremes after inadvertently striking a courtside judge with the ball at the weekend.