After a decade of austerity closed more than 1,000 centres, the government has promised £500m to renew youth services. We tour a glossy new venue in Preston – and a girls-only one in London

Preston, Lancashire is no stranger to trailblazing architecture. The city’s bus station, the largest in Europe when it opened in 1969, is a brutalist masterpiece. Next month, a new public building opens opposite the bus station built with similar aspirations to transform local lives: a youth centre.

To a generation raised when cuts had gutted services – between 2010-11 and 2023-24, local government spending on youth services fell by 73% and more than 1,000 youth centres closed – the idea of a place designed just for young people may seem as anachronistic as coach travel, but 2026 brings big changes to youth services in the UK.

Advisory firm has lost string of clients despite efforts to cut ties with co-founder after Epstein revelations

Global Counsel, the advisory firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson, is to collapse into administration, blaming the “maelstrom” caused by revelations about the former peer’s relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Companies including Barclays, Tesco and the Premier League have all deserted Global Counsel, despite the company’s efforts to sever ties with Mandelson and the company’s co-founder Benjamin Wegg-Prosser.

From TikTok deepfakes to smears put out by the White House, fake videos modeled on Black archetypes are running rampant - putting Black users at risk

Late last year, as a US government shutdown cut off the Snap benefits that low-income families rely on for groceries, videos on social media cast the fallout in frantic scenes. “Imma keep it real with you,” a Black woman said in a viral TikTok post, “I get over $2,500 a month in stamps. I sell ’em, $2,000 worth, for about $1,200-$1,500 cash.” Another Black woman ranted about taxpayers’ responsibility to her seven children with seven men, and yet another melted down after her food stamps were rejected at a corn-dog counter.

Visible watermarks stamped some videos as AI-generated – apparently, too faintly for the racist commentators and hustlers more than happy to believe the frenzy was real. “You got people treating it like a side hustle, selling the stamps, abusing the system,” the conservative commentator Amir Odom whinged. Fox News reported on the Snap deepfakes as if they were authentic, before issuing a correction. Newsmax anchor Rob Schmitt claimed people were using Snap “to get their nails done, to get their weaves and hair”. (Lost in the outrage was a basic fact: white Americans make up 37% of Snap’s 42 million beneficiaries.)

Thomas P gives evidence on first day of trial in case that could shape standards for mountain sports

An Austrian mountaineer has said he is “endlessly sorry” his girlfriend froze to death on a joint climb to the country’s highest peak, but denied criminal wrongdoing as his trial began in Innsbruck.

The 37-year-old defendant, identified only as Thomas P, gave evidence on the first day of the high-profile proceedings over the tragedy on Großglockner, in a case that could shape international standards for liability in mountain sports.

Industrial trends survey shows firms are expecting to raise prices, with order books well below average

British manufacturing orders remain well below average and price pressure continues to persist, according to a closely watched survey.

The CBI industrial trends survey found that manufacturers’ orders for the month were below average in February, while most firms expected to raise their prices and for output to decline over the next three months.

A new DHS memo details plan to allow federal immigration officers to detain legal refugees in the US indefinitely

The Trump administration is moving to arrest thousands of people already legally admitted to the US as refugees and detain them indefinitely for aggressive “re-screening”, a report published Thursday said.

Under the new policy, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said that federal immigration officers can and should arrest anyone who has not yet obtained the right to permanent residence, a so-called green card, and subject them to interviews to assess their refugee claims while they are in custody, as first reported by the Washington Post.

In rare interviews, some of those sent back across the Channel after arriving in the UK on small boats describe what happened next – and the risks of a system organised to get rid of them

When Keir Starmer stood alongside the French president, Emmanuel Macron, at Northwood military base last July and announced a “groundbreaking” treaty to stop small boats overfilled with migrants from crossing the Channel, he said there was no “silver bullet”. But, he added, the plan would “finally turn the tables” on the numbers making the crossing.

The initiative, known as “one in, one out”, means each small boat arrival can be forcibly returned to France in exchange for another person – who has not attempted the crossing – being brought to the UK legally.

Ahead of a new EP, the creative polymath answers your questions on Thom Yorke, Kendrick Lamar and how a sci-fi epic ate up his whole life

You have to produce an album for one rapper, no guest spots, just you and them in the studio. Who are you picking? ShermanMLight
Kendrick Lamar. He’s one of the few people I’ve worked with in the hip-hop world who is an actual genius. He doesn’t get enough credit for being a producer as well – because he has such a clear perspective on what he wants in his music, he knows where every sound is supposed to be. Not every artist has that approach – most are more hands off. Working closely with Kendrick would make me a better producer. That would be a great meeting of the minds, as it was when we did our couple of tracks together.

How was the experience of working with the great, late David Lynch [on the track Fire is Coming]? Stephenw1979
A dream come true – someone who inspired my whole artistic path. He was exactly who I hoped he would be. I got to go over to his studio and hang a couple times, and it was really special. And he never seemed to get old. Twin Peaks: The Return was one of his best works, and it was the last thing he did.

These interconnected short stories of love and death, inspired by traditional ballads from the British Isles, are narrated with immediacy and warmth

In the old Scottish ballad, Tam Lin, a girl named Janet is warned by her family not to go near the well at Carterhaugh. There lurks an elfin knight who will take the virginity of any golden-haired maiden who passes through. The next day Janet, who is possessed of golden hair and a rebellious spirit, sets off for Carterhaugh. At the well, she picks a double rose which summons Tam Lin. Janet visits him daily and she learns how he was stolen by the Fairy Queen who cursed him to remain in Elfland as her vassal. Months later she realises she is with child. Refusing to forsake her lover, she hatches a bold and dangerous plan to free him from the curse.

This is just one of the ancient tales featured in Old Songs, a treasure trove of short stories inspired by traditional ballads from the British Isles. Stretching from the Classical period and the early 20th century, these richly imagined stories feature sibling murder, infanticide, kidnapping, abandonment and a man who is turned into a worm by a witch. “Not all the stories are happy and that is the way of the world,” notes author Amy Jeffs in the foreword.

• Clubs who did not play are to get solidarity payments

• No formula determined for dividing the money

Frustration is growing among clubs globally at the extended wait for £185m of solidarity payments promised by Fifa on the back of last summer’s Club World Cup.

Clubs that did not participate in the tournament were promised a share of the sum, designed to ensure a proportion of the event’s funding was distributed throughout the football pyramid. If shared equally it would amount to about £50,000 for every top-flight club in the world but, more than seven months after the Club World Cup’s conclusion, there is no sign of the money and no timescale for its distribution. The Guardian understands Fifa is yet to determine how the money will be allocated.

Our pick of the best images from day 13 of the Games, from ski mountaineering to nordic combined

Intelligence findings read to parliament say ‘rogue’ agencies and individuals recruiting Kenyan nationals to frontline

More than 1,000 Kenyans have been lured to fight for Russia in its war with Ukraine, according to an intelligence report to the Kenyan parliament that highlights the scale of a Russian operation taking African men to the frontline.

The majority leader of Kenya’s national assembly, Kimani Ichung’wah, said “rogue recruitment agencies and individuals in Kenya” were continuing to send Kenyan nationals to fight in the conflict, as he read MPs the summary of an investigation by Kenya’s National Intelligence Service.

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

Paolo Petrecca, director of Rai Sport, prompted widespread criticism and protests from journalists at network

The head of the sports division of the Italian public broadcaster Rai has resigned after his gaffe-strewn commentary of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony provoked protests among its journalists.

Paolo Petrecca, appointed director of Rai Sport last year, handed in his notice on Thursday after a board meeting, a source within Rai confirmed.

• Mercedes chief attacks backlash over engine loophole

• Vote on legality of power plant ‘a storm in a teacup’

Toto Wolff, the Mercedes principal, has snapped back at “utter bullshit” about a potential fuel problem a day after the FIA proposed a mid-season rule change over the team’s controversial engine.

It was announced on Wednesday that a vote will take place over whether a regulation change should be implemented from August onwards over the legality of Mercedes’ engine, after they were adjudged to have found a loophole that allowed them to deliver a higher limit when their engine is at operating temperature.

Late Wolves leveller means seven dropped points from winning positions in 2026 – and Manchester City are lurking

It was left to Bukayo Saka to sum up the mood in Arsenal’s dressing room. “Very flat,” admitted the England forward after watching his side surrender a 2-0 lead at Wolves on Wednesday night.

A couple of hours earlier, Saka’s first goal in 15 games in all competitions – his longest drought since breaking into the first team as a fresh-faced teenager in 2018 – looked to have set up an easy victory against the Premier League’s bottom side to restore Arsenal’s seven-point cushion over Manchester City. Made captain for the night by Mikel Arteta in the continued absence of Martin Ødegaard, Saka celebrated his rare headed goal by mimicking signing the lucrative contract to 2030, worth more than £300,000 a week, that was announced by Arsenal on Thursday. But his broad smile had turned to a frown by the time he faced the television cameras in the tunnel at Molineux.

President says US has ‘some work’ to do with Iran as representatives from more than 45 countries attend Trump-run initiative

• Authoritarians, strongmen and dictators: who is on Trump’s Board of Peace?

Donald Trump will start his day in Washington for the Board of Peace meeting at the White House.

He’ll then travel to Rome, Georgia, as part of his tour of the country to tout the administration’s affordability message. He’ll meet with local businesses there, and deliver remarks at 4pm ET.

Law defines animals including horses, donkeys and mules as pets and is backed by opposition parties

Italy could soon ban horse meat as part of a law that would define equine animals including horses, donkeys and mules as pets, making it illegal to kill them.

The bill has been drafted by Michela Vittoria Brambilla, a politician with Noi Moderati, a member of Giorgia Meloni’s ruling coalition, and is backed by opposition parties.

Those who have worked with midfielder reflect on his career as he prepares to make a 654th top-flight appearance

James Milner was the most dedicated and professional young player I’ve met. He also took the not inconsiderable transition from being at school to playing in the Leeds first team totally in his stride. Nothing fazed him. He was very level-headed.

It is reasonable to avoid hurt after such a big betrayal, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith, but don’t mistake isolation for safety

• Read more Leading questions

I was in a relationship for 26 years, married for 17, and my husband had an affair. It was hidden, long term and denied until discovery. I divorced him but that was delayed and I had to live with him for a further two years. I spent a year alone in my new house with my now adult sons. Now I am a little over a year into a new relationship and suddenly panicking about it. I’m scared to go forward. I’m not sure I can commit to long term again, and if I see him looking at other women (we work together in a predominantly female workplace), I panic! I’m older than him by nine years and I feel like I want to end things to prevent getting hurt. But then I feel I’m being cowardly. How can I stop going down this road in my head?

Eleanor says: On behalf of everyone everywhere, let me say: what a schmuck thing for your husband to do. That is such a big betrayal. And the cruelty you’re living through now is that as well as teaching you to be mistrustful of others, betrayal on that magnitude teaches you to be unsure of yourself. If I misread things once …

RFK Jr ally Jay Bhattacharya was named acting director of the CDC and will be fourth leader in a year to head agency

Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was named the acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday, making him the fourth leader in a year at the embattled agency in an unprecedented move that further consolidates power among a small group of men at the helm of US health agencies.

He’s been an ineffectual health leader whose attention will be further fractured, and as a close ally to Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services and a longtime vaccine critic. Bhattacharya may sign off on further changes to the vaccine schedule, observers said.

Nick Thomas-Symonds says move could also create unnecessary UK-EU trade barriers and increase costs

• Business live – latest updates

A British minister has warned that the EU’s “Made in Europe” industrial strategy could hit supply chains, increase costs and create unnecessary trade barriers between the UK and some members of the bloc.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the UK minister for EU relations, made the comments as the EU is preparing to publish legislation that would require European-made products to be prioritised in public procurement and consumer schemes.

What happens next hardly matters: the mystique and awe surrounding the royals had been irretrievably shattered. The former prince’s arrest must change everything

The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is a seismic moment for the royal family as well as for himself. On one hand, it is hard to believe any greater harm can befall the family after weeks of drip-feed from the US Department of Justice’s Epstein files. On the other, a royal arrest of this sort is unprecedented. Enough is already in the public domain to indicate that police believe that there must be a case to answer to the charge of misconduct in public office.

King Charles, who apparently was not warned in advance that his brother was to be arrested, has been scrupulous in his response. “The law must take its course,” he said, offering prosecutors “full and wholehearted support and cooperation”. Whatever happens now, a line has been crossed in the life of the nation. A once exalted royal, facing serious judicial investigation by authorities acting on behalf of the citizenry. Stripped of status and finery, he faces the spotlight as would any other inhabitant of these isles. One cannot know the outcome, but just this arrest feels like a pivotal moment.

José María Balcázar, who argued for marriage at 14 and above, replaces José Jerí who was voted out after a scandal

Peru’s congress has elected José María Balcázar, an octogenarian leftist lawmaker who has defended child marriage, as the country’s interim president ahead of general elections in April.

Balcázar is Peru’s ninth president since 2016. The surprise election, in which Balcázar beat the favourite, María del Carmen Alva, a conservative, came after lawmakers voted to remove José Jerí as president on Tuesday after just four months in office, due to a scandal over secretive meetings with Chinese businessmen.