Updates from day five at Melbourne Park Men’s No 4 faces Italian qualifier on Rod Laver Arena Any thoughts? Get in touch with an email
Djokovic to serve first…
Cries of “Nole!” as the living legend strides out onto a sunbathed Rod Laver Arena. He unpacks his bags in front of a knot of Serbian fans and pulls on a white crocodilian hat. Maestrelli is wearing his baseball cap backwards, like a Steve Buscemi meme.
Nato chief Mark Rutte says there is ‘a lot of work to be done’, as some Danish MPs voice concern at Greenland apparently being sidelined in US president’s talks
Donald Trump’s announcement of a “framework of a future deal” that would settle the issue of Greenland after weeks of escalating threats has been met with profound scepticism from people in the Arctic territory, even as financial markets rebounded and European leaders welcomed a reprieve from further tariffs.
Just hours after the president used his speech at the World Economic Forum to insist he wanted Greenland, “including right, title and ownership,” but backed away from his more bellicose threats of military intervention – Trump took to social media to announce “the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland” after talks with Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte, and withdrew the threat of tariffs against eight European countries. He later called it “a concept of a deal” over Greenland when he spoke to business network CNBC soon after Wall Street closed.
Unclear if presidents will have anything to sign; Mark Rutte urges Nato to pour out their air defence stockpiles for Ukraine. What we know on day 1,429
Voldymyr Zelenskyy was reported on Wednesday evening to be bound for Davos after Donald Trump appeared to summon him to the World Economic Forum. The Ukrainian president had said a day earlier that he did not expect to attend the conference in Switzerland as Russian attacks had plunged Ukraine into an energy crisis: “Undoubtedly, I choose Ukraine in this case, rather than the economic forum, but everything can change at any moment.”
Trump’s announcement of the meeting appeared to be at short notice, since he said it would take place on Wednesday, when his Ukrainian counterpart was not even in the same country. After Trump spoke, officials clarified that their meeting would be on Thursday. Zelenskyy previously said: “Meetings with America should always end with concrete results to strengthen Ukraine or to move closer to ending the war. And if the documents are ready, we will meet.” Talks between senior Ukrainian representatives and Trump’s envoys have been continuing since Saturday, including in Davos, but late on Wednesday it was unclear whether there would be any documents to sign.
Top Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov said he had met US representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Davos. Umerov repeated the familiar refrain that their talks focused on security guarantees and postwar recovery. Umerov said a Ukrainian delegation also met representatives of the US investment firm Blackrock about rebuilding plans.
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, meanwhile said that he would meet on Thursday with Witkoff and Kushner, who were headed from Davos to Moscow. Interestingly, Putin, quoted by Russian news agencies, said he would discuss with the US envoys the possible use of frozen Russian assets. The EU has been wrangling with how to mobilise Belgian-held Russian assets, about €300bn ($350bn) worth, to help Ukraine defend itself and rebuild. Putin appeared to be attempting to head off the European effort, reportedly saying he wanted to use such funding to restore “[territories] damaged during military actions”. He did not say whether those would be Ukrainian, Russian or Russian-held areas.
The Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, on Wednesday urged its military chiefs to press their national governments to get desperately needed air defence systems to Ukraine. “Please use your influence to help your political masters to do even more,” Rutte said in a video message to top brass as they met at Nato’s Brussels headquarters. “Look deep into your stockpiles to see what more you can give to Ukraine, particularly air defence interceptors. The time really is now.”
A Ukrainian drone strike set oil terminal tanks on fire at Volna in the southern Krasnodar region on Wednesday, Russian authorities said, claiming that three people were killed and eight injured. There was claim and counterclaim after a fire at residential buildings near the city of Krasnodar in Russia’s south-west. The region’s leader said it was a Ukrainian drone strike and 11 people were injured. The Ukrainian side said it was stray Russian air defence fire. The head of Ukraine’s anti-disinformation centre, Andriy Kovalenko: “A Russian air defence missile struck a residential building in the town of Afipsky [in the Adygea region].”
Record-breaking rains spark landslide at Mount Maunganui campsite, with helicopter teams retrieving families from rooftops and local states of emergency declared
Emergency services in New Zealand are searching for several people, including a child, believed missing after a landslide hit a campsite during storms that have caused widespread damage across the North Island.
Emergency minister Mark Mitchell told RNZ that parts of the east coast looked like “a war zone”, with helicopters deployed to rescue families sheltering on rooftops from flooding, and local states of emergency declared in five regions across Northland and the East Cape due to days of record-breaking torrential rain.
Former Men at Work frontman, who was born in Scotland and emigrated to Australia, tells anti-immigration protestors, ‘Go write your own song, leave mine alone’
Former Men at Work frontman Colin Hay has disavowed the use of the band’s 80s anthem Down Under by Australian anti-immigration protesters, saying the song “does not belong to those who attempt to sow xenophobia”.
In a post to his Facebook and Instagram accounts, the singer-songwriter singled out anti-immigration group March for Australia, who have organised marches around the country on 26 January under the slogan “Our national identity will not be erased”.
UK had highest relative increase of five countries in study, with 20-fold rise in proportion of women over 25 using it
The proportion of people in the UK on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication has tripled in the past decade, with a 20-fold increase among women aged 25 and over, a study shows.
Researchers led by the University of Oxford examined electronic health records from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK to estimate the use of ADHD medication among adults and children aged three and above.
Reds’ success aided by Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa gigs
Real Madrid take top spot again with £1.4bn revenue
Liverpool were the English club with the highest revenue last season according to the annual Deloitte Football Money League – but for the first time in the report’s 29-year history no Premier League club made the top four.
Real Madrid again took top spot with €1.61bn (£1.4bn), far ahead of Barcelona, with €974m. Bayern Munich with €860m and Paris Saint-Germain with €837m were third and fourth respectively.
My phone zoom helped me see better. One man was on the footbridge. He was holding a gun. It was pointed towards me
• Warning: This article contains graphic content
Hanukah is called “the festival of light”. It is a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, not biblically prescribed. There are no long synagogue services, no onerous prohibitions or requirements. Just candles, songs and doughnuts. This is probably part of why I always loved it.
There were four or five events in Sydney for the first night of Hanukah. In 2024 we went to an event at Dover Heights, but parking was a nightmare. We decide on Bondi (where parking is also a nightmare). Five of us – my mum, husband, son (3), daughter (one-and-a-half) and I pile into the car.
Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho, who led Tiananmen Square vigils, accused of inciting subversion
The national security trial of three pro-democracy activists who organised an annual memorial in Hong Kong to mark the Tiananmen Square massacre is to begin on Thursday.
Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho are charged with inciting subversion under Hong Kong’s national security law. Their trial is one of the most high-profile national security cases to be heard in Hong Kong since Beijing imposed the law in 2020. The defendants face a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment if convicted. The law has a near-100% conviction rate.
Researchers say event described as ‘major tipping point’ for clean energy in era of destabilised politics
Wind and solar overtook fossil fuels in the European Union’s power generation last year, a report has found, in a “major tipping point” for clean energy.
Turbines spinning in the wind and photovoltaic panels lit up by the sun generated 30% of the EU’s electricity in 2025, according to an annual review. Power plants burning coal, oil and gas generated 29%.
US justice department’s website shows the disgraced former CEO petitioned Donald Trump over fraud conviction
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has asked Donald Trump to commute her sentence after she was convicted of defrauding investors in her now-defunct blood-testing startup that was once valued at $9bn, a notice on the US Department of Justice website showed.
The justice department’s office of the pardon attorney lists the status of her commutation request, which was made last year, as pending.
US president claims ‘framework’ of agreement in the works after ‘very productive’ meeting with Nato secretary general
Donald Trump has walked back his threat to impose sweeping US tariffs on eight European countries, claiming he had agreed “the framework of a future deal” on Greenland.
Four days after vowing to introduce steep import duties on a string of US allies over their support for Greenland’s continued status as an autonomous Danish territory, the president backed down.
The intense, intimidating examination by Roberto De Zerbi’s Marseille never materialised. Liverpool, again more comfortable on European soil and without the irritation of facing a low block, delivered a commanding display to advance on automatic qualification for the last 16 and leave their Premier League troubles behind.
A Dominik Szoboszlai free‑kick, an own goal forced by Jeremie Frimpong and a stoppage-time strike from the substitute Cody Gakpo gave Arne Slot’s side a merited victory in the south of France.
Pop star to be inducted alongside Alanis Morissette, Kenny Loggins and Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of Kiss
Taylor Swift, 36, will become the second-youngest songwriter ever inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, joining the ranks of Stevie Wonder, who was 33 when he was inducted in 1983, the organization announced on Wednesday.
The honor places the pop superstar, winner of 14 Grammys, among the most celebrated songwriters across generations.
There are many ways to self-destruct on a football pitch but PSV Eindhoven chose one of the more obvious methods.
In opting to play out slowly from the back against high-pressing opponents possessing forwards blessed with the speed and skill of Yoane Wissa and Anthony Gordon, Peter Bosz’s team were always likely to come undone.
The brief ripple of applause at full time said it all. This was a deeply unconvincing display from Chelsea, who took 78 agonising minutes to find a way past the might of the champions of Cyprus, and it was not a surprise that Stamford Bridge greeted victory with such a muted response.
The mood was one of relief. There was plenty of angst on a night when the home fans continued their protests against Chelsea’s owners. The football was too slow, too predictable, and it hardly seemed to register that Moisés Caicedo shattering Pafos FC’s defiance ensured that Liam Rosenior’s side will have a chance to secure direct qualification into the Champions League last 16 when they visit Napoli in their final game next week.
House committee opens prospect of using one of its most powerful punishments against an ex-president for first time
House Republicans advanced a resolution on Wednesday to hold former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress over the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, opening the prospect of the House using one of its most powerful punishments against a former president for the first time.
The Republican-controlled House oversight committee approved the contempt of Congress charges, setting up a potential vote in the House. It was an initial step toward a criminal prosecution by the Department of Justice that, if successful, could send the Clintons to prison in a dispute over compelling them to testify before the House oversight committee.
After covering Trump’s immigration policies from Chicago and LA, the Twin Cities operation feels like a marked escalation
The Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial board described the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities as “a military occupation”. Local leaders have used words like “siege” and “invasion”. After a week of reporting in Minneapolis and St Paul, I wouldn’t know how else to describe the scene.
I’ve been covering the administration’s immigration policies since Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January last year. I was in Chicago in January last year, when the administration assigned hundreds of federal agents to conduct “enhanced targeted operations” in the city. I was in Los Angeles last summer, when agents began seizing workers at car washes and garment warehouses, grabbing bicyclists and raiding churches.
In the meantime, the travelling circus of English cricket rolls on. There is a white-ball series in Sri Lanka starting on Thursday morning, for which – consequences, remember – McCullum remains as coach, Key remains as managing director and Brook remains as captain. In addition Zak Crawley returns to open the batting in the 50-over team, a fitting reward for not playing a single 50-over game in the whole of 2024 or 2025. Nature heals.
In victory for Trump administration, appeals court has temporarily lifted injunction as JD Vance set to visit state
An appeals court has temporarily lifted restrictions from a federal judge in Minnesota that blocked ICE agents from pepper-spraying and arresting peaceful protesters.
In a victory for the Trump administration, the eighth US circuit court of appeals on Wednesday granted the justice department’s request for an administrative stay of a preliminary injunction issued last Friday by Judge Katherine Menendez.
Governor’s office says US pavilion bowed to pressure and pulled scheduled ‘fireside chat’ with Fortune magazine
The office of Gavin Newsom, the California governor, said his appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos was canceled under pressure from the Trump administration.
Newsom had been scheduled to sit down with Fortune at an event sponsored by USA House, the country’s official headquarters at the annual gathering of world and economic leaders. But before the talk was due to begin, his team says, the USA House bowed to political pressure from the Trump administration and denied the governor entry.
Analysts warn that Trump will probably demand more action from Mexico to counter drug-trafficking groups
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has defended the latest transfer of 37 Mexican cartel operatives to the US as a “sovereign decision”, as her government strives to alleviate pressure from the Trump administration to do more against drug-trafficking groups.
It was the third such flight in the year since Donald Trump returned to the White House, but analysts warn that while it remains an effective pressure valve, the returns may be diminishing.
The president’s address in Switzerland featured a range of dubious assertions, from exaggerated to false
Donald Trump’s address at the World Economic Forum in Davos featured a parade of dubious claims about everything from peace deals to windfarms. Several assertions ranged from exaggerated to provably false.
Brussels to host emergency summit to discuss options including ‘nuclear deterrent’ of retaliatory sanctions
The European parliament has formally suspended the ratification process on its US trade deal, in protest against Donald Trump’s threat to impose 10% tariffs on EU exports unless the bloc agrees he can take over Greenland.
The pause is the strongest material response the EU has shown so far to what several leaders last week called blackmail.
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