Intelligence agency takes unusual step of publicly releasing statement and says it will ‘reserve our right to take further action’ if the ABC makes false claims Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A Four Corners investigation into the secret lives of the alleged Bondi shooters in the lead-up to the nation’s worst terrorist attack will go to air on Monday night despite a preemptive claim by Asio that the episode contains “significant errors of fact”. Path to Terror examines whether there were failures in intelligence and counter-terrorism leading up to the antisemitic massacre on Bondi beach on 14 December, and tracks the paths to radicalisation of father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram. Continue reading...

Lai’s conviction under national security law attracts the most severe penalty band of 10 years to life imprisonment. Follow the latest developments, live Jimmy Lai faces sentencing over national security charges Following Jimmy Lai’s sentencing, the 78-year old former media mogul smiled and waved at the public gallery, the New York Times reports. According to the outlet, Lai’s wife, Teresa, sat expressionless and had her arms folded. Others weeped in the courtroom. Continue reading...

Ukrainian president says the power infrastructure generates money for Moscow so is akin to a military target. What we know on day 1,447 Russian energy infrastructure is a legitimate target for Ukrainian strikes because the energy sector is a source of funds for the production of weapons, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. “We do not have to choose – whether we strike a military target or energy … it’s the same thing,” the Ukrainian president said on X on Sunday. “We either build weapons and strike their weapons. Or we strike the source where their money is generated and multiplied. And that source is their energy sector … All of this is a legitimate target for us.” Russia has targeted Ukraine’s energy grid in a campaign of attacks that has been called Moscow’s weaponisation of winter. Authorities in Dubai have arrested and handed over to Russia a man suspected of shooting and wounding a senior officer in Russia’s intelligence services, according to Moscow’s security service. Rory Carroll and Pjotr Sauer report that Sunday’s announcement came two days after a gunman shot Lt Gen Vladimir Alekseyev on the stairwell of his Moscow apartment, leaving him in a critical condition. The federal security service (FSB) said a Russian citizen was detained in Dubai on suspicion of carrying out the shooting. Television images showed masked FSB officers escorting a blindfolded man from a jet in Russia in the dark. The FSB said it had also identified two “accomplices”, one of whom was detained in Moscow and another who “left for Ukraine”. Zelenskyy said the US had given Ukraine and Russia yet another deadline to reach a peace settlement and was now proposing the war should end by June, reports Donna Ferguson. The Ukrainian president also hinted that the new deadline could be linked to Trump’s US midterm elections campaign. Zelenskyy told reporters that both Ukraine and Russia had been invited to further talks this week. A Russian airstrike on a residential area in eastern Ukraine killed one person and wounded two, officials said on Sunday. The attack on the city of Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region caused a fire in a nine-story apartment block, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service. Russia also struck energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Poltava region overnight into Sunday, Ukraine’s state-owned gas company Naftogaz said. Kyiv’s foreign minister said the Ukrainian and Russian leaders needed to meet in person to hash out the hardest remaining issues in peace talks, and that only the US president had the power to bring about an agreement. “Only Trump can stop the war,” Andrii Sybiha told Reuters. From the 20-point peace plan that has formed the basis of recent trilateral negotiations, only “a few” items remained outstanding, Sybiha said. “The most sensitive and most difficult, to be dealt with at the leaders’ level.” Zelenskyy said he was imposing sanctions on some foreign manufacturers of components for Russian drones and missiles which it uses against Ukraine. “Producing this weaponry would be impossible without critical foreign components, which the Russians continue to obtain by circumventing sanctions,” he said on X. Continue reading...

The biggest US sports night of the year is also set to be a major cultural event with Bad Bunny following up his Grammys triumph and a set of A-list ads Follow the main Super Bowl live blog here We’re drifting dangerously close to the football here, but the teams are taking the field with the now-traditional blessing of some celebrity fans. First up, longtime Seattle Seahawks diehard Chris Pratt, who introduces his hometown team with his young son. As a procession of Super Bowl MVPs walk on to the pitch Green Day take to the stage, opening with Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) and segueing into Holiday. As the crowd on the pitch pump devil-horns foam fingers , the trio look like they’re having a great time, and Billie Joe Armstrong still sounds incredible. After a bit of Boulevard of Broken Dreams, the short set climaxes with American Idiot accompanied by a bizarre lineup of football legends like of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Joe Montana onto the stage. A fun, punchy opener. Continue reading...

NZ court to consider an appeal from Australian white supremacist who pleaded guilty in March 2020 to murdering 51 people in mosque attack The Australian white supremacist who murdered 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch in 2019, in the worst mass shooting in the New Zealand’s history, is asking one of the country’s highest courts to vacate his guilty pleas and hold a new trial. Brenton Tarrant pleaded guilty in March 2020 to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and a terrorism charge, after initially saying he would defend the charges. In August 2020, Tarrant became the first person in New Zealand under current laws to be sentenced to life in prison without the chance of ever walking free. Continue reading...

The media tycoon, who was first arrested in 2020, could face life in prison in blow for press freedom following conviction in December Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy figure, is set to be sentenced on Monday in the financial hub’s most high-profile national security case, amid growing calls to free the longstanding critic of the Chinese Communist party whose health is frail. The sentence comes after a legal saga spanning almost five years for the founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper after he was convicted in December of two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of publishing seditious materials. He was first arrested in 2020. Continue reading...

Israeli president will meet with prime minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra and travel to Melbourne as pro-Palestine supporters stage protests Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, has arrived in Sydney for a four-day trip to Australia to speak to survivors of the Bondi terror attack and the victims’ families. In a post on X, the Israeli embassy said Herzog and his wife, Michal Herzog, were met by Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, after their plane touched down in Sydney on Monday. “Welcome to Australia, President Isaac Herzog!” the embassy said. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Labour peer, who came to UK as a refugee, says some ministers try to show they won’t ‘just do things because of their background’ Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, whose parents migrated to the UK from Pakistan, is facing the suggestion from a veteran Labour peer that she is “pulling up the drawbridge once inside” when considering the plight of refugee children trapped abroad. Alf Dubs, who came to the UK aged six in 1939 fleeing the persecution of Jews in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, said the home secretary and other ministers had “kowtowed” to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK by preventing unaccompanied children from seeking refuge with UK-based family members. Continue reading...

Health official’s endorsement comes as South Carolina faces hundreds of cases and US risks losing elimination status A senior US public health official called on Americans to get vaccinated against measles as outbreaks continue in multiple states and concerns grow that the country could lose its measles elimination designation. Dr Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon, spoke in support on Sunday of the measles vaccine. “Take the vaccine, please,” said Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “We have a solution for our problem.” Continue reading...

She made a special night even more special for these two young people – and gave me something special too Read more in the kindness of strangers series Adolescence leaves its mark on everyone but for my son the marks have been particularly obvious. I’ve lost track of how many casts he’s had. He loves electric bikes and at various times this has led to a broken arm, a broken hand, a broken leg, a wide variety of cuts and grazes, and terrifyingly close calls with much worse. It also led to him getting a job as a delivery rider for the local Domino’s Pizza, which valued him for his speed (another broken wrist) and his ability to be cheerful in the face of unhinged customers. Once, after getting no answer when he buzzed a flat and phoned, he left a woman’s pizza on her doorstep. She called him “the scum of the earth” and promised he would lose his job and never get another one. Continue reading...

Dembélé doubles up in 5-0 mauling Kane and Díaz on target in Bayern win Ousmane Dembélé struck twice as Paris Saint-Germain blew away bitter rivals Marseille on Sunday, reclaiming top spot in Ligue 1 with a crushing 5-0 victory at the Parc des Princes. Dembélé opened the scoring after just 12 minutes and added a second before half-time as PSG delivered a real statement of intent going into the crucial months of the season. Continue reading...

Malinin delivers to secure US Olympic team gold win Japan pairs skating brilliance pushes US team to limit Host Italy secure team bronze on home Olympic rink The United States held off a late charge from Japan to retain the Olympic team figure skating title on Sunday, with Ilia Malinin delivering in the men’s free skate to secure gold after three days of competition. Japan finished with silver, while host nation Italy claimed bronze. American hopes had rested heavily on the 21-year-old Malinin after a below-par short program on Saturday left the defending champions vulnerable heading into the final day. But the self-styled “Quad God” produced when it mattered most, leading the men’s free skate segment to seal the title and ensure the team gold remained in U.S. hands. Continue reading...

The 30-year-old has labored in the shadow of household names like Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin. On Sunday, she made history of her own For years, Breezy Johnson was the other American alpine skier. The one with the near-misses, the injuries, the suspension and the unfortunate timing to exist in the same stable at the same time as Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin. On Sunday, three weeks after her 30th birthday in the shadow of the Dolomites above Cortina d’Ampezzo, she became an Olympic champion. Johnson crossed first in the women’s downhill at the Milano Cortina Games by four-hundredths of a second – the slightest winning margin in the event’s Olympic history outside the dead heat in 2014 – to become just the second American woman to win the sport’s most prestigious title. The only other was Vonn, who took gold in Vancouver 16 years ago. Continue reading...

The acting is absolutely excellent, but the script isn’t great. This show lacks the dread of William Golding’s novel What, you wonder, could possibly have prompted the powers that be to commission an adaptation of a postwar allegory that throws into dreadful relief the impulse to tyranny, the fragility of democracy and the brittleness of our veneer of civilisation in this shining year of 2026? We may never know. Did I mention it takes place on an island in which all normal social rules no longer apply and the inhabitants are protected from any punishment or consequence, no matter what appetites emerge? Hmm. Well, on we go. Here it is, Jack Thorne’s take – after his triumphant Adolescence – on William Golding’s endlessly harrowing 1954 classic and GCSE staple for the past 30 years, Lord of the Flies. It was his debut novel and born of his reaction to reading RM Ballantyne’s Victorian classic of heroic derring-do, The Coral Island, to his children in the late 40s. That paean to noble and manly virtues from the golden age of optimism hit differently by then, so Golding asked his wife if he should write a book about what would happen if a group of boys were stranded on an island together and behaved how a group of boys stranded on an island together really would behave. She encouraged him to give it a shot. He borrowed character names and made other references to Ballantyne’s book in his own, but Golding’s story is its dark counterpoint; a suggestion that if men are left to rule the world untrammelled there will soon not be many of them, or much of the world, left to dominate. I know – what an imagination, right? Continue reading...

Half spy caper, half relationship drama, big chunks of this four-parter feel like they belong to another show entirely. It barely has enough energy for the MI5-based parts John Hughes (Shaun Evans) has been a spy for 20 years, but a life of enviable glamour still eludes him. Within minutes of him being introduced to us, he is on his back outside a motorway service station, shock and blood on his face. Two corpses – an informant, and a hitman who killed the informant and then lost a grim fight to the death with John – are lying beside him under a dull grey sky. Back at MI5 HQ, a reprimand awaits. John’s meeting with his doomed contact – on a promise of intel involving a possible foreign threat to national security – was yet another op conducted without following the proper protocols. Part of his punishment is to be given a new partner, Mehreen (Zahra Ahmadi), parachuted in from MI6 over John’s head: once she has taken over the case, his bosses want John out. John keeps investigating regardless. Continue reading...

Mia Brookes reaches snowboard Big Air final Britain has contenders in curling and freeski slopestyle High in the Italian Alps, where the thin air and oxygen deprivation often does strange things to the brain, British accents have started whispering about the possibility of Magic Monday – and Team GB winning three medals in one day at these Winter Olympics. And the craziest thing of all? It’s not entirely out of the question. Continue reading...

Carla Georgescu, 19, who was found dead at University of Lancashire on Thursday, knew 34-year-old suspect A man has been arrested over the death of a student in her accommodation at the University of Lancashire. Carla Georgescu, 19, was found dead at her accommodation in Victoria Street, Preston, on Thursday afternoon, Lancashire constabulary said. Continue reading...

ISU review resolves Olympic skating music dispute issue Azerbaijan complaint prompts Olympic music listing edit Armenia-Azerbaijan tensions resurface again at Olympics A politically charged dispute between the Olympic delegations of Azerbaijan and Armenia over figure skating music has been resolved after skating and IOC authorities reviewed the matter and the official program listing was amended. The International Skating Union (ISU) said in a statement to the Guardian on Sunday that it had examined the matter with relevant stakeholders. “The situation has been reviewed with all parties involved,” the ISU said. “The official names of the tracks that will be used are listed on the ISU website.” Continue reading...

Pep Guardiola cherished a first victory at Liverpool since Covid, earned by defining contributions from players who know what it takes Before joining his triumphant players to celebrate in front of Manchester City’s delirious away support, Pep Guardiola looked to the heavens above Anfield and blew a kiss. This stadium has tormented the City manager more often than most over the past decade but, should the title race twist as dramatically as this victory, his 11th and possibly final visit to Liverpool will be cherished as the turning point. Was Guardiola’s kiss one of thanks for Gianluigi Donnarumma, the goalkeeper who deflated Liverpool in the Champions League last season with Paris Saint‑Germain and denied them a 99th-minute equaliser with a stunning save from Alexis Mac Allister? Or for the nerveless precision of Erling Haaland, who had completed the visitors’ comeback from the penalty spot six minutes earlier? The resilience of Marc Guéhi and co in the face of Liverpool’s second-half recovery merited a smacker, too. The former Liverpool transfer target would eventually get a kiss from his manager, deservedly so. Continue reading...

Latest scores as teams meet for NFL title at Levi’s Stadium Predictions: Our writers’ picks for the winner, MVP and more Email david.lengel@theguardian.com with your thoughts David will be here shortly. In the meantime, here are our writers’ score predictions: Continue reading...

Allies hope aide’s departure can quell anger over Mandelson scandal but others say it leaves PM dangerously exposed Profile: Labour election guru undone by poor judgment ‘Only honourable course’: resignation statement in full Keir Starmer is fighting to reassert control over his party after accepting the resignation of his closest adviser, Morgan McSweeney, amid anger over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador. After days of pressure over the scandal, his departing chief of staff said on Sunday he took “full responsibility” for his advice to send Mandelson to Washington despite his ongoing relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, which McSweeney conceded had undermined trust in Labour and in politics itself. Continue reading...

Those pushing to oust the prime minister are unlikely to be deterred by his right-hand man’s departure UK politics live – latest updates For some Labour MPs, the sight of Keir Starmer accepting the resignation of his long-term consigliere, Morgan McSweeney, encapsulated everything they think is going wrong with the prime minister’s leadership. After days of mounting criticism over McSweeney’s role in advocating for the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Washington ambassador, the prime minister’s chief of staff left Downing Street on Sunday. Continue reading...

Met Office issues fresh yellow warning for rain as parts of England are still recovering from extensive flooding More than 200 flood alerts were active across the UK on Sunday as parts of England and Wales braced for more downpours after the Met Office issued a fresh yellow warning for rain. The warning spans noon to midnight on Monday, covering parts of southern Wales as well as south-east and south-west England. Continue reading...

US president attacks freestyle skier in post Hess had said representing the US was ‘a little hard’ Donald Trump responded to Hunter Hess on Truth Social on Sunday, calling the Olympian a “real loser” and criticizing comments the US freestyle skier made in a press conference days earlier. Hess was asked in a press conference on Wednesday what it was like to represent the US in the Olympics given the current situation in the country, which has included ICE raids in Minnesota and a number of geopolitical crises. Hess said representing the US at the 2026 Winter Olympics brought up “mixed emotions” and that it was “a little hard.” Continue reading...

Top aide’s resignation may buy PM time, but coming weeks bring events that could yet end his time in office Keir Starmer and his supporters will be hoping the resignation of Morgan McSweeney can buy him some time. But in the coming days and weeks the prime minister has to negotiate a series of ominous hurdles, any of which could end his time in office. Continue reading...