Strike comes amid congressional turmoil over legality of US attacks on suspected drug smugglers

The Pentagon announced on Thursday that the US military had conducted another deadly strike on a boat suspected of carrying illegal narcotics, killing four men in the eastern Pacific, as questions mount over the legality of the attacks.

Video of the new strike was posted on social media by the US southern command, based in Florida, with a statement saying that, at the direction of Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, “Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization”.

Decision comes less than two weeks after judge ruled similar case against New York attorney general unlawful

A grand jury declined to indict Letitia James on Thursday, according to a source familiar with the decision, a decision that came less than two weeks after a judge ruled that a similar mortgage fraud case brought by federal prosecutors against the New York attorney general was unlawful.

The move by the justice department to present the case again to a grand jury was seen as a signal of its determination to prosecute James, who has been one of Donald Trump’s top political foes ever since she successfully brought a fraud lawsuit against him in New York.

Van der Ven may be key for Spurs, Wissa could make Newcastle debut and Dyche deserves warm Everton welcome

Arsenal’s recent memories of Aston Villa are of awkward opponents. Mikel Arteta’s side squandered a two-goal lead at the Emirates Stadium when the teams last met, in January, Arsenal dropping two points, their title charge dented. With such little margin for error, it was the kind of day that boosted Liverpool and crystallised the sense that the Gunners would come up short. Villa also defeat Arsenal in 2023-24, abruptly halting Arteta’s six-game winning streak. Now Arsenal are in a different position, at the summit with a five-point lead – and six clear of Unai Emery’s team. Victory at Villa Park on Saturday, against a side that have lost only once in the league since August, would offer another significant indication that this could be the season Arsenal take the crown. Ben Fisher

Aston Villa v Arsenal, Saturday 12.30pm (all times GMT)

Bournemouth v Chelsea, Saturday 3pm

Everton v Nottingham Forest, Saturday 3pm

Manchester City v Sunderland, Saturday 3pm

Until Soungoutou Magassa’s 83rd-minute equaliser Manchester United seemed to be flowering in the cold of winter on the way to a win that would have been their fifth in eight games.

Instead Jarrod Bowen’s flick-on from Andy Irving’s corner from the right had to be cleared off the line by Noussair Mazraoui, only for the ball to go straight to Magassa, who drove home a first goal for the Hammers.

Communities remain terrified as Trump administration’s crackdown on another Democratic-led city enters day two

Dozens of people have been detained across the New Orleans area as the Trump administration’s latest sweeping federal immigration crackdown in a Democratic-led city entered its second day.

The city’s immigrant communities remain terrified and traumatized, advocates said, with many in hiding as people have been arrested in public spaces including parking lots outside Home Depots and Lowe’s hardware stores, at bus stops, shopping malls and in residential areas around the city.

• Cochran-Siegle second to Odermatt in season opener

• Norway’s Sejersted takes third; Kilde back from injury

Marco Odermatt of Switzerland won the downhill season-opener Thursday, beating American Ryan Cochran-Siegle in a World Cup race on a tricky but shorter Birds of Prey course.

Odermatt finished in 1min 29.84sec to surpass Cochran-Siegle by .30sec. Norway’s Adrian Smiseth Sejersted finished third. The finish line was moved up the hill – and just barely visible by fans in the stands – due to a lack of snow to properly place the safety netting.

A foundational figure in the business of soccer and sports in the US is adamant that fans will find a way to attend big events, regardless of political issues

Whenever the modern era of American soccer began (the 1994 World Cup? Or the 1990 appearance by the US men? Or the 1991 World Cup win by the US women?), Alan Rothenberg was a key player.

Rothenberg came up as a lawyer under Jack Kent Cooke, owner of Washington’s NFL team, the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA, the LA Kings of the NHL, and – crucially, the Los Angeles Wolves of the North American Soccer League (NASL), a team that started life fielding mostly players from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Activists prepare for more targeting of Somali residents by ICE as Trump renews racist tirade

As Donald Trump went on another extended racist tirade against Somalis on Wednesday, Minneapolis activists prepared for more targeting of the community by conducting trainings on their rights and planning how they would protect their neighbors.

In the White House on Wednesday, a reporter asked the president about Minneapolis’s mayor, Jacob Frey, who has defended the Somali community. Trump responded: “I wouldn’t be proud to have the largest Somalian – look at their nation. Look how bad their nation is. It’s not even a nation. It’s just people walking around killing each other. Look, these Somalians have taken billions of dollars out of our country. Billions and billions.”

Latest effort to control communications comes as regulator claims apps being used to ‘conduct terrorist activities’

Russian authorities blocked access to Snapchat and imposed restrictions on Apple’s video calling service, FaceTime, the latest step in an effort to tighten control over the internet and communications online, according to state-run news agencies and the country’s communications regulator.

The state internet regulator Roskomnadzor alleged in a statement that both apps were being “used to organize and conduct terrorist activities on the territory of the country, to recruit perpetrators [and] commit fraud and other crimes against our citizens”. Apple did not respond to an emailed request for comment, nor did Snap Inc.

A 15-year quest ends with a monument, drawing crowds and nostalgia as Detroit embraces its cult-film past

The statue looms and glints at more than 11 feet tall and weighing 3,500 pounds, looking out at the city with, how to put it … a characteristically stern expression?

Despite its daunting appearance and history as a crimefighter of last resort, the giant new bronze figure of the movie character RoboCop is being seen as a symbol of hope, drawing fans and eliciting selfie mania since it began standing guard over Detroit on Wednesday afternoon.

Democrat Jim Himes calls footage ‘one of the most troubling scenes’ he’s observed in public service

• Analysis: Killing of survivors sparks outrage – but entire US ‘drug boat’ war is legally shaky

Top Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Congress on Thursday said that the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, had not ordered the military to kill surviving members of a deadly attack on a boat alleged to be carrying drugs in the Caribbean, but differed over whether the double strike was appropriate.

The allegation that Hegseth ordered the killing of survivors sparked bipartisan concern in Washington that he or others involved may have committed a war crime. On Thursday, US navy admiral Frank Bradley, who commanded the attack, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Dan Caine, appeared before the House and Senate’s armed services and intelligence committees for a closed briefing in which they showed video and discussed the attack with lawmakers.

• Coates ‘ready and excited’ to replace Albertin Montoya

• U23 assistant Gemma Davies to join Coates in San Jose

Emma Coates has left her position as the leader of England Women’s Under-23 national team to become the new head coach of the NWSL side Bay FC.

Coates replaces Albertin Montoya, who was the coach of the expansion team when it entered the National Women’s Soccer League two years ago. Montoya announced in September that he would resign at the end of the 2025 season, with the San Jose side finishing 13th in the 14-team table.

Eric Adams signed orders on boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, and protests near houses of worship

New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, has issued two executive orders he says are meant to combat antisemitism, less than a month before he hands over the keys to the mayoralty to Zohran Mamdani, an outspoken critic of Israel.

The first order prohibits city agency heads and staff from engaging in “any policy that discriminates against the state of Israel, Israeli citizens based on their national origin, or individuals or entities based on their association with Israel”. It also prohibits officials overseeing the city pension system from making decisions in line with the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, which Mamdani has said he supports.

Dario Vitale exits after one season, having taken the helm from Donatella Versace

Versace has announced its creative director is leaving, less than nine months after taking on the role and two days after the deal to sell the brand to rival Italian fashion house Prada.

Dario Vitale exits after just one season, having taken the helm from Donatella Versace. Prada said it would announce a replacement “in due course”.

Some users jump generations in expanded Wrapped review while Taylor Swift tops UK streams for third year

It has given some in middle age dubious hope that they have their finger on the cultural pulse. Meanwhile, some younger users have been told their listening habits suggest they are well into retirement.

Spotify has confected a wave of intrigue over what our musical preferences suggest about our vintage, with its “your listening age” feature causing delight and consternation.

‘Information-dense’ AI responses are most persuasive but these tend to be less accurate, says security report

Chatbots can sway people’s political opinions but the most persuasive artificial intelligence models deliver “substantial” amounts of inaccurate information in the process, according to the UK government’s AI security body.

Researchers said the study was the largest and most systematic investigation of AI persuasiveness to date, involving nearly 80,000 British participants holding conversations with 19 different AI models.

• Three members of Iran football federation denied visas

• Iran among nations facing restrictions on entry to US

Iran has reversed its boycott of the World Cup draw, with team representatives now due to attend the glitzy event in Washington DC on Friday.

Last week the Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) said it would stay away after three members of its delegation were denied visas for entering the United States.

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West Ham, resplendent in a blend of grey, beige and cream with a dash of yellow, get the ball rolling. They’re kicking towards the Stretford End in this first half.

The teams are out! Manchester United in their red, white and black, West Ham United in second-choice ecru. According to House & Garden magazine, ecru is “a notoriously finicky colour to define” but they give it a go anyway: it’s “a blend of grey, beige, cream, and a dash of yellow, less creamy than cream, and not eggshell.” So there you have it. We’ll be off in a minute.

• Chair of Fifa’s referees committee offers his support

• Collina wants to ensure changes do not slow down game

Pierluigi Collina has said he would be in favour of the use of VAR to determine whether corners have been correctly awarded at the World Cup next summer. The chair of Fifa’s referees committee, speaking at a media briefing in Washington, made clear he supported the advance of technology.

Collina said conversations were taking place over whether VAR could adjudicate on second yellow cards. They will continue at the next meeting of the International Football Association Board, the law-making body, in Wales next March, meaning there would be time for the ruling to come into effect for the World Cup. Collina also said discussions were ongoing over how best to combat time-wasting, including when goalkeepers go to ground, seemingly feigning injury to allow managers to hold team meetings. He added that Fifa wanted to explore AI-based innovations to help match officials and improve the game, although he gave no details on this.

Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands pull out after decision not to hold vote on Israel’s participation

Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands will boycott next year’s Eurovision after Israel was given the all-clear to compete in the 2026 song contest despite calls by several participating broadcasters for its exclusion over the war in Gaza.

No vote on Israel’s participation was held on Thursday at the general assembly of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the body that organises the competition.

Big farmers grab the lion’s share of US government support, and recent cuts have chipped away at small growers’ markets and margins

The most significant food system failure since the pandemic was not a natural disaster: in October, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) was temporarily suspended for the month of November due to the government shutdown

More than 40 million people had to ration food, skip meals and make sacrifices we might associate with the Great Depression, not 21st-century America. Churches, community groups and neighbors sprang into action. They checked on single moms juggling multiple jobs, elderly friends living alone, people with disabilities and large families with children too young for school lunch programs. And though food stamps were restored, the Trump administration is now threatening to pull Snap funds from Democratic-led states.

Death of commander of Popular Forces is blow to Israel’s efforts to confront Hamas through proxy groups

The leader of an Israeli-backed militia in Gaza has been killed, dealing a major blow to Israel’s efforts to build up its own Palestinian proxies to confront Hamas.

Yasser abu Shabab, a Bedouin tribal leader based in the Israeli-held zone of the devastated territory, is thought to have died from wounds sustained in a violent clash with powerful and well-armed local families, according to local media and sources in Gaza.

A tale of two Yorkshiremen, one keeping England in the series, the other batting without a brain

In the end even the celebration was perfect, out there under that strange deep-blue southern sky, in the frenzy of the game-state – manic Baz energy, England’s lower order scything away death cult-style at the other end, the way even the grass seems lacquered and glazed by the lights.

So yeah. All that stuff. In the middle of this Joe Root guided the ball away through fine leg to complete his first Test hundred in Australia, then marked it with a gentle smile and a wave of the bat, no fist-punching, no monkeys off backs, no angsty and pointed messaging.