All the latest Melbourne updates as last 16 continues
Pegula ends Keys’ reign | Follow on Bluesky | Mail Daniel

Otherwise, Musetti, now firmly established at the top of the game, whacked Fritz while, in the men’s doubles, the champs are out, Henry Patten and Harri Heloivaara beaten by Patrik Rikl and Petr Nouza 6 and 6, spurning five break points without facing any. Regular reader will know Patten is coached by Calvin Betton, a great friend of the blog who’s been furnishing us with pro angles and insights for years now; well, Luke Johnson, Calv’s other charge, is still in, with his partner Jan Zielinski, and they’re looking very good.

To recap what went down overnight, the champ is out of the women’s competition, Our Maddy losing in straights to her good mate, Jess Pegula, who’ll now meet Amanda Anisimova in an enticing quarter-final – the others are tasty too, Gauff meeting Svitolina, Sabalenka facing the surging Jovic and Rybakina the winner of Swiatek v Inglis.

The Seattle Seahawks quarterback has endured a rocky NFL career. But in the biggest game of his career, he delivered the performance of a lifetime

Moments after clinching a Super Bowl berth, Sam Darnold strolled over for his obligatory television interview. He was thrilled; the Seahawks had just toppled the Rams in a 31-27 thriller. But he was also measured. Unlike receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who would follow and was teeming with emotion, Darnold simply spoke about his love for his teammates. And when asked about his improbable journey, he replied, “I haven’t really thought about it that much.”

He may not have, but the rest of us have. And whether Darnold likes it or not, his comeback story will be the prevailing storyline of Super Bowl 60. How can it not, especially after the quarterback saved what may have been the best performance of his life for Seattle’s third, and most important, tilt with the Rams this season.

While there may be benefits to the treatment, anti-ageing probably isn’t one of them – which is something better left to the professionals

‘Red light therapy, where LED lights are shone on your skin, has been around for a while,” says Afshin Mosahebi, a professor in plastic surgery at University College London. But what was once an expensive treatment you’d go to a professional to receive is now becoming widely available in the form of light-up masks you can wear at home.

“Reasonable reports show that the treatment is good for wound-healing,” says Mosahebi. This is why it is recommended for inflammatory skin conditions such as acne, dermatitis and psoriasis, as it increases circulation, decreases inflammation, and improves cell regeneration.

Singer-songwriter Sam Amidon had just three weeks to make the two stars sound like seasoned balladeers. He recalls their charged harmonies in the little shed at the bottom of his garden

I was brought into The History of Sound as the music adviser, my main job being singing coach for the cast, especially Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor.

My parents were folk educators. I grew up in New England, singing and playing all kinds of different folk including Appalachian fiddle tunes, as well as songs from the British Isles. My parents’ favourites were legendary Yorkshire singing family the Watersons. I now live in London and it was amazing how close History of Sound’s musical world matched my own. Ben Shattuck – who wrote the original short stories and the screenplay – made a playlist of all these different types of music so everybody could get a sense of the film’s world.

Casemiro is thriving under Michael Carrick, Newcastle look short of ideas and Sean Dyche takes aims at … towels?

Casemiro will depart Manchester United this summer. His four years in English football have been mixed but he may yet go out on a high. At one point in his first season, such as his performance in the 2023 League Cup final, he was hailed as the club’s best signing since Eric Cantona. He never lived up to that billing, the accusation that United had overpaid for someone who left his legs in Madrid. At the Emirates in 2026, just as against Manchester City the previous week, he showed his muscle memory endures. Kobbie Mainoo is a project player for Michael Carrick. Mainoo can learn much in his remaining months alongside Casemiro, who completed the 90 minutes at Arsenal and retained his influence. United are linked with younger midfielders in Carlos Baleba, Adam Wharton and Elliot Anderson. They may now have something to live up to. John Brewin

Match report: Arsenal 2-3 Manchester United

Match report: Newcastle 0-2 Aston Villa

Match report: Burnley 2-2 Tottenham

Match report: Manchester City 2-0 Wolves

Swirling force of subcontinental politics and a governing body lacking in credibility has led to a far from joyous situation

The R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo may be hosting a one-day international series at the moment, but the real show begins in less than two weeks. The venue has been dressed with branding for the upcoming men’s T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India: a banner hangs out the front, an image of the trophy accompanied by a simple tagline: “Feel the thrill”.

This, of course, is how it should be as you approach a global tournament, a real buzz as the world is welcomed on to an island. Spotted in the stadium during Sri Lanka’s second ODI against England on Saturday was a poster reading: “We will repeat 2014”, a nod to their tournament victory 12 years ago, a crowning moment for the departing Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. With Italy among the 20 teams competing, the upcoming showpiece looks like a genuinely global event unlike the more exclusive 50-over version.

Multi-club owner’s Women’s Champions Cup sponsorship creates a conflict of interest, whatever her motivation

You can imagine the meltdown across social media, if Stan Kroenke, Todd Boehly or the Glazer family were to enter into a partnership with the Football Association. Well, women’s football in the United States already took a similar unusual step in November 2024 when US Soccer announced “a historic gift” of $30m (£22m) from Michele Kang, the owner of one of the country’s biggest women’s clubs, Washington Spirit, over a five-year period.

US Soccer labelled the donation as philanthropic – the largest women’s football in the country had ever had – and “non-profit”. Then, in December 2025, US Soccer unveiled the Kang Women’s Institute, a platform “designed to accelerate advancements in the women’s game through science, innovation, and elevated best practices”, and there was surprisingly little public condemnation. Overwhelmingly, the women’s game around the world appeared to celebrate the businesswoman’s generosity rather than questioning this arrangement, because of Kang’s repeatedly stated aim of trying to grow women’s football.

Makoko’s waterfront stilt settlements were razed with little warning amid government claims that the move was essential for sanitation and security

It was 12.30pm when amphibious excavators escorted by armed police roared through Makoko, crushing wooden shacks built on stilts. “It was the second time this year,” says Augustine Agpoko, 42, a fisher and father of eight whose six-bedroom bungalow was demolished on 16 January.

Like many of his neighbours, Agpoko was already dismantling his home piece by piece in an attempt to save some of the materials before the machines arrived. “I was removing my roofing sheets, trying to salvage materials from my house when the bulldozers began demolition,” he says. “When they started firing tear gas into the air, I had to quickly evacuate my family to safety in a neighbouring community, because one of my two wives is in her second trimester.”

Makoko waterfront community before the demolitions

The distractions of daily life can make writing a book a frustrating task, so I sought boltholes offering creative support and solitude in inspiring landscapes

The idea for my novel came in a rush: as I walked over the Thames on the Golden Jubilee Bridge in central London, the scene at the heart of it leapt out of the deep blue dusk and clung on to me until I committed to writing it into existence.

A few months later, it became depressingly clear that the half-hour snatches of writing at the end of my working day just weren’t going to get me over the finish line.

A delightfully leftfield new interview show takes Jason Williamson to dig up rusty old nails. Plus, Ant and Dec launch their first ever podcast

In this offbeat interview show, producer and host James Deacon takes a ramble through green space with a celebrity, as they attempt a spot of metal detecting and intimate chat with themed questions (“What’s one piece of gold you’ve found in your life?”). Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson is the first guest for an hour of introspection and digging up rusty nails. Works better as a visualised, rather than audio, podcast. Alexi Duggins
Widely available, episodes weekly

Raúl Capdevila Murillo’s debut documentary follows the director’s journey back to his farming family, whose way of life is newly endangered

Raúl Capdevila Murillo’s debut documentary has all of the components of a thrilling retro western. Set to a rousing score, the opening titles feature giant letters in bold yellow, splattering over the horizon of a dusty landscape. Then we get the return of the prodigal son, fresh from the hubbub of the so-called civilised big city. The son is, in fact, Capdevila Murillo himself, and instead of gunfight, Los Saldos – or Remainders – is about a different kind of struggle, that of the film-maker’s own family, farmers unsettled by industrial changes.

Shot in widescreen, the film lends a majestic quality to ordinary life in Binéfar, north-eastern Spain. We observe José Ramón, the director’s father, on his daily rounds, driving around in his pickup truck, tending to his crops and animals. The rhythm is slow and languid; even the mere discussion of a new water tank results in protracted discussion between José Ramón and his neighbours who, like him, are the remnants of a vanishing line of work. Meanwhile, a major meat-product company is planning a macro abattoir in the area. The news lingers in the air like a bad smell, as news reports and political discussions unspool on radio and TV.

A brilliant analysis of the trial of Gayle Newland and the literary and social antecedents of ‘sex by deception’

In September 2015, Gayle Newland stood trial accused of sex by deception. It was alleged that she created an online identity as a man and used this character, Kye Fortune, to lure another woman into a sexual relationship, which was consummated repeatedly with the assistance of a blindfold and a prosthetic penis. The woman believed she was having sex with Kye until one day her ring caught on his hat and she felt long hair. Tearing off her blindfold, she realised her male lover was actually her female friend. As these lurid, almost fairytale details seeped out, the case went viral. “Sex attacker who posed as man found guilty” was one of the milder headlines.

The trial caught Izabella Scott’s attention because it was a real-life example of a plot device she recognised from literature. The bed trick can be found in folk stories and operas, in Chaucer and Shakespeare. Often told for comic effect, it concerns sex by trickery and deception, under cover of darkness. “The plot suggests,” Scott writes, “that, in bed, anyone might be mistaken for anyone else.”

The cap, which Bradman wore in his final home Test series, had been ‘hidden for 75 years’

A baggy green cap worn by the Australian cricket great Sir Donald Bradman has sold for $460,000 to an anonymous buyer at a Gold Coast auction.

Bradman wore the cap during the 1947-48 series against India – his final home Test series before retiring in 1948 with a career batting average of 99.94, earning him the reputation as cricket’s greatest batter.

Anti-immigration protesters clash with First Nations people and supporters in Melbourne and Canberra at otherwise peaceful rallies

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Police in Western Australia have shut down the location of a planned Invasion Day rally after receiving reports of a threat targeting the Perth CBD.

WA police issued a warning on Monday afternoon urging the public to stay away from the area and await further advice, saying they had deployed “significant police resources” to and set up an exclusion zone around Forrest Place. One person was in custody, police said.

After arresting political opponents, banning the most popular party and using violence to crush dissent, the military’s proxy is on course to win by a landslide

The polls have closed in Myanmar, but no one is waiting in suspense. After arresting political opponents, banning the most popular political party and using violence to crush dissent, the military’s proxy is on course to win by a landslide.

“This is a fake election,” says a man who voted on Sunday in Mandalay, the second most populous city, his finger freshly dipped in purple ink. Like many, he voted only out of fear, worried that junta officials could retaliate if he stayed home.

Preventing the mayor from returning to Westminster deprives the party of its most potent candidate in Gorton and Denton

When Labour dignitaries gathered at the Titanic hotel in Liverpool on Friday night, one question loomed above all others: to change captain or not?

For many, that question has become even more pressing after Keir Starmer’s allies brutally stopped Andy Burnham’s return to Westminster before it had even begun.

Crimefighting nuns, giant killer white balloons and Aubrey Plaza getting stuck in a wall … here are your favourite ever mind-bending TV series

Catterick is my favourite baffling TV show. It stars Vic and Bob and a stellar backup cast – Reece Shearsmith, Tim Healey, Mark Benton, Matt Lucas and Morwenna Banks. It starts off innocuously enough with Carl Palmer (Bob) returning to Catterick to visit his brother Chris (Vic) but quickly descends into anarchy. The extremely loose plot centres around the criminal antics of mummy’s boy Tony (Shearsmith) but there are more tangents than a geometry conference. From ripped up posters of George Clooney and haunting dance routines to Chris Rea and Foreigner, Catterick should be top of your TV destinations. Tom Whelan, South Shields

Exclusive: Outgoing director general indicates support for update to licence-fee model as part of wider changes

The BBC will face “profound jeopardy” over its future unless it embraces significant changes to its funding, its outgoing director general has said, as he signalled his support for an overhaul of the licence fee.

Speaking to the Guardian, Tim Davie called for supporters of the corporation to “stand up and fight” for it, amid increased hostility from its commercial and political critics.

Ministers plan to license content from institutions such as National History Museum and National Library of Scotland

Met Office data and legal documents from the National Archives could be used by artificial intelligence systems as the UK government pushes ahead with plans to employ nationally owned material in AI tools.

The government is providing funds for researchers to test how Met Office content could be used by the technology, such as in helping agencies and councils know when to buy more road grit. Another project will explore whether legal data from the National Archives – the UK’s repository for official documents – could help medium- and small-sized businesses with legal support.

Study finds top performers over past decade have companies in industries such software, marketing and finance

• A southern town in the north: how Warrington has adapted to change

Eleven towns and cities in the UK, including Warrington, Barnsley and Wakefield, have seen their disposable incomes rise twice as fast as the rest of the UK over the past decade, a study has found.

A report from Centre for Cities, a thinktank, showed that between 2013 and 2023, disposable income for residents of these top performing towns and cities rose by an average of 5.2%, compared with an increase of 2.4% for urban areas in the UK overall.

Mediterranean chicken meatballs with feta and black olives, Persian-style saffron chicken and rice, and a garlicky, Korean-inspired chicken and potato traybake

When it comes to traybakes, chicken is the undisputed hero, because it’s endlessly adaptable and perfect for carrying bold, global flavours. First up, some eastern Mediterranean chicken meatballs, flecked with feta and black olives for a sharp, savoury punch. Then a Persian-style saffron chicken and rice; the rice cooks with the chicken, absorbing all the flavours of the sunshine-yellow saffron and crisping up at the edges. Finally, a Korean-inspired chicken and potato traybake in which gochujang and soy create a deeply savoury sauce that elevates a simple midweek meal.

Seven sisters constellation’s brightest members will be hidden from view for about an hour

On the night of 27 January, the moon passes in front of the Pleiades star cluster, temporarily hiding (occulting) some of its brightest members from view.

The Pleiades, also known as the seven sisters, lie about 440 light years away in the constellation Taurus, the Bull. They are one of the most recognisable structures in the winter sky. The stars were all born from the same giant cloud of molecular gas. Although in time they will be dispersed through the galaxy, at only 100m years old, they remain a relatively tight-knit community of stellar siblings.

Mark Carney and other custodians of the order are right to contemplate its death, but are they really willing to unpick the the entire system?

When precisely did the rules-based order die? Mark Carney’s speech last week at Davos was the first time a western head of state has said outright what has been hanging over political proceedings for some time. The rules-based order is “fading”, in the middle of a “rupture” and there’s no going back. But outside Davos, the G7 and Nato, that is old news – many believed the rules-based order had expired long ago, depending on what moment you take as your watershed.

There were several components to the order, which of course was a layered, complex thing. The first is structural, that is, the agreement between powerful and prosperous countries that there would be certain mechanisms and protocols to maintain political stability, contain the outbreak of wars and promote their mutual economic interests. All the bodies that direct international traffic – the EU, Nato, the UN, the WTO, the IMF – make up that top layer of organisation.

Rising fears that another US shutdown looms pushes gold price to new height amid nearly 90% rise since Trump’s inauguration

• Business live – latest updates

Gold has jumped above $5,000 an ounce for the first time, as Donald Trump’s chaotic policies and proclamations drive more investors to seek safe harbour in the precious metal.

The price of the yellow metal reached a record high of $5,100 on Monday morning, before easing back to settle up 2.2% at $5,089.