Karoline Leavitt says director of national intelligence was there ‘to make sure that American elections are free of foreign interference’ while offering few details on her role

Amid the various winding comments throughout Trump’s speech today, he said that the Department of Education will officially issue its new guidance to protect the right to prayer in public schools today.

“Now the Democrats will sue us, but we’ll win it,” Trump said, eliciting some laughs from the audience at the National Prayer Breakfast. “They’ll sue us. They sue us for everything. I’m the most sued human being in history.”

Pima county sheriff says police do not yet have a suspect in apparent kidnapping of Savannah Guthrie’s mother

Law enforcement chiefs in Arizona on Thursday confirmed that they found blood belonging to Nancy Guthrie, the mother of the TV anchor Savannah Guthrie, on the 84-year-old’s porch after she was reported missing from home at the weekend.

The sheriff of Pima county, Chris Nanos, said during a press conference authorities do not yet have a suspect in the apparent kidnapping.

Anger at former US ambassador Peter Mandelson’s relations with the child sex offender threatens to topple the prime minister

It was the one scandal that Donald Trump seemed unable to shake. No matter his best efforts to convince his supporter base that there was nothing to see here, the demands for the administration to release every document it had on the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein only grew.

Yet even after the most shocking revelations in the latest drop about Trump’s inner circle – involving everyone from Elon Musk to the Maga honcho Steve Bannon to the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, not to mention Trump himself – so far, it seems, the administration has escaped largely unscathed. Nobody has resigned, nobody has been fired, and certainly there is no sign that the US president is going anywhere.

Cryptocurrency-based prediction market announced it would open store in apparent nod to mayor’s signature policy

Zohran Mamdani made city-operated grocery stores a key pledge of his campaign for mayor of New York City. So when one company seemed to muscle in on the idea this week, apparently as a PR stunt, Mamdani was quick to reply.

Polymarket, the cryptocurrency-based prediction market, announced on Tuesday it would be opening “New York City’s first free grocery store,” seemingly a nod to the mayor’s signature policy. In a statement the firm said it hoped to “empower every New Yorker to achieve food security for good”, and that it had donated $1m to the Food Bank for NYC.

While the overall risk of a shark attack remains low, experts say warmer waters, various weather events, shifting prey and busier coastlines can increase the risk

A recent cluster of shark attacks along Australia’s east coast – including a fatal attack on a 12-year-old boy in Sydney – has renewed attention on how people share the ocean with sharks, particularly in a country that sees more than 500 million coastal visits by beachgoers each year.

While the overall risk of a shark attack remains low, experts say warmer waters, various weather events, shifting prey and busier coastlines can increase the likelihood of shark encounters – making when, where and how people enter the water as important as ever.

Six Nations match updates, 8.10pm GMT kick-off in Paris
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7 mins. The attack is contained by France and a forced pass in midfield is spilled by a green hand. France will have a scrum in their own 22.

5 mins. The Ireland scrum creaks, but holds enough for Gibson-Park to clear their lines. This but of solid work is followed soon after by Osborne banging a MASSIVE 50:22 to give his side their first attacking platform of the game.

Trump might not embody Christian values yet is the religious right’s chosen instrument to turn the tide against liberal, godless America

• US politics live – latest updates

They had come to say a prayer for the father, the son and the holy ghost.

The father was Donald Trump, who, despite sending federal militias to roam Minneapolis, threatening to invade Greenland and telling lies by the dozen, remains the lord and saviour of the religious right.

Opposition MPs urge Labour to pause public contracts with the US tech firm after attempts to examine deals blocked

Labour should halt public contracts with the US tech company Palantir, opposition politicians have said, amid growing concern at the lack of government transparency over dealings with the company and Peter Mandelson.

Since 2023, Palantir has secured more than £500m in contracts with the NHS and the Ministry of Defence (MoD), while it employed Global Counsel, the lobbying firm founded by Mandelson. Emails released by the US Department of Justice show Mandelson sought help from Jeffrey Epstein to find “rich individuals” as clients.

Although weakened by airstrikes, sanctions and domestic unrest, Tehran is surprisingly bullish before talks with US

When it comes to Iran and Donald Trump, there is so much bluff, backed by military hardware, that the truth rarely makes an appearance.

It appears that a bullish Iran is going into negotiations with the US on Friday adopting maximalist positions that do not seem greatly different to those it adopted in the five rounds of talks before the negotiations were abruptly halted by the surprise Israeli attack on Iran last June.

An ape was able to identify the location of imaginary objects in pretend scenarios, researchers find

Whether it’s playing at being doctors or hosting a toy’s tea party, children are adept at engaging in make-believe – now researchers say bonobos can do it too.

While there have been anecdotal reports of apes using imaginary objects, including apparently dragging pretend blocks across the floor, experts say it is possible such instances have other explanations.

Brain activity suggests newborns can detect and predict patterns relating to rhythm, study says

Newborn babies can anticipate rhythm in pieces of music, researchers have discovered, offering insights into a fundamental human trait.

Babies in the womb begin to respond to music by about eight or nine months, as shown by changes in their heart rate and body movements, said Dr Roberta Bianco, the first author of the research who is based at the Italian Institute of Technology in Rome.

Toxicity from farm chemicals increased for most species groups between 2013 and 2019, with insects worst affected

Ecological harm from pesticides is growing globally, a study has found, with bugs, fish, pollinators and land-based plants among six species groups hit hardest.

Insects suffered the greatest increase in harm from synthetic farm chemicals between 2013 and 2019, the study shows, with “applied” toxicity rising by 42.9%, followed by soil organisms, which faced an increase of 30.8%.

The prime minister has said sorry for believing Peter Mandelson’s lies – but the Epstein connection should have been disqualification enough

Accused of terrible misjudgment in appointing Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington, Sir Keir Starmer says that questions were raised but answered with lies. Mandelson “portrayed Jeffrey Epstein as someone he barely knew” and was sacked as soon as it became clear the relationship had been much closer.

Addressing the scale of the deception on Thursday, the prime minister sounded authentically outraged. Mandelson had failed a “basic test of honesty” and “such deceit is incompatible with public service”. Credulity is not a great defence. Focusing on the lies obscures the extent of what was already known to be true when the fateful appointment was made.

The growing rift between two Gulf powers will be felt across the Middle East and the Horn of Africa

In 2017, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates spearheaded a blockade of Qatar, disrupting trade, stability and lives in the region. Their de facto leaders – the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and Abu Dhabi’s then crown prince, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, now president of the UAE – had forged a close alliance. The older man had eagerly promoted the younger Saudi royal in Washington and elsewhere, and was seen as his mentor. Riyadh borrowed aspects of the UAE’s model, and the countries together intervened – at huge cost – against Houthi rebels in Yemen. Together they sought to contain the Arab spring and backed authoritarian rule in Egypt, Bahrain and elsewhere.

Yet by 2023 the relationship had soured: the Saudi crown prince reportedly accused the UAE of “stabb[ing] us in the back”. Late last year the disputes became spectacularly public. In Yemen, Southern secessionists backed by the UAE made dramatic advances in oil-rich areas – before being forced out by Saudi-backed forces. Riyadh effectively described the UAE as threatening its national security. Saudi commentators voiced increasing contempt for the kingdom’s former partner. In turn, a senior Emirati official complained of “wickedness” in the media campaign against it.

Shifting explanations of Gabbard’s presence at election center intensifies scrutiny of role she played in operation

Donald Trump on Thursday offered a new and shifting account of why Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, was present last week at an FBI raid of an election center in Georgia, saying she went at the urging of the attorney general Pam Bondi.

“She took a lot of heat two days ago because she went in at Pam’s insistence,” the US president said at the National Prayer Breakfast, a high-profile event of political and religious leaders. “She went in and she looked at votes that wanted to be checked out from Georgia.”

Newly unsealed files claim the banker, who has denied any wrongdoing, forced a woman to touch his genitals during a massage before raping her

US prosecutors reviewed allegations of rape and bodily harm against the former Barclays boss and former JP Morgan banker Jes Staley, according to newly unsealed files linked to the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Multiple documents in the Epstein files cite serious allegations of sexual misconduct against Staley, including that he forced a woman to touch his genitals during a massage before raping her, and left “bloody marks” on the arms of a woman he called “tinkerbell”.

Miguel Díaz‑Canel says Cuba is willing to engage Washington amid the island’s deepening economic crisis

After months of threats from Donald Trump, the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has said that his government is willing to talk to the United States, just so long as it is “without pressure”.

Standing in front of a life-sized photograph of Fidel Castro carrying a rifle during the 1959 revolution, Díaz-Canel, the 65-year-old president, said on Thursday that his island nation had been subject to an “intense media campaigns of slander, hatred and psychological warfare”.

• Manager refuses to criticise captain for outburst

• ‘Too much attention’ given to social media post

Thomas Frank has refused to criticise Cristian Romero following his social media attack on Tottenham’s owners, saying the matter has been “dealt with internally”.

The Tottenham manager made his ambivalence about social media clear – “something I do know is that we all give it too much attention” – but stopped short of condemning his captain’s behaviour after last weekend’s draw with Manchester City, despite it being the second such outburst in as many months.

Bezalel Zini accused of role in taking goods into the occupied Palestinian territory during an Israeli blockade

The brother of Israel’s internal security chief has been charged with “assisting the enemy in wartime” for his alleged role in a smuggling network taking cigarettes and other goods into Gaza during an Israeli blockade of the occupied Palestinian territory.

Bezalel Zini was one of more than 10 people charged in relation to the alleged network. His brother, David Zini, is the head of the Shin Bet, the domestic intelligence agency. He was appointed by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, last May and began the job in October.

• Wing unable to complete training session on Thursday

• Daly the leading alternative if Exeter player ruled out

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso has given England a late injury scare before they start their Six Nations campaign against Wales on Saturday after pulling up in training.

The Exeter wing was unable to complete England’s session at Pennyhill Park due to a leg injury with Steve Borthwick’s medical staff investigating its extent on Thursday night.

Home of UK parliament spends £1.5m a week on repairs but critics say restoration proposals lack accountability

Plans to restore the crumbling Palace of Westminster could cost £40bn and take up to 61 years, a report by the body set up to investigate how the project should be handled has found.

Critics labelled the cost as “eye-watering” and said the project lacked accountability.

State culled a number of the non-native reptiles after thousands were ‘cold-stunned’ and dropped from trees

Wildlife officials in Florida say they euthanized more than 5,000 non-native iguanas in the state after hordes of the reptiles froze and fell from trees in this week’s cold snap.

The Florida fish and wildlife commission (FWC) authorized the first officially sanctioned cull of “cold-stunned” iguanas as temperatures plunged below freezing in many areas of the state.

Wael Sawan weighs up production project as company boosts dividends despite 22% drop in full-year earnings

• Business live – latest updates

Shell is considering fossil fuel investments in Venezuela worth billions of dollars, according to its chief executive.

Wael Sawan said Europe’s largest oil company is weighing plans for production projects off the Venezuelan coast that could begin yielding gas in the next couple of years. “These are opportunities that could potentially be activated within months,” he told CNBC, adding that the company was now awaiting approvals.