Daniel Ball granted clemency by Trump over riot-related offenses but remains in jail under separate gun charge

A Florida man pardoned for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot was swiftly rearrested on Wednesday on federal gun charges.

Daniel Ball, 38, of Homosassa, Florida, remains detained after federal authorities executed an arrest warrant for illegal firearm possession – a charge that predates but emerged from his involvement in the 2021 Capitol insurrection. The arrest marks a complex legal move that suggests presidential pardons may not provide absolute protection from prosecution.

House and Senate Republicans float ideas to pay for Trump’s immigration crackdown and to fund tax cuts

Republicans are reportedly prepared to cut Medicaid funding to pay for Donald Trump’s promised crackdown on immigration and to fund tax cuts which would mostly benefit the wealthy.

The GOP in the House and Senate have floated a series of ideas – many of which would target lower income Americans – to cover the cost of extending tax cuts passed by Trump in 2017, the New York Times reported.

Many palm species in the city are receptive to embers and hard to extinguish – and they likely helped spread the fires

When the Los Angeles wildfires broke out on the morning of 7 January, some of the most dramatic images were of palm trees set ablaze along Sunset Boulevard. In the days that followed, burning palms became a symbol to illustrate what may be the costliest wildfires in history, which left at least 25 dead and destroyed thousands of structures.

The trees are icons of the city. They also played a role in spreading the flames, researchers and fire officials say.

The landscape is not the dead relic of a foregone age. It is a living reminder of how knowledge tailored to the local ecology is essential

When I was 11, I was given the Atlas of Mysterious Places by a teacher and have been tragically obsessed ever since. It is why I have spent most of my life visiting these captivating places, while pursuing a career that gives me the excuse to do so.

The more extraordinary places you visit, the more you realise how truly incomprehensible the scale of human ingenuity and cultural innovation is. The wonder is in the unknown and the inspiration it instils towards greater learning. Perhaps that is why the “wonder” I am choosing is one I personally have more to learn about.

You don’t have to run screaming from this experience, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. Focus instead on how you’ll handle the attraction from here

• Read more Leading questions

I’ve been in a happy relationship for eight years. I have always felt extremely lucky to have met someone so suited to me so young, and many friends and family have remarked on what a special connection we have.

This sense of security was rattled recently when I met someone towards whom I felt an immediate and strong attraction. The attraction was not just physical. This new person and I had many shared interests and conversation chemistry. I felt an intense desire to keep them in my life, hoping the attraction would die down. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work like this – the more I talked to them, the more the feelings developed. After exchanging long messages daily, it dawned on me that I was having an emotional affair.

Do be the parent who sends friendly reminders about important school dates. Don’t be the parent who sends an accidental voice memo to people you’ll see at pickup

Anyone who has a school-age child is aware of the minefield that is the parent group chat. If you’re a parent who is about to enter the school years, buckle up – you’re in for a ride.

On a good day, the parent WhatsApp group (or Signal, or whatever your digital medium of choice) is a place of sheer beauty. It shows the best of humanity. Crises are averted. Generosity abounds.

• American emerges victorious with 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (8) victory
• In second grand slam final of career against Sabalenka

Deep in the final set of one of the most extraordinary matches of her career, the violent, destructive ball striking of Madison Keys was still in full flow. From a set down, Keys had dragged herself back into the match by brutalising every tennis ball in sight. Then she had shown her gritty resilience throughout a desperately tight third set. Whenever Iga Swiatek tried to pull away, Keys somehow forced her way back in.

One of the enduring questions surrounding Keys’ career has been whether she possesses the killer instinct and nerve to maintain her supreme shot-making under pressure in the biggest matches of her career. The answer has often been negative, but here Keys offered a supreme demonstration of her toughness as she saved a match point before emerging victorious in an instant classic, defeating a gritty Iga Swiatek to reach her first Australian Open final with a 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (8) win over the No 2 seed.

• Oscars nominations 2025: the full list

• Jacques Audiard’s trans musical beats record for most nominations by a film not in the English language
• Star Karla Sofía Gascón becomes first out trans actor up for an Oscar
• Snubs for Pamela Anderson, Denzel Washington, Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie

Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard’s musical about a Mexican gangster who transitions to escape the mob, has broken the record for the most Oscar nominations earned by a film not in the English language.

The film took 13 at the announcement on Thursday – three more than both Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2001 and Roma in 2018.

Clashes between players and spectators at Australian Open is just another example of the shouty polarities of our age

Eva Asderaki-Moore probably loves her job. But there were times, during Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open win over Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday, when the chair umpire clearly had it with the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, please,” she pleaded. And then “That’s e-nough!” – which she enunciated like a schoolteacher marshalling her charges on a very long, very noisy, coach trip.

You had to feel for her. What is tennis thinking, after all? It throws 15,000 people into an arena, whips them up into a state of delirium with some of the greatest feats of athleticism seen in a grand slam quarter-final, then expects pin-drop silence between points. At 1am? When some of these people have been drinking since lunchtime?

The actor and director have wanted to film the true story of murders at the 1893 World’s Fair for more than a decade, and reports suggest it is back in pre-production

The long-gestating period serial killer film The Devil in the White City, which for almost a decade has been a mooted collaboration between Leonardo DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese, is reportedly on the way to production, it has been reported.

According to Deadline, the project is now set up with Hollywood studio 20th Century, which since 2019 has been a subsidiary of Disney after its purchase of Rupert Murdoch’s film and TV studio 20th Century Fox.

Duke’s uncle says he showed ‘great tenacity’ in securing full and unequivocal apology from News Group Newspapers

Diana, Princess of Wales, would be “incredibly touched” and “rightly proud” of the Duke of Sussex for taking on News Group Newspapers (NGN) and gaining an apology for its serious intrusion into her private life, her brother has said.

Charles Spencer praised his nephew after Prince Harry received a full and unequivocal apology and “substantial damages” from the publisher over “serious intrusion” by the Sun, including unlawful activities by private investigators working for the paper.

‘Moment of truth’ for UK foreign secretary over Alaa Abd El Fattah, who is still being held in a Cairo prison

The family of the jailed British-Egyptian writer Alaa Abd El Fattah have urged the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, to prioritise the dissident’s release above trade deals during his visit to Egypt.

Fattah remains in a Cairo jail even though his sentence for dissent has been served. His mother is on a hunger strike in London with her health now deteriorating.

Hughes fire near Castaic Lake broke out on Wednesday and led to evacuation orders or warnings for more than 50,000

Firefighters fought to maintain the upper hand on a huge and rapidly moving wildfire that swept through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles and resulted in more than 50,000 people being put under evacuation orders or warnings.

The Hughes fire broke out late Wednesday morning and in less than a day had charred nearly 16 sq miles (41 sq km) of trees and brush near Castaic Lake, a popular recreation area about 40 miles (64km) from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that are burning for a third week.

Trade chief has said membership of Pan-Euro-Mediterranean convention could be part of ‘reset’ discussions

• EU trade chief says it ‘could consider’ UK joining PEM
• Business live – latest updates

The EU trade commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, has said Brussels is open to British membership of a pan-European customs area as part of “reset” discussions between the UK and the bloc.

Šefčovič, who is responsible for post-Brexit relations for the EU, told the BBC that allowing the UK to join the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean convention (PEM) was “something we could consider”.

The recovery period was grueling and painful but it gave me the unexpected gifts of resilience and empathy

The day after I turned nine, 27 August 1961, I conquered the bicycle. After weeks of wobbly, failed attempts while on vacation at my older cousin Lillian’s house in Michigan, I had finally done it! I got on that bike and away I went. I turned a corner without falling and rode back to the porch, where my friends whooped and hollered in celebration.

The cheers faded suddenly. Everyone stared at me. Lillian, zombie-eyed with her mouth open, held a shotgun pointed downwards. Somehow, I hadn’t heard it.

Investments ‘likely to pay dividends’, analysis says, as Trump unleashes dozens of pro-fossil fuel executive actions

Big oil spent a stunning $445m throughout the last election cycle to influence Donald Trump and Congress, a new analysis has found.

That figure includes funding from January 2023 and November 2024 for political donations, lobbying and advertising to support elected officials and specific policies. Because it does not include money funneled through dark-money groups – which do not have to reveal their donors – it is almost certainly a vast understatement, says the report from green advocacy group Climate Power, which is based on campaign finance disclosures and advertising industry data.

Thailand’s LGBTQ+ community has fought for decades for the right to equal marriage, and on Thursday 878 district offices across the country opened their doors to same-sex couples who wished to register and get married. It has made Thailand the first country in south-east Asia to recognise equal marriage, and only the third in Asia, behind Taiwan and Nepal

• ‘I am so proud’: Joy as Thailand’s same-sex couples can at last get married

• Thai same-sex marriage law comes into force – in pictures

Application says there are reasonable grounds to believe crimes against humanity being committed against women and girls in Afghanistan

The international criminal court’s chief prosecutor said on Thursday he was seeking arrest warrants against senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan over the persecution of women, a crime against humanity.

Karim Khan said there were reasonable grounds to suspect that the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and the chief justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, “bear criminal responsibility for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds”.

European court of human rights sides with French woman whose husband obtained divorce on grounds she was only person at fault

• Europe live – latest updates

A woman who refuses to have sex with her husband should not be considered “at fault” by courts in the event of divorce, Europe’s highest human rights court has said, condemning France.

The European court of human rights (ECHR) sided on Thursday with a 69-year-old French woman whose husband had obtained a divorce on the grounds that she was the only person at fault because she had stopped having sexual relations with him.

President Donald Trump began his first full day in office attending a prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral. The Episcopal bishop of Washington, Mariann Edgar Budde, pleaded with Trump during the service, asking the newly elected president to protect immigrants and respect gay rights. ‘There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives,’ she said as Trump and his family watched on. After the inauguration, Trump launched a sweeping immigration crackdown and promised mass deportations

• US Politics live – latest updates

Rudakubana, 18, taken out of court after interrupting proceedings after earlier pleading guilty to murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe

The legal counsel for the defence and prosecution have entered court.

The prosecution is led by Deanna Heer KC, with her junior Philip Astbury.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini, Jonathan Fadugba and Barney Ronay to discuss the Champions League action

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On the podcast today: PSG do the very thing PSG aren’t supposed to do and un-implode against Manchester City, coming back from 2-0 down to win 4-2 and leave Pep’s side with a chance of not making the Champions League playoffs.

They had different views on ways of making payments and also the European convention on human rights, but did they agree on the return of Donald Trump?

Martin R, 28, Bristol

Occupation Studying for a PhD in political theory

Words ‘at conception’ in order gesture to push by anti-abortion movement to give embryos and fetuses legal rights

• US politics – live updates

One of Donald Trump’s new executive orders, which claims there are only two genders, quietly incorporates tenets of fetal personhood – the legal doctrine, pushed by the anti-abortion movement, that life begins at conception and that embryos and fetuses therefore deserve full legal rights and protections.

“‘Female’ means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell,” reads the order, which was issued just hours after Trump took office on Monday. “‘Male’ means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.”