Observer analysis finds unregulated products being promoted as contraception despite concerns about their accuracy Apps promising to help women “take control” of their sex lives by predicting the days when they are fertile are putting users at risk of unplanned pregnancy by making misleading claims.Millions of women in the UK – including 69% of 18-24-year-olds – have used smartphone apps that track their periods. Many also tell them their “fertile window”: the days when they are most and least likely to get pregnant. Continue reading...

Politics

President-elect says he has ordered inauguration and speeches to take place in the Capitol Rotunda ‘as used by Ronald Reagan in 1985’

Society

Updates from day eight at Melbourne ParkSabalenka, Gauff, Badosa, Pavlyuchenkova go throughAlcaraz and Paul advance in men’s singles; Email DanielThree break point opportunities and four deuces later, Mirra Andreeva has failed in her first genuine chance to break Aryna Sabalenka. Again, despite the teenager returning with precision, she’s undone by the guile of her older rival, a drop shot sealing it.Sabalenka retains the break advantage and now leads this match 6-1, 4-2. Continue reading...

Events

'I had the intention of staying single. I was fully lying to you guys,' she confessed with a playful smirk in a confessional.

Culture

Sadiq Khan fuelled his long-running feud with the returning president by urging Labour and the Left to 'confront' the forces of 'reactionary populism'.

Politics

Live updates from the 3pm GMT kick-offs and beyondLive scoreboard | Latest table | And you can mail ScottWest Ham United: Fabianski, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Cresswell, Alvarez, Lucas Paqueta, Rodriguez, Soucek, Emerson Palmieri, Kudus.Subs: Areola, Soler, Coufal, Luis Guilherme, Ings, Irving, Casey, Scarles, Orford.Crystal Palace: Henderson, Richards, Lacroix, Guehi, Munoz, Kamada, Hughes, Mitchell, Sarr, Eze, Mateta.Subs: Turner, Nketiah, Schlupp, Clyne, Doucoure, Riad, Rodney, Devenny, Kporha. Continue reading...

Society

Mindu Hornick, 95, says luck, kindness and being with her sister saved her from the Auschwitz gas chamber 80 years after its liberation

Events

President-elect says he will consider putting app back on market to ease America’s relations with China

Politics

The director and star of hit summer romance It Ends With Us are facing off with lawsuits alleging sexual harassment and defamationIt Ends With Us should have been a success story. The long-awaited film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, a tale of cyclical domestic violence, premiered in August to decent reviews and wide audience interest; it grossed $350m, against a $25m budget, despite a tide of press and social media speculation over an alleged rift between its director, Justin Baldoni, and its star, Blake Lively. Most of the ire was trained on Lively – for glossing over the subject of domestic violence with florals, for simultaneously promoting her haircare and alcohol lines, for being gruff with reporters in the past, while Baldoni, who played the abuser in the film, championed abuse survivors. But the movie was a hit, demonstrating the viability of female-led, mid-budget melodramas at the box office.Not that anyone remembers that now. The film has become embroile...

Society

‘I don’t remember how to live without it,’ comedian Michael Longfellow quipped

Events

Journalists from countries that have seen challenges to democracy give their view on the second Trump presidencyWhat is the view of US democracy from abroad, and what can Americans learn from other nations with a history of political tumult?During his first term Donald Trump tested democratic norms by undermining trust in fair elections, encouraging political violence and demonizing the media and public servants. He has promised to be a dictator “on day one” of his second term. Continue reading...

Politics

Updates from day eight at Melbourne ParkSabalenka, Gauff, Badosa, Pavlyuchenkova go throughAlcaraz and Paul advance in men’s singles; Email DanielThree break point opportunities and four deuces later, Mirra Andreeva has failed in her first genuine chance to break Aryna Sabalenka. Again, despite the teenager returning with precision, she’s undone by the guile of her older rival, a drop shot sealing it.Sabalenka retains the break advantage and now leads this match 6-1, 4-2. Continue reading...

Events

Spurs sweating over yet another injury as nightmare luck continues

Politics

Updates from Day 8 of tennis at Melbourne ParkSabalenka, Gauff, Badosa, Pavlyuchenkova into women’s quarter-finalsAlcaraz and Paul advance in men’s singles; Zverev following fastThree break point opportunities and four deuces later, Mirra Andreeva has failed in her first genuine chance to break Aryna Sabalenka. Again, despite the teenager returning with precision, she’s undone by the guile of her older rival, a drop shot sealing it.Sabalenka retains the break advantage and now leads this match 6-1, 4-2. Continue reading...

Events

The London Mayor urged Labour and the Left to 'confront' the forces of 'reactionary populism' on the eve of the White House changeover.

Politics

A cold wave is set to sweep across America bringing what has been described as 'dangerously cold weather'

Events

Russian-born UK citizen and Tory party activist Sergei Cristo fought to make MI5 sit up and take notice of the Russian political interference operation now threatening democracy in Britain – and around the worldIn the dark days of the spring in 2022, as Russian troops terrorised Bucha and every day brought shocking new scenes of Ukrainians fleeing for their lives, I rang an old acquaintance, Sergei Cristo. Cristo is a Russian-born British citizen and I prepared for what I suspected might be a long conversation: he is a talker. He was born in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, but he moved to Britain when he was 19 and it’s fair to say we’re not the most obvious of allies. He loves the royal family and is a passionate Conservative party activist. He used to be on the committee of a donor club for young Conservatives, “and then I became vice-chairman, I knew the cabinet, I knew the leader, everybody”.He’s not kidding. He has photos of himself with everyone from Margaret Thatcher to Bor...

Politics

Broke and out of contract at Motherwell, the Scot took a risk in seeking a trial at Dortmund only to become an European Cup winner within 12 monthsThis is a story in three parts. The unlikely tale of how Paul Lambert signed for Borussia Dortmund in 1996. Why Lambert is still revered there, despite making only 64 appearances. And the sad story of why he had to leave Germany in 1997, although not everyone would describe a Glasgow-born footballer signing for Celtic in such gloomy terms.That’s not to say Lambert hasn’t achieved a lot elsewhere. He won a Scottish Cup with St Mirren, helped Motherwell into Europe and captained Scotland and Celtic, where he won four league titles. He has managed some of England’s biggest teams: Aston Villa, Norwich City and controversially their rivals Ipswich. He has four children and seems happy away from management with his second wife, Kara, their two large Belgian Malinois dogs and numerous chickens at their home outside Nottingham. But we’re here to ...

Events

As hair-loss treatments improve, one wonders if we’ll start to get nostalgic for a good comboverIt is with mixed emotions that I announce the end of baldness. Rest in pates, old friend. This year will see the very last generation of men who, having arrived at the threshold of their 30s, are forced to accept the loss of their hair, with all their future sons and grandsons nipping instead to Turkey for a little implant and some kofta. Gone today, hair tomorrow.It’s true, look around. Compared with the Sean Connerys and Bruce Willises of yore, the number of bald celebrities on screen today can be counted on a single fist. The surgical technology has evolved, the transplants have become more accessible, the preventative drugs have improved, the death of bald is nigh. Like combovers, the hair plugs bring their own acts of faith of course, with hairlines so straight and thick it appears sometimes as if they are creeping down the face at night like a mask – every time I see one on telly I’...

Politics

Collection of seven shorts due out in 2025 tells story of conflict from perspective of animalsThe occupying Russian soldiers paid little attention to the elderly woman shuffling through the farmland surrounding the villages outside Kyiv, taking her goat to pasture. But she was focused closely on them. After locating their positions, she headed back home with the goat, and later called her grandson, a soldier in the Ukrainian army, to give the coordinates.The story is one of seven episodes, based on real events from the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion but lightly fictionalised, that make up a feature film about the war in Ukraine, due out later this year. All seven of the shorts have one thing in common: they tell the story of the conflict from the perspective of animals. Continue reading...

Events

James Mangold’s handsome portrait of the enigmatic singer’s stratospheric early career boasts a barnstorming lead performance yet often slips into heavy-handednessIt’s a remarkable performance. Star of the moment Timothée Chalamet inhabits the loose-limbed, live-wire physicality of the young Bob Dylan and makes an impressively good fist of capturing the frayed hessian of his distinctive voice. Acoustic guitars are plucked and harmonicas honked with the effortless fluency of someone who learned to play almost before they could walk. Chalamet’s Dylan sucks so fervently on his cigarettes it’s as though he’s breathing in the genius of the musical heroes who came before him. But while he radiates insouciant charisma and channels the once-in-a-lifetime talent, he reveals next to nothing about Dylan as a person. This is not necessarily a failure in Chalamet’s acting. It’s a deliberate choice – the film is called A Complete Unknown, after all, and it’s a manifesto as much as a title. But it...

Politics

Don’t rush to mourn the end of a liberal international order that too often put order before liberalismThe historian Steven Shapin opened his account of The Scientific Revolution with the line: “There was no such thing as the Scientific Revolution, and this is a book about it.” It is tempting to say much the same about the “liberal international order” (LIO), that “there is no such thing as the liberal international order and there are hundreds of books about it”. And this column, too.There was a Scientific Revolution. And there has been since the Second World War a global framework that has helped order international relations. But whether that framework can be described as “liberal” or embodies what champions of the LIO claim it does – “an open world connected by the free flow of people, goods, ideas and capital” that was, in the words of Antony Blinken, the outgoing US secretary of state, “America’s greatest contribution to peace and progress” – is questionable. Continue reading...

Events

EXCLUSIVE: The Orange Manbaby cometh and fears of an 'oligarchy', economic ruin and the end of the world have erupted – so the Daily Star turned to AI for answers on Earth's most pressing questions

Politics

Updates from Day 8 of tennis at Melbourne ParkDraper v Alcaraz ; Gauff and Sabalenka into quarter-finalsThree break point opportunities and four deuces later, Mirra Andreeva has failed in her first genuine chance to break Aryna Sabalenka. Again, despite the teenager returning with precision, she’s undone by the guile of her older rival, a drop shot sealing it.Sabalenka retains the break advantage and now leads this match 6-1, 4-2. Continue reading...

Events

Donald Trump will succeed Joe Biden in the White House from January 20, when he takes the oath of office in Washington D.C

Politics

Brooke Shields, sexualised child star at just 11, is no stranger to tabloid controversy. Now 59, perhaps now she can tell us how she ended up so normal?Brooke Shields was at a party, drifting off. The host, a small man with bare feet, was giving her a tour of his wine cellar and she was losing interest, if she’s being honest – which she is now as a matter of principle, after a lifetime of smiling politely and pretending everything’s fine. Her mind was wandering. They say wine gets better with age, she was thinking, “but isn’t there a moment when it turns to jam? And I said to him, ‘I’m 58 and I’m wondering if ’ I didn’t even get the rest of the sentence out before he said, ‘Oh, I wish you hadn’t told me that.’”That’s curious, she replied. “I asked him, ‘Did my age make him older?’ I was interested in the psychology of it, that kneejerk reaction.” It was partly, she thinks, her fame – people imprint on a child star, and when they grow up they take it personally. “It felt so indicativ...

Events

Beijing has prepared for increased tariffs but its actions will not be enough to offset falling demand from the USWhen Donald Trump enters the White House for the second time on 20 January, the view from the Oval Office will look very different to the one he encountered in 2017. A pandemic, the war in Ukraine and a trade war with China have caused ripples through the global economy that are still being felt midway through the decade.Beijing will be watching closely. Trump has promised to impose tariffs of up to 60% on Chinese imports, partly in retaliation for the flow of fentanyl from China to the US. Continue reading...

Politics

Updates from Day 8 of tennis at Melbourne Park Draper v Alcaraz under way; Gauff and Sabalenka into quarter-finalsThree break point opportunities and four deuces later, Mirra Andreeva has failed in her first genuine chance to break Aryna Sabalenka. Again, despite the teenager returning with precision, she’s undone by the guile of her older rival, a drop shot sealing it.Sabalenka retains the break advantage and now leads this match 6-1, 4-2. Continue reading...

Events

Allegations of sexual misconduct are proving hard for fans and friends of the ‘geek royalty’ author to process Perhaps uniquely in the history of #MeToo, the women now alleging sexual misconduct on the part of the fantasy writer Neil Gaiman would appear to have their alleged perpetrator’s full support. Back when this movement seemed full of potential, in 2018, Gaiman urged the public to believe women like Christine Blasey Ford, whose allegations of sexual assault by Brett Kavanaugh were then being trashed.“On a day like today it’s worth saying,” Gaiman wrote. “I believe survivors. Men must not close our eyes and minds to what happens to women in this world.” Continue reading...

Politics

Experience of squad heartens head coach ahead of Six Nations

Events

The aggression from the Tesla billionaire is new; but Britain has years of experience in the consequences of falling for misleading promises‘Never under­estimate the power of ignorance.” I came across this thought while looking for something to watch late at night after the television news on the horrors in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and the Los Angeles fires.The quote comes from an old episode of my friend Paul Whitehouse’s The Fast Show. It applies, among many other things, to the background to the re-election of the criminal Donald Trump, and the continuing damage being wrought upon itself by a British electorate, 37% of whom voted, in frustration at other economic and social problems, for Brexit. With few exceptions they did not know what they were letting themselves in for; but they do now. Continue reading...

Politics

Updates from Day 8 of tennis at Melbourne Park Draper v Alcaraz under way; Gauff and Sabalenka into quarter-finalsThree break point opportunities and four deuces later, Mirra Andreeva has failed in her first genuine chance to break Aryna Sabalenka. Again, despite the teenager returning with precision, she’s undone by the guile of her older rival, a drop shot sealing it.Sabalenka retains the break advantage and now leads this match 6-1, 4-2. Continue reading...

Events

The first ever memoir by a living pope reveals a warm, emotionally intelligent man who loves football and ‘cutting-edge’ cinema – but skates over the more controversial parts of his careerPopes seldom lack a platform or a pulpit, so they have had little need to resort to autobiography to explain themselves. What books do appear under their names in recent decades have been either dull transcriptions of interviews with tame journalists that have been heavily vetted by the Vatican, or compilations of old sermons packaged as something more than they are.I therefore approached this new volume with a certain weary caution and was pleasantly surprised. It fully justifies its bold claim to be the first ever memoir by a living pope. Indeed, Francis’s Italian ghostwriter, the publisher Carlo Musso, reveals in a brief afterword that the original plan when the book was commissioned in 2019 was that it would not appear until after his death. So why the sudden urgency? Continue reading...

Politics

Updates from Day 8 of tennis at Melbourne ParkGauff v Bencic in action; Draper v Alcaraz to comeThree break point opportunities and four deuces later, Mirra Andreeva has failed in her first genuine chance to break Aryna Sabalenka. Again, despite the teenager returning with precision, she’s undone by the guile of her older rival, a drop shot sealing it.Sabalenka retains the break advantage and now leads this match 6-1, 4-2. Continue reading...

Events

Before the president-elect’s win, comedian said he wanted to host the show to get rid of his Trump jokes

Politics

Authorities are ramping up security as they prepare for any possible threats, including "lone actors" during Donald Trump's inauguration which is due to take place on Monday

Events

Updates from Day 8 of tennis at Melbourne ParkGauff v Bencic in action; Draper v Alcaraz to comeThree break point opportunities and four deuces later, Mirra Andreeva has failed in her first genuine chance to break Aryna Sabalenka. Again, despite the teenager returning with precision, she’s undone by the guile of her older rival, a drop shot sealing it.Sabalenka retains the break advantage and now leads this match 6-1, 4-2. Continue reading...

Events

TikTok posts message saying the incoming president, who will be sworn in on Monday, could help the app get up and running again

Politics

Updates from Day 8 of tennis at Melbourne ParkSabalenka and Gauff in action early; Draper v Alcaraz to comeAndreeva strikes back! Sabalenka was going for the throat in that game, pummelling returns in a bid to bgreak the teenager a second time. Instead Andreeva stayed calm and made it five points in a row to get things back to 3-2 in the second set. That was the Russian’s best game of the match so far. Is it a turning point?Double trouble for Mirra Andreeva. She has lost her second serving game and is unravelling on Rod Laver Arena with even foot faults creeping in. Continue reading...

Events

It is vitally important for the world that the US remains a liberal democracy

Politics

Woman, 34, in hospital after alleged domestic violence incident in Kingston on SaturdayGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA Queensland man has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly setting fire to a woman in a horrific act of domestic violence in a home south of Brisbane.After being treated by paramedics at the scene in the Logan suburb of Kingston on Saturday morning, the 34-year-old woman was rushed to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s hospital in a serious condition. Police say she sustained serious burns.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Events

‘Blizzard’ of directives around key issues expected in first days and weeks of second term

Politics

Kim, Mastro land historic tricks in US one-two finishAustralia’s Scotty James wins fourth Laax Open titleChloe Kim and Maddie Mastro became the first women to land a double cork 1080 in snowboard halfpipe competition during a US one-two finish at the Laax Open on Saturday in Switzerland.Kim, the first woman to win two Olympic golds in halfpipe, secured her fifth Laax Open title with a standout performance, earning a score of 96.50 on her first run that included a cab double cork 1080. Continue reading...

Events