Experimental therapy of applying stem cells during surgery could be ‘major milestone’ in treatment of birth defects Giving stem cells to unborn babies diagnosed with spina bifida while they have in utero surgery could be “a major milestone” in the treatment of birth defects, doctors say. A trial in the US found that applying stem cells from the mother’s placenta to her baby’s spine while it was being repaired was safe and improved the child’s mobility and quality of life. Continue reading...

Pete Hegseth has threatened to cancel $200m contract unless it is given unfettered access to Claude model Anthropic said Thursday it “cannot in good conscience” comply with a demand from the Pentagon to remove safety precautions from its artificial intelligence model and grant the US military unfettered access to its AI capabilities. The Department of Defense had threatened to cancel a $200m contract and deem Anthropic a “supply chain risk”, a designation with serious financial implications, if the company did not comply with the request by Friday. Continue reading...

Department of Justice did not release FBI memos when it uploaded millions of pages of files beginning in December Three memos that describe four interviews conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2019 contain explicit but unsubstantiated claims that Donald Trump sexually abused a woman when she was a minor in the early 1980s with the assistance of Jeffrey Epstein, according to a Guardian review of those documents. The Department of Justice did not release those records when it uploaded millions of pages of files related to Epstein beginning in December. The existence of the missing documents was first reported by independent journalist Roger Sollenberger and subsequently confirmed by NPR, causing outrage in Washington and sparking an investigation from congressional Democrats. Continue reading...

RFU due to confirm shake-up of rugby’s top division Knighthead Capital Management in early discussions Birmingham City’s owner, Knighthead Capital Management, is among a number of American investors exploring the purchase of potential new franchises in Prem Rugby before a radical shake-up of the sport due to be ratified by the Rugby Football Union on Friday. The RFU council will vote at Twickenham on proposals to ringfence the 10-team Prem with no promotion or relegation until 2030, when a staged expansion is planned, beginning with the addition of two more teams. Continue reading...

Based on footage made by a devastated father in the aftermath of the school shooting, this heartbreaking documentary speaks to those still dealing with the loss. You wonder how some are still standing Thirty years on, the Dunblane massacre remains almost unbelievable and the grief of the families unfathomable. In a terrible way, it is almost harder to see them now, three decades on; three decades lived without the children who should now be grown up, with families of their own. On 13 March 1996, a man called Thomas Hamilton shot dead 15 primary schoolchildren aged between five and six and their teacher Gwen Mayor in their gym as they were beginning a PE lesson. Some of them he shot at point-blank range when they were incapacitated by earlier bullets. A 16th child died on the way to hospital. Continue reading...

WBD board says $31-per-share offer constitutes ‘company superior proposal’, triggering Netflix’s window to respond Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox Netflix has been given four days to beat a sweetened offer by Paramount Skydance for the assets of Warner Bros Discovery in the latest twist in the battle for control of the media giant. In an announcement on Thursday afternoon, WBD said that its board had determined Paramount’s revised offer to be a “company superior proposal” compared to Netflix’s $82.7bn deal – triggering Netflix’s window to respond. Continue reading...

For 67 minutes, Nottingham Forest were at risk of making unwanted ­history. At that point Fenerbahce were 2-0 up and full of belief that they could achieve the miracle their head coach Domenico Tedesco had been manifesting since their 3-0 first-leg defeat in Istanbul. Only one team in the history of European competition had lost the first leg of a tie by a three-goal margin at home and advanced. Up in the City Ground directors’ box, Evangelos Marinakis, more than an interested party on that occasion, presumably had flashbacks of Olympiakos suffering a 4-1 home defeat by Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Conference League two years ago, only to triumph 6-1 in Serbia in the second leg. Continue reading...

It is a peculiarity particular to Crystal Palace that a season of such upheaval and unrest could still end up with Oliver Glasner’s side winning another trophy. Having left the pitch after last week’s first leg with supporters calling for the Austrian manager to be sacked in the morning, Maxence Lacroix’s first-half header made it a much more harmonious evening for Glasner and his side. They spurned a number of opportunities to wrap up the victory over Zrinjski Mostar before Evann Guessand eventually did late on after being fortunate to escape from last week’s trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina with a 1-1 draw. Continue reading...

When Arlene went missing, suspicion fell on her abusive husband. This documentary is a sober reflection on violence against women, and a gripping whodunnit where some questions remain unanswered When the police arrived at Arlene Fraser’s house in Elgin, Moray in April 1998, they found a place where time had stopped suddenly, like a needle lifted hastily from a record. Sights that would have been ordinary had she been there were disturbing in her absence: a bicycle on its side in the yard, a vacuum cleaner plugged into a socket in the hall, washing on the line. Having stood in her dressing gown to wave her two children off as they left for school that Tuesday morning, Arlene had since vanished. Across two episodes that sensitively manage to juggle a sobering reflection on violence against women and a gripping whodunnit where a full answer keeps maddeningly eluding the authorities, Murder Case lays out what is thought to have happened to Arlene, and replays the twists and surprises of the trial – or rather, the trials – where concrete details refused to emerge. It is sad, enraging, frustrating, compelling. Continue reading...

European Anti-Fraud Office to look into the former US ambassador’s time as trade commissioner in Brussels Peter Mandelson is facing an inquiry by the EU’s anti-fraud agency after the European Commission requested the body look into his activities during his time as trade commissioner in Brussels. The commission said it referred the peer, 72, to the European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf) last week after the US Department of Justice released documents allegedly showing he shared sensitive government information with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Continue reading...

Police say they have ‘compelling evidence’ the remains are those of Cremer, who disappeared in June 2023. Follow updates live Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Character references to be scrapped in Victorian sentencing hearings Offenders convicted of any crime in Victoria will no longer be able to rely on character references during sentencing under changes being introduced by the state government – just weeks after NSW made the same move. Victim-survivors of crimes are having to sit in court and hear that the person who harmed them is a ‘good person’ – that compounds the trauma, diminishes their experience and can’t continue. “Under Labor, safety comes first, and perpetrators must be held accountable for their crimes without excuses. Continue reading...

Law demanding IDs match ‘sex at birth’ also includes bathroom ban provision for trans people in public buildings Transgender Kansas residents have begun receiving letters from the state’s department of motor vehicles notifying them that their driver’s licenses will be invalid beginning Thursday, as a new law goes into effect that demands that forms of identification must now reflect the credential holder’s “sex at birth”. The bill, known as SB 244, also bans transgender people from using bathrooms in public buildings that match their gender identity, and creates a sort of bounty hunter system, in which citizens can sue transgender people they encounter in restrooms for $1,000 in damages. Continue reading...

Action relates to corruption case over allocation of government land in Dhaka to a private company A court in Bangladesh has ordered officials to request an Interpol red notice for the British Labour MP Tulip Siddiq over a corruption case linked to the allocation of government land in Dhaka. Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission has alleged Siddiq used her relationship with her aunt, the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, to influence the allocation of a plot of state-owned land in Dhaka’s Gulshan district to a private company. Siddiq has rejected the claim as baseless and politically motivated. Continue reading...

Shutdown affecting Fema has caused delay in delivery Host city officials concerned about ability to stage events Representative Nellie Pou: ‘Time for DHS to do its job’ Kristi Noem, the US homeland security secretary, replied forcefully on Thursday to concerns about a holdup of federal funding for this summer’s World Cup, confirming that “no funds have been awarded yet” in a post on X. About $625m in grants administered by the Federal Emergency Management Authority (Fema) were authorized last summer and set to be distributed to US host cities to aid with security and planning for the tournament, which will be co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico. Noem’s comments follow congressional testimony earlier this week by host city officials who expressed concern that they may not have time to adequately prepare for the tournament if they don’t receive the funds in short order. Continue reading...

Martin O’Neill delivered a little piece of history in what will surely be his final game in Europe as a manager. O’Neill created such wonderful European memories for Celtic’s support during his first tenure as the manager that departing with a smile felt entirely valid. In Stuttgart, Celtic won their first ever competitive game in Germany. It took them 17 attempts. Luke McCowan’s goal after 33 seconds was irrelevant in the broader context of this tie. Stuttgart’s 4-1 canter in Glasgow a week earlier ensured that. Still, a game that had the whiff of irrelevance for Celtic delivered cheer. The statistics will show Stuttgart spent much of the evening camped in Celtic’s half but the Scottish champions played with a diligence and discipline that it worthy of great credit. Sebastian Tounekti should even have scored a second Celtic goal in the closing minutes. By then, Stuttgart were going through the motions. Continue reading...

Largest ever image obtained by specialist telescope in Chile represents scientific and aesthetic breakthrough Scientists have captured a beautiful image in unprecedented detail of the vast Milky Way galaxy, of which our own solar system is a part. The stunning image is the largest ever obtained by the specialist telescope in Chile called the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (Alma) radio telescope, according to the group behind the project. Continue reading...

The anger toward John Davidson’s racist Baftas outburst is understandable. But I’ve had to ask what I owe to others with the condition I cover Canada for the Guardian, a country spanning six time zones and more than 40 million people, whose stories I get to tell for a living. I’ve had a successful career but at times, I worry that my work suffers because I have Tourette syndrome (TS). Continue reading...

First lady to preside over meeting on ‘children, technology and education in conflict’ in New York next month First lady Melania Trump is set to lead a session of the United Nations security council on Monday, coinciding with the US assuming the body’s rotating monthly presidency, the White House announced. According to a statement, first cited by CNN, Melania Trump plans to spotlight education as a tool for fostering tolerance and promoting global peace at the global body, which has its headquarters in New York. Continue reading...

Care roles hit particularly hard by UK’s lurch to the right on migration, according to analysis of Home Office data Hospitals and care homes in the UK face “an impending car crash”, experts have warned, as research shows the number of overseas nurses and carers has collapsed. Analysis of Home Office quarterly datasets reveals the number of overseas nurses granted entry to the UK has fallen by 93% over three years. Just 1,777 overseas nurses were granted entry in 2025, compared with 26,100 in 2022. Continue reading...

Women from countries with near-total bans on terminations will be given help to access services elsewhere EU states will be able to tap into a social fund to help citizens access safe abortions, in an announcement hailed as a “victory for women”. The roots of Thursday’s announcement go back to a long campaign for the European Commission to create a funding mechanism that would allow women from countries with near-total bans on abortion, such as Malta and Poland, to go where it is legal. Continue reading...

Indhu Rubasingham calls in Jennie Lee lecture for renewed commitment to creative risk and new writing The National Theatre’s artistic director, Indhu Rubasingham, has said that “conservative” theatre-making will “kill” the industry, even if it helps venues balance the books for now. Delivering the second-ever Jennie Lee lecture in front of an audience of 200 representatives from the UK arts industry on Thursday, Rubasingham called for a renewed national commitment to backing creative risk and new writing. Continue reading...

Player is captain of NHL’s Ottawa Senators Tkachuk expresses regret over Trump joke US ice hockey star Brady Tkachuk has said he does not appreciate an AI video released by the White House that shows him insulting Canadians. Tkachuk played in the Americans’ victory over Canada at the Winter Olympics on Sunday, which secured the US men their first gold medal since 1980. In the wake of that win, the White House’s TikTok account published video of Tkachuk saying: “They booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple syrup eating fuckers a lesson.” Continue reading...

Italian reportedly fell three floors in South Africa Golfer ‘in good spirits’ according to his former coach Italian golfer Andrea Pavan is “thankful to be alive” after reportedly falling three floors down a lift shaft. The 36-year-old, a two-time European Tour winner, was scheduled to be playing in this week’s South African Open Championship at Stellenbosch Golf Club but was forced to withdraw after the incident on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Deficit is the highest ever recorded by an English club BlueCo partner Strasbourg also lost £69m in same period Chelsea made a financial loss of £355m in the 2024-25 season, according to new data released by Uefa, the biggest deficit ever recorded by an English football club. According to Uefa, Chelsea’s losses were about £186m higher than the second-worst losses in Europe, the £171m figure posted by Lyon. The figures are also about £260m worse than those posted by the Blues in 2023-24. Continue reading...

Cuban president says country will ‘defend itself with determination’ after deadly coastal assault from exiles What we know so far about the deadly boat shooting off Cuba’s coast Cuba has vowed to defend itself against any “terrorist and mercenary aggression”, a day after border guards said they had killed four exiles on a Florida-registered speedboat that opened fire on a patrol. President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on X that the Caribbean country will “defend itself with determination and firmness,” after the incident in which six other people on the boat were injured. Continue reading...