Famous for combining true crime and political scandals into songs – and antagonising Silvio Berlusconi – Franco Trincale keeps the tradition alive in his nursing home When Franco Trincale was a barber boy, he used to sing Sicilian songs in breaks between customers, his boss strumming the guitar. Back then, he could never have imagined that he would grow up to become Italy’s last great cantastorie, a now dying tradition of wandering musicians who entertain audiences by recounting the news in song-form. And he could not have predicted he would still be performing at 90 – in a nursing home. Continue reading...

Decision follows release of Epstein files that have disgraced her father, the former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor Princess Eugenie has stepped down as patron of the UK charity AntiSlavery International, the world’s oldest human rights organisation. The decision follows the release by the US Department of Justice of millions of documents and emails relating to Jeffrey Epstein’s role in sexual abuse and trafficking women around the world, which have disgraced her father, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Continue reading...

The Bridgerton star has told of her horror at being approached by a fan who only wanted to talk about her body. Surely it’s time we focused on something else Nicola Coughlan is sick of the subject of “body positivity”, and thank God, because so am I. “The thing I say sometimes that pisses people off is I have no interest in body positivity,” she said in a recent interview. Like Coughlan and no doubt many, many other women, I’m sick of talking about it, thinking about it, reading about it, all of it (I do recognise a certain irony in my writing about it, but hear me out). In the same interview, Coughlan recounted an encounter with a fan: “I remember this really drunk girl once talking to me in a bathroom being like, ‘I loved [Bridgerton] because of your body’ and started talking about my body, and I was like, ‘I want to die. I hate this so much.’” She continued: “It’s really hard when you work on something for months and months of your life, you don’t see your family, you really dedicate yourself and then it comes down to what you look like – it’s so fucking boring.” Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist and author of Female, Nude Continue reading...

From Gates to Musk and Altman, today’s ultra-rich steer AI and tech, raising questions about who decides the future When Bill Gates became the first modern IT mogul to reach the apex of wealth and power in 1992, the world was a very different place. Gates joined the top 10 on Forbes magazine’s billionaires list alongside Japanese, German, Canadian, South Korean and Swedish billionaires, including those with family fortunes from Britain and America. A broad mix of industries was on the list: Retail and media, property management and packaging, an investment firm and a couple of industrial conglomerates. Their fortunes almost added up to $100bn – equivalent to about 0.4% of the US’s GDP that year. The oligarchy has changed drastically since then. Bernard Arnault, of French luxury group LVMH, Amancio Ortega, the Spanish clothing mogul, and Warren Buffett, the US investor, were the only old-school billionaires among the top 10 in 2025. The rest largely made their money from high-tech: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Steve Ballmer and Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The top 10 amassed over $16trn, which is about 8% of US GDP. Continue reading...

Sarina Wiegman made a few positional adjustments as a showdown with Spain looms, and Georgia Stanway and Lauren James shone There were few fireworks, but six points from six meant “job done” for England in their first two World Cup qualifiers. They might have preferred to score more goals to boost their goal difference, but these victories were essential in England’s quest to top this qualifying group before they face Spain. With a warmly anticipated meeting with the world champions in April at Wembley, what will they have learned from these two competitive yet ever-so-slightly experimental qualifiers, a 6-1 win against Ukraine in Turkey on Tuesday and a 2-0 victory over Iceland in Nottingham on Saturday? Continue reading...

As the Oscar-winning Coen brothers classic reaches its three decade anniversary, stars of the film discuss the stories behind its production William H Macy was originally slated for the modest role of a detective in Fargo. Then the film’s directors, Joel and Ethan Coen, asked if he would like to read for the lead part of Jerry Lundegaard. “I said: ‘Boy, do I!’,” recalls Macy. He memorised the script that night and impressed the Coens but needed to seal the deal. Macy heard the pair were in New York, got his “jolly ass” on a plane and deployed some Coen-esque dark humour. “I said, I’m worried you’re gonna screw up your movie by casting someone else. I knew Ethan had just gotten a little puppy and I said: ‘Man, you don’t give me this role, I’m gonna shoot your dog.’” Continue reading...

Most residents of Canadian province wanted change for years; Trump’s unneighbourly rhetoric helped seal the deal Since 1918, the clocks in Creston, a town in eastern British Columbia, ran an hour ahead of nearby communities for half the year. For the other six months, they slipped back into sync. Not because they town changed them but because its neighbours changed back and forth from daylight saving time. Creston was an outlier: a community that effectively created its own time zone. But when residents in most parts of the province shift their clocks forward on Sunday, they will be doing it for the last time – and permanently joining Creston for the first time in nearly 70 years. Continue reading...

Self-styled ‘punk’ beer company bought land in 2020, pledging to plant Scotland’s ‘biggest ever forest’ The self-styled “punk” beer company BrewDog sold its Highland estate for a knockdown price after abandoning its efforts to plant Scotland’s “biggest ever forest” there. BrewDog’s co-founder James Watt claimed its Lost Forest project at Kinrara in the Cairngorms national park would cover a “staggering area” and capture tens of millions of tonnes of CO2 during its lifetime. Continue reading...

Critics say brash, bombastic Fox News host out of his depth to guide US military through murky new Middle East conflict Brash and bellicose, he sounded more like a cartoon bully than a sombre statesman. “Death and destruction from the sky all day long,” Pete Hegseth, wearing a red, white and and blue tie and pocket square, bragged to reporters at the Pentagon near Washington. “This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.” Hegseth, 45, a former Fox News TV host who now commands the world’s most powerful military, has this week become the face of Donald Trump’s war in Iran. That has set off for alarm bells for critics who warn that the Secretary of Defense – pointedly rebranded “Secretary of War” – has rapidly transformed the Pentagon into the staging ground for an ideological and religious crusade. Continue reading...

The closing of a cluster of leading creative venues has led to dismay and intensified fears the hubs that fostered Glasgow’s celebrated arts scene are disappearing By the time Daisy Mulholland arrived, the locks had already been changed. The Glaswegian artist, had been organising the launch event for her new art shop at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) when she got an email telling her the Sauchiehall Street venue – and cornerstone of the city’s art scene since it was founded as the Third Eye Centre in 1974 – was closing with immediate effect. “The event was the following day: we had 250 tickets sold, we’d done so many rehearsals, and inside there were lighting rigs, performers’ equipment, shop stock. It was truly heartbreaking,” she says. Continue reading...

⚽ Football news, reaction and previews ⚽ Sunday’s matches | Follow us on BlueSky | Mail Emillia Speaking after the 2-1 loss to Arsenal, Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough said: I thought the effort the players gave was absolutely incredible. We wanted to make it a proper cup tie and make it uncomfortable for Arsenal. I thought we did that. “We’re very proud. We said to the lads, if we do concede - don’t concede a second one. Then it becomes a bit too easy. That didn’t happen today. We could have done it. But I think everyone else enjoyed it.” Continue reading...

As a new book of his lyrics, poems and selected musings is published, the White Stripes’ singer, songwriter and general guitar hero reflects on poetry, politics and why writing a song is like reupholstering a chair On the jacket of Jack White: Collected Lyrics & Selected Writing Volume 1, the  poet and critic Hanif Abdurraqib writes: “I wish I read more people who talked about Jack White as a writer of lyrics.” He makes a good point. White is celebrated as a singer, guitarist, producer and generator of indelible riffs but not so much as a wordsmith. His new book, edited by official archivist Ben Blackwell, sets the record straight. Following 2023’s The White Stripes Complete Lyrics 1997-2007, it covers every song White has written outside that band, along with several poems, Instagram ruminations and scans from his notebooks. White, 50, thinks fast and talks fast. He’s sitting in the Nashville headquarters of Third Man, a record label, recording studio, pressing plant, publishing house, shop and ever-expanding vessel for White’s vision of what is worth valuing and preserving in American culture. He’s a kind of historian of American vernacular, drawn to the relationship between pop and the avant garde, between maverick auteurs and the communal imagination. His own work proves that defiant eccentricity is no obstacle to stadium shows and Bond themes, and that being wildly prolific hasn’t diminished his mystique. With this book, he turns his curatorial eye on himself. Continue reading...

There is no tokenism in Ingolstadt hiring a female manager, and the German club’s pioneer recognises the power of her presence in the game Home is indeed where the heart is. On Friday Sabrina Wittmann signed a new deal to stay at FC Ingolstadt, continuing a partnership whose roots go back nearly two decades but which became of wider public interest when the third-tier club appointed her as the first female coach of a German professional football team in summer 2024. There is no tokenism in the club’s choice, underlined not only by the contract extension but by the 34-year-old’s recent completion of her coaching pro licence, awarded to her just over a month ago. “I’ll always be the first woman in Germany coaching a professional men’s team,” Wittmann says, “but I want to be seen as a coach. Continue reading...

The 77-year-old’s 21st managerial role could be a final act and even if it is brief he will sprinkle the sixth tier with quintessential quips and well-aimed digs There is a specific, restless energy to Neil Warnock that defies the traditional laws of ageing and the modern conventions of football management. At 77, he still wakes up in the dead of night to obsess over the overlapping runs of a National League South full-back. “When I was thinking about the system this morning at four o’clock, [I was like]: ‘What are you doing?’” he said, a smile cutting through the post-match gloom at Ebbsfleet. The setting was hardly Premier League-like – a crowd of 1,467 huddled under a gloomy sky – but for Warnock, the stakes of the dugout remain existential. Even if the reality of his years occasionally intrudes on his tactical scouting. “When you get to my age, you have to go to the toilet a few times [which is why he was awake] … but I’m enjoying every minute of this.” Continue reading...

Central bankers and economists warn prolonged conflict could raise retail prices and rip up growth forecasts Middle East crisis – live updates An inflation shock triggered by the US-Israel attack on Iran could wreck a fragile global economic recovery that had been expected to gain momentum this year. With oil and gas prices spiking, despite a pledge from Donald Trump to protect tankers making their way through the crucial strait of Hormuz shipping chokepoint, central bankers and economists have warned that a prolonged conflict could increase retail prices around the world and force them to rip up growth forecasts for this year. Continue reading...

Former striker recounts experiences of racism at Atlético Madrid but says he ‘didn’t have it as bad’ as Vinícius Júnior The sad thing for Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is that the cycle of racism feels endless. It was prevalent in football before his playing days and throughout his career as a prolific striker, and it has persisted since he retired in 2008. Football’s racism problem has been thrust back into the spotlight in recent weeks after Vinícius Júnior accused Gianluca Prestianni of racially abusing him in Real Madrid’s Champions League tie with Benfica, and four Premier League players were racially abused on social media across a single weekend, prompting police investigations. Continue reading...

Tech firms condemned for lack of controls with Meta AI and Gemini even offering advice on how to bypass UK gambling and addiction checks AI chatbots are recommending illegal online casinos to vulnerable social media users, putting them at increased risk of fraud, addiction and even suicide. Analysis of five AI products, owned by some of the world’s largest tech companies, found that all could easily be prompted to list the “best” unlicensed casinos and offer tips on how to use them. Continue reading...

Founder of family-owned firm says it will pause acquisitions after takeover of 15 Compass Coffee stores in US Caffè Nero will continue opening new shops in the UK and overseas, but has warned coffee prices are likely to keep rising as the war in Iran and higher staffing costs feed through. The family-owned business, which has just bought the 15-store Compass Coffee based in Washington DC to convert to its main brand, is aiming to open as many as 30 UK stores and between 50 and 70 more this year across the 10 other countries it operates in. Continue reading...

The Philomena Cunk star’s life was changed by the Fall and she knows a Spitting Image song inside out. But which haunting banger does she say is the best ever? The first song I fell in love with Baggy Trousers by Madness. I remember thinking it was the most brilliant thing I’d ever heard, partly because there was a man in huge trousers suspended from the ceiling playing a saxophone on Top of the Pops. That probably helped. It was hilarious! The first single I bought The Smurfs? I think I just asked for it rather than went out and bought it myself because I was three. Apparently I was mesmerised by both Kate Bush and the Smurfs, so I had great taste in music. The first single I bought with my own pocket money was probably I Should Be So Lucky, because I hadn’t become acquainted with the Fall yet. Continue reading...

All the action from the Formula One season-opener in Melbourne Full report: George Russell wins Australian Grand Prix in thrilling Formula One season-opener Continue reading...

Wang Yi cautioned against a return to the ‘law of the jungle’ but stopped short of criticising Trump directly War in the Middle East “should never have happened”, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi has declared, even as he struck a more conciliatory tone with the US ahead of a highly anticipated visit by Donald Trump. Regime change, a key stated aim of the US president as the US and Israel continue to attack Iran, “will find no popular support”, Wang said on Sunday. “A strong fist does not mean strong reason. The world cannot return to the law of the jungle,” he added. Continue reading...

Carlo Soracchi admits exploiting empathy of woman who had abusive father by claiming his father abused his sister An undercover police officer told “grotesque and cruel” lies while emotionally manipulating two women he had deceived into long-term sexual relationships, the spycops public inquiry has heard. Carlo Soracchi admitted he sought to elicit the empathy of one of the women by claiming that his sister had been abused by his father. He also told her that his father had died when he was actually alive. Continue reading...

On a tight budget, we stayed in a bothy, climbed a mountain, looked for Nessie and – best of all – made memories that money can’t buy ‘There! There – I can see it!” The cries of my four-year-old echoed around the ruins of 13th-century Urquhart Castle, causing a group of US tourists to come running over to the corbelled bartizans (overhanging turrets) where we stood. “It’s Nessie, I saw her,” he insisted, pointing at the ripples spinning out from the back of a sightseeing vessel on Loch Ness. This was day four of a budget, week-long Scotland adventure for the two of us, and we were spending the day in Drumnadrochit, on the shores of the country’s most famous body of water, looking for the fabled monster. Continue reading...

Plastic, textiles, e-waste and more end up at the vast Dandora site, where waste pickers spend all hours sifting through toxic debris looking for recyclables On my journey documenting environmental stories in Kenya, I attended the Africa Climate Summit in 2023. It ignited a deeper exploration into the lives of waste pickers, revealing a glaring omission in global recycling narratives: the invisibility of these essential workers. Living and working in Nairobi, I immersed myself in Dandora, the largest dump in Kenya, spanning more than 12 hectares (30 acres) near the Nairobi River and receiving an estimated 2,000 tonnes of industrial and domestic waste daily. For months I witnessed first-hand how waste is devastating local ecosystems and human lives. Kenya’s waste streams are now overwhelmed by single-use plastics from companies shifting the burden on to informal workers. Pre-sorting has reduced the amount of recylables in the waste brought by truck to Dandora Continue reading...

Rogue operators draw in customers by advertising low prices, but when the work is done they invoice 10 times that sum Late on a Sunday night, you put your key into the front door and it snaps when you turn it. Unable to get in, you search online for an emergency locksmith and find one advertising a willingness to do the job for £69. You call it out. When the locksmith arrives, they ask no questions, drills through the lock within minutes and replaces the fixture. You are then given a bill for more than £700 with an invoice detailing a breakdown of the costs – all in excess of the original quote. Continue reading...