UK media regulator is investigating whether X has breached the Online Safety Act – what could happen next? The UK government is threatening Elon Musk’s X with the nuclear option under the country’s online safety laws: a ban. The social media platform is under pressure from ministers after it allowed the Grok AI tool, which is integrated within the app, to generate indecent images of unsuspecting women and children. The government has said it will support the media regulator Ofcom, which has launched an investigation into X, if it decides to push ahead with a ban. But is such a move likely? Continue reading...

Road project, part of blueprint for new illegal settlement in E1 area east of Jerusalem, is considered a tool of annexation Israel plans to start work next month on a bypass road that will close off the heart of the occupied West Bank to Palestinians and cement the de facto annexation of an area critical for the viability of a future Palestinian state. The road is a key part of the blueprint for a vast illegal new settlement in the E1 area east of Jerusalem, which would fragment the occupied West Bank. The Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said the plans were intended to “bury the idea of a Palestinian state”. Continue reading...

Ryan Chapman and a friend survived 90 minutes in the ocean before being picked up by a passing boat – and carrying on with their dive Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Two divers have survived becoming stranded in the ocean after losing their boat while diving in a popular fishing spot in Western Australia. Ryan Chapman and his mate were free diving and scuba diving about 5km off Mindarie, a coastal suburb north of Perth, when they resurfaced to find their boat had disappeared. Continue reading...

Ukrainian president says ‘Russia must learn that cold will not help win the war’ as energy infrastructure targeted Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia hit Ukraine overnight with “almost 300 attack drones” and 25 missiles as it continues to target energy infrastructure across the country, already suffering from extensive electricity and heat outages amid a harsh winter. Zelenskyy said the overnight attacks caused “extensive destruction of residential and civilian infrastructure” across the country, including in the capital Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Donetsk. Continue reading...

A crime committed in the home of a regular black American family results in paranoia on all sides in this 81-minute film from Nnamdi Asomugha Here is a compact drama that twists itself like a tourniquet over 81 minutes, as a bad situation turns into a catastrophe for an ordinary American family. Late one night in an unnamed city, construction worker Chris (Nnamdi Asomugha, also the film’s director and co-writer) finishes a DIY project in his own home and sinks a beer or two. He takes a couple of pills before checking on his two young daughters Kendra (Amari Alexis Price) and Ryley (Aiden Gabrielle Price), who have been sneakily pretending to be asleep. Then he gets into bed with wife Alex (Aja Naomi King) for a chat and a soon-abandoned attempt to have exhausted marital sex while their infant baby sleeps next door. Continue reading...

Almost 9,000 people arrested and over 1,000 deported in 2025, Home Office says Good morning. British politics in 2026 has to a large extent been preoccupied with foreign affairs, and Donald Trump’s turbocharged neo-imperialism, but domestic problems remain paramount. At the PLP last night, as Pippa Crerar reports, Keir Starmer sought to justify the amount of time he spends on foreign policy by saying it has a direct link to cost of living problems. And, with immigration and small boats a key issue for voters, the Home Office is today talking up its record on one aspect of this problem. Some 12,791 visits took place in 2025, up 57% from 8,122 in the previous year, to businesses such as nail bars, car washes, barbers and takeaway shops. Ministers are seeking to crack down on illegal working in the UK, as part of efforts to deter those coming to the country illegally. Continue reading...

US president speaks after saying that any country that does business with Iran will face 25% levy on trade with US Business live – latest updates Donald Trump has said “it would be a complete mess” if the US supreme court were to strike down his global trade tariffs. In a lengthy post on social media, the US president said “WE’RE SCREWED” if the supreme court rules against the tariffs, before the decision, which could come as soon as Wednesday. It is a crucial legal test of his controversial economic strategy and his power. Continue reading...

Randa Abdel-Fattah, who is Palestinian Australian, has faced criticism for controversial comments on Israel, including alleging Zionists had ‘no claim or right to cultural safety’ When the board of a South Australian festival cut a prominent Palestinian Australian author from its lineup, citing her “past statements” in the context of the deadly Bondi terror attack, it no doubt braced itself for controversy. What it may not have foreseen, however, is an implosion. Continue reading...

Today’s rumours are misty-eyed The fun has only just begun at Old Trafford where Michael Carrick will become the head coach until the end of the season. As someone who knows a thing or two about central midfielders, Carrick will immediately realise Manchester United are desperately in need of one. Al-Hilal’s Rúben Neves is on the radar, as is Atlético Madrid’s Marcos Llorente. The 30-year-old is valued at £30m, leaving Jason Wilcox and chums plenty to ponder. There are, supposedly, admirers of Sassuolo’s Tarik Muharemovic at United but if they really want to acquire the centre-back’s services they will need to overcome competing interest from Tottenham and Newcastle. Continue reading...

Biopic charting Naseem Hamed’s rise has reopened old wounds but is also a reminder of what was and what might have been The first time I watched Prince Naseem Hamed train, my jaw couldn’t have dropped any faster if he had hit me with one of his lassoing uppercuts. I had followed all his fights on TV, of course. But to see him in the flesh in September 1994, a year before he became world champion, was an altogether more visceral and mesmeric experience. Hamed’s punches sounded like firecrackers welcoming in the new year as they smashed into the pads. He was almost impossible to hit. And, most staggering of all, despite standing 5ft 4in tall and weighing only nine stone, he would bully far bigger men in sparring – including fighters such as John Keeton, who went on to become the British cruiserweight champion – until my great uncle, Brendan Ingle, called time. Continue reading...

Specialists in choreographing sex scenes have come under fire from the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Mikey Madison – is there any weight to their complaints? When intimacy coordinator Adelaide Waldrop gets asked about her job at parties, she contemplates lying. “I’ve considered saying I’m an accountant,” she says. When she reveals the truth, the response is almost always seedy. There are questions about erections, merkins, and inappropriate celebrities. “Or it’s a lot of, ‘Oh we could use one of you at home with me and the missus’, and questions about my sex life,” Waldrop adds. “We’re a hot button topic.” Lately, the heat has been on high. To some, intimacy coordinators are an auspicious part of a post-#MeToo industry, one that protects cast and crew while providing crucial creative input – Michelle Williams, Alexander Skarsgård, and Emma Stone are among those to have gushed about their experiences. To others, they’re the sex police, impeding artistry for the sake of avoiding an HR headache. Mikey Madison didn’t want an intimacy coordinator for her Oscar-winning sex worker film Anora. Gwyneth Paltrow asked hers to “step back a little bit” while making Marty Supreme. Jennifer Lawrence couldn’t even remember if she had one while filming Die My Love (she did), but said it wouldn’t have been necessary because her co-star, Robert Pattinson, “is not pervy”. Continue reading...

Former England midfielder needs to avoid the same pitfalls as Ruben Amorim, but he showed a dogmatic streak at Boro In many ways Michael Carrick is the antithesis of Ruben Amorim but Manchester United’s soon-to-be-appointed interim head coach does have something significant in common with his Portuguese predecessor. Like Amorim, Carrick has proved remarkably resistant to tactical change. So much so that at Middlesbrough the former United and England midfielder’s determination not to compromise a philosophy constructed around a patient, possession-heavy passing game arguably cost him his job. Continue reading...

Eastern region on high alert as authorities try to track animal tearing through villages in Jharkand after apparently becoming separated from herd Forest officials in India are on the hunt for an elephant that has killed more 20 people in a days-long rampage through the eastern state of Jharkand. Since the beginning of January, 22 people have been killed by a single-tusked elephant that has been tearing through forests and villages in West Singhbhum district of Jharkand. Continue reading...

The sociology professor is suitably comfortable with AI helpers that he creates his own – it’s their inventors’ motives and unregulated environment he argues we should be concerned about If much of the discussion of AI risk conjures doomsday scenarios of hyper-intelligent bots brandishing nuclear codes, perhaps we should be thinking closer to home. In his urgent, humane book, sociologist James Muldoon urges us to pay more attention to our deepening emotional entanglements with AI, and how profit-hungry tech companies might exploit them. A research associate at the Oxford Internet Institute who has previously written about the exploited workers whose labour makes AI possible, Muldoon now takes us into the uncanny terrain of human-AI relationships, meeting the people for whom chatbots aren’t merely assistants, but friends, romantic partners, therapists, even avatars of the dead. To some, the idea of falling in love with an AI chatbot, or confiding your deepest secrets to one, might seem mystifying and more than a little creepy. But Muldoon refuses to belittle those seeking intimacy in “synthetic personas”. Continue reading...

A brutal nomadic sport, quiet childhood reveries and stark human endurance define the photographs that wowed this year’s judges Continue reading...

Tibetan directors, who all live outside Tibet, deliver a quartet of films that explore the pain of separation and migration The wrench of exile is the theme of this quartet of short films from Tibetan directors, who themselves all live outside Tibet. Their intimate, emotional family dramas tell stories of separation and migration. In two of them, the 90-year-old Dalai Lama smiles out from photographs on shrines, a reminder of the precariousness of Tibet’s future. As a character in one of the films puts it bluntly: will there be anything to stop China erasing Tibetan identity when its rock-star spiritual leader is no longer around? In the first film a Tibetan man lives in a kind of complicated happiness in Vietnam. He loves his wife, and they both adore their sunny-natured little daughter, but he has mournful eyes. Home is a town on the banks of the Mekong River, which has its source in Tibet. The river is a constant reminder of the region – and of Chinese might too, since Chinese hydropower dams are the cause of drought downstream in Vietnam. Continue reading...

This was even though I had revoked my citizenship and now have dual British and German nationality I want to flag a discriminatory experience I’ve had with the Co-op’s will-writing service. I asked it to update a will it had drawn up for me in 2020, with my partner and our daughter as the beneficiaries. I received no follow-up for two months. Continue reading...

Cut out flying and you shred skiing’s carbon footprint. And opting for a high-altitude resort that needs less artificial snow makes it even greener. Les Arcs in the French Alps ticks both boxes I’ve always wanted to try skiing, but it’s not a cheap holiday and I have always had a lingering suspicion that some resorts are like Las Vegas in the mountains, with artificial snow, damaging infrastructure, annihilated vegetation and air-freighted fine dining – in short, profoundly unsustainable. However, if there’s a way to have a green family ski holiday, then sign me – and my husband, Joe, two kids and my mum – up. Here’s how to do it. Continue reading...

In the days after the worst mass shooting in Australia since Port Arthur, a wave of misinformation spread across social media. A video of Australian federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett claiming four Indian nationals had been arrested, with a Guardian watermark on screen, was in fact a deepfake made from a genuine video of a press conference Barrett had given on 18 December. The video was flagged by online factcheckers, but not before being watched hundreds of thousands of times. As Guardian Australia's technology reporter Josh Taylor explains, these deepfakes are only getting easier to make Fake Minns, altered images and psyop theories: Bondi attack misinformation shows AI's power to confuse Continue reading...

24 Hours in Police Custody gets exclusive access into the EncroChat investigation. Plus, Jon Richardson causes chaos in the classroom. Here’s what to watch this evening 9pm, Channel 4 In 2020, authorities cracked the EncroChat phone network used globally by criminals. This hit fly-on-the-wall true-crime series gets exclusive access into Bedfordshire police’s covert investigation – starting at a house in Luton, where a hooded figure pulls a shotgun from their rucksack and fires it. The team hack the messages sent in advance of the shooting, which leads to a hunt for the people involved. Hollie Richardson Continue reading...

A light but filling no-bechamel souffle with a zingy citrus salad to add a sharp burst of flavour and colour There is a skill in not wasting food and it’s all about good, old-fashioned housekeeping. If you learn how to store ingredients properly (cool, dark places are handy for spuds, for example) and keep tabs on what’s in your fridge/freezer, you can use everything up before it goes off – and make delicious things in the process. This golden, cheese-crusted souffle uses up the celeriac and spuds left after the festive season, plus any odds and ends of cheeses. It is spectacularly good, especially paired with a sparkling citrus salad. Continue reading...

Use of private providers, poor training and inadequate regulation mean obtaining care has become a ‘wild west’ When Leigh White remembers her brother Ryan, she thinks of a boy of extraordinary ability who “won five scholarships at 11” including a coveted place at Bancroft’s, a private school in London. He was, she said, “super bright, witty, personable, generous and kind”. Ryan killed himself on 12 May 2024. A report written after his death acknowledged significant shortcomings in the support he received while seeking help for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Continue reading...

The PM’s technocrat tendencies and lack of obvious backbone make him a target for amorphous rage Continue reading...

Broadcaster’s submission calls on Florida court to throw out defamation case where US president is suing over editing of 6 January 2021 speech The BBC will take legal steps to have Donald Trump’s $10bn defamation lawsuit over a Panorama programme edit dismissed, court documents have shown. Panorama faced criticism in 2025, over an episode broadcast in 2024, for giving the impression the US president had encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol building in 2021. Continue reading...

A rise of murders is traumatising inmates and staff, and making life harder for staff. But even in prison, violence isn’t inevitable There are hotspots for violence in prison. The exercise yard, the showers. There are peak times, too. Mealtimes and association periods are particularly volatile. But first thing in the morning is not when you expect to hear an alarm bell. I certainly didn’t, at 6am in my office on the residential wing of a high-security prison in late 2018. All prisoners were locked up at that time. But overcrowding has long been a problem in UK prisons, and keeping three men in cells designed for one can be a recipe for disaster. Continue reading...