⚽ Updates from Saturday’s afternoon kick-offs
⚽ Live scores | Read Football Daily | Mail Tom

If you want more regular updates on Palace v Macclesfield, John Ashdown has minute-by-minute coverage here:

Everton 0-1 Sunderland

Warning security forces could be preparing to commit ‘massacre’ under cover of internet shutdown

Demonstrators raged in the streets of Iran into Saturday morning, defying an escalating crackdown by authorities against the growing protest movement, now in its second week.

An internet shutdown imposed by the authorities on Thursday has largely cut the protesters off from the rest of the world, but videos that trickled out of the country showed thousands of people in the streets of Tehran. They chanted “death to Khamenei,” in reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and “long live the shah.”

• 41-year-old American wins in Zauchensee, Austria

• Veteran skier leads downhill World Cup standings

Lindsey Vonn continued her age-defying comeback with a downhill victory on Saturday to take her career World Cup tally to 84 wins. The 41-year-old American’s second success and fourth podium from four downhills this season increased the veteran skier’s lead in the standings and cemented her favourite status for next month’s Winter Olympics.

Already the oldest World Cup winner of all time, Vonn was fastest by 0.37sec from Norway’s Kajsa Vickhoff Lie with a run of 1min 06.24sec on a cold and cloudy morning with snow falling in Zauchensee, Austria. Another American, Jacqueline Wiles, completed the podium, 0.48 slower than Vonn, on a piste considerably shortened after Friday’s training was cancelled due to heavy snowfall.

Ministers warn platform could be blocked after Grok AI used to create sexual images without consent

Elon Musk has accused the UK government of wanting to suppress free speech after ministers threatened fines and a possible ban for his social media site X after its AI tool, Grok, was used to make sexual images of women and children without their consent.

The billionaire claimed Grok was the most downloaded app on the UK App Store on Friday night after ministers threatened to take action unless the function to create sexually harassing images was removed.

Exclusive: Voters say they have little confidence that government can control borders despite sharp falls in net migration

A large majority of UK voters believe immigration is increasing despite sharp falls in the number of people entering the UK, according to exclusive polling shared with the Guardian.

Voters also say they have no confidence in the government’s ability to control the UK’s borders, according to the poll by More in Common. The results will come as a blow to Keir Starmer’s administration, which has taken an increasingly hardline stance on immigration in recent months.

Nick and Brooke Shirley have for years published conspiracy-minded takes on hot-button rightwing issues

YouTube influencer Nick Shirley, whose viral video alleging fraud by daycare centers servicing Minneapolis’s Somali American community came days ahead of the Trump administration’s declaration of a national funding freeze, has for years published conspiracy-minded takes on hot-button rightwing issues.

He also has close ties to the White House, Republicans, and to representatives of an earlier generation of rightwing partisan “ambush journalists” such as James O’Keefe. He worked with Minnesota Republicans to produce the viral video on Somali-run daycares.

Warnings in place covering most of the weekend as weather system continues to sweep UK

A man has been found dead after a tree fell on to a caravan during Storm Goretti, as weather warnings have been put in place covering most of the UK for the rest of the weekend.

Devon and Cornwall police said emergency services were called at about 7.35pm on Thursday to the Mawgan area of Helston where work took place on Friday to remove the tree. A man in his 50s was found dead in the caravan. His death is not being treated as suspicious and his next of kin have been informed, police said.

State and local officials say they do not believe investigation into shooting death of Renee Nicole Good will be objective

State and local leaders say they do not believe that the FBI investigation of the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good will be fair and impartial, and are sounding alarms about the impact of federal officials holding onto evidence in a potential prosecution of the ICE agent who killed her.

Minnesota’s lead investigative agency, the bureau of criminal apprehension, initially began investigating the shooting in conjunction with the FBI. But the BCA issued a statement Thursday morning saying that “the US attorney’s office had reversed course: the investigation would now be led solely by the FBI, and the BCA would no longer have access to the case materials, scene evidence or investigative interviews necessary to complete a thorough and independent investigation”.

When it first returned to our screens, people said Gladiators was a tired format. They had clearly forgotten the joy of watching half-clad hulks with silly names go to battle, says superfan Helen Pidd as she heads backstage

When Gladiators is filming at the Sheffield Arena, it feels as if everyone is in on the joke. The woman in the ticket office looks at me gravely. “Before I give you these,” she says, “I need to ask a question. These are very good tickets. You’re in the camera block, near the red contestant’s friends and family. So there’s something I need to know. If the camera is on you, are you going to duck and hide and get all embarrassed? Or are you going to go absolutely flipping mental?”

I’ve been up until the early hours painting portraits of my favourite Gladiators with the precise hope of making it on to the telly. Of course I’m going to go absolutely flipping mental! I’ve been waiting for this day since 1992.

Swedish producer is trying to to accelerate the process of extracting the elements vital for hi-tech products

It is deep winter with temperatures dropping to -20C. The sun never rises above the horizon, instead bathing Sweden’s most northerly town of Kiruna in a blue crepuscular light, or “civil twilight” as it is known, for two or three hours a day stretching visibility a few metres, notwithstanding heavy snow.

But 900 metres below the arctic conditions, a team of 20 gather every day, forgoing the brief glimpse of natural light and spearheading the EU’s race to mine its own rare earths. Despite identification of several deposits around the continent, and some rare earth refineries including Solvay in France, there are no operational rare earth mines in Europe.

⚽ Updates from the 12.15pm GMT kick-off at Moss Rose
⚽ Latest scores | Read Football Daily | Mail John

1 min: Jaydee Canvot and Paul Dawson go up for a header as the ball is pumped towards the Palace box and there’s a brief delay as they both need treatment for a clash of heads.

Peep! After a brief delay to tidy up a cone left behind from the warm-up (!), Macclesfield get the game under way on the 4G surface.

⚽ WSL updates from the Emirates; kick-off 12.30pm GMT
⚽ Latest scores | Arsenal lead hunt for Stanway | Mail Sarah

Jenna Nighswonger’s loan move to Aston Villa from Arsenal was announced this morning but what is interesting is that the contract includes a deal to buy. The defender signed for the Gunners in the summer but has struggled to break into the first team.

Arsenal announced huge news in this transfer window earlier this week but it did not concern a player. The manager Renée Slegers signed a new deal which runs until 2029, a massively important bit of business for the Gunners to do:

Surge in 2025 sales correlates with growth in church attendances in England and Wales, research shows

For Christian booksellers, any good news about Bible sales has been few and far between. But recent retail figures have shown a revival.

Sales of the good book reached a record high in the UK in 2025, increasing by 134% since 2019 – the highest since records began – according to industry research. Last year, total sales of Bibles in the UK reached £6.3m, £3.61m up on 2019 sales.

Blocking immigration will not make Trump’s America great again – for the US to shine, he must let it get browner

Here’s one reason Donald Trump seems perennially in a bad mood: he has probably figured out that the America he fantasizes about is out of his reach.

However many immigrants he manages to deport or prevent from entering the country, the white paradise he is promising his Maga base, free of Somalis, Mexican “rapists” and generally people from “shithole countries” – closer in hue to the America where he was born – is not his to offer.

Aligning itself with Washington and dismissing regional diplomacy has left the dual island nation isolated amid the Venezuela crisis

There is a saying in Trinidad and Tobago: “Cockroach should stay out of fowl business.” It captures a hard truth. Small states that stray into great-power conflicts rarely emerge unscathed. They are not players; they are expendables.

It’s a statement that frames the reality of where Trinidad and Tobago sits uneasily today.

Remote photography didn’t dilute the intimacy of this blissful moment in the Nevada sunshine

Sara Weir’s five children had just woken up and were roaming their home in Nevada when this shot was taken. It was 7am and photographer Kelli Radwanski was after the morning light; Weir had another child on the way and had hired Radwanski to capture their family life. All the kids were feeling playful, ready to show off their talents, silly faces and prize possessions. As the eldest son wandered into the frame, holding his pot-bellied pig, Radwanski captured the moment – while sitting in her office chair in Oregon.

“Remote photography was developed during the pandemic and a handful of us still use it as one of our primary art forms,” Radwanski says. “I used a special app that took over Sara’s phone camera, an iPhone 13, and the day before the shoot she showed me around her home from the phone, so I could seek out light and vignettes that would be compelling in telling their story. We used a tall standing tripod to hold the phone and I had Sara place it where I wanted it to go. It worked beautifully for moving all five of them in and out of scenes. I’ve photographed more than 500 people in 14 countries this way.”

Exclusive: Possible revision of guidance for prosecutors in England and Wales comes amid safety concerns from courts

Circumcision is to be classed as a potential form of child abuse under new guidance for prosecutors, amid concerns from judges and coroners about deaths and serious harms caused by the procedure.

A draft document by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on “honour-based abuse, forced marriages, and harmful practices”, classes circumcision as a potential crime alongside breast flattening, virginity testing, hymenoplasty and exorcisms.

Five parties issue joint statement after US president warns he would acquire the island ‘the nice way or the more difficult way’

Greenlanders “don’t want to be Americans” and must decide the future of the Arctic island themselves, politicians in the self-governing Danish territory have said, after Donald Trump warned the US would “do something whether they like it or not”.

The leaders of five political parties in the Greenlandic parliament issued a united statement on Friday night, soon after the US president reiterated his threats to acquire the mineral-rich island.

Experts note the blackout is unprecedented in its extent but also selective, allowing some government communications

Iran’s internet shutdown, now in place for 36 hours as the authorities seek to quell escalating anti-government protests, represents a “new high-water mark” in terms of its sophistication and severity, say experts – and could last a long time.

As the blackout kicked in, 90% of internet traffic to Iran evaporated. International calls to the country appeared blocked and domestic mobile phones had no service, said Amir Rashidi, an Iranian digital rights expert.

• World No 1 will face Marta Kostyuk on Sunday

• Alcaraz beats Sinner in Korean exhibition match

Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the Brisbane International final for the third year in a row after defeating Karolina Muchova 6-3, 6-4. The world No 1 clinched her fourth match point at Pat Rafter Arena to advance to Sunday’s final against Marta Kostyuk, who beat the fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula 6-0, 6-3.

It was Kostyuk’s third win in a row over a top-10 opponent. She came into the match with only one win in five previous matches against the American.

On Friday, in a rematch of last year’s Australian Open final, Sabalenka broke Madison Keys in five straight service games on the way to a 6-3, 6-3 win. Last year at Melbourne Park, Keys beat Sabalenka for her first Grand Slam singles title.

Although three match points slipped away amid a late flurry of pressure from the Czech player, Sabalenka sealed victory when a Muchová shot sailed long.

“I always try to stay in the present,” Sabalenka said. “I worked really hard and each match against her is just another opportunity to get the win and I’m super happy that today was the day when I was able to get the win. She is such a great player and I always enjoy battles against her.”

This weekend promises a Hollywood showdown with films including Sinners, Marty Supreme and One Battle After Another up for major awards

After a year that was notoriously close to call (did anyone initially see Anora emerging as the ultimate victor?), this awards season feels a little easier to scope out. Paul Thomas Anderson’s idiosyncratic activism caper One Battle After Another has so far dominated, becoming only the fourth film ever to win best film at both the New York and Los Angeles film circles then the National Board of Review and the National Society of Film Critics. But how far can it go?

It leads this weekend’s Golden Globes with nine nominations but the comedy categories also feature Marty Supreme, now riding high at the box office, and its inescapable leading man Timothée Chalamet. Then on the drama side we have Sinners and Hamnet, two very different films solidifying two very different awards narratives. Here’s how I think it might all play out on Sunday:

The poet on running across a minefield, being bewitched at a bus stop, and his 88th birthday celebrations

Born in Liverpool, Roger McGough, 88, worked as a teacher before forming the Scaffold with John Gorman and Mike McGear in the 1960s; they performed poetry, sketches and comic songs and had a No 1 hit with Lily the Pink. McGough hosts Radio 4’s Poetry Please and has published more than 100 poetry books for adults and children, including Collected Poems 1959-2024. He has four children and lives in London with his second wife.

When were you happiest?
Last Sunday when all the family came round to celebrate my 88th birthday. (Or was it Saturday. Or the week before, perhaps?)

Why spoil perfectly crisp, clean bedding with dusty old accessories that have been used by hundreds of strangers? Yuck

Picture the scene: you enter a lovely clean hotel room. There are newly laundered crisp sheets and fluffy fresh towels. But as you sit on the bed, the cushions let out a cloud of dust and you realise the bed is covered with an unwashed bedspread that has been sat on by every other guest who has ever visited this room. It’s usually slung across the bottom of the bed, so lots of them have probably put their feet on it, too.

I hate decorative cushions and throws on hotel beds. The first thing I do on seeing them is remove them with the tips of my fingers and shove them in the wardrobe. Doesn’t everyone? Due to the often impressive efficiency of hospital corners on the bed, removing the throws can be a challenge, frequently resulting in wresting the entire duvet off the bed so I can discard the offending bedspread. And don’t get me started on when everything reappears on the bed the next day, and I have to begin my weird ritual all over again.

Annabel Lee is a freelance writer

From the greatest cartoon racing game in history to a remastered version of an Alien-inspired sci-fi shooter, here are the Switch’s must-play games

• The 15 best games to play on the Nintendo Switch in 2025

Although the Nintendo Switch 2 has been out for several months, not everyone has made the leap to the new machine and there is still much to enjoy on the original console in 2026 (and beyond). From timeless Mario adventures to cutesy shooters to chasm-deep role-playing quests, here are 15 games no Switch owner should be without.