News Desk

Described by film fans as a ‘slow burn’ and a hidden gem, this highly praised thriller stars Emile Hirsch, John Cusack, Déborah François and Molly McCann

A gritty Western starring John Cusack is ‘blowing viewers away’ with its ‘slow burn’, and it’s airing tonight (Sunday, January 25) on Film4.

Never Grow Old, released in 2019, is directed by Ivan Kavanagh. and stars Emile Hirsch, John Cusack, Déborah François and Molly McCann. The film is a gritty Western telling the story of an Irish undertaker, Patrick Tate (Emile Hirsch), living in a frontier town corrupted by outlaw Dutch Albert (John Cusack) and his gang. As the death toll skyrockets, Patrick profits from burying the dead but faces a moral crisis and threats to his family, forcing him to choose between blood money and survival in a violent world without law or religion.

The film has been praised as being a hidden gem by fans on film ratings website Rotten Tomatoes, where it holds an 86 per cent score. One review posted: “Slow burn, with plenty of understated tension. Not an action western, more of an underplayed character drama with some brutally honest killing. Very good movie!”

Another posted: “Whoa, acting blew me away. And I’m not usually one who notices THAT particular part of a film. Yeah, the story might be a trope in some ways, but the performances and mood are worthwhile.”

“Perfect feel to this 1850s’ period movie. I enjoyed it very much! A+,” said a third.

A fourth added: “Never Grow Old is a slow-burn type of western that utilises its rich subtext and visual symbolism to create a thought-provoking narrative and look into the bleak western frontier life.”

“A great plot, great actors, and a massive dose of spine-chilling action, in other words, a great movie,” said a fifth.

Another shared: “Dark, brooding and bleak would be the best 3 words to describe this film…and I use them as compliments! The dialogue between Cusack and Hirsch boils with so much tension…all leading up to a conclusion that honestly left me speechless.”

One review praised the film as it said: “I enjoyed this movie. Everything from the sets to the costumes and the demeanour of it was right on point. Every shot was spot on with the overall look.

“Emile Hirsch and John Cusack do well with the material, and it seems rooted down into its genre. But it didn’t depict what a 1850s’ settlement would be. The flags were not like that since it was before the Civil War. That I suppose is its main drawback, but it was well told and didn’t have too much violence and was a relief with some fresh air about it. Good movie and worth a look at.”

Another shared their view: “Damn good piece of filmmaking. My mother’s aunt’s brother’s nephew’s wife’s cousin was on the California trail and said this was a very accurate picture. She said Cusack did an amazing job; he looks just like Dutch Albert and got all his mannerisms down. She also said Hirsch did a great job, too, and looks just like Patrick Tate and got him down pat, too.

“Very accurate performances, almost like they knew the men. She said the story was how it happened and corroborates everything. They even filmed on location where it happened and made it look exactly like it was. Great job!

“The story is a bit dark, so be in the mood. The tension and the storytelling are great, though. Overall, it’s a great movie to watch.”

Never Grow Old airs tonight (Sunday, January 25) on Film4 at 11.40pm.

The blackout arrives as the government has encouraged citizens to be ready for a ‘disaster’ lasting up to five days.

Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, has faced a widespread power outage after strong winds triggered a transmission problem, the state utility said, as the Arctic island contends with the fallout from the crisis fuelled by United States President Donald Trump’s territorial designs.

At about 10:30pm on Saturday (00:30 GMT, Sunday), social media users began reporting a sudden blackout that occurred at the same time, Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq reported.

The utility company posted on Facebook that gusty winds at the main Buksefjord hydroelectric power plant had caused “a line error on our transmission line” and that they were working to restore power with an emergency plant.

Water supplies were also affected in some areas, Sermitsiaq reported, as well as internet connectivity.

Power had been restored to 75 percent of the city’s population of about 20,000 by 3:30am on Sunday (5:30 GMT), the utility said in an update, calling on people to be conservative in their use of electrical devices as the utility continued to reboot.

The outage came on the heels of the government releasing a brochure with details about disaster preparedness that encouraged Greenlanders to store sufficient drinking water, food, medicine, warm clothing and alternative communication devices to last at least five days.

The government emphasised that the guidance was not an expression that a crisis was imminent. But Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, has been thrust into the geopolitical spotlight for weeks amid United States President Donald Trump’s escalating threats to seize the island.

Trump appeared to partly back off at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, claiming he had ruled out taking Greenland by force. He and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte had agreed on a “long-term” framework for a future deal involving Greenland and the Arctic region, the president said.

Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said much of the supposed deal was murky, including whether Trump would seek control of territory near US military bases, as some reports suggested.

“I don’t know what there is in the agreement, or the deal, about my country,” Nielsen said.

“But sovereignty is a red line,” he added.

WARNING: This report contains references to suicide.

Liverpool’s Paddy Pimblett suffered heartbreak against Justin Gaethje in his quest to claim a UFC interim title as he lost on points to the American in Las Vegas.

Pimblett, 31, was as brave as he was bloodied through five action-packed rounds that had both men swinging at the final bell.

Gaethje rolled back the years for a vintage performance, forcing Pimblett to raise his game to a new level and fight fire with fire.

Both men raised their arms at the end, but the judges rightly gave 37-year-old Gaethje the victory on all three scorecards.

“Paddy is right; Scousers do not get knocked out,” Gaethje said.

“My coach was definitely upset at me after the first round, but I just love this so much, it’s really hard to control myself sometimes.

“I knew I had to put him on his back foot, he is very dangerous and has great timing. I had to steal his momentum and confidence.”

With victory, Gaethje claimed the interim lightweight title for the second time and will now face absent champion Ilia Topuria once he returns from a personal hiatus.

Pimblett applauded Gaethje as the scorecards were read out, taking the fourth loss of his career with grace.

The Briton was the favourite going into the contest and showed incredible resilience and heart, but could not control the storm of Gaethje overall.

“I wanted to be walking away with that belt. I know how tough I am and I don’t need to prove that to anyone,” Pimblett said.

“I think 48-47 was a fair scorecard. I won’t lie, he hit me with a body shot in the first round and it got me. I thought I was winning the round up to that point.

“You live and you learn; I’m 31, I will be back better.”

Pimblett also used his post-fight interview to shine a light on mental health issues as he has done before in his career.

“In a few of my post-fight interviews before, I’ve mentioned men killing themselves; two lads who I know have killed themselves over the last few months,” Pimblett said.

“Men, speak up, don’t bottle your feelings up.”

There are many different approaches to making a tour film that captures the life of musicians on the road. Perhaps you focus on the highs of performance or the boredom of traveling, the anonymous backstage rooms and endless planes, buses and hotel rooms. But what if you made all of that seem really fun?

Directed by Tamra Davis, “The Best Summer,” which debuts at Sundance tonight in the Midnight section, is rooted in a box of videotapes that the filmmaker found early last year while evacuating from the fires near her longtime family home in Malibu. Though they are now separated, Davis still shares the compound with Michael Diamond, better known as Mike D of the group Beastie Boys. On those tapes was footage Davis shot in late 1995 and early 1996 as the band toured through Australia and Asia, sharing bills with the likes of Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Pavement, Beck, Rancid, the Amps and Bikini Kill.

“I just always had a camera in my hands,” Davis, 64, said in an interview conducted earlier this week. “I identify as a filmmaker. This is normal for me to have a camera in my hand. People don’t think twice about it. It’s so unobtrusive.”

A few days before Davis would drive to Park City, Utah, with her friend, neighbor and co-producer Shelby Meade, the two were sitting on the backyard patio of Davis’ Malibu home (it survived the fires just fine) as a couple of dogs ran around the yard. When she spots a hawk flying overhead, Davis calls for one of her two sons to be sure to round up the few chickens roaming around.

“The Best Summer” brings a blast of ’90s nostalgia to the festival. Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon are both expected to attend the screening as well.

A throughline for the movie is Davis and Hanna interviewing members of the bands, asking them a standard series of questions including their favorite color, what they’re reading and what their personal motto is before Hanna gets into trickier concepts about performance and persona, seemingly figuring those things out for herself in real time.

“With Mike, I filmed so much — every time I went out on the road with them,” says Davis. “So I had tons of Beastie Boys stuff. I didn’t know I had all of that other stuff. I filmed Foo Fighters and Beck and Pavement, I didn’t know I filmed any of that. I looked at it and I see, oh my gosh, I’m so diligent: Oh, I better get Pavement. Check.”

At the time of the tour, Davis had recently finished directing “Billy Madison,” which launched the movie career of Adam Sandler. Having made music videos for countless bands, including many on the tour, Davis had also directed Drew Barrymore in the 1992 noir remake “Guncrazy” and Chris Rock in the rap mockumentary “CB4.” She would go on to direct Dave Chappelle in “Half Baked” and Britney Spears in “Crossroads,” as well as work extensively on documentaries, including “Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child,” which played Sundance in 2010.

Mike D, left, MCA and Ad-Rock of Beastie Boys as seen in the documentary “The Best Summer,” premiering at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.

(Tamra Davis)

At the time of the Australian tour in “The Best Summer,” Davis and Diamond were newly married and there is a honeymoon vibe of sunny sweetness to the proceedings. The bands play for sprawling crowds in between lots of playful hangout time.

It was though manager John Silva, who works with a number of the bands in the movie, that Davis was able to start the process of getting permissions and untangling the tricky issues of music rights. She had to show each individual band the movie in order to get their approval.

“The only people I wanted notes from was the bands,” Davis says. “I work all the time with Netflix, Paramount, whatever, like all those things. I can’t get that note and then translate it to the band. But if Adam [Horovitz of the Beastie Boys] had a note or if Kim [Gordon of Sonic Youth] had a note, I would do those notes. And I felt so proud to do their note and be like, ‘Done, you’ve got that.’ That’s why I wanted to make sure it was self-funded because I could control it like that. It could just be between me and the artist. It’s just me doing the end credits.”

Working with editor Jessica Hernandez, Davis wanted to keep the loose feel of the original footage, including how she often would shoot entire songs in a single take, her camera moving from one musician to the next as one might naturally look at them from the audience. The raw sound comes from the built-in microphone on her camera. Some additional post-production work had to be done on the interview footage, but the audio of the concert footage is, for the most part, she says, unaltered.

“It’s like watching a memory,” said Davis. “And for me especially, to watch it again was like a ‘Black Mirror’ episode of going back and somebody being like: This is what it looked like from your point of view at this time. That was your experience.”

It’s something Davis has heard from other band members after showing them the film. “Adam said it felt like I reached into his brain and pulled out that memory,” she says. “He didn’t realize there was somebody filming it. So to him he was like: How did you know that memory existed in my head?”

Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, Kathleen Hanna, Tobi Vail, Tamra Davis and Alfredo Ortiz in the documentary “The Best Summer.”

(Mike Diamond)

Davis had previously put Hanna in the Sonic Youth video for their 1994 song “Bull in the Heather” as well as in a short film called “No Alternative Girls,” so the two already knew each other. But they latched onto each other during the tour, taking on the informal project of the interviews and collecting candid and revealing moments with Gordon, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus and others.

“It became like that friendship that you have at summer camp,” says Davis. “[Hanna] goes, I was so glad that you and I had that same energy where we were just these girls going into people’s dressing rooms, ‘OK, we’re here to interview you.’ We were just bored. We were trying to get something to do.”

It was Diamond who suggested to Davis that the end credits should say “Starring Kathleen Hanna” for the outsized role she has in the film. Another highlight of “The Best Summer” is when Hanna interviews Horovitz. The two would marry in 2006, and their moments together in the film have the energy of a rom-com meet-cute.

“She’s so bossy and she’s really forward,” said Davis. “And I’m pretty bossy too, but she’s just like, ‘Look, this is how it’s gonna go.’ And just her questions are so good. When I started to really put it together, I loved all of that. I think before I showed it to her, I texted her a couple times and I was like, ‘Kathleen, I’m making this movie and you’re all over it.’ And she was like, ‘Am I going to be embarrassed?’ And I’m like, ‘No, you’re going to love this.’”

Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon of the band Sonic Youth, as seen in the documentary “The Best Summer.”

(Tamra Davis)

One thing that jumps out watching the concert footage is the lack of cell phones, how the ubiquitous screens that one sees nowadays in the audience at shows did not yet exist.

“I think there’s an authenticity about it,” Davis says. “When I look at my female performers and the artists in this film, I love how they present themselves and how equal they seem with the men. I just feel that open acceptance of everybody. I know that my kids really like that world. When you see a whole video and they’re not cutting, there’s authenticity in that. Now we never have that experience of what that’s like, to have that connection with the band — and they’re connected to you as well.”

With a few possible feature film projects percolating, Davis has been at work on a memoir, currently scheduled to come out next year, that includes anecdotes of when she went to Italy as a teenager and found herself watching Federico Fellini shoot “City of Women” or hustled her way into shadowing Francis Ford Coppola as he made 1981’s “One From the Heart.”

As a woman working as a director in Hollywood in the 1990s, there were not a lot of choices presented to Davis and she often felt she had to make the most of whatever was available.

“Sometimes people are like, oh my God, it’s amazing you got to direct ‘Billy Madison,’ you got to direct Chris Rock in ‘CB4’ or ‘Half-Baked’ with Dave Chappelle. That’s what I was offered,” she recalls. “These were unknown comedians. They’d never done a feature film. As a girl, that’s what you get what’s offered. But then how do you turn that into something special? I thought those guys were the funniest people I’ve ever met in my life. So I direct like a fan.”

It’s a statement of purpose that’s guided Davis even as she’s ping-ponged between a huge amount of TV work, from “P-Valley” to the TV version of “High School Musical.”

“I become the best viewer for that show,” she says. “And so it’s not me imposing my style on them. It’s me appreciating how much I love that, what I’m seeing in front of me. And trying to get that best version across.”

Revisiting the ’90s while making “The Best Summer” has been a positive experience for Davis, one she hopes will resonate with others as well, not simply as a fun tour doc revisiting a very specific time, but also as a reminder the things can be small, personal and handmade.

“I’m think it’s exciting for young filmmakers to see that there’s a film in the festival that’s shot by one person,” she says. “It makes you feel like you don’t need to have a gigantic everything to make a movie. One person can make a film. I feel like that’s inspiring.

“And then I’m also excited as a woman of age that you can get a film into Sundance, that your career is not over,” she adds. “I always felt like, ‘Oh, you’re too young.’ Then it’s, ‘You’re too old.’ It was never the right time for me. But I felt like it was my time, so you just had to keep doing it.”

Jan. 24 (UPI) — Canadian officials might ink a trade deal with China, and U.S. President Donald Trump said that would trigger a 100% tariff on all Canadian goods sent to the United States.

Trump announced the new tariffs would take effect immediately if Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney turns Canada into a conduit for Chinese-made goods intended for the United States.

“If [Prime Minister] Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘drop off port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken,” the president said on Saturday in a social media post.

“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric and general way of life,” Trump said.

“If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% tariff against all Canadian goods and products coming into the U.S.A.”

In a subsequent post, the president said the world does not need China to “take over Canada,” and the proposed trade deal will not “even come close to happening.”

Carney met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing last week and made a deal to lower some of the tariffs imposed by one another on some of their trade goods.

China will lower its tariffs on Canadian agricultural products, while Canada will lower its tariff on up to 49,000 electric vehicles that are made in China.

The Canadian government in 2024 placed tariffs on Chinese vehicles in 2024 in a coordinated effort with the United States.

During the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Carney earlier this week told an audience that the international order led by the United States is done.

He criticized the use of tariffs by leading economic powers, which he said exploits the vulnerabilities of smaller nations and their respective economies.

Many viewed it as a thinly veiled criticism of Trump and his tariff policies.

Trade tensions arose between the United States and Canada over the past year as the president has sought to counteract tariffs on U.S. goods sent to its neighbor to the north.

Trump also has suggested making Canada the United States’ 51st state, which rankled many to the north.

Polls have opened in Myanmar for the third and final round of a controversial general election, with a military-backed party on course for a landslide win amid a raging civil war.

Voting began in 60 townships, including in the cities of Yangon and Mandalay, at 6am local time on Sunday (23:30 GMT, Saturday).

Critics say the polls are neither free nor fair, and are designed to legitimise military rule in Myanmar, nearly five years after the country’s generals ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, leading to a civil war that has killed thousands and displaced more than 3.5 million people.

Aung San Suu Kyi remains in detention and, like several other opposition groups, her National League for Democracy (NLD) has been dissolved, tilting the political playing field in favour of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is leading in the polls.

So far, the USDP has secured 193 out of 209 seats in the lower house, and 52 out of 78 seats in the upper house, according to the election commission.

That means that along with the military, which is allocated 166 seats, the two already hold just under 400 seats, comfortably surpassing the 294 needed to come to power.

Seventeen other parties have won a small number of seats in the legislature, ranging from one to 10, according to the election commission.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who heads the current military government, is widely expected by both supporters and opponents to assume the presidency when the new parliament meets.

The military has announced that the parliament will be convened in March, and the new government will take up its duties in April.

While the military has pledged that the election will return power to the people, rights monitors said the run-up was beset with coercion and the crushing of dissent, warning that the vote will only tighten the military’s grip on power.

A new Election Protection Law imposed harsh penalties for most public criticism of the polls, with the authorities charging more than 400 people recently for activities such as leafleting or online activity.

Ahead of the third round of voting, Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, also called for the rejection of its outcome, calling it “fraudulent”.

“Only an illegitimate government can emerge from an illegitimate election,” he wrote on X on Saturday.

“As Myanmar’s election ends, the world must reject it as fraudulent while rejecting what follows as simply military rule in civilian clothing.”

Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamad Hasan told Parliament on Tuesday that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, did not send observers and would not certify the election, citing concerns over the lack of inclusive and free participation.

His comments were the first clear statement that the 11-member regional bloc will not recognise the election results.

In Myanmar’s second city of Mandalay, Zaw Ko Ko Myint, a 53-year-old teacher, cast his vote at a high school around dawn.

“Although I do not expect much, we want to see a better country,” he told the AFP news agency. “I feel relieved after voting, as if I fulfilled my duty.”

The previous two phases of the election have been marked by low voter turnout of about 55 percent, well ⁠below the turnout of about 70 percent recorded in Myanmar’s 2020 and 2015 general elections.

Official results are expected late this week, but the USDP could claim victory as soon as Monday.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD thrashed the USDP in the last elections in 2020, before the military seized power on February 1, 2021.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors human rights abuses in the country, at least 7,705 people have been killed since the outbreak of the civil war, while 22,745 remain detained.

But the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a monitoring group that tallies media reports of violence, estimates more than 90,000 have been killed on all sides of the conflict.

Rachel Duffy, who was the first female Traitor to win the series, claimed she’d been trained by a former FBI agent prior to going on The Traitors, in order to help her sniff out the deceitful

Rachel Duffy has come clean about the “obvious lie” she told on The Traitors. She claimed that she had “months” of FBI training but has now admitted that this was not completely true.

Whilst on The Traitors, Rachel was one of the original murderous trio who the Faithfuls were trying to catch. As she and fellow Traitor Stephen both reached the end, they took the prize pot, splitting £95,000 between the two of them.

One claim that made Rachel seem more trustworthy to the Faithfuls was that she had completed months of FBI training, helping her notice microexpressions that happen on liars’ faces. She used this claim whenever she was questioned on how she could know with such certainty that Fiona was a Traitor.

READ MORE: Traitors star Faraaz Noor ‘threw away’ £95,750 prize thanks to one terrible decisionREAD MORE: The Traitors winner Rachel Duffy plans to publish fantasy novel after £47,000 prize

But, she has now told The Mirror that this was not the entire truth. “I did one of [the FBI agent’s] training courses, but I did… I obviously lied,” she admitted.

“And so I had said it was a four-month online course… but it was more of like a one-day course on an e-book. But it did help because it gave me something in my back pocket.”

Rachel has also shared that though she has no plans for further reality TV appearances, she is thinking of writing a book. “No immediate plans to go for reality TV. I think I’ve done enough with that one.” she said.

“I think my focus now is on the kids and potentially bringing my book to life. So I’ve written a book, taken 10 years to write it… it’s about murder and lies… a contemporary fantasy novel for young adults all about Irish redheads in a magical forest.”

Family pride in Rachel ran deep according to the proud mum: “My husband was the only one that knew, and he’d never watched the show. So when I told him… he said, ‘that’s great’, and ‘oh, good job’… My little kids watched last night with the family and they just couldn’t get over it.”

Rachel was the first female Traitor to win the series and she and Stephen were the first Traitor pair to win together. Prior winners have either been groups of Faithfuls or a single male Traitor.

The pair’s win largely came down to a pact they made early on. After they both turned on their other Traitor Hugo, they agreed not to dob each other in. That pact lasted all the way to the end.

In the tense final, Rachel repeatedly told Stephen that she would not turn on him but both of them seemed to waver, with Rachel even agreeing with Faraaz to vote Stephen out. But when it came to the roundtable, she and Stephen both got rid of Faraaz instead, whilst he voted for Stephen and Jack voted for Rachel.

Then they both teamed up to get rid of Jack, leaving them as the only two left in the game. As such, they split £95,000 between the two of them.

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Syrian defence ministry says extension aims to help transfer of ISIL prisoners from facilities previously held by SDF.

A ceasefire agreement between Syria’s military and Kurdish-led forces has been extended for 15 days, the Syrian Ministry of Defence announced.

The ministry said late on Saturday that the extension, which began at 11pm local time (20:00 GMT), aims to support a United States operation to transfer ISIL (ISIS) prisoners from detention facilities previously controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The SDF also confirmed that the ceasefire was extended, stressing in a statement that the deal “contributes to de-escalation, the protection of civilians, and the creation of the necessary conditions for stability”.

Reporting from the Syrian capital Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Ayman Oghanna said the announcement has spurred a feeling of relief in the country.

“While this ceasefire is welcome in Syria, there’s still a lot of concern because the central issue that has caused the fighting between the SDF and the government hasn’t been resolved,” he said.

“And that issue is integration: integrating SDF fighters and civil institutions into [Syrian] government institutions.”

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa signed a deal with the SDF in March of last year to integrate the group into state institutions following the fall of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad.

But the plan faltered amid disagreements between the two sides over how best to implement the agreement, spurring a wave of deadly clashes in several parts of the country in recent weeks.

Earlier this week, Damascus announced a four-day truce to halt a wave of fighting that saw Syrian government forces rapidly advance and seize territory previously held by the SDF.

Syrian ​forces were approaching a last cluster of Kurdish-held cities in the northeast when the ‍ceasefire was announced on Tuesday, giving the SDF until Saturday night to come up with a plan to integrate with Syria’s army.

The advance has brought key oil fields, hydroelectric dams and some facilities holding ISIL fighters and affiliated civilians – including al-Aqtan prison in Raqqa province – under government control.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has been calling on both the Syrian government and the SDF to ensure that the ceasefire holds.

On Wednesday, Washington announced it had begun transferring ISIL-linked detainees from Syria to Iraq. The US military has said as many as 7,000 people could be transferred to Iraqi-controlled facilities.

“We are closely coordinating with regional partners, including the Iraqi government, and we sincerely appreciate their role in ensuring the enduring defeat of ISIS,” US Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US forces in the Middle East, said.

Al-Maliki remains a potent force despite longstanding claims he fuelled sectarianism and failed to stop ISIL expansion.

Iraqi former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is on the verge of a return to power after being nominated as the country’s next premier by an alliance of Shia political blocs that hold a majority in parliament.

The Shia Coordination Framework said on Saturday that it had picked al-Maliki, leader of the Islamic Dawa Party, as its nominee for the post based on his “political and administrative experience and his role in managing the state”.

A central figure in Iraq’s politics, the 75-year-old first became prime minister in 2006, as the country appeared to be unravelling amid a wave of violence unleashed by the United States-led invasion of 2003.

He stepped down after ISIL (ISIS) seized large parts of the country in 2014, but has remained an influential political player, leading the State of Law coalition and maintaining close ties with Iran-backed factions.

The move paves the way for negotiations aimed at forming a new government, which will need to manage powerful armed groups close to Iran, such as Asaib Ahl al-Haq, while facing growing pressure from Washington to dismantle them.

Potent force

Al-Maliki was Iraq’s only two-term premier since the US-led invasion, and had, over the years, managed to appease both Tehran and Washington, becoming a powerbroker whose approval is considered indispensable to any governing coalition.

He remains a potent force in Iraqi politics despite longstanding accusations that he fuelled sectarian strife and failed to stop ISIL from seizing large areas of the country a decade ago.

The politician spent nearly a quarter of a century in exile after campaigning against the governance of former President Saddam Hussein, but returned to Iraq in the wake of the 2003 invasion that toppled the longtime leader.

He became a member of the de-Baathification commission that barred members of Saddam’s Baath party from public office.

The US-authored programme was widely blamed for fuelling the rise of post-invasion rebel groups by purging thousands of experienced civil servants who were disproportionately Sunni.

Two stars of The Night Manager season two appeared in a beloved period drama on Apple TV+

*Warning – This article contains major spoilers for The Night Manager season 2.*

A “breathtaking” period drama with The Night Manager stars has had fans watching it “on repeat”. The Night Manager has returned for its second season on BBC One, with Tom Hiddleston reprising his role as Jonathan Pine.

The first season of the hit BBC thriller aired back in 2016, and centred around Jonathan, the night manager of a luxury hotel in Cairo, who was also a former British solider. At the start of the series, Jonathan was recruited by Angela Burr (Olivia Colman), the manager of a Foreign Office task force investigating illegal arms sale. He was tasked with infiltrating the inner circle of arms deal Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie).

The start of the second season saw Angela identify Richard’s body, but a shock twist was later unveiled, as Richard was confirmed to be alive and working with his son Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva) in Colombia.

Jonathan was reunited with Angela last week, who revealed that Richard had threatened her family if she didn’t comply with his orders to fake his death. An explosive set of events then ensued, as Jonathan rushed to stop Teddy killing a young boy, with Richard soon learning of Jonathan’s reappearance in his life.

Ahead of the penultimate episode of season two airing on BBC One tonight (Sunday, January 25), fans might be interested to watch another drama with two of this season’s stars.

Tom Hiddleston and his season two co-star Hayley Squires, who plays Jonathan’s colleague Sally Price-Jones, both star in Gothic romance series The Essex Serpent.

Based on the novel of the same name by Sarah Perry, the six-part period drama is set in the Victorian era and tells the story of Cora Seaborne (Claire Danes) who moves from London to Essex, relishing her newfound freedom after being widowed by her abusive husband.

She becomes intrigued by the myth of a creature known as the Essex Serpent, leading her to the community’s spiritual leader, Will Ransome (played by Tom), as she seeks to uncover the origins of the creature. “But when tragedy strikes, locals accuse her of attracting the creature,” the synopsis adds.

Actress Hayley played Martha, a highly intelligent servant in Cora’s household, acting as her closest confidante. The show’s cast also includes Frank Dillane, Clémence Poésy, Jamael Westman, Lily-Rose Aslandogdu, Gerard Kearns, Michael Jibson, Caspar Griffiths, and Dixie Egerickx.

Ryan Reffell, Nitin Ganatra, Christopher Fairbank, Deepica Stephen, Yaamin Chowdhury and Greta Bellamacina round out the stacked cast.

Filming for The Essex Serpent began in February 2021 in a number of Essex locations, including Alresford, Brightlingsea, North Fambridge and Maldon, as well as across London, including Gordon Square in Bloomsbury. The show debuted on Apple TV+ in May 2022, where it received positive reviews from critics and viewers alike.

“What a joy to watch. Everything about this is first class from the minute it starts to the end. Beautifully filmed with a lot of scenes that are utterly breathtaking. Such an emotional and complex story,” one person wrote on IMDb.

Another added: “This series is absolutely exquisite! Every detail from the cinematography, music, writing, setting and acting all blend together in perfect harmony. The themes of social and economic class disparities, science, scapegoating, superstition, faith and of course infinite love, weave together effortlessly to make this a very powerful story.”

A third said: “I’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of The Essex Serpent. It did not disappoint, I’ve been a fan of Tom Hiddleston a long time, and he yet again gives another great performance. I love Claire Danes role as Cora, she makes me want to be more carefree as her. A beautiful forbidden romance, mystery, and a struggle with one’s own beliefs reign in this show. Eager for more.”

A fourth fan echoed the sentiment, saying: “Mesmerising from the start, and thoroughly captivating to the end. The story is brilliant, the characters solid, and the eerie mood of the Essex estuaries is masterfully captured on screen. All the events, along with the terrifying and exciting music, made me fall in love with this series. I keep watching it on repeat.”

The Essex Serpent is available to stream on Apple TV+, while The Night Manager airs every Sunday at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer

For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new Everything Gossip website

Jan. 24 (UPI) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed hope for ending the nearly four-year-old war started by Russia after the first trilateral talks concluded on Saturday in Abu Dhabi.

Zelensky was not among his country’s representatives but said six Ukrainian officials negotiated with Russian military intelligence and armed forces representatives, while the United States sent Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Dan Driscoll, Alexus Grynkewich and Josh Gruenbaum to help create a viable framework for ending the war.

He thanked officials from the United Arab Emirates for hosting the talks, which he described as “constructive,” and said Ukraine is ready to move forward on securing an agreement to end the war.

“The central focus of the discussions was the possible parameters for ending the war,” Zelensky said in a post on X.

Such parameters would include participation from U.S. officials to help encourage a peace agreement.

“I highly value the understanding of the need for American monitoring and oversight of the process of ending the war and ensuring genuine security,” Zelensky said, adding that U.S. officials asked which “security conditions” might be required to secure the peace.

He said the Russian military contingent identified several issues to be discussed if another meeting is held, and attendees are to report on the talks with their respective national leaders.

The talks were held for two days and were the first in which Russian and Ukrainian officials met to negotiate an end to the war that started when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump met while in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this week to discuss the talks that were held on Friday and Saturday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is winning the war and is prepared to continue fighting until all military objectives are achieved, no matter how many Russian troops are killed, The New York Times reported.

Russia also launched an aerial attack early Saturday morning that sent more than 350 drones and 15 missiles to strike targets in Kyiv and Kharkiv.

The attack killed one and damaged a hospital and maternity ward, Ukrainian officials said.

The U.S. contingent acted as mediators to help ensure the talks are more productive and stand a better chance of ending with a viable peace deal that ends the fighting.

A 37-year-old Minneapolis man, who is believed to be a US citizen, has been killed by a federal agent.

Greg Bovino, Border Patrol commander said that officers tried to disarm an individual who “violently resisted”.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he spoke to the White House after “another horrific shooting by federal agents”.

More on this story.

Amber Gill, who won Love Island in 2019, has issued a hilarious takedown on Curtis Pritchard after her former co-star returned to the villa yet again

Amber Gill has issued a scathing attack on Curtis Pritchard after he returned to the Love Island villa again. The TV star, 28, shot to fame when she and then-boyfriend Greg O’Shea emerged victorious from the ITV2 dating series in 2019, on which Curtis also appeared, finishing in fourth place with then-girlfriend Maura Higgins.

The pair called time on their relationship shortly after leaving the show and Curtis has since returned to the villa to try to find love again on the spin-off All Stars spin-off, having made his entrance to the programme as a Bombshell earlier this week. It comes after he signed up to appear on Love Island Games in 2023, and also finished in third place on last year’s edition of All Stars alongside Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu.

READ MORE: Love Island star Greg O’Shea marries model girlfriend 6 years after winning ITV2 showREAD MORE: Inside Maura Higgins’ unstoppable rise as Love Island star is darling of the Golden Globes

As Amber watched Curtis’s arrival on screen, she took to TikTok to post a video where she demanded to know just why Curtis has appeared time and time again on various formats of the show. She began: “I’m not being funny but how many times do we need to see this guy do the salsa?

“I mean, like, all love but it’s been seven years man [since he first appeared on the show], how many times do I have to watch him with the f****n’ budgie smugglers on f****n’ waltzing about the place with a headpiece on doing the splits and that. Like how many timesssss!”

The news of Curtis’ latest return to the villa was also revealed on social media, with a post from the show’s official account. Alongside a shirtless picture of Curtis, the caption read: “Bringing Bombshell confidence and hoping for less drama this time round, Curtis is dancing back into the All Stars Villa!”

Ekin wrote: “Just chocked on my Nando’s,” and received over 300 replies. Amber said: “You’re kidding me”, and Ronnie Vint wrote: “Anyone wanna coffee.” Sammy Root wrote: “Who’s idea was that”.

A fan then commented: “This has to be the last love island all stars I’m sorry how many times can we recycle.” Meanwhile, on the post that announced that Lucinda Strafford would also be making a comeback was flooded with comments about how many times she had been on the show before, one fan wrote: “Only just won love island games? She shouldn’t be on the show.” Another said: “Nooo she needs to rest!! She just won love island games.”

During his first time in the Love Island villa, Curtis became best known for making coffees in the morning in what soon became a viral moment. Speaking of his All Stars stint, he said: “I feel like I’m in a different stage in my life.

“The idea of settling down is a serious idea in my life right now. I haven’t found my true love… that sounds so cheesy doesn’t it. So, I thought, let’s give it another go. It was great fun last time; a lot of emotions. I feel excited to go back. I’m going to have a great fun time and hopefully leave with someone. It’s exciting.”

Asked if his comment followed him everywhere, he added: “It follows me everywhere! In hindsight, if I do find a girl this time, I will perhaps cuddle her in bed rather than make coffee… so Amy taught me a lesson.” Curtis is said to have “jumped” at the opportunity after splitting from his partner Sophie Sheridan towards the end of last year.

Curtis’ most recent relationship was with performer Sophie, with them believed to have met when they appeared in a pantomime production of Cinderella in Wolverhampton in 2021. There was speculation about a possible romance between them the following year and it was reported that they rekindled a romance following his stint on Love Island Games

Love Island All Stars airs on ITV2 and is available on ITVX.

It is a deal that ended years of uncertainty over the future of TikTok in the United States.

More than 200 million people in the US can continue using the Chinese video-sharing platform.

Concerns about national security triggered a debate on banning the app almost six years ago.

To address the concerns, an agreement to create a TikTok-US joint venture was reached between Washington and Beijing.

A number of US investors will now control the newly formed entity.

But why did TikTok become such a big political issue in the US?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Einar Tangen – senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation

Sarah Kreps – founder and director of the Technology Policy Institute at Cornell University

Anupam Chander – professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center

These are the key developments from day 1,431 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is where things stand on Sunday, January 25:

Fighting

• Russian forces launched another major attack on Ukraine overnight on Saturday, killing at least one person and wounding four in the capital, Kyiv, and leaving 1.2 million properties without power nationwide, according to officials.
• Kyiv’s military administration reported strikes in at least four districts in the capital and said a medical facility was among the buildings damaged. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Russia targeted the capital and four regions in the country’s north and east.
• Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the worst-affected in the capital was the northeastern suburb of Troyeshchyna, where 600 buildings were without power, water and heat.
• Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia unleashed 375 drones and 21 missiles, including two of its rarely deployed Tsirkon ballistic missiles.
• At least 30 people, including a child, were also wounded during the same attack in the country’s second-largest city of Kharkiv. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said 25 drones had hit several districts in the city. Among those struck was a dormitory for displaced people and two medical facilities, including a maternity hospital, Terekhov wrote on Telegram.
• Ukrainian Minister of Energy Denys Shmyhal wrote on Telegram late on Saturday that more than 800,000 Kyiv households were still without power, as were a further 400,000 in the Chernihiv region, north of the capital.

• Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said more than 3,200 buildings in Kyiv remained without heating in the late evening, down from 6,000 in the morning. Night-time temperatures were hovering around -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit).

• Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha denounced the attack as “barbaric” in a statement posted on X. He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of acting “cynically” for launching the attack amid United States-led trilateral talks on the war in the United Arab Emirates.
• In Russia, Ukrainian forces launched a “massive” attack on the border region of Belgorod on Saturday, damaging energy infrastructure, but causing no casualties. Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov described the incident as “the most massive shelling of the town of Belgorod”.
• Gladkov said the attack damaged “energy sites” and that fragments of a downed drone triggered a fire in a courtyard of a building. Reports from the area also said the shelling and sounds of explosions had gone on for some time.

• The Russian Ministry of Defence said its forces had completed the takeover of the village of Starytsya in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, close to the border with Russia.

• The General Staff of Ukraine’s military said Russian forces had launched six attacks on an area including Starytsya. But it made no acknowledgement that the village had been captured by Russian forces.

Diplomacy

• Ukraine and Russia ended their second day of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi without a peace deal, with more talks expected next weekend, amid the massive Russian strikes across Ukraine.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X following the meeting that “the central focus” of the discussions was “the possible parameters for ending the war”, but he did not say if the negotiators were close to a deal.
• More discussions are expected next Sunday in Abu Dhabi, according to a US official who spoke to reporters immediately after the talks. The official, who requested anonymity, said negotiators “saw a lot of respect” during the discussions, “because they were really looking to find solutions”.
• The US official also voiced hopes for further talks, possibly in Moscow or Kyiv, beyond next week’s discussions in Abu Dhabi, adding that the next step would be a possible bilateral discussion between Putin and Zelenskyy, or a trilateral meeting that includes US President Donald Trump.
• An unnamed UAE government spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that there was face-to-face engagement between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi – rare in the almost four-year-old war triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion – and said negotiators tackled “outstanding elements” of Trump’s peace framework.

• The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also hinted at the prospects of additional talks with Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul after negotiations in Abu Dhabi, adding that Moscow remains open to a continuation of dialogue, the Russian state RIA news agency reported.

The Masked Singer viewers took to social media to brand the ITV show ‘rigged’ after Anton Du Beke and Kate Nash were eliminated in a double unmasking on Saturday night

Viewers of The Masked Singer have criticised the ITV competition show, claiming the ‘best singers’ are being knocked out following a double elimination on Saturday night (January 24). As The Masked Singer returned for another instalment, the judges were challenged with working out who was behind the remaining costumes after three previous unveilings.

Judges Maya Jama, Jonathan Ross, Mo Gilligan, and Davina McCall were joined on Saturday night’s episode (January 24) by guest panellist Perrie Edwards, famous for being in girl group Little Mix. This week, Perrie and the fellow judges opted to vote out Arctic Fox after the studio audience automatically sent home Monkey Business with the lowest public vote.

Singer Kate Nash, famous for her track Foundations, was unveiled as the celebrity inside the Monkey Business outfit, while Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke was revealed when the panel voted out Arctic Fox, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Following the double elimination – the first of the series – fans flocked to social media to claim the programme is ‘rigged’ after the ‘best singers’ were sent packing. Over wrote: “Absolutely rigged.” Another said: “This whole thing is rigged. Why would you vote off Monkey Business and then go on to save Red Panda.”

A third said: “What what #maskedsingeruk this is stupid ! ! ? ? Joke best singers eliminated!” Another asked: “Why are all the good performs being unmasked and yet the others just because they are wearing a cute costume they stay?”

Anton Du Beke delivered a stunning performance of Barbara Streisand’s Woman in Love, whilst Kate Nash belted out Georgia Brown’s As Long As He Needs Me.

Anton Du Beke and Kate Nash joined the growing list of unmasked celebrities on this series of The Masked Singer, following revelations including The One Show host Alex Jones, rapper Professor Green, Sex Pistols legend John Lydon, and last week’s unveiling of Shakespears Sister vocalist Marcella Detroit.

Who: Arsenal vs Manchester United
What: English Premier League
Where: Emirates Stadium, London, United Kingdom
When: Sunday, January 23, at 4:30pm (16:30 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the buildup on Al Jazeera Sport from 17:00 GMT in advance of our text commentary stream.

Premier League leaders Arsenal are the hot favourites to lift their first English title since 2004, but face an unlikely – and unpredictable – threat from a rejuvenated Manchester United on Sunday.

Even before the sacking of Ruben Amorim as manager, the Red Devils were showing signs of life, having lifted themselves from the 15th-place finish they suffered last season to challenging for a Champions League place this term.

The Gunners hold a four-point lead over second-placed Manchester City, following their win against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, but do hold a game in hand, and they were done a sizeable favour last weekend by United, who beat their cross-city rivals.

That performance, under Michael Carrick’s interim management, has lit a fire under Sunday’s match to evoke memories of clashes when the Gunners and the Red Devils were the two teams to be stopped either side of the turn of the century.

Al Jazeera Sport takes a closer look at the highly anticipated – and likely highly-charged – encounter.

Arsenal must be wary of reinvigorated Manchester United

Ahead of Sunday’s match against United, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta flagged ‍concerns over their opponents’ renewed intensity under Carrick.

United beat second-placed Manchester City 2-0 in a thrilling derby display, which allowed Arsenal to extend their lead at the top of the table to seven points. Arteta, though, acknowledged that his team will now be heavily tested.

“Yes, with Michael coming in, it’s going to bring new ideas; the intensity rises up – you could see [it] in the Manchester derby with their behaviour and the game that they ‍played,” Arteta said.

“We expect a tough match, but we will adapt to that for sure. We are at home, and we know how important that is going to be for us.”

How do Arsenal shape up for Manchester United’s visit?

Gabriel Jesus and Viktor Gyokeres are competing for a place in the starting lineup after both forwards impressed in Tuesday’s 3-1 Champions League win against Inter Milan. Jesus scored twice, while substitute Gyokeres also found the net.

“We were waiting for that with ​the amount of games that are coming up, and they are all ‌going to have opportunities and minutes, so great to have them back and, especially, to have them in good form,” he said.

Arteta ‌also addressed Arsenal’s decision to send teenage midfielder Ethan Nwaneri on loan to Olympique de Marseille.

“At the end, you have to be thrown to the sharks ‌in an incredible atmosphere and club. It’s going to make so ⁠much good,” Arteta said of the move.

Arsenal ‘far from perfect’ despite topping Premier and Champions leagues

Arteta said his side had room for improvement, despite being unbeaten in their last 12 matches and winning all seven of their Champions League games this season, while Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola called Arsenal the ‌best team in the world.

“I think we’re the team that wants to be constantly better. We are doing a lot of things right, but we are far from perfect, and our only aim is to sustain ‍the level we are doing and try to improve again,” Arteta said.

“You need to dominate all the phases in the game if we want to have the chance to win major trophies.”

Manchester United must not get carried away at Arsenal

United may ‌have lifted the mood around Old Trafford with their derby win over City, ‍but ‍Carrick on Friday urged his squad to balance renewed confidence with caution ahead of their trip to north London.

Carrick’s attack-minded side swept away the gloom hanging over the club with second-half goals from Bryan ​Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu last weekend, underlining their dominance against a disappointing City whose title ‍hopes suffered a significant setback.

“It has been a good week: a big result, a big performance and a big uplift with the feeling inside the stadium,” Carrick said ahead of Sunday’s clash.

“It is finding a balance ‍between getting the ⁠encouragement and confidence from the game and performance, and keeping level-headed and keeping our feet on the ground.

“We have got another big game coming up. One game does not make you a great team, but it gives us a great foundation to build on.

“[I’m] looking forward to the game; it’s a big challenge. They’re a very ​good team. They have so many strong points to their game. They ‌are where they are for a reason, we’re fully aware of that,” the 44-year-old Englishman added.

Casemiro still integral to United, despite imminent departure

Carrick also addressed the future of Brazilian midfielder Casemiro, who announced on Thursday that he will leave the club at the end of the season, ‌when his contract expires.

Although the 33-year-old has a one-year extension option, a team source said the club has chosen not to ‌activate it.

Casemiro arrived at Old Trafford from Real Madrid in ⁠2022 for about 60 million pounds ($81.11m) and played a key role in United’s 2023 League Cup triumph, scoring in the final, as well as being part of their 2024 FA Cup win.

“The Casemiro announcement was for clarity as much ‌as anything,” Carrick said. “It was decided before I arrived; it wasn’t a knee-jerk decision.

“But the type of personality and character he is, it shows with his performance last week, where he is mentally, ‍and what it means to be here and finish the season strong.

“I’ve had the conversation with him. He’s desperate to do well and finish well.”

Mainoo can be United’s main man for years to come

With Casemiro on the way out, Carrick was eager to turn his attention to Kobbie Mainoo, who he said has the quality and character to become a key player for the club after a frustrating spell during Ruben Amorim’s reign.

Mainoo started for the first time in the Premier League this season in the win against City.

The 20-year-old had, however, shot to prominence in the 2023/24 season under Erik ten Hag, scoring as United beat City in the FA Cup final and playing a starring role in England’s run to the Euro 2024 final.

However, he struggled for game time during Amorim’s ill-fated 14-month spell as the Portuguese coach defied calls to play Mainoo alongside club captain Bruno Fernandes.

“This club needs young players coming through and being the foundation for what it means, not just for the players or the squad, but for the club and for the supporters,” said Carrick at his pre-match news conference ahead of Sunday’s trip to Premier League leaders Arsenal.

“I think that is something that we need to grasp, and we need to keep building on.

“Kobbie is a prime example. To come through so quickly and have the rapid rise, to play in some unbelievably big games and impact those big games at such a young age, shows an awful lot of quality, and in the terms of the character, and to be able to handle it.

“Part of a career is a few ups and downs, and sometimes, it goes in different trajectories. But I think we’ve seen last week what Kobbie can bring.”

What effect did United’s win against City have on Carrick’s team?

Victory over City lifted fifth-placed United to within one point of the Premier League’s top four. With fourth-placed Liverpool’s defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday, the Red Devils can move two points clear in fourth with victory against the Gunners.

The mood around Old Trafford was also transformed by the positive performance. Carrick is hoping it can be the foundation towards a positive end to the season as United aim to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in three years.

“It was a big result, big performance and a big uplift with the feeling inside the stadium,” added Carrick.

“It’s getting that balance between taking the encouragement and the confidence from the game, and keeping level-headed and our feet on the ground.

“One game doesn’t make you a great team, but it gives us a great foundation to build, so there’s a lot of confidence.”

What happened last time Arsenal played United?

Manchester United provided a stern test for Arsenal in the first Premier League meeting of the season, with Amorim’s side the better of the teams but the Gunners seeing off the challenge with a 1-0 win.

Riccardo Calafiori scored the only goal of the game at Old Trafford in the 14th minute.

Head-to-head

This will be the 255th meeting between two of English football’s great rivals, with United winning 99 of the matches. Arsenal have emerged victorious on 90 occasions.

Arsenal team news

Arsenal have this week welcomed the return of ‌Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapie to training following injuries.

Arteta was unsure whether Calafiori, out since last ‍month with a ⁠muscle injury, and Hincapie, who suffered a groin injury earlier this month, will be ready to join Arsenal’s defence this weekend after returning to training on Friday.

The manager added that forward Kai Havertz is nearing full recovery, leaving winger Max Dowman as the sole player sidelined by injury.

Arsenal’s possible predicted lineup (4-3-3)

Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Odegaard, Zubimendi, Rice, Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard

Manchester United team news

Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt remains United’s biggest absentee, remaining sidelined with a back injury.

Joshua Zirkzee has picked up a knock, so he will have to pass a medical. Noussair Mazraoui is expected to be available, having returned from the Africa Cup of Nations, where he was a defeated finalist with Morocco.

Manchester United’s predicted starting lineup (4-2-3-1)

Lammens, Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw, Mainoo, Casemiro, Diallo, Fernandes, Dorgu, Mbeumo

Real Madrid win 2-0 at third-placed Villarreal to climb past rivals Barcelona to the summit of the La Liga table.

Kylian Mbappe netted twice to claim a 2-0 win for Real Madrid at Villarreal and take his side to the top of La Liga.

Alvaro Arbeloa’s team moved two points clear of rivals Barcelona, who host Real Oviedo on Sunday.

La Liga’s top scorer Mbappe reached 21 goals for the season in the competition to help Madrid see off a spirited Villarreal side on Saturday, now fourth in the table.

Arbeloa’s side have won three consecutive matches across all competitions, and victory at Villarreal could be a vital step in the revival of their season.

After the shock Copa del Rey defeat at second-tier Albacete, in Arbeloa’s first match at the helm, his Madrid have started to take shape.

The coach has made clear how important his star players are, and none has been more crucial this season than Mbappe.

It was a lively but imprecise start at Villarreal’s Estadio de la Ceramica, as the game glowed but neither side was able to seriously threaten.

Georges Mikautadze lashed a volley narrowly wide after veteran forward Gerard Moreno found him with a floating cross.

At the other end, Madrid midfielder Arda Guler fired straight at Villarreal stopper Luiz Junior after some tidy footwork, and then shot high over the bar at the end of a swift break.

Villarreal’s Juan Foyth limped off hurt in a blow for the hosts, who created a good chance for Pape Gueye just before the break.

The Senegal midfielder, a champion at the Africa Cup of Nations last weekend, powered narrowly wide of the post.

Vinicius, who excelled in Madrid’s Champions League 6-1 rout of Monaco in midweek, also came close, with a rasping effort across Luiz Junior’s goal and wide.

The 25-year-old Brazil forward went a 13th straight La Liga match without scoring, but he was involved as Mbappe opened the scoring two minutes into the second half.

Vinicius came into the box from the left flank, and his low cross was blocked, but Mbappe was on hand to squeeze home his 20th league goal of the campaign from close range.

Villarreal had the better of the second half as they worked hard to pull level, but Moreno spurned their best chance by firing inches over when well-placed.

In stoppage time, Mbappe was clumsily felled by Alfonso Pedraza in the box, and the French forward cheekily dinked home the resulting penalty to seal Madrid’s victory.

Nearly 500 people have stopped to sign a giant replica of the birthday card President Trump gave to the convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday. The clandestine arts activism group Secret Handshake erected the pop-up monument Monday on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The messages speak volumes about this singular moment in history, and the president who has consumed much of the world’s oxygen for the past decade. Secret Handshake provided The Times with a sampling of its favorite offerings, which I’m listing below. Taken together with the 10-foot-tall card made of plywood and metal piping, the words of passersby represent their own form of protest art.

“Quiet Piggy”

“The Epstein Files is to Trump what Heel is to Achilles”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that.”

“You have ruined so many lives!”

“Shame to all who don’t stand up to him”

“We are all immigrants!”

“CONGRESS – DO SOMETHING!”

“Your MAGA base is becoming disillusioned”

“Do not let the victims be forgotten”

“25th Amendment”

“Where are Republicans?”

“Listen to Women!”

“America’s Worst President”

“The truth will be revealed. Justice will be served.”

“Redacted!”

“It’s WE the people!”

“This is how Trump’s kids found out their dad does send birthday cards”

“We don’t want GREENLAND, what we want is THE EPSTEIN FILES”

“Congress do better for the people – stand up!”

“Do not reject the evidence”

“I hope you get your 25th birthday present!”

“The time is always right to do what is right”

“SEND HELP!”

To date, Secret Handshake has claimed responsibility for five other subversive Trump-related artworks on the National Mall, including a 12-foot statue depicting Trump and Epstein holding hands, titled, “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” which was removed by the National Park Service less than 24 hours after it was put up — only to be reinstalled almost a week later after the group triumphed in a protracted permitting battle. There was also “Poop Desk,” a bronze art installation featuring a pile of feces on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk.

“We’re big fans of birthdays in general because they’re really a time when you can take a moment to appreciate and celebrate the ones you love. And we believe President Trump is as well — he even had a big military parade for his own last year,” Secret Handshake wrote in an email. “So taking a cue from his own seeming love of birthdays, we wanted to step in and help highlight another birthday he allegedly also took the time to celebrate — Jeffrey Epstein’s — by giving it a proper public glow up.”

And just like a birthday card you would pass around an office to sign with well wishes, we felt like this was a really organic opportunity to let the public in on the celebration and have their voice heard,” the group continued. “And finally, we just want to thank President Trump personally for allegedly providing the artwork. It’s not every day that a sitting President is also such a provocative and accomplished artist. Allegedly.”

I’m arts editor Jessica Gelt, allegedly rounding up all this week’s arts and culture news. And away we go!

On our radar

“Bouquet of White Roses” by Amoako Boafo, 2025. Oil on canvas 84.65 x 70.87 inches (215 x 180 cm).

(Amoako Boafo/Roberts Projects)

Amoako Boafo
The exhibition “I Bring Home with Me” features new work by Ghanaian painter Amoako Boafo, exploring and celebrating Blackness and its perspectives, installed within an architectural re-creation of the artist’s studio in Accra. The artist combines finger painting and collaging on the surface of his canvases to evoke vivid colors, bold compositions, patterns and textures.
11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, through March 21. Roberts Projects, 442 South La Brea Ave. robertsprojectsla.com

Aviva Gelfer-Mundl, center, with Marco Biella, from left, Cesar Ramirez, Jacob Soltero and Bryce Broedell, from “Rubies.”

(Nathan Carlson)

20 Years of Los Angeles Ballet
In December of 2006, a fledgling company of dancers led by artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary gave its first performances “The Nutcracker” (set in 1912 California) at the Wilshire Theatre, Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center and the Alex Theatre in Glendale. Now, all grown-up, the troupe kicks off 2026 with a triple-bill performance of George Balanchine’s “Rubies,” Hans van Manen’s “Frank Bridge Variations” and a new work by current LAB artistic director Melissa Barak.
7:30 p.m. Thursday-Jan. 31. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd. Beverly Hills. thewallis.org

Justin Tanner in “My Son the Playwright.”

(Jeff Lorch)

My Son the Playwright
Longtime L.A. theatergoers are very familiar with Justin Tanner, whom The Times’ Don Shirley referred to in 1994 as “L.A.’s coolest, grooviest playwright.” His mostly L.A.-set plays of comic dysfunctional suburbia with titles like “Pot Mom” and “Zombie Attack!,” often attract stars or soon-to-be stars such as Mark Ruffalo, Laurie Metcalf and French Stewart. For his new play, Tanner is the star, taking on the roles of both his father and his younger self, in a deeply personal solo performance.
8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 5 p.m. Sundays; also Feb. 2, 16 and 23, Jan. 24 through March 1. Rogue Machine at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. roguemachinetheatre.org

— Kevin Crust

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY
Adams, Ólafsson & Copland
John Adams conducts the L.A. Phil in a program made up entirely of American composers, including his own new piano concerto, “After the Fall,” with soloist Víkingur Ólafsson, Charles Ives’ “The Unanswered Question, Roy Harris’ “Symphony No. 3” and Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring.”
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com

Birdie
The Barcelona theater company Agrupación Señor Serrano juxtaposes two realities, one plagued by war and economic turbulence and another that enjoys leisure and prosperity, in this multimedia performance that utilizes live video, scale models, 2000 mini animals and Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.”
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. UCLA MacGowan Little Theater, 245 Charles E. Young Dr. East, Westwood. cap.ucla.edu

Brownstone
Playwright Catherine Butterfield’s bittersweet comedic drama features three stories, set in 1978, 1937 and 1999, that all occur on the second floor of the same classic New York building. Directed by Ron West. Friday is a preview, Saturday is opening night.
8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays, through Feb. 28. Open Fist at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. openfist.org

Margaret Cho: Choligarchy
The comedian takes on racism, homophobia and sexism, while delivering singular takes on addiction, abuse, activism and Asianness on this stand-up tour.
7 p.m. Friday. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd. Beverly Hills. thewallis.org

Brian Vaughn, from left, Kim Martin-Cotten, Elysia Roorbach and Gabriel Gaston in South Coast Repertory’s production of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

(Jon White)

God of Carnage/Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Two classics of dysfunctional domestic drama by Yasmina Reza and Edward Albee, respectively, are presented in repertory with overlapping casts.
Through March 21. South Coast Repertory, Emmes/Benson Theatre Center, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. scr.org

Walter Murch Retrospective
The American Cinematheque salutes the three-time Oscar-winning editor and sound designer. Murch will appear for three Q&As, as well as deliver a master class prior to the screening of “Apocalypse Now.”
“The Conversation,” 7 p.m. Friday. “THX 1138,” 3 p.m. Saturday. “Return to Oz,” 7 p.m. Saturday. “Apocalypse Now: The Final Cut,” 5 p.m. Sunday. Jan. 23-25 Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. americancinematheque.com

Ryan Preciado
An exhibition of new and recent work by the artist, “Diary Of A Fly” includes an installation, plus sculptures and textiles that respond in part to the environment of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House and its artistic history.
11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, through April 25. Hollyhock House, 4800 Hollywood Blvd. hollyhockhouse.org

Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere
An exhibition of photographs chronicles the work of the photojournalist whose adventures took him from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s to Hollywood film sets in the 1970s and 1980s. The show takes its title from Maura Smith’s 2025 documentary on Schapiro, which screens with director Q&As at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Laemmle Monica (1332 2nd St., Santa Monica).
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, through March 21. Fahey/Klein Gallery 148 N. La Brea Ave. faheykleingallery.com

SATURDAY

Vocalist Arooj Aftab in 2021.

(Tonje Thilesen/For The Times)

The Pakistani-born, Brooklyn-based artist Arooj Aftab won a Grammy in 2022 for best global music performance for her song “Mohabbat.” In 2024, she released her fourth album, “Night Reign,” which was nominated for the best alternative jazz album Grammy.
7:30 p.m. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd. Beverly Hills. thewallis.org

Romantic Realms
Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Colburn Orchestra in Bruckner’s “Symphony No. 4 in E-flat Major.” Also on the program, Salonen Conducting Fellows Aleksandra Melaniuk (Liszt’s “Les Preludes”) and Mert Yalniz (the world premiere of his own composition, “Limit”) take the baton.
7 p.m. Saturday. UCLA Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Court, Westwood. colburnschool.edu

TUESDAY

Pianist Seong-Jin Cho performs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic last summer at the Hollywood Bowl.

(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)

Seong-Jin Cho
The South Korean pianist performs selections from Liszt, Beethoven and Bartók, followed by 14 Chopin waltzes in a Colburn Celebrity Recital.
8 p.m. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com

Poetry for the People: The June Jordan Experience
A theatrical homage to the writer and human rights activist created by Fountain Theatre artistic director Raymond O. Caldwell and composer Adrienne Torf, who was Jordan’s longtime collaborator and life partner.
Through March 29. Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave. fountaintheatre.com

— Kevin Crust

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Patrick Page in “All The Devils Are Here.”

(Julieta Cervantes)

Inventing the modern villain
Times theater critic Charles McNulty weighed in on Patrick Page’s traveling solo Shakespeare seminar, “All the Devils Are Here,” which opened Jan. 15 at BroadStage in Santa Monica, calling it “refreshingly 19th century.” McNulty also noted that villains come naturally to the veteran actor, who received a Tony nomination for playing Hades in “Hadestown.” Page “might not smack his lips when impersonating evil, but he certainly doesn’t stint on the flamboyant color. An American Shakespearean who can hold his own with the Brits, he combines mellifluous diction with muscular imagination,” McNulty writes.

Extraordinary things
Times classical music critic Mark Swed caught the premiere of “From Ordinary Things” as part of CAP UCLA’s series at the Nimoy Theater. The evening featured the latest project of singer Julia Bullock, who Swed calls “one of the least ordinary and most compelling singers of this new generation …. A rivetingly theatrical soprano, Bullock, in collaboration with percussionist/composer Tyshawn Sorey and director Peter Sellars, has developed a full-scale operatic evening.”

Studying the big freeze
In breaking museum news, Times staffer Malia Mendez got the scoop Thursday that the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County announced its largest-ever donation — a gift from the Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Oschin Family Foundation, which will be used to establish the Samuel Oschin Global Center for Ice Age Research. The center will serve as the “intellectual backbone” of the La Brea Tar Pits’ long-planned makeover, according to NHM President and Director Lori Bettison-Varga. To date, the board has raised $131 million toward its $240-million goal for the campaign.

Nature’s theater
Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum has announced its 2026 summer season. The otherworldly outdoor theater nestled in the cool woods of Topanga plans five mainstage plays, as well as a slate of family-friendly and music-centered satellite events. The plays are “Romeo and Juliet”; “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; Ellen Geer’s reimagining of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island”; Noël Coward’s “Waiting in the Wings”; and a new comedy titled “The People of Pompeii” by playwright and Topanga resident Bernardo Cubría. Satellite events include Family Fundays, described by the company as “a half-hour of interactive storytelling, music, and friendship for kids seven and under (but open to the whole family). These are set to take place every Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. from June 21 through August 9. For tickets and additional details, click here.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

L.A.’s best cheesesteak is in Pasadena writes Times food critic Bill Addison. There’s a catch, though: It’s $24, and you have to stand in a line. Even though I will undoubtedly eat one of these, my husband, who is from Pennsylvania, says that’s not how cheesesteaks are supposed to work. He remembers them being the go-to blue collar food of his coal-mining family members.

Jan. 23 (UPI) — Five people have been arrested in connection to the shooting of an Indiana judge and his wife in their home on Sunday.

Lafayette, Ind., police announced the arrests of five people on Thursday in connection with the shooting of Tippecanoe County Judge Steven Meyer and his wife, Kimberly Meyer. The Meyers survived the shooting.

Three of the suspects were arrested on charges of attempted murder in the first degree, conspiracy to commit murder and other related charges.

Those suspects are Raylen Ferguson, 38, from Lexington, Ky., and Thomas Moss, 43, and Blake Smith, 32, from Lafayette, Ind.

Also arrested were 45-year-old Amanda Milsap from Lafayette, Ind., and 61-year-old Zenada Greer from Lexington, Ky. Milsap is charged with bribery and obstruction of justice and Greer is charged with assisting a criminal and obstruction of justice.

The investigation into the shooting spanned multiple states, including agencies in Kentucky, Allentown, Pa., and the U.S. Marshals Service, the Lafayette Police Department said.

“I want the community to know that I have strong faith in our judicial system,” Steven Meyer said in a statement. “This horrific violence will not shake my belief in the importance of peacefully resolving disputes.”

Steven Meyer was shot in his arm and his wife was shot in her hip.

Allan LittleSenior correspondent

BBC

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A new world order or back to the future?

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Re-interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine

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Cohesion among the allies

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The challenge facing ‘middle powers’ today

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Francis Buchholz, the former bassist for the German hard rock band Scorpions who performed at the height of the band’s global stardom, has died. He was 71.

Buchholz’s family confirmed the death in a post on social media, saying, “It is with overwhelming sadness and heavy hearts we share the news that our beloved Francis passed away yesterday after a private battle with cancer. He departed this world peacefully, surrounded by love. … To his fans around the world — we want to thank you for your unwavering loyalty, your love, and the belief you placed in him throughout his incredible journey. You gave him the world, and he gave you his music in return.”

Scorpions also said in a statement, “We have just received the very sad news that our longtime friend and bass player, Francis Buchholz, has passed away. His legacy with the band will live on forever, and we will always remember the many good times we have shared together.”

Born in Hanover, West Germany, in 1954, Buchholz first played in the rock band Dawn Road, later joining Scorpions on 1974’s “Fly to the Rainbow” and cementing its most classic lineup. He played on the band’s era-defining albums, including 1979’s “Lovedrive,” 1982’s “Blackout,” 1984’s “Love at First Sting” and the live albums “Tokyo Tapes” and “World Wide Live.”

Speaking about Scorpions’ influence at the end of the Cold War, he told an interviewer, “We still had the Iron Curtain in Europe when I was a boy. Living in Germany at this time there was always this great threat of a third World War between Russia and America. I was always afraid of the Russians coming over the border in Eastern Germany. … Then, playing in Moscow at the Peace Festival back in the ‘90s, we were invited to the Kremlin by Mr. [Mikahil] Gorbachev, Russia’s President at that time, and that was one of those great moments — to think we had achieved something like this just from doing what we love to do.”

He left the group after 1990’s “Crazy World,” later touring with former Scorpions bandmate Uli Jon Roth and Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock.

Buchholz is survived by wife wife, Hella, and three children.