Kake

Posted by Joey Lynch (now) and Jo Khan (earlier)

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2026/jan/21/aryna-sabalenka-carlos-alcaraz-australian-open-tennis-second-round-live

Live updates from the day session at Melbourne Park
Men’s No 1 plays Hanfmann on Rod Laver Arena
Any thoughts? Get in touch with an email

Sabalenka (1) 2-0 Bai* Bai starts with a slower second serve which Sabalenka easily returns and Bai meekly hits her backhand into the net. Bai is clearly nowhere near Sabalenka’s level. The Belarusian takes the second game and Bai hasn’t got a point yet.

*Sabalenka (1) 1-0 Bai Sabalenka dominates from the get-go. Hitting two backhand winners off Bai’s serve return. She’s loud and looking confident. Make that three, Bai doesn’t even bother stretching to reach it. And the first game is done and dust in slightly over two minutes as Sabalenka fires down a forehand which Bai flails towards but can’t make any contact.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2026/jan/21/aryna-sabalenka-carlos-alcaraz-australian-open-tennis-second-round-live

Posted by Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum in Qalqilya

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/21/not-stay-silent-palestinian-prisoner-sexual-abuse-israeli-jail

Sami al-Saei has defied social stigma to speak out about what a report calls a ‘grave pattern’ of sexual violence

• Warning: contains graphic descriptions of torture

Sami al-Saei said he heard the Israeli prison guards who raped him laughing through the assault, before they left him lying blindfolded, handcuffed and in agony on the floor to take a cigarette break.

At least one of the group knew a crime was being committed and intervened, not to stop the torture but to prevent its documentation. Al-Saei said he heard the man warning others “don’t take a photo, don’t take a photo” as they attacked.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/21/not-stay-silent-palestinian-prisoner-sexual-abuse-israeli-jail

Posted by Lucy Mangan

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jan/21/steal-review-sophie-turner-thriller-prime-video

This breathless and hugely entertaining financial heist show isn’t just packed with twists. It’s a clever meditation on the evil of money – in which you’re rooting for the Game of Thrones star

The trick, Zara Dunne tells her new underling as she shows her round the trades processing floor of the pension management company for which they both now work, is not to dwell on the fact that every day that passes is another day wasted. And to know where the nice biscuits are. This is very good advice for any twentysomething starting their first job, but especially one called Myrtle, as this one is, whom I imagine has already had much of the stuffing knocked out of her by her peers’ reactions to this odd parental choice of moniker.

Soon, however, they are all in need of substantially more comfort than even a chocolate Hobnob can provide, as a team of armed villains swarms the floor. From there, the glossy new six-part thriller Steal kicks into high gear and doesn’t let up for a moment. The baddies – sporting not masks but sophisticated, subtle prosthetics that can fool all the facial recognition software the police will soon be applying to the CCTV footage – herd Zara (Sophie Turner, continuing to deliver sterling work post-Game of Thrones), Myrtle (Eloise Thomas), Zara’s friend and colleague Luke (Archie Madekwe) and the rest of the rank into one conference room while the management committee is locked in another. A couple of gruesome beatings later, so that nobody is in any doubt about the dedication of the villainous gang, Luke and Zara are yanked out and forced to help them execute a set of trades worth £4bn, and the committee is forced to sign off on them all. At one point, Luke crumbles and Zara must step in to save the day. She is hailed as a hero once the thieves have completed their hi-tech heist and left the building.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jan/21/steal-review-sophie-turner-thriller-prime-video

Posted by Joe Hinchliffe

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jan/21/canadian-backpacker-piper-james-found-on-kgari-island

Coroner to examine if 19-year-old drowned off Australian tourist island or was killed by wild dingoes

“I’m 18, and you can’t stop me!” Piper James told her father before she set off backpacking on the other side of the Pacific Ocean – but the young Canadian woman’s trip to Australia ended in tragedy and trauma.

Early on Monday, the now-19-year-old was found dead on a beach on the world heritage-listed sand island and tourist destination of K’gari (formerly known as Fraser Island) off the Queensland coast, surrounded by a pack of dingoes near the Maheno shipwreck.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jan/21/canadian-backpacker-piper-james-found-on-kgari-island