The city’s mayor says the accident doesn’t appear to be the result of a technical issue but ‘was connected to the driver’ A tram derailed and crashed into a building in Milan on Friday, killing two people and injuring 38 others. One of the dead was hit by the tram as it derailed while the second victim was a passenger, the city’s mayor, Giuseppe Sala, told reporters at the scene. Continue reading...

Deal signals feverish pace of AI investment with multibillion-dollar backings from Nvidia, Amazon and more OpenAI said on Friday it is raising $110bn in a blockbuster funding round that would value the ChatGPT maker at $840bn, in a deal that signals the feverish pace of investment in artificial intelligence. It’s more than double the amount the company raised last year, when it racked up $40bn in the largest private tech deal on record. Continue reading...

Mary Walsh, leaving after 46 years, says staffers told to ‘aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum’ A veteran CBS News producer who is leaving the network after 46 years has suggested that political bias is at play at the network in a farewell memo sent to colleagues on Friday afternoon. “We’ve been reading a lot of goodbyes lately and here I am headed out the door. It’s too soon, even after 46 years,” Mary Walsh wrote in the memo, which was obtained by the Guardian. “But maybe it’s for the best. We’ve been told to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum. Honestly, I don’t know how to do that.” Continue reading...

Researchers find that across 195 US cities, winters are on average nine days shorter than they were in 1970-1997 For the millions of people across the United States who have spent the last month digging themselves out of above-average levels of snow and ice, this winter has felt especially long and harsh. But the typical winter is actually getting shorter in 80% of major US cities scrutinized by researchers, according to new data released by Climate Central, an independent climate science and communication group. Researchers found that across 195 US cities, winters are on average nine days shorter today than they were from 1970 to 1997, as the climate crisis progresses. Continue reading...

Russian airstrikes in Kyiv, Ramadan in Gaza, Trump’s State of the Union address and snow in New York City – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists Continue reading...

Chelsea left particularly frustrated by Uefa actions Clubs were not briefed about plans to release information Premier League clubs are unhappy with Uefa’s decision to reveal details of their financial results before some have been published and without warning. Chelsea’s record pre-tax loss of £355m last season formed a key part of Uefa’s European Club Finance and Investment Landscape report, which was presented by its executive director, Andrea Traverso, at the Financial Times’s Business of Football Summit on Thursday, with the losses incurred by Tottenham and Aston Villa also featuring prominently. Continue reading...

Ofcom says it could now apply to courts to issue fines and demand internet service providers to block access to site A suicide forum linked to multiple deaths in Britain has been ruled in breach of the Online Safety Act after it failed to properly block access to UK users when ordered to do so last year. Ofcom, the online regulator, said it could now apply to the courts to issue fines and demand internet service providers block access to the site in the UK. This will depend on how the site responds over the next 10 days. Continue reading...

⚽ Premier League updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off ⚽ Live scores | Table | Read Football Daily | Mail Tom Aston Villa fans are nervous about this one. Wolves have not lost at home against their Midlands rivals since 2020 and generally have a decent record in this fixture when it’s played at Molineux. After a slump in form Unai Emery’s side are no longer looking up the table and instead have a resurgent Manchester United breathing uncomfortably down their neck like an unwanted admirer on a sweaty dancefloor. With others in the hunt for Europe starting to appear in Villa’s rearview mirror, it is a bad time for the goals to have dried up, but that they have. Four goals in their last five games have been enough to earn one two draws, two defeats and one win. Out of the FA Cup and handed a testing tie against Lille in the Europa League, the next month is going to be crucial in determining the outcome of Villa’s season. In theory this is exactly the kind of fixture they would want right now, a struggling opponent with one of the league’s worst defences, but Wolves will be up for this. Continue reading...

Designer’s first catwalk for the brand in Milan flirts with bad taste with short, tight dresses and a diamante G-string Demna is fashion’s dark lord of apocalyptic streetwear. Gucci is the glossy sex kitten of Milan. Put the two together, and what do you get? Sex appeal that flirts with bad taste. At Demna’s first Gucci catwalk show, staged in Milan on Friday afternoon in front of an audience including Donatella Versace and Paris and Nicky Hilton, dresses were so short and tight that Emily Ratajkowski periodically yanked down a handful of disco-ball sequins to cover her bottom as she walked. There were lapdance-bar tinsel hair extensions, and Kate Moss in a diamante G-string. A certain sketchiness in the roll of the hips, a model who pulled his phone out of his bumbag and scrolled his way down the catwalk. Continue reading...

Plans to return humans to the moon will come in later mission as agency grapples with delays and glitches Nasa announced on Friday radical changes to its delayed Artemis III mission to land humans back on the moon, as the US space agency grapples with technical glitches and criticism that it is trying to do too much too soon. The abrupt shift in strategy was laid out by the space agency’s recently confirmed administrator, Jared Isaacman. Announcing the changes on Friday, he said that Nasa would introduce at least one new moon flight before attempting to put humans back on the lunar surface for the first time in more than half a century, in 2028. Continue reading...

Some sent home despite BMIs below 15, considered ‘severe malnutrition’ and far short of 18 minimum Patients with eating disorders are being discharged from mental health units even though they are still very thin and have “dangerously low” body mass index levels. Some hospitals are sending home people whose BMIs are as low as 12.5, despite usual clinical practice in the NHS seeking to wait until a BMI of 18 or 19 has been achieved. Continue reading...

Military reckoned ‘good’ Afghan insurgents were separate from ‘bad’ Pakistani insurgents but distinction has blurred Days after the Taliban swept to power in 2021, Pakistan’s then spymaster appeared in Kabul on what looked to many like a victory lap. Sipping tea in the lobby of the Afghan capital’s fanciest hotel, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed told reporters: “Don’t worry, everything will be OK.” This week it became clear just how badly Pakistan had miscalculated how it could rely on the Taliban, as Islamabad unleashed airstrikes in Afghanistan and troops from both countries fought each other on the border. Continue reading...

Labour billed it as ‘two-horse race’ with Reform, but Green candidate Hannah Spencer’s media campaign, and authenticity, won the day From the outset of the Gorton and Denton byelection, Labour strategists were desperate to say the party was on course to win, but the party’s trouncing at the hands of the Greens has made this look laughable in hindsight. Hollie Ridley, Labour’s general secretary, sent a note to No 10 at the end of January saying it was “clearly a two-horse race” with Reform UK, and only 3% of voters saying they would stick with the Greens. Continue reading...

Hollywood actor for more than five decades best known for 1980s cult film Revenge of the Nerds and the teen comedy series Lizzie McGuire Of the four sons who followed their father, John Carradine, into acting, Keith had the most prestigious career, David netted the largest audience thanks to his early-1970s TV series Kung Fu, and the little-known Bruce amassed a meagre handful of minor credits. The youngest, Robert Carradine, acted continuously without ever becoming a star. He has taken his own life aged 71, after suffering from bipolar disorder, which was exacerbated by David’s death in 2009. He had small roles in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets (1973), where he was the long-haired gunman who shoots dead the drunk played by David, and as a tracker in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012). He also joined David and Keith as the three Younger brothers in Walter Hill’s western The Long Riders (1980), which populated its cast with other sets of real-life siblings, such as James and Stacy Keach playing Frank and Jesse James. Carradine’s aptitude with a gun led to him competing under the alias Bob Younger in quick-draw competitions organised by the Single Action Shooting Society. Continue reading...

Hannah Spencer’s win was more than protest. It signalled that Labour’s moral language and coalition are up for grabs in its safest terrain The Greens have every reason to celebrate their victory in the Gorton and Denton byelection. From a standing start in a Manchester constituency, Zack Polanski’s team tripled his party’s vote to capture a seat that had effectively voted Labour in every election but one since 1906 – the year Labour was born. Labour coming third behind Reform UK is not routine midterm turbulence. A 20-point collapse in the party’s vote is extraordinary. Sir Keir Starmer was abandoned by a coalition of young progressives, working-class former Labour voters and Muslims. May’s Scottish and Welsh parliamentary as well as English council elections will paint the map in many colours. Not a lot of it will be red if this result is anything to go by. Labour’s vaunted ground game can’t save it if the ground has shifted. The party can’t turn out voters who’ve already tuned out. Continue reading...

The president’s cuts have defunded and alienated thousands of American scientists. Europe can benefit, if it makes the right offer Donald Trump has spent much of his second term at war with science and scientists. He is cutting staff at institutions such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by a third, and has cancelled or frozen up to 8,000 federal research grants. This hasn’t just hurt individual research programmes, it has damaged America’s credibility as a reliable partner in the scientific community. It is not surprising that many researchers – one poll last year by the journal Nature gave the number of 75% – say they are considering leaving the US entirely. However, it is one thing to express dissatisfaction, and quite another to up sticks and leave. If the UK and EU want to attract elite scientific talent, their approach must be twofold: appealing directly to scientists concerned with political interference in their research, and offering stable, ringfenced money. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

The Green candidate, Hannah Spencer, overturned a 13,000 Labour majority to win the Gorton and Denton seat Keir Starmer is facing an ultimatum from his own party to change direction or see a leadership challenge within months after the Greens humiliated Labour with a historic byelection victory in Gorton and Denton. Overturning a 13,000 Labour majority from the general election, Hannah Spencer, a local plumber and Green councillor, became the party’s fifth MP on Friday. Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin was second, just ahead of the Labour candidate, Angeliki Stogia. Continue reading...

Guardian readers respond to the government’s education white paper setting out changes to provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities I am a special educational needs and disabilities (Send) coordinator in a mainstream primary school, a governor at a special school, and have two children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) who attend special schools. I have read the Send reform white paper, and like it (Send support for schoolchildren in England to be given £4bn overhaul, 22 February). There are areas that need clarity, but on the whole I find it purposeful and comprehensive both as a professional and as a parent. But one element has sat uncomfortably with me all day. Under the section on “experts at hand” it states that, with expert advice, schools can develop “immediate, cost-neutral actions that the school can take, such as introducing sensory circuits … and lunchtime calm clubs”. These examples are not cost-neutral – quite the opposite. They require adult mediation which is very high-cost. The example exposes the authors’ underlying assumption that schools have general support staff, which is not the reality. Classes of 30 children are taught by one teacher, with no “general” teaching assistant. Resources are so stripped that teaching assistant hours are wholly allocated to deliver EHCP provisions, which are legally-bound for specific children. Continue reading...

England 161-6 beat New Zealand 159-7 by four wickets Late flurry of runs from allrounders proves crucial Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed starred as England defied a sluggish pitch to lay down a marker for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup following an unlikely four-wicket win over New Zealand. Already guaranteed a top-two spot in their Super 8 group after wins over Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Pallekele, England were staring defeat in the face as they required 42 from the last 17 balls. Continue reading...

The picture was akin to Joan Miró’s sculpture Sa majesté le roi, writes Dr Lalith Chandrakantha, while Peter Lowthian praises the snapper for his talents Fay Bound-Alberti’s analysis of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as a “ghost behind glass” (From handsome prince to a ghost behind glass, Andrew’s face tells the story of his downfall, 20 February) finds a striking, if unintended, visual precedent in the work of Joan Miró. In 1974, the Catalan artist created Sa majesté le roi (His Majesty the King), a towering figure constructed not from the traditional marble or bronze of royal monuments, but from weathered wood, scrap iron, and found objects. Miró’s “king” was a deliberate act of irony – a “royal” figure stripped of its finery to reveal the mundane, everyday materials beneath. The entire concept of hereditary monarchy relies on the myth that those of “royal blood” are inherently “other”, yet Miró’s work suggests that “majesty” is merely a hollow assembly. The recent photographs of a diminished Andrew represent the same “crashing down” of this concept. When the “handsome prince” is stripped of his symbolic armour, we are left with the raw, unpolished reality of a human being. Miró knew 50 years ago what the British public is only now seeing through a car window: that there is nothing “special” about the person behind the title – only the scrap materials of a common humanity. Dr Lalith Chandrakantha Northampton Continue reading...

Nick Merriman supports free entry for all, while Hugh R Craig and Peter Fordham suggest small charges for international visitors I believe that national museums should be free for all. Your report (Is the UK’s golden era of free museum entry coming to an end?, 21 February) quoted me from a Daily Telegraph article that selectively used parts of a much longer interview. I said in principle that people would be willing to pay; however, I then outlined all the reasons this would not work financially, practically and ethically. I do not wish to be represented as a mouthpiece for those who wish to introduce charges. Nick Merriman Hastingleigh, Kent • There is an easy answer to the budget difficulties faced by many UK art galleries and museums: identity cards. UK citizens could continue to receive free access to the nations’ artworks, which we own, and foreign nationals could be charged an entrance fee, as UK citizens are abroad. Many people enjoy visiting art galleries regularly, which could continue, but international visitors would tend to make only one visit during their time in the country which would continue, even if chargeable, as these are popular tourist sites to visit. Hugh R Craig Edinburgh Continue reading...

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David Dudding and Alan Burkitt-Gray bowl up some cricket grounds within Unesco world heritage sites Alex Preston, in his travel feature on Corfu (21 February), writes about playing with the Lord’s Taverners on “the only cricket pitch in the world I know that’s set within a Unesco world heritage site”. Wonderful though the cricket ground in Corfu undoubtedly is, I am surprised that Preston’s fellow Taverner, Andy Caddick of Somerset and England, didn’t let him know that Bath also enjoys a cricket pitch within a Unesco world heritage site (and possibly two if you include the Rec), while the ground at Galle, Sri Lanka, where Caddick played a Test in 2001, adjacent to the Fort, is mighty close. David Dudding London • Greenwich Park is also a Unesco world heritage site and has a cricket field in the south-west corner. Alan Burkitt-Gray London Continue reading...

Stone lifting | A good result | Gorton and Denton lessons | Metres v millions I must disagree with Prof Gray (Letters, 20 February) as to the origin of the rounded shapes of the boulders used in the ancient sport of stone lifting in Ireland. They are unlikely to be glacial erratics. Blocks frozen in glacial ice generally retain their initial angular shape and are not abraded. In contrast, rock fragments carried by rivers or located along marine coasts may be rolled and dragged by currents, forming characteristically rounded boulders, cobbles and pebbles. Dr Alan Woolley Weybridge, Surrey • Millions of us woke up to Friday morning’s result in Gorton and Denton (Green party wins Gorton and Denton byelection, pushing Labour to third place, 27 February) and were given a sense of optimism, excitement and hope that, if our stale and moribund two-party politics is indeed coming to a deserved end, there is a future for compassion, fairness, and social justice rather than division, bigotry and tired nostalgia. Richard Bryant London Continue reading...

Shares in company increased over 20% as investors were encouraged by CEO’s assertion that cuts will drive profits Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox Fintech company Block announced that it would be laying off 4,000 of its 10,000 employees because of gains in AI productivity. “Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” Jack Dorsey, Block’s CEO, said in a letter to shareholders on Thursday. “We’re already seeing it internally. A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better. And intelligence tool capabilities are compounding faster every week.” Block is the parent company for online payment platforms such as Square and Cash App. Continue reading...