Point proven? Well, not exactly. Just when Arsenal looked ready to lay down a real marker for their title aspirations, a rejuvenated Liverpool side that has been through the wringer since they were crowned champions last season proved the Gunners are still far from the finished article. It could have been even worse for Mikel Arteta’s side if Liverpool had been awarded one of two potential penalties or if Conor Bradley’s brilliant chip had not struck the crossbar in the first half. Arne Slot will be delighted with the way his much-maligned defence coped with Arsenal’s threat before the break. Continue reading...

The vice-president went ballistic against the media and the left – a version of Trump with even more menace It was James David Vance’s pitch to his boss: don’t forget me! The vice-president was nowhere to be seen last weekend when US special forces swept into Venezuela and snatched its leader, Nicolás Maduro. Instead Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and a potential rival to Vance in the 2028 presidential election, grabbed all the Maga glory. Continue reading...

David Hart, 22, imprisoned for one year over nuisance calls to London hospitals and Westminster Abbey A man has been jailed for a year in New York for calling in a series of hoax bomb threats, many of which targeted institutions in the UK. David Hart was prosecuted by US authorities after a joint investigation by Scotland Yard and the US department for homeland security. Continue reading...

The 1958 says club has become a ‘laughing stock’ Protest planned at Old Trafford in early February Manchester United supporters group The 1958 has called for a vote of no confidence in the club’s ownership model, calling Sir Jim Ratcliffe “an incompetent clown”. The organisation will also hold a protest at the home match against Fulham on 1 February to make their voices heard at Old Trafford. The group wants the removal of the Glazer family and Ratcliffe from the club. Concerns were also expressed in relation to the work of the chief executive, Omar Berrada, and the director of football, Jason Wilcox, in the aftermath of Ruben Amorim’s sacking, which will lead to an interim replacement. Continue reading...

Alastair Campbell joins graduates and social mobility charities in criticism of Trinity Hall’s new policy Trinity Hall graduates and leading social mobility charities have called on the University of Cambridge college to scrap its controversial efforts to actively recruit students from elite private schools, describing the new policy as damaging, offensive and a step backwards for equality. After the Guardian revealed that Trinity Hall was to target a small group of wealthy private schools – so as to not “ignore or marginalise” privately educated students, according to an internal briefing – those promoting students from state schools said they were shocked and disappointed by its justifications. Continue reading...

There’s a great deal of unpretentious B-movie fun to be had in this brief, brutal and slickly made creature feature There’s a refreshing lack of subtext and pretension to this week’s gory creature feature Primate, a straight-to-the-point riposte to the glum, trauma-heavy horror films we’ve been enduring of late. Rather than following his genre peers who are busy aiming for the lofty heights of Don’t Look Now and Possession, British director Johannes Roberts is happy to give gen Z their very own Shakma, the goofy 1990 schlocker about a baboon driven wild by an experimental drug. That film took a while to gain a cult following, ultimately accepted by the same drunk Bad Movie crowd who took in Troll 2, but Primate won’t take anywhere near as long. It’s a far better, slicker movie for one, a surgically well-made crowd-pleaser that swaps out baboon for chimp, cleverly turning him from test subject to domesticated pet. At 89-minutes and paced like a rollercoaster, there’s little room for life lessons, although the film does make for a stern, grisly reminder of why chimps should not be considered part of the family (something many still don’t seem to understand). Continue reading...

Charlotte Head, who is accused of taking part in a break-in at Israeli defence firm, called a ‘remarkable woman’ by her barrister A Palestine Action activist accused of taking part in a break-in at an Israeli defence firm’s UK site is a “remarkable woman”, her barrister has told jurors, as he likened her to the suffragettes. Charlotte Head, 29, is on trial at Woolwich crown court, south-east London, accused of being involved in a “meticulously organised” protest at the Elbit Systems factory in Filton, near Bristol, on 6 August 2024. Continue reading...

Outage piles pressure on regime as Iranian security forces reported to have killed at least 45 since protests started Iran was plunged into a complete internet blackout on Thursday night as demonstrations over economic conditions spread nationwide, increasing pressure on the country’s leadership. While it was unclear what caused the internet cut, first reported by internet freedom monitor NetBlocks, Iranian authorities have shut down the internet in response to protests in the past. Continue reading...

Capacity will increase from 37,645 to about 53,000 Proposals were approved by city council on Thursday Leeds have received planning permission to redevelop Elland Road and lift the stadium’s capacity from 37,645 to about 53,000. There had been fears that a delay to the long-mooted introduction of a tram network in the surrounding area until the late 2030s might impact the club’s plans to expand the ground but the proposals were approved by the city council on Thursday. Continue reading...

Aria and Tia both south of Britain after US-UK seizure of Marinera, deemed to be part of Moscow’s ‘shadow fleet’ Two oil tankers under US sanctions are sailing east through the Channel towards Russia, prompting speculation over whether the US and UK would be willing to seize further vessels linked to Moscow. The Aria and the Tia, which has changed its name and country of registration several times, were both travelling south of Britain a day after the Marinera oil tanker was captured in the Atlantic by the US with UK help. Continue reading...

Disgraced former movie mogul would avoid a third trial in New York on charges that came to define the #MeToo era Disgraced former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is weighing a potential guilty plea to resolve an undecided third-degree rape charge that would avoid a third trial in New York on charges that came to define the #MeToo era. Weinstein, in a wheelchair and looking noticeably paler than he did when he was last in court in June, was brought to judge Curtis Farber’s court on Thursday, seeking to have his latest sex crime conviction thrown out over claims of juror intimidation. Continue reading...

The London house where Bowie, then David Jones, lived from 1955 to 1968 will be opened at the end of 2027 On the evening of 6 July 1972, thousands of kids across the UK had their lives changed when the sight of David Bowie performing Starman on Top of the Pops was beamed into their living rooms. Come the end of 2027, Bowie fans will be able to walk the very floorboards where the young David Jones grew up, when his childhood home in Bromley, south London, is opened to the public for the first time. Ahead of the 10th anniversary of Bowie’s death this weekend (he would have turned 79 on Thursday), the Heritage of London Trust has announced that it has acquired the two-up, two-down house at 4 Plaistow Grove where Bowie lived from 1955 to 1968. Continue reading...

Certain canines can learn using cues from people’s gaze, gestures, attention and voices, researchers find Whether it is a piece of food or a four-letter expletive, words can be learned by young children overhearing adults – but now researchers have found certain dogs can do something similar. Scientists have discovered canines with the unusual ability to learn the names of myriad objects can pick up such labels by eavesdropping on conversations. Continue reading...

Hajar Abdelkader won just three points in 6-0, 6-0 loss ‘Wildcard should not have been granted’ to Egyptian Tennis Kenya said a controversial wildcard granted to Hajar Abdelkader should not have happened after the young Egyptian’s performance at a professional tournament in Nairobi went viral. The 21-year-old won just three points and served 20 double faults on her way to a 6-0, 6-0 defeat against German world No 1,026, Lorena Schaedel. Videos shared on social media showed the Egyptian struggling to serve and position herself on the court. Continue reading...

Donald Trump’s Venezuela policy confirms he has no time for rules or process. America’s allies must find new ways to guarantee their own interests Occasionally, history generates smooth changes from one era to another. More commonly, such shifts occur only gradually and untidily. And sometimes, as the former Downing Street foreign policy adviser John Bew puts it in the New Statesman, history unfolds “in a series of flashes and bangs”. In Caracas last weekend, Donald Trump’s forces did this in spectacular style. In the process, the US brushed aside more of what remains of the so-called rules-based order with which it tried to shape the west after 1945. The capture of Venezuela’s former president Nicolás Maduro has precedents in US policy. But discerning a wider new pattern from the kidnapping is not easy, especially at this early stage. As our columnist Aditya Chakrabortty has argued this week, the abduction can be seen as a assertion of American power, but also as little more than a chaotic asset grab. Continue reading...

A wave of humiliating sexualised imagery must prompt regulators and politicians to step up An online trend involving asking Grok, the Elon Musk-owned chatbot, to undress photographs of women and girls and show them wearing bikinis has rightly sparked outrage in the UK and internationally. Earlier this week Liz Kendall, the science and technology secretary, described the proliferation of the digitally altered pictures, some of which are overtly sexualised or violent, as “unacceptable in decent society”. What happens next will depend on whether she and her colleagues are prepared to follow through on such remarks. The government’s generally enthusiastic approach to AI, and the growing role they see for it in public services, do not inspire confidence in their ability to confront such threats. In addition to the deluge of bikini images, the Internet Watch Foundation, a charity, has evidence that Grok Imagine (an AI tool that generates images and videos from prompts) has been used to create illegal child sexual abuse images. Yet while X says that it removes such material, there is no sign of safeguards being tightened in response to bikini images that are cruel and violating even where they do not break the law. Continue reading...

Big fall in sales in rest of Europe means split from owner’s food businesses would be distraction best avoided for year or two It is probably a good thing that Associated British Foods has not yet split itself in two, liberating the go-getting and supposedly reliable Primark from the more volatile food and ingredients businesses. In standalone form, Primark would probably have suffered a bigger share price thump than the 14% fall that the still-combined conglomerate sustained after Thursday’s profits warning. The problem at Primark is that it has suddenly become hard to know what to expect. A year ago, the stores in continental Europe seemed to be trading well while the UK ones hit a soft spot. Now the UK end is back on form, regaining some market share, while the continental stores have had a serious skid. In the 16-week peak trading period, like-for-like sales at the former were up 1.7% while the latter (meaning Europe excluding the UK and Ireland) were down 5.7%, a big decline. Continue reading...

⚽ Premier League updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off ⚽ Live scores | Table | Football Daily | Follow us on Bluesky Good evening. Arsenal’s title wins of the modern era have usually involved a landmark game against Liverpool, and we’re just not talking about Michael Thomas. There was the Thierry Henry-inspired comeback at Highbury in 2003-04, the symbolic birth of the Invincibles at Anfield in 2001-02 plus Paul Merson’s winner on the same ground in 1990-91. Even the 4-0 defeat at Anfield in 1997-98 was a triumph of sorts: the reason Arsenal weren’t at the races was that they had won the title against Everton three days earlier, with all the ABV that entails. Tonight’s game at the Emirates could be equally memorable for Arsenal. A victory over the reigning champions always has symbolic value for the teams hoping to dethrone them, and if Arsenal win tonight they will move eight points clear of Manchester City and Aston Villa at the top. It’s hard to imagine a team as good as Arsenal losing that lead, even with 17 games to go. Continue reading...

The Nigerian novelist has said that she is ‘devastated’ after the death of Nkanu Nnamdi, who was one of twin boys One of the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s one-year-old twin sons has died after a brief illness. “We’re deeply saddened to confirm the passing of one of Ms Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Dr Ivara Esege’s twin boys, Nkanu Nnamdi, who passed on Wednesday,” read a statement made by Adichie’s communications team. Continue reading...

Nine episodes in, Radon Liz’s YouTube show is as laughably deranged as ever A world on the brink. Regime change in Venezuela. Greenland under threat from Donald Trump. Shadow fleet tanker seized by the US and the Brits in the North Atlantic. The Europeans battling to keep America onside in any Ukraine peace deal. A woman gunned down by ICE agents in Minneapolis. So thank God that some things never change. Be grateful we still have Liz Truss. The UK’s lone fixed point. Our very own guilty secret. The prime minister we all try our best to forget we ever had if only Liz would let us. But Truss is like that Japanese soldier who only realised the second world war was over in 1974. For Liz, global events mean nothing. She will keep fighting the Great Betrayal of 2022 for as long as she still has breath. It’s all that gives her life meaning. Continue reading...

Protests have been taking place across the US following the fatal shooting of a woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer taking part in the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown. Video of the moment Minnesota woman Renee Nicole Good was shot has been shared widely online, sparking demonstrations and vigils. The Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, demanded ICE agents leave the city and disputed federal officials' account of the shooting. Continue reading...

Lawsuit accuses AI chatbots of harming minors and includes case of Sewell Setzer III, who killed himself in 2024 Google and Character.AI, a startup, have settled lawsuits filed by families accusing artificial intelligence chatbots of harming minors, including contributing to a Florida teenager’s suicide, according to court filings on Wednesday. The settlements cover lawsuits filed in Florida, Colorado, New York and Texas, according to the legal filings, though they still require finalization and court approval. Continue reading...

At the Oxford farming conference there were signs the government has much to do to win back farmers’ trust Few symbols were more potent than the wooden coffin bearing the inscription “RIP British agriculture, 30th October 2024” that greeted Labour’s environment minister at the annual Oxford farming conference. It marked the date of Rachel Reeves’s first budget, when she announced plans to levy inheritance tax on farms. For the chancellor’s cabinet colleague Emma Reynolds, it underlined the anger among Britain’s farmers. Continue reading...

From vitamins C and D to calcium and magnesium, it’s critical to know if you’re taking the correct dosage to avoid health problems There are more than 100,000 supplements on the US market – capsules, powders, tablets and gummies sold to improve or maintain health. Supplements can contain vitamins, minerals, botanicals and amino acids on their own or in various combinations. The consumption of these products is surging. But it’s a common misunderstanding that these products are entirely safe, says Dr Pieter Cohen, an internist and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. Excessive amounts of nutrients can cause health problems, so it’s critical to know if you’re using the correct dosage of high-quality products. Continue reading...

Electoral Commission says tools to detect AI-generated content could be in place before campaigns begin Election officials are working “at speed” with the Home Office on a pilot project to combat the use of deepfakes to target candidates standing in this year’s Scottish and Welsh elections. Officials at the Electoral Commission in Scotland said they and the Home Office expected software capable of detecting AI-generated deepfake videos and images to be operational before election campaigns begin in late March. Continue reading...