‘Cost-cutting’ announcement comes amid uncertainty over deal struck with Saudi Arabia to perform in Riyadh New York’s Metropolitan Opera has announced a round of layoffs, pay cuts and program reductions as it grapples with financial strain. The organization cited problems left over from the Covid pandemic, which drastically affected performing arts shows across the US and internationally. Continue reading...

Leaders Coventry overcome Millwall 2-1 Ipswich defeat Bristol City 2-0 to keep up pressure Haji Wright scored the winner for the second time in three days as league leaders Coventry beat Millwall 2-1 at the CBS Arena. Wright scored an 85th-minute goal against Leicester on Saturday and notched his 10th goal of the season as Coventry made it back-to-back victories. The on-loan Crystal Palace winger Romain Esse opened his account for Coventry against his former club before Mihailo Ivanovic scored a brilliant equaliser just before the half-hour mark. Two goals from Jack Clarke helped move Ipswich up into second and made it four league wins on the trot after downing playoff chasing Bristol City 2-0 at Portman Road. Ipswich leapfrogged Middlesbrough by a point who play on Wednesday. The hosts struck after eight minutes, with Clarke’s low effort into the bottom corner of the goal his ninth goal of the season. Jens Cajuste spun in the City half and fed the winger who darted inside and finished across City’s Czech goalkeeper Radek Vitek from inside the penalty area. Ipswich stretched their lead in the 55th minute when Iván Azón picked up a headed clearance from Dara O’Shea and squared to ball to Clarke who fired past Vitek. Continue reading...

The scars remain and there is much to be fixed still but this was a significant step towards reconciliation and something of a statement too. Not just in the goals they scored, but the reaction to them. Nine days after Xabi Alonso’s sacking, six after their captain said they had hit rock bottom with Copa del Rey elimination and three after the protest of a generation, white hankies and whistles greeting the players and even the president, there were songs and support at last as Real Madrid defeated Monaco 6-1. Kylian Mbappé, Franco Mastantuono and Jude Bellingham all scored, while there was also an own goal from Monaco’s Thilo Kehrer. The Englishman celebrated his with a drinking celebration following rumours about his supposed off-field habits and accusations about his part in Alonso’s sacking. He had already referred to that by posting: “Honestly, what a load of shit.” Smiling now, this response was even more pointed, and done from a position of power, at the end of an impressive performance from all of them. Continue reading...

Incident in Spain took place days after collision between two high-speed trains in Andalucía that killed at least 42 A commuter train has hit a collapsed retaining wall near Barcelona, injuring several people, officials in the Catalonia region of north-eastern Spain have said. The incident on Tuesday came just two days after the collision of two high-speed trains in Andalucía, in the south of the country, which left at least 42 people dead and dozens injured. Continue reading...

Government opts against phasing out new boilers by 2035 in effort to cut energy bills by as much as £1,000 a year Analysis: Labour’s warm homes plan is all carrot and no stick for UK households There will be no phaseout date for gas boilers in the government’s warm homes plan despite its pledge to wean the UK off fossil fuels, but billions of pounds will go towards heat pumps and insulation upgrades. Labour’s principal attempt to solve the UK’s cost of living crisis, the £15bn warm homes plan, will overhaul 5m dwellings, aiming to cut energy bills by as much as £1,000 a year, in the biggest public investment yet made into home upgrades. £5bn for upgrades, including insulation, solar panels, batteries and heat pumps, for people on low incomes. £2bn towards low-cost loans for people who can afford them. £2.7bn for the boiler upgrade scheme, by which people can swap their existing gas boilers for £7,500 on a new heat pump. £1.1bn for heat networks, which distribute heat from a central source, which could be a large heat pump or geothermal or other low-carbon source. £2.7bn towards innovative finance through the warm homes fund, which could include schemes such as green mortgages offering a lower interest rate to homes that have been insulated and equipped with solar panels and heat pumps. Continue reading...

Bridget Christie and Sarah Kendall shine in the return of this dry and quirky comedy. Although it’s starting to feel like a different show altogether The first series of Things You Should Have Done aired on BBC Three in early 2024, a dry and quirky comedy about a recently bereaved “stay at home daughter” from middle England. It was the brainchild of Lucia Keskin, better known online as Chi with a C, and the show marked the then 23-year-old’s transfer from internet comic (her repertoire ranged from parodies of American Horror Story to impressions of Gemma Collins) to TV star. It also came with the co-sign of Roughcut, the production company behind People Just Do Nothing and Stath Lets Flats, helmed by The Office producer Ash Atalla. The premise was almost unbearably sad (inept young girl loses her parents in a horrifying car crash and has to navigate life without them, as per a list they left for her), but the end product was zany rather than gloomy. An episode on getting a job saw Chi (Keskin) decamp to a care home, embracing an early retirement in a bid to avoid employment at all, while the chapter devoted to learning to cook ended with two family members being admitted to hospital. The tension between Chi and her bitter aunt Karen (Selin Hizli) was a constant, complete with insults about Chi’s “fat ham hock legs”. Not one but two characters spat into a bowl of pancake mix and no one so much as flinched. And there was a truly unforgettable rendition of Pure and Simple by Popstars winners Hear’Say. The characters tended towards their own nonsensical idiolect and failed to understand the most basic of concepts (see: Chi thinking a breast screening was some kind of peep show), giving the programme more than a dash of Stath-like incompetence. Frequent ghostly appearances by Chi’s dead parents added a sadcom touch, although – wisely – it was never enough to feel truly devastating. Continue reading...

Mission accomplished for Arsenal. A seventh win out of seven ensured Mikel Arteta’s side will head straight into the last 16 of this competition as one of the favourites for the Champions League after Gabriel Jesus scored twice – including their 19th goal of the season from a corner – to see off last year’s beaten finalists. It means that as well as getting one back over an Inter side that beat them here 14 months ago, Arsenal have surpassed their longest winning streak at this level. While Manchester City’s surprise defeat in Norway in the earlier kick-off had removed any jeopardy about them progressing, this was more evidence of the ruthless streak they have developed under Arteta. The only blot on the copybook in a fourth successive away game in four different competitions was Petar Sucic’s equaliser in the first half after Jesus had given them an early lead, although this was all about the Brazil striker even after the substitute Viktor Gyökeres sealed the points late on with a classy finish. Continue reading...

It was a contender for shock result of the season. Nobody had given Tottenham any hope after Saturday’s Premier League disaster here against West Ham, one which had come coated in vitriol for Thomas Frank. The fans had demanded his immediate removal as the manager only for him to stagger on. The execution was stayed. But here were Borussia Dortmund, the Bundesliga’s second-placed team, who had lost only three games all season, to apply the final cut. Frank could see the bones in his resources – 13 players unavailable, only 11 established outfielders from which to select. Continue reading...

Guy Hochman says he was interrogated for six hours after legal group filed complaint accusing him of war crimes An Israeli comedian and former combat soldier was detained and interrogated for six hours while traveling to Canada on Monday after a pro-Palestinian legal group filed a complaint against him accusing him of war crimes and “incitement to genocide”. The comedian, Guy Hochman, was detained upon arrival at Toronto Pearson international airport and only released after the intervention of the Israeli consulate, according to the Times of Israel. His detention came after the Hind Rajab Foundation, a Belgium-based group that aims to hold Israeli military personnel accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, filed a 40-page dossier about him with Canadian authorities. The groups Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights and the Legal Centre for Palestine also joined the complaint. Continue reading...

Prime minister hopes for ‘pragmatic’ solutions, while US president drops one diplomatic bomb after another In his account of Tony Blair’s years in power, the New Machiavelli, Jonathan Powell sets out two opposing strategies for any British prime minister in dealing with their counterpart in the White House. The first, he says, is “cutting a bella figura” by openly criticising the US president, for which he gives the example of the French. The other, and the approach preferred by Powell, is to do diplomacy in private and build a close relationship, in the hope of having greater influence. Continue reading...

Trump’s demand for Greenland is a throwback to the 1884 Berlin conference: a transaction of land and people driven by a might makes right worldview The announcement on 17 January that Washington will impose punitive tariffs of 10% to 25% on eight European allies – unless they facilitate the “complete and total purchase” of Greenland – is likely to be the death knell of the post-1945 trans-Atlantic order. By linking the territorial sovereignty of a Nato ally to trade access, the US has transitioned from Europe’s security guarantor to a 19th-century imperial rent-seeker. This is a moment of profound rupture. For decades, the western world believed that raw imperialism had been relegated to the past among advanced industrial powers. Even China, for all its assertiveness, largely couches its ambitions in the language of revanchism – the “reclaiming” of lost territory. Washington’s current demand for Greenland, by contrast, is a throwback to the age of the 1884 Berlin conference: a transaction of land and people driven by a might makes right worldview. Christopher S Chivvis is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former US National Intelligence Officer for Europe Continue reading...

To channel Bjorge Lillelien and his famous commentary on Norway’s win against England in 1981: Pep Guardiola, your Manchester City boys took a heck of a beating here on the shores of the Norwegian Sea, below the skies of the aurora borealis, and on the Aspmyra Stadion’s artificial pitch graced by this immortal Bodø/Glimt victory which downed a continental superpower. Jonas Gahr Støre was present to witness a win that came courtesy of Kasper Høgh’s two first-half goals plus Jens Petter Hauge’s curled peach after the interval, as Norway’s prime minister escaped Donald Trump’s curious obsession with the Nobel peace prize: another measure of how this result will never be forgotten. Continue reading...

PM’s spokesperson insists the government’s position is unchanged and that the US still supports the deal The UK will press ahead with plans to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius despite Donald Trump calling it an “act of great stupidity” and suggesting it was among the reasons he wants to take over Greenland. The US president said ceding sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory, which includes the Diego Garcia military base, was a sign of “total weakness” by the UK. Continue reading...

Annex attempt could bring about Uefa-led boycott Implications for World Cup alarming heads of FAs European football’s leaders are increasingly concerned about Donald Trump’s wish to annex Greenland and have held initial discussions about how the sport could respond. The Guardian understands the implications for this summer’s World Cup were among the topics raised among about 20 football association heads in Budapest on Monday. Talks about the Greenland crisis were held informally on the sidelines of an event organised to celebrate the Hungarian football federation’s 150th anniversary, in the knowledge that a unified European response may be required should Trump seek to escalate the situation. Continue reading...

Exclusive: northern towns are unfairly penalised by new three-year council settlements, say members with Liverpool seats Keir Starmer is facing another potentially damaging rebellion, as Labour MPs from north-west towns urge the government to give their local councils more money over the next three years. Labour MPs from the Liverpool city region have written to the local government secretary, Steve Reed, urging him to change the recent three-year local funding settlement, which they say unfairly penalises northern towns. Continue reading...

Doubt over regions is fast escalating into a civil war Six Nations squad announcement overshadowed The prevailing mood in Welsh rugby has frequently been dark but rarely this bible black. Once upon a time a Six Nations squad announcement would have topped the agenda across the country; on Tuesday it felt like a semicolon in a much bigger narrative. Even Wales have never selected seven players whose club is in imminent danger of being axed by their own union. The bare facts of the situation are increasingly stark for all involved. The existing owners of Ospreys, Wales’s most successful region of the past two decades, have just been controversially nominated as the preferred bidders for Cardiff, potentially clearing the way to reduce the number of Welsh professional sides from four to three. The internecine politics have become so increasingly toxic that Steve Tandy, the national head coach, had to plead for rugby-related questions at his lunchtime squad announcement. Continue reading...

Ecosystem destruction will increase food shortages, disorder and mass migration, with effects already being felt The global attack on nature is threatening the UK’s national security, government intelligence chiefs have warned, as the increasingly likely collapse of vitally important natural systems would bring mass migration, food shortages and price rises, and global disorder. Food supplies are particularly at risk, as “without significant increases”, the UK would be unable to compete with other nations for scarce resources, a report to ministers warns. Continue reading...

Ceferin, as well as Fifa, intervened with the Israeli FA Aida facility was set to be removed by security forces A football pitch used by refugees in the occupied West Bank has been saved from demolition after an intervention by the president of Uefa, Aleksander Ceferin. A decision to stop plans to remove the pitch in the Aida refugee camp outside Bethlehem was taken by Israeli security forces on Tuesday after an international campaign for its preservation. Continue reading...

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Child was on way home from a musical with parents, brother and cousin when trains collided, killing 42 people A six-year-old girl who had travelled to Madrid to see a musical was the only member of her family to survive Sunday’s rail disaster in southern Spain, which killed 42 people, among them her parents, her brother and her cousin. The girl, who has not been named, was found walking along the tracks after two trains collided near the town of Adamuz in the Córdoba province of Andalucía. She had emerged from the accident with only a minor head wound. Continue reading...

⚽ Champions League updates; kick-off 8pm GMT ⚽ Live scores | Table | Follow us over on Bluesky Thomas Frank has insisted the Tottenham hierarchy are standing with him in the face of the storm gripping the club. The manager’s job is in the balance, his situation precarious after the home defeat against West Ham on Saturday. The Spurs support were so incensed by the result and the continuation of the team’s terrible Premier League form – they have won twice in their past 13 league matches – that they demanded Frank be “sacked in the morning”. Continue reading...

A Paris appeals court will decide if Marine Le Pen can stand in next year’s presidential election. But legal troubles have not damaged the fortunes of her party In a Paris courtroom, the first act of the 2027 French presidential election is already under way. On Tuesday Marine Le Pen began to answer judges’ questions in her appeal against a conviction relating to the embezzlement of European parliament funds. If she wins, the far-right leader will be free to run for the presidency for a fourth time. If the sentence is upheld, her 30-year-old protege, Jordan Bardella, is almost certain to take her place in the race. Having presented the original verdict as an assault on democracy by judges bent on thwarting her political ambitions, Ms Le Pen has softened her stance. If the appeals court is swayed by arguments that offences committed by her National Rally party were inadvertent, a five-year ban on running for public office may be reduced or overturned. Even if she loses, however, her political opponents may not be inclined to celebrate too enthusiastically. 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...

⚽ Champions League updates from around the grounds ⚽ Scores | Table | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail Will Arsenal are top of the table and a point tonight would guarantee progression to the knockout stages, without requiring the irritation of the playoff round, which should be motivation enough. This is the business end of the season for a side that leads at home and in Europe. They have won all six of their Champions League games thus far to put them three points clear and they will be eager to maintain this form until the end of the first round. On the continent, it is a big night for Alvaro Arbeloa, who takes charge of Real Madrid in the Champions League for the first time. The prospect of a visiting Monaco side does not provide the fear of years gone by because they are in a slump, having lost seven of their past eight Ligue 1 games. Then again, Arbeloa has already suffered one shock in his short reign. Continue reading...

As climate and geopolitics shocks bite, countries are rebuilding food buffers. The UK clings to neoliberal ideas while households pay the price Food policy across much of the world is changing. But not in Britain. That may be a costly mistake as the prices of essentials rise because of the climate emergency, geopolitical tensions and the fragility of just-in-time supply chains. Many capitals are now reviving their strategic food reserves. European nations such as Sweden, Finland, Norway and Germany are rebuilding stocks dismantled after the cold war. Climate shocks have led to Egypt and Bangladesh boosting similar programmes. Countries such as Brazil and Indonesia – sensitive to the food needs of their vast populations – are also expanding their reserves. The UK, by contrast, has no substantial public food reserves. Its strategy rests almost entirely on global markets and private intentions – an approach shaped by decades of liberalised trade. Even in the event of war, the official advice focuses on households stockpiling essentials. In Britain’s view, food security is about prices, not scarcity of supply. 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 US president’s global club was endorsed by the security council on a false prospectus and seems aimed at displacing the United Nations Like many punters who have tried to do business with Donald Trump in the past, the UN has found itself a victim of a classic bait-and-switch, thinking it was buying one thing, but getting quite another. When they voted to endorse the board of peace in November, other members of the UN security council hoped they were binding Trump into a Gaza peace process, but it now appears they were hoodwinked into backing a Trump-dominated pay-to-play club: a global version of his Mar-a-Lago court aimed at supplanting the UN itself. Continue reading...