Incident outside Opera House that left two people in critical condition is not being investigated as terrorism, police say
Six people have been injured after a knife attack at a demonstration in Belgium on Thursday evening, police said.
Two of the victims were in a critical condition in hospital after the incident in the port city of Antwerp near the Operaplein (Opera Square), police spokesperson Wouter Bruyns said.
Fetal tissue has been used to advance research into diabetes, Alzheimer’s, infertility and vaccines
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will no longer fund research that uses human fetal tissue obtained from “elective” abortions, the world’s biggest public funder of biomedical research announced on Thursday.
The ban marks the latest, and most dramatic, effort by the Trump administration to end research that uses fetal tissue from abortions – a goal that anti-abortion advocates, who oppose the research, have sought for years. In 2019, during Donald Trump’s first term in office, the NIH stopped funding internal research that involved the tissue and implemented a review committee to evaluate research proposals from scientists outside the government. Joe Biden ended that policy in 2021.
Nottingham Forest’s first European adventure for almost 30 years was supposed to be a hoot but the mood music that accompanied a slender defeat in Braga felt rather alarming. The fact is Forest failed to perform and a stale display was typified by the chain of errors that culminated in the captain, Ryan Yates, scoring an own goal that proved sufficient to earn the hosts victory.
A swell of the 2,100 away fans who made the trip to northern Portugal relayed their feelings to Sean Dyche and his squad, jeering the players on several occasions. At full time the question on supporters’ lips was a slightly more direct version of: what on earth was that?
In post-Davos speech, Canadian PM jabs at Trump, saying the arc of history ‘can still bend towards progress and justice’
Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, said his country must be a “beacon to a world that’s at sea” and that national unity was critical as his government faces a dramatic reshaping of the world political order – and mounting domestic challenges
The national address, given at a historic military fortress in Quebec City, was far narrower in scope than the prime minister’s remarks earlier in the week at the World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland. Dubbed the ‘Carney Doctrine’, the Davos speech lamented the disintegration of rules-based order amid a rise of “great powers” that used economic “coercion” as a weapon.
US president says his qualms over the opinion poll would be added to existing defamation lawsuit against the paper
Donald Trump has said he is expanding his defamation suit against the New York Times after an unfavorable opinion poll.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president said his qualms about the Times Siena poll would be added to his existing defamation lawsuit against the newspaper.
Minnesota residents share the fundamental ways their lives have changed since federal troops arrived in their state
The deployment of more than 3,000 federal immigration officers to Minnesota has transformed life in the cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, with residents reporting witnessing clashes between civilians and agents, carrying their passports and ID cards around for fear of being stopped, staying home as much as possible, and worrying for the safety of their children while out in public.
“I’ve never witnessed anything like this in the US,” said Dan O’Kane, 69. He came to the conclusion after watching Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers fighting with students and throwing a teacher to the ground at Roosevelt high school, three blocks from his home.
Ellison testified against Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX’s founder and her ex-partner who was sentenced to 25 years in prison
Disgraced former cryptocurrency executive Caroline Ellison was released from federal custody Thursday after serving about 14 months for her involvement in the multibillion-dollar FTX fraud scandal. Ellison was previously head of FTX’s associated trading arm and the on-again, off-again romantic partner of the crypto exchange’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.
Ellison, 31, was sentenced to 24 months in prison in 2024 after pleading guilty to seven charges including wire fraud and money laundering. She featured prominently as a witness for the prosecution of Bankman-Fried, testifying that her former paramour directed her to commit crimes. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Ellison’s release is an epilogue to one of the largest financial-fraud investigations in US history. The collapse of FTX, once among the world’s biggest crypto firms, attracted immense media attention, rattled markets and for a time led to increased regulatory scrutiny of the crypto industry.
Guardian analysis shows images are the same, with Nekima Levy Armstrong looking composed in original but sobbing after alteration
The White House posted a digitally altered image of a woman who was arrested on Thursday in a case touted by the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, to make it seem as if she was dramatically crying, a Guardian analysis of the image has found.
The woman, Nekima Levy Armstrong, also appears to have darker skin in the altered image. Armstrong was one of three people arrested on Thursday in connection to a demonstration that disrupted church services in St Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday. Demonstrators alleged that one of the pastors, David Easterwood, was the acting field director of the St Paul Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office. Bondi announced the arrests on social media on Thursday morning.
Speculation has spread over whether Burnham will attempt to return to pursue a Labour leadership bid
Keir Starmer’s allies have launched a “Stop Andy Burnham” campaign to prevent the Labour mayor from returning to parliament after the resignation of a Manchester MP triggered a byelection.
Multiple members of the party’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) predicted it would be impossible for Burnham to make it through the selection process given the number of Starmer loyalists on the body desperate to avoid a leadership challenge.
Search-and-rescue teams worked through the night at the campground, but there had been no progress in finding missing people, officials say
Emergency crews were searching for victims of landslides on New Zealand’s North Island that tore through a house and a busy campground, leaving at least two dead.
Police reported that as many as nine people may be missing in the landslides, which hit on Thursday, including children. Families enjoying the summer school holiday were among the campers. Recreational vehicles and at least one structure were crushed, images showed.
Fifa chief says he has been ‘hammered’ for 2026 prices
Fans’ group tells Infantino to focus on cheap tickets
Gianni Infantino made a joke about British football fans’ behaviour and defended ticket prices for this summer’s World Cup in North America during a speech to world leaders on Thursday.
Fifa’s president addressed concerns around the staging of this summer’s finals in the US amid rising domestic tensions there, telling the World Economic Forum in Switzerland how there had been “a lot of critics” before Qatar 2022.
Liam Ramos, a preschooler, is just one of a number of kids caught up in dystopian ICE surges in Minnesota and beyond
As symbols of the indiscriminate disproportionality of the Trump administration’s militant anti-immigrant crusade in Minneapolis, the images are hard to surpass.
One recent image shows the innocent figure of Liam Ramos, a five-year-old preschooler wearing a blue bobbled winter hat, standing next to a black vehicle with a dark-clad adult figure standing behind him, whose hand is proprietorially placed on his backpack.
Refusal to approve charges against Lemon in connection with Minnesota protest reportedly ‘enraged’ Pam Bondi
A federal magistrate judge declined to sign off on charges against Don Lemon, the former CNN anchor, in connection with a protest at a Minnesota church over the weekend, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The magistrate’s decision “enraged” the attorney general, Pam Bondi, according to NBC News and CNN.
Emmanuel Macron says the oil tanker was boarded and searched ‘subject to international sanctions’
The French navy has intercepted a Russian tanker in the Mediterranean suspected to be part of the “shadow fleet” that enables Russia to export oil despite sanctions.
“This morning, the French navy boarded and searched an oil tanker from Russia, subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag,” President Emmanuel Macron said on X.
US president alleges JP Morgan stopped offering him banking services in wake of January 6 attack
Donald Trump has sued JPMorgan Chase and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, for at least $5bn after accusing America’s largest bank of “debanking” him.
The US president alleged that the bank stopped offering him banking services in the wake of the Capitol riot on January 6. Earlier this month, he claimed it had “incorrectly and inappropriately” discriminated against him.
My housemate has a special phrase for some of my old photos: “Ima’s whiteface era” – hair seared straight down the middle with brassy blond highlights.
Where I grew up, in a regional coastal town, the gold standard was sandy blond beach babe.
Misinformation technology could be deployed at scale to disrupt 2028 US presidential election, AI researchers say
Political leaders could soon launch swarms of human-imitating AI agents to reshape public opinion in a way that threatens to undermine democracy, a high profile group of experts in AI and online misinformation has warned.
The Nobel peace prize-winning free-speech activist Maria Ressa, and leading AI and social science researchers from Berkeley, Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge and Yale are among a global consortium flagging the new “disruptive threat” posed by hard-to-detect, malicious “AI swarms” infesting social media and messaging channels.
It was supposed to give Gaza a future, but the US president is using it to attack the UN, international law and multilateralism
One glance at the logo of the Board of Peace tells you all you need to know. It is the globe and laurels of the UN – only gold, because this is Donald Trump’s initiative, and showing little of the world beyond North America.
The charter of the board, formally launched in Davos on Thursday, suggests that this is less America First than Trump Always. It is not “the US president” but Mr Trump himself who is named as chair, for as long as he wishes. He can pick his successor, decide the agenda and axe whomever he chooses – even if they have coughed up the $1bn demanded for permanent membership. It is the institutional expression of his belief that he is bound not by law but “my own morality, my own mind”.
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Growing concerns about the impact of smartphones on the youngest children must be addressed
The first UK government guidance on young children’s use of tablets, smartphones and other screens, expected in April, cannot come soon enough. The laissez-faire approach to the boom in social media, handheld devices and other digital technology was arguably nowhere less suitable than when such machines were placed in front of babies. The Department for Education’s ongoing Children of the 2020s study has found that 98% of two-year-olds watch screens on a typical day for more than two hours. Those who spent the most time had smaller vocabularies, and were twice as likely as other children to show signs of emotional and behavioural difficulties.
Correlation must not be mistaken for causation. This is still a relatively new area of research, and much remains uncertain. But the findings of a recent survey by the charity Kindred Squared, combined with observations by teachers, are highly concerning. Answers from 1,000 primary-school staff revealed that 37% of four-year-olds arrived without basic life skills such as dressing and eating in 2025 – up from 33% two years earlier.
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Dallas Pokornik accused of using fake ID to fool airlines in case likened to Hollywood thriller Catch Me If You Can
A Toronto man posed as a pilot for years in order to fool airlines into giving him hundreds of free flights, prosecutors have alleged, in a case that has prompted comparisons to the Hollywood thriller Catch Me If You Can.
Authorities in Hawaii announced this week that Dallas Pokornik, 33, had been charged with wire fraud after he allegedly fooled three major US carriers into giving him free tickets over a span of four years.
Controversial gifted jetliner described as a ‘flying palace’ is anticipated to be used as new Air Force One plane
The Boeing 747-8 jetliner gifted to the Donald Trump administration by the Qatari royal family is set to be delivered to Trump by this summer.
Confirming the anticipated use of the aircraft as the new Air Force One jet, an air force spokesperson told the Guardian: “The Air Force remains committed to expediting delivery of the VC-25 bridge aircraft in support of the Presidential airlift mission, with an anticipated delivery no later than summer 2026.”
After a bombastic speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump backed away from his threat to impose tariffs on European countries
In the past few days, Donald Trump turned the US presidency into a tool for his personal glory and vengeance. On Saturday, he threatened to impose tariffs of up to 25% on a bloc of European countries until Denmark agrees to sell Greenland to the US. The next day, Trump texted Norway’s prime minister, saying his failure to win the Nobel peace prize was one of the reasons he’s intent on seizing control of Greenland. After being snubbed for last year’s award, Trump said he no longer felt the need “to think purely of peace”.
By Tuesday morning, as European leaders continued to absorb the shock of Trump’s threats and insults, the president posted an AI-generated meme that showed him planting a US flag on the island, flanked by his vice-president and secretary of state. “Greenland. US Territory. Est. 2026,” the image said. (Trump shared another image, also apparently edited by AI, that showed him sitting alongside a map of the US that includes Canada, Greenland and Venezuela, as he spoke with European leaders assembled at the White House.) Later on Tuesday, when he was asked at a press conference how far he was willing to go to acquire Greenland, Trump responded tersely: “You’ll find out.”
Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor, at New York University
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