Opposition lawmakers say they will seek to impeach José Jerí over undisclosed meetings in Lima’s Chinatown
Peru’s interim president, José Jerí, has denied lying to the country and claimed he was the victim of a plot to discredit him amid a growing political scandal over his secretive meetings with Chinese businessmen.
Jerí, 39, who took office in October after his predecessor Dina Boluarte was forced out, told a congressional oversight committee on Wednesday that he had been the target of a smear campaign designed to destabilise the country ahead of elections in April.
Director of al-Hawl camp describes chaotic scenes as Kurdish guards fled and government fighters arrived. Will Christou reports from al-Hawl
The children crowded the wire fence, waiting for the guard to turn his back, and made a break for it. They pumped their little legs furiously but did not make it far in the squelching mud, and were quickly chased back inside, grinning and joking to their friends in Bosnian as another guard scolded them, his rifle swinging by his side while he wagged his finger.
Their mothers, foreigners who travelled to Syria to allegedly join Islamic State (IS) and its blood-soaked caliphate, stood silently behind them. Each had their belongings packed in a bag beside them, ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
The committee is taking a recess for members to vote on the House floor. A reminder that today we’re expecting a vote on Department of Homeland Security funding bill that dozens of Democrats have vowed to vote against.
The top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, Jamie Raskin, praised Jack Smith’s handling of his investigations into the president. Raskin also noted the persistent denigration by Donald Trump as Smith conducted the probes.
What do you do when you come to a hard stop? When work has got too much, even friendships feel like a drain and you feel like you simply can’t keep going with your life as it currently is?
For Emma Gannon, the answer was extreme but non-negotiable: an entire year of nothing – or close to it. Gannon, the London-based author of fiction, nonfiction and the Hyphen newsletter, burned out with a bang in late 2022. While on a spa weekend with a friend, she had a panic attack, her first ever.
Casemiro will leave Manchester United when his contract expires in the summer, the club have confirmed. United have decided against offering the midfielder an extension after four years at Old Trafford.
The Brazil international, who joined from Real Madrid in 2022 and will be 34 next month, wanted his exit announced this month to help him secure his next move.
After a year in the job, it was on: a first one-day international victory away from home for Brendon McCullum as England’s head coach, a touch of joy in a troubling winter. With Ben Duckett and Joe Root hitting watchful half-centuries, the base was set on a turner, chasing a target of 272.
But the discontent continued as 129 for one turned into 164 for six, Sri Lanka’s spinners ripping everything apart under lights in the first of three ODIs. The left-armer Dunith Wellalage combined his 12-ball 25 with two wickets in the collapse as the hosts, chasing their eighth consecutive ODI series win at home, triumphed by 19 runs.
Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie to join torch relay
Opening ceremony set mainly for San Siro stadium
Williams already in Milan via fashion week appearances
Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, the stars of the hit television series Heated Rivalry, have been named official torchbearers for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.
The actors will carry the Olympic flame during the torch relay that concludes in Milan on 6 February, the day of the opening ceremony that will be centered in the city’s San Siro football stadium. Organizers have not yet announced when or where Williams and Storrie will take part.
Donald Trump’s son was on video call with woman when he saw a man repeatedly punch her, court told
Donald Trump’s youngest son said he was “very close” to an alleged rape victim after raising the alarm about a suspected assault against her, a court has heard.
Barron Trump was on a FaceTime video call a year ago with the woman, who cannot be named, when he saw a man repeatedly punch her, Snaresbrook crown court was told on Wednesday.
Arsenal remained on top of the Champions League on the penultimate matchday of the group phase, which also featured a targeted Jude Bellingham celebration
• Jonas Gahr Støre, the prime minister of Norway and the recent recipient of a Nobel peace prize-related missive from Donald Trump, took in a Champions League match on Tuesday. Bodø/Glimt’s stadium is more than 700 miles from Oslo but the prime minister’s long journey proved well worth it. Bodø beating Manchester City 3-1, a first-ever win in the group stage, was Norway’s greatest club football triumph since Rosenborg beat – and knocked out – mighty Milan from the competition in December 1996.
Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has led some people to take drastic measures to ensure their safety
It was a normal Tuesday morning for Mohamed when he left his San Diego, California house for his daily exercise in mid-January. But as he walked around Colina del Sol park, four US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents approached and encircled the middle-aged father, who is using a pseudonym out of fear of retaliation from federal agents. The officers, Mohamed said, who wore jackets with ICE emblazoned on them and balaclavas that obscured their faces, asked for his green card before they began drilling him with questions about what he was doing in the park.
“I was terrified,” Mohamed, a lawful permanent resident from Somalia, said through a translator. The ordeal ended shortly thereafter, but the experience has left a lasting impact on him. “I have high blood pressure,” Mohamed said about the encounter he believes was racial profiling. “I used to do my daily exercises; now I don’t even do that anymore because I’m scared.”
Storm expected to hit from south Rockies and plains into mid-south on Friday before spreading east
A powerful winter storm is set to sweep across much of the US this weekend, bringing potentially record-breaking cold, heavy snow and ice that forecasters warn could cause hazardous conditions, potential power outages and travel disruptions.
The storm is expected to bring “widespread heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain” from the south Rockies and plains into the mid-south beginning on Friday, before spreading east to the mid-Atlantic and New England areas this weekend, according to the US National Weather Service on Thursday. The impact in New England will potentially linger into Monday.
Emerging stars are starting to critique Trump’s immigration crackdown – defying the genre’s legacy of conservatism
Thanksgiving did not go the way that Frank Ray had anticipated.
The country singer had invited his family up from Texas to Tennessee for the holiday, with plans to deep-fry a turkey, explore Nashville, and take in a show at the Grand Ole Opry. But on Thanksgiving morning, Ray received an unsettling call: TSA had flagged his sister’s husband, Juan Nevarez-Porras, at El Paso international airport due to insufficient documentation required to fly.
Research for first time suggests tendon and bones in heavier species would have made bounding possible
Giant 250kg kangaroos that once roamed Australia would probably have been able to hop despite their enormous size, researchers have said.
While modern kangaroos are known for their ability to travel large distances by jumping with both hind legs at the same time, it has long been debated whether their extinct relatives would have been so springy.
From commuters reliving disaster to teens stuck in deja vu – the time-loop movie turns repetition into revelation. We round up the best of this oddly resilient subgenre
An Italian-Spanish remake of Groundhog Day, with a cynical nature presenter doomed to repeat the same 24 hours while reporting on a stork colony in the Canary Islands. The best thing about it is the Italian title: È già ieri (It’s Already Yesterday).
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has taken aim at Europe in a speech at Davos, accusing leaders of being in “Greenland mode” as they waited for leadership from Donald Trump on Ukraine and other geopolitical crises rather than taking action themselves.
“Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words Europe needs to know how to defend itself,” Zelenskyy said in a speech at the World Economic Forum. “A year has passed, and nothing has changed.”
Lindsey Vonn will compete in her fifth Winter Olympics next month after being named to a 97-athlete US Ski & Snowboard roster for the 2026 Milano Cortina Games, a team led by some of the most decorated figures in American winter sports history but also notable for its relative inexperience.
US Ski & Snowboard announced Thursday that it had nominated 97 athletes – 73 skiers and 24 snowboarders – to represent Team USA at the Games, which run from 6–22 February across northern Italy. The rest of the US team will be officially announced on Monday.
The neo-soul singer and actor answers your questions on being taken to a go-go club as a child, training as an English teacher and getting mistaken for footballer Jill Scott
In a recent interview you gave an invaluable life lesson which involved a go-go bar and your mother’s love. What are your tips for living life between adversities? Integrity411 My mother’s ex-husband was a questionable man and after he picked me up from elementary school he used to take me to a go-go bar where ladies were dancing in their panties. I was a child, so I thought: how nice for them, I hate getting dressed too! They dance all day and then some nice people put money in their panties. The ladies would give me milk or Coca-Cola and give me a dollar, so I wanted to be a go-go dancer when I grew up. At that age I didn’t know there was anything wrong with me going there and I learned not to judge people so quickly. However, when my mother discovered why I was coming home late she kicked into fifth gear. She told the bar not to let me in and instead showed me art, opera, ballet – anything that was free – and changed my palate and perspective. In a way, all that brought me here. Art can get you through things. Cry as hard as you can or even laugh as hard as you can, and hold on to the joy.
A Long Walk is my favourite song of yours, not least because I was blessed to have that same experience. Is it something you shared with a special someone or something you yearned for which has not yet come to pass? Soulisasolis33 Oh my goodness. I’ve had many long walks with dogs, my mother, my mate, my friends, my child. To just take a walk and talk is one of my favourite things to do, or just to take a walk in silence. I’d recommend it to anybody.
Opening Night will appear on HELP(2), a charity compilation out in March which also features Olivia Rodrigo, Depeche Mode, Pulp and more
Arctic Monkeys have released Opening Night, their first new song since 2022 album The Car, with proceeds benefiting the charity War Child.
Opening Night is taken from HELP(2), a sequel to War Child’s 1995 album Help, which brought together A-list music names to raise £1.2m for children affected by conflict, including Radiohead, Blur, Sinéad O’Connor and the Smokin’ Mojo Filters (a supergroup of Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller).
The first Sundance without founder Robert Redford and the last to take place in Park City, Utah, will see new films starring Natalie Portman, Ethan Hawke and Courtney Love
This year’s Sundance film festival will be notable for a major first as well as a major last. It’ll be the first to take place without its founder, Robert Redford, who died last September at the age of 89, and it’ll be the last to take place in Utah, where it’s been since the very beginning back in 1978.
Emotions, which are often on display regardless thanks to films often ruthlessly designed to elicit them, will be high, with events planned to commemorate a figure who helped create a launchpad and then an ecosystem for American indies. But while saying goodbye to both Redford and Park City will be front and centre, Sundance isn’t Sundance without a roster of films to also get attenders talking. Last year, it felt like that chatter was less effusive than usual because while there were films that continued evoking conversation throughout the year (Sorry Baby, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Train Dreams, Lurker, Twinless, pretty much every documentary premiere) there were more that either died on arrival or crawled toward a slow death months later.
Judge has brought indictment after nearby residents launched legal action in 2024 saying the concerts made their lives a misery
Real Madrid could face trial for alleged environmental offences after a Spanish judge ruled there was sufficient evidence that loud concerts held at the club’s Bernabéu stadium, which has been dubbed “the torture-drome” by local residents, could have broken the law.
The Residents’ Association for those Affected by the Bernabéu (AVPB) began legal action against the football club and the city council in 2024, saying a series of punishingly loud concerts held that spring and summer had made their lives a misery. Performers included Taylor Swift, Luis Miguel and the Colombian star Karol G.
Estimate made by Center for Countering Digital Hate after Elon Musk’s AI image generation tool sparked outrage
Grok AI generated about 3m sexualised images in less than two weeks, including 23,000 that appear to depict children, according to researchers who said it “became an industrial-scale machine for the production of sexual abuse material”.
The estimate has been made by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) after Elon Musk’s AI image generation tool sparked international outrage when it allowed users to upload photographs of strangers and celebrities, digitally strip them to their underwear or into bikinis, put them in provocative poses and post the images on X.
There’s no shame in not knowing what he’ll say next: neither does he. But that didn’t stop many claiming to make sense of it
In weeks like this, the mask slips somewhat. Politicians love the illusion of control. It’s the special power that differentiates them from us lower orders. They are the ones pulling all the levers. Nothing ever happens that takes them unawares. They are the ones with answers to everything. They need it to be this way. Not just for their own psyches but for ours. It’s somehow comforting.
And then along comes Donald Trump and our emperors have no clothes. Their limitations on view to everyone. Scrabbling around just to stand still. Trying to make sense of the world in real time, just like the rest of us. Making it up as they go along.
Osaka: ‘I don’t react well to being casually disrespected’
The courtside photographer pit was already full 10 minutes before call time on Thursday night inside Margaret Court Arena. As all cameras pointed directly at the players’ entrance, it was not difficult to understand why they were there.
A day earlier, Naomi Osaka had produced one of the enduring images of the 2026 Australian Open, marching on to Rod Laver Arena in an outfit inspired by a jellyfish. This time, before her gritty, contentious 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 second-round win over Sorana Cirstea, she left the hat and veil back in the locker room.
Renaud Capuçon (Deutsche Grammophon) These performances of Bach’s solo works are elegant and persuasive – balancing a modern tone with an alert awareness of period style
To celebrate his 50th birthday, Renaud Capuçon has recorded Bach’s solo sonatas and partitas, works the French violinist has been familiar with since childhood. These impressive accounts are elegant and thoughtful, his generous tone lit up from within with sufficient vibrato to caress the ear while simultaneously acknowledging current thinking on period performance practice.
Tempi are steady throughout, occasionally leisurely in slow movements, but always persuasive. There’s a generous body to his sound and a tasteful restraint when it comes to decoration. Phrasing is instinctual, his articulation of Bach’s fugal elements a model of clarity, while his sure-footed handling of the various doubles and prestos eschews any sense of virtuosity for virtuosity’s sake. In the mighty chaconne that ends the D minor partitas, Capuçon finds a reflective lightness and intimacy that frequently draws the ear.
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