OpenAI to buy cybersecurity startup Promptfoo to better safeguard AI agents

Promptfoo's team will join Sam Altman-led OpenAI, and its technology will be integrated into the Frontier platform for AI agents.

Stocks regain ground after early losses as oil prices cool

After a sharp drop in early trading, stocks recovered part of those losses as oil prices fell back below $100.

FA Cup quarter-final draw: Port Vale and Southampton alongside top-flight teams – live

⚽️ Live coverage of the draw from the London Stadium
⚽️ FA Cup fifth round: talking points | Email Daniel

In such situation I didn’t expect even Marco Silva to blame someone other than him, and yet:

A very bad day for us,” Silva said. “It is probably not the moment to be emotional. It is a moment for us to look deeper.

It is not just another defeat. We lost a big chance. If you want to be in a club that wants to get better your ambition has to always be there. If you are pushing to win a game there are certain standards you cannot drop. Some things are about mentality.”

Middle East crisis live: Iranian missiles intercepted over Turkey and Qatar as Israel resumes strikes across Tehran and Beirut

Turkey, Qatar and UAE intercept missiles from Iran; Israeli military announces strikes against infrastructure across Iran and a Hezbollah-linked group

• Full report: Ali Khamenei’s son Mojtaba chosen as Iran’s new supreme leader

• Tell us: how have you been affected by the latest events in the Middle East?

Donald Trump has said a decision on when to end the war with Iran will be a “mutual” one he’ll make together with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Times of Israel has reported.

It said Trump also claimed in a brief telephone interview on Sunday that Iran would have destroyed Israel if he and Netanyahu had not been around. The US president said:

Iran was going to destroy Israel and everything else around it … We’ve worked together. We’ve destroyed a country that wanted to destroy Israel.

I think it’s mutual … a little bit. We’ve been talking. I’ll make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account.

Live Nation to open Ticketmaster to other sellers in U.S. antitrust deal

Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, has reached a deal with the Department of Justice as part of a high-stakes antitrust trial.

‘Revolutionary’: Ukrainian para-biathlete wins silver using ChatGPT as his coach

• Murashkovskyi benefits from artificial intelligence support

• ‘I used it as a psychologist, coach and sometimes as a doctor’

Team Ukraine have hit the ground running at the Winter Paralympics, standing second in the medal table after three days of competition. Their resolve and determination has been inspirational to many, but one athlete has revealed a secret weapon in their search for a competitive edge: using ChatGPT as a coach.

Maksym Murashkovskyi won silver in the men’s visually impaired biathlon on Sunday and he did not miss a shot. He has also been working with OpenAI’s large language model for six months, using artificial intelligence not just for coaching advice but psychological and health guidance too.

Top Arizona lawmaker says he's complied with a subpoena for 2020 election records

Arizona's state Senate president says he has complied with a subpoena he received last week seeking records from a flawed, Republican-led review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County.

How high could oil go, and what might the global economic fallout be?

There is talk of crude surpassing its record high of 2008 with potentially dire effects for consumers and businesses

Fears over the global economy have been stoked by the oil price soaring past $100 a barrel as a result on the US-Israel war with Iran.

Economists say the increasing likelihood of a prolonged conflict in the vital energy exporting region could have serious consequences for living standards around the world amid the threat of a renewed inflation shock.

California rep. leaves GOP to become an independent, complicating majority

Rep. Kevin Kiley of California said Monday he was immediately leaving the Republican Party to become an independent.

A country divided: state media show Mojtaba supporters as Iranians online fear repression

With new supreme leader’s strong connections to the IRGC, critics fear worse is to come – if he survives

• Middle East crisis – live updates

At around midday, even as airstrikes hit several parts of the capital, large crowds gathered in Tehran’s famous Enghelab Square to chant their allegiance to Iran’s new supreme leader.

Carrying banners showing the face of the country’s slain leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, people on Monday held a new portrait – that of his son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei.

X suspends 800m accounts in one year amid ‘massive’ scale of manipulation attempts

Social media company tells MPs of continual fight against state-backed efforts, with Russia being most prolific

Elon Musk’s X said it had suspended 800m accounts over a 12-month period as it fights the “massive” scale of attempts to manipulate the platform.

The social media company told MPs it was continually fighting state-backed attempts to hijack the agenda on its network, with Russia the most prolific state actor, followed by Iran and China.

Iran’s new supreme leader brings mystery element to Middle East crisis

What Mojtaba Khamenei will do with his leadership is now the key question after he succeeds his father

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Crowds in Tehran greeted the announcement of the country’s new supreme leader by chanting: “God’s hand is still upon us, Khamenei is still our leader.” As the world economy grinds to a halt, Iran is selling the elevation of Mojtaba Khamenei as a sign of reassuring continuity for a country determined to show its defiance of the west.

Yet in reality he injects a new unpredictable, even mysterious, element into the Middle East crisis, since just as he is unknown to Washington, so he is a figure of deep obscurity to ordinary Iranians. By contrast, the first supreme leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, led Iran to revolution in 1979 and the second, Mojtaba’s father, Ali Khamenei, had been president for eight years before he was chosen by the Assembly of Experts within a day of Khomenei’s death.

Two teens charged over ‘Islamic State-inspired’ attack outside Mamdani home

Pair charged with throwing explosive devices during anti-Islam protest described by mayor as ‘appalling’

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Two teenagers were charged on Monday with offenses including terrorism and using a weapon of mass destruction after they allegedly threw improvised explosive devices during an anti-Islam demonstration on Saturday outside the residence of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani.

According to a 10-page criminal complaint filed in federal court in the US southern district of New York, 18-year-old Emir Balat threw the devices at protesters after they were handed to him by Ibrahim Kayumi, 19. It said both declared allegiance to the Islamic State terror group.

Ben Jennings on Donald Trump, Iran and surging oil prices – cartoon

Continue reading...

The Pirate and the Swan: a salute to two of La Liga’s less-celebrated forwards | Sid Lowe

Mallorca’s Vedat Muriqi and Osasuna’s Ante Budimir have 31 league goals between them this season, with three coming in a dramatic draw on Saturday

This is the story of the Pirate and the Swan. When Vedat Muriqi was little, which he never really was, he couldn’t always find boots to play in. An adult and a giant before his time, working and shaving at 14, a striker starting out for KF Liria in Prizren, Kosovo, he was 6ft 4in, his feet were size 15, and back home back then you couldn’t get anything that big. Fortunately, one day an aunt in Finland came across a pair of European 48.5s and, pleased as could be, sent them his way. As he opened the box, Vedat realised they were made for rugby but he didn’t have the heart to tell her and, anyway, at least they fit.

They also fit. The man whose former coach had described him as “a strange, ugly beast” you would “cross the street to avoid” and who couldn’t help but agree, admitting: “If I saw me I’d cross over too,” wasn’t much good, or so he said. For a time they called him the Cannibal – a name he identified with, albeit “one that doesn’t eat children” – and soon they called him the Pirate, which he liked more, placing a patch over his left eye when he scored, but a player? That was something else. Someone else too: “I look at Sergi Darder and Dani Rodríguez: if they’re footballers … what am I?” he asked. “Sometimes I feel like I don’t play football; I play a different sport.”

What to know about Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader

The second son of the late supreme leader keeps a low profile. But he's long been viewed as wielding his power behind the scenes, from crushing dissent to influencing presidential elections.

Fears of 1970s-style stagflation arise with oil spike to $100. How big a threat is it?

High inflation and slow growth present a double threat, as measures like interest rate cuts and government spending only aggravate inflation.

3/9: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," after a whiplash week of on-again, off-again tariff announcements, Canadian ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman joins to discuss the costs and consequences of a trade war. Plus, former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill discusses President Trump's diplomatic pivot on Ukraine.

Iran's strategic oil island thrust into the spotlight as Middle East conflict escalates

Kharg Island serves as the centerpiece for Iran's oil industry, accounting for roughly 90% of the country’s crude exports.

Now we have proof: dealing with difficult people really does age you

Researchers have found evidence of what many of us always suspected: ‘hasslers’ shorten your lifespan. And they know by exactly how long

Name: Hasslers.

Age: More like ageing.

FBI launches terrorism probe into IED attack outside Mamdani's residence

Two men from Pennsylvania are facing federal charges for the incident. Video captured someone yelling "Allahu Akbar" just as a protester threw an "ignited device" during an anti-Islam demonstration in New York City.

Sheinbaum tells Trump: stop illegal arms trade from the US to Mexico

US president claimed he wanted to eradicate cartels and made comments about Mexico’s president that were deemed sexist in summit speech

• ‘Iron river’: Mexico’s cartel violence fuelled by trafficked firearms from US

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Claudia Sheinbaum has responded to Donald Trump’s description of Mexico as the “epicenter of violence,” by calling on the US government to step up efforts to combat gun trafficking.

“There is something that the US can help us a lot with: stop the trafficking of illegal weapons from the US to Mexico,” the president of Mexico said. “If they stopped the entry of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico, then these groups wouldn’t have access to this type of high-powered weaponry to carry out their criminal activities.”

Oil tankers transiting Strait of Hormuz 'must be very careful,' Iran Foreign Ministry warns

The price of crude oil has sharply spiked as the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed as the United States and Israel wage war on Iran.

Anthropic sues the Trump administration over 'supply chain risk' label

The Pentagon told suppliers they can't use Anthropic's artificial intelligence tools after the company said it would not let its tech be used for autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance.

Dolphins to take $99m hit on Tagovailoa and sign Malik Willis as replacement

• QB agreed $212.4m extension with team in 2024

• Falcons reportedly interested in taking on QB

• Kansas City set to beef up running game

• Travis Kelce set to return for 14th season with Chiefs

The Miami Dolphins are moving on from Tua Tagovailoa, the quarterback they drafted with the fifth overall pick in 2020 in hopes of turning the franchise’s fortunes around.

“As we move forward, we will be focused on infusing competition across the roster and establishing a strong foundation for this team as we work towards building a sustained winner,” Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan said in a statement on Monday.

Anthropic sues Trump administration over "supply chain risk" order

Anthropic sued the Defense Department and other federal agencies on Monday over the government's move to designate it a risk to the supply chain.

Here's how much Americans are paying for gas as oil prices spike

The U.S. average gas price has jumped 48 cents since last week, with experts predicting that higher fuel costs could persist for months.

Amazon's Zoox expands robotaxi testing to Phoenix and Dallas

Zoox will start by deploying a fleet of retrofitted Toyota Highlander SUVs, before rolling out its toaster-shaped robotaxis for testing.

Von der Leyen calls for EU foreign policy to be ‘more realistic and interest-driven’

European Commission head says rules-based system can no longer be relied upon to protect the continent’s interests

Europe can “no longer be a custodian for the old-world order” and needs “a more realistic and interest-driven foreign policy”, the head of the European Commission has said.

Speaking to an audience of EU ambassadors on Monday, Ursula von der Leyen said the union “will always defend and uphold the rules-based system” but could no longer rely on it to defend European interests and shelter the continent from threats.

Britons don’t want any part of Trump’s war fixation – the sooner Labour realises that the better | Owen Jones

Kowtowing to US foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan had disastrous consequences. Why are leaders making the same mistake all over again?

Here is the sort of analysis you’re being served up by our esteemed commentariat. Keir Starmer’s positioning on the Iran war, we are told, reveals a prime minister with no political compass. True, but talk about burying the lede. The story here is not Starmer’s lack of political acumen. British involvement in the Iran war is not a policy question on which reasonable people might disagree, like raising a tax here or spending a bit more money there. This is a grave crime.

Yet all the pressure on Starmer seems to arrive from one direction. He “should have backed America from the very beginning”, declares Tony Blair, apparently eager for a successor to emulate his own record of dragging Britain into US-led catastrophes widely condemned as illegal. Donald Trump’s sidekick Nigel Farage, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and the rightwing press make much the same complaint.

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist

Will Trump make a deal with Iran's new supreme leader? - The Latest

Mojtaba Khamenei has been chosen to replace his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran’s supreme leader, while the country continues to be heavily bombarded by US and Israeli forces. There are concerns the move could lead to a further escalation of war in the Middle East, after Donald Trump warned that Khamenei was an ‘unacceptable’ choice. But as oil prices soar, could the US president be looking for a way out of this war? Lucy Hough speaks to diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour.

NTSB member fired by White House over workplace allegations that he denies

National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman called the allegations against him false and a "political hit job."

Seventh U.S. service member killed in Iran war ID'd as Sgt. Benjamin Pennington

Pennington, 26, from Glendale, Kentucky, was wounded on March 1 during an Iranian strike at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. He died on Sunday.

Five Iranian women footballers granted asylum by Australia, Donald Trump says

US president says Australian PM Anthony Albanese has given police protection to the players amid fears they could be punished on their return home

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Five members of the Iranian women’s football team have been granted asylum in Australia after reportedly escaping their government minders following a tournament, according to US president Donald Trump who announced the news on social media on Monday.

The US president said he had spoken to Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese who had told him that five members of the team had been “taken care of” amid fears they could be punished if they returned home.

Iran could face possible Fifa tournament ban if they withdraw from World Cup

• Fifa can take disciplinary action against exiting nations

• ‘Sanctions include exclusion from future competition’

Iran could face disciplinary action from Fifa, including a possible ban from future tournaments, if they unilaterally withdraw from the World Cup.

Donald Trump told Politico last week that he “really doesn’t care” if Iran fail to take part in this summer’s tournament, but Fifa remains committed to the World Cup going ahead with all qualified teams participating.

Why do we need International Women’s Day? Apart from misogyny and Christian nationalism, you mean? | Zoe Williams

I should probably be fuming about the way that companies try to cash in on IWD. But there are so many vile opinions to worry about instead

Sunday was International Women’s Day, which you’ll know because every company you’ve ever shopped with will have emailed you, taking this fine opportunity to suggest things women might like to buy. Plants, clothes, spices … all are particularly female-friendly at this time of year, or maybe I’m revealing nothing but my algorithms. Is any of it emancipating? Would you have to balance the freedom of the woman wearing the midi-dress against the servitude of the woman who had to sew it? I don’t really want to set myself up as the arbiter of the spirit of IWD, being unable to remember a time before it meant mass-marketing mail-out.

On Women’s Day Eve, though – yes, that is a thing – I was attending evensong at a university college, maybe for the first time ever, and it was definitely the first time I’d heard an IWD sermon. The Rev Marcus Green had set himself the challenge of feministly reading a book, the Bible, in which almost none of the women have a name. There are a bunch called Mary, but so few other names that “Mary” was basically Bible-speak for “Karen”. There’s one who is the mother of the sons of Zebedee, but even though she has actual lines and he has none, he still gets this cracking name, while you have to piece her identity together by triangulating other accounts, like an investigator at a crime scene.

This historian dug up the hidden history of 'amateur' blackface in America

In her new book, Darkology, historian Rhae Lynn Barnes writes about how blackface and minstrel shows became one of the most popular forms of entertainment in 19th- and 20th-century America.

Prolonged Strait of Hormuz closure would cause oil prices to surge, experts warn

The Iran war is renewing concerns about the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. A prolonged closure could sharply drive up oil prices, experts said.

AI firm Anthropic sues US defense department over blacklisting

Lawsuits come after Pentagon labeled Anthropic a ‘supply chain risk’, a decision the company says is unlawful

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Anthropic filed two lawsuits against the Department of Defense on Monday, alleging that the government’s decision to label the artificial intelligence firm a “supply chain risk” was unlawful and violated its first amendment rights. The two sides have been locked in a monthslong heated feud over the company’s attempt to implement safeguards against the military’s potential use of its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous lethal weapons.

The lawsuits, which Anthropic filed in the northern district court of California and the US court of appeals for the Washington DC Circuit, come after the Pentagon formally issued the supply chain risk designation last Thursday, the first time the blacklisting tool has been used against a US company. The AI firm previously vowed to challenge the designation and its demand that any company that does business with the government cut all ties with Anthropic, a serious threat to its business model.

Syrian who fled to UK charged with crimes against humanity over violent crackdown

Former intelligence officer charged with murder and torture in first prosecution of its kind in England and Wales

A former Syrian intelligence officer who fled to the UK has been charged with murder and torture as crimes against humanity, in the first prosecution of its kind in England and Wales.

The 58-year-old man, who has not been named for legal reasons, is alleged to have played a leading role in the violent crackdown on protesters in Syria at the start of uprising against the regime of former leader Bashar al-Assad in 2011.

Taking multivitamin daily could help to slow biological ageing, study suggests

Researchers working to unpick whether daily multivitamin results in people staying healthier as they age

Taking a multivitamin every day for two years appears to slow some markers of biological ageing – albeit to a small degree, research suggests.

While chronological age is based on how long a person has lived, biological age reflects the state of the body. Estimates of the latter are often based on changes in patterns of DNA methylation – modifications to DNA that accumulate with age and affect how genes function.

Trump threatens not to sign any bills until Congress approves strict voter ID act

Save Act would limit voting access in the US and centers on Trump’s unfounded claims of noncitizens stealing elections

Donald Trump threatened not to sign any bills until Congress approves the Save America Act, a curtailment of voting access.

The president, fixated on unsubstantiated claims that noncitizens are stealing US elections ahead of midterm elections that are expected to be bruising for Republicans, said on Truth Social Sunday that the Save America Act “must be done immediately” and “supersedes everything else”.

To my Palestinian sister in ICE detention – I will carry you until you are free | Mahmoud Khalil

One year ago, ICE arrested me for protesting for Palestine. Leqaa Kordia is still caged – also for daring to speak the truth

Sunday marked one year since Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, was arrested last year for his political advocacy. Below, he writes to Leqaa Kordia, a fellow Palestinian currently in ICE detention in Texas. Khalil was released after more than three months but the Trump administration continues to seek his deportation; Kordia has been detained for nearly a year. Read more about her case here.

Dear Leqaa,

‘Sky is the limit’: Analysts warn oil prices could surge further

Energy analysts warned that oil prices could continue to rise in response to the war in the Middle East.

Attempted attack with explosives in New York City investigated as "ISIS-inspired terrorism"

Two men have been charged with allegedly providing support to a foreign terrorism organization and using a weapon of mass destruction. New York City NYPD Commissioner says the explosive devices "could have caused serious injury or death."

Trump is using immigration policy to suppress speech, lawsuit claims

A new lawsuit accuses the administration of violating the First Amendment by threatening the visas of researchers for work on disinformation and content moderation of social media.

First minister pledges help with costs of ‘horrific’ fire next to Glasgow Central station

John Swinney expresses ‘huge relief’ that no one was hurt in blaze believed to have started in vape shop

Scotland’s first minister has pledged to help deal with the costs of the “horrific” fire that has closed Glasgow Central station for at least two days and gutted a Victorian office block.

John Swinney said it was a huge relief there had been no injuries, but that there would be significant financial costs from the fire, which caused chaos for the city’s commuters and the cancellation of west coast main line services to Glasgow.

Why young girls are disguised as boys in Afghanistan

The Taliban has released a video of an interrogation of a girl who passed as a boy. It's an age-old practice in this patriarchal society but now appears to be happening with some frequency.

Verdict on the start of F1’s new era: five talking points from the Australian GP

Mercedes’ flying start lives up to promise, but new regulations receive scathing reviews

The pre-season favourites had done their level best to play down their expected advantage in the buildup to the Australian Grand Prix, but it was impossible to hide. A dominant one-two by the best part of a second for George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in qualifying was followed by a similarly assured one-two finish in the race.

Roman Abramovich ready to fight UK government over proceeds from £2.5bn Chelsea sale

Russian oligarch says money is his to allocate despite international sanctions imposed on his assets

The Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has stepped up his row with the British government over the £2.5bn proceeds of his sale of Chelsea FC, insisting that the money is his to allocate despite the international sanctions imposed on his assets.

The UK and EU imposed sanctions on Abramovich in 2022, freezing his assets in response to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, citing his ties to Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Istanbul’s mayor in court for mass trial decried as politically motivated

Critics say sprawling corruption case against Ekrem İmamoğlu aims to stop him challenging Erdoğan

A mass trial of 400 people including the jailed mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, has opened in Turkey in a sprawling corruption case critics say is a politically motivated attempt to thwart his chances of challenging Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the presidency.

İmamoğlu entered the courtroom in Istanbul to cheers and whistles from members of his opposition Republican People’s party (CHP), and there were reports that a group of lawyers chanted: “We want a fair trial.”

Congressional Democrats demand reversal of Russian oil sales into India as energy prices soar

Russia is reportedly helping Iran target U.S. forces in the Middle East and could now benefit from a windfall of new oil and gas sales.

What we know about U.S. service members killed in Iran war

Seven American service members have been killed since the war with Iran started in February.

Live Nation reaches surprise settlement with justice department in antitrust case

Live Nation will pay $200m to states in lawsuit, and Ticketmaster will open parts of platform to rival companies

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Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, has reached a surprise settlement with the Department of Justice in its antitrust case just one week after the trial began.

The settlement was announced during a court hearing Monday morning. Under the agreement, Live Nation will pay roughly $200m in damages to states that participated in the lawsuit, and Ticketmaster will be required to open parts of its platform to rival ticketing companies, reported Politico.

‘A lot of comedians don’t have a sense of humour’: Jack Dee on his loser Lead Balloon creation Rick Spleen

‘Rick’s basically a what-if version of me. Had I not found success, that’s how I would have been – deluding myself into thinking success will come, or believing it’s not my fault that it hasn’t’

I was doing a lot of standup, working with other comedy writers. I was interested in the relationship between writer and performer. I wondered: “What if the writer is funnier than the performer?” I approached Pete Sinclair, who I’d written with for a long time, and said: “What do you reckon?” BBC4 commissioned a pilot.

Face the Nation: Fitzpatrick, Suozzi, Hill

Missed the second half of the show? The latest on...Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, who is one of the bipartisan co-chairs of the House Problem Solvers Caucus, tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that he will be voting against the continuing resolution to avoid a shutdown because there has been "no outreach on a bipartisan basis." His GOP counterpart, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, says he is undecided, and it "remains to be seen" if his party has the votes, and Fiona Hill, who served as a top National Security Council official in the first Trump administration, tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that the White House's decision to stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine has "emboldened Russia to really step up the attacks".

These 10 jobs are most exposed to AI, Anthropic finds

The maker of the Claude chatbot says its research could help identify economic disruptions by measuring how AI is currently reshaping work.

Et tutu, Timothée? Backlash mounts over Chalamet snipes at opera and ballet

Jamie Lee Curtis is among a number of prominent figures to take exception to the Oscar nominee for disparaging artforms ‘no one cares about any more’

The Oscar-winning actor Jamie Lee Curtis has added her disapproval to the chorus protesting against Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet’s comments about the relevance of opera and ballet.

The star of Marty Supreme has attracted considerable backlash for his remarks during a CNN/Variety video conversation with Matthew McConaughey, which was recorded on 24 February.

Why do so many people want Arsenal to fail in the Premier League title race? | Jonathan Wilson

The leaders haven’t won the title in more than 20 years. Yet very few neutrals are excited about seeing them as new champions

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

What was striking after Arsenal’s grim 1-0 win at Brighton on Wednesday was less Brighton manager Fabian Hürzeler’s attack on the Gunners’ style than the way his criticism seemed to resonate. In England, it feels as though almost nobody, other than Arsenal supporters or anyone-but-City fans, wants them to win the title.

“If I would ask everyone in the room: ‘Did you really enjoy this football game?’ I’m sure maybe one raises his arm because he’s a big Arsenal fan but, besides that, no chance,” Hürzeler said.

This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email [email protected], and he’ll answer the best in a future edition.

TSA staff shortages lead to hourslong security lines for travelers at some airports

Travelers are facing hourslong waits at some airport security lines amid TSA staffing shortages.

Revealed: UK’s multibillion AI drive is built on ‘phantom investments’

Exclusive: Rented datacentres and ‘supercomputer’ site that’s still a scaffolding yard raise questions for Starmer’s push to ‘mainline AI into veins of economy’

• From press release … to scrap metal site: the Essex supercomputer that’s still a scaffolding yard

A multibillion-pound drive to “mainline AI into the veins” of the British economy is riddled with “phantom investments” and shaky accounting, a Guardian investigation has found.

Since 2024, successive Conservative and Labour governments have proclaimed massive deals to build new datacentres, create thousands of jobs and construct a supercomputer.

Trump tariffs: Customs and Border Protection tells judge it can't comply with refund order

CBP told Judge Richard Eaton that the technology upgrades it plans would save more than 4 million man-hours in processing refunds for Trump's tariffs.

Long security lines at U.S. airports as DHS funding affects TSA staffing

Wait times to get through security hit two hours in New Orleans and over three hours in Houston as TSA staffing took a hit amid the partial government shutdown.

Trump says he's "not happy" about Iran's new supreme leader

Mojtaba Khamenei was named Iran's new supreme leader following the death of his father in the U.S.-Israeli strikes.

She was arrested for holding a protest sign in small-town California: ‘This is a testing ground’

Jenny O’Connell-Nowain was put under house arrest, and her husband, Benjamin, lost his job after they protested at board of supervisors meetings

Jenny O’Connell-Nowain was ready to go to jail.

She had been prepared to spend six months in the custody of the Shasta county sheriff’s office. One of the top prosecutors in this part of far northern California had presented the evidence against her in a weeklong trial, and a jury had delivered a guilty verdict. A judge offered probation, but O’Connell-Nowain did not agree to the terms.

A Mississippi mother couldn’t find accurate sex ed for her kids. So she started a class at church

As states scale back requirements for comprehensive sex ed, some parents and faith communities are stepping in to teach what schools won’t

When Wendy Pfrenger’s children started high school in the town of Oxford, Mississippi, she had the choice to enroll them in abstinence-only or abstinence-plus sex ed.

Although the abstinence-plus option would include instruction on contraception, neither curriculum was required to provide medically accurate information. As a parent, she felt like the lessons her teens were receiving fell short of their reality.

‘Bitter result’ for Friedrich Merz as Greens win in German car heartland

Cem Özdemir gains 30.2% of vote in Baden-Württemberg, ahead of CDU, with far-right AfD in third

Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU) have stumbled into a busy election year with a defeat to the Greens in a key state poll, as his embattled party struggles to fend off a challenge in other pivotal races from the far right.

The German chancellor’s conservative CDU had enjoyed a double-digit lead in the south-western car production region of Baden-Württemberg just weeks ago but the Greens and their charismatic candidate Cem Özdemir eked out a half-point-margin win in Sunday’s poll with 30.2%.

Grime rapper and producer Dot Rotten dies aged 37

Musician created numerous volumes of beats that were acclaimed across the grime scene, before crossing over with solo chart success

British rapper and producer Dot Rotten, who flourished in the grime scene before crossing over to mainstream success, has died aged 37.

The musician, real name Joseph Ellis-Stevenson, reportedly died in the Gambia. His family confirmed the death to the BBC.

GOP Whip Tom Emmer predicts oil prices will drop after Iran war

Oil prices spiked amid the ongoing U.S.-Israel war with Iran, stoking affordability fears ahead of the November midterm elections.

New 3D images show wreck of iconic Civil War ship that sank in 1862

Three-dimensional images and digital illustrations offer a detailed new look at the USS Monitor, an important Civil War ship that sank more than 160 years ago and has since become a reef.

Donna Gottschalk and Hélène Giannecchini / Deutsche Börse prize review – images to enrage, bamboozle and deeply move you

★★★★★ / ★★★★★
Photographers’ Gallery, London
Gottschalk documents lesbian life in the 60s and 70s, while this year’s Deutsche Börse prize ranges from appalling scenes from women’s prisons to an exploration of invented facts

When Donna Gottschalk came out as gay to her mother, she replied: “You’ve chosen a rough path.” It was New York in the 1960s, homosexuality was illegal and, as the photographer reflects in a video piece included in her new exhibition We Others: “There were no happy gay people.” A photograph of Gottschalk’s mother in the beauty salon she ran in the notoriously crime-ridden Alphabet City appears at the start of the show, in which the images are accompanied by texts by the French writer Hélène Giannecchini, recording the photographer’s memories of the people and events depicted.

Gottschalk picked up a camera at 17, so these pictures also constitute her own awakening, as she accepted her identity and became involved with the Gay Liberation Front. It starts with family. Here is a painfully poignant image of Gottschalk’s sister, Myla, aged 11, the picture of innocence and peace, asleep in bed in the family’s apartment in a tenement building.

Hecking returns to try to halt Die Wölfe blowing their own house down | Andy Brassell

Bundesliga survival looks an uphill struggle for Wolfsburg as a lack of leadership off the pitch has led to drift on it

Edin Dzeko, understandably, erred on the side of caution. Dieter Hecking has not. Wolfsburg are indisputably in crisis and have gone back to the future to stop themselves teetering over the ledge into the abyss, with a coach who left – or was invited to leave – nearly 10 years ago returning to the club to prevent the worst coming to pass. It had felt for a while as if change was coming at the Volkswagen Arena. The question to which we will find out the answer in the coming weeks is have they already left it too late?

This was a weekend that was a very bad one for Die Wölfe; pivotally so, potentially. It was not just their own 2-1 tumble at home to Hamburg, who were also in serious need of points, which defined the moment. After all, Wolfsburg began the weekend second-bottom of the Bundesliga and ended it in the same place, but things are not the same. That is largely due to results elsewhere. Even outside Lower Saxony little went right for Wolfsburg, whether it was St Pauli and Mainz clawing points from superior opposition in Eintracht Frankfurt and Stuttgart respectively, or Werder Bremen making the most of Union Berlin going down to 10 men seconds after they took the lead, paving the way to a second successive win of unexpectedly comfortable proportions (4-1, in the end, to Werder).

‘A stage for whitewashing war crimes’: Venice Biennale urged to exclude Russia

Ukraine criticises organisers’ decision to allow Russia to take part in prestigious art exhibition as ‘incomprehensible’

Ukraine has urged organisers of the Venice Biennale to reconsider Russia’s participation in the prestigious art exhibition, arguing that it must not become “a stage for whitewashing… war crimes.”

Biennale organisers said last week that Russia would be allowed to take part in the event, held from 9 May until 22 November, triggering widespread criticism, including from Italy’s culture ministry, which said it opposed the decision.

Bad Voodoo review – escaped-convict horror worthy of a theme park ghost train

A fairly original and twisting plot is skewered by cliched dialogue and unforunate cinematography

We meet horror heroine Abigail (Cristina Moody) some years after the loss of both her daughters in a car crash. One fateful night, a police officer visits Abigail to tell her that she might want to lock her doors extra carefully: he has a report of some escaped convicts in the area, and indeed there are no prizes for guessing that the crims will shortly show up at Abigail’s place. What happens thereafter has at least the virtue of being a fairly original plot, with twists and turns as surprising as they are implausible.

It would be too much of a spoiler to say exactly how the “voodoo” of the title is employed, but suffice to say it blends elements drawn from actual Haitian Vodou alongside the voodoo-doll convention popularised by western pop culture. The performances, though, are the film’s real weakness: much of the acting is the kind you might encounter in an escape room or ghost train experience at a theme park. The dialogue is no great shakes either, a mixture of soap opera melodrama (“You don’t always have to take his side!”) and crime procedural cliche (“You gave up on this job a long time ago, didn’t you?”). The shot choices don’t help: one sequence of a woman fleeing for her life as she runs downstairs is filmed in a way that recalls Mrs Doubtfire sprinting to turn the oven off.

Investigators are finally looking into Jeffrey Epstein’s New Mexico ranch. They may be too late

Federal authorities apparently never searched the property, but now state authorities will reopen a 2019 investigation

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When Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on 6 July 2019 for sex trafficking teenagers, New York federal prosecutors said the ultra-wealthy predator “exploited and abused dozens of underage girls” in Manhattan and Palm Beach “among other locations”.

One of those other locations was the late financier’s sprawling New Mexico property. Epstein’s so-called Zorro Ranch came into sharper relief after his 10 August 2019 death in jail awaiting trial, with criminal and civil proceedings revealing that numerous alleged abuses unfolded there. But Zorro Ranch did not receive the same scrutiny as Epstein’s other properties: an 8 February Guardian investigation revealed that federal authorities apparently never searched the property.

Microsoft adds higher-priced Office tier with Copilot as it tries to juice sales with AI

Microsoft 365 E7 comes with Copilot, as well as identity, management and security features that might make more businesses adopt AI.

Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics 2026: day three – in pictures

We take a look at the best images from day three of the Games, including skiing, ice hockey and curling

A giant cat and a Back to the Future reunion: photos of the day - Monday

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

• Warning: Gallery contains sensitive images

Plaque honoring police who defended Capitol on Jan. 6 displayed after 3-year delay

A plaque honoring police officers who responded to the Capitol on Jan. 6 went up over the weekend, three years after a federal law mandated it be displayed. Scott MacFarlane reports on the years of pushback by some of President Trump's supporters.

Russia flag raised and national anthem played after first gold at Winter Paralympics

• Varvara Voronchikhina wins women’s super-G standing

• Russian anthem has not been heard at Games since 2014

The Russian national anthem has been played at the Paralympics for the first time since 2014 as the skier Varvara Voronchikhina claimed gold in the women’s super-G standing.

A tearful Voronchikhina received her medal on Monday afternoon, and the Russian flag was raised, after a dominant performance on the slopes of the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre. A watching crowd of international fans responded only with polite applause, but Voronchikhina’s success has already been celebrated by Russia’s sports minister.

Sky Brown wins second skateboarding world title at rain-hit event in Brazil

• Briton, 17, wins her second park crown in São Paulo

• Event was cut at halfway due to recurrent rainfall

Britain’s Sky Brown celebrated International Women’s Day by becoming a skateboarding world champion for the second time at a rain-curtailed park competition in São Paulo.

The two-time Olympic bronze medallist was leading in Brazil after two runs, the halfway point, at which World Skate deemed “adverse weather conditions and recurrent rainfall” to have called time on proceedings.

Travelers face long waits at some US airports amid DHS shutdown

Wait times at security checkpoints in Houston and New Orleans as long as three hours due to shortage of TSA agents

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Travelers complained of long waits Sunday – lasting hours in some cases – at security checkpoints at airports in Houston and New Orleans, which officials blamed on a government shutdown of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The estimated wait time at the standard security checkpoint at the William P Hobby airport in Houston early Sunday evening was at one point three hours, according to the Houston Airports website. The Hobby airport on social media Friday said it expected more travelers than normal due to spring break.

Sen. Tim Kaine says supporting Kristi Noem as DHS secretary was a "big mistake"

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, expressed regret on Sunday for supporting Kristi Noem for Department of Homeland Security secretary last year.

‘We all want to know what he was doing in the bedroom’: Kerouac’s unseen archive goes on show in New York

As the original On the Road scroll heads to auction, a new exhibition uncovers the private life of the Beat legend

Among great literary myths, the one of Jack Kerouac is often reduced to a vibe The open road, a cigarette, a postwar rebel leaning on a beat-up car – a masculine archetype of rebellion and hedonism. Kerouac’s 1957 book On the Road was the bible of the beat generation and chronicles, in startlingly unfiltered prose, his travels across the US with fellow writers Allen Ginsberg, William S Burroughs, and his lifelong muse, the dashing Neal Cassady. The book shifted the course of US literature and captured the imagination of a rapidly changing world. Kerouac was crowned king of the beats, a moniker he later despised.

This, at least, is what many students of US literature know. But a new exhibition Running Through Heaven: Visions of Jack Kerouac at New York’s Grolier Club aims to rehumanize the myth, with letters from Kerouac that have never been publicly viewed before.

Somali Americans hounded by ICE and rightwing ‘influencers’ on edge in Ohio: ‘I’m scared to go outside’

ICE launched ‘Operation Buckeye’ and ‘influencers’ claimed Somalis are running fraudulent businesses after Trump repeatedly used racist language against group in December

The men started showing up at around 6am in late December.

In their cars, they circled the 161 Child Care facility in Columbus, before parking at the front of the building. Then they sat in their cars, opening their windows enough to tell the Somali Americans who own the daycare: “We’re exposing all of you. Every single one of you, you’re all going back.”

Pixar chief says LGBTQ+ plot elements cut from Elio as company is ‘not making therapy’

Pete Docter says Pixar will concentrate on more commercially appealing films after staff dissent over deleted scenes that implied lead character was gay

Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter said that the reason why LGBTQ+ plot elements were removed from the company’s 2025 film Elio was that Pixar is “not [making] therapy”.

Docter was speaking to the Wall Street Journal in the wake of the successful release of Pixar’s latest film Hoppers, which opened at No 1 at the North American box office this weekend.

Boston man dies in ICE custody; family says toothache became deadly infection

Lawmakers are demanding an investigation after a man from Haiti who was seeking asylum in Massachusetts died in ICE custody.

Mass brawl leads to 23 red cards for Cruzeiro and Atlético Mineiro players in Brazil

• Atlético keeper’s reaction to collision sparks melee

• Brawl starts by goal and continues well into other half

A mass brawl led to red cards for 23 players from Cruzeiro and their fierce local rivals Atlético Mineiro after clashes at the Campeonato Mineiro final in Brazil.

The confrontation on Sunday in Belo Horizonte was sparked deep in stoppage time of Cruzeiro’s 1-0 win when Atlético’s goalkeeper Everson rugby-tackled Christian to the ground after the midfielder collided with him when contesting a ball the keeper had spilled.

Iran picks new leader. And, Trump won't sign bills until Congress overhauls voting

Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader. And, President Trump says he will not sign any more bills until Congress overhauls voting.

Countries can rewild borders to deter invasions, says EU environment chief

Jessika Roswall cites Poland and Finland, which have made border areas near Russia or its allies ‘more hostile’ to cross

Countries should look to rewild their land borders as a deterrence to invasion and build up other geographical defences to attack, Europe’s environment chief has said.

Jessika Roswall, the EU’s commissioner for the environment, water resilience and a competitive circular economy, said nature should be used to improve national security. “Investing in nature and using nature as a natural border control is necessary, and actually increases biodiversity. It’s a win-win,” she said.

McQueen meets difficult moment with fatalistic glamour at Paris show

Seán McGirr inspired by modern identity and ‘London girls’ in one of strongest collections to date, as brand cuts jobs and struggles for momentum

Beneath the Paris fashion week hoopla – Chappell Roan resplendent in the front row, champagne flowing backstage – there were dark undercurrents at Alexander McQueen’s Paris fashion week show. The brand has seen a 60% decline in turnover over the past three years. Workforce cuts were made in the London headquarters last year, and a third of the brand’s 180 employees in Italy are thought to be at risk of losing their jobs. Fifteen years after the death of Lee McQueen, the brand is struggling to maintain momentum.

The founder is a hallowed name in the fashion industry, and one of the few modern designers to whose character and story the wider public feel a connection. But the generation who wore McQueen’s original bumsters have aged out of shock-value fashion, and the name has less power over younger consumers.

Top US banks weigh suing federal regulator over crypto banking rules

Exclusive: Bank Policy Institute, representing lenders such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, argues that new licenses could harm US consumers and financial system

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Some of the largest US banks are considering suing their financial regulator, arguing that a new raft of licenses for crypto, payment and fintech could put American consumers and the wider financial system at risk.

The Bank Policy Institute (BPI), which represents 40 of the biggest US lenders including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, is understood to be weighing its legal options after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) failed to heed repeated warnings from influential banking groups and state regulators over its reinterpretation of federal licensing rules.

Large tortoiseshell butterfly confirmed no longer extinct in UK

Early spring sightings show colourful insect is a resident species for first time in decades, says conservation charity

The large tortoiseshell – an elusive and enigmatic butterfly that became extinct in Britain in the last century – is a UK resident species once again, with a flurry of early spring sightings.

Britain’s list of native butterflies has increased to 60 with the return of the insect after individuals emerged from hibernation in woodlands in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, Cornwall and the Isle of Wight.

The pet I’ll never forget: Luke, the blind dog whose unconditional love made me live again

He is an Australian shepherd dog who navigates the world with fearless joy. When I had two heart attacks, his unwavering devotion helped save me

Luke, a blind Australian shepherd, came to us seven years ago, after we rescued him from a working horse farm. Even though he can’t see, Luke moves around with a fearlessness that is inspiring.

He compensates with his other senses; Luke can smell and hear at an astonishing level, that’s how he notices things. But he also seems to understand that he’s going to run into things and be confused at times. That does not deter him in the slightest.

In the other US target of regime change, Cuba, I saw real hardship – and resilience | Sara Kozameh

Trump is choking off oil imports to the communist nation, plunging it into a crisis not seen since the fall of USSR

On 29 January this year, after the kidnapping of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro but before the assassination of Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei, President Trump turned his attention to another country. He issued an executive order declaring a national emergency against the government of Cuba, ruling it an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States and threatening to impose tariffs to stop ships from carrying petroleum to Cuba. It was an evident bid for regime change.

The actions to deny oil to Cuba have severely exacerbated a growing crisis on the island, with even some US congressional representatives denouncing the measures. Cuba produces about one-third of its own oil needs and imports the rest – mostly from Venezuela and Mexico. After the US attack on Venezuela and the tariff threat, both countries completely halted oil exports to Cuba. Since early February, the length of daily power outages has doubled, lasting about 18 hours a day.

Sara Kozameh is assistant professor in history at University of California San Diego

Weather tracker: At least 10 dead in Nairobi after a month’s rain falls in 24 hours

Torrential downpours hit Kenyan capital city which has poor drainage systems

Late last week, torrential rain in Nairobi, Kenya, led to severe flooding. Heavy thunderstorms on Friday, in combination with poor drainage systems in parts of the city, led to at least eight flooding deaths and two deaths linked to electrocution, while more than 70 vehicles became trapped or stranded.

The Kenya meteorological department had issued a moderate to heavy rainfall warning for much of the country from Tuesday 3 March to Monday 9 March, with the heaviest rainfall expected between Wednesday and Saturday.

Proposed law does not protect children born to convicted paedophiles, Lords to hear

Amendment to victims and courts bill in England and Wales aims to remove anomaly in parental responsibility

A proposed law to restrict paedophiles’ parental rights in England and Wales is too weak because it does not protect children of theirs born after their conviction, parliament will hear this week.

Under the victims and courts bill, a parent convicted of serious sexual offences against any child and who is sentenced to four or more years in prison will lose parental responsibility but they could come out of jail and have other children who would not be protected.

Meal-breakers: can any relationship survive food incompatibility?

It’s not the heart, but the stomach that will sometimes define whether a budding romance proves food for the soul, or reaches boiling point …

For Anna Jones, it’s lemons. For Ben Benton, it’s rice. For Gurdeep Loyal, it’s anchovies on pizza and, for me, it’s Yorkshire Tea in the morning. I could – did – date someone who “didn’t drink hot drinks”, but I would never have married a man I couldn’t make tea for when I woke up, or who couldn’t make me tea in turn.

These are what I’ve come to call “meal-breakers” – mouthfuls whose joys we feel our loved one must share, if we’re to share our lives with them. They are foods and drinks we cleave to as much for what they say about us and our values as we do for their smell, texture and taste. For most, it’s not so much the meal as the principle it conveys; not the anchovies on pizza so much as being with “someone who appreciates food as an act of collective joy – that embraces an ethos of all plates being communal,” says Loyal, author of the cookbook Flavour Heroes. The meticulous divvying-up of brown, salty silvers to ensure an even distribution on each pizza slice: that’s the sharing ethos he looks for in a potential soulmate.

‘Peas are criminally overlooked!’ Seven fabulous forgotten superfoods

Yes, we all know blueberries and kale are good for us. But what about some of the other less well-marketed food heroes that have fallen out of favour?

Think of a superfood. What comes to mind? Avocado? Turmeric? Quinoa? Many of us will have a grasp of the most mainstream so-called superfoods. The ones that have become dietary superheroes thanks to savvy marketing. Larger-than-life in the public imagination, they walk among us with a sheen: blueberries with their polyphenols; kale and its vitamin K; goji berries and all their antioxidants.

But what is and isn’t a superfood is actually down to trends – take the current resurgence of a previously shunned, tragically uncool food: cottage cheese. Beloved by Richard Nixon with pineapple (the Watergate tapes weren’t just illuminating in the ways Woodward and Bernstein hoped for) and a diet-culture favourite in the 60s and 70s, the creamy, tangy cheese curd concoction is back. And there are other supposed superfoods that are just as nutrient-rich, but that marketing hasn’t (yet) brought to our attention. Once a regular part of the UK diet, they have fallen, perhaps unfairly, out of favour. So which foods with serious nutritional chops have we forgotten? Which should we reintegrate?

Chimps' taste for fermented fruit hints at the origins of humans' love of alcohol

Scientists analyzed the urine of wild chimpanzees who'd feasted on fallen fruit to see how much alcohol they consumed from the fermented sugars.