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Luxembourg’s foreign minister plays down Ukraine’s 2027 EU membership prospect – Europe live

European community affairs correspondent Now for some lighter news… For more than five decades he’s pounded the pavements of Paris, becoming part of the city’s cultural fabric as he strikes up conversations, greets longtime friends and offers parodies of daily news headlines. On Wednesday, the efforts of the man believed to be France’s last newspaper hawker were recognised, as Ali Akbar, a 73-year-old originally from Pakistan, received one of France’s most prestigious honours. In a ceremony at the Élysée Palace, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, described Akbar as the “most French of the French” as he made him a knight of the National Order of Merit in recognition of his distinguished service to France. “You are the accent of the sixth arrondissement, the voice of the French press on Sunday mornings. And every other day of the week, for that matter,” said Macron. “A warm voice that, every day for more than 50 years, has boomed across the terraces of Saint-Germain, making its way between restaurant tables.” Speaking to Reuters in August, Akbar highlighted the delight he got from walking through Paris each day. “It’s love,” Akbar said as he crisscrossed the cobbled streets of Saint Germain-des-Prés. “If it was for the money, I could do something else. But I have a great time with these people.”

Iran seeks to avert US military action with talks in Ankara

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, will travel to Ankara for talks aimed at preventing a US attack, as Turkish diplomats seek to convince Tehran it must offer concessions over its nuclear programme if it is to avert a potentially devastating conflict. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, proposed a video conference between Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian – the kind of high-wire diplomacy that may appeal to the US leader, but would be anathema to circumspect Iranian diplomats. No formal direct talks have been held between the two countries for a decade. Araghchi’s visit on Friday comes against the backdrop of urgent international diplomacy and increasingly aggressive threats from both sides. Senior defence and intelligence officials from Israel and Saudi Arabia were also in Washington for talks on Iran this week, Axios reported on Thursday. Trump has warned Iran that time is running out, vowing that any US attack would be violent and far more extensive than the US intervention in Venezuela. Iran has remained defiant, with army chief Maj Gen Amir Hatami announcing that since the 12-day war in June, Iran has revised tactics and built 1,000 sea and land-based drones. He said the drones and Iran’s extensive ballistic missile arsenal could provide a crushing response to any attack. Iran’s greatest military weakness is its air defences. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran was “preparing itself for a military confrontation, while at the same time making use of diplomatic channels”. The Kremlin urged both sides to recognise there was still time for diplomacy, but Turkey appears to have taken up the mantle of the main mediator, as an increasingly apprehensive Middle East eyes a looming conflict that could easily spread across the region. Inside Iran, those voices that have called for authorities to make concessions are being drowned out in an increasingly polarised society, in which one section is demanding the leadership stand up to America, and another is intent on provoking the regime’s collapse. In an attempt to bind a wounded society back together, Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has acknowledged the anger over the suppression of the protests by saying a full list of those killed in the ensuing government crackdown will be published in conjunction with grieving families. But such is the current level of distrust inside Iran, and the power of the security services, that it is doubtful Pezeshkian will be able to convince Iranians or international observers that the death toll was not in the tens of thousands. Trump has not clearly stated his objectives, claiming that he would attack Iran to defend protesters, but then this week linking his threats to the country’s nuclear programme. The US leader appears to be using the possibility of strikes on Iran’s missile sites as well as groups such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to imply that he intends to trigger collapse of the regime, or at least the resignation of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He claimed to have obliterated Iran’s nuclear programme during the 12-day war in June, although US intelligence agencies later gave conflicting assessments of the campaign’s impact. Erdoğan spoke with Trump on Monday in what was billed as an attempt to locate common ground between Iran and the US before any deadline for strikes. In a brief post on social media, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Araghchi would travel to Turkey on Friday for an official visit. “The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to steadily strengthen relations with its neighbours based on the policy of good neighbourliness and shared interests,” he said. US administration officials have insisted that Iran fully understood Washington’s specific demands concerning the handover of its highly enriched uranium stockpile to a third party, an end to domestic uranium enrichment, limits on its missile programme and an end to support for proxy groups. All four of these demands will be hard for Iran to accept. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, said: “It is wrong to attack Iran. It is wrong to start the war again. Iran is ready to negotiate in the nuclear file.” He admitted Iran faced challenges at the bargaining table, saying: “It might seem humiliating for them. It will be very difficult to explain not only to themselves but to the leadership. So if we can make things better tolerated I think it will help.” Fidan argued Iran also had to present a new face to the Middle East, saying he had been “very frank” with the Iranians that they “need to create trust in the region [and] they need to pay attention how they are perceived by the regional countries”. Fidan met the US ambassador to Ankara and special representative for Syria, Tom Barrack, on Thursday. In an attempt to protect themselves from Iranian reprisals, most Gulf states have said they will not allow their airspace or territory to be used to attack Iran.

‘Very masculinist’: how Iran unrest felt different to 2022’s hijab protests

As the nightly protests that recently gripped Iran got under way, familiar shouts of “death to the dictator” and “death to [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei”, Iran’s most powerful cleric and political figure, filled the air in Karaj, a city 30 miles to the west of Tehran. But when female participants tried to add another recent popular rallying cry, “woman, life, freedom”, the slogan found few takers – despite having proved an inspirational call to solidarity in demonstrations that swept the country in 2022 after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained for allegedly flouting Islamic dress codes. “That was the moment I realised: ‘OK, this is slightly different than what happened in 2022,” said Parisa, an Iranian film-maker based in France who was visiting relatives when the recent demonstrations began. The earlier protests had been credited with forcing de facto concessions from the authorities – including the right not to wear Islamic head covering – and were broadly middle-class and progressive, said Parisa, who used a pseudonym to protect family members. But the latest unrest was “very masculinist at heart” and underpinned by a broader social rebellion against rising poverty, she said. A main beneficiary of this shift appears to be Reza Pahlavi, a son of the country’s former pro-western monarch, around whom many Iranians in their teens and 20s appear to be coalescing in desperation to be rid of the current deeply unpopular theocratic regime. At least 30,000 people are believed to have been killed by security forces in a brutal response to demonstrations that began in provincial towns and cities in late December amid anger over economic privations triggered by a sharp fall in the value of the rial, Iran’s currency. The protests spread to the capital, Tehran, and other major centres before abating in the face of ruthless repressive tactics that have resulted in victims being laid out in public en masse inside body bags for relatives to identify. The scale of the dissent and simmering rage at the murderous official response poses an existential threat to the Islamic regime’s sustainability, analysts say. Parisa, a veteran of previous anti-regime protests, including the rallies against the disputed presidential election of 2009, noted another departure from precedent in the chanted slogans: some were in support of Pahlavi, a 65-year-old exile living in the US, and his father, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s last shah, who fled the country in 1979 at the start of the Islamic revolution. “Some were shouting: ‘javid shah’ (long live the Shah), ‘this is our last fight’ ‘Pahlavi is going to come back’,” she said. “Unfortunately, these chants were quite well supported.” They were also in line with sentiment she had encountered among Iran’s younger generation, too young to recall the revolutionary fervour that toppled the shah, who was criticised for torturing opponents and crushing dissent. Driving this may be despair at a dearth of any viable alternative, rather than a desire to restore the monarchy – a system that ruled Iran for much of its history. “My cousin and his girlfriend, who are 25 and 26, were participating in the protests every night and until two years ago, these guys were leftists,” said Parisa. “Now they are completely pro-Pahlavi because they see Reza Pahlavi as the only leader who can bring people together and do something. “They kept saying that he has said he doesn’t want to be king, that he just wants to lead the transition. This is something you can see mainly within the younger generation in Iran, like generation Z.” Despite doubts about the breadth of his support, Pahlavi – who has not been in Iran since before the revolution – predicted at a news conference in Washington this month that the Islamic regime would collapse and proclaimed himself “uniquely positioned” to lead a transition government. But he was ambiguous when asked whether he hoped to return as monarch, saying a draft constitution that would be put to a referendum would establish the form a new government. “If it’s a republic, the president will be elected. If it’s a monarchy, the prime minister will be elected at that time,” he said. “My role in all this is to lead this transition, help with the transitional structure.” His modest self-portrayal as a transitional figure, while pointedly declining to rule out a monarchy, has historic echoes of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader of the 1979 revolution, who vowed before returning from exile in France that he would retire and play no active role in day-to-day politics. Instead, Khomeini – an ascetic and uncompromising Shia cleric – headed a repressive Islamic theocracy that executed political opponents and restricted personal freedoms. Pahlavi has fuelled doubts about his credentials after being criticised for urging protesters to take to the streets only for them to face a remorseless crackdown. His recent justification that “this is a war, and war has casualties” in an interview with CBS News exacerbated the criticism. He has also come under fire for deleting his previous social media posts supporting the woman, life, freedom movement during the latest unrest – a move some have denounced as cynical opportunism driven by calculations that the new demonstrations were more socially conservative and less female-friendly. His emergence as a potential leadership figure has been aided by the fact that prominent domestic opposition figures, including Narges Mohammadi, a Nobel peace prize laureate and human rights activist, and Mostafa Tajzadeh, a reformist politician, are in jail. Two other reformists, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, have been under house arrest for 15 years after disputing the results of the 2009 presidential election, which was won by the then incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Planes hit by gunfire and blasts heard at airport in Niger capital – reports

Gunfire and loud blasts have been heard at the main airport in the Nigerien capital of Niamey, according to the Reuters news agency and an independent source. A witness told Reuters they heard explosions just after midnight. The airport is next to Base Aérienne 101, a military base previously used by American and then Russian troops. A source with the Togolese airline Asky told the Guardian that gunshots made several holes in the fuselage of its two planes on the tarmac of Niamey airport. Staff were at their hotel at the time but remained stranded in the country. “They destroyed both aircraft … they left evidence at the scene,” the source said. Fofana Yacouba, a spokesman for Air Cóte d’Ivoire confirmed that one of the Ivorian airline’s aircraft was also hit. “A communique is being prepared [about it],” he told the Guardian by telephone. It remains unclear who fired the shots or whether there were any casualties. Authorities in Niger have yet to comment on the situation. In July 2023, Niger’s presidential guard, led by Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani, overthrew the democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, marking the seventh successful coup in west and central Africa in three years at that point. There has been at least one successful coup and two failed attempts in the region since then. The junta suspended the constitution and faced international condemnation and aid cuts. After the Economic Community of West African States imposed sanctions and threatened military intervention, Niger withdrew from the regional bloc alongside Mali and Burkina Faso – both also under military rule – to form the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in September 2023. Niger also expelled French and US forces, signalling a geopolitical realignment away from former traditional allies. The country is still grappling with jihadism, as armed groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida affiliates continue to attack the tri-border region with Mali and Burkina Faso in particular. The security situation has deteriorated significantly since the coup despite the junta’s promises to restore stability. The Global Terrorism Index 2025 reports that Niger recorded the largest increase in terrorism deaths globally in 2024, rising by 94% to a total of 930 deaths, the country’s worst ranking since the index began.

As Colombia moves to outlaw cockfighting, a bloody night unfolds in Cartagena

On the outskirts of Cartagena – far from the brightly coloured facades of the old city and the 500-year-old fortress walls overlooking the Caribbean – a crowd of about 300 people erupted into a roar. Given Colombians’ passion for football, it could have been the celebration of a goal. But the cheers followed the bloody climax of bout in a cockfighting ring whose white padded walls were now splattered with blood. As the mostly male bettors clinked cold drinks from ice buckets and collected their winnings, handlers carried off the body of the defeated bird, while a worker quickly swept up feathers and wiped away blood, preparing the ring for the next of what would be more than 100 fights that evening. Cockfighting was introduced by Spanish colonisers and is still highly popular in Colombia, but its days are numbered. It was banned by a constitutional court ruling in September, which nonetheless established a three-year “transition” period, during which the government must provide alternative livelihoods for the tens of thousands of people who rely on the practice. “I was horrified by the court’s ruling,” said Alí Viveros, 38, who breeds about 50 fighting cocks and owns a shop selling specialised supplies for other breeders, known as galleros, such as vitamins, carrying cases and cages. “Cockfighting is a tradition, it’s part of our culture,” he added. In Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, an insult exchanged at a cockfight sparks a duel that ultimately leads to the founding of the fictional town of Macondo, where the story unfolds. “A lot of families depend on it,” said Viveros, adding: “It’s not just the galleros, but people who sell food and drink on fight days, the doormen, the judges, the cleaners, the people who make the cages, and so on.” The national cockfighting federation, which is still seeking to overturn the ban, estimates that there are nearly 10,000 fighting arenas nationwide and that between 270,000 and 290,000 families depend on the activity. Animal rights organisations and activists dispute those figures, arguing that the activity’s informality leaves a lack of reliable data – one reason the court also ordered the government to survey to establish exactly how many people are involved. “We have waged a long and intense struggle against activities labelled as cultural, but that are cruel,” said Andrea Padilla, a senator who is one of the leading figures behind the ban. “Until recently, child marriage was also considered an acceptable cultural practice in Colombia. [But] the fact that something is deeply rooted in a society does not mean it’s morally valid,” she said. In the same ruling the court upheld a 2024 ban on bullfights and also prohibited coleo – in which a bull is brought down by its tail – and corralejas, in which amateur matadors, often drunk, taunt bulls in an open ring. A rightwing senator introduced a bill in January to roll back the ban, including on cockfighting, claiming they were cultural activities and part of the nation’s heritage. The proposal is still at a very early stage in the legislative process. The central justification for the supreme court bans was that cultural tradition cannot be used as a pretext to legitimise violence, suffering or the deliberate killing of sentient beings. “And what about the chickens and cattle we kill to eat – aren’t they sentient too?” said Fabián Montes, 60, one of the country’s leading cock breeders, who keeps about 1,000 birds. Montes, a dentist who said cock breeding was not his primary source of income, said that the animals are not mistreated. They fight only because it is their “natural condition”, he added. “You can release 10 brothers into the same yard and let them roam freely, and until they are about five and a half months old they can coexist. After that, even if they were raised together, they will inevitably fight and kill each other,” said Montes. Scientific research has shown that some breeds have developed a predisposition to combat as a result of centuries of human-driven artificial selection. Even so, once a chick is identified as a “fighter”, it begins to be “trained” with exercises such as simulated bouts or a breeder chasing it around a confined space to build aerobic capacity. “Nobody induces them to fight,” said Montes, adding that ideally the government should “regulate” the practice, rather than ban it. At a recent cockfight, the Guardian witnessed at least one bout in which, the birds did not attack each other. The judges repeatedly pushed the birds toward one another until, on the third attempt, they began pecking and clawing. One of them died at the end. The animals also have their combs and wattles cut, and their leg and chest feathers trimmed. Because natural spurs are not lethal enough, they are filed down and replaced with artificial spurs made of metal, resin or bone, which are then fixed with hot wax and tape. Breeders claim that fewer than 20% of cocks die during fights, though animal rights advocates such as Senator Padilla say the figure is far higher. “The objective is always for one to die,” she said. Despite pushing for the ban, Padilla said the government is still not moving as it should to find alternative livelihoods for the galleros and other cock-adjacent workers, warning that this could create a new problem when the ban takes effect in 2028. The government did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment. “I’m absolutely certain that what is coming is rampant clandestinity, because staging a cockfight is very easy – all it takes is a small space where people can gather, place bets and put two cocks to fight,” she said. “To think that a law can simply erase a cultural practice is absurd. Laws do not perform miracles,” added Padilla.

Thursday briefing: Will Keir Starmer’s cautious China gamble pay off?

Good morning. The Starmer has landed. Yesterday, Keir Starmer became the first British prime minister to make the trip to China since Theresa May’s in 2018 (meaning a surprisingly large number of PMs didn’t) and has vowed to bring “stability and clarity” to the UK’s approach to Beijing. Ahead of talks with Starmer, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has said the UK’s relationship with his country had gone through “twists and turns” over the years but that a more “consistent” approach was in both their interests. In response, Starmer told Xi he wanted a “more sophisticated” relationship between the two countries. Number 10 is all too aware that China cannot be ignored. It is the world’s second-largest economy, a central player in the technologies shaping the future, and a geopolitical power with a clear sense of where it wants to go (which is more than can be said about the man in the White House). So what does Starmer hope to achieve from this visit, and what will Beijing be looking for in return? To understand the opportunities and risks of Britain’s China reset, I spoke to Laura Chappell, associate director for international policy at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). That’s after the headlines. Five big stories Iran | Donald Trump has warned time is running out for Tehran and said a massive US armada was moving quickly towards the country. Assisted Dying | Supporters of assisted dying will seek to force through the bill using an archaic parliamentary procedure if it continues to be blocked by the Lords. UK politics | Centrist ideas are no longer wanted in the Conservative party, Kemi Badenoch has said. Ofsted | A snap inspection of a Bristol secondary school criticised for postponing a visit by an MP who is a member of a group that advocates for Israel has found “no evidence of partisan political views”. BBC | The BBC has named senior executive Rhodri Talfan Davies as its interim director general, as the corporation continues the search for a permanent replacement for Tim Davie. In depth: ‘There are still things the two countries can achieve together’ Starmer joins a growing list of western leaders who have visited Beijing in recent weeks. Emmanuel Macron went in December, Mark Carney travelled there earlier this month, and Germany’s Friedrich Merz is due next. Like Carney in Davos last week, Starmer has warned that the world is entering its most unstable period in a generation. But unlike Carney, he is keen to avoid framing the trip as any kind of rupture with Washington, and to sidestep the criticism Donald Trump recently aimed at Canada over its China outreach. Instead, the UK prime minister is attempting a careful balancing act: engaging with Beijing while keeping close to both Brussels and Washington. For that reason, Laura Chappell says expectations from this meeting should be modest. “It is a more careful trip,” she says. “It’s trying to signal that we are exiting what Keir Starmer himself called an ‘Ice Age’, and that there are still things the two countries can achieve together.” By meeting Xi Jinping, he hopes to begin a cautious thaw. But, Chappell adds, “I don’t think what’s going to come out of this visit is going to be a transformational change, either in how we talk about the relationship or in major announcements that make a totemic difference to the UK’s growth trajectory.” *** The awkward relationship When I ask Chappell to describe the UK’s China policy, she lands on one word: confused. “My overall summary of how the UK treats China is that we try to tread a middle ground,” she says. “Labour’s got an articulation of this around ‘cooperate, compete, challenge’. The Conservatives have had similar phraseologies, and the US under Biden had a similar structure.” The problem, she argues, is not the language but the lack of strategic action behind it. “It didn’t feel like we knew where we were cooperating, where we were competing, where we were challenging,” she tells me. “We’ve held ourselves at a bit of a remove, without real clarity on what we’re trying to achieve and what the risks and costs are on the other side.” China is Britain’s third largest trading partner. Total trade in goods and services between the UK and China was £98.4bn in 2024. “At this moment, both geopolitically and economically, China is essential [to Britain],” Chappell says. But the relationship does come with notable security risks. China has been accused of cyber-attacks on UK parliamentarians, linked to a high-profile spying case, and has provoked a political row over plans for a new “mega-embassy” in London. Starmer is all too aware that he will have to balance any economic opportunities against these concerns. On the geopolitical front, Chappell argues, China stands out in an increasingly unstable world. “We’re seeing a world in which all the old rules and norms are being thrown into the air. China is probably the one that’s best placed in terms of knowing what it’s trying to achieve and having the capability to try to drive there,” she says. China has also had an “extraordinary” trajectory in its economy. “From having large numbers of the world’s poorest people in the 1980s to growth rates barely seen by any other country. Growth has slowed now, but they’re still growing at a significant rate, and their place in the global economy is very well chosen.” In particular, China has positioned itself at the heart of the green transition. “They are absolutely dominant in many green technologies. No other player has anything like China’s market share. They’ve designed their economic structure to be pivotal in the economy of the future,” Chappell says. The same is true for artificial intelligence. Last January, China blew the race for domination in artificial intelligence wide open after the launch of a Chinese chatbot that appeared to deliver the same performance with fewer resources, wiping $1tn from the leading US tech index. The relaxation of rules around the export of Nvidia’s AI microchips from America to the country was compared to “selling nuclear weapons to North Korea” by the CEO of leading AI firm Anthropic. *** Sending the right signals China isn’t expecting any dramatic changes in the UK’s policy towards it, instead, Chappell says, it’s looking for the right political signals. “With some partners, for example Canada, recent visits resulted in language about a ‘new strategic partnership’. China would like countries to make those sorts of statements as often as possible, the sense that China is being chosen as a closer partner, even despite US pressure,” she says. “I don’t think they expect [something similar from Starmer],” she says. “They’ll know that he is trying to ride a three-horse race.” As well as symbolism, Chappell says China is looking for several “discrete deliverables” to come out of this trip, such as “opportunities for Chinese firms, visa-free travel for short-term business visitors.” But the UK has to remain vigilant. “In a world of economic security and leverage, countries are increasingly using their position in supply chains to apply pressure. The US does this, and China does it too,” Chappell says. That matters for the UK. “One of the things Britain needs to be aware of is whether agreements today make us subject to pressure later. China will be looking to see if there are opportunities for the UK to put itself in that position.” *** Growth, without rupture Chappell sees three core objectives for the Labour government: the economy, diplomacy, and attention. The prime minister’s meeting with Xi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing was scheduled to last about 40 minutes, followed by a series of cultural and business receptions. On the economy, Starmer wants a positive story on growth and living standards. “Economic deliverables will be big. Can they announce investment deals? Can British firms trade more easily in China?” she asks. Starmer will also want to “slightly deepen the relationship with China without alienating the EU or the US. That balancing act is central.” Will this trip mark a decisive moment for that? Again, Chappell is skeptical. “I don’t think he’s on the cusp of making major choices in favour of one side or another. I don’t think there are significant deals about to be signed. This is about warming relationships, not a definitive break.” And finally, the quieter, but less talked about benefit of simply getting Starmer to properly focus on China. “Prime ministers are very busy. How often does Keir Starmer get to think with his whole brain about China? How often does he sit down with diplomats and get a full read-out of the risks and opportunities?” That immersion, she argues, matters. “The benefit of this visit is that he’s forced to engage deeply with what Britain actually knows about China.” What should underpin all these goals, Chappell says, is clarity. “We shouldn’t be trying to tread a middle line. We should be trying to seize opportunities and manage risks. That requires a really good mapping of what those opportunities are and where the security risks actually lie.” The problem, or reassurance, depending on your view, is that Starmer is widely viewed as a technocrat. “They’ll try to deliver big economic numbers, but in tone and ambition it won’t look radical. Over time, that could change. But they won’t frame it as a dramatic recalibration,” she says. For now, it’s time to turn on the heat. What else we’ve been reading The brutal story of how Eve Henderson’s husband being murdered in a random attack in Paris led to her setting up a charity to support people whose loved ones are killed abroad. Martin Jonathan Liew learned that an article he wrote about the England cricket team had been copied and repackaged without permission by another website. It is just one example of living in a world defined by petty theft. Aamna Betsy Johnson tells i_D magazine “creativity isn’t a god-given gift – it’s a discipline” as she releases a book – Revision – illustrating six years worth of her creative process. Martin The era of gentle parenting may finally be coming to an end. Thank god, I initially thought, until I read in shock (I may have also laughed) at what will follow: Fuck around and find it parenting. Aamna Pamela Hutchinson, one of the UK’s foremost experts on the silent cinema age, ponders the re-purposing of Alfred Hitchcock’s serial killer drama The Lodger for streaming in a new vertical phone-friendly cut. Martin Sport Football | Real Madrid missed out on automatic qualification for the Champions League knockout round, after losing 4-2 to Benfica. Holders Paris St Germain also slipped out of the top eight as they could only draw 1-1 at home to Newcastle United – a result that left both sides facing a playoff. Manchester City secured a place in the last 16 after a 2-0 victory over Galatasaray. Super Bowl | US Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) agents are expected to conduct immigration enforcement operations during next month’s Super Bowl game in Santa Clara, California. Rugby union | Ireland will kick off the Six Nations next week without Bundee Aki, after a “misconduct complaint” relating to an alleged post-match incident with officials after Connacht’s URC game against Leinster on Saturday. The front pages The Guardian leads with “Time is running out, Trump says as US armada heads towards Iran.” The Mirror has “Trump’s war threat to Iran”, while the i says “Nuclear ultimatum: abandon weapons programme or ‘massive armada’ will bomb Iran, US threatens Ayatollah”. The Mail simply goes with “Countdown to conflagration”. The Sun speaks to a police officer involved with the arrest of Lucy Letby, under the headline “The greatest miscarriage of justice this century”. The Times reports “PM shelves fresh plan to overhaul benefits”. The Financial Times says “Miners boost value by $476bn after global tensions drive up metal prices”. Finally the Telegraph leads with “Starmer: Use ECHR to investigate British troops”. Today in Focus How did British Muslims become ‘the problem’? Miqdaad Versi, Shaista Aziz, Aamna Mohdin and Nosheen Iqbal on the rise of the far right and growing Islamophobia in the UK Cartoon of the day | Pete Songi The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad Mary Ann Patten was clearly something of a force to be reckoned with. Aged just 19, and three months pregnant, she took control of a mutinous clipper crew after the death of her husband – the captain – and successfully navigated Neptune’s Car around Cape Horn through a tumultuous storm to San Francisco. Her story has been rediscovered and retold by author and historian Tilar J Mazzeo for her new book. “There were very few sea captains in the 1850s and 1860s who could have achieved what she achieved, as a maritime feat. It’s amazing she and her crew survived. The story is really about what a woman in the 1850s – given an education and an opportunity – was capable of doing, and how we remember that.” Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Martin Belam’s Thursday news quiz Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply

Veteran Indian politician Ajit Pawar dies in plane crash, leaving power vacuum

Three days of mourning have been declared in the Indian state of Maharashtra after the death of the state’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who was killed when his plane went down in flames on Wednesday. Pawar, who had spent decades in politics in the wealthy and powerful Indian state, was travelling back to campaign in his home constituency when his plane made a failed attempted landing and caught fire as it hit the ground. Two members of his staff and two crew members were also on board the flight. The authorities confirmed there were no survivors. Thousands of his followers and supporters filled the streets of his home region of Baramati on Thursday for his funeral, where he was to be cremated with full state honours. Home minister Amit Shah was expected to attend the funeral. Over his career, Pawar was deputy chief minister of the state six times, under various coalition governments. Prime minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Pawar as a “leader of the people” who was “widely respected as a hardworking personality at the forefront of serving the people of Maharashtra.” His death is likely to create a significant power vacuum in Maharastra politics. Born into a political family, in 1980 he had joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which was formed by his uncle Sharad Pawar. He was seen as the natural heir to take over from his uncle as the party leader. However, their differing political styles led to tension and Pawar was seen to struggle to get out from beneath his uncle’s shadow. After an initial failed rebellion in 2019, Pawar was instrumental in a dramatic upheaval of Maharashtra state politics in 2023 when he formed a faction within the NCP and broke away to join the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as they seized power in the state. His move splintered the NCP party into two rival camps, with Pawar’s faction taking the NCP name, symbol and some of its most influential leaders and legislators with him, significantly undermining his once-powerful uncle. Pawar was named deputy chief minister once again after the BJP-led alliance won the 2024 state elections. More recently, discussions had begun about the two NCP factions merging back together. After his death, questions now remain over who will be his successor and if the NCP party factions will be reunited.

China executes 11 people linked to Myanmar scam operation

China on Thursday executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” involved in scam operations, state media reported. Scam compounds have flourished in Myanmar’s lawless borderlands, part of a multibillion-dollar illicit industry. The centres are typically staffed by foreigners – including many Chinese – with many saying they were trafficked and forced to swindle people online. Beijing has stepped up cooperation with Southeast Asian nations in recent years to crack down on the compounds, and thousands of people have been repatriated to China. The 11 people executed on Thursday were sentenced to death in September by a court in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou, Xinhua said, adding that the court also carried out the executions. Crimes of the executed included “intentional homicide, intentional injury, unlawful detention, fraud and casino establishment”, the report said. The death sentences had been approved by the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing, which found that the evidence produced of crimes committed since 2015 was “conclusive and sufficient”, Xinhua said. Among the executed were members of the “Ming family criminal group”, whose activities had contributed to the deaths of 14 Chinese citizens and injuries to “many others”. “The criminals’ close relatives were allowed to meet with them before the execution,” Xinhua added. Scam centres, in which criminals run sophisticated online scams targeting people all over the world, have proliferated across south-east Asia in recent years, including in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. They often use trafficked workers who are forced to conduct romance-based investment scams as part of a globalised industry that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates is worth $40bn annually. In April, the UN warned that Chinese and south-east Asian gangs are raking in tens of billions of dollars a year through cyber scam centres. This January authorities arrested Chen Zhi, an alleged scam king pin and head of the sanctioned Prince group, who has since been extradited to China. *With Agence France-Presse