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Sri Lanka beat slumping Australia by eight wickets: T20 World Cup cricket – live

Updates from Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
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4th over: Australia 38-0 (Head 23, Marsh 13) Head looks in ominous touch, he swats Theekshana wide of long on for four. Six off the over.

3rd over: Australia 32-0 (Head 19, Marsh 12) Oh no, Matheesha Pathirana - ‘Baby Malinga’ as he is nicknamed after his slingy action resembles the Sri Lankan great – pulls his hamstring in the middle of the over. It doesn’t look good for the bowler who is grimacing in pain. He has to go off mid over, sorry news for him and his side. Captain Dasun Shanaka has to step up and bowl the final two deliveries, his first is a drag down that Head whisltes through point for four. Finishes with a dot but trouble for the home side.

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© Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

© Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

© Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

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Slalom heartbreak sparks McGrath’s trudge to the woods as Ryding bids farewell

  • Meillard takes title after Norwegian loses grip on gold

  • 39-year-old Briton finishes 17th in final Olympic race

As the Rocket zigged and zagged for a fifth and final time at a Winter Olympics on Monday, another skier made a very different kind of exit.

Coming into the final run of the men’s slalom, the Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath knew that victory was there for the taking – until he straddled a gate. Gold was gone. A heartbroken McGrath – who had hoped to deliver victory in honour of his grandfather who died on the day of the opening ceremony – threw his poles as far as he could and trudged across the slope into the woods.

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© Photograph: Christian Petersen/Getty Images

© Photograph: Christian Petersen/Getty Images

© Photograph: Christian Petersen/Getty Images

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Could we have 13 million new tiles please? The astonishing £42m rebirth of modernist masterpiece Africa Hall

Hailed as one of the defining achievements of African architecture, the historic, recently refurbished Ethiopian landmark has now won the World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism prize

Designed by the Italian architect Arturo Mezzedimi, Addis Ababa’s Africa Hall quickly became recognised as one of the defining achievements of African modernism on its completion in 1961. In 1963, it hosted the founding meeting of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the precursor to today’s African Union. Africa was then emerging from centuries of colonial rule, and many of the OAU’s founders – including Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah and Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt – had led their nations to independence.

“Only a few years ago,” the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie said at the time, “meetings to consider African problems were held outside Africa, and the fate of its peoples were decided by non-Africans. Today … the peoples of Africa can, at long last, deliberate on their own problems and future.”

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© Photograph: Rory Gardiner

© Photograph: Rory Gardiner

© Photograph: Rory Gardiner

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ICE-free zones and blocked liquor licenses: US cities fight back against immigration raids

Cities across the US have developed novel tactics to protect their residents from federal immigration agents

As federal immigration agents flooded the streets of Minneapolis, Chicago and Los Angeles over the past year, cities across the US have been at the frontlines of strategizing over how to protect their residents, should Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents come to their communities.

From Philadelphia to Oklahoma City and Oakland, California, many cities are developing new – and creative – tactics to prepare for and push back against ICE. Here’s a look at a few.

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© Photograph: Go Nakamura/Reuters

© Photograph: Go Nakamura/Reuters

© Photograph: Go Nakamura/Reuters

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Single dose of potent psychedelic drug could help treat depression, trial shows

Researchers find DMT – used in shamanic rituals – in tandem with psychotherapy has significant effect

People with major depressive disorder can see a rapid and lasting improvement after a single dose of the psychedelic drug dimethyltryptamine (DMT) when it is combined with psychotherapy, doctors have said.

A small clinical trial involving 34 people found that psychedelic-assisted therapy prompted a swift reduction in depressive symptoms that endured long after the drug had worn off, with some still feeling the benefits six months later.

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© Photograph: Michal Moravcik/Alamy

© Photograph: Michal Moravcik/Alamy

© Photograph: Michal Moravcik/Alamy

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How British skeleton left the world in its tracks with golden Winter Olympics haul | Andy Bull

Big investment in coaches and kit – £5.8m in the last cycle – has paid off despite lack of facilities and snow at home

According to UK Sport, 3,500 people have signed up to audition for their skeleton Talent ID programme in the past three days, an extraordinary surge of interest in what has never been what you might call the most accessible sport.

It is all after Matt Weston and Tabby Stoecker won Great Britain’s 10th and 11th Olympic medals in the sport, continuing a lineage that reaches back to 1928, when it was the winter sport of choice for the most reckless of a set of aristocratic adventurers. The 11th Earl of Northesk won bronze ahead of his teammate, and the pre-race favourite, Lord Brabazon of Tara. It is some legacy. After a century of competition, skeleton is the only Winter Olympic sport in which Britain lead the all-time medal table.

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© Photograph: Hugo Philpott/UPI/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Hugo Philpott/UPI/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Hugo Philpott/UPI/Shutterstock

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Are we all Evangelos Marinakis? Why there has never been less patience with managers | Jonathan Wilson

In an age in which every gripe is highlighted and performative fury is good business, there is an argument that long-termism has become impossible

Last week, Thomas Frank was sacked as manager of Tottenham and Sean Dyche was sacked as manager of Nottingham Forest. Both decisions were entirely explicable in their own terms. Frank had won only two of his previous 17 league games and Dyche only two of his previous 10. Both saw the improvement of West Ham under Nuno Espírito Santo and felt the drag of potential relegation. When fear sets in and something has to change, football tends to sacrifice the manager.

Excluding caretakers and interims, their departures take the number of Premier League managers to leave their jobs this season to eight, with Oliver Glasner to come at the end of the season, when Marco Silva and Andoni Iraola are also out of contract. Last season there were 10 departures, in 2023-24 nine, in 2022-23 an absurd 18. To give a little context, in the first season of the Premier League, 1992-93, there were only four changes (five if you include Dave Webb at Chelsea, who was effectively an interim, although he did not officially have that title). The average life span of a Premier League manager has dropped from about four seasons to about a season and a half.

This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition.

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© Composite: Guardian Pictures (via REX/AFP/Getty)

© Composite: Guardian Pictures (via REX/AFP/Getty)

© Composite: Guardian Pictures (via REX/AFP/Getty)

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O’Romeo review – Bollywood Shakespeare takes dive into grisly mafia queens territory

After hit takes on Macbeth, Othello and Hamlet, Vishal Bhardwaj’s Romeo and Juliet adaptation sees dead-eyed lovers drag one another to gutter and grave

It must be Misbegotten Adaptations week. This Hindi gangland epic’s credentials are impeccable: director Vishal Bhardwaj previously wowed with textured, inventive variations on Macbeth (Maqbool, 2003), Othello (Omkara, 2006) and Hamlet (Haider, 2014). But rather than a straightforward modernisation of Romeo and Juliet, this latest revisits a grisly true-crime story ripped from Hussain Zaidi’s Mafia Queens of Mumbai, the book that previously inspired Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2022 hit, Gangubai Kathiawadi. The results align Bhardwaj with the newly lurid turn mainstream Bollywood has taken with recent smashes Animal and Dhurandhar, but it’s jarring to witness, as if Kenneth Branagh had followed his turn-of-the-90s Shakespeare successes by trying for Natural Born Killers.

For Venice (or Baz Luhrmann’s Venice Beach), Bhardwaj swaps the Mumbai underworld of the 1990s, ushering in the movies’ first morally degenerate Romeo. Shahid Kapoor’s Hussein Ustara – nicknamed Romeo – is a heavily tattooed bellower employed as a hitman for a local godfather; his Juliet (Animal’s Triptii Dimri) an aggrieved widow clutching a sizeable hitlist. These two are star-crossed: he rescues her amid a bungled assassination attempt on the lawyer smearing her late husband, earning them both powerful foes. The fish tank through which Leo glimpsed Claire Danes here abuts the bed to which this Romeo takes two escorts while his Juliet listens in. Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody.

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© Photograph: Collection Christophel/Alamy

© Photograph: Collection Christophel/Alamy

© Photograph: Collection Christophel/Alamy

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‘Heath Ledger knocked my tooth out jousting with a broom’: how we made A Knight’s Tale

‘The lances were made of balsa wood and filled with uncooked spaghetti – so that when they broke, there’d be an explosion of what looked like splinters’

I wrote and directed the Mel Gibson film Payback but got fired during post-production. It was my first film as director and I thought my career was over. It was during this downtime that I wrote A Knight’s Tale. I loved the idea that jousting tournaments were medieval sports, but I had never figured out what to do with it. I thought about the ideas underpinning it: a peasant who wants to be a noble was like a screenwriter wanting to be a director. It’s a guy trying to be something he has no right to be.

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© Photograph: Egon Endrenyi/AP

© Photograph: Egon Endrenyi/AP

© Photograph: Egon Endrenyi/AP

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Starmer vows to fast-track social media law but says under-16s ban not definite

Prime minister says action will be taken on young people’s social media access in ‘months, not years’

Keir Starmer has pledged action on young people’s access to social media in “months, not years”, while saying this did not necessarily mean a complete ban on access for under-16s.

Speaking at an event in London after the government promised to extend the crackdown to AI chatbots that place children at risk, Starmer said the issue was nuanced and that a ban was not definite, noting concerns from charities such as the NSPCC.

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© Photograph: Carlos Jasso/Reuters

© Photograph: Carlos Jasso/Reuters

© Photograph: Carlos Jasso/Reuters

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Germany calls on France to increase defence spending

Foreign minister puts pressure on Emmanuel Macron amid doubts over US’s commitment to European defence

France needs to boost its defence spending to make European self-sufficiency a reality, Germany’s foreign minister has said.

As European powers increasingly acknowledge they may be left on their own for their defence as the transatlantic relationship comes under strain, Johann Wadephul said Paris needed to put its money where its mouth was.

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© Photograph: Liesa Johannssen/Reuters

© Photograph: Liesa Johannssen/Reuters

© Photograph: Liesa Johannssen/Reuters

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Did the USA v World format revive the NBA’s struggling All-Star Game?

Critics say what was once a showpiece for the league has turned into a glorified practice session. But there are signs an updated version may have worked

Basketball Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady flashed a look of disdain when recalling last year’s NBA All-Star Game.

“The All-Star Game that we witnessed last year was not an All-Star game,” McGrady told the Guardian. “I don’t know what that was.”

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© Photograph: Mark J Terrill/AP

© Photograph: Mark J Terrill/AP

© Photograph: Mark J Terrill/AP

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Lens are title contenders in Ligue 1 – even if their manager won’t admit it

Pierre Sage’s team thrashed Paris FC 5-0 to go top of the table yet he is still talking about avoiding relegation

By Get French Football News

Marseille have a propensity to explode. So when they lost 5-0 to Paris Saint-Germain last Sunday and then lost their manager, it was no surprise. But seeing PSG having to put out fires is an unexpected turn. All the while, Lens have been a tranquil and unassuming force, keeping their dream of a Ligue 1 title alive – even if they don’t yet fully believe in it.

By this time last season, PSG were on the march. Unbeaten domestically until the end of April, after which point the league title was already mathematically ensured, Luis Enrique’s side were infallible. But that is not a word that applies to them in the present, as their 3-1 defeat to a managerless Rennes side proved this weekend.

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© Photograph: Matthieu Mirville/DPPI/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Matthieu Mirville/DPPI/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Matthieu Mirville/DPPI/Shutterstock

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Italian biathlete returns to Olympic squad after blaming doping positive on Nutella

  • Rebecca Passler may feature in women’s relay

  • 24-year-old tested positive for letrozole in January

The Italian biathlete Rebecca Passler rejoined her team at the Winter Olympics on Monday after a successful appeal against a suspension handed out before the Milano Cortina Games for an alleged doping violation.

Passler began training in the bright sunshine at the Antholz-Anterselva Biathlon Arena on Monday afternoon, firing off shots in bunches of five on the range as her coaches watched intently.

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© Photograph: Martin Metelko/EPA

© Photograph: Martin Metelko/EPA

© Photograph: Martin Metelko/EPA

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Stuttgart claim place among Bundesliga big boys but another crossroads looms | Andy Brassell

Sebastian Hoeness’s side are back in the top four but face test to keep hold of top talent again this summer

Köln had been here before. “It’s not the second time, but the fifth or sixth time,” said the forward Marius Bülter, “that we’ve sat in the locker room after a game, not able to blame ourselves much, but still left with zero points.” His coach, Lukas Kwasniok, described it as “Groundhog Day”, after “a more than decent performance against top opponents”.

Their words are the signal, if it were needed, that Stuttgart really have arrived at the top of German football. Effzeh’s players and coaching staff alike felt that this fitted snugly into a growing list of hard-luck stories; last week’s home loss to RB Leipzig, last month’s game with Bayern Munich when the champions didn’t take the lead until late on, or even the autumn defeat at Dortmund where they were beaten by Maxi Beier’s goal deep into stoppage time.

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© Photograph: Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images

© Photograph: Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images

© Photograph: Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images

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Ilia Malinin writes about ‘inevitable crash’ after Olympic figure skating shock

  • American was favourite for gold but finished eighth

  • Video hints that experience may be used in routine

Ilia Malinin has written about “an inevitable crash” after he missed the podium at the Winter Olympics in one of the biggest shocks in the history of figure skating.

The 21-year-old was the overwhelming favourite entering the men’s free skate on Friday in Milan, but he fell twice during his routine. Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov won gold and Malinin finished 15th out of 24th in the free skate and eighth overall.

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© Photograph: Naoki Nishimura/AFLO/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Naoki Nishimura/AFLO/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Naoki Nishimura/AFLO/Shutterstock

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Pizza Hut feasts and improvised altars: lunar new year in Australia’s small town Chinese restaurants

They’re normally behind the wok or taking orders, year-round. But when it’s time to celebrate, these Chinese restaurant families create their own traditions

Two things are certain at Chinese restaurants in Australian country towns: you’ll find lemon chicken on the menu and the restaurant is open almost every day.

In the 1960s and 70s, Ruby Lee’s parents ran the Pagoda Cafe in Burleigh Heads, a surf town in Queensland. They worked 14-hour days and opened the restaurant year-round, even Christmas. When they did eventually close for one day a year, it was for lunar new year.

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© Photograph: Lin Jie Kong

© Photograph: Lin Jie Kong

© Photograph: Lin Jie Kong

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Ally Hickman tells proud school friends ‘I’m not nervous, I’m just excited’ before Winter Olympics final

The 16-year-old Australian’s classmates and teachers are some of her biggest fans – and say she remains ‘really chill’

On the towering slopes of Livigno in Italy on Sunday, 16-year-old Australian Ally Hickman was a green and gold blur, securing herself a spot in the Olympic women’s snowboard slopestyle final.

She will compete for a medal in the finals on Tuesday – but thousands of kilometres away at her Sydney high school, the teenager is already a legend.

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© Photograph: Rémi Chauvin/The Guardian

© Photograph: Rémi Chauvin/The Guardian

© Photograph: Rémi Chauvin/The Guardian

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My rookie era: I attempted only the easiest Australian Women’s Weekly birthday cakes. Then came the duck cake

When I shared my attempt online, my duck cake was described as ‘Big Bird on crack’

I assume no parent aspires to give their offspring an unmemorable and vanilla childhood. I wanted to be a fun mum, creating love-soaked memories and quirky family traditions for my children right from the get-go. I wanted to be Bluey’s parents before Bluey even existed.

The Australian Women’s Weekly birthday cakes were destined to be a pillar of my perfectly imperfect parenting rituals. One child quickly became three, and that iconic recipe book was in constant rotation. In the early years, I would simply choose a cake that matched my very basic baking skills. I also only owned a round tin, so my kids’ early cakes were circle-shaped, or circle-adjacent: the swimming pool (a round cake filled with jelly), the cat (a round cake with ears) and the race track (two round cakes with the centres removed).

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© Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

© Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

© Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

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Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts – video

The Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupted on Sunday, sending lava fountains, ash and smoke into the air. The US Geological Survey said it was the 42nd episode of lava fountains since the current series of intermittent eruptions began in December 2024. The plume from the latest eruption reached more than 10,000 metres (35,000 feet), according to the National Weather Service

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© Photograph: USGS

© Photograph: USGS

© Photograph: USGS

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Gisèle Pelicot: The Newsnight Interview review – you can only gaze admiringly at her strength and grace

Mme Pelicot’s innate dignity shines through, as she explains why she waived her anonymity – after her husband drugged her so that dozens of men could sexually assault her

It’s hard to judge an interview with Gisèle Pelicot in the normal terms. Let’s start with the easy bit: Victoria Derbyshire is the ideal interlocutor. The co-presenter of Newsnight has a kind of steely warmth that meshes well with the innate dignity of Mme Pelicot – as she is called throughout – while they walk unflinchingly through her terrible story.

Her “descent into hell” began on 2 November 2020 when the local police called her and her husband, Dominique Pelicot, to the station. They believed it was to do with his recent arrest for covertly taking pictures underneath the skirts of three women in the supermarket. It was not. In the course of that investigation they had found on his laptop thousands upon thousands of videos and photographs accumulated over a decade of his wife unconscious and being raped by strangers.

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© Photograph: BBC

© Photograph: BBC

© Photograph: BBC

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Cyprus appeals to residents to cut water use by two minutes a day amid drought

Island’s reservoirs hit record lows even before tourist season starts as Cypriots are warned ‘every drop counts’

Authorities in Cyprus have urged residents to reduce their water intake by 10% – the equivalent of two minutes’ use of running water each day – as Europe’s most south-easterly nation grapples with a once-in-a century drought.

The appeal, announced alongside a €31m (£27m) package of emergency measures, comes as reservoirs hit record lows with little prospect of replenishment before the tourist season starts.

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© Photograph: Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters

© Photograph: Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters

© Photograph: Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters

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