Reds’ success aided by Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa gigs Real Madrid take top spot again with £1.4bn revenue Liverpool were the English club with the highest revenue last season according to the annual Deloitte Football Money League – but for the first time in the report’s 29-year history no Premier League club made the top four. Real Madrid again took top spot with €1.61bn (£1.4bn), far ahead of Barcelona, with €974m. Bayern Munich with €860m and Paris Saint-Germain with €837m were third and fourth respectively. Continue reading...

IFG says proposed plans, which will slash the number of jury trials, will produce ‘marginal gains’ of less than 2% time saved David Lammy’s plans to introduce judge-only criminal trials in England and Wales will save less than 2% of time in crown courts, the Institute for Government (IFG) has said. In a report that casts doubt on the ability of the changes, which will slash the number of jury trials to achieve their goal of wiping out the courts’ backlog, the thinktank described the gains from judge-only trials as “marginal”. Continue reading...

RNIB research uncovers high anxiety around rail travel with some having fallen into gaps or been trapped in doors ‘It was a very lucky escape’: blind man who fell on to tracks calls for rail travel improvements Four in five blind and partially sighted people in the UK have struggled to cross the gap between trains and station platforms, according to a survey, with some falling and injuring themselves. Many blind and partially sighted people avoid taking train journeys owing to anxieties around whether they will be properly supported after having had inconsistent experiences, according to research from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). Continue reading...

I was raised strong, but I do not know how to live in a world where a parent does not know how to keep their children safe Hanukah is called “the festival of light”. It is a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, not biblically prescribed. There are no long synagogue services, no onerous prohibitions or requirements. Just candles, songs and doughnuts. This is probably part of why I always loved it. There were four or five events in Sydney for the first night of Hanukah. In 2024 we went to an event at Dover Heights, but parking was a nightmare. We decide on Bondi (where parking is also a nightmare). Five of us – my mum, husband, son (3), daughter (one-and-a-half) and I pile into the car. Continue reading...

Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho, who led Tiananmen Square vigils, accused of inciting subversion The national security trial of three pro-democracy activists who organised an annual memorial in Hong Kong to mark the Tiananmen Square massacre is to begin on Thursday. Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho are charged with inciting subversion under Hong Kong’s national security law. Their trial is one of the most high-profile national security cases to be heard in Hong Kong since Beijing imposed the law in 2020. The defendants face a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment if convicted. The law has a near-100% conviction rate. Continue reading...

UK had highest relative increase of five countries in study, with 20-fold rise in proportion of women over 25 using it The proportion of people in the UK on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication has tripled in the past decade, with a 20-fold increase among women aged 25 and over, a study shows. Researchers led by the University of Oxford examined electronic health records from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK to estimate the use of ADHD medication among adults and children aged three and above. Continue reading...

Deployment will serve data centers, governments and businesses, jumping into market dominated by SpaceX Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin on Wednesday announced a plan to deploy 5,408 satellites in space for a communications network that will serve data centers, governments and businesses, jumping into a satellite constellation market dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Deployment of satellites is planned to begin in the last quarter of 2027, Blue Origin said, adding the network will be designed to have “data speeds of up to 6 Tbps anywhere on Earth”. That speed, possible with the satellites’ planned optical communications, is extreme by consumer standards and would make the network key for data processing and large-scale government programs. Blue Origin said the network would be meant to serve a maximum of roughly 100,000 customers. Continue reading...

Researchers say event described as ‘major tipping point’ for clean energy in era of destabilised politics Wind and solar overtook fossil fuels in the European Union’s power generation last year, a report has found, in a “major tipping point” for clean energy. Turbines spinning in the wind and photovoltaic panels lit up by the sun generated 30% of the EU’s electricity in 2025, according to an annual review. Power plants burning coal, oil and gas generated 29%. Continue reading...

US justice department’s website shows the disgraced former CEO petitioned Donald Trump over fraud conviction Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has asked Donald Trump to commute her sentence after she was convicted of defrauding investors in her now-defunct blood-testing startup that was once valued at $9bn, a notice on the US Department of Justice website showed. The justice department’s office of the pardon attorney lists the status of her commutation request, which was made last year, as pending. Continue reading...

Liverpool and Arne Slot continue to find their release on European soil. What had been billed as an intimidating, intense examination of the faltering Premier League champions by Roberto De Zerbi’s Marseille proved nothing of the sort as Slot’s side moved confidently towards automatic qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League. Dominik Szoboszlai, an own goal forced by Jeremie Frimpong and the substitute Cody Gakpo brought Liverpool a merited victory in the south of France plus a ninth win in 11 European away fixtures under Slot. The margin of victory could have been even greater but, having struggled to turn possession into chances and chances into wins of late, the Liverpool head coach will take satisfaction from a comprehensive triumph all the same. Continue reading...

Pop star to be inducted alongside Alanis Morissette, Kenny Loggins and Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of Kiss Taylor Swift, 36, will become the second-youngest songwriter ever inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, joining the ranks of Stevie Wonder, who was 33 when he was inducted in 1983, the organization announced on Wednesday. The honor places the pop superstar, winner of 14 Grammys, among the most celebrated songwriters across generations. Continue reading...

Culture secretary says national institutions will receive £600m but they must extend influence outside London London-based museums need to ensure they reach every part of the country, according to Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, who on Wednesday announced a landmark £1.5bn funding package for the arts meant to restore national pride. National museums including the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery will be handed a £600m package but the culture secretary has urged them to look outside the capital to extend their sphere of influence. Continue reading...

There are many ways to self-destruct on a football pitch but PSV Eindhoven chose one of the more obvious methods. In opting to play out slowly from the back against high-pressing opponents possessing forwards blessed with the speed and skill of Yoane Wissa and Anthony Gordon, Peter Bosz’s team were always likely to come undone. Continue reading...

Liam Rosenior’s first taste of managing in the Champions League will not live long in the memory. Chelsea toiled against determined underdogs and were at risk of a humiliating result before a late header from Moisés Caicedo kept alive their hopes of direct qualification into the last 16. Victory lifted Chelsea to eighth in the standings. Yet they will have to be much better when they visit Napoli in their final game next week. FC Pafos were comfortable for long spells and Rosenior’s fourth game in charge had threatened to become an ordeal before Caicedo broke the Cypriot champions. Continue reading...

Manchester City 0-1 Chelsea (Kaptein 41) Chelsea will meet Manchester United in the final Chelsea reached a seventh consecutive Women’s League Cup final as they edged past their rivals ­Manchester City with an away victory that could also give them a psychological boost in the title fight, booking a meeting with Manchester United. Wieke Kaptein’s header ultimately won the contest for the holders. She was allowed to get in front of the City centre-back Jade Rose and jump unchallenged at the far post to nod in Sandy Baltimore’s hanging cross. Chelsea had the better of the first half, but the stars of the show were the two goalkeepers – Ayaka Yamashita and Hannah Hampton’s acrobatics in the second half provided great entertainment and somehow kept the scoreline down to a single goal. Continue reading...

Judge issues temporary order after paper had sought return of Hannah Natanson’s devices taken in ‘outrageous seizure’ A US judge temporarily blocked federal prosecutors on Wednesday from reviewing material seized when the FBI raided a Washington Post reporter’s home. Hours earlier, the Post asked a federal court in Virginia to force the US government to return electronics belonging to Hannah Natanson. Continue reading...

House committee opens prospect of using one of its most powerful punishments against an ex-president for first time House Republicans advanced a resolution on Wednesday to hold former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress over the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, opening the prospect of the House using one of its most powerful punishments against a former president for the first time. The Republican-controlled House oversight committee approved the contempt of Congress charges, setting up a potential vote in the House. It was an initial step toward a criminal prosecution by the Department of Justice that, if successful, could send the Clintons to prison in a dispute over compelling them to testify before the House oversight committee. Continue reading...

After covering Trump’s immigration policies from Chicago and LA, the Twin Cities operation feels like a marked escalation The Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial board described the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities as “a military occupation”. Local leaders have used words like “siege” and “invasion”. After a week of reporting in Minneapolis and St Paul, I wouldn’t know how else to describe the scene. I’ve been covering the administration’s immigration policies since Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January last year. I was in Chicago in January last year, when the administration assigned hundreds of federal agents to conduct “enhanced targeted operations” in the city. I was in Los Angeles last summer, when agents began seizing workers at car washes and garment warehouses, grabbing bicyclists and raiding churches. Continue reading...

US president claims ‘framework’ of agreement in the works after ‘very productive’ meeting with Nato secretary general Donald Trump has walked back his threat to impose sweeping US tariffs on eight European countries, claiming he had agreed “the framework of a future deal” on Greenland. Four days after vowing to introduce steep import duties on a string of US allies over their support for Greenland’s continued status as an autonomous Danish territory, the president backed down. Continue reading...

As Brendon McCullum and Rob Key limp on, perhaps it is worth retracing the steps that brought us here There will be consequences. There must be consequences. Perhaps there have already been consequences. Harry Brook is very sorry for getting punched by a bouncer in New Zealand. Rob Key is very sorry for overseeing an Ashes tour that in retrospect could probably have been an email. Brendon McCullum is not sorry, but has promised to “look at things over the next little while”, which is basically the same as an apology, so fine. In the meantime, the travelling circus of English cricket rolls on. There is a white-ball series in Sri Lanka starting on Thursday morning, for which – consequences, remember – McCullum remains as coach, Key remains as managing director and Brook remains as captain. In addition Zak Crawley returns to open the batting in the 50-over team, a fitting reward for not playing a single 50-over game in the whole of 2024 or 2025. Nature heals. Continue reading...

Analysts warn that Trump will probably demand more action from Mexico to counter drug-trafficking groups Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum has defended the latest transfer of 37 Mexican cartel operatives to the US as a “sovereign decision”, as her government strives to alleviate pressure from the Trump administration to do more against drug-trafficking groups. It was the third such flight in the year since Donald Trump returned to the White House, but analysts warn that while it remains an effective pressure valve, the returns may be diminishing. Continue reading...

A brief encounter set off a chain of events that culminated in a public rebuff to the US president from Keir Starmer When Kemi Badenoch met Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, on Monday evening, she pressed him on two issues: the Chagos Islands deal and North Sea oil drilling. Neither participant was part of their respective executive branch, and neither issue was at the centre of the crisis that has engulfed transatlantic politics. But before long, the meeting had some very real political consequences. Continue reading...

Author discusses changes made to Lindsay Gordon novels from 80s and 90s to prepare for their rerelease The crime writer Val McDermid has revealed she was assigned a “sensitivity reader” to remove language that could cause offence from her earlier works. The Scottish author has sold more than 19m novels worldwide and is known for the authenticity of the dialogue in her work. Continue reading...

US military says it has transported ‘IS fighters’ to Iraq after Kurdish-controlled prisons and camps changed hands Concerned western officials said they were closely monitoring the deteriorating security situation in north-east Syria amid fears that Islamic State militants could re-emerge after the Kurdish defeat at the hands of the Damascus government. The US military said it had transported “150 IS fighters” from a frontline prison in Hasakah province across the border to Iraq, and said it was willing to move up to 7,000 to prevent what it warned could be a dangerous breakout. Continue reading...

The president’s fixation on ‘piece of ice’ Greenland carries an echo of Vladimir Putin’s claims about Crimea The good news headline from Donald Trump’s trip to Davos was that he seemed to rule out force for now in his urgent quest to acquire Greenland. The bad news: he started talking about Iceland as well. What might have been a big reveal about the next step in Trump’s imperial ambitions was more likely a slip, though all speculation about the workings of the presidential brain is by now a guess at best. Continue reading...