When legal sports betting surges, so do Americans' financial problems

As online betting has grown in popularity, a new report from the New York Federal Reserve builds on the troubling link between legal sports wagering and financial health.

Manchester City v Liverpool kicks off FA Cup quarter-finals, Fernández latest and more – matchday live

⚽️ News and buildup before Manchester City v Liverpool
⚽️ Get in touch via email or post your thoughts BTL

The Women’s FA Cup is being played, too. Suzanne Wrack runs the rule over the ties.

Arsenal v Brighton, Sunday 1pm

Charlton v Liverpool, Sunday 2.30pm

Chelsea v Tottenham, Monday 1.30pm

Birmingham v Manchester City, Monday 5pm

Peretz was inspired by the Germany goalkeeper as a boy – he had a giant photo of the 2014 World Cup-winner on his bedroom wall – but in Bavaria Neuer, who turned 40 last week, morphed into a mentor. “[It went] from admiring the players, to them becoming my friends and my teammates.

“I watched every single save [Neuer] made and then he was with me day by day and he became a friend,” Peretz says, recalling the emotions of their first encounter. “I was sweating all over, so nervous that I could not speak. I had goosebumps, everything.”

Sunday best: Thomasina Miers’ recipes for aromatic chicken one-pot and salted caramel banana cake

It’s wild garlic time again! Try this pesto with an aromatic chicken, fennel and potato stew, then dive into a fudgy banana cake with a tantalisingly crunchy top

I love Mexican chillies for the subtle flavour they give to cooking. Take the ancho, with its sweet, earthy notes of chocolate and plum. That adds immense depth to dishes traditional and avant garde alike, and is now readily available online and in shops. In today’s one-pot, which is a near-perfect way to cook a whole chicken, the ancho adds character to a classic sofrito, while in the pudding the savoury notes and touch of heat complement the dark caramel, helping to create a banana cake that is anything but bland. If you can’t find ancho, try any other medium-heat chilli flake in its place (nora, aleppo), or simply leave it out. The results will be delicious either way.

Jo Nesbø: ‘How often do I have sex? I only do it outdoors, so it depends on the weather’

The novelist on working on a trawler, his near miss rock climbing, and being jailed for indecent exposure

Born in Oslo, Jo Nesbø, 66, played for Norway’s premier league football team Molde before injury ended his career. After military service, he gained an economics degree, then worked in finance. He also formed the band Di Derre, which topped the Norwegian charts. In 1997, he released The Bat, the first of his bestselling Harry Hole novels. His work has been published in 51 languages and he has sold more than 60m books. In 2017, his novel The Snowman was made into a film starring Michael Fassbender. A new series, Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole, premieres on Netflix on 26 March. He has a daughter and lives in Oslo.

When were you happiest?
When Molde won the Norwegian premier league in 2011, the year the club was 100 years old.

UK food halls buck downbeat hospitality trend: ‘In this impossible climate, they shine hope’

Amid closures and soaring costs, food halls are booming as a cheaper, lower-risk alternative to traditional restaurants

Beeps chirp through the cavernous Cambridge Street Collective on a busy weekday, as buzzers alert the lunch crowd to collect their sushi tacos, rendang curries or Palestinian chicken musakhan.

The Sheffield food hall is Europe’s largest purpose-built venue of its kind, at 20,000 sq ft, and arrived in 2024 as part of a major redevelopment of the city, which has brought in businesses including HSBC.

Congress gave money for global HIV work. The Trump administration isn't spending it

U.S. work combatting HIV/AIDS has saved millions of lives globally. Under the Trump administration, funding has been slow in coming and unpredictable, wreaking havoc on people trying to do the work.

Tax refunds are trending a bit higher this year. Here's how people are spending them

Some people are splurging. Others are finding that their refunds are being swallowed up by the rising cost of gas.

‘Wild west’ reformer pilates boom is causing rise in injuries, experts warn

Lack of regulation for specialist classes leaves UK fitness enthusiasts at risk, say professional bodies

The boom in reformer pilates has created a “wild west” of studios where poor regulation has resulted in inexperienced teachers and a rise in injuries, professional standards bodies have warned.

Pilates is not formally or legally regulated, and as its popularity has surged, industry experts say, so too has the growth of packed reformer-based classes often led by instructors with limited training.

‘Enough of this me me me’: Blake Morrison on memoir in the age of oversharing

From sad-fishing on Facebook to sensational Substack revelations – today’s readers don’t have to look far for confessional writing. Is this the end of autobiography?

Every day I meet strangers who share intimate details with me. It’s called reading. In a newspaper piece a former sex addict recalls her need for BDSM (“when a sexual partner hurt me, I felt seen”) and how she conquered her dependency. On Substack an actor describes her grief on losing a baby (“After the miscarriage, I became convinced my daughter was backstage. I would push back the costumes on the rack and almost expect to find her”). And then there are the published memoirs, first-person stories of trauma, displacement and heartbreak. It’s not just women who unburden themselves, of course. As Martin Amis says in his memoir, Experience: “We are all writing it or at any rate talking it: the memoir, the apologia, the CV, the cri de coeur.”

Recent memoirs have upped the ante, though. What was once a geriatric, self-satisfied genre (politicians, generals and film stars looking back fondly on long careers) is now open to anyone with a story to tell – “nobody memoirs”, the American journalist Lorraine Adams has called them. Candour is the key, no matter how fraught the consequences. “Most writers I know,” Maggie Nelson writes in The Argonauts, “nurse persistent fantasies about the horrible things – or the horrible thing – that will happen to them if and when they express themselves as they desire”. But she takes that risk, addressing the book to “you”, her fluidly gendered husband Harry (who’s angry when she shows him a draft), while exploring identity, pregnancy, motherhood and sexuality.

Italian council buys Mussolini’s villa to keep it away from ‘fascist nostalgics’

Riccione’s leftwing mayor, Daniela Angelini, says public purchase is victory for town and ‘act of love and vision’

An Italian council has bought a villa where Benito Mussolini spent his summer holidays, partly to avoid the property falling into the hands of “fascist nostalgics”.

Daniela Angelini, the leftwing mayor of Riccione, a town close to Rimini along Italy’s Adriatic coast, said the acquisition of Villa Mussolini through an auction was “an act of love and vision” and that bringing it back into public hands was a victory for the entire town.

‘Racist ideology lodges itself amid austerity politics’: newly elected French mayor on tackling far right

Bally Bagayoko, who was targeted by racist abuse after winning Saint-Denis mayorship, vows to tackle inequality to stem deepening divisions

A French mayor who faced a barrage of racist insults that are being investigated by police has called for France to urgently tackle race hatred and stem the rise of far-right ideas ahead of next year’s presidential election.

“It has become a lot easier for racist views to be expressed … and unfortunately racist comments are becoming trivialised,” said Bally Bagayoko, 52, in his office at Saint-Denis town hall outside Paris, where he was recently elected mayor for the radical left.

Architect of the Easter Rising, hanged as a traitor: for Roger Casement, a pardon still seems far away | Rory Carroll

Relations with Britain have improved again since Brexit, but battles over Irish history remain visible in Stormont’s endless feuding

• Rory Carroll is the Guardian’s Ireland correspondent and author of A Rebel and a Traitor: A Fugitive, the Manhunt and Birth of the IRA

More than a century after he was marched to the gallows, there is still something radioactive about Roger Casement, a name that continues to emit a faint crackle in British-Irish relations.

He was knighted in 1911 by King George V for distinguished imperial service, but then embraced radical Irish nationalism and sought German help for the 1916 Easter Rising.

Rory Carroll is the Guardian’s Ireland correspondent and author of A Rebel and a Traitor: A Fugitive, the Manhunt and the Birth of the IRA

Death, displacement and military duties: children plunged into crisis by Middle East war

The US-Israeli war will have a lifelong impact on millions of children across the Middle East

Millions of children have been plunged into crisis by the war in the Middle East, with reports of child soldiers in Iran, mass forced displacements in Lebanon and the killing of hundreds of minors.

According to the UN agency for children, Unicef, more than 340 children have been killed and thousands injured since the US and Israel launched their attacks on Iran, which has retaliated with bombings across the region.

Southampton’s Daniel Peretz: ‘We have a lot of respect for Arsenal, but we are not afraid’

Goalkeeper on representing Israel, learning from Manuel Neuer at Bayern and targeting an FA Cup upset

A few days after returning from international duty, there is only one place to start with Daniel Peretz: his pride at representing Israel during the unsettling and tense backdrop of war and geopolitical conflict. His excitement at facing Arsenal in the FA Cup quarter-finals can wait. Almost all of his family are in Tel Aviv, where wailing air raid sirens have become a staple of the mood music. “Unfortunately, it has become a bit of a routine,” says the Southampton goalkeeper, who is on loan from Bayern Munich.

When they sound, his loved ones head to the nearest bunkers and safe rooms. “It’s not always easy to do this separation in life and you are worried a lot about what’s happening,” he says. “But they are always following the instructions and I’m always in touch with them. We speak regularly to check everything is OK.

What links PT Barnum’s elephant with a book of Job beast? The Saturday quiz

From the Arconia and a nine-dart finish to madder, weld and woad, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 What unique structure carries the Bridgewater canal over the Manchester ship canal?
2 Melanistic leopards are more commonly known as what?
3 Which European national flag features seven castles?
4 The Arconia is the apartment block in the title of what TV series?
5 Station Island in Donegal is claimed to be an entrance to where?
6 Which woman hit a nine-dart finish in a PDC event in February?
7 The experimental boats Ra and Ra II were chiefly made from what?
8 Who did Henry VIII describe as a “rose without a thorn”?
What links:
9 King’s Cross station; McDonald’s, Kings Norton; Parliament Hill; Stonehenge; Uffington?
10 Choice; HD; Knowledge; Select; 2W?
11 Book of Job beast; Tom Hanks age swap film; John Lithgow as Roald Dahl; PT Barnum elephant?
12 Glock firearms; Red Bull energy drink; Swarovski crystals?
13 Merle Oberon; Juliette Binoche; Kaya Scodelario; Margot Robbie?
14 Madder; weld; woad?
15 Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra; Punjab; Guangdong and Shandong?

‘The frontline is like Terminator’: fighting robots give Ukraine hope in war with Russia

Use of unmanned ground vehicles has grown exponentially since 2024 turning the war into a technological contest

Victor Pavlov showed off Ukraine’s newest and most versatile weapon: a battery-powered land robot.

The unmanned ground vehicles come in various shapes and sizes. One runs on caterpillar tracks and resembles a roofless milk float. Another has wheels and antennas. A third carries anti-tank mines. Since spring 2024 their use has grown exponentially.

Eminem’s 8 Mile helped me survive abuse – and opened my eyes to a world outside of orthodox Judaism

My upbringing denied me access to the arts and led to me bottling up my feelings about what was happening to me. Then I saw Eminem taking control of his destiny, and decided I needed to do the same

At 15, I had never been to the cinema, or even watched a movie. I grew up in a strictly Orthodox Charedi Jewish household, the daughter of a rabbi, in Glasgow, where we had next to no exposure to cultural influences beyond our religious world. The bookshelves were stacked with biblical texts and teachings, we sang in Yiddish and I only saw TV at my less religious grandparents’ house, where we could watch the end of the tennis if it was finishing as we arrived.

By my mid-teens, my parents had moved to Jerusalem and sent me to live in Manchester, with a scholar who would later abuse me. The abuse went on for six months while his family slept or when they were out. I had no one to turn to or tell; even if I had, no one had taught me the words for what was happening to me. It was a complicated, lonely time without adults to rely on.

The Guide #237: Fab 5 Freddy, the street artist at the heart of New York’s creative zenith

In this week’s newsletter: A new memoir by Fred Brathwaite offers an insight into the city’s emerging underground scene in the 70s and 80s – and shows us the power of subcultures in difficult times

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Hello everyone, I’m Coco Khan, covering for Gwilym Mumford, and this week, as the sun started to peep out from behind the clouds, I counted five Jean-Michel Basquiat T-shirts on passersby during a park walk.

Sure, I may live in a trendy London borough – but it’s still hardly surprising, given that the name and works of the New York artist whose roots were in graffiti have been licensed to fashion brands from Next, Primark and Uniqlo to Supreme and Saint Laurent. It’s hard to imagine that the artist – who died at 27 of a drug overdose, and whose signature slogan SAMO© (Same Old Crap – a criticism of consumerism, and the commodification of art, with a playful copyright mark) – would approve of the Basquiat name being on keyrings, tote bags and clothing. But hey, what do I know – I’m just another purist bore still upset that Ramones T-shirts are worn by millions who couldn’t name a song, when the Ramones themselves did not care.

‘Occasionally a picture can change the course of history’: 33 scandalous photos that shocked the world

When it comes to scandal, seeing is believing – which is why these images caused such a stir

Words can tell a story, but it’s pictures that will make you believe in it. Such is the power of a photograph; the ability to strip away illusions, to illuminate something hidden, and sometimes force us to accept unpalatable truths. When it comes to scandal, seeing is believing – occasionally even to the point that a picture changes the course of history.

How might life have been different for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had he not been photographed clutching the midriff of the 17-year-old girl he would later claim he had never met? Without this haunting triptych of the former prince, the late Virginia Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein’s fixer, Ghislaine Maxwell, hovering in the background, there would have been nothing physical to connect the then prince with a trafficking victim. Though for years Andrew’s friends insisted that the photograph must have been doctored, buried within the Epstein files recently released by the US Department of Justice is a note from Maxwell that appears to confirm it is real.

As Team Trump wage unceasing war on Iran, evangelical nationalists are destroying any moral world order we once had | Simon Tisdall

The brutalisation of global norms by figures like Pete Hegseth must be seen as an ethical issue. It’s a fight against chaos, and all major religions must play a role

That combative old hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers, is not much heard these days, though it was once a favourite with church congregations and school assemblies. Written in 1865 by Sabine Baring-Gould, an English clergyman and religious scholar, its belligerent refrain urges the faithful on to battle, victory and conquest: “Onward, Christian soldiers / Marching as to war / With the cross of Jesus / Going on before!” Its martial tone suited the Victorian zeitgeist but it made succeeding generations uneasy (though it was still sung in my primary school in the early 1960s). Nowadays, this sort of triumphalism gives religion a bad name.

Pete Hegseth, US defence secretary, and a leading Christian soldier, would certainly disagree. He probably hums it on his way to work. At a recent Christian worship service in the Pentagon – an irregular event, given the constitution’s dislike of anything smacking of state religion – Hegseth, referencing Iran, prayed for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy”. Hegseth’s creed is killing. He describes Iranians as “religious fanatics”. And he should know. His intolerant brand of evangelical Christian nationalism is extreme even by US standards – yet has Donald Trump’s backing. Trump was a Presbyterian until 2020, when he abruptly declared he wasn’t. God knows what he is now.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for Sichuan-style braised aubergines with tofu | The new vegan

A cheerful rice bowl fragrant with ginger, garlic and spring onion, and laced with a sprightly chilli bean sauce

With spring in the air, I want a dish that’s the equivalent of turning the key in the ignition, firing up the engine and riding off into the sun. In short: something with a bit of va-va-voom. That dish, for me, is these Sichuan aubergines, a take on the classic “fish fragrant aubergines” (so called because the same aromatics are often used to cook fish). Creamy to begin with, they’re layered with flavour by way of ginger, garlic, spring onion and, finally, laced with delight and good times owing to the bright chilli bean sauce and vinegar.

Tim Dowling: spring has sprung – and so has our tortoise

I’m on the sofa with a beer, watching a show where people always end up not buying property in Mediterranean resorts

I’m sitting in my office shed looking through the open door into the garden. It’s warm and sunny – the first spring-like day of spring.

Across the lawn I see my wife open the kitchen door and place the tortoise on the back step. Later it will be cold and he will have to come in, and I will not be able to find him. I make a mental note to start the search before dark. On my way to the kitchen an hour later, I notice he’s already disappeared.

Artemis II astronauts share image of Earth as they pass halfway to the moon

Moon-bound astronauts said a view of the entire Earth, complete with northern lights, was ‘the most spectacular moment’

The four Artemis astronauts have passed the halfway point between Earth and the moon on the way to their planned lunar flyby, Nasa said on Friday evening.

“We’re halfway there,” Nasa posted on social media.

UCLA hold off Texas in slugfest to set up title game matchup with South Carolina

• Bruins to play for first championship in program history

• As it happened: UCLA 51-44 Texas

Lauren Betts had 16 points and made a huge block in the final minutes, and UCLA withstood a late charge by Texas on Friday night for a 51-44 win to reach the national championship game of the women’s NCAA Tournament for the first time.

Manhandled by eventual national champion UConn in their first Final Four a year ago, the Bruins (36-1) dominated their way to another national semi-final with the best season in program history.

65, single, seeking a roommate: More seniors are being priced out of living alone

Roommates overall are skewing older, as young people stay with their parents for longer. The share of older adults looking to rent with a roommate has tripled from a decade ago.

‘There’s more to life than work’: Bangkok’s young people embrace mass outdoor aerobics sessions

Group exercise had been associated with older people, but the playlist of K-pop and US hip-hop is a hit with gen Z

It’s evening rush hour in central Bangkok, the roads are clogged with traffic and the air is heavy from the heat. But in a corner of the capital’s biggest park, the crowds are already gathering to dance.

As the music starts, an aerobics leader glides across a small stage. A sea of arms move from side to side, then touch the sky. Knees pop up and down. Ankles tap.

The sessions have become so popular that projector screens and extra speakers have been added

Evacuations ordered as two wildfires break out in southern California

Stiff winds ‘spreading the smoke’ as Springs fire bears down on Moreno Valley while smaller Crown fire also burning

A pair of wildfires broke out in southern California on Friday, marking the region’s first significant burns in a spring that has seen a major heatwave.

The fires started in windy conditions that have caused them to spread quickly. The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory for parts of southern California through midday Friday, warning of gusts up to 50mph.

Undefeated UConn upset by South Carolina in women's Final Four

UConn, on a 54-game winning streak, entered the Final Four undefeated for the ninth time in school history.

Judge dismisses Blake Lively's sexual harassment claims against Justin Baldoni

A federal judge in New York has tossed out actor Blake Lively's sexual harassment claims against actor Justin Baldoni over their roles in the movie "It Ends With Us," but left intact a claim for retaliation.

Moon-bound Artemis II astronauts enjoy a relaxed day in space

The Artemis II astronauts continued their long coast to the moon, capturing stunning photos along the way.

NASA's Artemis II crew are quite the photographers. See what they've snapped so far

Many of the photos that have come out of the moon mission so far were taken by crew members. NASA says the crew is getting guidance from scientists on what to capture when they get closer to the moon.

A school learned sign language to communicate with its only deaf student

New Hampshire is one of the few states in the nation that doesn't have a dedicated school for the deaf.

Nine charged over alleged conspiracy to import tonnes of cocaine and meth via ‘mother ship’ in Australian waters

Police allege drugs were to be collected from a drop zone in Bass Strait and distributed across the nation using trucking connections

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When a commercial trawler sank off Victoria with four crew members needing rescuing, police became suspicious about an alleged drug trafficking operation.

Nine men are accused over a conspiracy to import tonnes of cocaine and methamphetamine before distributing the drugs across Australia using trucking connections.

A deaf student felt alone until his school stepped up in a special way

Seven-year-old Ben O'Reilly is deaf and has other special needs. His aide said he felt isolated at school until an act of kindness from his fellow classmates started a wave. Steve Hartman has the story in "On the Road."

American fighter jet downed over Iran, 1 crew member rescued

The search for the second crew member, a weapons system officer, is continuing, two U.S. officials said.

Trump's 2027 budget asks Congress for $1.5 trillion in defense spending

President Trump's new budget proposal asks Congress for $1.5 trillion in defense spending — a 42% increase — while cutting nondefense spending by $73 billion, or 10%.

Artemis II astronauts view Earth from space: "We're all one people"

The Artemis II astronauts were over 100,000 miles away from Earth on Friday, almost halfway to the moon. One of the crew members said, "Humanity has once again shown what we are capable of." Mark Strassmann reports.

What are "teen takeovers," and why are police concerned?

Jason Allen reports on the emerging trend called "teen takeovers" and why police are concerned.

TSA's "shoes-on" policy faces pushback from prominent Senate Democrat

Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois on Friday demanded that TSA immediately rescind its "shoes-on" policy, calling it a "reckless act." Nicole Sganga has more details.

Trump seeks $1.5 trillion for military spending in 2027 budget

President Trump submitted a 2027 budget, requesting an additional $1.5 trillion in military spending, the most in decades. Nancy Cordes reports.

2 U.S. planes hit in Iran, search on for missing crew member

Iranian forces shot down a U.S. F-15E fighter jet on Friday. As U.S. rescuers closed in, another aircraft also took fire and crashed. Charlie D'Agata reports and Aaron MacLean has analysis.

The most beautiful coast in the world? Exploring New Zealand’s overlooked Nelson Tasman by sand and sea

For years this region was regarded as little more than a gateway from the North Island to the South. But spend several days there and you’ll ache to tear yourself away

The visitor to New Zealand’s South Island knows what they have to see. There’s a well-trodden circuit. Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook, to gaze at the stars. Queenstown, for a spot of daredevil adventure. The glaciers, Fox and Franz Josef. And then down to Milford Sound, for the fjord, cliffs and waterfalls. Each stop stunning, each one worthy of its place in a tourist trail so long-established they call it the southern loop.

But for those searching for something new, bent less on ticking off the New Zealand icons than on experiencing a region as brimming with natural beauty as it’s been relatively, and mysteriously, overlooked, there is another destination. Head to the place they’re calling Nelson Tasman.

‘India is going to face a food crisis’: Farmers panic over fertiliser shortages amid Iran war

Ripple effects of oil and fertiliser shortage felt by farmers in India and Sri Lanka despite governments saying there is enough stock to go round

Gurvinder Singh never thought the war in Iran would touch his quiet corner of Punjab.

Yet looking out over his smallholding, where he alternates between wheat and rice crops in the state known as India’s breadbasket, the 52-year-old farmer can barely think of anything else. His anxiety over a conflict playing out thousands of miles away is crippling as he fears what will come of this season’s rice crop.

Luka Dončić will miss rest of Lakers’ regular season with hamstring strain

• NBA scoring leader hurt in Thursday’s loss to Thunder

• LA have five games left before postseason begins

• Absence may force Dončić out of individual awards race

Luka Dončić will miss the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers’ regular season with a Grade 2 strain of his left hamstring, the team announced Friday.

Dončić is the NBA’s top scorer and the driving force behind the Lakers’ surge into the third spot in the Western Conference standings, but he injured his leg during Los Angeles’ blowout 139-96 loss to Oklahoma City on Thursday. An MRI exam revealed the severity of the strain.

US military archbishop says Iran conflict does not meet ‘just war’ standard

Catholic Timothy Broglio says ‘hard to cast this war as something that would be sponsored by the Lord’

The leader of all Catholic chaplains in the United States’ armed forces has questioned how righteous the US military’s campaign in Iran is, saying that “under the just war theory – it is not”.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, head of the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, told CBS News in an interview set for broadcast Sunday that while Iran “was a threat with nuclear arms”, waging war on the theocratic state constituted “compensating for a threat before the threat is actually realized”.

4/3: CBS Evening News

U.S. pilot rescued from a downed jet in Iran; Trump seeks $1.5 trillion for military spending.

Trump announces ‘fraud’ crackdown in Democratic states as arrests begin in California

US president makes baseless claims about fraud in blue states and says JD Vance will lead clampdown as ‘fraud czar’

Donald Trump announced a fresh crackdown on “fraud” in Democratic states and tapped JD Vance to lead the charge. Officials swiftly announced a string of arrests in California.

In a Truth Social post on Friday, the US president announced that his vice-president was now “in charge of ‘fraud’ in the United States”, claiming the problem is “massive and pervasive” and that Vance’s new role as “fraud czar” will be “a major factor in how great the future of our country will be”.

Northampton hold off Castres in 49-41 epic to reach Champions Cup quarter-finals

• Hosts make French side pay for yellow cards

• Saints progress to tie against Bath or Saracens

Butterfingered hosts Northampton held off ill-disciplined visitors Castres to win 49-41 on Friday night to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup.

The French side collected two yellow cards in three minutes in the first half and another with 10 minutes left but they were also undone by their poor tackling and covering in defence and by three missed conversions from six tries. When Northampton did not drop the ball, or pass to their opponents, they threatened a try with every attack. They scored seven times, one a penalty try, and their French fly-half Anthony Belleau kicked the other six conversions.

Trump signs executive order to expand NCAA's control over college sports

The executive order is designed to increase the NCAA's control over college sports, and threatens to remove federal funding for colleges and universities that don't comply with NCAA rules.

Sadiq Khan protection officers ‘leave bag with guns and Taser on south London street’

Met police investigate incident, removing five officers from frontline duties after member of the public discovers items

Armed police officers protecting the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, allegedly left a bag containing guns and a Taser on the street which was discovered by a member of the public.

The Metropolitan police said on Friday it was investigating the incident and five officers had been removed from frontline duties while inquiries were being carried out.

Three people charged over alleged arson attack on Jewish charity ambulances in London

Hamza Iqbal, 20, Rehan Khan, 19, and a 17-year-old boy are due to appear at Westminster magistrates court on Saturday

Three people have been charged over an alleged arson attack on Jewish volunteer ambulances in north-west London.

Hamza Iqbal, 20, and Rehan Khan, 19, both British nationals from Leyton, and a 17-year-old boy, a dual British and Pakistani national from Walthamstow, were charged with arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.

Chicago Fed's Goolsbee says he sees inflation as risk to 2026 rate cuts

Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, said mounting inflation risks "complicates the picture" on interest rates.

Pep Guardiola will not stand in Rodri’s way if he wants to join Real Madrid

• Manchester City midfielder can leave if ‘not happy’

• ‘My wish is that Rodri could stay as long as possible’

Pep Guardiola will not stand in Rodri’s way if the midfielder wishes to leave Manchester City for Real Madrid, though the manager believes he will stay at the club beyond this summer.

During the international break Rodri, whose contract expires in June 2027, was asked about reports that Real’s president, Florentino Pérez, wished to sign him. When answering, the 29-year-old referenced how being a former Atlético Madrid player would be no obstacle.

U.S. fighter jet shot down in Iran, one crew member rescued, MS NOW reports

It is unclear if the plane was shot down or went down for another reason.

4/3: The Takeout with Major Garrett

One crew member rescued from U.S. fighter jet downed in Iran; NASA unveils first images of Earth from Artemis II.

Employers added 178,000 jobs in March, blowing past forecasts

Hiring was much stronger than expected in March, with employers adding roughly three times the number of jobs economists predicted.

3 ways the Iran war is hitting Americans' pocketbooks

U.S. consumers are starting to feel the financial impact of the Iran war. Here's how the conflict is seeping into the economy.

Senator decries new shoes-on security policy at US airports as ‘reckless’

Democrat Tammy Duckworth writes letter to TSA calling on agency to reinstate the shoes-off airport security policy

Nine months after US airports allowed passengers to pass through scanners without taking off their shoes, rescinding the stringent policy after almost two decades, a top senator claimed the “reckless” move could put passengers in danger.

The policy amounts to a “potentially catastrophic security deficiency”, according to Tammy Duckworth, Democrat for Illinois, and ranking member of the Senate commerce, science and transportation (CST) aviation subcommittee.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore warns U.S. "lurching again into another forever war" with Iran conflict

In an interview with CBS News' Ed O'Keefe, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore warned that the U.S. is "lurching again into another forever war," saying the war in Iran is "very similar" to the Afghanistan war he fought in. Watch more of the conversation this Sunday on "Face the Nation."

23 states sue Trump over new executive order targeting mail voting

Officials from 23 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit seeking to block President Trump's executive order that aims to restrict mail voting.

Former airman pleads guilty to scamming military out of $37 million

Alan Hayward James, 51, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery, and conspiracy to rig bids.

Woman charged in root beer float murder orders hit on best friend

Nearly a year after her husband Harold Allen died, Marsha Allen's Indiana home was burglarized. The burglar alleged her daughter, Ashley Jones, was behind it all.

Harry Kane, England’s Ballon d’Or hopeful, is finally getting the love he deserves | Barney Ronay

Sublime stint at Bayern Munich has made home audiences appreciate a man who isn’t flash or twinkly but is his country’s best footballer

Everyone has their favourite mental comfort food, the stuff that makes you feel good in troubled times. Maybe you like baking bread and listening to history podcasts about Nazi atrocities. Maybe it’s watching Notting Hill in a Hugh Grant mask.

Perhaps you love to unwind by sitting in your walnut-panelled library and reading Catullus, naked, covered in Doritos crumbs, with a plastic bag over your head. Or enjoy nothing better than doomscrolling in a state of late-night brain-death, before accidentally subscribing to a mystery supplement that will rid you of all the horrific writhing parasites inside your body, because the advert had a really convincing animated graphic that made you hate yourself.

Gucci Mane apparently robbed at gunpoint by rapper and seven others

Pooh Shiesty among those accused of robbing and kidnapping three men after dispute involving record label

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Federal prosecutors on Thursday accused rapper Pooh Shiesty and eight others of robbing three men at gunpoint and kidnapping them in January in Texas after a contract dispute involving the rap star Gucci Mane’s record label.

The US attorney’s office in Dallas declined to name the victims and an FBI affidavit attached to a criminal complaint only refers to them by their initials. One victim, RD, is described as the owner of 1017 Records – the label belonging to Gucci Mane, whose legal name is Radric Delantic Davis.

Alito treated for dehydration after falling ill in March, Supreme Court says

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was treated for dehydration after falling ill at an event in Philadelphia on March 20, the court's public information office said.

What to know about the controversial practice of ‘orgasmic meditation’

The practice touted by Nicole Daedone combined spirituality, mindfulness and sexuality. Then came the controversy – and prison sentence

In 2009, the New York Times ran a story about Nicole Daedone and her wellness company, OneTaste, which promoted women’s empowerment through a practice known as “orgasmic meditation” (OM).

“I don’t think women will really experience freedom until they own their sexuality,” Daedone said at the time.

3 federal agents, 2 boaters rescued after vessels capsize off Puerto Rico

Customs and Border Patrol agents were helping rescue two boaters whose vessel capsized when they themselves were put in danger.

‘I still have a lot left’: Rory McIlroy on his Masters defence and staying motivated

Northern Irishman bristles at suggestions he has peaked as he returns to Augusta with the same intensity as always

It was an opening which depicted more than a decade of toil. “I’d like to start this press conference with a question,” said Rory McIlroy. “What are we all going to talk about next year?”

The wait was over. McIlroy had not only won the Masters, not only ended an 11-year wait for a fifth major, and not only become the sixth man in history to complete a grand slam. The ticking of all three boxes at once and in extraordinary circumstances was why the scenes at Augusta National in 2025 are unlikely to be matched as the 90th Masters staging approaches.

Comedian Eugene Mirman thanks rescuers who pulled him from fiery car crash in New Hampshire

Best known for voice-acting in Bob’s Burgers, Mirman was injured after his vehicle struck a toll plaza and ignited

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Bob’s Burgers voice actor Eugene Mirman says he is “extraordinarily thankful to the heroic people” that pulled him from the wreckage of his fiery car crash on Tuesday at a New Hampshire toll plaza – an accident that reportedly left him with serious injuries.

The 51-year-old comedian expressed his gratitude in an Instagram post late on Friday morning, which also described his being emotionally buoyed up by “the well wishes, love and kind messages from friends and strangers” in the wake of the wreck.

Trump's ballroom fight sheds new light on an underground White House bunker

The status of a decades-old bunker beneath the now-demolished East Wing is unclear, but the Trump administration has cited security concerns in its legal filings in favor of continuing construction.

Judge denies DOJ request to revive Federal Reserve subpoenas

A federal judge on Friday rejected efforts by the Justice Department to revive two subpoenas it served to the Federal Reserve.

Relationship with Trump may be beyond repair, Keir Starmer told

PM gets widespread backing after president’s mocking impersonation takes US-UK relationship to new low

Keir Starmer has been warned his relationship with Donald Trump may be beyond repair after the US president derided the prime minister for consulting his team about military decisions, in a mocking impersonation.

In a new low for UK-US relations, Trump appeared to imitate Starmer in a weak voice during an Easter lunch speech at the White House, and said the UK was “not our best” ally.

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Crisis in the Middle East, a Russian drone attack in Kharkiv, a Saharan dust storm in Crete and the launch of Artemis II – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

Warning: this gallery contains images some readers may find distressing

Reese’s chocolate heir accuses Hershey of altering recipes: ‘It wasn’t real peanut butter’

Grandson of Reese’s cups inventor claims Hershey faked a pledge to switch back to original chocolate recipes

The grandson of HB Reese, the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, has accused the chocolate giant Hershey of faking a pledge to investors to switch back the recipes of its popular products – including KitKat – to the original milk and dark chocolate ones.

A confectionary-focused dust-up between Brad Reese and the $42bn Pennsylvania-based company began in February when Reese, 70, accused the company of “quietly replacing” the ingredients – or “architecture” – in his grandfather’s invention with cheaper “compound coatings” and “peanut-butter-style crèmes”.

Seville, Spain's Holy Week blends faith, tradition and spectacle

Even as religious belief declines in Spain, the processions at Seville's Semana Santa — the Holy Week lead-up to Easter — draw crowds moved by music, tradition and powerful emotion.

The Guardian view on the US and Europe: the UK tried to be a bridge, but Trump likes to burn them | Editorial

The president’s outbursts on allies and Nato were further confirmation that Europe cannot wait to bolster security – and Britain must play its part

“She had no more surprises for him; the unexpected in her behaviour was the only thing to expect,” Henry James wrote in his novel Daisy Miller. Leaders dealing with Donald Trump surely recognise the sentiment. James’s character was a young American out of her depth in Europe, falling victim to prejudices. Mr Trump is a real-world problem, and this time, Europe is battered by the prejudices and vengefulness of the American.

This week alone the US president has publicly mocked the British prime minister and armed forces (as weak), the French president (over his marriage), told allies to get their own oil – having set the Middle East on fire – and said leaving Nato was “beyond reconsideration”. Mr Trump’s wishful thinking has hit reality in Iran, where the war that he and Benjamin Netanyahu began will not be easily ended. His resulting frustration, concern about domestic political repercussions and desire to distract the public are matched by vindictiveness towards allies who rightly refused to join in.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Cuba begins to free more than 2,000 prisoners as US eases fuel blockade

Havana makes a Holy Week ‘humanitarian’ gesture as Russian tanker is allowed to reach oil-starved island

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Cuban authorities have begun to free prisoners after announcing they would pardon 2,010 inmates, the second release in less than a month as the country faces heightened US pressure.

More than 20 inmates emerged from La Lima penitentiary in east Havana on Friday, holding their release papers, crying and hugging relatives who had been waiting for them all morning.

Justin Baldoni’s lawyer says defendants are ‘very good people’ as Blake Lively lawsuit narrows

Judge threw out 10 of Lively’s 13 claims against her It Ends With Us director and co-star on Thursday as trial nears

Justin Baldoni’s lawyers have responded after most of Blake Lively’s claims against the director were dismissed by a federal judge on Thursday.

Judge Lewis Liman threw out 10 of the 13 claims that Lively had made against Baldoni and others, including allegations of sexual harassment, conspiracy and defamation.

It’s the silver lining from this terrible age of Donald Trump: he is pushing Britain closer to the EU | Gaby Hinsliff

Ten years after the Brexit vote, Trump’s disdain and insults are fuelling the belief that the UK should renew ties with Europe

Going anywhere nice this summer?

No, me neither, judging by the warning from the Ryanair boss, Michael O’Leary, that a global shortage of jet fuel caused by the Iran war may soon lead to cancelled flights. Suddenly a week in Cornwall looks a safer bet, though even that will be a stretch for some families as the cost of long car journeys heads through the roof. When the representatives of more than 40 countries held talks in London earlier this week to discuss unblocking the strait of Hormuz, they convened virtually, not in person. This is no time to be seen boarding a private jet.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

Guardian Newsroom: Can Labour come back from the brink?
On Thursday 30 April, join Gaby Hinsliff, Zoe Williams, Polly Toynbee and Rafael Behr as they discuss how much of a threat Labour faces from the Green party and Reform UK – and whether Keir Starmer can survive as leader. Book tickets here

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

‘Vegas hotel meets aerospace bling’: Trump’s presidential library plan is a gaudy, self-glorifying monstrosity

From JFK’s modernist concrete to Obama’s ‘Tatooine sandcrawler’, the presidential library is where egos burnish their legacies. But the brash, bookless vibe of Trump’s, complete with giant golden statue, makes for the ugliest yet

With the unveiling of the prospective Trump presidential library, which, in its timing and substance looked for all the world like an April fool, the old adage that you can’t gild a turd but you can roll it in glitter has become bleakly redundant. It turns out that you can most definitely gild a turd.

At the heart of the proposed 47-storey skyscraper on Miami’s waterfront – 47 floors for the 47th President – is a giant golden statue of Trump giving off dictator-for-life vibes, his gilded fist triumphantly raised. Such an aureate monstrosity would not look out of place in Pyongyang or Ashgabat, though Turkmenistan’s former president Saparmurat Niyazov – another despot with a suspiciously luxuriant coiffure – went one better and had his $12m gold statue installed on a rotating pedestal so it would always face the sun.

‘Linen is meaningful in Belfast’: how an old industry is weaving the city a new identity

Fabric that once defined Northern Ireland’s capital is at heart of its stylish revival, embraced by designers, royalty and heritage farmers alike

On a cobbled street in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, next door to a hipster coffee shop and opposite an ice-cream parlour that has a near-constant queue since going viral on TikTok, the elegant Kindred of Ireland boutique is doing a surprisingly brisk trade in artfully oversized butter yellow linen blouses and exquisite Donegal mulberry tweed jackets finished with a length of rose pink linen tied in a bow at the nape of the neck.

Half a century after the Troubles, Belfast is finding a new identity through an industry that once defined it. Linen – the fibre that built its wealth and earned it the name Linenopolis – is being woven into a story of renewal. Almost a century after the postwar collapse of an industry that, at its peak, employed 40% of the working population of Northern Ireland, linen is returning as a marker of identity.

A U.S. jet goes down over Iran, a U.S. official confirms

A U.S. official said that one crew member had been rescued and U.S. forces continue to search for the second crew member.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (April 5)

A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the Emmy-winning program, hosted by Jane Pauley.

Colbert on Trump’s Iran speech: old news ‘delivered by a narcotized turtle’

The late-night host reacted to Trump’s prime-time address on the war and his firing of attorney general Pam Bondi

With most late-night hosts on holiday, Stephen Colbert recapped Donald Trump’s prime-time national address on the war in Iran and his firing of the US attorney general, Pam Bondi.

‘It’s not a revolution, it’s evolution’: Les Kiss army takes shape with Wallabies reign in sight | Angus Fontaine

Australia’s incoming coach is out to build on the foundations set by Joe Schmidt after having to earn his shot while coming from a rugby league background

In 1986, about the time the 21-year-old Les Kiss was announcing himself to the rugby league world by debuting for the North Sydney Bears, the Queensland Origin side and Australia in the space of five months, the Breakfast Creek Gang was carving out its own legend as “a disparate, yet harmonious, blend of wharfies, coppers, journos, lawyers, car dealers, bookies, small-time criminals and Labor party identities”.

Four decades on and Kiss, the incoming Wallabies coach, is a proud member of the garrulous rabble now trading as the Breakfast Creek Athletic Club. “A very inspiring, talented, connected, grounded group of people,” he tells the Guardian. “Once a week we meet for a run or a walk, coffee and a chat, maybe dinner and a few beers. We’ve probably all got more problems than we admit to … but for me it’s a wellbeing space after so long away.”

EPA moves to designate microplastics and pharmaceuticals as contaminants in drinking water

Proposal, a win for RFK Jr’s Maha movement, is a ‘first step’ toward tackling plastic pollution, advocates say

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed on Thursday to include microplastics and pharmaceuticals on a list of contaminants in drinking water for the first time, a step that could lead to new limits on those substances for water utilities.

Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, said the agency was responding to Americans who have worried about plastics and pharmaceuticals in their drinking water. The gesture also aims to hand a win to health secretary Robert FKennedy Jr’s Maha movement, which for months has pressured Zeldin to further crack down on environmental contaminants.

U.S. payrolls rose by 178,000 in March, more than expected; unemployment at 4.3%

Nonfarm payrolls were expected to increase by 59,000 in March, with the unemployment rate holding at 4.4%.

The labor market springs back to life in March as employers add 178,000 jobs

The U.S. job market perked up last month as employers added 178,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dipped to 4.3%, mainly because the number of people seeking work declined.

Post your questions for DJ Shadow

As his pioneering album Endtroducing turns 30 and he reissues his Mo’Wax singles, the producer is in a retrospective mood and ready to take your questions

It’s almost 30 years since DJ Shadow released his era-defining debut album, Endtroducing….., and as is the way of the nostalgia industry, it had a lavish 25th-anniversary reissue five years ago, remastered at Abbey Road studios. It was such a success that Shadow has decided to repeat the process and clean up his “pre-album and non-album” catalogue. In May comes The Mo’Wax Singles 1993-1997, a box set featuring eight 12ins with all the Californian producer’s singles for James Lavelle’s label, plus alternative mixes and brand new art. Dusty DAT tapes were dug out and original master mixes excavated.

“This box wasn’t made for the casual listener, it was made with the hardcore fan in mind,” Shadow said in a statement. “I’ve always felt, if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right, and every step of the process was made with this philosophy firmly in mind.”

Messiah album review – Whelan takes Handel’s oratorio back to its beginnings

Irish Baroque Orchestra and Choir/Whelan
(Linn)
Conductor Peter Whelan leads a finely judged and agile period-instrument performance with only 13 singers.

Every year, the Irish Baroque Orchestra and their conductor Peter Whelan bring Messiah back to Dublin, the city of its 1742 premiere. Their recording of Handel’s oratorio – the first on period instruments by an Irish ensemble – attempts to recreate the version heard at its first performance at the Fishamble Street music hall, a hot-ticket event at which such a crush was anticipated that the ladies in the audience were requested to forgo hoops in their skirts and the gentlemen to leave their swords at home.

One of the attractions was the scandal-hit contralto and actor Susannah Cibber, who sang several arias including some more often sung today by other voice types: on the recording, gratifyingly, we get to hear a substantial share for Helen Charlston, her voice firm, slightly metallic and unflaggingly expressive. Also included is a less familiar duet-and-chorus version of How Beautiful Are the Feet, written for two of the countertenors from the Dublin cathedral choirs. Here and elsewhere Alexander Chance is in buoyant voice – he also gets the two arias Handel adapted later for his star castrato in London. Hilary Cronin’s sweet-sounding soprano stands out among the solo voices.

3.1 million bottles of eye drops sold at Walgreens, CVS are recalled

The eye drops — sold under multiple brands — have been recalled over concerns about sterility, according to the FDA.

United Airlines hikes checked bag fee by $10 as fuel prices continue to climb

United Airlines became the second U.S. carrier in a week to raise check bag fees as the industry grapples with a more than 80% jump in jet fuel costs.

United unveils basic Polaris business fare in premium cabin overhaul

United is overhauling its fare classes, offering cheaper business class and premium economy fares that are more restrictive.

Cocktail of the week: Acre’s fashionably late – recipe | The good mixer

A modern twist on the old fashioned

Our cocktail list features both classics and new ones we’ve created ourselves, including this old fashioned of sorts.

George Lewis, drinks creative, Acre, London W10

‘Taking my clothes off is my whole life!’ Bryan Cranston on the glorious gross-out return of Malcolm in the Middle

TV’s most outrageous family is back – and for the Breaking Bad icon, it’s a great excuse to let rip ... and get naked again. The stars talk skivvies, chugging raw meat and being stung in the crotch by 60,000 honey bees

The intro to the new Malcolm in the Middle is quite the thing. Kids punch police officers. Santa Claus gets kicked in the face. A barrel full of faeces detonates inside a family car. This recap of previous episodes is so full of gross-out comedy and family fights that a grandma grabs her teenage grandson and crushes his testicles until he squeals. “And,” intones a voiceover at its end, “someone actually asked for more of this.”

Did they? It’s been 20 years since the Emmy-winning sitcom about an outrageous working-class US family with the titular child genius went off air. It’s a show whose fans remember it fondly for never dipping in quality throughout its seven seasons. But were they really clamouring for more?

How rotten is your brain?

Find out how bad your mental mush is

How bad is your brain rot? Tally up your scores to see your results.

None 3pts

1-3 2pts

4-6 1pts

6+ 0pts

Never 3pts

Sometimes 2pts

Frequently 1pts

Almost always 0pts

Meditate 3pts

Read 3pts

Watch TV 1pts

Doomscroll 0pts

Almost never 0pts

Less than once a week 1pts

At least once a week 2pts

2-3 times a week 3pts

Never 3pts

Occasionally 2pts

Frequently 1pts

Basically always 0pts

7+ hours 3pts

6-7 hours 2pts

Less than 6 hours 1pts

Almost never 0pts

Less than once a week 1pts

At least once a week 2pts

2-3 times a week 3pts

6+ hours 3pts

3-6 hours 2pts

1-3 hours 1pts

Less than an hour 0pts

Next to me, obviously 0pts

Somewhere else 3pts

Never 3pts

Occasionally, if it’s important 2pts

Pretty much every time 0pts

The best recent poetry – review roundup

Goyle, Chert, Mire by Jean Sprackland; The House of Broken Things by Kim Moore; The Tree Is Missing by Shannon Kuta Kelly; Dog Star by Michael Symmons Roberts; Horses by Jake Skeets

Goyle, Chert, Mire by Jean Sprackland (Jonathan Cape, £13)
The 45 unrhymed sonnets in Sprackland’s sixth collection coalesce into three spellbinding interwoven sequences. Set in the Blackdown Hills, a remote stretch between Somerset and Devon, the poems explore the friction between art and articulation, habitat and inhabitation. Here, the landscape is not a backdrop but a linguistic event: “a drop swells on the lip of a leaf and falls / like a word being said”. By removing the first person throughout, Sprackland makes us encounter the landscape intimately: it’s not mediated through a speaker’s interiority but in “mossy silence”, “the rumble of the combine harvester”, “the noise / of meltwater hurtling over stones”, or “the shattered pieces of yourself”. Overshadowed by an unnamed illness, the poems bear wounds but don’t broadcast suffering; this restraint fosters minute attention to “pilgrim gnats attending the water” and the mire’s “long translation from gley to peat”. Sprackland’s ability alternately to narrow and widen our focus – from a closeup on insect life to geological time – reveals how consciousness itself moves between scales. Unlike many nature poems that overanimate or sentimentalise, the book is alive to the limits of human agency: it knows “language itself is prone to collapse”. Yet in that collapse, we can find meaning; recognise the “spiky logic” of natural process, following it as “the sparrow enters / and follows” the “sprawling holly”. The unwavering sonnet form represents an act of courage, a disciplined response to illness and dissolution, creating order where language threatens to collapse. This is a profound, enduring collection.

The House of Broken Things by Kim Moore (Corsair, £14.99)
Moore’s new collection constructs an ambitious architecture for exploring intergenerational trauma and motherhood. At its best, we find her confessional signature, as in The Black Notices, cataloguing unidentified murdered women, or Giving Birth With Anne Sexton, where literary inheritance meets bodily terror. Sometimes, however, this commitment to sincerity and transparency results in poems that feel like pedagogic exercises: Damaged Cento catalogues the “eight stages” of domestic homicide, while The Trimesters documents pregnancy’s upheavals. The motherhood poems, though deeply felt, risk predictability in their exploration of well-trodden territory – breastfeeding, bedtime routines, and the spectre of parental loss (“I imagine someone taking her away, / or a car ploughing into the pram”). It’s technically hard to make this new. Moore clearly presents the “I” as a site of shared, unpolished vulnerability, prioritising emotional legibility over lyric innovation.

‘It has been traumatic’: the Cornwall landmark left battered by Storm Goretti

St Michael’s Mount and the people who live near it are still healing from the scars left by storm’s 100mph winds

Three months after Storm Goretti battered St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, the signs of the storm’s power are still evident in the scars left by uprooted trees, piles of logs and the shaking of heads from islanders who have lived there for decades and never seen the like.

“It really was something,” said Jack Beesley, a senior gardener. “We were shocked the morning after when we saw what had happened. We had been caring for these trees for years and to see so many of them down was very sad. We’ve worked hard to get the place ready for the Easter visitors but it will still be a month or more until we’re back straight.”

Add to playlist: the endlessly inventive, radiant indie rock of Friko and the week’s best new tracks

The Chicago band’s frantic, urgent guitar melodies celebrate hope, friendship and family in these uncertain times

From Chicago, Illinois
Recommended if you like Modest Mouse, Wilco, Car Seat Headrest
Up next Second album Something Worth Waiting For out 24 April, touring the US from April and Europe in summer

In Friko’s hands, a swirl of influences and experiments curve the many colours of indie rock into an endlessly inventive, radiant ramble. The Chicago band’s upcoming, cheekily titled second album, Something Worth Waiting For, explores the energy of yearning: for growth, for change, for stability. Across nine tracks, Friko take inspiration from their recent spate of touring to orbit the idea of finding things worth moving for and the value of the journey itself.

Details emerge about college basketball player who died after game

Ethan Dietz died on Nov. 25 after being hit in the head during a basketball game in Texas three days earlier.