Strap yourself in for a Wembley showdown between Manchester City and Arsenal that should be as fascinating on the grass as the sideline where Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta bid to outsmart each other.

City’s manager was the Arsenal No 1’s tutor from 2016 to 2019 when Arteta was his coach. This forged a friendship, but there may be fireworks between them after Guardiola was incensed by the Spaniard’s claim that he had “all the information” on City after they complained about Arsenal’s “dark arts” tactics in the 2–2 draw at the Etihad Stadium last season.

Becoming garners 47.5m minutes viewed on same weekend as current first lady’s documentary released in cinemas

Michelle Obama’s 2020 documentary Becoming saw a major rise in views over the same weekend that Melania was released in cinemas.

The film, which followed the former first lady in the wake of her hit book, saw a rise in views of more than 13,000% over the past weekend, with 47.5m minutes viewed, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The weekend before saw only 354,000 minutes watched, according to Luminate.

EEOC demands firm turn over ‘DEI-related objectives’ amid Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity initiatives

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has launched an investigation into Nike over allegations that the sports giant discriminated against white employees and job applicants.

The federal agency is demanding that Nike turn over information related to the allegations, including the company’s “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion-related 2025 Targets and other DEI-related objectives”, it announced on Wednesday.

Organisers are hoping for a celebration of winter sport at Milano Cortina 2026 but tensions will not be far from the surface

A short stroll from where the grandees of the International Olympic Committee are staying in Milan sits the Museum of Illusions – a place devoted to magic and misdirection. Mirrors distort. Perspectives shift. And nothing is quite what it seems. It is an apposite metaphor for these Winter Olympics, which officially open in Italy on Friday.

Over the following 16 days, the world will be enraptured by the dazzle and spin of these Games: downhill skiers bombing down mountains at 95mph, snowboarders twirling like gyroscopes, the balletic grace of the world’s best skaters. But in Milano Cortina a fresh cold war is also brewing amid global political chaos.

Two-decade study indicates a diet rich in foods such as olive oil, nuts and vegetables can cut risk of every type of stroke

A Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of every type of stroke, in some cases by as much as 25%, a large study conducted over two decades suggests.

A diet rich in olive oil, nuts, seafood, whole grains and vegetables has previously been linked to a number of health benefits. However, until now there has been limited evidence of how it might affect the risk of all forms of stroke.

MPs say release of papers on Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador could trigger leadership challenge

Labour MPs have warned that Keir Starmer’s days as prime minister are numbered after a day of fury over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador despite his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

The government was on the brink of a defeat in the Commons until a mid-debate amendment brokered by Meg Hillier and Angela Rayner to force the release of documents about Mandelson’s appointment and the depth of his relationship with the convicted child sex offender.

If Les Bleus click, the results could be spectacular against a much-altered Ireland with umpteen questions to answer

The Six Nations is kicking off on a Thursday this year to avoid a direct clash with the Winter Olympics opening ceremony. In at least one key respect, even so, the two events are perfectly aligned: one early stumble for France or Ireland and a potentially painful descent awaits.

Despite the possibility of first‑night nerves and some Parisian drizzle it should still make for more intriguing viewing on ITV1 than the alternative of Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice on BBC One. Unless, of course, France are so far out of sight inside 40 minutes that they cannot be caught and the audience are free to switch over in good time to watch Sir Alan Sugar say: “You’re fired!”

• Davis played sporadically after arriving in Luka Doncic trade

• Eight-player swap comes ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline

The Dallas Mavericks are sending 10-time All-Star forward Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards in an eight-player trade, ESPN reported Wednesday.

The Mavericks will receive Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham and Marvin Bagley III plus two first-round draft picks and three second-round selections, per the report.

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1 min: Trippier’s first act of the evening is a fine block of O’Reilly’s shot, the City man having drifted in from the left.

Newcastle get the game started. They’re chasing down a two-goal deficit.

Talks that had been scheduled in Turkey salvaged after Arab states convince White House not to walk away from negotiations

Talks between the US and Iran scheduled for Friday have been brought back from the brink of collapse after the US initially rejected Iran’s request to move them from Turkey to Oman without the presence of a group of Arab states.

Iran’s foreign minister said late on Wednesday that the talks would proceed in Oman after reports of a last-minute effort by Arab states to convince the White House not to walk away from negotiations.

The American has earned the trust of Luciano Spalletti in Italy, but his role with the USMNT remains an open question

Juventus have tried to get rid of Weston McKennie. They even succeeded once, sending him on loan to Leeds United only for the American to return six months later. When he got back to Turin, as US coach Gregg Berhalter told the story at the time, Juve had emptied his locker and given away his parking spot. Despite this, McKennie stuck around.

It’s just as well for the Old Lady that he did – McKennie is now in the form of his life. The 27-year-old has scored four times in just eight games since the start of 2026. He has become one of Juve’s most important players and arguably the biggest driving force behind their recent upturn in form. Luciano Spalletti – among the most big-name coaches currently working in Italian football – has used McKennie to mould the team in his own image.

British firms could get more opportunities to supply defence equipment to Kyiv if agreement can be reached

The UK could reap greater benefits from a €90bn (£78bn) EU loan for Ukraine, if it agrees to help pay the cost of borrowing, after European countries signed off long-awaited financial aid for Kyiv.

British firms could have greater opportunities to supply defence equipment to Ukraine funded by the loan if the government agrees a “fair” contribution towards EU borrowing costs.

Ex-Trump adviser adds to elections officials’ concern about potential interference from Trump administration in voting

Steve Bannon, the former White House strategist and rightwing podcast host, said he wants to see immigration agents at the polls in November, a proposal that election officials have feared.

Bannon has no formal power, but is an influential figure on the far right and is closely tied with the Trump administration.

Marius Borg Høiby, 29, on trial accused of 38 crimes, broke down in tears as he claimed press had harassed him for years

Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway’s crown princess, has told a court he does not remember taking pictures and videos found on his phone that police say show him sexually assaulting a woman at a royal residence.

Høiby, Mette-Marit’s son from a relationship before her marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, is on trial accused of 38 crimes, including four rapes and assaults.

As the wheels of justice begin to turn in Britain, a spotlight should also shine on the financier’s wealthy enablers in the US

“The more Epstein documents get released, the more we see how he had so many powerful friends, and that’s ultimately what helped him,” commented the US lawyer Lisa Bloom in an interview with the Guardian this week. As Ms Bloom, who represents 11 of Jeffrey Epstein’s dogged and brave victims, drily notes: “That’s not the way the justice system is supposed to work.”

From the outset, the Epstein affair has offered a textbook example of the ability of the influential and well-connected to avoid scrutiny and intimidate those who would exert it. A ruthless pursuit of transparency, both institutional and personal, is the only way to combat such tactics and hold power to account. In the extraordinary days following the release of further Epstein files last week, the wheels of justice in Britain are belatedly beginning to turn on that basis.

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Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, shot dead on Tuesday, appealed to ‘a nostalgia for a past that is remembered as more secure’

The assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the second son of Libya’s late dictator Muammar Gaddafi, is a reminder of both how violent Libya remains more than 15 years after his father’s demise – and how much Saif had come to be perceived as a threat to Libya’s governing elite.

The loyalist Gaddafi green movement remained a potent gathering point for some Libyans nostalgic for a return to imagined past security that Saif’s father symbolised.

Reform UK leader received two guest passes from Iranian-born billionaire and declares attendance at event on register of MPs’ interests

Nigel Farage’s two-day trip to Davos cost more than £50,000 after he was given two guest passes by an Iranian-born billionaire, documents show.

The Reform UK leader officially declared his attendance at the conference on the register of MPs’ interests, after giving speeches at the Switzerland summit in which he pledged to “put the global elites on notice”.

New boss Luke Miels knows perils of overpromising but there is growing sense pharma firm is closer to filling potential

It’s a miracle. A mere 25 years after Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham merged to form GSK, the share price on Wednesday got back to where the combo started life – a shade over £20. It has been a very long wait.

A quarter of a century ago, the bosses of the day spoke about creating a “Microsoft of the pharmaceutical world” that would develop new medicines in never-seen-before quantities at faster speeds. A vast new head office in west London was opened by Tony Blair in 2002 to mirror the ambition. By then, however, the share price had already halved as investors twigged that, for all the fanfare, the mega-merger was really about bulking up defensively. The first decade was a blur of expiring patents, clashing egos, quarrels over executive pay and yet more promises of jam tomorrow.

• US skiing icon must wait to test injured knee

• Coach confident skier will be competitive at Games

Lindsey Vonn has been forced to wait for her chance to test her injured knee after heavy snowfall led to the cancellation of the first women’s downhill training at the Winter Olympics.

The American skiing icon was due to take part in Thursday morning’s training session in Cortina d’Ampezzo as she attempts to compete at the 2026 Games with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.

Starmer faces criticism from MPs on all sides of the Commons

• This liveblog is now closed. Read the politics team’s report on today’s developments here

PMQs is starting soon. Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

The Reform UK MP Lee Anderson has dismissed claims that his party’s plan to support the pub industry would cost far more than the £3bn it claims.

To be honest with you, we’re not interested in who you’ve been talking to. We’re more interested who we’ve been talking to, and we’ve been talking to landlords and small businesses up and down the country, and every landlord that I speak to … they want this VAT cut.

We can go on all day about the numbers. I’m not interested in the numbers that the BBC have sourced. You’re hardly a bastion of truth at the BBC when it comes to things like this.

This doesn’t add up. This is an unfunded tax cut which also pushes hundreds of thousands of children into poverty.

Reform says that reinstating the two-child limit for most, but not all, families would save £2.29bn in 2026/27. The party claims its package of tax cuts would also cost £2.29bn – making it cost neutral – with the bulk coming from a proposal to halve VAT on hospitality, which it estimates would cost £1.7bn.

Suit is the first under new law allowing residents to sue providers protected in their states under ‘shield laws’

A physician based in California has become the first medical provider sued under a recently enacted Texas statute that empowers private individuals to file civil lawsuits against providers who mail abortion medication into the state.

The case was brought by Jerry Rodriguez, who claims that Remy Coeytaux, a doctor practicing in the San Francisco Bay Area, violated a Texas law that allows abortion providers to face penalties of at least $100,000 if they mail pills into Texas. The filing alleges Coeytaux mailed abortion medication to end Rodriguez’s girlfriend’s pregnancies twice, once in 2024 and again in early 2025.

Teenager admitted it was not the first time he had taken the vehicle but told the court he ‘won’t do it again’

A 13-year-old boy who drove his family’s Volkswagen campervan on a 70mph road in the middle of the night for a joyride in Dorset has been given penalty points for a future licence, a court heard.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was spotted by other motorists driving the 2.5-litre silver van on the A35, a busy dual carriageway in Poole. His father told the judge at Poole magistrates court his son would be “washing cars for the next year” to pay off his debt.

A shower before bed, with the bathroom lights off, is said to get you to sleep more quickly and rinse off the day’s stress. No wonder it’s suddenly so popular

Name: Dark showering.

Age: The name is new; the idea is not.

The FBI raid in Georgia is not an aberration. It fits a broader playbook, with troubling historic precedents

What in the hell were FBI agents doing in an election facility in Fulton county, Georgia, last week? They surely weren’t investigating a crime. Nor were they serving the public.

Justifying Donald Trump’s “big lie” about winning the 2020 election may seem like his own lost cause – but like his Confederate forebears, he is weaponizing it, damage be damned. Not even his subsequent election victory has quieted Trump’s appetite for more power, earned or otherwise.

Jamil Smith is a Guardian US columnist