Before the arrest was announced, the prime minister told BBC Breakfast “nobody is above the law” when asked about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Keir Starmer added:
Anybody who has any information should testify.
So whether it’s Andrew or anybody else, anybody who has got relevant information should come forward to whatever the relevant body is, in this particular case we’re talking about Epstein, but there are plenty of other cases.
A bill banning the sale and use of plastic and metallic glitter has yet to go through in Brazil as the capital’s sandy shores bear cost of carnival’s shine
Whether it is embellishing elaborate costumes, delicately applied as eye makeup, or smeared across bare skin, glitter is everywhere at Rio de Janeiro’s carnival in Brazil. The world’s largest party, which ended on Wednesday, leaves a trail of sparkles in its wake.
At one blocolast weekend, a huge sound truck and dancers in leopard print led thousands of revellers down the promenade at Flamengo beach. Among them was Bruno Fernandes, who had jazzed up an otherwise minimalist outfit of navy swimming briefs by smearing silver glitter over his body.
(Dead Oceans) Whether retreating from fame or heartbreak, the US musician writes gorgeous songs about the appeal of disconnection, flecked with horror and humour
Last month, Mitski released Where’s My Phone?, the first single from her eighth album Nothing’s About to Happen to Me. Its raging alt-rock is a more robust take on the lo-fi fuzz of her third album Bury Me at Makeout Creek, while UK listeners might detect a certain Britpoppy swing about its rhythm, and it ends with a guitar solo so jarringly distorted it sounds as if something is wrong with the stream. It was accompanied by a video that featured the singer as a headscarf-sporting rural mother, trying to protect her family from the attentions of the outside world with increasing violence: a milkman gets attacked, her daughter’s potential suitor is beaten bloody. It’s both funny and unsettling: there are references to Rapunzel, Grey Gardens, Grant Wood’s American Gothic and Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle – a litany of the wilfully isolated.
The visuals set the tone for the rest of Nothing’s About to Happen to Me, an album on which you’re never far from its author expressing a longing to disappear; to be, as she puts it on Instead of Here, “where nobody can reach”. On opener In a Lake, she extols moving to the city from a small town, not in search of bright lights and excitement, but obscurity, a means of obliterating your own history: “Some days you just go the long way to stay off memory lane.” On I’ll Change for You, she hymns bars – “such magic places” – precisely because of their anonymity: “You can be with other people without having anyone at all.” And on Rules, she’ll “get a new haircut … be somebody else”. All this is set to beautifully crafted music that splits the difference between alt-rock, country-infused acoustic lamentation and grander ambition: the brilliance of Rules lies in the disparity between the hopelessness of its lyric and the thickly orchestrated, perky, early 70s easy listening backing.
As Trump slashes science funding, young researchers flee abroad. Without solid innovation, the US could cease to have the largest biomedical ecosystem in the world
In April 2025, less than three months after Donald Trump returned to the White House, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put out its latest public health alert on so-called “superbugs”, strains of bacteria resistant to antibiotics.
These drug-resistant germs, the CDC warned, are responsible for more than 3m infections in the US each year, claiming the lives of up to 48,000 Americans.
Two law professors outline strategies for equality’s survival in a Trumpian post-DEI era in new book How Equality Wins
The Trump administration’s “war on woke” seems to have claimed its biggest victim in DEI. Not so long ago, diversity, equity and inclusion was the favorite term of Fortune 500 CEOs and the political elite. More recently, it has been blamed for everything from the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore and the deadly Los Angeles wildfires to the crash between a regional jet and a helicopter in Washington DC.
“DEI means people DIE,” Elon Musk wrote last year.
‘Air cavalry’ commander John B Stockton was the inspiration behind Duvall’s napalm-sniffing Lt Col Kilgore in Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam war epic
The actor Robert Duvall, who died this week, is known for many memorable movie roles, but none so much as his cameo as the Stetson-wearing Lt Col Kilgore in Apocalypse Now. In Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam war epic Duvall plays the commander of a helicopter squadron who flies into battle with Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries blaring from loudspeakers and utters the immortal line: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
Duvall’s scene-stealing portrayal earned him Bafta and Golden Globe awards for best supporting actor as well as an Oscar nomination in that category. What is less well known is that his character was based on a real officer who fought in Vietnam. Lt Col John B Stockton was hard to miss. Like Duvall in the movie, he wore a black Stetson and spurs on his boots. He carried his papers in leather saddlebags and even had his unit’s mascot, a mule called Maggie, smuggled into Vietnam despite a strict “no pets” policy. And he really did play Wagner from side-mounted speakers fixed to his helicopter when going into action.
Kyiv zoo’s most famous resident lays on his back watching television. On screen: a nature documentary.
For a quarter of a century, Toni has been the zoo’s star attraction, drawing tens of thousands of visitors. He is Ukraine’s only gorilla. At 52 – old by western gorilla standards – he needs warm conditions similar to the lowlands of central Africa.
The US president’s relentless self-aggrandizement spree continues amid hypocrisy and shifting explanations
As a real estate developer, Donald Trump built his empire on ostentatious displays of wealth, substantial tax breaks – and lots of free publicity. As president, he has deployed the power of the state to expand his personal brand, adding his name to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the US Institute of Peace, a class of new navy warships, and even investment accounts for millions of children.
Trump is now eyeing yetmore grandiose targets in his self-aggrandizement spree. He wants Congress to rename New York’s Penn Station and Washington Dulles international airport in his honor. But there’s a catch: Trump reportedly told Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, that he would unfreeze billions of dollars in federal funding for a major infrastructure project in the north-east – if Schumer supported renaming the two sites.
Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor, at New York University
MLS stakeholders want to turn the interest in this summer’s North American World Cup into ‘rocket fuel’ for the league. Are those realistic expectations?
In 1998, a full eight years before Major League Soccer debuted, it got its first “World Cup bump”.
Fifa had just awarded the 1994 World Cup to the United States, but there was a stipulation. The US could host the tournament, but only if there was a competitive club league in place by the time it rolled around, something that hadn’t been true since the North American Soccer League collapsed in 1985. Tournament organisers missed that 1994 deadline, but two years later, MLS became a reality. Thirty years on, it is still here.
Furious fans, bloated storylines and television seemingly made only to sell merch … it’s time to stop dragging series out. Most of them deserve no more than one outing
Though it aired almost two months ago, fans are still angry about the Stranger Things finale.
So disappointing was the wrap to the five-season sci-fi that its cast are still having to deny that there is an upcoming secret final episode. I was not remotely disappointed, however. I thought the show ended perfectly: when I stopped watching it after season one, episode eight.
He should rejoin team training late March or early April
Arne Slot is expecting Alexander Isak to be available for a Liverpool return in April. The striker fractured his left leg and sustained an ankle injury against Tottenham in December and required surgery but is back in light training.
Isak started running this week as part of his rehabilitation and if he continues on the same path, he will join team training at the end of March. “It will be around that period of time – end of March, start of April – where he is hopefully back with the group,” the head coach said.
Officers devise unusual plan to arrest man suspected of stealing about $64,000 worth of Buddhist artefacts
Thai police donned a lion costume during this week’s lunar new year festivities to arrest a man accused of stealing about $64,000 worth of Buddhist artefacts.
Dressed as a red-and-yellow lion, officers made the arrest on Wednesday evening after responding to a report this month of a home burglary in the suburbs of Bangkok.
Plastic production has doubled over the last 20 years – and will likely double again. For author Beth Gardiner, metal water bottles and canvas tote bags are not the solution. So what is?
Like many of us who are mindful of our plastic consumption, Beth Gardiner would take her own bags to the supermarket and be annoyed whenever she forgot to do so. Out without her refillable bottle, she would avoid buying bottled water. “Here I am, in my own little life, worrying about that and trying to use less plastic,” she says. Then she read an article in this newspaper, just over eight years ago, and discovered that fossil fuel companies had ploughed more than $180bn (£130bn) into plastic plants in the US since 2010. “It was a kick in the teeth,” says Gardiner. “You’re telling me that while I am beating myself up because I forgot to bring my water bottle, all these huge oil companies are pouring billions …” She looks appalled. “It was just such a shock.”
Two months before that piece was published, a photograph of a seahorse clinging to a plastic cotton bud had gone viral; two years before that England followed Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and introduced a charge for carrier bags. “I was one of so many people who were trying to use less plastic – and it just felt like such a moment of revelation: these companies are, on the contrary, increasing production and wanting to push [plastic use] up and up.” Then, says Gardiner, as she started researching her book Plastic Inc: Big Oil, Big Money and the Plan to Trash our Future, “it only becomes more shocking.”
Nintendo Switch 2; Nintendo This ruthlessly competitive game will have everyone from your granny to semi-pros trying to set fire to their opponent’s side of the court with powered-up ‘fever rackets’
Tennis has been a regular hobby of Mario’s for the past 30 years, beginning with the headache-inducing Mario’s Tennis on the Virtual Boy and most recently resurfacing as the surprisingly complex Mario Tennis Aces on the Switch. Now he’s back in his whites (and reds) with a charming new take on the sport that dials back the difficulty level and adds lots of fun modes and features, aiming to appease complete newcomers and Djokovic-esque veterans.
At first, the range of options is almost bewildering. You can opt to play in one-off matches with up to three other players or NPCs, or enter a more structured tournament of singles or doubles play. Then there’s the extremely fun Mix It Up, which offers a range of fun tennis derivatives. These include Forest Court where piranha plants appear and gobble any balls that get close, and Pinball where bumpers and barriers pop up as you play. Trial Towers, meanwhile, presents a tower of increasingly tough tennis challenges which all have to be completed to open the next two buildings; fail more than three times and you’re sent back to the beginning – yes, it’s Mario Tennis: The Roguelike.
Exclusive: approximately 350-acre compound planned as base for multinational force, according to records reviewed by the Guardian
The Trump administration is planning to build a 5,000-person military base in Gaza, sprawling more than 350 acres, according to Board of Peace contracting records reviewed by the Guardian.
The site is envisioned as a military operating base for a future International Stabilization Force (ISF), planned as a multinational military force composed of pledged troops. The ISF is part of the newly created Board of Peace which is meant to govern Gaza. The Board of Peace is chaired by Donald Trump and led in part by his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
From sparks flying during The OC’s Spider-Man snog to love stories so powerful they make you weep, Guardian writers have picked the television couples whose tales never fail to make hearts pound. Now we would like to hear yours. What is your favourite TV romance, and why?
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The cross-country bit gets going at 1pm, and I’m looking forward to that. It’s a scientific fact that here’s no kind of race a human can devise that is uncompelling.
In the Nordic, teams of two both have a go at ski jumping, and Germany have just leapt into the lead; they’ll start the cross-country portion with no time penalty, because Austria have just completed this part of things, and only landed far enough for fifth. Norway are second, Japan third and Finland fourth.
Australia level the series with a strong win over India in Canberra.
3rd over: Australia 20-0 (Voll 13, Mooney 7)
Renuka resumes and immediately Voll finds the first boundary of the night, opening the face of the bat and working it to the boundary for four. A single next ball that she doesn’t quite middle, but it goes over the field and falls safely to bring Mooney back on strike. She gets in on the fun, coming down the pitch to meet the ball and driving it past long off for four. Next ball she pulls away aggressively, but there’s a fielder on the boundary to restrict her to a single. Voll flirts with the field again, but lifts it high enough to come away with two runs – a great over for Australia.
The appointment follows allegations she was previously spoken to about her management style
Alex Davies-Jones, a justice minister, has said the government wants to pass the legislation implementing the Chagos Islands deal as soon as it can – despite Presidient Trump’s lastest diatribe about it. (See 9.34am.)
Davies-Jones was giving interviews this morning and she told Times Radio:
This deal is essential and crucial for the national security of the United Kingdom and that is the first priority of any government.
We will be bringing the bill back as soon as parliamentary time allows, because this is about national security.
Comments come after Zelenskyy accused Russia of using ‘delay tactics’ to stall peace talks with Ukraine
The EU sees “no tangible signs that Russia is engaging seriously” with the aim of securing peace in Ukraine, its spokesperson said, responding to the latest round of talks in Geneva.
Speaking at the European Commission’s midday briefing in Geneva, EU foreign affairs spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said:
“We see that Russia continues its relentless attacks on Ukraine. This does reflect that Russia is not ready for peace. We still do not see tangible signs that Russia is engaging seriously on peace. …
Even this week, ahead of the peace talks, Ukraine experienced another massive missile and drone strike, according to Ukrainian authorities. …
Reform UK’s plans to repeal the Equality Act are “shocking” and un-British, Keir Starmer has said, warning legislation that has provided decades of protection for women would be ripped up.
In a pre-recorded interview with BBC Breakfast, the prime minister said the legislation was British at its core and represented “basic values”, before arguing Reform wanted to send women back to the “old days” when they were not treated equally.
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan, featuring celebrations, prayers, pre-dawn breakfasts and post-sundown meals, began at sunrise in the Middle East and a day later in much of Asia. In the Muslim lunar calendar, months begin only when the new moon is sighted, which can lead to variations of a day or two
After the Fab Four fell and Wings took flight, McCartney embodied a strange, stylised sense of uncool, which would become bestselling success. A new documentary of old material memorialises his second coming
Another hefty legacy project for Paul McCartney, who acts as off-camera interviewee and executive producer in this documentary by Morgan Neville. Man on the Run is comprised of archive film, photos and audio recordings of McCartney and his late wife, Linda, his children and others. Some of McCartney’s overlaid commentary seems to be new, and some pre-existing.
The film tracks his tense, complicated, fruitful career from the endgame of the Beatles in 1969 to the definitive demise of his next band Wings in 1981, a few months after John Lennon’s death – although what exact psychological role Lennon’s life and death played in Wings’ beginning and end is not explicitly discussed. (The film does, once again, show us that startlingly strange and casual-seeming interview McCartney gave after Lennon’s shooting, his shock resulting in an apparently cold attitude – but what he may really have been thinking is something else not explored here in detail.)
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