Death toll from Washington’s campaign on alleged drug traffickers now at least 128
The US military on Thursday said it killed two alleged drug traffickers in a strike on a boat in the eastern Pacific, bringing the death toll from Washington’s campaign to at least 128.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the US Southern Command said in a post on X. It said “no US military forces were harmed” in the operation.
Residents of New Zealand capital advised not to enter the water, collect seafood or walk their dogs on local beaches after wastewater plant failure
A sewage leak in New Zealand’s capital Wellington has been described by local authorities as an “environmental disaster,” with repairs to the city’s wastewater treatment plant expected to take months.
Residents of Wellington have been advised not to enter the water, collect seafood or even walk their dogs on local beaches.
Dozens of people have died, including two Australians, as record-breaking snowfall blankets the north
Dozens of people have died in Japan after record-breaking snowfall blanketed northern regions of the country, while officials warned that warmer temperatures could trigger a new wave of accidents.
Authorities said 35 people had died in snow-related incidents across Japan since 20 January, with almost 400 injured, 126 of them seriously. Most of the deaths were among people who fell while trying to clear snow from their roofs or around their homes.
The Australian aerial photographer Andrew Vukosav takes his striking images while flying solo in his Cessna 182 on long journeys into remote terrain. His plane, named Valerie, has a high-resolution camera fixed to its underbelly to capture landscapes that challenge cliches of the outback. Vukosav has touched down in the US to showcase his series Longitude Latitude Solitude, which features photos taken over 10 years while logging 560 hours in the air
The country’s first female PM is the object of a personality cult revolving around everything from her outfits and snacks to her favourite pink pen
Just eight months ago, Japan’s ruling party appeared to have reached the edge of the electoral abyss. It had lost a parliamentary majority for the second time in 15 months; its MPs were implicated in a long-running slush fund scandal; the then prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, was the target of factional plotting.
But as voters prepare to brave freezing temperatures in this Sunday’s lower house elections, the Liberal Democratic party (LDP) is expected to pull off a momentous victory. And the party’s recovery from the disappointment of last year is largely down to one woman.
Whitkoff says ‘significant work remains’ as second day of US-led peace talks in Abu Dhabi concludes: What we know on day 1,444
Ukraine and Russia concluded a second round of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi on Thursday aimed at ending Europe’s biggest conflict since the second world war, with the two sides conducting a major prisoner swap and agreeing to resume negotiations soon. But Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy involved in the talks, cautioned that “significant work remains” in the weeks ahead, dampening expectations of any swift move towards peace. The meetings marked the most substantive engagement between senior delegations from Kyiv and Moscow in months, pointing to a tentative, if uncertain, revival of diplomatic efforts nearly four years into the war.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday said more US sanctions against Russia depended on talks aimed at ending the nearly four-year-old Ukraine war. Bessent said he would consider new sanctions against Russia’s shadow fleet – a step Trump has not taken since returning to office in January 2025. His comments come after Ukraine and Russia concluded a second day of US-led talks in Abu Dhabi on Thursday without a breakthrough in ending the conflict. “I will take it under consideration. We will see where the peace talks go,” Bessent said at a Senate Banking Committee hearing. He said the Trump administration’s sanctions against Russian oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil had helped bring Russia to the negotiating table in the peace talks.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the trilateral talks with the US and Russia were “not easy,” but insisted that Ukraine would remainconstructive and seek a fair deal to end to the Russian aggression. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said the trilateral negotiations had been “genuinely constructive”, thanking the US and the United Arab Emirates for their role in mediating the talks. Russia’s representative, Kirill Dmitriev, similarly struck a positive note, saying there had been progress and “forward movement” in discussions on ending the war.
Separately, Russia has signalled its readiness to engage with more European leaders, saying it could “listen to any proposal” if it considered it a serious attempt to reopen diplomatic channels and not “pathetic” posturing.
Western sanctions are having a “significant impact” on the Russian economy, the EU’s sanctions envoy has said, ahead of the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. David O’Sullivan, a veteran Irish official, said sanctions were “not a silver bullet” and would always face circumvention, but insisted that after four years he was confident they were having an effect. “We may be, in the course of 2026, coming to a point where the whole thing becomes unsustainable, because so much of the Russian economy has been distorted so much by the building up of the war economy at the expense of the civil economy,” he told the Guardian in a rare interview. The Russian economy is thought to be under its greatest strain since the early days of the war. Oil revenues are plummeting, inflation is running at about 6% and interest rates at 16%.
Night-time shelling by Ukraine inflicted “serious damage” in the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border, the region’s governor said early on Friday. Vyacheslav Gladkov, in a video posted on Telegram after midnight, said city officials were holding an emergency meeting to devise a plan of action. “The enemy has shelled the civilian city of Belgorod. Everyone knows we have no military targets,” said Gladkov. “There has been serious damage. I have been out to look around.” A post on the unofficial Russian Telegram channel Mash, which has sources in the security services, said missiles had hit the city that lies about 40 km (25 miles) from the Ukrainian border and power had been cut in some districts.
Authorities scrap Arakurayama Sengen park cherry blossom festival near Mount Fuji because of tourists trespassing, littering and ‘defecating in private yards’
A Japanese cherry blossom festival near Mount Fuji has been cancelled after officials cited a rise in disruptive tourist behaviour.
On Tuesday, officials in the central Japanese city of Fujiyoshida announced they would no longer host the Arakurayama Sengen park cherry blossom festival this year. The weeks-long event has been held for the past decade and attracts about 200,000 tourists annually.
Emails appear to show Mountbatten-Windsor attempting to introduce Epstein to UAE crown prince via foreign affairs minister
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor vouched for Jeffrey Epstein during a UK state visit to the United Arab Emirates with Queen Elizabeth II in 2010, according to newly released emails.
The email was sent from “The Duke” to Epstein on 24 November of that year, with the subject listed as “Abdullah” – an apparent reference to the UAE foreign affairs minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Arsenal need energy from home crowd, Florian Wirtz has found his groove and Liam Rosenior deserves respect
Daniel Farke is understood to have wanted a new goalkeeper during the January transfer window but the Leeds board failed to oblige. Might that decision ultimately cost the club their Premier League status? It will be interesting to see whether Farke recalls the recently dropped former Lyon goalkeeper, Lucas Perri, or keeps faith with Karl Darlow against Nottingham Forest at Elland Road on Friday night. Darlow, formerly second choice at Newcastle, struggled with crosses when Arsenal won 4-0 in West Yorkshire last Saturday and may approach a quintessential relegation six-pointer against Forest with dented confidence. What about Illan Meslier? Previously a star under Marcelo Bielsa, a keeper once hyped as France’s future No 1 has been demoted to third choice and has been discussing a potential move to Besiktas before Friday’s transfer deadline in Turkey. Talks only began after Leeds rejected a bid for Perri from Besiktas last week. Time will tell if that was that the right decision. Louise Taylor
While labels list dozens of possible risks only four are supported by evidence, say researchers
Almost all side-effects listed for statins are not caused by the drugs, according to the world’s most comprehensive review of evidence.
Other than the well-known risks around muscle pain and diabetes, only four of 66 other statin side-effects listed on labels – liver test changes, minor liver abnormalities, urine changes and tissue swelling – are supported by evidence. And the risks are very small, according to the systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Lancet.
Eve Muirhead confident Britain ‘can disrupt the norm’
Medal chances in snowboarding, skiing and skeleton
Team GB have never made anything more than the occasional ripple at the Winter Olympics. Which makes the prediction of Eve Muirhead, Britain’s chef de mission at the Milano Cortina Games, rather extraordinary.
“I believe that we are taking one of the most potent teams of athletes that we have taken to a Winter Olympic Games,” she says. “We have the capability to disrupt the norm.”
The Six Nations is under way and already a couple of things are crystal clear. It is going to take a seriously good team to beat France in Paris in this year’s championship and watching them attack will be an absolute treat. Ireland were not so much beaten as outplayed by opponents who will be even more dangerous with a dry ball at their disposal.
Never mind the argument about brief in-game adverts during ITV’s coverage. Irish fans would probably have preferred a total 80-minute blackout or, failing that, an entire evening of cookery programming. Instead those back at home had to watch the visitors being repeatedly sliced and diced by seemingly ravenous hosts. Talk about eating your greens.
Tech giant reports $213bn in revenue after its founder, who owns the Post, lays off a third of newspaper’s employees
Amazon announced plans to spend $200bn on artificial intelligence and robotics this year, the latest tech giant to vow fresh enormous investments in the artificial intelligence arms race.
The news of the investment comes one day after the Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced it was cutting approximately a third of employees.
World’s most prominent cryptocurrency peaked at $126,000 in October 2025, only to see its value slump steeply
Bitcoin’s price sank to $63,000 on Thursday, its lowest level in more than a year, and half its all-time peak of $126,000, reached in October 2025. A months-long dip in cryptocurrency prices has tanked shares of companies that have increasingly invested in bitcoin, exacerbating broader stock market jitters.
Bitcoin rode a high during Donald Trump’s ascent to the presidency in 2024 and throughout 2025; its price steadily increased as the president made one industry-friendly move after another. Crypto’s largest currency hit $100,000 for the first time in December 2024 and even rose to a record high of $126,210.50 on 6 October, according to Coinbase. But bitcoin’s valuation has dipped over the last few months, falling especially hard in January and the start of February.
Club short on defenders before three games in seven days
Head coach ‘very happy’ with squad despite lack of cover
Arne Slot has said Liverpool have “a hell of a challenge” to prevent injuries affecting their ambitions for the rest of the season after failing to sign Lutsharel Geertruida on deadline day.
Although Liverpool strengthened for next season with the £60m signing of Jérémy Jacquet, who will arrive from Rennes in the summer, their current problems in defence were not covered. The Premier League champions did move for the Netherlands international Geertruida, who is on loan at Sunderland from Leipzig and wanted the transfer, but the deal was called off because Sunderland were unable to secure a replacement.
Featuring an unlikely animal friendship, the commercial boasts enough patriotic iconography to verge on self-parody
Three years after its sister brand, Bud Light, faced a rightwing boycott over a transgender spokesperson, Budweiser’s new Super Bowl ad, American Icons, contains absolutely nothing that could be mistaken for social progress. Instead, it features an unlikely friendship between two animals whose blood runs red, white and blue: a bald eagle and a Clydesdale horse, the Budweiser icon. An adorable foal trots out of a barn, and the viewer is injected with a single minute of American iconography so pure that it would make Lee Greenwood nauseous.
The horse meets a struggling baby bird who gets caught in the rain, prompting the horse to stand over the bird as a roof. The pair become pals and grow up together, the bird riding on the horse’s back as it grows larger. It falls off a few times, but, like George Washington at Valley Forge, it never gives up. Finally, the horse jumps over a log while the bird spreads its wings above, and we get a slow-motion image of something like Pegasus. We realize the bird, now fully grown, is a majestic bald eagle, taking to the sky as Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird reaches its climax. Two farmers look on while drinking Budweiser, as the words “Made of America” appear on the screen. “You crying?” one asks. “The sun’s in my eyes,” says the other.
Shabana Mahmood insists deportations will rise, as Labour government is accused of promoting ‘harmful stereotypes’ of migrants
Nearly 60,000 unauthorised migrants and convicted criminals have been removed or deported from the UK since Labour took office, the Home Office has said.
The announcement came amid claims that the government was promoting “harmful stereotypes” by equating migration with criminality.
Al-Nassr forward reportedly unhappy with transfer policy
‘No one determines decisions beyond their own club’
Cristiano Ronaldo has been told by the Saudi Pro League that “no individual – however significant – determines decisions beyond their own club” amid a dispute over transfer spending.
The Portuguese superstar, who turned 41 on Thursday, is believed to be unhappy with Al-Nassr’s lack of activity in the January transfer window.
Amid warnings McSweeney’s survival would leave his position ‘untenable’, PM apologises to Epstein’s victims for appointing Mandelson as US ambassador
Downing Street has defied calls to remove Keir Starmer’s most senior aide, insisting Morgan McSweeney retains the prime minister’s confidence, as frustration grows over a wait for documents on Peter Mandelson, which some fear could last for weeks.
Amid warnings from Labour backbenchers that McSweeney’s survival would leave Starmer’s position “untenable”, Starmer apologised to victims of Jeffrey Epstein for appointing Mandelson, a close friend of the convicted child sex offender, as US ambassador.
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.”
In a video posted on social media, he further implored the people holding Nancy Guthrie to send proof they had her
TV host Savannah Guthrie’s brother on Thursday renewed the family’s plea for their mother’s kidnapper to contact them, hours after an Arizona sheriff said investigators don’t have proof Nancy Guthrie is alive, but believe “she’s still out there”.
“Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven’t heard anything directly,” Camron Guthrie said in a video statement posted on Instagram.
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.
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