Voting was largely peaceful in an election seen as a test of Bangladesh’s democracy after years of political turmoil under autocratic ruler
The Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP), led by Tarique Rahman, has claimed a sweeping victory in the country’s first election since a gen-Z uprising toppled the autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina.
“This victory was expected. It is not surprising that the people of Bangladesh have placed their trust in a party ... capable of realising the dreams that our youth envisioned during the uprising,” said Salahuddin Ahmed, a leading BNP committee member.
Emails show Kathy Ruemmler had close ties to convicted sexual abuser she called ‘Uncle Jeffrey’
Kathy Ruemmler, the top lawyer at Goldman Sachs and former White House counsel to Barack Obama, has announced her resignation in the wake of emails showing a close relationship between her and Jeffrey Epstein, whom she referred to as “Uncle Jeffrey”.
Ruemmler said in a statement on Thursday that she would “step down as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Goldman Sachs as of June 30, 2026”.
New York City officials raise flag at site of rebellion once again after ‘act of erasure’ by administration
Days after the Trump administration oversaw the removal of a Pride flag from the Stonewall national monument, officials in New York City again raised the flag at the historic site.
A large crowd gathered near the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village to see it return to the space where, in 1969, the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement was ignited. Nearly six decades ago, police raided the popular gay bar, and set off an uprising that, as the Library of Congress notes, would “fundamentally change the discourse surrounding LGBTQ+ activism” in the US.
US secretary of state says ahead of Munich Security Conference appearance that ‘we live in a new era of geopolitics’; Ukrainian cities pounded in latest attacks. What we know on day 1,451
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said he will have a chance to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy at this week’s Munich Security Conference. A year after the vice-president, JD Vance, stunned assembled dignitaries with a verbal assault on many of the US’s closest allies in Europe, Rubio plans to take a less contentious but philosophically similar approach when he addresses the annual gathering on Saturday, US officials say. Before boarding his flight on Thursday evening, Rubio used reassuring words as he described Europe as important for Americans. “We’re very tightly linked together with Europe,” he told reporters. But he also made clear it wouldn’t be business as usual, saying: “We live in a new era in geopolitics, and it’s going to require all of us to reexamine what that looks like.”
The war in Ukraine is on the conference’s agenda, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron – who is making the trip to Germany – has said he hopes for a resumption of talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Macron said on Thursday he did not expect to speak with Putin in the coming days, and that European nations first needed to agree what they wanted from Russia. “It’s not a matter of days, there are preparations involved,” he told reporters after EU leaders’ talks.
Russia pounded Ukraine with ballistic missiles and drones overnight on Thursday, further battering its energy system and leaving tens of thousands in the capital, Kyiv, and the cities of Dnipro and Odesa without heat, power and water, officials said. In Kyiv alone, about 3,500 apartment buildings were without heating on Thursday after the latest winter attack on Ukraine’s power grid knocked out supplies to nearly 2,600 high-rises, on top of the 1,100 already affected by previous strikes, said mayor Vitali Klitschko. More than 100,000 families were without electricity, according to private energy firm DTEK.
Odesa was hit twice in less than 24 hours. Late on Thursday, the regional governor said a second wave of drone strikes had damaged houses, industrial sites and energy infrastructure and disrupted electricity, heating and water supplies. The attack also sparked a fire that engulfed one of the city’s markets, injuring one person, said the military administration. In the industrial south-eastern city of Dnipro, a combined missile and drone strike wounded four people, including a baby boy and a four-year-old girl, the regional governor said. In the north-eastern Kharkiv region bordering Russia, two people were killed and six more wounded in an attack on the railway hub of Lozova, prosecutors said.
Vladyslav Heraskevych has accused the International Olympic Committee of doing Russia’s propaganda for them after he was barred from racing in the Winter Games because he wanted to wear a “helmet of memory” in honour of Ukraine’s war dead, reports Sean Ingle. In one of the most controversial decisions in recent Olympic history, the 27-year-old Ukrainian skeleton racer was informed only minutes before he was due to compete that his accreditation had been rescinded. A wave of support for Heraskevych swept Ukraine over the ban, while Zelenskyy said the IOC’s decision played “into the hands of aggressors”.
Ukraine’s western allies have already pledged around $35bn in military aid to Kyiv this year, the British defence minister, John Healey, said on Thursday. The figure included new commitments by individual countries but also previous promises made by Ukraine’s allies, including €11.5bn ($13.6bn) already announced by Germany, a diplomat at Nato said. “We will step up military assistance to Ukraine,” Healey said after a meeting of Ukraine’s allies. “We will step up pressure on Russia.”
More than 220,000 people in Russia’s Belgorod region were left without electricity after a Ukrainian attack caused an accident at a substation, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Thursday. “Emergency crews are working. Restoration will take at least 4 hours,” he wrote on Telegram.
Another group of Russian and Ukrainian children have been reunited with their families by the US first lady, Melania Trump, the White House said on Thursday, without specifying how many children were reunited or when it took place. It was the third time the first lady had brokered such a repatriation, it said.
US president, who blamed aide for post depicting Obamas as apes, maintains video is not a problem
Donald Trump on Thursday continued to brush off widespread backlash over a racist video posted to his social media account last week, and said no White House staffer had faced consequences for the offensive post.
Asked by Weijia Jiang of CBS News on Thursday whether he had “fired or disciplined that staffer who posted the video from your account that included the Obamas”, Trump said that he had not.
Elordi and co-star Margot Robbie walked the carpet at Sydney’s State Theatre on Thursday night for Emerald Fennell’s lavish, hyper-stylised adaptation of Emily Brontë’s doomed romance
Sussan Ley will soon quit politics, saying she plans on “stepping away completely and comprehensively from public life” after being defeated in a party room spill for the Liberal leadership.
The decision sets up a byelection for Ley’s seat of Farrer, which could result in the opposition’s parliamentary numbers dwindling further.
Dispute about rules elevates from insults to fisticuffs, with as many as 20 players becoming involved
A dispute over a rule led to a brawl during a pickleball game at a central Florida country club, authorities said, with one player hitting his opponent in the face with a paddle and punching him on the ground before others got involved.
A 63-year-old man was charged Sunday with two counts of felony battery on a person 65 or older, and his 51-year-old wife, who joined the fight in Port Orange, was charged with a single count of felony battery on a person 65 or older, according to an arrest affidavit.
Burnley have the chance of a Cup run, Leicester fear an unwelcome repeat and Brighton fans get a raw deal
Chelsea have kept two clean sheets in 10 games since appointing Liam Rosenior as head coach last month. Repeated doziness at the back has cost them. They have held commanding advantages against Charlton, Crystal Palace, Wolves and Leeds, only to give away silly goals. It is a bad habit and proved costly when a 2-0 lead was squandered during Tuesday’s draw with Leeds. Rosenior was livid afterwards, and is waiting for a consistent performance. Chelsea travel to Hull , Rosenior’s former club, on Friday night. They will surely advance against Championship opponents, but how they do it will matter. It is time for them to get serious. Jacob Steinberg
Hull City v Chelsea, Friday 7.45pm (all times GMT)
Glimpse of sun after weeks of unrelenting rain marks end of longest sunless period in area since records began
Aberdeen has finally had some sunshine, for the first time in 21 days – marking the end of the longest sunless period in the area since Met Office records began in 1957.
Residents of the Granite city in north-east Scotland glimpsed the sun late on Thursday afternoon, with sunshine having been last recorded on 21 January.
Australia stands at a crossroads as it rolled out the red carpet for some, while greeting others with batons
Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia was not a routine diplomatic engagement. It was an ethical and political test of the Australian state. At the very moment a red carpet was rolled out for a man accused of inciting genocide, peaceful Australian citizens were met with batons while exercising their democratic right to protest.
For me, this was never an abstract political debate. Before the visit, I pursued the legal channels that are meant to protect citizens and lodged a formal complaint with the Australian government about the role Herzog played in rhetoric and policies that contributed to the destruction of my family in Gaza. Seven of my relatives were killed. My father died because of a lack of medicine, food and water. My brother, his wife, their four children and her father were also killed. Their bodies remain buried beneath the rubble. Despite the seriousness of this complaint, I have received no response from the government.
Semi-final first leg: Atlético Madrid 4-0 Barcelona
E García 6og, Griezmann 14, Lookman 33, Alvarez 45+2
You must always have faith, Diego Simeone had insisted and so it was. A biblical storm blew through the Metropolitano, leaving Barcelona in pieces and Atlético Madrid closer to a first Copa del Rey final in 13 years. “I’m not a wizard but I did believe that the team could play like this,” Simeone said at the end of a wild night, yet even he could not have imagined anything quite like this, 45 extraordinary minutes giving his team a 4-0 lead to take to the Camp Nou in three weeks’ time.
“This will remain in the memory however the tie ends,” Simeone said, careful to note that this is not over yet. Hansi Flick, meanwhile, vowed that his Barcelona team will fight, claimed they had been handed a “great lesson” that might yet be helpful, and outlined a plan for the second leg: 2-0 in each half. But an an own goal from Eric García and three more before half-time here from Ademola Lookman, Antoine Griezmann and Julián Alvarez, did the kind of damage that will be mightily difficult to fix. Barcelona could not begin that task here, a Pau Cubarsí effort ruled out after a seven-minute VAR check the only “goal” of the second half. Indeed, another VAR check made their second leg task even harder when Eric García was sent off in the final minutes.
US attorney general displayed records of Congress members’ searches into Epstein files during House hearing
Members of Congress are calling for investigations after discovering the Department of Justice created records of their research activities while they dug into files connected to Jeffrey Epstein.
Photographs taken by Reuters during a congressional hearing on Wednesday showed the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, holding a document titled “Jayapal Pramila Search History”, listing files that the Democratic US representative Pramila Jayapal had accessed during her review of the Epstein materials.
Simon Stiell tells audience in Cop31 host nation Turkey that climate extremes are fuelling famine, displacement and war
National security strategies that fail to take account of the climate crisis are “dangerously narrow”, and will leave countries open to “a new world disorder” threatening famine and conflict, the UN’s climate chief has warned.
The warnings came as a draft of a key agenda for the Cop31 climate conference omitted to mention fossil fuels, and skewed instead to the interests of the Turkish hosts, such as waste management and tourism.
Canadian authorities seized firearms from the residence approximately two years ago but later returned them
Police have said they were called on multiple occasions to the home of the teenage suspect behind one of Canada’s deadliest school shootings after concerns were raised regarding mental health problems and weapons.
Six people, including a teacher and five children, were killed in a school shooting on Tuesday in the western Canadian town of Tumbler Ridge. About 25 other people were injured and two of them remain in critical but stable condition.
York Knights produced an incredible comeback to stun the reigning Super League champions and win their first ever game in the top flight on the opening night of the 2026 season.
North Yorkshire hosted Super League rugby for the first time in front of a full house and many of those who were watching York for the first time will have seen enough to return. They trailed last year’s treble winners 18-6 at one stage but scored 13 unanswered points in the final quarter to inflict a rare defeat on the Robins and cause pandemonium in the stands.
This was billed as a test of Arsenal’s mettle after Manchester City had picked themselves off the canvas against Liverpool at Anfield to reignite the title race. But having seen their lead at the top whittled down to three points since the weekend, Mikel Arteta’s side showed their fallibility as they were held by a dogged Brentford side who felt that they should have even claimed victory.
Just when they needed to put in a statement performance, Arsenal were edgy throughout and struggled to create anything of note until Noni Madueke opened the scoring. Keane Lewis-Potter’s equaliser that came from a Michael Kayode long throw was fully deserved as Keith Andrews’ side showed exactly why they are enjoying such a successful season since he stepped up to replace Thomas Frank last summer.
Manchester United took a big step towards the quarter-finals of the Women’s Champions League by sealing a comfortable lead in the first leg of their playoff against Atlético Madrid after goals from Elisabeth Terland, Melvine Malard and Julia Zigiotti Olme.
“I think it was [a professional win],” a delighted Marc Skinner, the United manager, said. “It was difficult for both teams on the pitch. I can understand it with the number of storms they had ... but I did think it affected the football. I thought we were ruthless. The three goals were fantastic. I felt like our defending as a whole team was excellent.”
Democrats in the US Senate have blocked a funding package for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) amid ongoing fury over the Trump administration’s crackdown and the deaths of two people in Minneapolis.
Thursday’s vote means that the department is almost certain to shut down at midnight on Friday evening, affecting a range of services yet largely leaving the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) – the target of Democrats’ ire – unaffected because it is already the recipient of lavish federal funding.
Tax exile has already proven himself a terrible club owner; now his ill-informed diatribe about immigration has poured fuel on wider flames
Well I, for one, am shocked. Shocked to learn that a tax-exiled English expat who made his billions squeezing chemical plants doesn’t have liberal, let alone accurate, views on immigration. Or at least, in public anyway.
It seems highly likely Sir Jim Ratcliffe knew what he was doing in the course of his now semi-recanted Sky News interview. And it is above all vital that at least one part of his empire of influence – football, sport, Manchester United – rejects it, as the club have done to some extent in their statement.
I share the same last name as one of Manchester United’s substitute keepers in Kayla Rendell, no relation though. Do you have a family connection to a footballer or have a similar name and try to pass yourself off as say Sam Kerr’s cousin? Get in touch and let me know by emailing.
3 min: … but then Gabriel inexplicably toe-punts a wild backpass out for a corner. So careless. An early chance for Brentford to cause some of that six-yard-box chaos their manager was talking about before the game.
2 min: Brentford stroke it around a bit. Then Arsenal stroke it around a bit. One of those starts.
American star takes silver behind strong first round
The snowfall coming down on Livigno Snow Park on Thursday night helped produce one of the bigger Olympic upsets in snowboard history, as Chloe Kim’s bid to become the first rider to win three consecutive Olympic halfpipe gold medals fell just short.
Kim finished with a best score of 88.00 from her opening run, settling for silver behind surprise winner Choi Gaon of South Korea, whose heroic third run after an early fall earned 90.25 and rewrote the Olympic record books. Japan’s Mitsuki Ono took bronze with 85.00.
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