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Cillian Murphy’s icy stare has transfixed viewers around the world as Brummie gang boss Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders. As the stellar series reaches its finale, he talks about music, empathy and trying not to overthink thingsCillian Murphy pops up on screen with the discomfited gaiety of a man about to submit to dentistry. He is courteous and friendly, but without ever quite shaking off the impression he would rather be almost anywhere else. It’s just before Christmas, and the rampant Omicron variant of Covid-19 has put paid to in-person meetings. You don’t get the impression Murphy minds too much. At a Zoom’s remove, he sits back in his chair, hair restored to luxuriant cruising length after the savage chop required for Peaky Blinders. His storied peepers – organs that have inspired countless column inches and exhaustive maritime imagery – are, for once, hard to discern.I recognise the spare white wall behind him, which is decorated with a poster for the band Grizzly Bear and a painting. This must be his famous basement. In the Dublin home he shares with his wife, Yvonne McGuinness, an artist, and their teenage sons Malachy and Aran, the basement is Murphy’s fortress of solitude. He has spent a lot of time here over lockdown, noodling around on guitars, scrolling the news about the pandemic and recording impressively eclectic radio programmes for BBC 6 Music. Continue reading...

Benzodiazepines, used to counteract stimulants, were mentioned on the death certificates of 476 people in England and Wales last yearDeaths linked to prescription anti-anxiety drugs such as Valium are at the highest level for a decade, driven partly by the increasing popularity of illegal stimulants such as cocaine.Analysis of government data reveals that benzodiazepines – sedatives used for treating anxiety and insomnia – were mentioned on the death certificates of 476 people in England and Wales last year, a 55% increase in 10 years. Continue reading...

Introduction of characters of color into Tolkien’s fantasy world has some fans complaining but as others point out, it’s not less authentic to cast Black actorsAs the new Lord of the Rings series gears up for its September launch on Amazon, the company finds itself navigating treacherous, if familiar, waters and has already triggered a fierce debate over race by introducing characters of color into JRR Tolkien’s fantasy world.The tech giant has spent a dragon’s dungeon of gold on adapting the beloved story famous for its cultish fans, some of whom are deeply enmeshed in the rightwing culture war industry. Yet it is fully aware its final product has to reach a broad and modern audience to justify its eye-popping expenditure. Continue reading...

The music of Bappi ‘Da’, who died last week, fueled global hits and was sampled by Dr Dre and MIAAt the height of his fame in the 1980s, “the disco king of Bollywood”, Bappi Lahiri, who died this week, was composing nearly 15 soundtracks a year.Born in Kolkata in 1952 to a musical family (his parents were classically trained musicians and the playback singer Kishore Kumar was his uncle), Lahiri’s first soundtrack was for a 1973 movie called Nanha Shikari. Continue reading...

We can get attached to worry but learning to become more aware of how we make ourselves tense can help turn down that high alert stateThe question I am 32-year-old man with a successful career and a loving girlfriend. I’ve suffered my fair share of trauma in my childhood and adult life and have some health issues. The problem I have right now is that my anxiety levels are so high that every morning I am frozen in fear. I struggle to get washed and dressed and have no motivation to get up and go. But it isn’t really just that. I feel physically sick at the thought of leaving the safe confines of my bedroom. I tend to watch the same TV shows for escapism over and over again. The only time I truly feel safe is at night when everyone is asleep and I’m alone – the world is quiet and it’s just me. I fear disaster and fear people expecting things of me. I am scared I will be trapped in their expectations and I won’t be able to meet them. I’m so demotivated at work and struggle to actually perform as I should. I have a high-pressure job and feel deeply insecure all the time. What can I do?Philippa’s answer Telling me about this might not have been easy. I admire you for taking that step. Here is another: I want you to notice your breathing. Stop reading this for 10 seconds or so and notice how you breathe. OK, take 20 seconds now, and it doesn’t matter if it’s longer or shorter than that – I really want you to notice the in-breath and then your out-breath. This is you having contact with yourself in the present. When you notice how you are breathing, do you slow your breathing down? Before you get up in the morning, lie in bed being aware of your breath for a minute or two. Your attention will wander; bring it back to your breath. I don’t know about you, but I did this exercise as I typed and I felt the tiniest bit calmer – each bit of calming helps. Continue reading...

The beta version of Truth Social has been under testing since last week, with full launch date listed for 21 FebruaryDonald Trump’s new social media venture, Truth Social, appears set to launch in Apple’s App Store on Monday, according to posts from an executive on a test version viewed by Reuters, potentially marking the return of the former president to social media on the US Presidents’ day holiday.In a series of posts late on Friday, a verified account for the network’s chief product officer, listed as Billy B, answered questions on the app from people invited to use it during its test phase. One user asked him when the app, which has been available this week for beta testers, would be released to the public, according to screenshots viewed by Reuters. Continue reading...

Prime minister characterises incident as ‘a reckless and irresponsible act that should not have occurred’

Colourful ceremony marks artefacts’ homecoming more than a century after they were pillaged by British troopsTwo Benin bronzes were returned on Saturday to a traditional palace in Nigeria, more than a century after they were pillaged by British troops, raising hopes that thousands more artefacts could finally be returned to their ancestral home.The artefacts, mostly in Europe, were stolen by explorers and colonisers from the once-mighty Benin Kingdom, now south-western Nigeria, and are among Africa’s most significant heritage objects. They were created as early as the 16th century onwards, according to the British Museum. Continue reading...

The camp put the issue on the agenda in Western Australia and led to housing for some. But many still struggle on society’s marginsOn Boxing Day 2020, a small group of people concerned about the closure of Perth’s homelessness services over Christmas set up a camp kitchen in a Fremantle park.They half expected nobody to turn up and to be packing up their trestle tables by mid-morning. Instead, an entire community bloomed. Continue reading...

Rapid Russian success is not assured despite its overwhelming fire power, and the consequences of attack could be economically cripplingExploiting its overwhelming superiority in land, sea and air forces, Russia is expected to attack simultaneously on several fronts, from the north-east, the Donbas and Crimea. Ground troops in Belarus, backed by airstrikes, would spearhead a lightning drive south to seize the capital, Kyiv. Ukraine’s encircled army would be forced, in theory, to surrender. Continue reading...

Responsibility for the attack, in the run-up to a round of voting, claimed by Al-Shabaab militantsA suicide bomber killed 14 people in a popular restaurant in the central Somali town of Beledweyne on the eve of a round of voting there, police said.The attack on Saturday was claimed by the Al-Shabaab Islamist militant group, which has been waging an insurgency in the Horn of Africa for years. Continue reading...

Savile Row designer Ozwald Boateng says it’s time for a smarter look, tailored to a new era of hybrid workingHe’s the designer famed for reviving Savile Row tailoring in the Cool Britannia era of the 90s with his sleek, jewel-coloured suits. Since then, office attire has become less formal and working from home has taken off, yet Ozwald Boateng believes rumours of the death of the suit are greatly exaggerated.As he prepared to show at London fashion week on Monday after a 12-year absence, he told the Observer that he believes the suit will be seen as less an everyday work uniform and more as special occasion wear – but with many of those going into an office just two or three days a week making more of an effort and opting to dress more formally. Continue reading...

Tehran known to want release of $8bn of overseas assets and guarantees that US will stick to any agreement reachedIran can make a large-scale prisoner swap immediately and is willing to hold direct talks with the US if it makes a major goodwill gesture such as releasing $8bn worth of Iranian assets locked abroad, Iran’s top diplomat has said.Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, also said the US and Iran had “never been so close to reaching a deal as we are today”, referring to an agreement to revive the 2015 nuclear deal from which the US had walked out on in 2018. Continue reading...

Librino’s amateur players have to guard their new pitch and facilities every night – but it’s worth it to keep children out of the clutches of Cosa NostraGloria Mertoli’s shift is over when the first light of dawn shines on the goalposts of a rugby pitch in the Librino district of Catania, a stronghold of the Cosa Nostra, the feared Sicilian mafia. Since mobsters torched the clubhouse and team bus, she and other players on the women’s rugby team, Briganti Librino RUFC, have taken turns to stay after evening practice and guard the area overnight.Since the club started working to take children – easy targets for mafia recruitment – off the streets of Librino, the clans have tried to put it out of business. Continue reading...

Queen’s Commonwealth Trust site contains glowing review of California-based BetterUp, which the prince joined last yearA leading Commonwealth charity which has the Queen as its patron is promoting the online coaching business that employs Prince Harry as its chief impact officer.The coaching, by BetterUp, is described as “truly phenomenal” in testimony by one user on the website of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT). Prince Harry was previously president of the trust. Continue reading...

Conservative party is shown to have been given more than £3m by appointees to roles at museums and galleriesBoris Johnson has appointed six Tory donors to help run the country’s leading cultural institutions since entering Downing Street after an appeal to party backers to help “rebalance the representation” on public bodies.The donors, who have between them contributed more than £3m to party coffers, were appointed by the prime minister to the boards of the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Tate and the British Museum. Continue reading...

Simon Nellist from Cornwall who had moved to Sydney praised as a wonderful human being with a gift for empathyThe family of a British man killed by a shark in Australia have paid tribute to “a wonderful human being” who had a “rare gift” of connecting with people.Simon Nellist, 35, died in the great white shark attack on Wednesday off Little Bay, east Sydney – the first fatal attack in Sydney for 60 years. Continue reading...

Wall Street Journal says regulator could authorize fourth shots of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines by the fallUS health regulators are looking at authorizing a potential fourth dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in the fall, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing sources familiar with the matter.The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been reviewing data to authorize a second booster dose of vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna, the report added. Continue reading...

Across the country, heavy winds devastated properties, threatened lives and forced businesses to closeFrancesco Manni feared for his and his wife’s lives on Friday when, just after 9am, he heard a loud crack and turned to their home office window to see an enormous tree falling towards it. “I just had time to alert my wife, she was sitting close to me and she started shouting,” he said.They were among thousands of people across the UK impacted by the devastation caused by the deadly Storm Eunice. Continue reading...

The Ukrainian president joked that Russians have hacked his headset after translations stopped working during a discussion at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. Speaking to Christaine Amanpour, Volodymyr Zelenskiy can be seen fiddling with his headset before he jokingly says: ‘I think, cyber-attack.’Zelenskiy travelled to Munich to deliver a rallying call to the west, despite US warnings that Russia might exploit his absence to topple him before he returns to Kyiv.

The staff look more like bartenders than the butchers of my childhood. One day, I’ll pluck up the courage…First, the whole foods store shrank to half its previous size, then, in the premises it had vacated, the renovation work began. At first, I thought we were about to get a physiotherapist or a chiropractor: the space seemed somewhat medical, and in the window hung two neons that looked, unlit, like they might be a couple of human spines. But when they were finally switched on a few weeks later, all became clear. In fact, the neons are stylised meat carcasses. It seems there’s now a groovy new butcher at the end of our street.Naturally, I was triumphant about this at first, a feeling that only grew when I Googled to find out more. Stella’s is, apparently, the younger sister of Hill & Szrok in Broadway Market in Hackney, a shop I’ve never visited – I left that part of London in 2004, before its swankification was complete – but which is, according to one source, London’s best butcher by day and a restaurant by night. Stella’s, too, may one day expand to include a “tartare bar”, but for now it is a purveyor of meat from small herds (tick) and a supporter of sustainable farming (tick, tick). Continue reading...

Seoul furious at Japanese bid for Unesco listing for Sado gold mine complex, which used slave labour in 1940sJapan has set itself on a diplomatic collision course with South Korea by applying for Unesco world heritage status for gold and silver mines on an island off its west coast which used forced labour from Korea.The row over the mines – on Sado island in the Sea of Japan – is expected to further sour relations between the countries just as the US is pressing them to present a united front against North Korea’s nuclear programme. Continue reading...

The singer, 48, on always knowing that her voice was different, speaking out about abusive relationships and singing for PrinceI was given a special instrument at birth. Mum, Dad and my siblings all sang, but I understood my voice was different. By the age of eight I’d decided I’d do it professionally. But I had no idea how Beverley from Wolverhampton went from watching Top of the Pops to being on it.My parents were dedicated Christian folk. We were always at services and meetings, and music was a constant presence. It was only when I stole the radio from my parents’ bedroom I discovered a whole new world of sounds. Continue reading...

The author’s hand-picked panel share their ideas on music, mushrooms, zombies and moreWhat do you get when you bring together some of the most revered thinkers, most progressive-minded activists and one of the most celebrated novelists writing today to discuss the immense challenges we face? A debate about the Spice Girls, of course! For the Guardian’s Saturday magazine, Margaret Atwood wanted to gather some of her favourite experts from around the globe, to ask how they see the world we live in – and what they believe is key to creating the future they want to see.The lineup included bestselling author Raj Patel, dubbed the “rock star of social justice writing”; Senator Yvonne Boyer, the first Indigenous person appointed to the Canadian senate from Ontario; Akala, a writer, musician and poet; the excellently named Merlin Sheldrake, an expert on fungi; Kate Fletcher, whose speciality is sustainable fashion; Jessie Housty, a young Indigenous activist with a focus on decolonisation and community; and Yasmeen Hassan of Equality Now, which works to combat gender discrimination. The panel, hand-picked by Atwood, reflects the many disparate subjects the author is passionate about, and she was as keen to hear from them as they were to understand her vision and ideas. Continue reading...

With reproductive rights being increasingly restricted in Europe, people are relying on a network of volunteers to help themWhen The Handmaid’s Tale first came out in 1985, the initial response was broadly that people thought such threats to women’s bodies and reproductive rights “couldn’t happen here”. By the time it aired as a TV series in 2017, just after Donald Trump was inaugurated in the US, people were no longer so sure. With every headline about gains in reproductive rights – Ireland repealing the eighth amendment in 2018, which had effectively banned abortions – there are others that underscore how fragile these rights are, wherever you live.Recent changes to abortion law in Texas, which have prohibited abortions after six weeks – one of the most restrictive rules in the nation – and Poland’s near total ban on the procedure last year make it clear just how slippery the slope still is. We have to ask: what kind of country do we want to live in? A democratic one in which every individual is free to make decisions concerning their health and body, or one in which half the population is free and the state corrals the bodies of the other half? Continue reading...

Department condemns ‘unsafe military conduct’ after laser detected coming from People’s Liberation Army Navy vessel

From drinking coffee on an empty stomach to the merits of fasting, have we been getting breakfast all wrong?“I think everyone should consider skipping breakfast as an experiment,” says Professor Tim Spector, author of the recently reissued Spoon-Fed: Why Almost Everything We’ve Been Told About Food Is Wrong. The question of whether breakfast is or isn’t good for us has been around for years – with the waters thoroughly muddied by research funded by breakfast cereal brands like Kellogg’s and Quakers. (You can guess what they concluded.) Continue reading...

Woman in her 30s dies in London; man in his 50s killed on Merseyside; man killed in County Wexford; man in Hampshire killed in collision

Mayor says public fear of subways is driving riders from the system and announces more mental health support to homelessNew York leaders on Friday released a plan to strictly enforce rules on the New York City subway as part of an aggressive effort to remove homeless people from the city’s sprawling transit system.“No more just doing whatever you want,” said the New York City mayor, Eric Adams, at a press conference announcing the plan on Friday in a subway station in lower Manhattan. “Those days are over. Swipe your MetroCard, ride the system and get off at your destination. That’s what this administration is saying.” Continue reading...

Factional warfare in Scott Morrison’s home state is giving the Coalition’s opponents a valuable head start when it comes to campaigning

Scientists are convinced reviving extinct species is no longer confined to science fiction. Can we really do it, and should we?

French fashion house to open factories in Louviers, Sormonne and Riom as bags become must-havesHermès, the French luxury goods maker, is opening three new factories as it struggles to keep up with demand for its £5,000-plus Birkin and Kelly handbags.The company said on Friday it planned to open new leather goods factories in the French towns of Louviers, Sormonne and Riom before 2024 in order to increase and speed up its production of the expensive bags. Continue reading...

Teenager admits possessing knife but pleads not guilty in fatal stabbing of schoolgirl in city centreA teenager has denied the murder of 12-year-old Ava White but admitted possessing a knife.The schoolgirl was fatally stabbed in the neck after a Christmas lights switch-on in Liverpool city centre on 25 November. Continue reading...

Success of Chinese American skier should have been a positive story but geopolitics got in the way

Exclusive: Firms with UK-traded shares paid the Russian government £39bn in taxes in 2020, so any sanctions would hurtWith Vladimir Putin’s troops massed on the Ukrainian border, governments in the US and Europe have vowed to retaliate by imposing harsh economic restrictions. The British foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has warned of “the toughest sanctions regime against Russia we have ever had”.Of all the countries threatening economic retaliation, the UK has an outsized ability to inflict damage. There is thought to be more Russian gold in London than in any other city in the world. Not only in the Chelsea mansions that house the families of oligarchs, but on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Continue reading...

The star of Matt Reeves’ upcoming film says he spent two weeks experimenting with vocal delivery. It did not go wellRobert Pattinson says he originally tried doing a different voice when playing Batman, but was told to stop because it was “absolutely atrocious”.Speaking to American talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel, Pattinson – who stars in the new Batman film directed by Matt Reeves – said there was something about putting the suit on that meant “you have to speak in a certain way”.Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...

Senior figures to meet next week amid US warnings that Vladimir Putin could give order to invade within days

Friday: Restrictions introduced to curb the spread of Omicron, including bans on singing and dancing, will be eased over the next week in NSW and Victoria. Plus: how we can repel threats to Australian democracyGood morning. The US president, Joe Biden, has warned the threat of a Russian invasion into Ukraine is imminent. Covid restrictions in New South Wales and Victoria begin easing from today, and marine scientists call for calm after a fatal shark attack in Sydney.Restrictions introduced to curb the spread of Omicron across Australia’s two most populous states will be eased over the next week as cases continue to drop in NSW and Victoria. The changes, similar across both states, will begin to take effect from Friday. However, the lifting of the indoor mask mandate remains another week away. In Victoria, from 6pm on Friday, density limits at hospitality and entertainment venues will be removed, dancefloors can reopen and QR code check-ins will no longer be required in retail settings, schools and many workplaces. In NSW, from 12.01am Friday, density limits will be scrapped, QR codes will remain only for nightclubs and music festivals with more than 1,000 attenders, and singing and dancing can resume at venues other than at festivals. Continue reading...

Most residents agree the Eden’s Projects creator’s comments were unfair, but others say there was a ‘grain of truth’He saw it as a relaxed chat for a local podcast about social issues in the place he has worked and lived in for more than three decades and so, by his own admission, was a little unguarded.But Sir Tim Smit, the co-founder of Cornwall’s Eden Project, has become embroiled in a furore in his adopted homeland after suggesting that the Cornish could be “a bit more fucking articulate” and were too fond of looking backwards to “good old days [that] never were the good old days”. Continue reading...

Germany and Portugal preparing to axe most curbs as cases stabilise; Israel’s PM says ‘green pass’ system to be suspended as cases decline

Suzanne Fletcher says allowing asylum seekers to work and housing them in communities rather than detention centres would save billions of pounds and even livesNot only is the government going to spend £2.7bn on implementing the dreadful nationality and borders bill (Refugee group warns of ‘astonishing’ cost of new Home Office policies, 14 February), but it is already spending more than it needs on existing policies.There are billions that could be saved if it stopped detaining people in immigration detention centres and housed them in the community instead. If it allowed asylum seekers the right to work. If it stopped refusing so many applications, only to have to spend money on defending those decisions and losing over half the cases. If it was more efficient and made faster, fairer decisions to save housing and support seekers of sanctuary for what can be 10 years or more. If only. Continue reading...

Exclusive: intelligence assessments warned in late January that it was ‘likely’ extremists were involved in protests

The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, has said that an attack on a kindergarten in Ukraine was a 'false-flag operation' by Russia designed to discredit the Ukrainians.'The picture is continuing to be very grim,' Johnson told reporters during a visit to RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, when asked about the latest intelligence on Ukraine.'A kindergarten was shelled in what we are taking to be, what we know was, a false-flag operation designed to discredit the Ukrainians, designed to create a pretext, a spurious provocation for Russian action.'We fear very much that that is a thing we will see more of over the next few days,' Johnson addedUkraine crisis: live blog Continue reading...

Isabel Díaz Ayuso says Pablo Casado has tried to destroy her reputation amid reports he hired private investigatorsThe regional president of Madrid has accused the leadership of her own conservative People’s party (PP) of waging a “cruel and unfair” campaign to destroy her with false corruption allegations amid reports the party tried to hire private detectives to investigate her family.Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who is often touted as a future PP leader, spoke out after media reports suggested that, during the first wave of the Covid pandemic, her administration gave a €1.5m contract for face masks to a company linked to her brother – for which he received a commission. Continue reading...

All trains cancelled in Wales and several major road bridges closed as UK braces for winds of up to 90mphRail firms are warning passengers to avoid travel on Friday, when the worst storm in three decades is forecast to hit the UK.Journeys across Britain will be affected by speed restrictions and delays on Friday, the rail industry said, as Storm Eunice is expected to cause major disruption. Continue reading...

Merilyn Saunders, who loved sport, music and, above all, her family, spent her final two years almost entirely in isolation

A young surf lifesaver killed during a crowded carnival was one of 10 people who lost their lives during the city’s ‘shark era’

The UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said there are no signs that Russia's military buildup on the Ukraine border is slowing down.Speaking in Kyiv, Truss said the UK stood 'shoulder to shoulder' with Ukraine in the face of the threatUkraine crisis: live blog

Uncertainty over number of people still trapped in mud in Petrópolis after homes and cars swept awayRio de Janeiro state government has confirmed 105 deaths from the floods and mudslides that swept away homes and cars in the city of Petrópolis, with the number of people still trapped in the mud unclear.Rubens Bomtempo, mayor of the city, was not able to offer an estimate for how many people were missing, as recovery efforts continued. “We don’t yet know the full scale of this,” Bomtempo said. “It was a hard day, a difficult day.” Continue reading...

Fire services, breakdown services and animal welfare charity suggest how to get ready for power cuts and other disruptionObviously it’s a cliche, but “be prepared” is the best advice ahead of Storm Eunice, which could bring gusts of up to 90mph as well as heavy snow and blizzards.Power cuts caused by fallen trees are highly likely and there are a few straightforward things which people can do in preparation, Northumberland fire and rescue service said. Continue reading...