Today in Focus

“[Voters say] he understands what it’s like to struggle to put food on the table.” Andy Burnham may have a route back to Westminster – and a path to the Labour leadership. But first the Greater Manchester mayor must win a byelection in Makerfield, where Nigel Farage has vowed Reform UK will ‘throw absolutely everything’ at the contest. The Guardian’s north of England correspondent Hannah al-Othman has been talking to voters in the constituency. #Labour #AndyBurnham #UKNews #UKPolitics #Makerfield

“This needs to be a battle of ideas, not personality.” Wes Streeting has quit his cabinet role as health secretary and called on Keir Starmer to resign as prime minister after days of speculation. But Streeting did not launch his own challenge to trigger a leadership contest, so what could be next for Starmer’s government? And has Streeting left the door open for Andy Burnham to return? #KeirStarmer #UKPolitics #WesStreeting #AndyBurnham

“There are people in China who think that Trump envies Xi.” Senior China correspondent Amy Hawkins talks through the high-stakes meeting in Beijing between presidents Trump and Xi. Late on Wednesday evening local time, the US president landed in Beijing. As the Guardian’s senior China correspondent, Amy Hawkins, explains, Trump is in the country for a high-stakes meeting with President Xi Jinping in the first visit of a US president to China since Trump was last in Beijing in 2017. But what will they talk about, and how much is at stake? #China #Trump #Politics #Taiwan

“He may feel that he doesn't have an opportunity if he's not the first one out of the blocks” Wes Streeting is expected to launch a leadership challenge against Keir Starmer as soon as tomorrow. News of the Health Secretary’s plans came during the King’s Speech, derailing what was supposed to be another chance for the prime minister to reset the political agenda. #KeirStarmer #UKPolitics #WesStreeting

Live facial recognition is being hailed as a powerful new frontier in the fight against crime, not only by police but by private companies too. Retailers from supermarkets to corner shops hope it will help them fight back against shoplifting. But the Guardian’s social affairs correspondent, Jessica Murray, points out that the technology doesn’t always get it right. With more police forces wanting to utilise the technology, what could the consequences be? Listen to the new Today in Focus, out now. #ai #police #facialrecognition

“At this point it's beginning to look like an orchestrated campaign.” Tensions are running high in Westminster, as Keir Starmer tells his cabinet he’s not going anywhere. But with more than 80 MPs calling for him to go and three government ministers stepping down, how much longer has he got? @lucyijhough speaks to political editor Pippa Crerar. #KeirStarmer #UKPolitics #LabourParty

In these highly polarised times, dunking on the prime minister – and this PM in particular – is the one thing that seems to unite people in fury, disappointment and loathing. So as he rolled his sleeves up to address the nation on Monday morning, after one of the worst election results in Labour’s history, Keir Starmer had quite the job on his hands. The Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty was watching – and wincing. “There are times when I watch Keir Starmer promising he’s going to change,” he said. “He looks to me like a guy on the verge of divorce, holding flowers from the nearest petrol station and saying: 'Trust me. Honestly, it’s going to be different this time. Honestly, love, stick with me.’” But why does there seem to be such antagonism towards the Labour leader – and can anyone guide the party out of the mess they have found themselves in? #ukpolitics #starmer #labour

“This whole game theory - what you do depends on what other people do - makes it very hard to predict.” Keir Starmer appears to have staved off an immediate leadership challenge, but MPs are still calling for him to set out a timetable for his resignation. The Prime Minister vowed to fight on in a make-or-break speech. So can he cling on or has he run out of road? #KeirStarmer #UKPolitics #LabourParty

“It seemed like suddenly, overnight, everyone was talking about Geese.” As fans flocked to Geese in the past year and made the US band's frontman, Cameron Winter, the most talked-about indie star of the moment, it felt like a genuine rush of emotion and connection. They ruled the end-of-year lists. Their tours sold out. A big deal for a group whose members were barely born the last time New York bands were cool. But when fans heard a podcast interview with two marketing executives talking about how they created a buzz around the bands they worked with, a backlash ensued. “The moment real fans find out about it, they feel extremely betrayed,” says the culture journalist Shaad D’Souza. #geeseband #indiemusic #PR

As the satirical online news outlet the Onion waits for court approval to take over the conspiracy website Infowars, Helen Pidd speaks to a former staff member about its sinister rise and dramatic fall. Alex Jones is known as the US far-right conspiracist who has been peddling misinformation and dangerous lies on his site, Infowars. For years in his early 20s, Josh Owens worked for him, accepting his point of view. “Jones made the world seem exciting,” Owens tells Helen Pidd. In 2012, a gunman walked into Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut and killed 20 children and six adults. It prompted probably the most serious conversation the US had ever had about gun control. But Jones used it as fodder on his site. The children were alive, he said. The grieving parents were actors; the whole thing was a government plot to take away people’s guns. Owens tells Pidd what it was like to work on the website, and how he came to realise how wrong he had been. In 2018, Jones was sued for defamation by the families. He was eventually ordered to pay a record $1.4bn in damages and filed for bankruptcy. Last Friday, after nearly 30 years of spreading lies, Infowars recorded its final broadcast. Now the site is on the verge of being taken over by the Onion. But is this really the end of Alex Jones? #theonion #infowars #timheidecker #alexjones

“He was very much giving the message that he’s going to be there for the long term.” Keir Starmer has vowed to fight on after Labour suffered heavy losses in local elections, while Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and the Green party made substantial gains. So is the era of two-party politics over? And can the prime minister survive? @lucyijhough speaks to Political correspondent Alexandra Topping #LocalElections #UKPolitics #ReformUK #KeirStarmer #GreenParty #Labour #NigelFarage #Polanski

"There’s no getting away from the fact that an oil company makes more money when oil prices are high." Shell has made $6.9bn in profits since the Iran war began, cashing in on soaring energy prices. The enormous profits have reignited calls for higher taxes on fossil fuel giants to fund support for those hardest hit by rising costs @lucyijhough speaks to @jh.ambrose