Owner of Villa's Tacos said the rapper loved their restaurant and asked the business to join his Super Bowl performanceA beloved Los Angeles taqueria made its primetime debut during Bad Bunny's Super Bowl LX half-time show, delighting and surprising its legion of faithful patrons.Bad Bunny's 13-minute performance was a love letter to the culture, history and legacy of Puerto Rico, with sets depicting sugarcane fields, a house party and even a wedding ceremony, complete with Lady Gaga performing a salsa rendition of her hit Die With a Smile." Continue reading...
Newly revealed emails undermine Kennedy's testimony about 2019 Samoa trip ahead of deadly measles outbreakThree members of Congress say the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, lied during his Senate confirmation hearings in response to newly revealed emails that undermine his testimony that a trip he took to Samoa ahead of a deadly measles outbreak had nothing to do with vaccines".The governor of Hawaii, a medical doctor who responded to the crisis, also spoke out - saying that the disclosure of the emails by the Guardian and the Associated Press show Kennedy misled the Senate and that he should step down. Continue reading...
A diminutive young buck aspires to compete with rhinos and horses in roarball', but this by-numbers tale is not the greatest of any timeGreatest of all time? No. Possibly not even the greatest of half-term. This loud, chaotic and unlovable animated kids' comedy feels as though it is bordering on AI slop, algorithmically generated and instantly familiar from Zootropolis, Sing and other movies with talking animals. It is a shame, because it has a real-life inspiration: basketball star Stephen Curry, who was repeatedly told at the start of his career that he was too skinny and too small to make it as a pro. Curry is a producer here, and has a performing role. But in spite of this connection, Goat lacks heart and soul, and a sense of genuine emotions.What it does have is some pretty decent voice acing, bringing a degree of charm to the movie. Will Harris (voiced by Caleb McLaughlin) is a goat who has grown up dreaming of playing professional roarball", a fiercer and faster version of basketball. But Will is a small" and roar players are all bigs" - powerful beasts such as rhinos and horses. Will's hero and the star of his favourite team, the Thorns, is a panther called Jet (Gabrielle Union), a champ close to retirement but determined to win the league. When Will gets a shot at joining the Thorns, he is laughed at, underrated but undeterred. Continue reading...
Congressman Thomas Massie says commerce secretary has a lot to answer for' over ties to late convicted sex offenderUS House member Thomas Massie has called for the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick - a fellow Republican - to resign over his ties to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Massie, who co-authored a law mandating the release of the so-called Epstein files, appeared Sunday on CNN's Inside Politics and said Lutnick, a staunch Donald Trump ally, has a lot to answer for". Continue reading...
Successful reruns are rare in the NFL. And New England showed enough holes on Sunday to suggest making it back to the big dance soon will be toughThe greatest lie a fanbase tells itself is that there is always next year.It is the softest landing spot in sport, a comfort blanket after a crushing defeat. Next year, we'll be healthier. Next year, we'll fix our offensive line. Next year, we'll add that superstar receiver and retain all our guys. Next year. Continue reading...
Thousands walk out after talks with district failed to reach agreement on wages, healthcare and resources for special needs studentsThousands of public schoolteachers in San Francisco went on strike on Monday, the first public schoolteachers strike in the city in nearly 50 years.The strike comes after teachers and the district failed to reach an agreement over higher wages, health benefits and more resources for special needs students. The San Francisco Unified School District closed all its 120 schools and said it would offer independent study to some of the district's 50,000 students. Continue reading...
Thousands of students across the US have been walking out of their schools to protest ICE in their communitiesOver the past six months, thousands of students have been walking out of their schools in protest of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) presence in their communities. Some of their schools supported the protests; some didn't, threatening disciplinary action. Other schools stayed neutral out of fear of inviting unwanted attention to vulnerable immigrant students.The Guardian spoke to seven teenagers who led or participated in school walkouts. Many said their organizing went beyond leaving class, extending to checking social media for suspected ICE sightings, distributing know your rights" materials and making political posters. All were resolute about the need to protest against ICE regardless of any risk - and whether or not they got support from the grownups around them. Continue reading...
The NFL appeared keen to welcome the sport's non-Maga contingent back into the tent. But the theater and violence of capitalism was still thereRoger Federer smiling wolfishly to the crowd: a return to woke? Adam Sandler hangdog in the Levi's Stadium stands, Jon Bon Jovi mooching on the sideline like a retired dentist on a cruise, Billie Joe Armstrong belting out American Idiot during the pre-game show under his motionless meringue of fogey-blond hair: were they a sign? A New England Patriots team who were neither favored to win nor widely reviled, then promptly repaid a grateful public by losing: was this the Super Bowl which proved that history really can move on, that America is not fated to remain hostage to the tremors and hatreds of the past? Well, yes and no.A year after Donald Trump made American football's showpiece all about him, Sunday's game in Santa Clara always promised a sort of correction - a cooling of the mood, perhaps even an end to the manipulation of sport for political ends. As always the best way to gauge the success of this mission was as the gods intended: through a TV screen. Trump - saddled with historically low approval ratings, facing a massacre in this year's midterms, and no doubt wary of risking a public appearance in the deep blue sea of the Bay Area - was absent on this occasion, and he kept the F-22 fighter jets that were scheduled to be part of the pre-game flyover away from Levi's Stadium too. (Unspecified operational assignments" were the reason offered for the jets' withdrawal, which means there's probably a low-ranking member of the Trump administration putting big money on a US military strike somewhere in Latin America as we speak.) And yet, the absent autocrat still weighed on proceedings, his curdling influence turning every moment and gesture on Sunday into a referendum on the prospects for a post-Trumpian sporting future. Could football be normal again? Continue reading...
Protesters have been blowing whistles to alert people to agents' presence - and that has upset figures on the rightWhen Justin Vernon of Bon Iver appeared on the red carpet at the Grammy awards he was wearing an accessory that has become a must-carry for activists in neighborhoods targeted by ICE: a whistle.The whistle has become a key part in the defense against Donald Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown, used to alert people to the presence of agents. But it has also become a target for the right, who have branded whistles hearing-loss-causing machines" and said the act of blowing a whistle may constitute assault". Continue reading...
The surge of federal immigration agents has forced many families to remain inside for weeks, living in fear of roving ICE patrols snatching people off the streetJose hasn't left his house in Saint Paul for 29 days - not to shovel the snow at his driveway, not to fix up the car.When the car needed an oil change, he video-called his wife, Sara, from inside so he could walk her through it. I've only been from the bedroom to the living room," he said. He's afraid to even get near the front door. Continue reading...
Case continues against those who protested Joswar Torres' arrest, with prosecutors seeking six years' imprisonmentA Venezuelan migrant whose detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sparked a protest that involved nearly 2,000 people and led to 30 arrests is free after spending seven months in custody in Washington state, after a ruling from a federal judge who said his constitutional rights had been violated.Joswar Torres, 29, was granted humanitarian parole in the United States and had an asylum application pending, but was nevertheless detained in June 2025 after a routine check-in at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) office in Spokane, Washington. Continue reading...
British freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy says he has received threats in the wake of a social media post that targeted ICE, the United States immigration and customs enforcement agency, last week.Kenworthy, who was born in Chelmsford but has lived in the US for most of his life, posted an image on his Instagram account that showed the words 'fuck ICE', apparently urinated into the snow.The 34-year-old posted a video late on Sunday in which he said: 'The other day I posted a photo with my thoughts on ICE and that photo has since gone everywhere - and I've gotten a ton of messages and most of them honestly have been supportive and encouraging.'But a lot of the messages have been awful, people telling me to kill myself, threatening me, wishing they'll get to see me blow my knee or break my neck during my event, calling me slurs ... it's insane.'
Bad Bunny offered a celebration of Latino culture and heritage with his half-time show at the game, which ended 29-13. Plus, the California community that beat back a datacenterGood morning.The Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl LX on Sunday, exacting their revenge against the team that defeated them in the title game 11 years ago.What about Bad Bunny's half-time show? The Grammy-winning Puerto Rican megastar delivered an ode to Latino culture and heritage, performed largely in Spanish. Donald Trump has lashed out against it, calling it an affront to the Greatness of America".Did federal authorities previously investigate Epstein's activities at the ranch? Briefly - in February 2007, as part of an investigation of child sexual abuse in Florida, records show that the FBI interviewed Epstein's ranch manager. Otherwise, it drew little scrutiny before Epstein's death. Continue reading...
The Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13 at Levi's Stadium to claim their second Super Bowl victory.Kenneth Walker III, the engine of Seattle's offense with 135 rushing yards on 27 carries, was named MVP. Sam Darnold completed his long redemption arc from draft-bust to champion quarterback by throwing for 202 yards and a touchdown.'If I would tell myself as a kid right now, I wouldn't have guessed I would have been the one to win MVP,' Walker said. 'It's a surreal moment and it doesn't happen without the guys in the locker room.''It's special,' said Darnold. 'Some people called me crazy throughout my career for believing in myself so much and having so much confidence. But it was because of my parents, because of the way that they believed in me throughout my entire career.'
The Seattle Seahawks are Super Bowl champions for the second time in their history after beating the New England Patriots 29-13 on Sunday at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where Bad Bunny entertained the crowd with his half-time show Continue reading...
Jeffries says Democrats will stop Donald Trump from trying to steal this year's midterm elections - key US politics stories from Sunday 8 February at a glanceDemocrats will stop Donald Trump from trying to steal this year's midterm elections, Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the US House of Representatives said on Sunday.Jeffries' comments come amid widespread concern after Trump said Republicans should take over the voting". The US constitution gives states the power to set election rules and says Congress can pass laws to set requirements for federal elections. The constitution gives the president no authority over how elections are run. Continue reading...
Health official's endorsement comes as South Carolina faces hundreds of cases and US risks losing elimination statusA senior US public health official called on Americans to get vaccinated against measles as outbreaks continue in multiple states and concerns grow that the country could lose its measles elimination designation. Dr Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon, spoke in support on Sunday of the measles vaccine.Take the vaccine, please," said Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. We have a solution for our problem." Continue reading...
The 30-year-old from Wyoming has labored in the shadow of household names like Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin. On Sunday, she made history of her ownFor years, Breezy Johnson was the other American alpine skier. The one with the near-misses, the injuries, the suspension and the unfortunate timing to exist in the same stable at the same time as Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin. On Sunday, three weeks after her 30th birthday in the shadow of the Dolomites above Cortina d'Ampezzo, she became an Olympic champion.Johnson crossed first in the women's downhill at the Milano Cortina Games by four-hundredths of a second - the slightest winning margin in the event's Olympic history outside the dead heat in 2014 - to become just the second American woman to win the sport's most prestigious title. The only other was Vonn, who took gold in Vancouver 16 years ago. Continue reading...
Top House Democrat says president's suggestion for Republicans to take over' elections really means steal it'Democrats will stop Donald Trump from trying to steal this year's midterm elections, Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the US House of Representatives said on Sunday.Jeffries' comments come amid widespread concern after Trump said Republicans should take over the voting". The US constitution gives states the power to set election rules and says Congress can pass laws to set requirements for federal elections. The constitution gives the president no authority over how elections are run. Continue reading...
A mining disaster in the Democratic Republic of Congo underscores the human cost of extraction. Intensified competition for resources isn't helpingWhen Donald Trump boasted recently that he had stopped the conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo - though fighting persists in the DRC, at appalling human cost - he madeclear that his goals went beyond a long-sought Nobel Peace prize.They said to me, Please, please, we would love you to come and take our minerals.' Which we'll do," the US president added. Now he is following through. Last Monday he launched a new strategic reserve plan, Project Vault", worth almost $12bn. Two days later, JDVance hosted a summit seeking to create a trade zone for critical minerals. Continue reading...
The US broadcaster Savannah Guthrie said her family had received a message from the potential kidnappers of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, on Saturday and pleaded for her safe return. News of the message came three days after a purported ransom note was sent to media outlets and a day after the 84-year-old's relatives renewed their appeal to whoever may be holding her captive to contact the family directly 'so we can move forward'. The video released on Saturday was the third this week that pleaded with potential kidnappers
Valeria Chomsky says Epstein had deceived them and they were careless' not to thoroughly research his backgroundNoam Chomsky and his wife, Valeria, made a grave mistake" and were careless" not to thoroughly research the background of Jeffrey Epstein, Valeria Chomsky said in a lengthy statement on Saturday, adding also that Epstein had deceived them.The relationship between Noam Chomsky, the 97-year-old linguist and philosopher, and Epstein has been under scrutiny after documents released by the justice department shed light on their friendship. As Epstein came under scrutiny for sex trafficking allegations in 2019, he asked Chomsky for advice on how to respond. I've watched the horrible way you are being treated in the press and public. It's painful to say, but I think the best way to proceed is to ignore it," Chomsky wrote in a message signed Noam" that Epstein shared in email with an associate. Continue reading...
While AI is having an impact on the workplace, experts suggest tariffs, overhiring during the pandemic and simply maximising profits may be bigger factorsOver the last year, US corporate leaders have often explained layoffs by saying the positions were no longer needed because artificial intelligence had made their companies more efficient, replacing humans with computers.But some economists and technology analysts have expressed skepticism about such justifications and instead think that such workforce cuts are driven by factors like the impact of tariffs, overhiring during the Covid-19 pandemic and perhaps simple maximising of profits. Continue reading...
Online pile-ons can destroy small businesses. Save the derision for big companies that can weather social media stormsA viral Reddit post mocks a $22 grilled cheese sandwich and helps to sink a Bay Area shop. A restaurant owner is forced to push back on a viral complaint. A small business owner in Maine faces a viral backlash after posting a No ICE" sign. The owner of a furniture store mistakenly receives backlash after being confused with another store. An influencer calls out a South Carolina boutique in a TikTok video after a negative shopping experience.I have had countless bad experiences at small businesses. I have eaten cold pasta and seen mice scurry behind a table. I don't go back. Sometimes, when the experience is particularly great, I'll give a quick good review on Google. But when I have had a bad experience? Never. Ever. Continue reading...
Several men appear in photos on the nearly 10,000-acre Zorro ranch, which included a 26,700 sq ft mansionFor years, Jeffrey Epstein took respite at a sprawling ranch in the desert scrub outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. Epstein's nearly 10,000-acre (4,000-hectare) property - known as Zorro ranch - was dotted with cholla cactus and Angus cattle, and came to include a 26,700 sq ft mansion, as well as a private runway and hangar.For years, Epstein abused teenage girls and young women on this ranch with impunity, according to testimony from several women. In court proceedings, survivors detailed horror after horror they say unfolded on this isolated expanse of land. Continue reading...
With the end of the New Start treaty, we face a potentially catastrophic arms race. It can still be preventedThe risk of nuclear war is greater now than in decades - and rising. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists recently set its famous Doomsday Clock closer to midnight, indicating a level of risk equivalent to the 1980s, when US and Soviet nuclear stockpiles were increasing rapidly. In those years, massive waves of disarmament protest arose in Europe and the United States. Political leaders responded, the cold war ended, and many people stopped worrying about the bomb.Today, the bomb is back. Political tensions are rising, and nuclear weapons have spread to other countries, including Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea. China is rapidly increasing its nuclear arsenal. The US-Russia arms competition may accelerate soon with the expiration on 5 February of the last remaining arms control agreement, the New Start treaty. To prevent the growing nuclear threat, we need a new global peace movement.David Cortright, a visiting scholar at Cornell University's Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, was the executive director of Sane, the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, during the 1980s Continue reading...
Since a presidential post on Truth Social the Washington DC arts hub has lost its leadership, had its name changed and will now be closed for yearsThe Brentano String Quartet had finished their performance when a special guest dropped in backstage: the US supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We thanked her for everything she had done for our country," recalls violinist Mark Steinberg. It was a nice moment."The year was 2016 and the place was the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. Fast forward a decade and old certainties have been shaken: Ginsburg is dead, Donald Trump is president and the Kennedy Center has become a case study in how a seemingly solid American institution can quickly unravel. Continue reading...
The gruesome finish to the US star's comeback, at age 41 and with a ruptured ACL, is a reminder of skiing's unforgiving natureThere was always a version of this story that ended in a single, violent instant. Lindsey Vonn was 13th to push out of the start gate on Sunday in Cortina d'Ampezzo knowing exactly what she was racing with: a fully ruptured ACL in her left knee, a heavy brace wrapped around the joint, and the accumulated wear of a career spent flirting with speed and consequence.She barely made it out of the opening phase of the run. Continue reading...
Murdoch tabloid leads charge as big freeze persists - could the mayor please do something about the weather?It snowed two weeks ago in New York. Since then, the temperature has barely risen above freezing - a temperature science naturally dictates is necessary to melt snow and ice.But science isn't enough for some US political critics, however, who have instead blamed Zohran Mamdani, New York's new socialist mayor, for the snow not having melted and still clogging up some of the city's streets. Continue reading...
The Bucks star has become a shareholder in one of the world's largest prediction markets. It only ushers the NBA further into the fetid swamp of sports bettingCouldn't he have just started a podcast? The Internet is full of opinions. I decided it was time to make some of my own," Giannis Antetokounmpo, one of the four best basketball players in the world, posted in a statement announcing that he was joining the prediction market Kalshi as a shareholder. We all on Kalshi now."We are not, but doesn't the tone sum it up? The universe's ineffable forces have clearly decided that the ubiquity of sports betting companies is insufficient. There must be new companies, with which you can bet on any outcome - Kalshi competitor Polymarket has hosted markets tied to geopolitical outcomes, including scenarios related to Israel and Gaza, for instance - that incentivize people to treat life's most important avenues as trivially as a sports game. Kalshi and Polymarket are prediction platforms rather than traditional betting companies. Users effectively bet (or trade") against others on the platform about the outcome of events, from familiar wagers such as the result of a sporting event, to the obscure, such as the color of a politician's suit at an election appearance. Kalshi has enjoyed plenty of freedom under the second Donald Trump administration, and Donald Trump Jr is a strategic advisor" for them and Polymarket. A Kalshi outcome taking bets until recently was Giannis Antetokounmpo's next team?" as rumors swirled that the two-time NBA MVP was about to leave the Milwaukee Bucks. Antetokounmpo will be involved in marketing and publicity for Kalshi, and is forbidden from trading on markets related to the NBA. The move is also in step with the NBA's rules - players are allowed to endorse betting companies as long as they don't gamble on the league itself. But that hasn't prevented scores of fans across Instagram and Reddit, and media members on Twitter, from expressing their displeasure at the move and insisting there is a conflict of interest. Continue reading...
Movements are not born fully formed - they begin when ordinary people decide to actNearly 60 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr posed a question that still haunts us. In his final book, published just a year before his death, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, he argued that we were standing at a crossroads: one path leading toward chaos - deepening poverty, violence, and repression - while the other required us to collectively choose and build community.Too few of us answered his call. At times, we chose distraction, comfort and complacency. At others, we turned away from the violence this country inflicted on the world, allowing the corruption of those in power to harden and accumulate. We can blame politicians and corporations, or those who remained neutral - but the truth is, we all carry some level of responsibility.Eric Morrison-Smith is executive director of the Alliance for Boys and Men of ColorDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
by Oliver Connolly, Melissa Jacobs, Andrew Lawrence, on (#73DPS)
Will Drake Maye lead New England into a new era of championships? Or will the Seahawks get revenge 11 years in the making? Our writers give their verdictsPressure Sam Darnold. Darnold was outstanding in the NFC championship game when forced to throw under duress. But that hasn't been the case all season. The Seahawks rank sixth in EPA/dropback when there is no pressure, but drop to 22nd when there is pressure. Collapsing the pocket is New England's best shot at success. Their interior pass-rushers, Christian Barmore and Milton Williams, will need to overwhelm Darnold. OC Continue reading...
Whistleblower says that Tulsi Gabbard blocked agency from sharing report and delivered it to White House chief of staffLast spring, the National Security Agency (NSA) flagged an unusual phone call between two members of foreign intelligence, who discussed a person close to Donald Trump, according to a whistleblower's attorney who was briefed on details of the call.The highly sensitive communique, which has roiled Washington over the past week, was brought to the attention of the director of national intelligence (DNI), Tulsi Gabbard. Continue reading...
The real risk for American broadcasters is not that dissent will be visible. It is that audiences will start assuming anything they do not show is being hiddenThe modern Olympics sell themselves on a simple premise: the whole world, watching the same moment, at the same time. On Friday night in Milan, that illusion fractured in real time.When Team USA entered the San Siro during the parade of nations, the speed skater Erin Jackson led the delegation into a wall of cheers. Moments later, when cameras cut to US vice-president JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance, large sections of the crowd responded with boos. Not subtle ones, but audible and sustained ones. Canadian viewers heard them. Journalists seated in the press tribunes in the upper deck, myself included, clearly heard them. But as I quickly realized from a groupchat with friends back home, American viewers watching NBC did not. Continue reading...
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