Pick of former Fed governor to replace Jerome Powell comes as White House seeks to tighten grip on central bank • Business live – latest updates Donald Trump has announced Kevin Warsh as his nomination for the next chair of the Federal Reserve. Writing on his Truth Social platform, the president said: “I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best.” Continue reading...

Seeing large men dressed in goggles and trenchcoats echoes the camp fascism of musical comedies An aspect of ICE’s deadly performance in Minneapolis that goes hand-in-hand with its mission to intimidate is the absolutely farcical tone of the ICE aesthetic. Broadway numbers like Springtime for Hitler in The Producers and more recently, Das Ubermensch in Operation Mincemeat, a showstopper performed with a German techno beat and Nazi boyband – “Third Reich on the mic” – vocals, present fascism as an essentially camp enterprise and we’re reminded this week that ICE fits the mould entirely. Continue reading...

Canadian PM swaps tough talk at Davos aimed at Donald Trump for some fun at a film gala with Hudson Williams Last week, Mark Carney was at the World Economic Forum in Davos, giving global leaders a lesson in realism. His powerful speech about the end of the old order and the need for middle powers to unite in the face of fractured international norms received a standing ovation. The economist and central banker struck a slightly different tone at a gala in Ottawa to promote the Canadian film industry on Thursday evening. Appearing on the red carpet with the Canadian actor Hudson Williams, star of the hit HBO ice hockey drama Heated Rivalry, Carney was in a playful mood. Continue reading...

Vonn crashes into nets and clutches left knee Race in Crans-Montana abandoned after early falls US star’s Olympic fitness now under scrutiny Lindsey Vonn crashed in her final World Cup downhill before the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics on Friday, leaving the American skiing great limping and clutching her left knee as organizers abandoned the race amid worsening conditions. The 41-year-old lost control after landing a jump on the upper section of the course in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, skidding sideways into the safety netting as snow fell steadily and visibility deteriorated. Vonn’s airbag deployed on impact and she remained down for several moments while medical staff attended to her on the piste. Continue reading...

What is happening in Minnesota is proof that racist ideas lead to racist policies – and it produces bad, dangerous governance Minneapolis is in a state of chaos. Since federal immigration agents flooded the region weeks ago, daily life has been destabilized in ways residents say feel unprecedented. The president’s super-sized immigration force has now killed two people in the Minneapolis metro area since “Operation Metro Surge” began in December. Nearly three weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot Renee Nicole Good in the face, armed federal authorities on 24 January killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Veterans Affairs nurse, who witnesses say was trying to intervene after seeing agents treat another person harshly. Jamil Smith is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Garden crops such as apples, garlic, carrot and beetroot will grow better if they experience low temperatures in winter Having made it through January, I’m wishing for the swift arrival of spring. After a long winter (they always feel long) seasonal change starts to loom. Yet I remind myself why, for many of the plants and crops we love, a sustained cold period is essential. While little plant growth takes place in winter, important biological processes happen in this stillness. For a great number of plants that are able to survive cold weather, a good period spent below a certain temperature is key to their flowering in spring – a process called vernalisation. Continue reading...

Victims of terrorist attacks say BAT’s operations in North Korea helped fund weapons used in the Middle East Hundreds of US military service members, civilians and their families have filed a lawsuit for unspecified damages against British American Tobacco (BAT), one of the world’s largest tobacco companies, and a subsidiary, claiming the company spent years illicitly helping North Korea fund terrorism weapons that were used against Americans. BAT formed a joint venture in 2001 with a North Korean company to manufacture cigarettes in the country. The venture quietly continued, a 2005 Guardian investigation revealed, even as the US government publicly warned North Korea was funding terrorism and imposed sanctions on the country. Amid mounting international pressure in 2007, the company claimed it was ending business in North Korea, but secretly continued its operation through a subsidiary, the US justice department said in 2023. BAT’s venture in North Korea provided around $418m in banking transactions, “generating revenue used to advance North Korea’s weapons program,” Matthew Olsen, then the justice department official in charge of its national security division, said during a 2023 Senate hearing. Continue reading...

It took six years to identify the condition that caused my chronic pain: a blood sugar dysregulation condition Seven years ago, when I was 27, I got my first-ever migraine. Ten months later, it was still there. Even after the 10-month migraine ended, frequent weeks-long migraine attacks and bouts of stabbing “icepick” headaches kept me in pain more often than not. I was a software engineer at Facebook, but had to take leave from work because looking at my laptop screen made my head scream in revolt. I would never go back. Natalie Mead publishes a Substack called Oops, My Brain about life with chronic illness and recovery. She is also working on a memoir about the tension between love and caregiving in chronic illness Continue reading...

When bubbles burst, what comes next can be better, if we build it differently It was December 1999. Tech investors were riding high, convinced that a website and a Super Bowl ad were all it took to get rich quick. Spending was mistaken for growth; marketing was mistaken for a business model. In just a few months, the dot-com boom would go bust: $1.7tn in market value vanished, and the broader economy took a $5tn hit. Yet something remarkable emerged from the wreckage. The post-crash internet wasn’t defined by speculation, but by creation: the rise of web 2.0 and open-source software – and the birth of platforms like Firefox and Wikipedia. The lesson is simple: when bubbles burst, what comes next can be better, if we build it differently. Mark Surman is the president of Mozilla Continue reading...

Activists call for Friday ‘blackout’ in protest against administration’s violent immigration crackdown Activists are calling for a nationwide shutdown on Friday, advocating “no work, no school, no shopping” in a protest against the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdowns. Organizers say Friday’s “blackout” – or general strike, as some are calling it – is part of a growing non-violent movement to combat ICE’s aggressive enforcement tactics, which have come under renewed scrutiny following a series of fatal shootings involving federal agents. Continue reading...

Hannah Spencer, a Trafford councillor and a plumber, ran as the party’s candidate for mayor of Manchester in 2024 The Green party has selected former mayoral candidate Hannah Spencer to run in the upcoming Gorton and Denton byelection. Spencer, a Trafford councillor and plumber by trade, has resided in the constituency in the past and was the Green’s candidate for mayor of Manchester during the 2024 election, where she finished fifth behind Labour’s Andy Burnham, who retained the post, as well as Conservative, independent and Reform candidates. Continue reading...

Writers and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments Lately I’ve been going back to read some classic works that I had, in my zany life-arc, missed, in the (selfish) hope of opening up new frequencies in my work. So: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (the zaniness seems to lack agenda and yet still says something big and political); then on to Speak, Memory by Nabokov, newly reminded that language alone (dense, beautiful) can power the reader along; and, coming soon, The Power Broker by Robert A Caro – a real ambition-inspirer, I’m imagining, in its scale and daring. Continue reading...

President issues warning as warships deployed to Middle East but says ‘it would be great if we didn’t have to use them’ Donald Trump has warned Iran it must end its nuclear programme and stop killing protesters if the large US armada of warships deployed in the Middle East are not be used. The US president said protestrs were being killed in their thousands, but that he had stopped Iran from carrying out executions. Continue reading...

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With the Super Bowl on the horizon, we pick the outstanding players and moments from the season just gone Drake Maye struggled through a blizzard as the New England Patriots dragged themselves past the Denver Broncos and into the Super Bowl. But he endured, holding on to execute in the critical moments, as he had done against the Houston Texans the week before. Continue reading...

From Kaouther Ben Hania’s reconstruction of the killing of a five-year-old Gazan girl in The Voice of Hind Rajab to Ira Sachs use of a taped interview in Peter Hujar’s Day, real-life dialogue is being turned into drama Alfred Hitchcock, the director behind some of the best films ever, supposedly said that just three essential ingredients are needed to make a great film: “The script, the script and the script.” For a film-maker, it might seem a godsend when a fully formed one lands in your lap. But behind a rising number of films is a simple hack: pinch all your dialogue from real people. An increasing number of film-makers are turning to transcripts and recordings to re-enact episodes on film, with the promise that they are as an exact a facsimile as possible. From Reality (2023), Tina Satter’s true-to-life portrayal of whistleblower Reality Winner, which progresses in real time from harmless small talk to a full-blown FBI grilling, to Radu Jude’s Uppercase Print (2020), in which a rebel teen is given the third degree in Ceaușescu-era Romania, the title-card proclamation “inspired by true events” is being taken to a wholly literal new level. Within the space of a month, two more “verbatim” movies are in UK cinemas. Peter Hujar’s Day, Ira Sachs’ time capsule of 1974 New York and its colourful culturati, is based on candid conversation between Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall) and her photographer pal Peter (Ben Whishaw), who would die from an Aids-related illness less than a decade later. Meanwhile, Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab is set in January 2024 amid the evacuation of Gaza City, revisiting beat for beat an emergency call centre’s attempts to rescue the six-year-old girl of the title to harrowing effect. Continue reading...

In this newsletter: setting the scene before the final week of preparations in Italy for the Winter Games Next week the Winter Olympic Games will return to Italy for the first time in two decades. From the fashion capital of Milan to the dramatic peaks of Cortina d’Ampezzo, the Milano Cortina Games – the first to be co-hosted by two cities – will stretch across northern Italy blending world-class winter sport with a strong sense of history and ambition. Sixteen sports and more than 110 gold medals await, from the raw speed of alpine skiing and bobsleigh to the tactical endurance of biathlon and cross-country. Alpine fans will once again orbit Mikaela Shiffrin, still redefining excellence across the technical disciplines, while Team GB’s Dave Ryding will hope to deliver one last Olympic moment. Figure skating returns with its familiar blend of artistry and pressure, led by the American phenomenon Ilia Malinin, whose boundary-pushing jumps continue to reshape the sport. Speed skating and its short-track form, where Italy’s Arianna Fontana remains a dominant force, offer drama measured in hundredths of a second. Ice hockey brings physicality and heated rivalries (if you know, you know), with Canada the perennial favourites, and curling – yes, still with the brooms – will remind casual viewers, under the guidance of Team GB’s Bruce Mouat, that precision can be just as gripping as power. Continue reading...

Installation remembers the names of over 18,000 children killed by Israel in Gaza between October 2023 and July 2025 First is وسام اياد محمد ابو فسيفس, or Wesam Iyad Mohammed Abu Fsaife, a 14-year-old boy. Last is صباح عمر سعد المصري, or Sabah Omar Saad al-Masri, an eight-year-old girl. These names of these two children mark the beginning and end of the Wall of Tears, a massive art installation paying homage to the 18,457 children killed in Gaza between 7 October 2023 and 19 July 2025. Created by artist Phil Buehler, it opened next to Pine Box Rock Shop bar at 12 Grattan Street in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday. Continue reading...

Even Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has received one, after Wagner Moura wore it in The Secret Agent It is glimpsed in just a few scenes in The Secret Agent, the Brazilian film nominated for four Oscars and two Baftas, but that has been enough exposure for a vintage yellow T-shirt to become the latest object of desire among Brazilian progressives. The garment, worn on screen by Wagner Moura, was first produced in 1978 by Pitombeira dos Quatro Cantos, a carnival group in the coastal city of Olinda, which until recently would sell just a few dozen a month. Continue reading...

It’s not what we can or cannot say that matters – rather, it’s whether what we say can get any visibility at all under the US-specific algorithm We tend to think of censorship as the direct suppression of speech. We conjure images of mouths taped shut, courts seizing books and films, and journalists or activists thrown in jail to silence their voices. But what if, in a digital era governed by invisible yet highly consequential algorithms, censorship no longer revolved around the ability to speak, but rather around the visibility of content, its effective “reach”? The launch of TikTok’s new US-specific algorithm underscores the urgency of this risk. This week, control over the platform’s operations has shifted to the TikTok USDS joint venture led by a consortium of investors that includes US big tech firms such as cloud-computing company Oracle, with the Chinese parent company ByteDance retaining a 19.9% stake. This arrangement is presented as a means of complying with US legislation introduced under former president Joe Biden, with the aim of protecting user data and preventing political interference from China. Yet many of TikTok’s 200 million US-based users now fear that Donald Trump and his allies may use algorithmic control to do precisely what China was accused of doing: interfering with political discussion by suppressing voices critical of Trump and his international allies. Paolo Gerbaudo is a senior researcher at the faculty of political science and sociology of Complutense University in Madrid and the author of The Great Recoil Continue reading...

At a family gathering over Christmas, I took on my 76-year-old mother once again at virtual bowling. Could I finally best her? My mother bore me. My mother nurtured me. My mother educated me. She has a resilience unmatched, a love all-forgiving. She is the glue that holds our family together. But right now, I am kicking her ass at video game bowling, and it feels good! In the 00s, my mum was the best Wii Bowling player in the world. She was unbeatable. Strike after strike after strike. The Dudette in our family’s Big Lebowski. So when she said she was coming to visit us in Canada, I thought the time was right to buy the updated Nintendo Switch Sports version of her favourite game. She’s 76 now, and I might finally have a chance of beating her, I thought, especially if I allowed myself a cheeky tune-up on the game before she arrived. Continue reading...

The Booker-shortlisted novelist on the seismic effect of Sigrid Nunez, and wanting to write like Virginia Woolf My earliest reading memory Asking my mom if she could stop reading my bedtime book to me and just let me read it on my own, since I felt she was going too slowly. The book was either Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or its sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, both by Roald Dahl. My favourite book growing up I loved Stuart Little, and all his small, clever things – his tiny canoe, his tiny sailboat. He had such a relaxed demeanor and was so dapper! I also loved Mary Norton’s The Borrowers series – tiny people living under the floorboards and improvising household goods out of “borrowed” safety pins and match boxes and so on. Clearly I had a thing for miniatures. Continue reading...

Exercising in winter can feel brutal without the right kit. Here’s how runners, hikers and outdoor swimmers keep cosy when the temperature drops • The best moisture-wicking underwear, socks and base layers There’s a glorious smugness that can only be experienced by exercising outdoors in winter conditions. The fresh air, the endorphins, the reduced risk of heart disease – they’re all nice bonuses, but nothing beats that knowing nod from another rain-drenched runner, or the horrified faces of nearby dog walkers as you stride confidently into the sea for a winter dip. There’s only one catch. In order for that intoxicating feeling to exceed the very real sting of the cold, you’ll need to make sure you’re suitably layered up. Whether you’re running, hiking or outdoor swimming, there’s some sage advice that applies across the board: “Always start by checking the weather forecast,” advises Richard Shepherd, purchasing director at mountain sports retailer Ellis Brigham. “What you wear should match the conditions you’re likely to experience. It’s the key to staying safe and comfortable outdoors.” Continue reading...

From textiles and neons to paintings and her unmade bed, the largest-scale retrospective ever mounted of Tracey Emin’s work opens next month. Book before Thursday 26 February and save £20 Tate Modern in London is opening the largest ever exhibition celebrating Tracey Emin’s life’s work, on Friday 27 February. Spanning her extraordinary 40-year practice, A Second Life showcases career-defining works alongside works never exhibited before. Through painting, video textiles, neons, writings, sculpture and installation, Emin continues to challenge boundaries, using the female body as a powerful tool to explore passion, pain and healing. Continue reading...

Zverev served to reach Australian Open final in fifth set Spaniard holds out in epic 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-7 (4) 7-5 As it happened: look back at an epic semi-final clash Murmurs around Melbourne Park had been building. That the men’s Australian Open draw had not met expectations in 2026. That matches had been one-sided, and lacking memorable moments. That so-called SinCaraz was a foregone conclusion. That tennis had lost its touch. Murmur no more. In this year’s first match on Rod Laver Arena to go five sets, Carlos Alcaraz leapt off the canvas to outlast Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 over five hours and 27 minutes – the third longest match in Australian Open history. Continue reading...