“As much as Arsenal win with ease against Kairat and Both Havertz & Gyokeres scored. They also seemed to get in each others space a few times. I wonder if they could be great if terrible together?”
Apollonio-Socrepes lift unfinished a week from Games
State-backed infrastructure agency says work on course
A cable car intended to carry spectators to the women’s Olympic Alpine skiing events in Cortina is in serious doubt of not being ready in time, prompting Games organisers to request school closures to ease the pressure on the Dolomite resort’s transport system.
The Apollonio-Socrepes lift is one of the most contentious pieces of Olympic infrastructure for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. Work on the system, designed to take spectators from the centre of Cortina d’Ampezzo directly to the slopes, began behind schedule, and some residents raised safety concerns about its location in an area prone to landslides.
Tributes have poured in from the world of showbiz and politics for Catherine O’Hara, with the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, and Schitt’s Creek’s co-creator Dan Levy mourning the loss of a “legend” after the actor died at the age of 71.
O’Hara, who won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her role in the TV comedy series, died on Friday at her home in Los Angeles after a brief illness, according to her agency CAA.
Champion plays down significance of trophy for coach
Aryna Sabalenka frustrated after latest major final loss
Elena Rybakina never stopped believing she would collect a second grand slam title after holding her nerve to defeat Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 1 and two-time champion, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and win the Australian Open.
Bar owners say they struggle to dissuade people from forming a line as behavioural experts point to post-pandemic ‘new norms’
“I’m not sure what else we can do to be honest,” Paul Loebenberg said, of the people lined up at his bar. “Maybe there’s something I’ve missed, but we’ve tried everything.”
To anybody who frequents pubs and dislikes feeling as if they are waiting at a bank, Loebenberg’s exasperation is all too familiar.
To the sound of a lone bird chirping, the crash-bang wallop ultimately belonged to the underdog in a blockbuster Australian Open final
The sprinkling rain at Melbourne Park meant the roof stayed closed on centre court for the Australian Open women’s final, turning Rod Laver Arena into a concert hall charged with the music of tennis. But there was one noise that wasn’t quite right. In the sacred moments before each player’s serving motion, the crowd generally obeyed the protocol demanding silence. However, a single bird – perched somewhere high in the rafters – was less compliant.
It must not have been able to escape before the roof shut on Saturday afternoon, and so there it stayed. Tweet-tweet. An unusual accompaniment to a grand slam final. No one could see the critter, though long they tried, as dozens of the 15,000-strong crowd craned their necks in curiosity. Even the umpire kept glancing up, only to recognise the limit of even his broad powers. Tweet-tweet.
The Save Act – which would do the opposite of its title – could have a huge impact on the midterm elections
If you are anything like me, then you are currently pickling in your own cortisol. As the US grows increasingly violent, increasingly cruel, every day brings a legion of new horrors. So I’m very sorry to say that I’m here to ruin your weekend by giving you yet another thing to worry about. That thing is called the Save Act and, if the Trump administration gets its way, it could have an oversized impact on the November midterms, particularly when it comes to minorities and married women being able to vote.
With a North American licensing deal under its belt, the reinvented high-street giant is growing again under new owners and a global strategy
French Connection is back on the trail of global expansion with the aid of its cheeky initials-based slogan that made it so popular in the late 1990s.
The label once known for clothes bearing FCUK is seeking to reinvent itself again under the ownership of a group of British entrepreneurs based in the north of England who rescued it in 2021.
The comedian on the ridiculous clothes her mum chose for her, her love-hate relationship with mobility aids, and what it takes to be a standup
Born in 1990 in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, Rosie Jones began her career working in television as a researcher on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, before moving into live comedy. Her television appearances include Live at the Apollo, The Last Leg, Taskmaster and the Tokyo Paralympics. She has published a series of children’s books, titled The Amazing Edie Eckhart, and hosts the new series of Out of Order on Comedy Central.
This was taken in my childhood home in Bridlington. My family had moved in not long before the photo was taken, hence the very empty living room in the background. I should also acknowledge my incredible outfit: Mr Men trousers, paired with a black velvet hat. It makes me really fond of my mum. She took so much pride in putting me in ridiculous clothes.
Millions of files related to the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been released by the US justice department, the largest disclosure by the government since a law passed last year ruled that the documents should be published.
The disgraced financier was convicted of child sex offences in 2008 but the files indicate that many high-profile figures, including the former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, continued friendships with him after this point.
‘Our goal is to strengthen this force – not to prevent it’
Germany’s football federation, the DFB, has ruled out a boycott of the World Cup despite calls to send a message to Donald Trump. “We believe in the unifying power of sport and the global impact that a Fifa World Cup can have,” the DFB said. “Our goal is to strengthen this positive force – not to prevent it.”
The federation said its executive committee met and discussed the option of a boycott of this summer’s tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, a consideration first proposed last week by the DFB vice-president, Oke Göttlich.
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!”
Deadly attacks launched day before border crossing due to open as part of ceasefire deal
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. It indicated the death toll could rise as emergency responders searched for bodies.
Jacob Leland, who taught Russian, jailed for more than three years for sexually assaulting boy 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, 37, who taught Russian, was jailed on Friday for three years and three months for sexually assaulting one of his pupils at his flat and during a school trip in 2012.
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.
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