Starmer’s drones see themselves as characters in The West Wing, full of machiavellian skullduggery but with none of the idealism. No wonder Labour is running out of road, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones

One ticket sold for premiere of film about US first lady at Vue’s flagship London branch as insiders question launch strategy As film exhibitor strategies go, counter-programming is one of the most reliable. It worked for The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia!, released in the US on the same day in 2008, as well as for Dunkirk and Girls Trip in 2017. In 2023, Barbie and Oppenheimer leveraged the tactic to the tune of $2.5bn in combined box office takings. This week we could see another example as Amazon releases its authorised documentary about Melania Trump in more than 100 UK cinemas. There it will compete against an already-eclectic slate of releases including the Jason Statham action film Shelter, the ape horror Primate, Bradley Cooper’s comedy-drama Is This Thing On? and Richard Linklater’s Jean-Luc Godard fictionalisation Nouvelle Vague. Continue reading...

Since the end of the second world war, all eyes have been on Russia. Yet Trump’s increasingly hostile presidency is shattering old assumptions, asks Guardian columnist Andy Beckett

Campaigners hail U-turn during legal challenge over proposed centre an ‘embarrassing climbdown’ The government has been forced to admit its own planning approval for a major AI datacentre should be quashed after it failed to fully consider the climate impact, in what campaigners described as “an embarrassing climbdown”. Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, had overruled opposition from a local council to grant permission for a hyperscale datacentre on greenbelt land by the M25 in Buckinghamshire in line with Labour’s pledge to enable faster private investment in AI. But her successor, Steve Reed, has admitted the reasons for not requiring an environmental impact assessment were “inadequate” and that “permission should be quashed”. Continue reading...

The former Tory MP and The Rest Is Politics host on a dinosaur he’d bring back to life, being thin-skinned and hating his bandy legs

Exclusive: Refugee status granted despite attempt by former home secretary James Cleverly to block 26-year-old’s claim A Palestinian citizen of Israel has been granted asylum in the UK on the basis of a “well-founded fear of persecution” despite a former home secretary’s attempt to block the claim. Hasan (not his real name) is believed to be the first Palestinian with an Israeli passport to be given refugee status in the UK. But the decision came only after two about-turns by the Home Office and a protracted legal battle. Continue reading...

How do you retain a space of democracy in a world that is reverting to violent conquest? By building a protective moat of federalism around it, says Paris-based Guardian writer Alexander Hurst

Jonathan Hall calls for police forces to clamp down on racial hatred based on nationality Israelis are being demonised as a “vehicle for hatred of Jews”, the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation has said. Jonathan Hall said police forces should be held responsible for failing to clamp down on the targeting of “Israeli citizens as well as Jews living among them”. Continue reading...

Plan will start with TransPennine upgrade with new line connecting Liverpool and Manchester in second phase Long-awaited plans for better railways across the north of England have been given government backing with an undertaking to “reverse years of chronic underinvestment” by spending up to £45bn building Northern Powerhouse Rail. Just over £1bn has been allocated to work up a detailed three-stage plan to connect cities from Liverpool to Newcastle, which could fulfil most of the demands of northern leaders, in a series of long-term projects. Continue reading...

Damien Egan, the Labour MP for Bristol North East, had a visit with a local academy called off ‘in case his presence inflames the teachers’ A planned visit by a Jewish Labour MP to a school in his Bristol constituency was cancelled after a campaign by a pro-Palestine group, it has emerged. Damien Egan, the Labour MP for Bristol North East, had been booked to speak to students at Bristol Brunel academy, but the visit was called off by the school hours before it was due to happen. Continue reading...

It was hard for me to quit Elon Musk’s poisoned platform, but I urge others to do the same, especially in light of Grok’s imagery of women and children, says journalist Marie Le Conte

The degrading pictures are being posted to X despite the platform pledging to suspend people who generate them Degrading images of children and women with their clothes digitally removed by Grok AI continue to be shared on Elon Musk’s X, despite the platform’s commitment to suspend users who generate them. After days of concern over use of the chatbot to alter photographs to create sexualised pictures of real women and children stripped to their underwear without their consent, the UK’s communication’s watchdog, Ofcom, said on Monday that it had made “urgent contact with X and xAI to understand what steps they have taken to comply with their legal duties to protect users in the UK”. Ofcom added that it would assess whether an investigation is necessary based on the company’s response. Continue reading...

The Madera County sheriff’s office confirmed that 47-year-old pastor Joshua David Kemper “was taken into custody following a months-long investigation” into allegations involving a 15-year-old girl.

The former Assemblies of God minister was indicted in Oklahoma after an NBC News investigation revealed decades of missed warnings.

Strikes were latest violation of year-long ceasefire and targeted what Israel said were Hezbollah sites Israel carried out several airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Wednesday targeting what it said was Hezbollah infrastructure, as a new year’s deadline for the Lebanese state to disarm the group in the south of the country loomed. Israeli warplanes bombed the valleys of Houmin, Wadi Azza and Nimeiriya in the southern Nabatieh area on Wednesday morning. Residents reported that Israeli drones continued to hover over the area and other areas of south Lebanon and its eastern Bekaa valley after the strikes. Continue reading...

Announcement after proposed sale falls through prompts backlash and union says more than 200 jobs at risk A Reform UK-led council plan to shut eight of its residential care homes has been condemned as “a betrayal of local people”. Days before Christmas, Derbyshire county council announced that the homes would have to close after a proposed sale fell through. Continue reading...