Kateryna Kotsar gets engaged at end of qualifying run ‘It was so cute … it’s two really huge things for me’ For most athletes, qualifying for your first Olympic final would be more than enough excitement for one night. But Ukrainian freeskier Kateryna Kotsar’s evening was just getting started. Having made the big air final, Kotsar then wrote “freedom of memory” on her glove to protest against the ban of her compatriot Vladyslav Heraskevych for wearing images of slain athletes on his helmet. And a Valentine’s Day she will never forget took another surprise turn when her boyfriend, Bohdan Fashtryha, then dropped to one knee and proposed. Continue reading...

It was the reality show that aimed to disrupt the fashion industry but, as a shocking Netflix docuseries details, it also became part of the problem Even for those who didn’t watch the show religiously, there’s a scene in America’s Next Top Model that has broken through from reality TV infamy to hall-of-fame virality. It’s when Tyra Banks, model-turned-TV-mogul, loses her temper in spectacular fashion at contest Tiffany Richardson, after misunderstanding her post-elimination response as something to be read as ungrateful. “I have never in my life yelled at a girl like this!” she screams. “When my mother yells like this, it’s because she loves me. I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you, how dare you!” Continue reading...

The trees morph into sand dunes to protect homes on the seafront against rising sea levels and serve as habitat for rare species Britain’s fight against climate breakdown may usually look like windfarms or solar energy. But on miles of Lancashire coast the frontline is rather more festive. Tens of thousands of discarded Christmas trees have been partially buried on beaches south of Blackpool as a frontier against rising sea levels. Continue reading...

He went from being the east London boy who was expelled from school to becoming the Bafta award‑winning star of Alien: Romulus. Ahead of his prison drama Wasteman, David Jonsson discusses the pressures of being a leading Black British actor David Jonsson is the kind of actor who disappears so completely into his roles that it’s easy to forget you’re watching the same person each time. In Rye Lane, he’s a lovestruck south Londoner; in Industry, an Etonian banker with ice in his veins; in Alien: Romulus, a paranoid android. He’s now starring as heroin addict Taylor in the ultraviolent British prison drama Wasteman and, for the first time, the 32-year-old actor claims he is playing something close to himself. “This is the most personal role I’ve done,” he says. “It’s so messed up because it’s a dark story about rehabilitation and addiction, but I know these men really well. Especially when you’re growing up somewhere like where I did.” We meet on a Friday afternoon at a photo studio in Islington, closer to where Jonsson lives now in north London than to Custom House in the East End, where he grew up. He arrives wearing a beanie pulled tight over his cornrows and a windbreaker. He looks stylish but carries a delicate shyness that mirrors his character’s air of desperation. Wasteman, which opens this month after a critically acclaimed festival run that netted five British Independent Film awards (Bifa) nominations including best lead performance for Jonsson, tells the story of Taylor, a young father who has spent 13 years in prison for a crime he committed as a teenager. In the film’s unflinching depiction of the British prison system, he’s referred to as a “nitty” – UK slang for a desperate, pathetic drug addict. Jonsson lost 1.8 stone to embody Taylor’s “wasted” physique. “I was mawga, properly skinny,” he says, slipping into patois. Continue reading...

High court said the then home secretary had not followed her own policies when bringing in the ban last summer Huda Ammori, a co-founder of Palestine Action, who brought the high court challenge, called it a “monumental victory”. She said on Friday: We were banned because Palestine Action’s disruption of Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems, cost the corporation millions of pounds in profits and to lose out on multibillion-pound contracts. We’ve used the same tactics as direct action organisations throughout history, including anti-war groups Keir Starmer defended in court, and the government acknowledged in these legal proceedings that this ban was based on property damage, not violence against people. Continue reading...

Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results | Briefing Follow us over on Bluesky | Get in touch: mail Daniel Scheib from Austria is another with a chance of taking the lead as she canes it down the bottom section of the course, but another who can’t go clean, going far too wide on a gate, and slots in fifth, 0.39 off the lead. There are going to be a lot of these in with a chance of a medal in the second run, coming up at 12.30. Also going on": Continue reading...

The journalist, presenter and author on catchy kids’ earworms, impromptu rap-off during BBC night shifts and the 90s pop banger that plays havoc with her ankles The first song I fell in love with I grew up in a house where music was played all the time. I watched Kylie on Neighbours, and so fell in love with I Should Be So Lucky. I love how you don’t need to know about her private life, you can still just love her. I went to see her recently and she was amazing. The first album I bought Hangin’ Tough by New Kids on the Block, on cassette, from Woolies in Middlesbrough, with some pick’n’mix. I don’t think you could ever go into Woolies and not come out with some pick’n’mix. I liked the underdog, so Donnie Wahlberg was my favourite member. Continue reading...

EU’s foreign policy says many countries still ‘want to join our club’ Nato’s deputy secretary general Radmila Šekerinska picks up Haddad’s point. She says that the last Nato summit in The Hague agreed not just on increased defence spending, but also on ramping up own production. “This will be repeated in Ankara now: we need to produce more, and we need to produce more everywhere. We need more European production, we also need more production on the US side. “Unfortunately, most of our stockpiles are not up to the task. We went to industry, … and the only place where these capabilities were available was in the US stockpiles. I was in Norway recently, I visited a company that does all of its exports to the US, and then the US has additional production and many of European countries buy it. “We know that when you buy a weapon from another area, it comes with strings attached. It comes with [some] fine print on how and when you can use it. So all of this is absolutely critical.” Continue reading...

⚽ Reaction to Saturday’s news and Sunday action buildup ⚽ Today’s games | Follow us on Bluesky | And mail Xaymaca Hello and welcome to another matchday live. We’ve got five FA Cup games for you today, including Birmingham v Leeds at 12pm before Arsenal v Wigan Athletic at 4:30pm. We’ll also keep you updated on a host of WSL games this afternoon, including Chelsea v Liverpool at 12pm and Brighton & Hove Albion v Arsenal at 2:30pm. Get in touch with us as ever. Are you off to a game today? What are your predictions? Let us know. Continue reading...

Brazil’s president hails ‘unprecedented result’ as 25-year-old wins first Winter Olympic medal for country and continent Hundreds of thousands of international tourists are expected to descend on Brazil over the next few days for carnival. But you didn’t need to go further than the Dolomites on Saturday to see somebody performing samba on a raised platform. Lucas Pinheiro Braathen entered Brazilian sporting folklore by snaring his country’s, and continent’s, first medal at a Winter Olympics – and a gold at that. The reigning champion, Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, who leaves these Games without a title after being fancied for multiple successes, was no match for Pinheiro Braathen in the men’s giant slalom in Bormio. Continue reading...

Croat never stays long but is an expert at doing what is necessary and also comes with a reputation as a taskmaster In Italy, the interim manager of a football club is often referred to as “un traghettatore” – a ferryman. When waters are choppy, you do not need some ambitious captain with notions of heading out on an adventure. All you really want is someone who can get you safely to shore. Igor Tudor is not keen on the word. Hearing it applied to him when he arrived at Juventus last season, he observed that every manager, everywhere, is living from game to game. “You can have a contract for five years and get sent home after three matches,” he said. “You have to construct your tomorrow today.” Continue reading...

Lucy and Pippa Tallant have opened the Crossbar, in Brighton, to create a place for women to feel comfortable watching all sport You can’t miss it, the giant “Crossbar” flanked by two stylised crosses in black on the whitewashed outside walls glares down the street, a stone’s throw from Brighton’s Churchill Square. Outside is the narrow shelf that the co-owner Lucy Tallant, the DIY enthusiast of the pair, attached to the wall for those wanting to hang around outside. As she worked on that shelf, two girls walked past and one proclaimed: “Yeah, they’re opening a lesbian club.” “A lesbian club?” replied the other, “Yeah, there’s one outside now.” Lucy was in stitches, and so was social media when she posted about what she had overheard. The shelf has become a thing, with lesbians posing for photographs and then sharing online with versions of “there’s one outside now” as the caption. Continue reading...

Former Chelsea and Real Madrid idol wants merely to be remembered as ‘a good player and a funny guy’ after a career of multiple titles – and spats with Mourinho If Italy is a boot, Lecce sits right on the heel. It is here, deep in the countryside a few kilometres outside the baroque city, that the noise of the Bernabéu and the intensity of Stamford Bridge feel like a lifetime ago. The setting is rustic, quiet and slow-paced: a stark contrast to the frenetic energy that defined Eden Hazard’s career on the pitch. It has been almost three years since he stopped playing, and the silence since his retirement at 32 has been notable. After an injury-hit spell at Real Madrid brought a premature end to a dazzling career, Hazard did not seek the spotlight. Surrounded by vineyards rather than defenders, slumped in an armchair, he seems entirely at peace, remarkably comfortable with his life after football. Continue reading...

Acquisition by Premier Group Recruitment boss Andrew Woosnam appears to be example of ‘phoenixism’ A recruitment business that went bust owing the tax authorities and other creditors almost £3m has promised to send its staff on an all-expenses paid trip to Las Vegas after being repurchased by its former owner for an initial £10,000. Premier Group Recruitment went into administration in September with debts of £2.9m – including £647,000 owed to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which had commenced enforcement proceedings against the company. Continue reading...

Custodian University of Sunderland says renovation costs of £45m are too high and building must be pulled down. Not without a fight, say locals, who believe they’re being taken for fools The “little pieces of Sunderland” produced by the city’s glassmaking factory for more than a century can be traced back to an even older story that began in the seventh century, when English glassmaking began at a monastery beside the River Wear, run by abbott and later saint Benedict Biscop. In 2007, the Pyrex factory that opened more than 100 years earlier and made glass that found its way into millions of homes closed down, with production moved to France. Continue reading...

Fraudsters use stolen personal details to send out products, then post a fake verified and positive online review A package arrives but you can’t remember ordering anything. When you open it, you find some cheap, flimsy jewellery. Continue reading...

Writers from George Eliot to Goethe put this Lombardy town on the map, then it fell out of fashion. Today it makes a picture-perfect alternative to the Italian lakes The ancient settlement of Chiavenna, in Lombardy, near Italy’s border with Switzerland, was once well known among travellers. “Lovely Chiavenna … mountain peaks, huge boulders, with rippling miniature torrents and lovely young flowers … and grassy heights with rich Spanish chestnuts,” wrote George Eliot in 1860. Eliot wasn’t the only writer to rhapsodise about this charming town. Edith Wharton described it as “fantastically picturesque … an exuberance of rococo”. For Mary Shelley it was “paradise … glowing in rich and sunny vegetation”, while Goethe described it as “like a dream”. Continue reading...

Jim Boyling gave evidence under his fake identity during prosecution of activists he had infiltrated Senior police officers praised an undercover officer who had lied to a court about his real identity during a prosecution of environmental activists, secret documents aired at the spycops public inquiry have revealed. Jim Boyling, an undercover officer, gave evidence under his fake identity when he was prosecuted while masquerading as an activist. He was prosecuted alongside six campaigners for public order offences, but senior officers decided not to tell the court that he was actually a police spy. Continue reading...

The fight for Hope Moor is set to be repeated across the UK as the government aims to hit its renewable energy targets Instead of a slingshot, the Davids are brandishing a sculpture and a coffee table book. Their Goliaths are a Norwegian energy company and a UK energy secretary with renewable targets to meet. A fierce battle has begun over one of England’s tallest windfarms, proposed for deep peat moorland overlooking the Yorkshire Dales national park, in what residents say will mark the irrevocable industrialisation of their rural landscape. Continue reading...

Few outsiders, if any, have ventured more widely into the centre of Sudan’s brutal civil war than Jérôme Tubiana. The French humanitarian has been granted unprecedented access to travel throughout the western region of Darfur to document the heart of a conflict that has created the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe. His powerful images offer insights into a gruelling war that shows no sign of abating, but where hope endures that one day the killing might stop Continue reading...

Agenic AI apps first interview you and then give you limited matches selected for ‘similarity and reciprocity of personality’ Dating apps exploit you, dating profiles lie to you, and sex is basically something old people used to do. You might as well consider it: can AI help you find love? For a handful of tech entrepreneurs and a few brave Londoners, the answer is “maybe”. Continue reading...

Shark’s latest gadget claims to tackle everything from pore size to puffiness, but can an at-home hydrofacial really replace a trip to the salon? • The best LED face masks, tested The beauty tech market has boomed in the past few years, with countless brands launching products that promise clinic-quality results from home. After its LED face mask, the Cryoglow, made every beauty lover’s 2025 wishlist, Shark’s latest beauty launch, the FacialPro Glow, promises access to the sort of hydrofacial tech previously reserved for professional facialists. If you’re familiar with hydrofacials (AKA hydradermabrasion), then you’ll be aware that they have impressive pore cleansing and hydrating powers when performed in a clinic by a trained facialist. However, I was intrigued to see whether a portable device could be powerful enough to rival a facial that costs more than £100 – and concerned it would be unwise to put such power in the hands of non-professionals. Continue reading...

Worst weather forecast to hit late on Sunday, a day after floods caused power outages, road collapses and home evacuations New Zealand’s weather bureau has warned more flooding could hit the country’s North Island, a day after floods caused power outages, road collapses, home evacuations and caused the death of a man whose vehicle was submerged on a highway. There was “threat to life from dangerous river conditions, significant flooding and slips” as a deepening low-pressure system east of the North Island brought heavy rain and severe gales to several regions, the weather bureau said. Continue reading...

Pelicot tells her story about finding justice in a Newsnight special. Plus: hit thriller Yellowjackets comes to ITV1. Here’s what to watch this evening 10pm, BBC Two Continue reading...

Man charged after 2,600-year-old cat sculpture, mummy mask and necklace stolen from Caboolture museum Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Queensland police have arrested a man accused of staging a brazen cat burglary of priceless Egyptian artefacts from a museum in Caboolture, north of Brisbane. The man, 52, of no fixed address, was arrested on Russell Island in Moreton Bay on Saturday evening, after police allegedly found most of the stolen artefacts in a camper van parked at a ferry terminal. Continue reading...