11 Jan 202418.00 GMTTrump says he's being 'politically persecuted', in surprise address at civil fraud trial - reportDonald Trump has started addressing the court in the closing arguments of his civil fraud trial, MSNBC reports.
The former president had asked to deliver the closing arguments himself, rather than his attorneys, but Judge Arthur Engoron rejected that request yesterday. It was unclear if he was going to speak in the courtroom today, but MSNBC reports that Trump began talking shortly after his lawyer Chris Kise asked Engoron for permission:
Music blogMusicAvril Lavigne showed up meet-and-greets for the sham they areEveryone laughed at the awkward photos of the Canadian singer and her fans – but the bigger sin is that so many acts chisel money out of their loyal followers for the briefest access
Share your photographs of meetings with music stars
It seems peculiar that the greatest online wailing and gnashing of teeth over Avril Lavigne's meet-and-greet with her Brazilian fans – who'd paid a reported £215 for the privilege – seemed to concern the fact that the resulting photos were the model of discomfort.
Ben Whishaw: ‘Even the thought of reading a speech terrifies me.’ Photograph: Elliott Morgan/The GuardianHe’s been Paddington, Keats, and now a doctor in This Is Going to Hurt. He talks about his off-stage shyness and why he wasn’t delighted by the reveal of Q’s sexuality in No Time to Die
by Tom LamontBen Whishaw, quite apart from being one of the best British actors we have, is an expert dunker of his biscuits in tea.
The ObserverBonoThe U2 singer, interviewed on Desert Island Discs, describes his regrets about his teenage behaviour and explains his mocked ‘poem’ about Ukraine
After more than four decades in the public eye, the rock star Bono has revealed a deeply personal secret and spoken of finding forgiveness and peace.
The U2 frontman has a half-brother he has not talked about before, who was born after his father had an affair while living at home in Dublin with Bono, his brother Norman and their mother.
Germany This article is more than 2 years oldFormer Nazi camp secretary goes on trial over murders of 11,000 peopleThis article is more than 2 years oldIrmgard Furchner, who tried to flee last month, is accused of complicity in killings at Stutthof death camp
A 96-year-old former secretary at a Nazi concentration camp has gone on trial in Germany for alleged complicity in the murder of more than 11,000 people imprisoned there, three weeks after she attempted to flee the proceedings.
FilmA glimpse of the Outlaw King’s crown jewels has the Hollywood press flustered and giggling. No wonder so many male actors shrink from nudity
Outlaw King, David Mackenzie’s historical epic following Robert the Bruce’s bloody journey from servile nobleman to king of Scots during the first war of Scottish independence, has plenty of talking points. There’s its bravura opening for one, an unbroken eight-minute ballet introducing us to the major players and murky politics of early 14th-century Scotland.
‘We found it very easy to talk to each other’ … Adjoa Andoh and Howard Cunnell in Greece, 2020.‘We found it very easy to talk to each other’ … Adjoa Andoh and Howard Cunnell in Greece, 2020.Celebrity how we metLife and styleActor Adjoa, 59, met Cunnell, 58, when he was running a bookshop in the 1990s. They live together in London
Actor Adjoa Andoh first recalls meeting the author Howard Cunnell at the Battersea Arts Centre’s bookshop in 1994.
New YorkSeveral men arrested after dispute over secret tunnel in Brooklyn synagogueBrawl erupted between police and those who created passageway and wanted it to remain at Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters
A group of men belonging to a Hasidic Jewish community in New York were arrested on Monday amid a dispute over an illegal tunnel secretly dug into the side of a historic synagogue, which has since been closed.
Action by law enforcement after the tunnel came to light led to a brawl between police and those who had created the passageway and wanted it to remain.
TelevisionThe first grand slam of the year has been nothing short of a bloodbath for the stars of the documentary Break Point – and it’s proving a smash
One by one, they dropped their heads, smashed their rackets. One by one, they slung their bags over their shoulders in defeat, exiting the court in bitter disappointment at shock results. They are the victims of a sporting curse the likes of which no streaming service has seen before.
Retail industry This article is more than 3 years oldZara owner to close up to 1,200 fashion stores around the worldThis article is more than 3 years oldInditex seeks to boost online retailing as coronavirus causes 44% sales slump
The owner of Zara will close as many as 1,200 stores around the world as the clothing retailer tries to boost online sales during the chaos wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic.