Nato chief has glibly dismissed prospect of coping without US support, but in the age of Trump the case for autonomy is growing
The Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, was typically blunt when he met members of the European parliament this week. From the dais of the blond-wood committee room in Brussels, he was clear: “If anyone thinks that the European Union, or Europe as a whole, can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can’t. We can’t.”
And if Europe wanted to supplant the US nuclear deterrent, existing spending commitments would have to double, he added – “so hey, good luck!”
Attacks, which killed women and children, come day before border crossing is due to open in Gaza’s southern most city
Israel has carried out some of its deadliest airstrikes on Gaza in months, killing at least 30 Palestinians, some of whom were sheltering in tent cities for displaced people.
Despite a nominal ceasefire, the Israeli military struck a police station in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood west of Gaza City on Saturday, killing 10 officers and detainees, the civil defence said, who indicated the death toll could rise as emergency responders searched for bodies.
Jacob Leland, who taught Russian, jailed for three years for sexually assaulting student on school trip
The headteacher of Eton College has apologised and said he was “appalled” after a former teacher was jailed for sexually assaulting a pupil.
Jacob Leland, who taught Russian, was jailed on Friday for three years and three months for sexually assaulting one of his students during a school trip.
Trump’s wounding of the US economy offers Beijing an unparalleled opportunity – if it dials back its overbearing trade tactics
When the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, took to the podium at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week to lament how “great economic powers” were dismantling the international order, it seemed clear that he was talking about the United States. He might have been talking about China as well.
Not a week earlier, Beijing had revealed that China’s trade surplus ballooned by 20% in 2025, to $1.2tn. Despite Donald Trump’s wall of tariffs that crashed Chinese sales to the US, its overall exports expanded more than 5%. Sales to the 11 countries in Asia’s Asean bloc increased more than 13%. Exports to the European Union rose over 8%. Chinese imports, by contrast, were flat.
WSL side host Brazilian champions in Sunday showdown
Slegers wary of complacency against a ‘very good team’
Renée Slegers praised the impact of trailblazing hijab-wearing footballer Nouhaila Benzina after Arsenal’s defeat of Moroccan side AS Far earned them a place in Sunday’s Champions Cup final against Corinthians.
Asked about the impact of Benzina competing in the new cross-continental club competition in London, with no hijab-wearing players currently playing in the Women’s Super League, Slegers said: “The strength of football in society is that football is for everyone. It’s really good that we have role models in all possible ways to show that football is for everyone. That just makes me happy. It’s important. There are so many examples and different ways of how we can show that football is for everyone. This is one of them, so that’s great.”
Minnesota should not cave to Trump’s demands. The rights of 49 other states and their citizens are hanging in the balance
Donald Trump appears to be practicing his “art of the deal” on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz: he is attempting to extract concessions from the North Star state in exchange for a “drawdown” of federal ICE agents. While the details of the contemplated agreement are not clear, border czar Tom Homan’s remarks on Thursday morning and reports of his negotiations with state and local leaders suggest dialing back Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is contingent on striking an agreement for increased cooperation between federal and local law enforcement: Minnesota must agree to participate in ICE roundups by turning over undocumented immigrants in its custody, ending various “sanctuary city” protections, and giving ICE agents more direct access to state penitentiaries to conduct their own roundups prior to the release of undocumented inmates. A letter from Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, sent earlier this week went even further and suggested the justice department’s civil rights division might be demanding access to state voter rolls in exchange for the ICE drawdown. Trump’s offhand remark Thursday evening denying plans to draw down ICE confused matters by contradicting Homan’s statement from earlier in the day – but perhaps that was just an indication that negotiations on Thursday did not go all that well for Team Trump.
That would not be surprising. If Walz were to agree to such terms – concessions literally extracted at gunpoint under threat of continued use of unlawful force by federal immigration agents – he would be abandoning critical domains of state autonomy for the fruitless attempt to appease a president that will accept no limits except those forced upon it by necessity or recommended to it by self-interest. As law firms, universities, foreign leaders, and even former partners in crime have discovered, it is perilous to negotiate with a rank opportunist who lives by no other rule than that of self-interest. For Trump, the alternative to getting handed what he wants voluntarily is taking it by force. The FBI raid on the Fulton county elections office in Georgia to seize about 700 boxes of ballots from the 2020 election sent a well-timed message to Minnesota as well as to any other swing state from which the Trump administration may demand such data: if you don’t give us what we asked for, we’ll take it anyway.
Claire Finkelstein is the Algernon Biddle professor of law and professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. She is also the founder and faculty director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law at Penn’s Annenberg Public Policy Center
The knock-on effect on the rest of the industry is immense. There are many factors at play, but the ones with the power here are the big artists
In October 2024, Heat magazine’s list of the UK’s 30 richest celebrities under 30 ranked Harry Styles at the very top, with an estimated wealth of £200m. (He’d doubtless have fared well in last year’s survey, too, but he’s 31 now.)
Whatever your views on the fabulous wealth accrued by a small elite of megastars, and regardless of your opinion of Styles’ musical merits, that figure doesn’t sit well next to the headlines he is now making.
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, impressed Danes with his handling of the crisis but he says many Greenlanders are ‘afraid and scared’
This time last year, Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, was better known on the global stage for his sporting achievements than international politics. For years he dominated the territory’s badminton scene, winning the singles and doubles championships almost every year. He won several medals at the Island Games, earning himself a reputation for “very competitive” play on the court.
As it turned out, that was useful preparation for his time in office.
Every year in Turkey, hundreds of women are recorded as having taken their lives by ‘throwing themselves from a high place’. But many grieving families maintain that investigators are missing the full story
Almost nothing seemed to scare Şebnem Köker. With her hair dyed fire-engine red, the 29-year-old nurse lived life by her own rules. Friends say she was so headstrong, she’d be getting ready for a night out in their home town, the Turkish coastal city of İzmir, and suddenly suggest a change of plan to a last-minute trip away. Even a prospective move to Canada didn’t seem to daunt her. But there was one thing that had terrified Şebnem: heights. Her father, Abdullah, says she was afraid to even tiptoe on to the slim balcony that wraps around the third-floor apartment they shared in İzmir.
“She wouldn’t even have a cigarette or eat out there. She wouldn’t hang laundry on the balcony,” he says, sitting on the sofa in the darkened living room they once shared. A pouting portrait of Şebnem is tucked into the frame of a mirror on the opposite wall.
Kazakhstani rallies from 3-0 down in final set for glory
2023 runner-up turns tables with 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win
Elena Rybakina had plenty of reasons to lose faith in her latest pursuit of a second grand slam title. She had played well for so much of the Australian Open final but, just as was the case in their final here three years ago, as Aryna Sabalenka began to impose herself in the match, Rybakina lost all control. Trailing 0-3 and 30-30 on her serve in the final set, the Kazakhstani’s chances were fading quickly.
Although Rybakina is one of the least expressive tennis players to ever reach these stages, her reserved persona belies the grit at the heart of her success. The fifth seed brilliantly drew on her inner fire to produce the one of the great recoveries of her career, finding a way through from a break down in the final set to clinch her first Australian Open title with a brilliant 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over the world No 1.
Elon Musk and former UK ambassador to US Peter Mandelson among those named in newly released documents
According to one file, Mountbatten-Windsor was said to be “very focused” on financier Harlan Peltz’s girlfriend during a dinner with Maxwell.
The apparent FBI document details a 2020 interview with Peltz in which he provided information to agents about Maxwell.
Peltz was at a dinner with Maxwell and Prince Andrew and Peltz’s then girlfriend. Prince Andrew was very focused on Peltz’s girlfriend. Maxwell would sometimes mention Prince Andrew’s name and that they were friends.
Maxwell would have outrageous parties back then. She liked to put people in uncomfortable positions for her entertainment. Peltz realised that he was a pawn to her and she would try to use him. Sometime later on he found out that he was listed in Epstein’s black book.
People in the finance world never seemed to know how Epstein got his money.
Researchers tell ‘human story’ about crisis during plague of Justinian, which killed millions in Byzantine empire
A US-led research team has verified the first Mediterranean mass grave of the world’s earliest recorded pandemic, providing stark new details about the plague of Justinian that killed millions of people in the Byzantine empire between the sixth and eighth centuries.
The findings, published in February’s Journal of Archaeological Science, offer what researchers say is a rare empirical window into the mobility, urban life and vulnerability of citizens affected by the pestilence.
Documents included in the disclosure of Jeffrey Epstein investigative files have further lifted the veil on how his ex-girlfriend and co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, kept victims in check.
Maxwell, who was convicted of luring teen girls into Epstein’s abusive world, deployed a powerful mix of jocular familiarity and cutting iciness in dealings with his victims and others in her orbit, according to accusers’ accounts that were included in this document tranche.
After undergoing emergency surgery following an accident, the photographer discovered a newfound appreciation for the human body
Three years ago, Jorge Perez Ortiz was on a small wooden boat travelling from Cartagena in Colombia to a group of nearby islands when the sea became unexpectedly rough. As a strong wave hit, Ortiz, sitting at the bow, felt his body lift and come down sharply on his seat. The sudden impact fractured a vertebra. He was taken to hospital and underwent emergency surgery.
“I’ve always been captivated by the power of water and the sense of freedom and escape one feels when diving into it,” Ortiz says, “but until that point, I’d never considered the other side of this freedom and the risks it carries.”
‘Thank you for the love and support I have received’
Lindsey Vonn sat out a World Cup super-G race on Saturday after crashing and injuring her left knee a day earlier, but remains on track for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, her coach said.
“No, she is not racing today but preparing for Cortina as usual,” Chris Knight, Vonn’s personal head coach, said in a text message. Vonn then posted on Instagram: “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to race today. Thank you for all of the love and support I have received. Means the world to me. Doing my best right now …”
First lady’s big-screen documentary premieres with criticisms over $28m payday and questions over relevancy
Donald and Melania Trump were walking a charcoal-coloured carpet beneath a stark black-and-white “MELANIA” backdrop. “Do you believe you’d be the man you are today if you hadn’t met your wife?” a reporter asked the US president.
Trump smiled and said: “He’s asking me a very dangerous question!” He went on to praise his wife without answering. When the reporter put the same question to Melania, she ventured: “Well, we will all be in different places, I guess.” With a nervous laugh, she turned to look at Trump and asked, “Right?”
Gabrielle Goliath says Gayton McKenzie violating freedom of expression after ‘highly divisive’ artwork Elergy banned from SA pavilion
A South African artist is suing the arts minister after he blocked her from representing the country at the Venice Biennale, having called her work addressing Israel’s killing of Palestinians in Gaza “highly divisive”.
Gabrielle Goliath filed the lawsuit last week, with Ingrid Masondo, who would have curated the pavilion, and the studio manager, James Macdonald. It accuses Gayton McKenzie of acting unlawfully and violating the right to freedom of expression and demands the high court reinstates her participation by 18 February, the deadline for confirming installations with biennale organisers.
Hundreds of parents, teens and school districts have claimed social media is intentionally addictive and harmful
Social media companies will have to answer to a jury – for the first time – for allegations that their products are intentionally addictive and harmful to young users’ mental health. Hundreds of parents, teens and school districts sued Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube, leading to a series of landmark trials that began this week. Jury selection in the first case started on Tuesday in Los Angeles court.
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is among the big tech CEOs who are expected to testify. Both sides are likely to bring in experts to hash out the science behind alleged addiction to social media.
Sanae Takaichi may seemingly have old-fashioned values, but it’s her economic offering that has captured young people’s imaginations
Japan has rarely seen a prime minister as bold or as social media-savvy as Sanae Takaichi, the country’s first female leader.
Where previous prime ministers have gone viral for unflattering moments, such as the spectacle of one scoffing an onigiri in one messy gulp or another caught dozing off in the parliament during a key vote, Takaichi is being read by supporters as a symbol of a different era of leadership – one they feel Japan has lacked in recent years.
Karin Kaneko is a freelance journalist and a former reporter for the Japan Times
The comedian on getting sacked from TK Maxx, looking permanently hungover, and his 90s crush
Born in London, Seann Walsh, 40, began doing standup in 2006. He was on Strictly Come Dancing in 2018 and I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! in 2022. His podcast is Class Clown and he co-hosts Oh My Dog! (with Jack Dee) and What’s Upset You Now? His tour, This Is Torture, starts on 13 February. He lives in London with his partner and two children.
What is your earliest memory?
My dad had loads of friends round, all smoking heroin and singing me Happy Birthday. I was three or four.
The 38-year-old master perfectly understands the measure of the challenge against the young pretender in the Australian Open final
Novak Djokovic had barely even begun to digest the madness of one of his great late-career victories, still fighting back tears on Rod Laver Arena, when he was asked by his on-court interviewer to cast his mind ahead to the final.
After his monumental five-set Australian Open semi-final win over Jannik Sinner, where he matched the quality, intensity and athleticism of one of the two commanding players in men’s tennis, he was immediately reminded that Carlos Alcaraz, the other dominant player, was next. “I just hope that I’ll have enough gas to stay toe to toe with him,” said Djokovic. “That’s my desire, then let the gods decide the winner.”
Connexion
