The US lawyer on her fearsome reputation, the criticism she faced for advising Harvey Weinstein, and how 40 years of legal experience did not prepare her for the Epstein files

If Lisa Bloom had been advising Peter Mandelson or the then Prince Andrew before their calamitous attempts at reputation-salvaging television interviews, she would have encouraged them to listen beforehand to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims – or, at the very least, to their lawyers – to understand something of what the women endured.

“Or even just watch some of the powerful documentaries that have been made, centering the victims, telling their stories,” Bloom says, pausing for a moment, closing her eyes and shaking her head to convey silent incredulity. “I’d have wanted them to become really enlightened about it. But you really can’t instil compassion in someone if they don’t have compassion. It’s hard to implant it in there.”

Every second, 11m bits of information enter our brains, which then efficiently prioritise them. We need to learn to work with the process, rather than against it

It’s believed that we have about 50,000 thoughts a day: big, small, urgent, banal – “Did I leave the oven on?”. And those are just the ones that register. Subconsciously, we’re constantly sifting through a barrage of stimuli: background noise, clutter on our desks, the mere presence of our phones.

Every second, 11m bits of information enter our brains. Just 0.0004% is perceived by our conscious minds, showing just how hard our brains are working to parse what’s sufficiently relevant to bring to our attention.

The president and his supporters joining forces to decide what audiences read and see seems straight from a fascism playbook

Two events, juxtaposed, tell us a great deal about what is rapidly taking shape in the US. In one, Melania Trump releases a glossy documentary, Melania, an account of her return to the White House. Amazon outbid others to secure the rights to the documentary, spending $75m (£54m) in total, and ticket sales so far suggest that this was, shall we say, not a purely commercial venture.

In the other, the Washington Post is set to cut up to 200 jobs early this month, including the majority of its foreign staff and a sizeable chunk of its newsroom. Both Melania and the Washington Post are backed by Jeff Bezos. His two decisions, to invest in state propaganda and divest from the fourth estate that supposedly holds power to account, reveal much about how capital and authoritarianism join forces to decide what audiences read and see.

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist

João Pedro stepping up for Rosenior, Arsenal frontmen show their teeth and stretched Liverpool are fighting on

João Pedro is enjoying life under Liam Rosenior. The versatile Brazil forward was excellent after coming on at half-time against West Ham. João Pedro, who has five goals in his last five games, helped Chelsea complete their comeback from 2-0 down by scoring his side’s first and then creating Enzo Fernandez’s stoppage-time winner. Chelsea chose well when they beat Newcastle to the signing of the 24-year-old from Brighton last summer. João Pedro was excellent at the Club World Cup, but despite dealing with fitness issues has still has 12 goals in all competitions this season. Capable of playing as either a No 9 or a No 10, the Brazilian was important for Enzo Maresca but has improved since the Italian’s departure. “I’ve had very, very good conversations with him already, probably four in my office,” Rosenior said last week. “I think he’s sick of my office, where I’ve said to him ‘If you play with intensity with your quality, the quality comes out’.” Jacob Steinberg

Musicians step out in ruffles, feathers and trains as the red carpet sees the return of the ‘free the nipple’ movement

• The winners, the losers, the performances – live

• List of winners

• Nominations in major categories

A bit like Reddit for artificial intelligence, Moltbook allows AI agents – bots built by humans – to post and interact with each other. People are allowed as observers only

On social media, people often accuse each other of being bots, but what happens when an entire social network is designed for AI agents to use?

Moltbook is a site where the AI agents – bots built by humans – can post and interact with each other. It is designed to look like Reddit, with subreddits on different topics and upvoting. On 2 February the platform stated it had more than 1.5m AI agents signed up to the service. Humans are allowed, but only as observers.

Departure from party follows release of documents in US appearing to show Jeffrey Epstein sent former US ambassador $75,000

Peter Mandelson has said he has resigned his membership of the Labour party to avoid causing it “further embarrassment” after more revelations about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

The peer, who was sacked as US ambassador last year because of his links to Epstein, featured in documents released by the US Department of Justice on Friday related to the convicted sex offender.

Musicians delivered impassioned speeches during a star-packed night that saw Lamar become the most awarded rapper of all time

• Grammy awards 2026: list of winners

Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar took home major Grammy awards during a night that saw musicians hit back at Donald Trump’s ICE occupation.

From Justin Bieber to Carole King, artists wore anti-ICE pins while others also spoke out during their speeches. Bad Bunny, who is performing at the Super Bowl next weekend, took home three awards, for album of the year, best música urbana album and global music performance, and used his time on stage to call out anti-immigration sentiment.

Report covering 23 conflicts over last 18 months concludes more than 100,000 civilians have been killed as war crimes rage out of control

An authoritative survey of 23 armed conflicts over the last 18 months has concluded that international law seeking to limit the effects of war is at breaking point, with more than 100,000 civilians killed, while torture and rape are committed with near impunity.

The extensive study by the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights describes the deaths of 18,592 children in Gaza, growing civilian casualties in Ukraine and an “epidemic” of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

William Blake House in Northants accused of mismanagement after revelation it paid one of its own trustees £1m

A group of families have called for an urgent inquiry into a charity caring for their highly vulnerable disabled relatives which is under threat of closure after running up debts of £1.6m in unpaid taxes and paying £1m to one of its own trustees.

Earlier this month, a judge gave the charity, William Blake House, just weeks to pay off its debts to HMRC or face a winding up order. The charity’s accounts show auditors have routinely questioned whether it is a viable business.