| | Donald Trump won a landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses last night, solidifying his position as the overwhelming favourite for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. The night could hardly have gone better for the former president, says Politico. He secured more than half the votes, and neither Ron DeSantis nor Nikki Haley did enough to force the other to drop out – leaving his competition "as fractured as ever". Rishi Sunak has announced plans to draft in 150 judges to fast-track appeals against migrant deportations to Rwanda, in a bid to stave off a Tory revolt over the policy. The PM faces a rebellion in the Commons today of nearly 60 MPs, including deputy party chairman Lee Anderson, who think the flagship legislation will be undermined by individual appeals. The final series of Succession dominated at the Emmy Awards last night, scooping six gongs including best drama series. Other big winners include The Bear, which was named best comedy, and Beef, which saw Ali Wong become the first leading woman of Asian descent to win an Emmy. | | |  | Houthi rebels on the outskirts of Sana'a, Yemen. Mohammed Hamoud/Getty |
| Should Britain be bombing the Houthis? | For Britain to bomb a "nasty desert militia" that has been attacking ships in the Red Sea is "legitimate retribution", says Sam Kiley in the I newspaper. "It's also a bit thick." For one thing, our involvement is mere "window dressing" for an American operation. For another, the Houthis are better armed than many imagine – they have lots of Iranian drones, as well as ballistic missiles which they've used to hit targets in Saudi Arabia and the UAE with "alarming accuracy". Fantasies of a short, sharp engagement are likely to be just that. And the Iran-backed militants are no fools. After leading an armed insurgency against Yemen's government in 2014, they became the target of an international coalition led by Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. Yet despite their catch-all Islamist slogan – "Death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, God is great" – they still managed to "play the Western media" into viewing them as poor oppressed victims. | I have been against almost every Western intervention in the Middle East in the past two decades, says Matthew Parris in The Times. Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya – I opposed them all. But when it comes to last week's bombing of the Houthis, I can't see a way around it. The Suez Canal is a "windpipe to world trade" – some 30% of all shipping containers are transported via this route – and our aggressors are "trying to throttle it". Failing to meet this threat with force would have serious, immediate consequences for everyone, which is perhaps why Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and South Korea have also contributed to the military operation. And even if the Americans could have done it alone, "Western solidarity matters". When the Houthis bluster that this is all about Gaza and Israel, our response needs to be: no, it is not. | | | | Forget blinis and sour cream, says the FT: top restaurants are now serving caviar for pudding. Popularised by chef drama The Bear – which features a dessert made with ice cream, orange sauce and roe – sweet-yet-salty creations have been popping up on menus around the world. In London, caviar tops a walnut ice cream at Fitzrovia's two-Michelin-starred Kitchen Table, and chocolate mousse at Petrossian in South Kensington. Birch & Rye in San Francisco stuffs it into doughnuts, and Amelia in San Sebastián pairs it with rum ice cream and banana mole. |
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| | | Joe Biden is becoming "increasingly frustrated" with Benjamin Netanyahu, says Axios. Having spoken almost every other day in the first two months after the October 7 attacks, the two leaders haven't talked at all since a "tense" phone call on 23 December, which ended with Biden saying: "This conversation is over." He is annoyed with the Israeli PM's refusal to do anything on US priorities – releasing Palestinian tax revenues being held by Israel, for example – and his "unwillingness to seriously discuss plans for the day after the war". The situation "sucks", says one US official. "The president's patience is running out." | | | | Enjoying The Knowledge? Click below to share |
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| | | |  | The "ludicrously capacious" Burberry bag |
| Props from the critically acclaimed TV series Succession were auctioned off on Saturday, raising a total of $627,000. The 236 lots included the fake sausages used in Logan Roy's "Boar on the Floor" game, which went for $5,250; a dog costume worn by "Cousin Greg" on his first day working at Waystar Adventure Parks ($7,812); and the Burberry bag mocked as "ludicrously capacious" by Tom Wambsgans in the final season ($18,750). The priciest item, which fetched $25,000, was (spoiler alert) the set of four pink cue cards for Roman Roy's ill-fated eulogy at his father's funeral. | | |  | Farmers park up in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate. Simon Dawson/Bloomberg/Getty |
| "Bring on das tractor revolt" | Europe's farmers have long fought back against environmental policies, says Ajit Niranjan in The Guardian. In the Netherlands, a 2019 court ruling limiting nitrogen emissions triggered "furious and recurring" protests. Similar proposals in Belgium last year led to convoys of tractors clogging the EU quarter of Brussels. The French fermiers have done the same in Paris to protest a pesticide ban; Ireland's dairy farmers have "marched with their cows to the offices of three government ministers". And now the Germans are at it. Furious over plans to cut diesel subsidies for farmyard vehicles, they have blocked access to the autobahns and dumped thousands of tonnes of manure in city centres across the country. | Quite right too, says Jeremy Clarkson in The Sunday Times. Every government knows it cannot allow food to become too expensive. But they also know farmers can't afford to supply food at the rock-bottom prices people are used to paying for it. Which is why the agricultural sector has always been given subsidies and cheap fuel and so on – it's the only way to keep the system working. In recent years, though, the green movement has decided that growing food is bad for the planet, so "we must all stop". And because governments have become "enslaved" by "idiotic left-leaning pressure groups", they've agreed – totally screwing over the farmers. Predictably, the left has tried to portray the protests in Germany and elsewhere as "a smokescreen for a resurgence of the far right". But that's tosh. Germany's farmers are right to kick up a stink. "Bring on das tractor revolt." | | | | | | Computer science student Amanvir Parhar has built a website that jumps between the world's "obscure islands", providing a little enlightening information about each. They include Pheasant Island, which is jointly owned by France and Spain; Scotland's Ailsa Craig, the granite supplier for Olympic curling stones; Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic, the world's most remote inhabited island; and Nikumaroro Island in Kiribati, which is possibly the final resting place of aviatrix Amelia Earhart. See more here. | |
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| | If you think Britain's gummed-up legal system is bad, spare a thought for India, says The New York Times. The country's "staggeringly overburdened" judiciary has 50 million criminal and civil cases pending. "At the current rate, it would take 300 years to clear the backlog." | | | | | | It's Brunei's dishy Prince Abdul Mateen, who is no longer "one of Asia's most eligible bachelors", says BBC News. The 32-year-old royal – the 10th child of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, whose $30bn net worth makes him one of the world's richest monarchs – married Yang Mulia Anisha Rosnah, 29, in a 10-day ceremony at Brunei's main palace. His good looks have won him more than 2.5 million followers on Instagram, not all of whom were thrilled about his nuptials. As one wrote: "2024 starts with heartbreak." | | | | | "Unaccompanied children will be given a double espresso and a kitten to take home."
Sign in a cafe in Chiswick, west London |
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