Chelsea and Leeds head to Wembley, a big derby for Hearts and WCL action – matchday live

⚽ News, discussion and buildup before day’s action
⚽ Things to look out for | Fixtures | Mail us here

Hearts just have to win today:

Such a big game for Leeds, safe from relegation, just about. Now for a chance to play in a first FA Cup semi-final since 1987 and reach a first final since 1973.

London Marathon 2026 – live updates

• Updates as runners head from Greenwich to the Mall

• Why I’m running dressed as a badger | Get in touch

The prodigious growth of running clubs, fuelled by young women, has seen the popularity of the London Marathon sky-rocket.

More than 1.1 million people entered the ballot for this year’s race – 750,000 more than four years ago. Notably, a third of those were in the 18-29 category, with female entrants making up the biggest percentage of those under 30.

The explosion in this new breed of running clubs or “crews” has been key to the boom. Unlike a traditional club, their emphasis isn’t usually on super-fast times but on being inclusive, enjoying a run and a chat, and a coffee afterwards.

‘I felt fear I did not understand’: Buffon on the panic attack that threatened his career

In this exclusive book extract, the former Italy goalkeeper describes a moment of crisis before a game against Reggina

If I have to identify the most important moment of this crisis, it was just before a Juventus-Reggina match in February 2004. It was an evening game. We were six points off the top of the table. There were 13 games left in the season, so anything could still happen, but there was an air of negativity, as if the season was already over. We had just had two crazy and very different games. In our previous league match, we had conceded four goals to Totti and Cassano’s Roma, while in midweek we had won the Coppa Italia semi-final against Inter at San Siro, on penalties. Although we were still in the running in the Champions League and perhaps even a little in the league, inside me I was certain that in that season everything was lost.

It was a classic winter Turin evening, wet and cold, and the stadium was half-empty. The speakers played a song that I only heard as an annoying buzz. During the warm-up I prayed and performed my usual pre-match routine, but it felt as if something was wrong with my muscles. After two minutes I put on my gloves, I stood in the goal and I realised that I was struggling to breathe. I stood there, staring at the pitch, and I felt slightly dizzy. What scared me, however, was the tightness I felt in my diaphragm, between chest and stomach, as if I had been hit.

Why are we dragging apologies out of celebrities for the most innocuous things? | Elle Hunt

They’re just the latest stars whose banal pronouncements have triggered a wave of controversy. Surely no one, in their heart of hearts, cares that much

Do you have an opinion on the state of contemporary ballet or keeping cats as pets? There are no right or wrong answers here, only differences of opinion. It is hard to imagine being upset by someone expressing an alternative view on either topic – unless, of course, they are a celebrity and you are on the internet.

The celebrity outrage cycle has never been especially edifying, but lately it has become faster paced and even more stupid. Let’s return to those questions. The actors Timothée Chalamet and Jessie Buckley landed themselves in hot water in the run-up to the Oscars: him for disparaging opera and ballet, her for disliking cats (and, more specifically, pressing her now-husband to get rid of his pair).

Elle Hunt is a freelance journalist

Trump safe after shots fired at White House Correspondents' Dinner; suspect in custody

President Trump was safely evacuated from the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night after shots were fired outside the ballroom of the Washington Hilton Hotel.

DNA found on a smoothie straw links suspect to teen's 1984 killing

After more than 40 years and three wrongful convictions, authorities says they have the man responsible for the 1984 Long Island killing of 16-year-old Theresa Fusco, who vanished after leaving her job at a local roller rink.

The tortoise and the hare: will China beat the US in the race back to the moon?

The rival superpowers are ramping up preparations for a crewed lunar landing nearly six decades after the first moon walk

The world watched earlier this month as Nasa sent four astronauts around the moon – but to actually land on the surface the US is once again in a space race, this time with China. And China may well win.

Both countries plan to build inhabited lunar bases – the first settlement on another celestial body – as well as searching for rare resources and using the deep space environment to test technology for future crewed missions to Mars.

Forget Florence: six of the best towns in Tuscany to escape overtourism

Beyond the Tuscan capital, there are exquisite towns with Medici fortresses, stunning frescoes, Roman amphitheatres – and not a selfie stick in sight

First, it was Barcelona, Venice and Dubrovnik. Now, Florence has joined the most overtouristed destinations in the world: its 365,000 inhabitants shared their city last year with 4.6 million visitors. The director of the city’s Accademia gallery – home to Michelangelo’s David – talked in 2024 about “hit and run” tourism, describing visitors “on a quick in-and-out mission to take selfies … trampling the city without contributing anything”. Local author Margherita Calderoni describes Via Camillo Cavour, a street leading to the Duomo, as a “rancid soup” of chain restaurants and “shops selling plastic trinkets from who knows where”.

Although steps are being taken – the city council has introduced a ban on new short-term lets and is promoting sights in lesser-known neighbourhoods – tackling overtourism is a challenge. And other Tuscan cities, such as Siena and San Gimignano, are suffering too. But beyond these honeypots, Italy’s fifth-largest region is full of glories, with not a takeaway chain or selfie stick in sight. Here are six of my favourites.

Scientists believe birds’ skulls hold clues to inner lives of long-extinct dinosaurs

Early birds were like ‘T rex reincarnated’, says scientist who believes avian skulls offer insight into dinosaurs’ behaviour

T rex is often depicted as more brawn than brains, but now scientists are hoping to probe just what was going on inside its head, drawing on findings from another kind of dinosaur: birds.

Scientists have previously found some species of bird not only make and use tools, but are able to plan ahead and show basic forms of empathy – with laboratory tests suggesting emus can recognise other birds might have different experiences to themselves.

What we know about the suspect in shooting at White House press dinner

The suspect was identified to CBS News by law enforcement sources as 31-year-old Cole Allen of Torrance, California.

Suspect in custody after Trump evacuated in shooting incident at White House correspondents’ dinner

US president and first lady were unharmed and suspect is being charged with two counts of felony firearms and assault charges

• Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email

Donald and Melania Trump were evacuated from the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday evening after the event was interrupted by gunfire.

A suspect was in custody, the FBI said, after the annual black tie dinner honoring the White House press corps in the ballroom of the Washington Hilton was suddenly interrupted by confusion and chaos. Journalists ducked under tables as authorities rushed the president and members of his cabinet out of the room.

Bad movies, good business: how sanitised biopics became a Hollywood staple

As the interest in the lives of celebrities has intensified, we have become acclimatised to the fact that they will now curate and mercilessly monetise it

Last month, Ryan Gosling addressed an audience about to see his new movie. “It’s not your job to keep cinemas open,” he told them. “It’s our job to make things that make it worth you coming out. This movie’s for you. Enjoy the trip!”

Small wonder they applauded. This is a strategy radically different to that adopted in the immediate aftermath of the Covid crisis, when studios believed the best way to get people to leave their homes and buy cinema tickets was to hector them to do so.

Shoplifters aren't just bad to the bone or mums stealing nappies. The truth is more complex| Emily Kenway

Speaking to career thieves as part of my research, I learned that childhood abuse, a life in care and little education has led them to this place

• Emily Kenway is a social policy doctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh and author of Who Cares: the Hidden Crisis of Caregiving and How We Solve It

Ryan* is 25 and he’s a shoplifter. He’s good at it too – about four times a week, he makes “no small money” by stealing and reselling goods from large department stores where security is limited. He’s strategic: he makes sure he’s clean and tidy, and keeps aware of CCTV. He usually steals just one or two high-value items to limit the risk of detection – designer garments or a small speaker, which he slips into a bag as he walks around the shop, before browsing a little longer and exiting.

His actions are part of recent record highs in shoplifting offences. From March 2024 to March 2025, there were 530,643 offences recorded in England and Wales. This is a 20% rise on the previous year and the highest figure since current police recording practices began in 2003. There has been ample media coverage of this spike, helped by the recent scandal of a Waitrose worker being sacked after confronting a man stealing Easter eggs. Retail workers are suffering on the frontline; in its 2026 crime survey, the British Retail Consortium found that theft was “a major trigger for violence and abuse of staff”, leading the trade union for retail workers to warn that “shoplifting is not a victimless crime”. Meanwhile, the claim that Britain’s shoplifting “epidemic” symbolises a wider descent into “lawlessness” has become a familiar one in the media.

Emily Kenway is a social policy doctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh and author of Who Cares: the Hidden Crisis of Caregiving and How We Solve It

This week on "Sunday Morning" (April 26)

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

Ukrainian action thriller billed as Saving Private Ryan for the drone age

Killhouse is based on real-life story of civilian couple saved from battlefield by Ukrainian drone operators

It is being billed as Ukraine’s answer to Saving Private Ryan, updated for an age of drones.

The war movie Killhouse is an action thriller which shows off the latest in battlefield technology. Released this week, it features cameos by figures well known in Ukraine, including the nation’s former military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov. One missing person is Donald Trump. The film is conveniently set in 2024, when Washington and Kyiv were allies.

Teenagers are calling time on the handshake. I salute them, from a safe distance | Polly Hudson

Of all the traditions humans thoughtlessly adopt, being socially obliged to touch someone when introduced to them is one of the worst. Good on young people for refusing

Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. A person, place or thing you perhaps took for granted exits your existence, and only then do you appreciate what they meant to you, how important they were. This is not one of those times. New research has revealed that the handshake is in danger of becoming extinct, and surely we’re united in planning to dance on its grave, shouting “Good riddance!” and spraying champagne, Grand Prix-style.

A survey of 2,000 parents and their teenage children, by ACS International Schools, provides much hope for the future, as today’s teens seem to have their priorities correct. An impressive 59% “go to lengths” to avoid small talk; 28% don’t like answering the door or phone if they don’t know who’s calling; and 24% find giving a handshake excruciating. It would be interesting to find out the percentage of adults who agree – 98%? The other 2% being those who consider Sun Tzu’s The Art of War a business manual, and are focused on putting their free hand on top of the handshake to assert dominance, before the other party can beat them to it.

Scenes from the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting

Here are some of the chaotic scenes that occurred in the aftermath of the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone review – August Wilson play makes uneven return to Broadway

Ethel Barrymore theatre, New York

Debbie Allen’s revival of the 1984 drama boasts a compelling cast, led by Taraji P Henson and Cedric the Entertainer, but too many notes are off

Earlier this year, Viola Davis excitedly quoted August Wilson’s play, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, while announcing Michael B Jordan’s Oscar win. “You are shining, Herald Loomis,” she beamed, “shining like new money!” It was a touching acknowledgment of the actor’s long-awaited recognition, and the glory that awaits him. For most of Wilson’s 1911-set piece, Loomis is a man weary from an endless walk through the shadow of the valley of death, his spirit all but broken by systemic racism. Salvation is hardly guaranteed, but flickers in the distance.

So it goes in Debbie Allen’s uneven Broadway staging, the play’s third since its 1984 premiere. Part of his monumental Century Cycle of 10 plays representing each decade of the 20th-century Black American experience, Wilson’s play has undeniable lyricism but needs pitch-perfect direction to make its magical realism sing. Its Pittsburgh boardinghouse setting is suitably liminal – halfway between north and south, stability and transience – and none who pass through are more than a generation removed from the horrors of slavery. Wilson reflects on this dizzying flashpoint by refracting his characters’ mysticism, religion and worldliness, honoring each even as they collide.

A suspect is in custody after Trump is rushed from correspondents' dinner

President Trump and several cabinet members were safely rushed from the event in Washington, D.C. after several loud sounds were heard. The Secret Service said one person was in custody.

New CEO Steve O'Donnell vows to unite NASCAR and return the fun

Steve O'Donnell was introduced as the sanctioning body's chief executive officer at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday and vowed to "make some moves" that will return the storied racing series to its roots.

Trump attends White House Correspondents' Dinner, his first as president

The Republican president did not attend during his first term or the first year of his second.

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy signs agreement with Azerbaijan as death toll from Russian attacks rises to 10

Ukrainian leader said agreement related to military-industrial co-operation; Russia pounds city of Dnipro with missiles and drones. What we know on day 1,523

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed deals on security and energy cooperation with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Saturday, he said, as Kyiv seeks to leverage its experience in defending its airspace from Russia. After the latest wave of conflict in the Middle East that began with US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran in late February, multiple nations have sought Ukraine’s assistance and expertise in downing Iran’s long-range drones. Zelenskyy said the two countries had signed an agreement relating to military-industrial cooperation.

Aliyev said military-industrial partnerships between the two countries had “wide-ranging perspectives” and that the two leaders had discussed joint defence production. He did not specify that he had signed any deals.

Zelenskyy has also sought to reinvigorate peace talks with Russia, which were being mediated by the US until it became more focused on its campaign against Iran. The Ukrainian leader said he had discussed with Aliyev the possibility of having a meeting between Ukraine and Russia in Azerbaijan.“We are ready for the next talks [to be] in Azerbaijan if Russia will be ready for diplomacy,” he said.

Ten people have been killed in Russian attacks on the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro and other regions. Regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said eight people were killed and 49 injured in Dnipro, a repeated target in more than four years of war with Russia. “For more than 20 frightening hours, the Russians attacked Dnipro in waves,” Hanzha wrote on Telegram. “They hit with missiles and drones. They hit deliberately. They hit residential areas.” Two more were killed in northern Ukraine.

A Ukrainian drone attack on Sevastopol in Russian-annexed Crimea killed one man and wounded three other people, the city’s Moscow-installed governor said on Sunday. “43 UAVs (drones) were shot down in total. Unfortunately, there are fatalities,” Mikhail Razvozhayev wrote on Telegram. He said a man born in 1983 was killed while inside a vehicle, and three people were hospitalised.

The speaker of Russia’s parliament, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, arrived in North Korea on Saturday to attend an event to commemorate Pyongyang’s deployment of troops to help Moscow in the Ukraine conflict, the Tass news agency reported. Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s Duma, was welcomed by Jo Yong-won. North Korea has sent an estimated 14,000 troops to fight with Russian forces against Ukraine. More than 6,000 of them have been killed, according to South Korean, Ukrainian and western officials.

A drone crashed in Romania on Saturday after Russian strikes in neighbouring Ukraine near a river separating the two countries, authorities said, adding that more than 200 people had been evacuated. Romania, a Nato member, has repeatedly seen its airspace violated and drone fragments fall on its territory since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But this was the first time that debris from Russian drones has caused material damage on its territory, according to local media.

“A drone crashed in a populated area,” with a “possible explosive charge,” emergency services said in a statement. No casualties were reported, but an electricity pole and an outbuilding of a house were damaged, authorities said, adding that gas supplies in the area had been cut as a precautionary measure.

How the AI-driven data center boom is leading to skyrocketing energy bills

A CBS News analysis found that Georgia Power, the largest energy provider in the state, imposed six rate hikes in the last three years.

Online dating is a cesspool, so I decided to try 47 hobbies to meet the man of my dreams | Matt Bell

You will do things you regret in the name of love. Twenty-eight kilometres into a marathon, I realised I didn’t like running

• Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

As anyone who’s downloaded a dating app knows, looking for love online is an absolute cesspool; men holding babies that aren’t theirs, still figuring out their dating goals (you’re 37 years old, Ryan!) and insisting on letting you know they’re six foot … if it matters.

Meanwhile, if you’re a gay man people are now meeting on an app called Sniffies, which is like Grindr but without faces.

Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

In my apartment block’s ‘Room of Unlimited Magical Recycling Possibilities’ I found not just freebies, but friends

At first, rescuing unwanted items from the reuse room was a way to save money. But over time, it became a place where I connected with my neighbours

• Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

When I lived in inner Sydney, my apartment building had a dedicated reuse room for secondhand items. The room was officially named the Room of Unlimited Magical Recycling Possibilities, but most residents just called it the magic room. This name was fitting because often things seemed to appear there precisely when I needed them. I once walked in to find a reusable coffee cup, just after accidentally dropping my glass one in the car park.

In the magic room, our complex’s 650 residents could take whatever they needed and leave their preloved items, everything from furniture and clothes to stationery and crockery. When I took time off work to raise my kids, the room became a valuable source of things our family needed. It’s impossible to work out just how much I saved, but the impact was substantial.

Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

Roommate faces murder charges in deaths of 2 doctoral students

A 26-year-old man is facing two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, according to authorities.

Mexico says 2 CIA agents killed in crash weren't authorized to participate in local raid

The role of the two CIA agents, who were returning from destroying a clandestine drug lab in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, remains unclear.

Where Route 66 begins, so too does a love story

As Route 66 celebrates 100 years, a newly married couple marked a milestone of their own. Noel Brennan has the story.

Trump abruptly cancels peace talks with Iran in Pakistan: "We have all the cards"

President Trump said the U.S. has all the cards in the war with Iran after he told his envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, not to take a trip to Pakistan to break a diplomatic stalemate over negotiations to end the war. Imtiaz Tyab reports.

How high energy bills, driven by new data centers, are affecting average Americans

This week, Maine's governor vetoed a bill that would have made the state the first to ban the construction of new data centers. Shanelle Kaul reports.

California seeing higher jet fuel prices, experts predict troubled skies for summer travelers

Airlines worldwide are taking extraordinary measures to keep flying and in business as they face soaring costs, much of it driven by the conflict with Iran. Ian Lee reports from Burbank, California.

Roommate in court over deaths of Florida doctoral students

A 26-year-old man made his first court appearance, charged with the premeditated murder of two University of South Florida doctoral students. Cristian Benavides reports on new details.

Trump to attend White House Correspondents' Dinner as president for the first time

President Trump is attending the White House Correspondents' Association dinner for the first time as president on Saturday. Taurean Small has more details from the White House.

Latest between Israel, Hezbollah in Lebanon

The ceasefire with Iran was still in place on Saturday, but shots were still fired in the Middle East. Charlie D'Agata reports on Israel and Lebanon.

4/25: CBS Weekend News

Trump calls off travel to Pakistan for peace talks; fragile ceasefire holds despite shots being fired.

Dirk Kempthorne, former Idaho governor and U.S. Interior secretary, dies at 74

Dirk Kempthorne, a Republican, was elected mayor of Boise at age 34 and served seven years before serving one term in the U.S. Senate and then as governor until 2006.

In a rare interview, a leader of the world's largest right-wing group talks to NPR

The second-in-command of the RSS, a Hindu nationalist organization in India, rarely speaks to the Western press. Here's what he said about his group's controversial history.

Arizona sues to block proposed ICE detention facility near site with chemicals

DHS has faced opposition from cities and states where the federal government plans to open mass detention facilities.

Rocky Balboa statue takes up a new home inside Philly art museum

The bronze sculpture is on display inside the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of a new exhibition on the impact and cultural importance of statues.

Roommate charged with two counts of murder in death, disappearance of two USF students

Authorities have filed murder charges against the roommate of a Bangladeshi doctoral student who disappeared with his girlfriend from the University of South Florida.

Mikel Arteta criticises red card escapes for Newcastle’s Pope and City’s Khusanov

• ‘It’s a red card today. It’s a red card in Manchester’

• Arsenal return to top of table by beating Newcastle

Mikel Arteta has claimed that everything would be different for his Arsenal team in the Premier League title race if Manchester City had been reduced to 10 men in last Sunday’s pivotal game at the Eithad Stadium.

The Arsenal manager insisted that the City defender, Abdukodir Khusanov, should have been sent off for a last-man foul on Kai Havertz in the 53rd minute with the score at 1-1. City went on to win 2-1 and Arteta said nothing after the game about an incident that did not generate much controversy, the consensus being Khusanov had defended his position fairly.

The moment I knew: The banana bread was terrible but seeing him baking made me fall for him

Gillian Kennedy met Wade Freeman while working in a remote desert community. She was impressed by his playlists, and his generous spirit

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

In 2007 I’d been single for a few years and had just returned from a year volunteering in a village in Bangladesh. Six months after arriving home in Sydney I decided to take up a teaching job in Mulan Aboriginal community in the Kimberley, halfway between Broome and Alice Springs, population 120.

The first term was difficult. I got along well with my housemate, Kylie, and we’d met friendly nurses and people from the surrounding communities. But we didn’t have access to a vehicle so spent our weekends working. I felt quite lonely and isolated.

Luke Hemsworth: ‘I have to be very specific about which brother I am. But it still gets confusing’

The star on his famous acting family, wrestling Chris and Liam, the best advice from Anthony Hopkins and being traumatised by The Exorcist

• Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

In Beast, your new film about an MMA fighter, you play Gabriel: a dirtbag guy with a dirtbag goatee. Did you base him on any dirtbags you’ve met?

Oh, that’s all me. I’m channelling my inner dirtbag. He has some inadequacy issues. He’s like a used car salesman; he looks fair and feels foul. But there are parts of me in him – I’m wearing my own snake skin boots for the whole film. I ended up actually keeping one of his suits, which I might have worn to a couple of premieres, which is pretty funny! [Laughs]

2 Georgia wildfires destroy more than 120 homes, scorch over 40,000 acres

Extreme drought has turned the region into a tinderbox and allowed flames to spread.

NFL draft 2026 day three: Jermod McCoy to Raiders, Jets trade up for Cade Klubnik

• McCoy falls to Raiders at No 101 amid knee concerns

• Thin QB class sees just 10 taken across seven rounds

• Eagles take raw prospect Bernard via IPP pathway

The third and final day of the 2026 NFL draft began with a name many thought would go in the first round.

Instead, Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy went No 101 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders, as the opening pick of the fourth round on Saturday in Pittsburgh.

Manchester City’s relentless pursuit of silverware shows no sign of abating | John Brewin

A fourth consecutive FA Cup final has been reached but Guardiola’s selection against Southampton suggests priorities lie elsewhere

It’s happening again. Another Manchester City treble will be a short price on the prediction markets, even if City were defeated in the last two FA Cup finals. The club’s dominance of English football asks existential questions of those attempting to compete. Yet again written off this season by those foolish enough to underestimate them, City loom menacingly over the rest, threatening a level of success others can only reach for.

The key question remains without its answer. Is this Pep Guardiola’s last dance? The rumours, unsubstantiated as they are, have bubbled under all season, his weekly responses to enquiries opaque and diversionary. Anyone looking for clues at Wembley in his team selection would deduce the Premier League title, rather than repeating the domestic treble of 2018-19, was the priority for any big send-off. Such speculation is folly when the likelihood is that Guardiola himself may even not know his own mind.

Macron says EU’s mutual defence clause ‘not just words’

French president cites joint military aid to Cyprus as proof of Europe’s ability to defend itself during trip to Athens

Emmanuel Macron has spoken up for Europe’s ability to defend itself, saying a mutual assistance clause, enshrined in the EU treaty, was unambiguous and “not just words”.

The French president said the pact had already been proved in action when several member states sent military aid to Cyprus after a drone attack against a British airbase on the island on 28 February.

Bold Bayern and PSG leave Premier League elite looking more like lambs than lions | Jonathan Wilson

German and French clubs are showing in the Champions League they can make the most of the benefits of not having to play in a gruelling domestic competition

Paris Saint-Germain have won 11 of the past 13 French league titles and, going into this weekend, stood four points clear of Lens at the top of Ligue 1. Bayern Munich have already wrapped up this season’s Bundesliga title, their 13th in 14 years. According to Deloitte, Bayern are the third-richest club in the world by revenue, PSG fourth.

They meet in the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday as two modern super-clubs. The idea of a top-five European league feels outmoded. Rather there are the best Premier League clubs, plus perhaps five or six others of whom PSG and Bayern are the outstanding two still left in this season’s competition.

Pope Leo reiterates opposition to death penalty on same day U.S. approves firing squads

Pope Leo reiterated the Catholic Church's teaching that the death penalty is "inadmissible," in a video message released hours after the Justice Department said it would allow firing squads for federal executions.

Heat on Sinner as Alcaraz’s absence prompts the question: who can fill the void?

The men’s game thrives on big rivalries but with the world No 2 missing through injury, the prospects of another top-10 player stepping up appear bleak

Jannik Sinner is not a man for great displays of emotion, but not even the world No 1 could maintain his poker face this time. In the aftermath of an arduous opening win in Madrid on Friday, Sinner learned of the most significant news of the year – Carlos Alcaraz’s withdrawal from the French Open because of a right wrist injury – during his on-court interview.

Sinner’s face immediately fell and he was clearly still processing the information after giving his answer. Later, in his press conference, the Italian lamented Alcaraz’s absence with sincerity: “Tennis needs Carlos,” he said. “Tennis is a much better sport when he’s around.”

Trump cancels his envoys’ Pakistan trip for Iran ceasefire negotiations

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were to travel to Islamabad to attempt to revive ceasefire negotiations

Donald Trump said he has told US envoys not to go to Pakistan for more talks with Iran, shortly after Tehran’s top diplomat left Islamabad late on Saturday.

Trump added to Fox News: “They can call us anytime they want.” The White House on Friday said Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would travel to Pakistan’s capital to attempt to revive ceasefire negotiations.

Teenager charged in London with woman’s murder after UAE extradition

Enzo Bettamio alleged to have stabbed Kamonnan Thiamphanit in April 2024 at a property in Bayswater

A teenager has been charged with murder over the death of a 27-year-old woman after his extradition from the United Arab Emirates to the UK.

The charge relates to the stabbing of Kamonnan Thiamphanit, which took place at a property in Bayswater, west London, on 6 April 2024.

Met investigates hundreds of officers after using Palantir AI tool

Met says AI software unearthed rule-breaking ranging from work-from-home violations to suspected corruption

The Metropolitan police have launched investigations into hundreds of officers after using an AI tool built by the controversial tech company Palantir to root out rogue cops.

The software was deployed by the Met over the course of a week, surveilling staff members using data the force has ready access to, unearthing rule-breaking ranging from work-from-home violations to suspected corruption and even criminal allegations such as rape.

King Charles' U.S. visit to start Monday amid strained U.S.-U.K. relations

Britain's King Charles will be visiting the U.S. starting on Monday to mark America's 250th anniversary – his first trip since his coronation nearly three years ago.

Meg Jones shines as relentless England sweep Wales aside to seal triple crown

• England 62-24 Wales

• Red Roses run in 10 tries, Wales earn bonus point

There is an alternate universe in which Meg Jones played the Six Nations game between England and Wales in a red shirt instead of a white one. The Red Roses captain was born in Cardiff and can speak fluent Welsh, but she chose to play for England, being qualified through her mother. That decision is surely one of the most important to England’s current form with Jones an integral and irreplaceable cog in the machine.

Jones was named captain with Zoe Stratford pregnant and she has more than stepped up to the plate. The 2025 World Rugby player of the year nominee has scored in two of the three opening matches of the tournament, bagging two here at a sold-out Ashton Gate.

What to expect from King Charles' visit to U.S.

King Charles III is set to make his state visit to the U.S. next week to mark America's 250th anniversary. It comes amid some tension between the U.S. and U.K.

Conspiracy theory over UFOs and missing scientists spreads from web to White House

Claim of nefarious plot draws attention of lawmakers and president – but are disappearances and deaths really linked?

Are the disappearances or deaths of at least 11 US scientists, each allegedly connected in some way to space, defense and nuclear research, really linked in a nefarious plot: one that involves the Chinese or other state enemies, or possibly links back to UFOs?

A conspiracy theory positing exactly that has roared through sections of the US population in recent weeks, spreading rapidly from the internet into rightwing media and hence into the mainstream press and prompting an inquiry from Congress and questions from Donald Trump.

Mali hit by wave of coordinated attacks from armed groups

Gunfire and explosions have rocked Mali's capital Bamako and other key cities in one of the most significant coordinated attacks in years, as armed groups, including jihadist insurgents and separatist rebels exploit worsening insecurity in the Sahel region.

More than 100 homes burned in Georgia wildfires

Two wildfires in Georgia destroyed more than 100 homes as firefighters continue to battle the flames.

Ifrah F Ahmed’s debut cookbook is a love letter to Somali cuisine, history and people

Soomaaliya is one of few cookbooks to examine Somali food and how conflict has reshaped it across the diaspora

On a video call from Brooklyn, between stops on her book tour, Ifrah F Ahmed is drinking ginger-root tea. The smell transports her to her childhood kitchen, where her mother often baked aromatic cardamom cake.

“That’s a core childhood memory for me,” she said.

What counts as the woods? Judge axes Nova Scotia’s ban that defied ‘commonsense definitions’

The court sided with a Canadian hiker who deliberately challenged the order imposed to curb spread of wildfires

As wildfires raged across Nova Scotia last summer, the Canadian province made a simple plea to residents: stay away from the woods.

As the situation deteriorated, authorities turned the request into a prohibition: anyone caught hiking under the shade of the forest canopy faced a C$25,000 fine – a figure more than half the average worker’s yearly salary.

Mississippi school kids stop school bus on highway after driver passes out

Students aged 12 to 15 steered bus to safety and called for help after driver lost consciousness from asthma attack

Middle school students in Mississippi acted quickly to halt their school bus from crashing after their driver passed out while on a highway, prompting the operator to declare: “They saved my life.”

The bus in question had just left the Hancock middle school in the Mississippi community of Kiln on Wednesday when the driver, Leah Taylor, suffered an asthma attack and lost consciousness.

Roommate charged with murder in deaths of University of South Florida doctoral students

Hisham Abugharbieh was arrested after standoff with police and charged with killing Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy

The man who was detained after two Bangladeshi doctoral students went missing from the University of South Florida (USF) has been booked with two counts of murder.

Hisham Abugharbieh faces two counts of premeditated murder in the first degree with a weapon in the deaths of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, the Hillsborough county sheriff’s office announced on Saturday.

Trump fan Caitlyn Jenner learns elections have consequences | Arwa Mahdawi

She backed the president as he ran millions of dollars in anti-trans ads. Now she’s disappointed her passport has the wrong gender

Thoughts and prayers for Caitlyn Jenner. It seems that it’s starting to dawn on the Olympian and reality TV star that being a rich, white, Maga supporter doesn’t entirely shield her from Donald Trump’s transphobic policies.

What sparked that realization? Was it the millions of dollars spent by the Trump campaign on anti-trans ads during the 2024 election? Was it, perhaps, the fact that one of Trump’s very first acts in his second term, conducted just hours after he took office, was to sign an executive order which stated that government-issued identification documents would be changed to reflect the holder’s “immutable biological classification as either male or female”, defined by a person’s cells at conception – in other words, your passport would reflect the sex you were assigned at birth?

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

AI talent war: Software industry is a new target as top executives jump ship to OpenAI

Software giants are seeing their worst stock performance in years on fears of AI disruption. Now they have a new problem.

Tate at a turning point: new director must confront unwieldy ‘beast’ of an art institution

As Maria Balshaw steps down after nine years, her successor at the gallery needs to forge a fresh financial and cultural path

Roland Rudd, the chair of Tate, is in a bullish mood when we meet at his offices in the Adelphi Building, which sits on the Thames between the art institution’s two London sites. “Things have never been better,” he says.

It’s a rebuff to any suggestion that the organisation is in flux – and, as if he were expecting the question to arise, Rudd produces a piece of paper from his suit pocket with notes to prove his point. The recent wins, he says, are so numerous that he has written them down so as not to forget any.

‘Counter to the message of Jesus’: progressive Christians stake a claim to their religion amid Trump-pope feud

Anti-war, anti-ICE, anti-authoritarian Christians are organizing around their faith in opposition to the version claimed by Trump and Hegseth

The Trump administration has long tried to wrap itself in Christianity, with Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, invoking warfare “in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ”. Trump even recently posted an AI image of himself as a Christ-like figure (later claiming he thought it was a doctor) and streamed himself reading the Bible.

But in reality, faith leaders have been some of the loudest and most consistent voices organizing against the administration’s policies.

Partygate v Mandelson: Keir Starmer faces attack from his own playbook

Some familiar, arcane terms are returning to the fore as the Tories study the tactics Labour used against Boris Johnson

The lexicon of a British parliamentary scandal is arcane.

As Keir Starmer fights to remain prime minister, he has had to respond to a “humble address”, had his judgment picked over during an “emergency opposition day debate” and now faces the ignominy of a “privilege motion”.

Opinion: A lesson in humanity at the Boston Marathon

Two runners in this week's Boston Marathon stopped to help a racer who had collapsed just short of the finish line. NPR's Scott Simon says their generosity is its own kind of "personal best."

California’s wildlife bridge became a target for the right. Now it’s eyeing the finish line

Unhindered by critics who called the $114m project ‘a bridge to nowhere’, a gigantic throughway allowing animals to cross a busy freeway is close to completion

Atop a gigantic wildlife bridge in California this week, butterflies filled the air. A red-tailed hawk sailed above as a slight breeze ruffled the 6,000 native plants, including poppies and purple sage. You’d never guess that below the quiet expanse of rocks and plants, a 10-lane freeway ferries 400,000 cars each day.

When the project broke ground four years ago, enthusiasm was high. The wildlife crossing in northern Los Angeles county would be the largest of its kind in the world, providing safe passage for mountain lions, bobcats and lizards.

Lure of being a social media chef means youngsters forgoing classic training, Michelin star cook warns

Industry figures say that going viral is no replacement for the classic route of apprenticeships and competitions

Scroll through your timeline of choice and it won’t be long until you land on a video posted by a social media chef trying to send their recipes viral.

Such is the popularity of cooking videos that everyone from Michelin star masters to self-taught beginners like Brooklyn Beckham are setting up tripods on their kitchen counters to capture the perfect cut, cuission or crust on their culinary creations.

Palermo ‘honoured’ by rumours Dua Lipa and Callum Turner might marry there in June

Italian newspapers claim singer and actor, who is tipped to be next James Bond, are planning ‘wedding of the year’ in the city

Last July, Dua Lipa shared a series of photos on Instagram while on holiday in Palermo with Callum Turner, the British actor she had become engaged to weeks earlier. In these photos, the pair appeared radiantly in love with each other – and the Sicilian capital.

There were pictures of the couple strolling through the city’s vibrant baroque alleys, admiring the ceiling frescoes in its striking cathedral and enjoying sunset boat trips. In another, a smiling Turner is holding a pair of ricotta-filled cannoli, the Sicilian dessert. One photo even captured the word ‘“amore” scrawled on a wall.

‘It’s a huge, futuristic space with massive skylights’: Ali Zolghadri’s best phone picture

The clean geometry of the Iran Mall in Tehran, and the way light moves through it, caught the fine art photographer’s eye

The Iran Mall in Tehran is the largest shopping mall in the world. Ali Zolghadri recalls it being fairly empty the day he took this image, four months before the US and Israel launched their war on Iran. “This particular spot is in the central atrium. It’s a huge, futuristic space with sweeping curved lines, layered architecture, metallic surfaces and massive skylights,” Tehran-born Zolghadri says. “The clean geometry and the way light moves through the structure really caught my eye. It’s a public space, but because of its scale, it often feels quiet and almost otherworldly.” The shot, a composite of three images, was shortlisted in the creative category of the 2026 Sony World Photography awards.

“As a fine art photographer, editing is an essential part of my process,” Zolghadri says. “Every element in the final composition was photographed by me, but some unnecessary elements were removed, and the frames were carefully blended in Photoshop. I don’t use AI in my workflow; everything is captured and edited manually by me. The post-production process is a continuation of the creative act, not a shortcut.”

Justice Department makes it easier to deport those with DACA status

Three appellate immigration judges sided with Department of Homeland Security lawyers who appealed a decision from Immigration Judge Michael Pleters terminating removal proceedings for DACA recipient Catalina "Xóchitl" Santiago.

Criminalisation of climate protesters in UK is counterproductive, research finds

Study of 1,300 campaigners finds arrests, fines and jail terms increase determination of activists to take direct action

The criminalisation of direct action climate protests in the UK is counterproductive and increases the determination of activists to undertake disruptive demonstrations, according to a study of 1,300 campaigners.

New findings suggest arrests, fines and lengthy prison sentences given to nonviolent climate protesters who have blocked roads or damaged buildings may actually radicalise them. The repression of protest could even be one driver of recent covert actions such as the cutting of internet cables, they said.

Even without social media, phones have a subtle, damaging effect on our mental health | Devi Sridhar

Digital communication in its most basic forms can push us into an ‘always on’ state – and generate feelings of exclusion or rejection

When I first started teaching at Oxford in 2005, I would offer “office hours” a couple of times a week. They were literally that – time for students to come by my office and chat about anything on their mind. Emails were formal and for rare occasions, with the expectation that most issues would be discussed in person. Fast forward to 2026, and office hours have been replaced at many universities by constant email and Teams communication. These are incessant, with responses often expected within hours, if not minutes, blurring the line between evenings, weekends and normal working hours.

I have to admit that every time a notification pops up on my phone or laptop, even before reading it, I can feel my stress levels rising. It’s made me reflect on how modern communication is pushing our minds to the limit. While most of the recent conversation on mental health and technology has focused on social media, we forget how even older forms of digital communication can push us into a stressful, “always on” way of being.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, and the author of How Not to Die (Too Soon)

Disco hit: Penne alla vodka, popular in New York 80s clubs, is now a menu staple

Boozy, tomato pasta dish is enjoying a resurgence – with Gigi Hadid posting her own take on it

Despite most traditional Italians considering it sacrilegious, penne alla vodka is quickly becoming one of the most in-demand Italian dishes.

Previously popular in suburban Italo-American restaurants during the 80s, the dish is now enjoying a widespread resurgence that is being driven by several factors including nostalgia and social media.

‘I saw the backlash coming’: civil rights activist Kimberlé Crenshaw on America and race

She coined the term ‘intersectionality’ and helped to develop critical race theory, now her life’s work is under attack by Washington’s war on ‘woke’. As her memoir is published, the legal scholar explains why she’ll never stop speaking truth to power

When Donald Trump returned to office in January last year, one of his first acts was to sign an executive order intended to cut federal funding for any school teaching what the administration defined as “critical race theory”. A raft of other orders mandated the termination of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) personnel, offices and training across the federal government. Federal agencies began flagging hundreds of words to avoid or eliminate, including “intersectional” and “intersectionality”. All of which has amounted to 40 years of Kimberlé Crenshaw’s work being literally and deliberately erased.

For decades, the 66-year-old legal scholar has been naming things that powerful people would prefer remain unnamed. In 1989, she coined the term intersectionality to describe the way race and gender overlap to shape lived experience, often in ways the law fails to recognise. Around the same time, she was one of a group of African American scholars who created the framework that came to be known as “critical race theory”, which sought to examine how racism is embedded in legal systems rather than simply enacted through individual prejudice. Now, Crenshaw’s ideas are being contested like never before.

‘Athens cannot operate as a giant hotel’: mayor vows to rescue capital from overtourism

Haris Doukas warns that with 700,000 residents and 8 million tourists, people are being pushed out of their neighbourhoods

In the heart of ancient Athens, on narrow streets and around archaeological sites, visitor groups appear to be everywhere, snaking their way behind tour guides.

At other times, officials would have welcomed such scenes. But for Haris Doukas, the socialist mayor who is determined to reclaim the capital’s congested city centre for its citizens, the start of the tourist season leaves much of its historic heart at risk of “over-saturation.” Entire neighbourhoods, he believes, are in danger of losing their authenticity because of uncontrolled tourist development.

When did northern soul get so southern?

Young people are high-kicking to vintage US soul tunes again, but this time London and Bristol are leading the charge. Is the scene losing its working-class heritage?

Tom found northern soul by mistake. Despite living in Salford, Greater Manchester his entire life, the 24-year-old had never heard of the movement that began in the north and Midlands – known for its bombastic dancing and devotion to obscure black American soul music. He remembers how he felt on the fateful evening, watching people his age at a northern soul club night ditch their phones for the dancefloor.

Captivated, Tom took it upon himself to learn the signature dance style: spinning, high air-kicking, and falling to the ground backwards before launching back upright. Now Tom can regularly be seen keeping the faith on talc-covered, friction-reducing floors. The evening in central Manchester was an awakening for Tom and he’s not the only one.

Northern soul is back. So say the many, many articles documenting gen-Z’s love for the subculture. “[…] across the country there’s a surge of youth-led northern soul scenes that are not only surviving – but thriving”, read a piece in youth culture magazine, Dazed. Videos of young dancers frequently go viral. Photo features dazzle us with images of twentysomethings keeping the faith during new all-nighters.

Why are red apples sweet and green apples sour? The kids’ quiz

Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes

• ​Submit a question

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World.

What links Royal Blood and the White Stripes? The Saturday quiz

From a saint and a lion to ‘the original nepo baby’, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 Which US state was once an independent monarchy?
2 What cold spell lasted from circa 1300 to 1850?
3 Which bestselling book series is abbreviated as Acotar?
4 What word meaning haughty comes from the Latin for eyebrow?
5 Which pop compilation series was launched in November 1983?
6 What is the most visited museum in the UK?
7 Who described herself in a 2026 memoir as “the original nepo baby”?
8 Which saint is often depicted writing, with a lion at his feet?
What links:
9 Scotland (7, 10, 12, 14); Rwanda (15); England (the rest)?
10 Checkmate; Job; The Haunted Ballroom; The Rake’s Progress?
11 Mariner 10; Messenger; BepiColombo?
12 Evie and Ossie; Gladstone; Larry; Palmerston?
13 Phil Chisnall; Paul Ince; Thomas McNulty; Michael Owen?
14 Death From Above 1979; Royal Blood; the Black Keys; the Kills; the White Stripes?
15 Inertia (1); acceleration/force (2); action and reaction (3)?

This Is Not a Murder Mystery: cosy-crime meets art in an irresistibly surreal Belgian drama

Famous artists including Magritte are suspects in this glossy, grisly whodunnit – and it’s loads of fun

I don’t know about art, but I know what I like: cosy crime. I’m excited by Flemish series This Is Not a Murder Mystery (U&Drama, Wednesday, 8pm, and streaming on Channel 4), which offers a classy shot of both. Silent movie credits tell us the year is 1936. An English aristocrat is hosting a private show of surrealist artists, who are all on the cusp of major celebrity. Following a wild party a week before the show, we see René Magritte wake up in bed, next to a dead woman. Their heads have been wrapped in shrouds, in a ghoulish recreation of his own painting The Lovers. Fame can lead artists to lose their heads, but this is something else.

The beak arrive in the double-act form of DCI Thistlethwaite and DC Quant. They lock down the estate, along with its bohemian guests: Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Man Ray, performance artist Sheila Legge and the American war photographer Lee Miller. Magritte is determined to clear his name, but as the show approaches, the theatrical murders mount up. Each crime pays twisted homage to the masterpieces of the artists present, who are also suspects.

My husband and son dived to see the wreck of the Titanic, and never came back – this is what happened at sea

Christine Dawood found herself trapped on the ship, waiting for signs that the Titan submersible carrying her family would surface. She talks in detail for the first time about those harrowing four days

Walking into Christine Dawood’s kitchen, it’s impossible not to be drawn to the model Titanic in the centre of the room. Sitting in its own glass-fronted cabinet, the Lego ship is almost 1.5 metres long, constructed of 9,090 of the iconic plastic bricks. Dawood’s 19-year-old son Suleman spent almost two weeks building it. “People are always a bit shocked to see it,” she admits. “But what was I going to do? Break it up? Hide it away? Suleman put all those hours in. He’d been fascinated with the Titanic since we went to a huge exhibition when we lived in Singapore.“

I went to that same exhibition when it came to London, and remember marvelling at the china dinner plates that had survived intact; the unused lifejackets that had failed to save someone; the sheet music belonging to the orchestra who had supposedly bravely played even as the ship went down. Instead of a ticket, you were given a replica boarding pass with a real passenger’s name on it. At the end, you could find out who survived and who didn’t.

Tim Dowling: this hold music is stuck on repeat – like my life

The piccolo tune could only have been written to intentionally drive people completely crazy

I’m sitting in the kitchen with my phone on speaker, listening to an instrumental work featuring a repeated piccolo melody, as I have been for the last half hour. At first it seemed to be a composition without end, cagily constructed to fold back on itself, but after giving it close attention for some minutes I realise it’s just a short section of a larger piece – comprising the four bars before the drums kick in, and the four bars after – that lasts exactly 30 seconds. At the end of the loop it briefly cuts out before starting over again, leaving a silent gap that makes you think a customer service representative is about to speak. But that never happens.

Around the 45 minute mark I make a quick calculation – twice per bar, 8 bars per 30-second cycle – that suggests I have now listened to the repeated piccolo melody more than 1,400 times. It’s hard to imagine this work being devised with any intention beyond driving people – perhaps prisoners – insane.

Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for leek, potato and coconut curry | The new vegan

There is plenty of sunshine in this seductive, Sri Lankan-style potato curry that’s chock-full of evocative smells and flavours

I stitch myself up sometimes by planning on cooking something that’s native to a country – a Sri Lankan potato curry, say – then embellish it with my own desires (lemongrass, leeks, ginger) to such an extent that it can no longer really be called as such. But taste and memory work in mysterious ways. This recipe still evokes Sri Lanka for me: sunshine, spiced earth, the smell of cinnamon bundles and dense forest, and also the sound of the bread vans (playing Beethoven, curiously) and the distinctive squawk of the myna bird. I hope, if you cook it, it might evoke a little Sri Lankan sunshine for you, too.

Hanged under the cover of war: letters and videos tell stories of Iran’s death row victims

Testimony emerges from Babak Alipour, who spent three years on death row before being taken to gallows in March

Writing from his cell in the Rajai Shahr prison in the northern Iranian city of Karaj, Babak Alipour wanted to tell his friends about those who had already gone to their execution.

There was Behrouz Ehsani, 69, the elder statesman of the group, who was “never angry” about their predicament. Then there was Mehdi Hassani, a 48-year-old father of three who he saw a couple of times in the prison hospital and who would ask him to pass on to the children the message that he was “fine”.

Inside Chornobyl: 40 years after disaster, nuclear site still at risk in Russia’s war

In February 2025, a cheap Russian drone tore through Chornobyl’s confinement shelter. Workers warn the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident is not safe yet

The dosimeter clipped to your chest ticks faster the moment you step off the designated path inside the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. Step back, and it slows again – an invisible line between clean ground and contamination.

Above rises the “new safe confinement” (NSC) – the largest movable steel structure ever built, taller than the Statue of Liberty, wider than the Colosseum, its arch curving overhead like an aircraft hangar built for giant planes.

Lily Allen’s ‘revenge’, Harry Styles’ Dorothy and Debbie Harry’s T-shirt – 20 onstage dresses ranked!

To celebrate the release of the film Mother Mary, starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel, in which a fashion designer creates a comeback dress for a pop star, we weigh up the best performative looks

“Dressed like a fabulously turned-out carrion crow,” is how our reviewer described the gothic, avian-like get-up PJ Harvey wore to perform her journalistic and theatrical ninth album, The Hope Six Demolition Project, in Brixton, south London, in 2016. The dress was the work of Harvey’s longtime friend, the Belgian designer Ann Demeulemeester, and epitomises the more dramatic stage looks – melodramatic but pared-back – that Harvey turned to for her later, darker albums. As she said of the clothes: “For me, it’s about the ability to meet the world. And it is a second skin, isn’t it? It’s protection, as well. It’s a very big part of clothing, the feeling of protection, particularly in Ann’s clothes.” Who would have thought that someone who earlier in their career took to the stage in Spice Girls co-ords and hot-pink catsuits would wind up in such serious Belgian high-fashion? Ellie Violet Bramley

How a 9-year-old girl found a confidence-changing role model in a Denver soccer star

"I didn't want to be known as the girl with one arm that plays soccer," Denver Summit FC player Carson Pickett told CBS News. "I just wanted to be known for the girl that plays soccer."

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy holds talks in Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia on ‘security and energy’

Ukraine ‘actively developing’ regional security arrangements for defence, food and energy, Zelenskyy says; Russia and Ukraine swap prisoners. What we know on day 1,522

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Azerbaijan on Friday for talks on “security and energy”, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP. Kyiv and Baku enjoy warm relations, with Azerbaijan repeatedly expressing support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sending humanitarian aid since the Russian invasion in 2022. Ties between Moscow and Baku have soured over the past year, after an Azerbaijani passenger plane was mistakenly hit by a Russian anti-aircraft missile in 2024, killing 38 people.

The trip follows one to Saudi Arabia, where Zelenskyy met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as the Ukrainian leader seeks to share Kyiv’s drone expertise with the Gulf countries affected by the war in Iran. Zelenskyy said Ukraine was “actively developing” its strategic security arrangement across three key areas, including exports of Ukrainian military expertise and air defence capabilities, energy cooperation to help Ukraine, and food security.

US weapons deliveries to Ukraine haven’t stopped despite the Iran war, and Ukrainian long-range strikes continue to hammer Russian oil production and manufacturing plants, Zelenskyy said on Thursday. “Of course, we are hitting what is painful for Russia, and it is very painful,” Zelenskyy said in voice messages to reporters, adding that Russian losses in the strikes have reached tens of billions of dollars. Russian officials have reported that attacks have struck infrastructure in regions more than 1,000km (600 miles) inside Russia.

Russia and Ukraine on Friday swapped 193 captured soldiers each, the second exchange this month in one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv. The two countries have exchanged thousands of PoW throughout the four-year war – with the swaps often the only result of otherwise stalled peace talks. Photos of Ukrainian prisoners getting off buses at the scene of the swap in northern Ukraine showed them looking pale but relieved and wrapped in blue and yellow flags, embracing each other, or crying on the phone to loved ones.

Ukraine’s defence ministry has fired a top commander after photos emerged of a group of emaciated soldiers who have been left on the frontline for months without proper food and water. The scandal erupted after the wife of one of the soldiers posted the images on social media. The four men appeared pale and visibly malnourished, with prominent ribcages and thin arms. Ukraine’s general staff said it had replaced the commander who was responsible for feeding the soldiers. The brigade acknowledged there were logistical problems and said deliveries were only possible by air because their location was extremely close to enemy lines.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday there was no prospect of Ukraine’s “immediate accession” to the EU, but suggested Kyiv could join meetings of the bloc’s members without voting rights. Ukraine is pushing to speed up its bid to join the 27-nation European Union as it fights Russia’s invasion on the battlefield. Kyiv’s progress has been blocked by Hungary’s nationalist premier Viktor Orbán, but his defeat in elections earlier this month raised hopes it can move to the next step.

German prosecutors Friday launched a spying investigation into phishing attacks targeting lawmakers on the Signal messaging app, with an MP saying the latest Russia-directed plot against Germany was a “wake-up call”. Germany, Kyiv’s biggest provider of miliary aid, has been battling a surge of cyber-attacks, as well as espionage and sabotage plots since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Moscow denies being behind any such actions.

How a girl born without most of her arm was inspired by a Denver soccer player just like her

Nine-year-old Hayden Stine was born without most of her right arm. When she went to a Denver Summit women's soccer home opener, she saw a player, Carson Pickett, just like her. Steve Hartman goes "On the Road" with a story about the importance of role models.

As U.S. re-arms during ceasefire, long-term concerns emerge about munitions supplies

The Trump administration has sought to project confidence in the U.S. military's munitions stocks after more than a month of war with Iran, but long-term supply questions remain.

Nvidia stock closes at record, pushing market cap past $5 trillion

Nvidia's stock closed at its first record since October, as a rally in Intel pushed chipmakers higher.

4/24: CBS Evening News

Tornadoes barrel across the middle of the country; historic wildfires burn out of control.

Special Forces Sgt. in Polymarket Maduro raid bet case released; Kalshi says it blocked him

Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke was involved in planning the raid to capture Nicolás Maduro even as he allegedly made Polymarket bets that paid off from that raid.

Pirro could reopen Fed probe at any time, Democratic senators warn

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Dick Durbin, in a letter obtained first by CNBC, question Jeanine Pirro's mention of reopening a probe of Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Microsoft plans first-ever voluntary employee buyout for up to 7% of U.S. workforce

Microsoft's inaugural voluntary buyouts will be open to workers at the senior director level and below whose years of employment and age add up to 70 or more.

Clock ticks on Spirit Airlines as bondholders weigh Trump bailout. Here's what could happen next

President Trump has said the government could buy Spirit.

Kushner, Witkoff — not Vance — heading to Pakistan for 'direct talks' with Iran, White House says

President Donald Trump said he is in no rush to make a peace deal, claiming the Iran war has harmed stocks and oil prices less than he expected.