Getting platforms to comply with the restrictions was no small feat. But it’s too early to measure the real-world mental health outcomes As the UK becomes the latest country to consider following Australia’s lead on a social media ban for teenagers, a question Australians are repeatedly being asked is: how is it going? “Our data is still minimal,” says Caroline Thain, national clinical adviser with the mental health organisation Headspace. “We’re really waiting for a few more months before we do a deeper dive.” Continue reading...

(Columbia) The music on Styles’s new album is muted, subtle and pleasant – but from the title downwards, he has a real problem with words Everything about the launch of Harry Styles’s fourth solo album underlines that its author is a very big deal indeed. Record stores in the UK are opening at midnight or first thing in the morning on the day of release, the better for fans to avail themselves of a copy at once. Styles has been announced as curator of this year’s Meltdown festival at London’s Southbank Centre, an honour previously bestowed on Scott Walker, Patti Smith, Yoko Ono, Ornette Coleman and David Bowie. Last week’s Brit awards featured not merely a beautifully choreographed performance of the album’s lead single, Aperture, but a comedy skit that was, essentially, a two-and-a-half-minute-long advert for Styles’s new album: there was no doubt who the organisers thought the star of the show was. Most striking of all, the accompanying tour largely eschews actual touring in favour of lengthy residencies in one venue per country, or even continent: North America is covered by a staggering 30 dates at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The expectation seemed to be that Styles’s fans are so devoted, they’ll cross the country to see him, rather than vice versa. This sense, that people will travel wherever Harry Styles wants them to, attends the album itself. It is devoid of unequivocal pop bangers along the lines of As It Was or Watermelon Sugar. Aperture’s hazy, post-club mood wasn’t a soft launch. Whether it’s dealing in mid-tempo house beats topped with plangent piano chords, as on American Girls, or the acoustic singer-songwriter-isms of Paint By Numbers, a lot of what’s here feels like music made in the small hours, with the curtains drawn against the dawn. It somehow manages to sound understated even on Are You Listening Yet? – which variously features a clattering dance rhythm, a bassline not unlike that of Reel 2 Real’s I Like to Move It and a spoken word vocal that inexorably recalls Robbie Williams’s Rock DJ – perhaps because it doesn’t really have a chorus, or rather, the part you assume is going to lead into the chorus turns out to be the chorus itself. Continue reading...

The visionary photographer captured the ugliness of racism in America, as well as the strength and dignity of those who opposed it – from cleaners in the corridors of power to Martin Luther King Jr proclaiming his dream In the summer of 1956, the American news magazine Life dispatched its first Black staff photographer, Gordon Parks, to Alabama, with a brief to document racial segregation in the wake of the Montgomery bus boycott. The trip was a perilous one, but Parks, then in his early 40s, was already on a career trajectory that would mark him out as one of the most consequential artists of his generation. The images he returned with were remarkable: intimate and vivid depictions of the daily disgrace of the Jim Crow south. They still feel prescient today. The photographs form the backbone of a new survey of Parks’ work, opening this week at the Alison Jacques gallery in London and curated by Bryan Stevenson, the famed civil rights attorney. Stevenson is based in Montgomery where he founded a museum and memorial to commemorate Black victims of lynchings and where some of Parks’ work hangs on permanent display. He selected images taken between 1942 and 1967, the artist’s most active time as a photographer and an acute period of unrest in the American experiment. Continue reading...

Loud, brash and blokey, it’s not nearly as fresh as the director’s last take on the sleuth 15 years ago. There are flashes of fun, even if Moriarty blows the lead off the screen Guy Ritchie has made a new TV series about Sherlock Holmes and the long and the short of it is … hmm. But first, some questions. Does the eight-part mystery-drama include scenes in which flippant young men in flat caps shout “Oi” while hurtling through the air in slow motion? It does. Are there bare knuckle biff-ups during which bulbous cockneys cheer on other bulbous cockneys and Irish folk music diddles frantically in the background? There are. Might there also be bits where everything suddenly goes really fast for no reason, effortful banter between bruisers in tweed trousers, blundering rozzers and the sense that while female characters are welcome to contribute to the plot, they are very much excluded from being any sort of fun? Well, duh. Or rather, strike a light an’ cor blimey, guv’nor, you’ve got this Guy Ritchie geezer bang to rights. For here is Young Sherlock, a very large and very loud new series for Prime Video that was “executive produced and directed by the man who made Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, then that one with Brad Pitt, then some other films that weren’t either of those ones apparently” written through it like a stick of bleedin’ rock. Continue reading...

Her first album was a huge hit – then she faced the sudden tragedy of her husband’s early death. She describes the rupture of grief, her return to music and the harsh reality of fame as a woman in the 00s Twenty years ago, Corinne Bailey Rae had her first huge hit single, and her only one. Put Your Records On was one of the great feelgood anthems of 2006. A warm, breezy hymn to authenticity, its key message was keep playing those songs you love, and don’t give a toss about what others tell you is cool. The single was accompanied by her first self-titled album, which topped the charts in the UK and reached number four in the US. If there was one thing Bailey Rae seemed assured of, it was longevity. She wrote or co-wrote her own songs, had a voice that was compared to that of Billie Holiday and Minnie Riperton, there was a timelessness to her music and she was super smart (four As at A-level, if you must know). Then she was hit by a tragedy that derailed her. In 2008, her husband of seven years and fellow musician Jason Rae died of an accidental drug overdose. Continue reading...

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index leads Asian market sell-off, despite Donald Trump’s suggestion that US Navy could protect vessels moving through vital strait of Hormuz Global markets tumbled further on Wednesday despite Donald Trump’s offer to have the US navy escort tankers through the strait of Hormuz and the US military’s claim that there is “not a single Iranian ship underway” in the crucial waterway. The Middle East conflict has crippled the strait which was in effect closed by Iran after strikes by the US and Israel this weekend, raising fears of a sustained energy supply crisis that reverberated around the world. Continue reading...

US Southern Command said joint mission with Ecuadorian forces involves ‘decisive action’ against narco-terrorists The US military’s Southern Command said on Tuesday that Ecuadorian and US forces launched operations against what it said were designated terrorist organizations in Ecuador. Southern Command, which encompasses 31 countries through South and Central America and the Caribbean, said the action was aimed at combating illicit drug trafficking, but did not provide more details in a statement on X. Continue reading...

Chief executive Robert Thomson says he often speaks to both OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg News Corp’s global chief executive has described news organisations as a valuable “input” for artificial intelligence, as the media empire signs an AI content licensing deal with Meta worth up to US$50m (A$71m) a year. In an upbeat presentation, the chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s company, Robert Thomson, said the “reliable” breaking news and information in publications like the Australian, the Times of London and Dow Jones was “hard to beat” as an “input” for AI. Continue reading...

US military says strikes in the first 24 hours was nearly double the scale of the 2003 ‘shock-and-awe’ operation in Iraq; US president orders insurance to be provided for shipping in crucial waterway Trump administration has still not settled on reasons for war Middle East attacks intensify as Trump rejects Iran’s attempt to talk Israeli strikes on two towns south of Beirut have killed six people and wounded eight, Lebanon’s health ministry has announced. In a statement, the ministry said that “the Israeli enemy’s attacks on the areas of Aramoun and Saadiyat” killed six people and wounded eight others “in a preliminary toll”. Continue reading...

German chancellor says that he underscored need for continued support for Kyiv during US visit ; Trump says Ukraine is ‘very high’ on his priority list. What we know on day 1,470 German chancellor Friedrich Merz, in Washington for talks with Donald Trump, said he stressed that Ukraine should not have to accept further territorial concessions during his conversation with the US president. He said he also underscored the need for continued support for Ukraine, which last week marked the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. “We all want to see this war coming to an end as soon as possible. But Ukraine has to preserve its territory and their security interests,” Merz said at the start of his third visit to the Oval Office. He told reporters he thought Trump had understood the point after he showed him a map of the war-torn country. Trump assured Merz that negotiating a deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine remained “very high” on his priority list, and said he believed the US had plenty of munitions to fight Iran and sell them to Europe for use in Ukraine. Merz also urged Trump to put pressure on Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine. “Russia is playing for time here, and in doing so is also acting against the will of the American president. In today’s talks, I called for increasing the pressure on Moscow,” the German chancellor told reporters. The US, Russia and Ukraine are taking part in trilateral talks aimed at securing a peace deal. Merz however said only a pact supported by Europe could be lasting. “We are not prepared to accept an agreement that is negotiated over our heads,” he said. A suspected Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker seized by Belgium is being held on a €10m ($12m) bond, after inspections revealed infractions, Brussels said on Tuesday. The Ethera, which Belgium alleges is part of a flotilla of ageing vessels Moscow uses to avoid western sanctions, was seized by Belgian special forces in the North Sea on Sunday. Investigations carried out after it was brought to the port of Zeebrugge confirmed it had been sailing under a false Guinean flag, the Belgian government said. In total inspectors found 45 infractions, including technical defects, leading to the ship being impounded, it added. The tanker’s Russian captain and its 20-strong crew were ordered to remain on board. “The ship will only leave the port once it is compliant and the deposit has been paid,” said Belgium’s mobility minister Jean-Luc Crucke. Russia has previously described the seizure of its tankers and other vessels carrying its cargoes as acts of piracy. The US has deployed a low-cost combat drone in Iran modelled on the Iranian Shahed, as the it pushes to accelerate weapons programs in the wake of the Ukraine war. The Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drone was deployed just eight months after its Pentagon unveiling. Defense officials said the compressed timeline reflected lessons learned from observing drone warfare in Ukraine, where both sides have employed thousands of low-cost unmanned systems. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the Druzhba pipeline, which is at the centre of a dispute with Hungary and Slovakia and has held up approval of a €90bn EU loan to Kyiv. A commission spokesperson said the two leaders had discussed the matter during a call but could not share any details of the conversation. Earlier von der Leyen said on X that they had discussed topics including the loan, sanctions on Russia and “the wider impact of the developments in the Middle East on energy prices, on energy security and on availability of badly needed defence materials”. Continue reading...

While I do not speak for the Australian-Iranian diaspora as a whole, I am gravely concerned for what this attack will cost in innocent lives Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast One evening in Tehran in 1980, my grandfather got an anonymous tip that the Islamic Republic of Iran wanted him dead. That night, he, my grandmother and my 15-year-old mother fled their native Iran on a last-minute flight to Heathrow with the help of a forged passport. With two tightly packed suitcases, they made it out. Eventually, my grandfather’s ingenuity allowed them to immigrate to Australia after three years spent in asylum-seeking purgatory in London. Together, my family built a fresh life in Sydney. We survived. Continue reading...

World Obesity Federation says half a billion children will be overweight and calls on governments to act to create healthier environments Without drastic action more than 220 million children could have obesity by 2040, an international report has warned. Globally, in 2025 about 180 million children were obese. But new figures from the World Obesity Federation suggest that by 2040, about 227 million of all 5- to 19-year-olds will have obesity and more than half a billion will be overweight. Continue reading...

Foreign affairs committee report finds summit improved political relationship but efforts lack ‘strategic priorities’ Keir Starmer’s efforts to reset the UK’s relationship with the EU are lacking in “direction, definition and drive”, parliament’s foreign affairs committee has said. A report based on months of expert witness testimony found the summit between the UK and the EU at Lancaster House last May had “substantially improved the overall political relationship” after years of Brussels-bashing by the Conservatives. Continue reading...

This documentary can’t help but be moving as it follows the Cam On group in Kolkata, who are creating a drama based on their experiences – even if it could do with more depth Cam On is a film-making collective comprising some of the estimated 500 sex workers and their children who live in Boro Goli, the red light district in Kalighat, a desperately poor area on the southern edge of Kolkata. “The street holds many stories,” says Rabin, the son of a Nepalese woman who was sold by her uncle into sex work at 12. “Love and threat at every turn.” He is the director of the film the collective is making, Nupur: The Story of Two Sisters. It’s a fictionalised amalgam of many of the members’ real experiences and tells the tale of an older sister who hopes to escape the fate that seems set for her and a younger one who lacks hope that it is possible. Redlight to Limelight is the documentary – part of the BBC’s award-winning Storyville strand – by Bipuljit Basu that follows them as they make their film, building art out of suffering, creating something worthwhile in an environment that seems hellbent on allowing nothing. Continue reading...

British outlet for the Hogwarts-adjacent ‘interactive retail experience’ will include recreated film locations, as well as ‘photo moments’ and merch Warner Bros has announced it is to open a 21,000 sq ft Harry Potter store on Oxford Street, one of London’s busiest retail thoroughfares. The studio’s Global Experiences wing says the two-floor shop will be an “interactive retail experience” including recreations of the franchise’s most recognisable locations, as well as “photo moments” and exclusive merchandise. Continue reading...

Shabana Mahmood says UK’s generosity abused as visas halted for nationals from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan The government has imposed an emergency brake on visas for the first time on nationals from four countries, as Shabana Mahmood accused them of exploiting Britain’s generosity to claim asylum. Study visas for nationals from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan have been halted, in addition to work visas for Afghans. Continue reading...

Homeland security department appears to be looking into comments made about Minnesota’s top federal prosecutor The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has opened an internal investigation into allegations that Gregory Bovino, a senior border patrol official, made disparaging remarks about the Jewish faith of Minnesota’s top federal prosecutor, the New York Times reported. Bovino, who became the public face of the heavily scrutinized immigration crackdown in Minnesota that left two US citizens dead at the hands of federal agents, allegedly mocked federal prosecutor Daniel Rosen during a January phone call with state prosecutors. According to the Times, Bovino allegedly made sarcastic comments about Rosen’s observance of Shabbat – the weekly period of rest from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset – and used the phrase “chosen people” in a derisive tone during the 12 January call. Continue reading...

Rennie succeeds Scott Robertson in one of biggest jobs in rugby ‘I’m really clear on the way I want the All Blacks to play,’ says coach Dave Rennie has been named the new coach of the All Blacks and charged with taking New Zealand to a fourth World Cup triumph in Australia next year. The 62-year-old former Wallabies coach beat out Jamie Joseph for one of the biggest jobs in world rugby after an extensive recruitment process that started when Scott Robertson stepped down in mid January after a critical review. Continue reading...

United manager admits a lot of wins would be needed Carrick: ‘You can’t rule anything out in football’ Michael Carrick has refused to rule out Manchester United catching Arsenal and challenging for the title, though the interim manager admitted a lot of wins would be needed. United recorded a sixth victory under Carrick when defeating Crystal Palace 2-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday, making it 19 points from 21 since he took over. Their form is the best in the Premier League over that period but United trail Arsenal by 13 points with a game in hand and have 10 matches to play. Carrick was asked before United’s game at Newcastle on Wednesday whether he would rule out catching Mikel Arteta’s team. Continue reading...

Push to give English same status as Māori and NZ sign languages sparks backlash from opposition parties and linguistic experts A bill to recognise English as an official language of New Zealand has cleared its first hurdle in parliament amid ridicule from opposition parties and linguists who say it is “unnecessary” and “cynical”. The bill seeks to give English, which is spoken by 95% of the country, the same official status as te reo Māori (Māori language) and New Zealand sign language. The bill said the status and use of the existing official languages would not be affected. Continue reading...

Only five days earlier Rob Edwards had streamed down the touchline and pulled his calf, he said, celebrating Wolves’s second goal in a rare victory against rivals Aston Villa. This time he cut loose again deep into six minutes of second-half stoppage time, as André’s deflected strike floored Liverpool. Edwards booted a ball off a pitch-side cone and went to drink in the moment with the locals. Joe Gomez dragged his red Liverpool shirt over his face. Arne Slot was punch-drunk. Liverpool were beaten by the league’s bottom club. Wolves had stunned the visitors by taking the lead with 12 minutes of regular time to play, Rodrigo Gomes’s clinical finish capping a well-worked attack that Virgil van Dijk will not want to see again in a hurry. Liverpool were toiling but then, after another anonymous display, Mohamed Salah came to life with an equaliser. Continue reading...

Sunderland departed West Yorkshire 13 months ago on a snowy February night with their hopes of automatic promotion from the Championship seemingly in tatters. Leeds had come from behind to clinch a 95th-minute victory that took them top of the second tier and only the most optimistic visiting fans expected a rematch this season. Continue reading...

Nigel Farage’s attempts to appeal to centre-ground voters may cause tension in his party, according to Hope Not Hate More than half of Reform UK members believe non-white British citizens born abroad should be deported or encouraged to leave, according to the first publicly available poll of those in Nigel Farage’s party. The findings come as the Reform leader attempts to court centre-ground voters while facing pressure from his right-flank, including a hardline new party launched by Rupert Lowe, who left Reform after falling out with Farage. Continue reading...

Regularly bracketed together, holding the same ambition of European football for the first time, Brentford continue to hold the advantage. The chase may come down to one of these much-admired teams and Bournemouth were frustrated by a 13th drawn game of the season. On a midweek night where the Premier League resembles Prem Rugby, all hustle, grappling, kicking for territory and physicality closing off creativity, Brentford toughed it out. The Bees remain the only team in the Premier League that Bournemouth have never beaten. Continue reading...

Texas showdowns between Republicans John Cornyn v Ken Paxton as well as Democrats James Talarico v Jasmine Crockett have made US Senate seat most expensive primary on record Let’s start with perhaps the biggest race of the night: the Texas Republican primary. The Texas Senate primary has become the most expensive ad campaign on record, according to analysis firm AdImpact, with the GOP establishment candidate’s campaign spending at least $69m of the $122m (this includes both parties). President Donald Trump has, notably, not endorsed a candidate in this race. Continue reading...