⚽ Updates from Wednesday’s 8pm GMT kick-offs
⚽ Live scores | Follow us on Bluesky | And email Sarah

In the earlier kick-offs Vålerenga fell to a 1-0 loss to Paris FC after Karina Saevik was shown a red card, while Barcelona have climbed back to top of the table with a 3-1 win over Benfica.

Catch up on all the latest WSL action with the women’s football weekly podcast where Chelsea lost their first domestic game under Sonia Bompastor:

Funds for contract signed with Daedalus Aviation will come from $170bn allocated for Trump’s border policy

The Department of Homeland Security has signed a nearly $140m contract to purchase six Boeing 737 planes for deportation operations.

The contract, signed with the Virginia-based firm Daedalus Aviation, was first reported by the Washington Post on Wednesday and later confirmed by DHS.

States’ attorneys general argue agency failed to thoroughly evaluate mifepristone’s safety since initial 2000 approval

Texas and Florida have launched the latest lawsuit seeking to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone, following the US Food and Drug Administration’s recent approval of a new generic version.

In the lawsuit, filed late on Tuesday in Wichita Falls, Texas, federal court, the states’ Republican attorneys general argue that the FDA has failed to thoroughly evaluate the drug’s safety and effectiveness since its initial approval in 2000 and disregarded the risks to the women who take it.

Photographer Janette Beckman and curator Julie Grahame have organized a one time fundraiser for the ACLU that showcases images of musicians who have recorded protest songs or are known for their activism. Forty-three photographers have donated images of 50 artists, from John Lennon to Nina Simone to Bad Bunny, and 100% of the profits will go towards the ACLU and their efforts to protect equality, freedom and rights. In addition, to the images there is a playlist of songs for the fundraiser.

Car company said team detected ‘unusual activity’ inside vehicle and called to check on rider and alert 911

Self-driving Waymo taxis have gone viral for negative reasons including the death of a beloved San Francisco bodega cat and pulling an illegal U-turn in front of police, who were unable to issue a ticket to a nonexistent driver.

But this week, the company behind the self-driving taxis is drawing attention to the happier news that a San Francisco woman gave birth in a Waymo.

Move is major escalation of US pressure campaign against South American country’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro

• US politics live – latest updates

US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, in a major escalation of Donald Trump’s four-month pressure campaign against the South American country’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.

The US president confirmed the operation on Wednesday, telling reporters: “We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela - a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized actually. And other things are happening so you will be seeing that later and you will be talking about that later with other people.”

• Injuries have ravaged Colts quarterbacks

• Rivers last played in NFL in 2020

The Indianapolis Colts have not ruled out starting Philip Rivers at quarterback after luring the grandfather out of retirement amid an injury crisis.

The Colts lost starter Daniel Jones for the season after he tore his achilles on Sunday, while their first-round pick in 2023, Anthony Richardson, is out with a broken orbital bone he suffered in October. With backup Riley Leonard dealing with a knee injury, the Colts turned to the 44-year-old Rivers, who retired at the end of the 2020 season. Rivers, who has been a high school coach since his retirement and recently welcomed his first grandchild, played for the Colts in his final season after a long stint with the Chargers.

⚽ Updates from the 8pm GMT kick-offs around Europe
⚽ Live scores | Real Madrid v Man City | Email Michael

Athletic Bilbao: Simon, Areso, Vivian, Yuri, Boiro, Jauregizar, Ruiz de Galarreta, Berenguer, Sancet, Nico Williams, Guruzeta.
Subs: Santos, Padilla, Gorosabel, Vesga, Lekue, Gomez, Serrano, Rego, Hierro, de Luis, Selton Sanchez, Inaki Williams.

PSG: Safonov, Zaire Emery, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Neves, Vitinha, Fabian, Barcola, Mayulu, Kvaratskhelia.
Subs: James, Marin, Zabarnyi, Goncalo Ramos, Doue, Lee, Ndjantou, Mbaye.

⚽ Updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off at the Bernabéu
⚽ Live scores | Football Daily | Clockwatch | Email Scott

1 min: A fierce old atmosphere in the Bernabéu. It’s Real Madrid in the Champions League after all. It’s Real Madrid versus a Pep team. And then …

Hats off to Erling Haaland, who goes out of his way to say hello to a couple of the tiny mascots and give them a high five. Once he goes off down the line, the little lads embrace each other with excitement, their day made. So sweet. Then City get the ball rolling.

Divisive vote to lower rates highlights uncertainty in the Fed as economy absorbs major shakeups, including tariffs

The US Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that it was cutting interest rates by a quarter point for the third time this year, as the embattled central bank appeared split over how best to manage the US economy.

The Fed chair, Jerome Powell, has emphasized unity within the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the board of Fed leaders that sets interest rates. But the nine-to-three vote to lower rates to a range of 3.5% to 3.75% was divisive among the committee that tends to vote in unanimity.

• Construction delays have beset ice hockey arena in Milan

• ‘If the ice isn’t ready, we’re not going,’ NHL deputy warns

The NHL says it is “disappointing” that the main ice hockey venue for the Winter Olympics will not be ready until the new year – and warned that its top players will not show up unless the ice is shown to be safe.

The men’s and women’s tournaments are expected to be among the highlights of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games with the NHL stars showing up for the first time since 2014.

The platform’s esoteric watchlists and rating system appeal to cinephiles craving a different mode of discovery

I never thought I would use Letterboxd. The app’s premise of logging reviews of every film you watch felt like counting steps, and I generally prefer to exercise my pretension the old fashioned way – such as getting a BFA or frequenting art house cinema screenings where I am usually the only person under 50 in the theater.

But after I wrote about my feelgood movie for the Guardian – that would be Sullivan’s Travels, Preston Sturges’s perfect 1941 satire – I was swayed by two newsroom colleagues. “Hey Alaina, we heard you like movies,” one of them said. “What’s your Letterboxd?” I wanted to be part of the club, and signed up later that night. Now, I write thoughts on every movie I see, usually before I’ve even left the theater or closed out the streamer.

The Free Birth Society was selling pregnant women a simple message. They could exit the medical system and take back their power. By free birthing. But Nicole Garrison believes FBS ideology nearly cost her her life. This is episode one of a year-long investigation by Guardian journalists Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne

Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and others to discuss peace plan as US tries to push through peace deal

Leaders of the “coalition of the willing” group of nations will hold a video call on Thursday as chaotic American efforts to push through a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine reach a crunch moment.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said his officials would hand over a revised version of a peace plan to US negotiators on Wednesday before the call with leaders and officials from about 30 countries.

• Slugger to sign five-year deal with Baltimore

• Mets fans also saw closer Edwin Diaz leave team

For the second day in a row, the New York Mets have seen a beloved star agree to terms with another team.

Pete Alonso, the Mets’ all-time leader in home runs, has reportedly agreed to a five-year, $155m contract with the Baltimore Orioles. The news comes a day after the Mets’ long-term closer, Edwin Díaz, reached a three-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Co-chairs will preside over gala theme of Costume Art, with Beyoncé attending for first time since 2016

The co-chairs of the Met Gala, which is held every year on the first Monday in May in New York City, have been announced as Beyoncé, Venus Williams, Nicole Kidman and, of course, Anna Wintour.

The gala is known as “fashion’s biggest night out” or “the Superbowl of fashion”, and it will be Beyoncé’s first time in attendance since 2016, when she wore Givenchy to attend a Met Gala themed Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.

• ‘I would never do something like this on purpose’

• South Africa lock accepts 12-week suspension

Eben Etzebeth, the Springboks lock serving a 12-week ban for eye-gouging Alex Mann of Wales, has claimed it was “never intentional”, contradicting the verdict of an independent disciplinary committee announced last week.

In an Instagram post on Wednesday the Sharks second row accepted guilt and apologised, saying “unfortunately mistakes happen”. The 34-year-old double Rugby World Cup winner also appeared to distance himself from the act by drawing attention to “other factors”. Along with three videos accompanying the post, Etzebeth claimed two Welsh players involved in the fracas, along with Mann, changed “the dynamic of the entire picture”.

Iceland joins Spain, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Ireland in neither participating in nor broadcasting event

Iceland has become the fifth country to boycott next year’s Eurovision song contest after Israel was given the go-ahead to compete, deepening the crisis facing the competition.

The board of the national broadcaster, RÚV, voted on Wednesday not to participate, meaning Iceland will join Spain, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Ireland in neither participating in nor broadcasting the event, which is scheduled to take place in Vienna.

As the first learning-disabled artist to win the UK’s most prestigious art award, Kalu has smashed a ‘very stubborn glass ceiling’. Her facilitator reveals why her victory is so seismic – and the secrets of her party playlist

The morning after the Turner prize ceremony, the winner of the UK’s most prestigious art award, Nnena Kalu, is eating toast and drinking a strong cup of tea. Everyone around her is beaming – only a little the worse for wear after dancing their feet off at the previous night’s party in Bradford, and sinking “a couple of brandies” back at the hotel bar. I say hello to Kalu, offer my congratulations, and admire the 59-year-old’s beautifully manicured creamy pink nails. But the interview is with her facilitator, Charlotte Hollinshead, who has worked with the artist since 1999. Kalu has limited verbal communication skills; she has learning disabilities and is autistic.

As for Hollinshead, she is struggling to encapsulate the enormity of the win: for Kalu herself; for ActionSpace, the organisation that has supported her for 25 years; and for the visibility and acceptance of artists with learning disabilities within the wider art world. “It’s unbelievably huge,” she says. “I have to think back to where we started, when there was absolutely no interest whatsoever. I’d sit at dinner parties with friends in the art world. Nobody was interested in what I did, or who we worked with. We couldn’t get any exhibitions anywhere. No galleries were interested. Other artists weren’t interested. Art students weren’t interested. We have had to claw our way up from the very depths of the bottom.”

Speaking on a rightwing podcast, the billionaire said he would not go back and lead the job-cutting program again

Elon Musk has said the aggressive federal job-cutting program he headed early in Donald Trump’s second term, known as the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), was only “a little bit successful” and he would not lead the project again.

Musk said he wouldn’t want to repeat the exercise, talking on the podcast hosted by Katie Miller, a rightwing personality with a rising profile who was a Doge adviser and who is married to Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s hardline anti-immigration deputy chief of staff.

Co-chairs of LNG firm, who bought stock worth almost $12m each after meeting with Trump officials, deny wrongdoing

A senior Democratic senator is calling for an investigation into potential insider trading by fossil-fuel billionaires close to the Trump administration, after a Guardian investigation raised questions about an unusual share buying spree.

Robert Pender and Michael Sabel, the founders and co-chairs of Venture Global, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) company headquartered in Virginia, bought more than a million shares worth almost $12m each, just days after meeting with senior Trump officials in March.

• Sirianni backs Hurts amid turnover slump

• Fans booed as Eagles dropped third straight

• QB change talk ‘ridiculous’, Sirianni says

Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni moved quickly on Wednesday to shut down the rising speculation around Jalen Hurts’ job security, calling talk of a potential quarterback change “ridiculous” despite his team’s three-game losing streak and their franchise star’s sudden dip in form.

Hurts committed five turnovers – four interceptions and a lost fumble – in Monday night’s 22-19 defeat to the Los Angeles Chargers, punctuating one of the ugliest outings of his career. The final mistake, an interception near the goalline in overtime, sealed another deflating loss for an Eagles side that has averaged just 16 points across the past five games. The 8-5 Eagles have not won since 10 November.

Cross-party group of MSPs says bill going through Holyrood could attract people from elsewhere in UK

Senior Scottish politicians fear there could be a risk of “death tourism” from terminally ill people travelling from other parts of the UK to end their lives in Scotland.

A cross-party group of MSPs, including the deputy first minister, Kate Forbes, said the looser controls on eligibility written into an assisted dying bill for Scotland could attract people who are unhappy with stricter rules planned for England and Wales.

Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Albert Brooks, Rebecca Hall and Woody Harrelson are among the stars lost in the writer-director’s baffling misfire

Ella McCay, a new comedy drama written and directed by James L Brooks, feels like a relic, and not just because it’s set, seemingly arbitrarily, in 2008. Broadly appealing, well cast, neither strictly comic nor melodramatic, concerning ordinary people in non-IP circumstances, it’s the type of mid-budget adult film that used to appear regularly in cinemas in the 90s and aughts, before the streaming wars devoured the market. Even its lead promotional image, turned into a life-size cardboard cut-out at the theater – Emma Mackey’s titular Ella in a sensible trench coat, balancing on one foot as she fixes a broken block heel – recalls a bygone era of films like Confessions of a Shopaholic, Miss Congeniality or Little Miss Sunshine, that would now go straight to streaming.

To be clear, I miss these types of movies, and want to see more of them. I want to see a lighthearted but realistic portrait of a 34-year-old woman serving as lieutenant governor of an unnamed state that is, judging by the college football paraphernalia and the vibe, probably Michigan. I want to still believe in the possibility of smart and sentimental popcorn fare whose low-stakes drama insists on the inherent inconsistencies and decency of people. I especially would like to say that Ella McCay is an admirable final salvo (or so) for Brooks, the 85-year-old writer/director/producer whose prolific career includes both iconic sitcoms (The Mary Tyler Moore show, Taxi and the Simpsons), and now-classic films (Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News and As Good As It Gets).