Sunderland, though, have been this season’s surprise package in the Premier League. In no danger of being relegated, they did end the Gunners’ run of wins and clean sheets in the reverse fixture back in November, so this all the hallmarks of a banana skin for the hosts. Follow Arsenal vs Sunderland LIVE below with Standard Sport’s dedicated match blog, featuring expert insight and analysis from Matt Verri at the Emirates Stadium!

“Look, because of what has happened, I don’t think it is appropriate that we should remain in contact,” and by mutual agreement during that walk in the park we decided that we would part company and I left, I think it was the next day and to this day I never had any contact with him from that day forward,” said Andrew in his TV interview.

Mariah Carey has come under fire after an underwhelming performance at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

The 55-year-old singer wore a silver dress and sang a version of Domenico Modugno’s popular 1950s classic ‘Nel blu, dipinto di blu’, also known as ‘Volare’.

Sadly, despite the glitz and glamour of her performance, viewers were unimpressed with her singing.

Fans complained she was lip-syncing and one went so far as to claim she had spoiled the whole games.

‘Mariah Carey has just ruined the Winter Olympics for everyone,’ wrote @DFranciscoReal on X.

‘Countless great Italian singers and we get Mariah Carey singing in the worst Italian I’ve ever heard on a national stage,’ added @arcanedonovan.

While @DoronTam asked: ‘Why would they bring Mariah Carey out to stand there and lip-synch while staring out into space bored out of her mind??’

It wasn’t just X where people criticised Mariah.

On Reddit, one user complained, ‘[Mariah] was stiff as a board, it was insane. It could’ve been a Mariah cardboard cutout, and I wouldn’t have noticed a difference’.

Others, meanwhile, questioned why they chose an American singer to open the games in Italy.

‘Love Mariah but thought it was odd that they didn’t feature Italian singers,’ wrote kitcassidy. ‘Andrea Bocelli coming out near the end—and not as the finale—was an odd choice too.’

Still, Mariah had her fair share of supporters online as well.

‘You did a great job,’ wrote @jeffsheehan. ‘The original Volare song, recorded by Domenico Modugno, was an integral part of my life as a young child. It’s nice to see it resurrected on the world stage after so many years’.

‘There really is no one better at not actually signing live any more than Mariah Carey,’ claimed @IAmMapes.

Mariah wasn’t the only singer to perform last night. Andrea Bocelli treated everyone to his version of Nessun Dorma while the Chinese pianist Lang Lang performed the Olympic Anthem.

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A ‘storm train’ of consecutive winds and rains battering Spain and Portugal has already forced 11,000 people to flee their homes. 

A man, believed to be about 70, died in Portugal‘s southern Alentejo region on Wednesday after his car was swept away by flood water, local authorities said.

And on Friday, police said a body was found not far ​from where a woman was swept away by a river in Malaga, as she tried to rescue her dog.

Storm Leonardo struck the Iberian Peninsula on Tuesday – with Spanish state weather agency AEMET warning that another storm, Marta, is on its way.

Thousands are now being forced to evacuate amid fears of more flooding.

Areas near the Guadalquivir River in Cordoba have been evacuated ‌overnight due to the dramatic rise in water levels.

Andalusia’s regional leader, Juan Manuel Moreno, told a press conference that they expect 30mm of rainwater on Saturday.

He said: “In other circumstances that would be little water but right now it ​is a lot as the soil is unable to drain and the rivers and reservoirs are full.”

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Meanwhile, in the mountainous Spanish village of Grazalema, 1,500 residents were evacuated as water seeped through walls.

Worse still, the mountains are made of a permeable rock that dissolves if they absorb too much water – potentially leading to their structural collapse.

In the Portuguese town of Alcacer do Sal, residents told how they had to flee with nothing but the clothes on their back.

“I’m left with nothing,” one told Reuters. “Nothing.”

Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said late on Thursday his government had extended a state of calamity in 69 municipalities until mid-February, ​adding “unprecedented” rainfall and flood risks threatened several regions.

The commander of Portugal’s ANEPC civil protection service, Mario Silvestre, said there were six rivers at risk of major flooding.

The Tagus river basin was placed on red alert on Thursday due to the abrupt rise in water flow.

The meeting was held at Kettlewell Village Hall on Tuesday evening amid concern in Upper Wharfedale and Littondale about a change made by North Yorkshire Council.

The authority introduced a new policy in September which means free school transport is only available to a child’s nearest school, meaning families are unable to get paid transport to their catchment school if it is not also their closest.

The policy was altered in a bid to help the council reduce its annual school transport bill of more than £50m.

But the new rules have caused concern among families and community leaders in the Dales with journeys to nearest schools being over hazardous moorland routes in some cases.

At the meeting, Councillor Richard Ingram, chair of Buckden Parish Council, urged residents to campaig for changes to the policy, describing the new rules as “discriminatory”.

Parish council deputy chair Peter Vetch highlighted several areas of concern,  including the removal of transport to selective schools such as Ermysted’s Grammar School and Skipton Girls’ High School, despite North Yorkshire operating a selective education system.

Cllr Vetch said the policy had introduced a strict “nearest school” rule based on walking distance rather than road distance or route safety.

He cited examples from Oughtershaw, where the school classed as nearest on foot was significantly further and less practical to reach by road than the school previously attended by children from the area.

Cllr Vetch said that in some cases, children would be expected to travel over Fleet Moss to reach their designated school – a route residents widely regard as unsafe, particularly during winter conditions.

Families from Oughtershaw and Greenfield have already submitted appeals, arguing that these circumstances should be treated as exceptional.

However, the appeals were rejected, with factors such as safety, cost and the impact on attendance ruled outside the scope of the process.

Cllr Vetch added: “Speakers at the meeting warned of serious long-term consequences, including unsafe journeys for children, increased financial strain on families forced to fund private transport, and falling pupil numbers in local schools.”

Concerns were also raised about the wider sustainability of rural communities, including the impact on farming families and the future of village schools.

Anne Vetch, former chair of Upper Wharfedale Primary Federation (UWPF), said after the meeting:” The Upper Wharfedale community, teachers and parents have worked tirelessly over the years to ensure the school as part of UWPF not only has survived but thrived and has a promising future, demonstrated by an increase in numbers, financial sustainability, and a good Ofsted.

“You can imagine my dismay and that of others when we find this work seriously undermined by the school transport policy.”

A spokesperson for STAG, which was represented at the meeting, said: “This is one of several meetings that parishes are organising all around the county – with Sheriff Hutton and Scorton near Richmond also included in that list.

“We are not surprised that residents are getting together to challenge this. North Yorkshire Council were warned about the impact this policy would have on rural communities and now they are going to have to answer to the people who are fighting for the future not only of their children, but also of their villages.”

North Yorkshire Council has repeatedly defended the policy change, which is due to be reviewed later this year, saying it brings services in line with government guidance and will help control rising school transport costs, which have more than doubled since 2018/19.

Japan is holding a snap election on Sunday, in the first electoral test for the country’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, since she became leader.

Her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is projected to win a decisive mandate, thanks to the “sanamania” among younger voters who idolise the 64-year-old leader, her favourite pink pen and her rice cracker snacks.

A recent poll suggests about 90% of voters under 30 support Ms Takaichi, while her overall popularity stands at around 60%. Her personal approval ratings are almost double that of her party, according to a new poll by public broadcaster NHK.

Known for being ultra-conservative on social issues such as gender and sexual diversity, Ms Takaichi hopes to win back voters who flocked to emerging populist parties in recent elections.

So who is the PM, why is she so popular, and what has she done to enflame tensions with China?

Japan’s ‘Iron Lady’

A protege of late prime minister Shinzo Abe, Ms Takaichi was elected by the LDP as their new leader in October, making her country’s first female prime minister, leading a governing coalition with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party (JIP).

The presidential election came after her LDP predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba, was forced to step down due to significant losses in the 2024 lower house and 2025 upper house elections. Analysts said the LDP’s failed economic policies and political corruption were behind the loss in voter support.

This was her third bid for leadership of the LDP, after attempts in 2024 and 2021.

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During her most recent campaign, Ms Takaichi, whose mother was a police officer and father worked at a car company, said she wanted to become the “Iron Lady” – a homage to Margaret Thatcher, the daughter of a Grantham grocer who became Britain’s first female prime minister.

Ms Takaichi was first elected to parliament as an independent in 1993 to represent the constituency that includes her hometown of Nara, before briefly joining the liberal New Frontier Party in 1994 and then moving to the LDP, when it won the general election in 1996.

She has taken on several roles within her party and in government over the last three decades, including minister of economic security, internal affairs, and gender equality.

What are her politics?

Ms Takaichi has called for a stronger military, more fiscal spending for growth, promotion of nuclear fusion, cybersecurity and tougher policies on immigration.

She supports the imperial family’s male-only succession and opposes same-sex marriage and a law allowing wives to have separate surnames from their husbands.

The new prime minister has stuck with old-fashioned views favoured by male LDP heavyweights, backing financial support for women’s health and fertility treatments as part of her party’s policy of having women serve in traditional roles of being good mothers and wives.

But she also recently talked about her struggles with menopausal symptoms and stressed the need to educate men about female health to help women at school and work.

Ms Takaichi is a wartime history revisionist and China hawk who recently enflamed tensions with Beijing over her remarks on Taiwan.

In November, she appeared to suggest that Japan could become involved if China takes military action against Taiwan, a self-governing island Beijing considers part of its territory, as this would qualify as “an existential threat”. In retaliation, China increased economic and diplomatic retribution.

Endorsed by Trump and friends with Meloni

US President Donald Trump who is trying to maintain a fragile trade truce with China, asked Ms Takaichi not to further aggravate Beijing in a private phone call in November, sources told Reuters.

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But he had already endorsed her leadership during his visit to Japan in October. He said he was looking forward to hosting her at the White House in March after lauding Ms Takaichi for breaking Japan’s glass ceiling.

She appears to have found a political best friend in fellow right-wing populist Giorgia Meloni after singing happy birthday to the Italian prime minister and presenting her with cake and gifts during a meeting in Tokyo last month.

The women snapped a selfie together – with Ms Meloni later posting an anime version next to the caption: “Two distant nations, but ever closer. Friendship and harmony.”

The pair shared a long hug as they said goodbye, with the Italian prime minister telling her Japanese counterpart: “Count always on me, okay? For whatever you need. I know it’s not easy but we’ll do it together.”

Why is she so popular with young voters?

A drummer in a heavy-metal band and a motorbike rider as a student, Ms Takaichi has built a large social media following that tops any of her rivals, with 2.6 million followers on X compared to about 64,000 for Yoshihiko Noda, the leader of Japan’s main opposition party.

Many of her posts have gone viral, including clips of her drumming to the hit song Golden from Netflix’s K-Pop Demon Hunters film alongside South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, or her serenading Ms Meloni.

Her upbeat image has earned her strong approval ratings.

“She has a clear, decisive way of speaking,” Takeo Fujimura, a 24-year-old clerical worker, said. “She communicates in a bright, positive way and I think that energy resonates with young people.”

Her personal style has also been praised by fans, who rushed to snap up the £660 black leather bag Ms Takaichi regularly carries, causing a nine-month backlog at the brand Hamano.

There is a similar hype around the pink ballpoint pen she uses for note taking in parliament and the shrimp rice crackers she has been spotted holding while travelling by train.

But some analysts question whether enough young people will actually go and vote for Ms Takaichi, as younger people have historically been less likely to vote than older generations that had helped the LDP to a near-unbroken post-war rule in Japan but are not the guarantee of power they once were.

Why has she called an election?

Ms Takaichi’s call for this month’s snap election in January has been seen as an attempt to capitalise on her strong approval ratings of around 70% to help her beleaguered governing party gain more seats.

Polls show that the LDP could capture around 300 seats in the 465-seat lower house – the more powerful of the parliamentary chambers.

This would be a major improvement on the current razor-thin majority the LDP and its coalition partner JIP have in the lower house after losing many seats in 2024 and being defeated in the upper house election last July.

The LDP and JIP are hoping they can secure a supermajority of more than two-thirds, which would give Ms Takashi’s coalition the ability to push through legislation even if it doesn’t secure enough votes in the upper house.

In December, Ms Takichi’s cabinet approved a record 122.3 trillion yen (£565 billion) budget that needs parliamentary approval before the upcoming fiscal year starting April to fund measures to fight inflation, support low-income households and projects to help economic growth.

Winning the election would help her pass this budget after opposition leaders criticised her for delaying it with the snap election.

Polling and media reports suggest that some voters have not been convinced by Ms Takaichi and her party, as her promised fiscal largesse has been partly credited for the yen sliding.

But opposition groups in Japan are seen as too splintered to win an election, with several polls putting Ms Takaichi’s party and coalition partner firmly in the lead.

A FORMER British Prime Minister took part in a threesome with sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, a royal historian has sensationally claimed.

Author Andrew Lownie also said there was “lots more” to come out on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in the latest tranche of the Epstein files.

Lownie, author of Andrew’s unauthorised biography Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, made the claims on the Mail’s Deep Dive Podcast.

He had been discussing the latest batch of three million documents released by the US Department of Justice last week.

Yesterday, cops searched Lord Mandelson’s two homes as they probe intelligence leaks to his paedo pal Jeffrey Epstein.

But Mr Lownie has since incredibly claimed another political heavyweight is engulfed in the Epstein scandal.

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He alleged an ex-PM had been sexually involved with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, the ex-partner of the disgraced financier.

The author said: “I have heard lots of talk about threesomes – including a threesome between Ghislaine and a British Prime Minister.”

When asked by host Sarah Vine if it was a recent PM, he responded: “A former Prime Minister, but it’s not Winston Churchill.”

Mr Lownie did not elaborate any further on the bombshell allegations.

Separately, in the latest dump of Epstein files, further details of Lord Mandelson’s relationship with the paedophile have come to light.

Documents appeared to show him passing confidential information to Epstein while he was Business Secretary.

Other files also include photos showing Mandelson in his underpants and a t-shirt while standing alongside a bathrobed female.

And last night, plain-clothed Met officers descended on the disgraced Labour peer’s properties in Camden, North London, and Wiltshire.

Cops arrived at his four-storey home near Regent’s Park at around 3.30pm yesterday, and a large box was later taken in.

His partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva could also be seen inside speaking to an officer.

Sir Keir Starmer is facing fresh calls to quit over his appointment of Mandelson as US ambassador.

In a grovelling apology this week, the Prime Minister promised he was not aware of the “depth and the darkness” of the pair’s relationship.

Speaking on the podcast, Mr Lownie also went on to suggest there was “much more” to come out about the disgraced former Duke of York.

Just this week, more files emerged with Andrew telling Jeffrey Epstein he wanted to be his “pet” in one creepy email.

Allegations also emerged that a stripper performed “various sex acts” on Andrew and paedo pal Epstein after they demanded a threesome.

The unnamed woman was “treated like a prostitute” after dancing for the pair at Epstein’s Palm Beach home in 2006, her lawyer claimed.

And cops confirmed they are assessing claims the disgraced financier trafficked a second woman to the UK.

It is alleged she had sex with Andrew in Royal Lodge before having a tour of Buckingham Palace.

Her bombshell claims mark the first time an Epstein accuser has alleged a sexual encounter at a royal property.

The Met said it was “aware of reports about a woman said to have been taken to an address in Windsor in 2010 for sexual purposes”.

We revealed how Andrew had been quietly booted out of Royal Lodge under the cover of darkness on Monday night.

He is staying temporarily at Sandringham’s Wood Farm cottage before moving next door to his permanent home Marsh Farm from April.

He is understood to have been kicked out earlier than planned after King Charles became increasingly concerned with the shocking ­revelations.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has always vigorously denied any wrongdoing relating to his relationship with Epstein.

Keir Starmer is in the middle of his worst crisis yet following further damaging revelations about Peter Mandelson’s friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Emails released by the US government revealed the depth of Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein and confirmed that it continued after Epstein’s conviction in 2008.

Starmer insists that Mandelson lied to him and to the team responsible for vetting him as a candidate to be the UK ambassador to the United States. According to Starmer, Mandelson’s answers gave the impression that he barely knew Epstein.

When emails came to light in September showing that the relationship was deeper than claimed, the prime minister dismissed him. Starmer has, however, now admitted that he knew at the time of the vetting that Mandelson had remained in contact with Epstein after he was convicted of sex offences.

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The prime minister’s judgement over appointing Mandelson as his ambassador was being called into question even before these latest revelations. Mandelson had previously resigned twice (in 1998 and 2001) from Tony Blair’s government following scandals, and it was public knowledge that he had been friends with Epstein. All of this should have ruled him out of consideration.

Pressure has been mounting on the government to release documents detailing Mandelson’s vetting to show how much was really known about his ties to Epstein. It is these documents specifically that are at the centre of the latest speculation that Starmer cannot survive in his job.

The Conservative party tabled a humble address motion in the House of Commons on February 4 calling for all vetting documents and related correspondence to be made public. Humble address motions, if passed, compel the government to carry out the actions specified in the motion.

Starmer has a large majority and could have fought off this manoeuvre had he had the support of his own MPs. But they are furious with him. Some have briefed that this scandal is the final straw after a series of poor judgement calls from the prime minister (previously mostly in relation to policy, where U-turns have been required).

They made it clear to the whips that they would rebel if instructed to vote against the Conservative motion. As a result, the government decided to table an amendment to the motion to give itself control over which documents would be released.

Its stated aim was to prevent any material that could be prejudicial to national security or international relations from being made public. Starmer has also said that a police investigation into Mandelson also precludes publication of some documents because they may prejudice any case against him.

This amendment was tabled the night before the debate and vote but it quickly became clear that trust in the prime minister and his government had completely evaporated and that Labour MPs would not support the amendment. In response, a last-minute manuscript amendment was drafted and tabled to ensure that documents pertaining to Mandelson’s appointment would instead be given to the (cross-party) Intelligence and Security Committee for review and publication. That would prevent the government from deciding what to release.

This amendment was suggested in the chamber by Angela Rayner (the former deputy prime minister and deputy Labour leader) and is a sign of how serious the situation has become for the prime minister. It signals clearly that his own MPs no longer trust him or his government to handle the release of documents appropriately.

The government has now lost control of the process, and this could lead to the publication of documents that further damage its reputation — not only regarding what the government did or did not know about Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein, but also potentially embarrassing correspondence about Donald Trump and members of his administration.

The wording of the government’s initial amendment attempted to block the release of documents that might affect international relations. That suggests there may be damaging revelations of the kind that forced one of Mandelson’s predecessors as US ambassador, Kim Darroch, to resign. Darroch was forced to stand down as ambassador in 2019 after leaked emails showed he’d called the first Trump administration “”clumsy and inept”.

Labour MPs have had enough

The level of frustration on the Labour backbenches is now comparable to that of Conservative MPs during the final months of Boris Johnson’s premiership. The focus of retribution is currently directed at the prime minister’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who MPs blame for this error of judgement (as he was a political ally of Mandelson). They see McSweeney has having given poor advice to the prime minister and blame him for the poor operation of Downing Street over the past 18 months.

Even if the immediate pressure is on McSweeney, losing him would still be destabilising for the prime minister. A similar dynamic played out under Theresa May when her party forced her joint chiefs of staff, Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, from office after the 2017 election.

Either way, Starmer’s days as prime minister appear to be numbered. The real question is how long he can remain in office. Labour MPs are not naturally inclined toward regicide – indeed, the party has never removed a sitting prime minister from office before. Any challenger needs the support of 80 MPs to trigger a leadership election – one in which Starmer would be entitled to stand himself. That remains a high threshold.

And, in the first instance, none of the apparent heirs to the leadership are currently positioned to launch a credible challenge. Andy Burnham was prevented from standing in the upcoming Gorton and Denton byelection, so won’t become an MP any time soon. Angela Rayner has yet to resolve the tax issues that forced her resignation from government last year. Wes Streeting is viewed as being too closely aligned politically with Mandelson to mount a challenge over this scandal.

There are, however, further moments of danger on the horizon. The loss of the Gorton and Denton byelection could weaken the prime minister further. Some in the party are still angry over Burnham being blocked, which many believe may have cost Labour a winnable seat.

Upcoming local elections in England, as well as the parliamentary elections in Scotland and Wales, also look set to be torrid for Labour. It is likely that Starmer will limp on into the local elections, but beyond that his future will depend on his MPs – specifically, whether they choose to fire the starting gun on a leadership challenge or whether they can talk him into announcing his resignation as leader of the party, thereby triggering a leadership election.

Labour’s 2024 manifesto front cover simply read “Change”, but in recent weeks politics has felt uncomfortably reminiscent of 2022. That is Labour’s problem.