Campus clashes provide uneasy backdrop to third round of talks on nuclear programme in Geneva
Plainclothes police and security forces, many of them armed, have tried to flood Iran’s remaining open universities in an attempt to crush a fourth day of student protests against the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
Running battles were reported on some campuses, with videos showing fistfights between the Basji state-backed militia and students at the University of Science and Technology in Tehran. Pick-up trucks with machine-guns were photographed parked outside the University of Tehran, with demonstrations also in Mashhad.
Donald Trump’s new global tariffs have taken effect at 10%, even though he had threatened a higher rate of 15% last weekend, providing “some relief” for British businesses, according to a lobby group.
After the US president suffered a defeat at the hands of the supreme court on Friday, which struck down his sweeping “liberation day” tariffs imposed last year, he angrily reacted by announcing a 10% global tariff, which he raised to 15% on Saturday in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
The US men’s and women’s teams claimed titles at the Winter Games this past week. The warm fuzzy feelings didn’t last long
Keeping politics at arm’s length for the US men’s hockey team’s gold-medal matchup with Canada was always going to be difficult.
The game fell on the 46th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice, when an underdog group of US college players upset the mighty Soviet Union team against the backdrop of the Cold War. But the US team who took the ice on Sunday were no plucky band of amateurs making a stand for democracy against authoritarianism – a point underscored when the US and Canada met last year. Canadian fans booed the Star-Spangled Banner and the US players, either unaware of, or unsympathetic to, Canadian desires to be neither the 51st US state nor the USA’s opponent in a scorched-earth trade war, dropped the gloves to fight their opponents as soon as the game commenced.
Nancy Guthrie has been missing for three weeks and officials believe she was kidnapped from her Arizona home
Savannah Guthrie’s family has offered up to $1m for information leading to the return of her 84-year-old mother, Nancy, who has been missing since 1 February.
The NBC Today show host posted the offer in a video on Instagram Tuesday, more than three weeks after Nancy’s disappearance. “Someone out there knows something that can bring her home,” Guthrie says in the clip. “We are begging you to please come forward now.
Courtois: ‘This a moment for football to end these things’
Real Madrid meet Benfica in second leg on Wednesday
Alvaro Arbeloa and Thibaut Courtois have called on Uefa to take a genuine stand against racism and change football following the alleged racist abuse of Vinícius Júnior by Gianluca Prestianni during Real Madrid’s Champions League playoff first leg at Benfica last week, with Arbeloa imploring the governing body to go beyond “just slogans” as the two teams prepare to meet again.
Courtois, meanwhile, also expressed his disappointment with José Mourinho for linking the incident to Vinícius’s celebration of the only goal of the game in Lisbon and insisted suggestions that Prestianni’s defence might be that he instead used a homophobic slur would be “just as bad”.
Shares in Uber, Mastercard and American Express fall on back of apocalypse scenario posted on Substack
US stock markets have been hit by a further wave of AI jitters, this time from yet another viral – and completely speculative – warning about the impact of the technology on the world’s largest economy.
The latest foreboding is from Citrini Research, a little-known US firm that provides insights on “transformative ‘megatrends’”. Its post on Substack, which it called a “scenario, not a prediction”, rattled investors by portraying a near future in which autonomous AI systems – or agents – upend the entire US economy, from jobs to markets and mortgages.
Exclusive: Canon now includes domestic tragedy Arden of Faversham, which is attributed solely to Kyd and ‘not at all’ to Shakespeare
The number of plays attributed to the 16th-century playwright Thomas Kyd has more than doubled in a major new edition.
The forthcoming second volume of The Collected Works of Thomas Kyd makes a substantial case for his sole or part-authorship of plays previously attributed to William Shakespeare or Christopher Marlowe.
One deputy is killed in a traffic stop and a second dies when deputies track suspect to woods, sheriff says
Two Missouri sheriff’s deputies were fatally shot, one during a traffic stop and the other hours later during an exchange of gunfire with the suspect, who was also killed, authorities said.
Brad Cole, the Christian county sheriff, said the initial shooting happened during a traffic stop south of Highlandville on Monday in south-west Missouri, news outlets reported.
AI is already coming for our dignity – tricking us with amusing little online scenarios. How long before it comes for everything else?
Moan all you like about technology, there’s no denying it’s made friendship easier. In an ideal world you would spend quality time together, have deep meaningful chats on the phone and swap well thought out, insightful texts. But when you’re busy, tired, or just not in the mood, what a relief that you can send a meme, or a quick video, and know that fully counts as keeping in touch. Result.
My terrifying, omniscient algorithm served me an Instagram reel last week of an incredibly realistic 3D hole a street artist had painted on the sidewalk in New York. As people tried to pass by, they glanced down, saw the hole and panicked, feeling that they were falling, so dropping to the ground, even though of course the pavement was flat and solid. It was funny and, I thought, clever, so I pinged it to a friend, who I was sure would agree. Instead, he told me, in extremely certain terms, that there was no 3D hole, no street artist, and no passersby – because the clip was AI. Heck, New York might not even exist – at this point I can’t be sure of anything.
The director and ex-Japanese Red Army militant discusses his new film Escape, about the anarchist fugitive Satoshi Kirishima, the frustrations of radical film-making and progressive politics
Last month, on the same day that Revolution+1 – a fictionalised account of the life of Tetsuya Yamagami, the man who assassinated the former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022 – screened at London’s ICA, during a season on the radical film-maker Masao Adachi, a court in Japan sentenced Yamagami to life imprisonment.
Whether the programming was a result of foresight or sheer coincidence, the dismantling of boundaries that would otherwise keep movies hemmed inside a screen and removed from the world outside are characteristic of Adachi’s lifelong practice.
A source close to Warner Bros has said that executives were assured the slur would be removed before broadcast, while search engine remove AI-generated prompt
Warner Bros reacted immediately after the N-word was yelled while two of the black stars of their film, Sinners, were on stage at the Baftas on Sunday night, yet saw their concerns ignored after the moment was not edited out of the TV broadcast.
A source close to the studio has told the Guardian that executives immediately raised the issue with Bafta after Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson’s verbal tic while Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting the award for best visual effects.
Thirteen books make this year’s longlist for translated fiction, which awards a first prize of £50,000
Olga Ravn, Daniel Kehlmann, Ia Genberg, Mathias Énard and Gabriela Cabezón Cámara are among those longlisted for the International Booker prize, which recognises the best translated fiction and turns 10 this year.
A “Booker dozen” of 13 books were longlisted for this year’s prize. One author-translator pair will win £50,000, to be split equally.
Forget fear of public speaking. A lot of people now shy away completely from speaking to anyone in public. But if we learn to do this it’s enriching, for ourselves and society
It started with two incidents on the same day. In a fairly empty train carriage, a stranger in her 70s approached me: “Do you mind if I sit here? Or did you want to be alone with your thoughts?” I weighed it up for a split second, conscious that I was, in effect, agreeing to a conversation: “No, of course I don’t mind. Sit down.”
She turned out to be an agreeable, kind woman who had had a difficult day. I didn’t have to say much: “I’m sorry to hear that.” “That’s tough for you.” She occasionally asked me questions about myself, which I dodged politely. I could tell she was only asking so the conversation would not be so one-sided. Some moments are for listening, not sharing. I sensed, without needing to know explicitly, that she was probably returning to an empty house and wanted to process the day out loud. I didn’t feel uncomfortable, as I knew I could duck out at any moment by saying I needed to get back to my phone messages. But instead we talked – or, rather, I listened – for most of the 50-minute journey. I registered that it was an unusual occurrence, this connection, but thought little more of it. A small part of me was glad this kind of thing still happens.
England: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Jacob Bethell, 4 Tom Banton, 5 Harry Brook (capt), 6 Sam Curran, 7 Will Jacks, 8 Liam Dawson, 9 Jamie Overton, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Adil Rashid.
CNN poll reveals Trump’s approval among independents at 26%; White House press secretary says speech to focus on US’s 250th anniversary and affordability concerns
About 30 members of Congress are planning to attend a Democratic counter-program event tonight instead of the State of the Union, according to the organizers of the “People’s State of the Union,” led by liberal group MoveOn and progressive media outlet MeidasTouch.
Here are the lawmakers who are expected to attend the separate event and skip the Trump speech:
Meloni government had claimed case showed why officers using weapons in self-defence needed more protection
The arrest of an Italian police officer on suspicion of murder over the fatal shooting of a Moroccan man has prompted a row after the opposition accused Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government of exploiting the case for political ends.
Abderrahim Mansouri, 28, was shot in the head by Carmelo Cinturrino, assistant chief of Mecenate police station, during a police drugs patrol in the Rogoredo area of Milan in late January. Cinturrino originally said he had acted in self-defence after Mansouri pulled a gun on him.
This 2003 romcom seemed destined to be a hit. But it was too camp, too synthetic, too satirical: the exact qualities that make it a cult favourite today
In May 2003, a romcom starring Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor seemed like a surefire recipe for success. Zellweger had just earned consecutive best actress Oscar nominations for Bridget Jones’ Diary and Chicago, and McGregor had leading roles in zeitgeist-defining hits including Moulin Rouge and Star Wars. But on release, Down with Love barely made a dent at the box office, and audiences and critics alike were baffled by its camp sensibility and embrace of artifice.
In the film, Zellweger plays writer Barbara Novak, who arrives in New York City in 1962 to publish her feminist manifesto, Down with Love. Novak’s book encourages women to reject romance, embrace sex and refute the rigid gender roles of 50s America, and with the help of her publisher, Vikki (Sarah Paulson), Down with Love becomes a worldwide phenomenon – much to the chagrin of “man’s-man-ladies’-man-man about town” Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor).
Five towers rise from the port of Rio de Janeiro, each 38 storeys high, together the largest office complex in Brazil. A 47-storey glass monolith of luxury residential condominiums and a casino soars above the Georgian Black Sea resort town of Batumi. An ocean resort in Tijuana, Mexico looms over the Pacific.
Separated by continents, two things unite these projects. One is the name emblazoned upon their peaks like crowns: Trump. The other is the fact they were never built, existing only in the archives of the internet as breathy press releases and glossy renders.
Online influencers are soaking and spraying their fresh produce, but experts say the ‘number one rule’ of food hygiene has nothing to do with special sanitisers
‘Extraordinary’ golden lamb’s head pillaged in 1874 from what is now Ghana remains hidden in officers’ mess
The Royal Artillery is facing criticism after it emerged they are refusing public access to an “extraordinary object” looted by the British army in the 19th century from the Asante people in modern-day Ghana.
The glistening golden ram’s head would seemingly be worthy of any museum, but it remains hidden within the regiment’s mess at Larkhill in Wiltshire.
Information Commissioner’s Office imposes largest fine yet for a breach of children’s privacy
The UK information regulator has fined the social news service Reddit £14.5m for using the data of children under the age of 13 unlawfully and potentially exposing them to inappropriate and harmful content.
The hefty punishment from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the largest fine yet for a breach of children’s privacy and comes after the US-based company introduced age checks in July, including age verification to access mature content. Prior to this, the ICO said, there were “a large number of children under 13 on the platform and Reddit did not have a lawful basis for processing their personal information”.
England forward was among Arsenal heroes in attendance at event commemorating fan who was stabbed to death
There is a poignant silence as Tashan Daniel’s parents emerge on to Ken Friar Bridge on a cold, wet February afternoon in north London. With heads bowed, the England forwards Noni Madueke and Alessia Russo and the former Arsenal international turned TV host Alex Scott greet them with a hug before beginning a slow walk that Daniel was not able to complete in September 2019. The talented 20-year-old aspiring athlete and photographer was stabbed to death at Hillingdon station in west London on his way to watch his beloved Arsenal face Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup.
“I’ve got no words; it’s horrible, something that shouldn’t be happening,” says Madueke, who spent much of the half hour it took to reach Daniel’s seat inside the Emirates speaking to Daniel’s father, Chandy. “We were just talking about Arsenal, just talking about life. He’s a real Arsenal fan and his son was as well. I told him that this season’s going to be a special year. It’s such a difficult situation that they have been having to go through for so long and we wanted to come out here and try to give them strength.”
Dance culture faces barriers in Taiwan, with frequent raids on nightclubs. But Temple Meltdown is trying a different tack, with sound systems overseen by gods
When Andrew Dawson brings a sound system to Puji Temple in Tainan, Taiwan, for lunar new year celebrations, its deities keep watch. Behind the plywood speaker stack hangs a circular plaque of Caishen, the Chinese god of prosperity. Around the corner from the dub and reggae street party, families burn long incense sticks for the site’s patron religious figure, the thousand-year-old Chifu Wangye, a prince who died sampling well water poisoned by the plague gods to save his own villagers.
To some, partying in a religious site like this might seem sacrilegious, or at least insensitive. But Dawson has been doing this for three years with his Temple Meltdown party series, inspired by religious sites and their role as vibrant centres of civic life: to him, the marriage of underground music to these spaces felt like a natural next step. “Every temple in Taiwan is very different because each of its founders has a unique vision or dream. But the interesting thing is that there is always a plaza area outside where people can gather, cook, hang out with their friends,” says Dawson, who is half American and half Taiwanese and also goes by 陳宣宇 or Chen Xuan Yu. The scene at his Lunar New Year party is no different, with people swaying, smoking, and some feeding each other skewered pieces of Taiwanese fried chicken on the dance floor.
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