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President raises pressure on European allies as US envoy says deal to take island ‘should and will be made’

• Fear in Greenland as threat of invasion looms

Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on countries that do not “go along” with his plan to annex Greenland, increasing pressure on European allies who have opposed his effort to take over the Arctic territory.

After a tense week in which Nato allies deployed troops to the largely autonomous territory, which is part of the Danish kingdom, the US president announced he might punish countries that do not support his plans to take over Greenland, using force if necessary.

Brentford’s record-breaking Brazilian has overcome a torrid childhood, racism and injuries – but is dreaming of Brazil’s No 9 shirt at the World Cup

Igor Thiago had dreams that seemed impossible. His impoverished childhood and the early death of his father forced him to grow up fast while still a teenager. To eat, he had to start working as a child. He was a bricklayer’s assistant, a fruit carrier at the market and a car washer … so many jobs that could have prevented him from becoming the Brazilian to make Premier League history with the most goals in a single season.

Igor Thiago has 16 goals in 21 games for Brentford. There are still 17 more matches to go, the first against Chelsea on Saturday, but he has already surpassed such Brazilian luminaries as Roberto Firmino, Matheus Cunha and Gabriel Martinelli, all of whom scored 15 league goals in their most prolific season. How to describe this turnaround in his life? Igor Thiago has an easy explanation. “I would describe it as a lot of hard work. I think that everything God has planned for my life, has given me this year at Brentford, is something I hadn’t experienced yet in my career,” he says.

Kevin Hassett, a top contender to replace Jerome Powell, suggests he believes Powell told truth about Fed renovation

• US politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, said he expected there was “nothing to see here” as the US Department of Justice pursues its criminal investigation of Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair.

The Trump administration has faced a chorus of criticism in recent days after it emerged that the justice department had served the Fed with grand jury subpoenas, in a significant escalation of its extraordinary attack on the US central bank’s independence.

• Irishman fell out with Lisa Carrick after 2014 criticism

• ‘It is the way of the world,’ says new interim head coach

Michael Carrick has shrugged off Roy Keane’s jibe regarding his wife “probably doing the team talk” at Manchester United by claiming it does not bother him.

Keane made the comment about Lisa Carrick after the 44-year-old’s appointment as United head coach until the end of the season. Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, the Irishman was responding to Jamie Carragher’s comment that United should not have employed Carrick in the role. “Well, his wife can always come in because she’s got a bit of a big mouth sometimes. She’s probably doing the team talk,” Keane said.

• Brilliant display of potting cements smooth success

• Neil Robertson v Kyren Wilson to come later on Friday

Wu Yize booked his place in the semi-finals of the Masters with a brilliant display of potting to thrash an underperforming Xiao Guodong 6-0 at Alexandra Palace.

The young Chinese player got off to a flying start with breaks of 112, 93 and 60 as he raced into a clear 4-0 lead at the mid-session break over his countryman, who could not reproduce the form that saw him see off Mark Selby 6-2 in the first round.

This report will update later

We want to hear from people in Minnesota about the surge of thousands of federal immigration agents in the area

Thousands of federal immigration agents have been sent into Minneapolis in recent days, with protests taking place in Minnesota and across the country in response to last week’s shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing federal immigration authorities in Minnesota of racial profiling and unlawful arrests.

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The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations reaches its big finale in 2026 on Sunday, having rolled on through the annual festive time warp, outlasting Enzo Maresca, Ruben Amorim and Ryan Mason Xabi Alonso. Some Premier League teams will have played games in four different competitions by the time they welcome their players home. Wedged into the domestic calendar’s most crowded months, Afcon can get overlooked and more’s the pity, because the 2025-26 tournament has been a vintage edition. The group stage may have lacked big surprises but was still packed with late twists, ridiculous goals and dramatic storylines. Two different coaches named Cameroon squads amid a pre-tournament power struggle; their first opponents, Gabon, were disbanded by their government after going out early (a decision quietly reversed this week). Sudan and Mozambique earned historic victories, bringing light to fans suffering through conflict. We were introduced to Kuka Mboladinga, the sharply-dressed, statuesque DR Congo fan who we all hope will make it to next summer’s Geopolitics World Cup.

Re: yesterday’s Football Daily. When will the Football League realise that a one-legged Carling Cup semi-final tie at a neutral (non-Wembley) ground would be mint?” – Francis Fowles.

After turning Manchester United into a joke in record time, Big Sir Jim’s now providing moral support for his players (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). How about support for the supporters, starting with profuse apologies?” – JJ Zucal.

I read Kachilapo Mulongoti’s letter (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) with great interest, complaining about the ‘many jokes’ in the publication. As a long-time subscriber, I fear I’ve been reading a different tea-timely football-related email. There’s a version with jokes? Please sign me up” – Mike Wilner (and 1,056 others).

Positioning one letter starting with the word ‘congratulations’ after another signed off from Harry Webb (yesterday’s letters)? And on the day when you’re certain to be bombarded with 1,057 letters asking where the jokes are? Chapeau” – Tim Grey.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Trump administration struck policy requiring news outlet to have civilian editor and independent ombudsman

Press freedom advocates have condemned a move by the Pentagon to seize editorial control of the independent Stars and Stripes newspaper, a daily publication for service members that has covered the US armed forces since the US civil war.

The Trump administration announced on Thursday that the outlet would no longer cover “woke distractions”, and instead “modernize its operations … and adapt to serve a new generation of service members”.

Experts say central banks are increasingly stuffing their vaults as an insurance policy in a volatile world

Fifteen minutes after takeoff, the call came for Serbia’s central bank governor: millions of dollars’ worth of gold bars, destined for a high-security Belgrade vault, had been left on the runway of a Swiss airport.

In air freight – despite the extraordinary value of bullion – fresh flowers, food and other perishables still take priority. “We learned this the hard way,” Jorgovanka Tabaković told a conference late last year.

Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some great new paperbacks, from a Renaissance romp to an ode to optimism

Portland Communications, founded by Keir Starmer’s communications chief, linked to so-called black hat edits

A high-profile PR company founded by Keir Starmer’s communications chief has been accused of commissioning changes to Wikipedia pages to make them more favourable towards clients.

Portland Communications, founded by Tim Allan, has been linked to the so-called black hat edits, sometimes referred to as “Wikilaundering”. Several changes were made to Wikipedia pages by a network of editors, allegedly controlled by a contractor working on Portland’s behalf.

Plan follows pressure on broadcaster to put more content on platform, but raises questions about licence fee

• UK politics live – latest updates

The BBC could soon make programmes for YouTube, after being put under pressure to produce more content on the increasingly dominant digital platform.

The corporation would begin making some content released first on the platform under proposals that could be announced as soon as next week as it seeks to reach younger viewers, who are the heaviest users of YouTube.

• Goalkeeper has served five matches of the suspension

• Reference to skin colour overheard by club colleagues

The Liverpool goalkeeper Rafaela Borggräfe was given a six-game ban by the Football Association after being found to have made a racist comment that involved reference to skin colour.

Borggräfe has served five matches of that suspension. She accepted the sanction and was also ordered to enrol on an education programme after an FA investigation into the language, which was overheard by some staff and teammates.

European countries sending troops to the island is only raising the temperature and generating fear – exactly what the US president wants

Is Greenland Donald Trump’s 25th-amendment moment? Last time around, this was when the Washington “grownups” debated his capacity to be president, notably in the final fortnight of his presidency, after the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Under the constitution, a president can be replaced should the vice-president and a cabinet majority decide their leader is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”. The trouble today is that there are no grownups.

The US president’s designs on Greenland are clearly mad. He claims Russia and China are scheming to seize the island and that Denmark should be forced urgently to transfer its sovereignty. Denmark had long allowed the US extended military access to Greenland, but Trump seems to want to own it. None of his staff has been able to say why.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist and the author of A Short History of America: From Tea Party to Trump

A study found small changes to key behaviours can have significant benefits, and I’m all for barely perceptible adjustments

A week into the first lockdown of the pandemic, I vowed I would never set foot in a gym again. This pledge seemed in keeping with the confused fatalism of the moment, but it turned out to be one of the few promises to myself I have ever kept.

Since then I’ve become a fan of evidence suggesting that minimal changes to one’s lifestyle make a big difference to overall health, and this week there was more: a study from the University of Sydney found that even small changes to three key behaviours – sleep, diet, and exercise – can have significant benefits. For those with the least healthy habits, an additional five minutes of sleep, two minutes more exercise and minimal dietary adjustments could add another year of life.

Moderators accuse social media firm of unfair dismissal after it fired hundreds in UK just before vote to form union

TikTok moderators have accused the social media company of “oppressive and intimidating” union busting after it fired hundreds of workers in the UK, beginning the process just before they were due to vote on forming a union.

The moderators wanted to establish a collective bargaining unit to protect themselves from the personal costs of checking extreme and violent content, and have claimed TikTok is guilty of unfair dismissal and breaching trade union laws.

When he returned to power last year, Trump was eager to negotiate a new deal with Tehran, but a diplomatic breakthrough has been elusive

Will Donald Trump order a US military attack on Iran? That question captivated the world for the past two weeks, as the US president issued bellicose threats warning the Iranian regime not to crack down on nationwide protests demanding economic and social reforms. On Tuesday, as he was scheduled to be briefed by Pentagon officials on various options for a strike, Trump posted a message on social media urging Iranians to continue their demonstrations and take over government institutions. The president signaled that he was leaning toward ordering an attack, telling protesters that “help is on its way”.

But by Wednesday, Trump pulled back from the brink of a military intervention, saying he had received assurances from “very important sources” that Iran had stopped killing protesters and was not moving forward with executions. A group of US allies in the Middle East – including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Turkey – seem to have succeeded in a last-ditch effort to convince Trump not to launch airstrikes against Tehran, warning it could unleash a wider conflict in the region. While many Sunni-led Arab states resent Shia Iran’s influence in the Arab world, they are also worried about retaliatory attacks by Iran and its allies, an influx of refugees and a civil war that could lead to the collapse of the Iranian state.

In the week that we mourn the death of the Guardian’s long-serving classical music critic, composers, performers, colleagues and others who knew and worked with him pay tribute to a writer whose passing is a huge loss to the music world

I owe Andrew Clements big time. He wrote so positively about my music early in my career and the last article he wrote was singling out my opera Festen for special praise. He did seem to go off me a bit in mid career but he was such a serious and thoughtful critic that I often agreed with him. I got to know him very well in the late 90s as he was the partner of the librettist and translator Amanda Holden. He had such a broad knowledge of music and a great enthusiasm for new music which he wrote and spoke about with such warmth and humour. We spent many evenings in Highbury talking about Stravinsky, politics and Arsenal football club – he cared about the most important things in life. Mark-Anthony Turnage, composer

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Tourists keen to see island where couple exchanged vows, seven-star hotel where they stayed and paths trodden by their celebrity guests

For the residents of Venice who travel daily through the city’s waterways, the small wooden floating jetty outside the Gritti Palace hotel is nothing special, “no different to a London underground stop”, as Igor Scomparin, a tour guide, puts it.

But for a certain type of tourist it is a must-see spot. In June last year, Kim Kardashian disembarked from a water taxi here and navigated its planks during the five-day wedding of the billionaire Amazon boss, Jeff Bezos, and Lauren Sánchez, a former TV journalist.

Any Lucía López Belloza was detained at Boston’s airport in November and flown to Honduras two days later

The Trump administration apologized in court for a “mistake” in the deportation of a Massachusetts college student who was detained trying to fly home to surprise her family in Texas for Thanksgiving.

But the administration still argued that the federal government error should not affect her immigration case.

• Austrian has been linked with Manchester United job

• Manchester City close on deal to sign Guéhi from Palace

Oliver Glasner has confirmed he will leave Crystal Palace at the end of this season, having informed the chair, Steve Parish, in October that he wanted a new challenge, and said the captain, Marc Guéhi, is on the verge of joining Manchester City.

The Austrian, who led Palace to their first major trophy when they won the FA Cup last season, is out of contract in the summer and has been linked with Manchester United in recent weeks. Glasner said last week he was planning further talks with Parish to resolve his future but revealed in the buildup to Palace’s game at Sunderland on Saturday that he would be leaving the club.

Former Conservative minister who has joined Reform responds to allegations of lying from his former leader

• UK politics live – latest updates

The “arsonists” who tanked the reputation of the Conservatives are still in charge of the party, Robert Jenrick has said as he and the Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, trade blows a day after his dramatic defection to Reform UK.

Giving his first interview since his announcement on Thursday, the former shadow justice secretary said the Conservatives had not changed since the election, while defending himself against allegations of lying from his former party leader.

US president also calls for return of final Israeli captive’s remains from group, which has refused to give up weapons

Donald Trump has issued a fresh ultimatum to Hamas, adding to calls for the group’s disarmament as the second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire with Israel begins, even as key elements of the first phase remain unfulfilled.

In a late-night post on social media on Thursday, Trump vowed to push for what he described as the “comprehensive” demilitarisation of Hamas, warning of severe consequences should the group refuse to comply. He also demanded the return of the remains of the final Israeli captive still believed to be held by the group, sharpening tensions at a fragile moment in the truce process.