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Pro-gun groups quickly rallied for Alex Pretti. Why didn’t they do the same for a Black gun owner?

Philando Castile, a lawful gun owner, was shot and killed by a police officer in 2016 – gun rights groups were largely silent

The killing of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis has sparked a thorny conversation among gun rights groups and Trump administration officials about the second amendment and the right to carry concealed firearms at protests and demonstrations. Among the questions is which cases the movement rallies behind – and which it doesn’t.

In the hours and days after Pretti’s killing, dozens of local national and local gun rights groups lambasted federal officials like Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, and Gregory Bovino, a senior border patrol official, who baselessly claimed that Pretti’s carrying of a handgun proved that he planned to harm and kill border patrol agents. Prominent gun rights organizations, including Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the National Rifle Association (NRA), called for an independent investigation into the shooting and defended Pretti’s right to carry a gun.

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Wed, 04 Feb 2026 13:00:44 GMT
When Maga oligarchs control the platforms, it isn’t really a debate about ‘free speech’ | Rafael Behr

Moves to ban under-16s from social media should raise deeper questions about who controls democracy’s digital infrastructure

The last UK general election of the 20th century was also the first to anticipate, albeit faintly, the coming technological revolution. The 1997 Labour and Conservative manifestos both included pledges to connect schools to something they called “the information superhighway”.

That metaphor soon fell out of use, unmourned, although it contains an interesting policy implication. Roads need rules to prevent accidents. Superhighways do not sound like the kind of places where children should play.

Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist

Guardian Newsroom: Can Labour come back from the brink? On Monday 30 April, ahead of May elections join Gaby Hinsliff, Zoe Williams, Polly Toynbee and Rafael Behr as they discuss how much of a threat is Labour from both the Green party and Reform and whether Keir Starmer can survive as leader of the Labour party? Book tickets here or at guardian.live

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Wed, 04 Feb 2026 06:00:34 GMT
‘A god-tier new classic’: first reactions to Wuthering Heights praise ‘hot, horny’ Emerald Fennell adaptation

The acclaimed latest version of the Emily Brontë bestseller is, however, not without controversies over race and age

Reviews might be embargoed until next Monday, but Los Angeles social media is getting hot under the collar after an early screening of Emerald Fennell’s highly anticipated adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.

“Intoxicating, transcendent, tantalising, bewitching, lust worthy, hypnotic,” wrote Courtney Howard, adding that the film “expertly captures the breathtaking ache and essence of desire” and “is a god-tier new classic”.

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Wed, 04 Feb 2026 11:24:33 GMT
Goodbye, breast implants: why I went back to having a flat chest

At 56, I want to age naturally. Having breast implants ran counter to that, so I got explant surgery, which has surged in demand recently

For 22 years, I ran around with small bags of saline water on my chest – a fact I shared with only a handful of close friends. I felt ashamed of having chosen artificial enhancement.

I’m an outdoorsy mountain runner. At 56, I want to model ageing naturally, but having breast implants ran counter to that. Now they are gone, thanks to explant surgery – implant removal without replacement.

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Wed, 04 Feb 2026 13:00:44 GMT
On the Future of Species by Adrian Woolfson review – are we on the verge of creating synthetic life?

A genomic entrepreneur’s guide to the coming revolution in biology raises troubling questions about ethics and safety

The prophet Ezekiel once claimed to have seen four beasts emerge from a burning cloud, “sparkling like the colour of burnished brass”. Each had wings and four faces: that of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. Similarly, a creature called Buraq, something between a mule and a donkey with wings and a human face, was said to have carried the prophet Muhammad on his journeys; while the ancient Greeks gave us the centaur, the mythical human-horse hybrid recently rebooted by JK Rowling in the Harry Potter books.

“The impulse to blend the anatomical traits of other species with those of humans appears to be hardwired into our imagination,” notes Adrian Woolfson in his intriguing and disturbing analysis of a biological revolution he believes is about to sweep the planet. Very soon, we will not only dream up imaginary animals – we will turn them into biological reality.

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Wed, 04 Feb 2026 09:00:37 GMT
Cool Runnings 2.0: Jamaica’s bobsleigh crew want their own Hollywood ending

Chris Stokes, part of the 1988 team that inspired a film, is setting lofty goals as head of Jamaica’s bobsleigh federation

It did not make so much as a ripple outside of its minor sporting niche, but something particularly unusual occurred in the bobsleigh world earlier this year. Upon turning up in the New York outpost of Lake Placid for their final Winter Olympics warm-up competition, Jamaica’s four-man bobsleigh team were informed they were not allowed to take part. A hat-trick of gold medals over the preceding few weeks had seen them rise too high in the world rankings to take their customary place on the second-tier North American Cup circuit. They had simply become too good.

In the overwhelming majority of countries, the Winter Olympics is an assortment of sporting oddities held in an alternative climate that might pique attention every four years. Rarely does it break through to the mainstream, which is what makes Jamaican bobsleigh such a curious exception.

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Wed, 04 Feb 2026 12:00:41 GMT
Labour MPs say they will vote down plan to limit Mandelson disclosures

Ministers urged to allow intelligence and security committee to review documents before publication

Labour MPs have warned they will vote down a government amendment to limit the disclosures about Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador, with government sources saying they may be forced to change their own amendment.

The former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and the chair of the Treasury select committee, Meg Hillier, have publicly asked the government to allow the intelligence and security committee to review the documents before public disclosure.

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Wed, 04 Feb 2026 14:03:36 GMT
Angela Rayner leads Labour MP calls to back Tory demand for independent ruling on release of Mandelson files – UK politics live

Former deputy PM says allowing intelligence and security committee to rule on redactions would help ‘keep public confidence in the process’

PMQs is starting soon. Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

The Reform UK MP Lee Anderson has dismissed claims that his party’s plan to support the pub industry would cost far more than the £3bn it claims.

To be honest with you, we’re not interested in who you’ve been talking to. We’re more interested who we’ve been talking to, and we’ve been talking to landlords and small businesses up and down the country, and every landlord that I speak to … they want this VAT cut.

We can go on all day about the numbers. I’m not interested in the numbers that the BBC have sourced. You’re hardly a bastion of truth at the BBC when it comes to things like this.

This doesn’t add up. This is an unfunded tax cut which also pushes hundreds of thousands of children into poverty.

Reform says that reinstating the two-child limit for most, but not all, families would save £2.29bn in 2026/27. The party claims its package of tax cuts would also cost £2.29bn – making it cost neutral – with the bulk coming from a proposal to halve VAT on hospitality, which it estimates would cost £1.7bn.

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Wed, 04 Feb 2026 14:14:52 GMT
‘The smart, the rich, the powerful’: Epstein associated with Silicon Valley elite years after his release from prison

Billionaires and intellectuals attended events with the disgraced financier years after he served time for sex offense, files reveal

Newly released emails and travel itineraries appear to show that for years after Jeffrey Epstein served time for procuring underage girls for prostitution, he continued to attend exclusive dinners alongside Silicon Valley’s most famous billionaires.

The emails, part of a trove released by the Department of Justice on Friday, show that as late as 2018, Epstein was invited to or attended dinners alongside the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and Google vice-president and later Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.

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Tue, 03 Feb 2026 23:41:19 GMT
Police to review latest claim about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Epstein

Exclusive: Police say they will review allegation that Epstein sent woman to UK to have sex with Andrew at Royal Lodge, his former home

British police are to review fresh allegations that Jeffrey Epstein provided Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor with a woman to have sex with at the Royal Lodge in 2010, as it emerged that the former prince had moved out of his home.

The woman has claimed she spent the night at the then prince’s residence in Windsor, her US lawyer, Brad Edwards, said after the allegations surfaced over the weekend. The woman, who is not British, was in her 20s at the time, and was later given a tour of Buckingham Palace, it is further alleged.

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Tue, 03 Feb 2026 23:14:11 GMT

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