Tech giant reports $213bn in revenue after its founder, who owns the Post, lays off a third of newspaper’s employees Amazon announced plans to spend $200bn on artificial intelligence and robotics this year, the latest tech giant to vow fresh enormous investments in the artificial intelligence arms race. The news of the investment comes one day after the Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced it was cutting approximately a third of employees. Continue reading...

While labels list dozens of possible risks only four are supported by evidence, say researchers Almost all side-effects listed for statins are not caused by the drugs, according to the world’s most comprehensive review of evidence. Other than the well-known risks around muscle pain and diabetes, only four of 66 other statin side-effects listed on labels – liver test changes, minor liver abnormalities, urine changes and tissue swelling – are supported by evidence. And the risks are very small, according to the systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Lancet. Continue reading...

World’s most prominent cryptocurrency peaked at $126,000 in October 2025, only to see its value slump steeply Bitcoin’s price sank to $63,000 on Thursday, its lowest level in more than a year, and half its all-time peak of $126,000, reached in October 2025. A months-long dip in cryptocurrency prices has tanked shares of companies that have increasingly invested in bitcoin, exacerbating broader stock market jitters. Bitcoin rode a high during Donald Trump’s ascent to the presidency in 2024 and throughout 2025; its price steadily increased as the president made one industry-friendly move after another. Crypto’s largest currency hit $100,000 for the first time in December 2024 and even rose to a record high of $126,210.50 on 6 October, according to Coinbase. But bitcoin’s valuation has dipped over the last few months, falling especially hard in January and the start of February. Continue reading...

Club short on defenders before three games in seven days Head coach ‘very happy’ with squad despite lack of cover Arne Slot has said Liverpool have “a hell of a challenge” to prevent injuries affecting their ambitions for the rest of the season after failing to sign Lutsharel Geertruida on deadline day. Although Liverpool strengthened for next season with the £60m signing of Jérémy Jacquet, who will arrive from Rennes in the summer, their current problems in defence were not covered. The Premier League champions did move for the Netherlands international Geertruida, who is on loan at Sunderland from Leipzig and wanted the transfer, but the deal was called off because Sunderland were unable to secure a replacement. Continue reading...

Featuring an unlikely animal friendship, the commercial boasts enough patriotic iconography to verge on self-parody Three years after its sister brand, Bud Light, faced a rightwing boycott over a transgender spokesperson, Budweiser’s new Super Bowl ad, American Icons, contains absolutely nothing that could be mistaken for social progress. Instead, it features an unlikely friendship between two animals whose blood runs red, white and blue: a bald eagle and a Clydesdale horse, the Budweiser icon. An adorable foal trots out of a barn, and the viewer is injected with a single minute of American iconography so pure that it would make Lee Greenwood nauseous. The horse meets a struggling baby bird who gets caught in the rain, prompting the horse to stand over the bird as a roof. The pair become pals and grow up together, the bird riding on the horse’s back as it grows larger. It falls off a few times, but, like George Washington at Valley Forge, it never gives up. Finally, the horse jumps over a log while the bird spreads its wings above, and we get a slow-motion image of something like Pegasus. We realize the bird, now fully grown, is a majestic bald eagle, taking to the sky as Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird reaches its climax. Two farmers look on while drinking Budweiser, as the words “Made of America” appear on the screen. “You crying?” one asks. “The sun’s in my eyes,” says the other. Continue reading...

Half-term trial will limit ride access passes for those with additional needs and offer calmer spaces to people who find crowds difficult People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety and autism will be prevented from using fast-lane disability queueing passes at Alton Towers during a trial over the February half-term holidays. Merlin Entertainments, which runs the theme park in Staffordshire, provides a “ride access pass” to visitors who have difficulty queueing due to a disability or medical condition. Continue reading...

France 36-14 Ireland Bielle-Biarrey scores twice in dazzling display The Six Nations is under way and already a couple of things are ­crystal clear. It is going to take a seriously good team to beat France in Paris in this year’s championship and watching them attack is already a genuine treat. Ireland were not so much beaten as outplayed by ­opponents who will be even more dangerous with a dry ball at their disposal. Never mind the argument about brief in-game adverts during ITV’s coverage. Irish fans would ­probably have preferred a total 80-minute blackout or, failing that, an entire evening of cookery programming. Instead those back at home had to watch the visitors being ­repeatedly sliced and diced by ­apparently ravenous hosts. Talk about eating your greens. Continue reading...

Shabana Mahmood insists deportations will rise, as Labour government is accused of promoting ‘harmful stereotypes’ of migrants Nearly 60,000 unauthorised migrants and convicted criminals have been removed or deported from the UK since Labour took office, the Home Office has said. The announcement came amid claims that the government was promoting “harmful stereotypes” by equating migration with criminality. Continue reading...

Mark Francis Ford has been held without bail for five months after authorities arrested him in Indiana A man accused of molesting a disabled boy whom he met while working as a Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans has been indicted on child rape charges, according to authorities. Grand jurors seated in New Orleans’ state criminal courthouse on Thursday handed up a nine-count indictment against Mark Francis Ford, nearly five months after authorities arrested him and jailed him without bail. The document charges Ford, 64, with aggravated rape of a child; raping a person suffering from a physical disability preventing resistance; two counts of molesting a juvenile; another three of indecent behavior with a minor; and kidnapping. Continue reading...

Al-Nassr forward reportedly unhappy with transfer policy ‘No one determines decisions beyond their own club’ Cristiano Ronaldo has been told by the Saudi Pro League that “no individual – however significant – determines decisions beyond their own club” amid a dispute over transfer spending. The Portuguese superstar, who turned 41 on Thursday, is believed to be unhappy with Al-Nassr’s lack of activity in the January transfer window. Continue reading...

Pima county sheriff says police do not yet have a suspect in apparent kidnapping of Savannah Guthrie’s mother Law enforcement chiefs in Arizona on Thursday confirmed that they found blood belonging to Nancy Guthrie, the mother of the TV anchor Savannah Guthrie, on the 84-year-old’s porch after she was reported missing from home at the weekend. The sheriff of Pima county, Chris Nanos, said during a press conference authorities do not yet have a suspect in the apparent kidnapping. Continue reading...

Amid warnings McSweeney’s survival would leave his position ‘untenable’, PM apologises to Epstein’s victims for appointing Mandelson as US ambassador Downing Street has defied calls to remove Keir Starmer’s most senior aide, insisting Morgan McSweeney retains the prime minister’s confidence, as frustration grows over a wait for documents on Peter Mandelson, which some fear could last for weeks. Amid warnings from Labour backbenchers that McSweeney’s survival would leave Starmer’s position “untenable”, Starmer apologised to victims of Jeffrey Epstein for appointing Mandelson, a close friend of the convicted child sex offender, as US ambassador. Continue reading...

US president says deal, which he previously described as act of ‘great stupidity’, was ‘best’ PM could make Donald Trump has watered down his criticism of the UK’s plan to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius, saying the deal was the “best” Keir Starmer could make. The US president had described ceding sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory, which includes the Diego Garcia military base, as an “act of great stupidity” only last month. He also claimed the deal was one of many “national security reasons” why the US should acquire Greenland. Continue reading...

Anger at former US ambassador Peter Mandelson’s relations with the child sex offender threatens to topple the prime minister It was the one scandal that Donald Trump seemed unable to shake. No matter his best efforts to convince his supporter base that there was nothing to see here, the demands for the administration to release every document it had on the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein only grew. Yet even after the most shocking revelations in the latest drop about Trump’s inner circle – involving everyone from Elon Musk to the Maga honcho Steve Bannon to the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, not to mention Trump himself – so far, it seems, the administration has escaped largely unscathed. Nobody has resigned, nobody has been fired, and certainly there is no sign that the US president is going anywhere. Continue reading...

Trump might not embody Christian values yet is the religious right’s chosen instrument to turn the tide against liberal, godless America They had come to say a prayer for the father, the son and the holy ghost. The father was Donald Trump who, despite sending federal militias to roam Minneapolis, threatening to invade Greenland and telling lies by the dozen, remains the lord and saviour of the religious right. Continue reading...

While the US president’s many mentions in the Esptein files seem to have no consequences, in the UK Starmer could be the first world leader to fall All around Europe, the political and business elite are facing an inquest on what blinded so many to think it was permissible to consort with a known sex trafficker. As the 3m emails and 1,800 photos released on Friday by the US Department of Justice start to percolate across the continent and through to national media, questions about the moral fibre of this elite are starting to be asked at markedly different levels of intensity. Squirming businessmen, bankers, politicians, royals, academics, tech bros and partners in law firms have become entangled in Jeffrey Epstein’s interlocking circles of money, power and sex. It seems there was no one in a position of power that Epstein was not in email contact with, and that there was little limit to what this networking elite was prepared to do in return for a gift, a contact or an invite to a sexually charged party. Elon Musk was right when in July 2025 he tweeted – only to quickly delete it – that “so many powerful people want that list suppressed”. Continue reading...

Opposition MPs urge Labour to pause public contracts with the US tech firm after attempts to probe deals blocked Labour should halt public contracts with the US tech company Palantir, opposition politicians have said, amid growing concern at the lack of government transparency over dealings with the company and Peter Mandelson. Since 2023, Palantir has secured more than £500m in contracts with the NHS and the Ministry of Defence, while it employed Global Counsel, the lobbying firm founded by Mandelson. Emails released by the US Department of Justice show Mandelson sought help from Jeffrey Epstein to find “rich individuals” as clients. Continue reading...

Although weakened by airstrikes, sanctions and domestic unrest, Tehran is surprisingly bullish before talks with US When it comes to Iran and Donald Trump, there is so much bluff, backed by military hardware, that the truth rarely makes an incontrovertible appearance. Nevertheless, it appears that a bullish Iran is going into negotiations with the US on Friday adopting maximalist positions that do not seem greatly different to those it adopted in the five rounds of talks before the negotiations were abruptly halted by the surprise Israeli attack on Iran last June. Continue reading...

An ape was able to identify the location of imaginary objects in pretend scenarios, researchers find Whether it’s playing at being doctors or hosting a toy’s tea party, children are adept at engaging in make-believe – now researchers say bonobos can do it too. While there have been anecdotal reports of apes using imaginary objects, including apparently dragging pretend blocks across the floor, experts say it is possible such instances have other explanations. Continue reading...

Toxicity from farm chemicals increased for most species groups between 2013 and 2019, with insects worst affected Ecological harm from pesticides is growing globally, a study has found, with bugs, fish, pollinators and land-based plants among six species groups hit hardest. Insects suffered the greatest increase in harm from synthetic farm chemicals between 2013 and 2019, the study shows, with “applied” toxicity rising by 42.9%, followed by soil organisms, which saw an increase of 30.8%. Continue reading...

Brain activity suggests newborns can detect and predict patterns relating to rhythm, study says Newborn babies can anticipate rhythm in pieces of music, researchers have discovered, offering insights into a fundamental human trait. Babies in the womb begin to respond to music by about eight or nine months, as shown by changes in their heart rate and body movements, said Dr Roberta Bianco, the first author of the research who is based at the Italian Institute of Technology in Rome. Continue reading...

Six Nations match updates, 8.10pm GMT kick-off in Paris Sign up for The Breakdown | Follow on Bluesky | Mail Lee Here’s one you’ve not heard before: welcome to this Thursday evening opening match of the Six Nations. What with this, all the AI telling us stuff that’s wrong, and washing machines that inexplicably have wifi, truly we are living in the future. The future is very much the concern for both of these teams as this marks the proper start of the Rugby World Cup 2027 run-in. The Six Nations is, of course, a tournament of great import and heritage in its own right, but only a fool would argue that Messrs Galthie and Farrell are not keeping more than half an eye on Australia in eighteen months’ time. Continue reading...

The prime minister has said sorry for believing Peter Mandelson’s lies – but the Epstein connection should have been disqualification enough Accused of terrible misjudgment in appointing Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington, Sir Keir Starmer says that questions were raised but answered with lies. Mandelson “portrayed Jeffrey Epstein as someone he barely knew” and was sacked as soon as it became clear the relationship had been much closer. Addressing the scale of the deception on Thursday, the prime minister sounded authentically outraged. Mandelson had failed a “basic test of honesty” and “such deceit is incompatible with public service”. Credulity is not a great defence. Focusing on the lies obscures the extent of what was already known to be true when the fateful appointment was made. Continue reading...

The growing rift between two Gulf powers will be felt across the Middle East and the Horn of Africa In 2017, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates spearheaded a blockade of Qatar, disrupting trade, stability and lives in the region. Their de facto leaders – the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and Abu Dhabi’s then crown prince, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, now president of the UAE – had forged a close alliance. The older man had eagerly promoted the younger Saudi royal in Washington and elsewhere, and was seen as his mentor. Riyadh borrowed aspects of the UAE’s model, and the countries together intervened – at huge cost – against Houthi rebels in Yemen. Together they sought to contain the Arab spring and backed authoritarian rule in Egypt, Bahrain and elsewhere. Yet by 2023 the relationship had soured: the Saudi crown prince reportedly accused the UAE of “stabb[ing] us in the back”. Late last year the disputes became spectacularly public. In Yemen, Southern secessionists backed by the UAE made dramatic advances in oil-rich areas – before being forced out by Saudi-backed forces. Riyadh effectively described the UAE as threatening its national security. Saudi commentators voiced increasing contempt for the kingdom’s former partner. In turn, a senior Emirati official complained of “wickedness” in the media campaign against it. Continue reading...

Shifting explanations of Gabbard’s presence at election center intensifies scrutiny of role she played in operation Donald Trump on Thursday offered a new and shifting account of why Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, was present last week at an FBI raid of an election center in Georgia, saying she went at the urging of the attorney general Pam Bondi. “She took a lot of heat two days ago because she went in at Pam’s insistence,” the US president said at the National Prayer Breakfast, a high-profile event of political and religious leaders. “She went in and she looked at votes that wanted to be checked out from Georgia.” Continue reading...