Cuba’s president confirms talks with U.S. — but warns an agreement will take time

It comes at a time when the Caribbean island is grappling with a worsening economic crisis.

Trump says he thinks Putin is helping Iran

Russian leaders told President Trump they aren't sharing intelligence with Iran as it fights the U.S. and Israel, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said this week.

Cheltenham festival 2026: 50-1 shock in Triumph Hurdle on Gold Cup day – live

Cheltenham Festival news on day four at Prestbury Park
Redknapp dares to dream of Gold Cup glory | Mail Niall

Time flies – the day’s first race is about 25 minutes away. Here are the latest odds, via Oddschecker.

1.20 JCB Triumph Hurdle

Trump can't 'drill, baby, drill' his way out of this Iran-inspired oil crisis

Oil prices have skyrocketed in the days since President Donald Trump's war on Iran began.

Spurs ‘can cry or fight’, says embattled Tudor; Guardiola wins first monthly award since 2021 – football live

⚽ All the latest football news and buildup
⚽ Ten things to look out for | Read Football Daily | Mail Taha

Apart from the weather forecast, here’s a match-by-match guide of other things to look out for in the Premier League this weekend.

“Erling Haaland’s first competitive outing in English football came at the London Stadium. He ran riot that day, scoring twice as Manchester City opened the 2022-23 season with victory over West Ham, and this venue has been a happy hunting ground for Haaland ever since. He found the net in another win in September 2023 and bagged a hat-trick there last season, but he is in patchy form before City visit West Ham for a must-win game on Saturday night.”

Iran’s 'oil lifeline’ has been left untouched in the conflict. What happens if it's seized?

Analysts say any attempt to attack or seize Iran’s strategic oil hub is likely to be fraught with risk.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (March 15)

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

All six crew members confirmed dead after US plane crash in Iraq – Middle East crisis live

Service personnel were aboard refuelling plane as US command says crash was not due to ‘hostile or friendly fire’

• Middle East war creating ‘largest supply disruption in history of oil markets’

• How have you been affected by the latest Middle East events?

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry is saying that two drones have been intercepted and destroyed in the eastern region.

More now after reports of explosions in Dubai on Friday morning: thick black smoke rose over the financial hub’s skyline after what authorities described as a fire in an industrial area of the city-state.

EV maker Lucid reveals plans for robotaxi, positive free cash flow late this decade

The EV company is aiming to hit that target through market expansion into midsize vehicles, robotaxis and new counties, specifically in Europe.

All six crew members confirmed dead after US military plane crash in Iraq

Number of American troops to be killed in Iran war after incident in western desert now stands at 13

• Middle East live blog – latest updates

• US politics – live updates

All six crew members onboard a US military aircraft that crashed in western Iraq were killed, the US military has said.

The KC-135 military refuelling plane crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, in an incident the military said involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.

Sinners or One Battle: what can we learn from this year’s anonymous Oscar ballots?

While Academy voters are supposed to keep their picks secret, another batch of anonymous ballots have leaked – giving us some insight on a hard-to-call race

• Oscars 2026: how to watch, nominations, what to read and predictions

It took a great deal of blood, sweat and tweets, but in 2016 the Academy finally took notice and started to embrace both diversity and modernity. The #OscarsSoWhite furore over two straight years of all-white nominees (Michael B Jordan’s Creed snub was in my opinion the cruelest) led to a dramatic shake-up and one that has continued ever since with more women, people of colour and international voters added to what had been an overwhelmingly homogenous base.

It has all led to an Oscars race that is increasingly harder to predict using old-fashioned thinking in ways that have become rather thrilling over time, the idea of an “Oscar movie” now far more slippery. Films such as Parasite, Anora, Moonlight, Anatomy of a Fall, Nomadland, Get Out and The Zone of Interest have now found their way into the major categories in past years, and this year’s crop showcases further progression – from foreign language picks to outsider narratives to pricklier characters than ever before.

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

Since the start of the Iran war, 13 American service members have been killed.

Suspect in synagogue attack lost family in recent airstrike in Lebanon, source says

The attacker rammed a vehicle into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield and was confronted and killed by security, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.

These 2 bills would erase income taxes for millions of Americans

Two Democratic lawmakers are proposing tax reforms that would eliminate federal income taxes for millions of Americans.

Trump’s ‘racist hate speech’ sparking human rights violations, UN watchdog warns

UN experts disturbed by the president and US political leaders’ growing use of dehumanising language to target migrants

The “racist hate speech” being used by Donald Trump and other US political leaders, along with the country’s intensified crackdowns on migration, has led to “grave human rights violations,” a UN watchdog has warned.

In a non-binding decision issued this week, the UN‘s committee on the elimination of racial discrimination (CERD) called on the US to uphold its obligations as a signatory to the international convention on combating racism and discrimination.

Pete Hegseth on Strait of Hormuz: 'Don't need to worry about it'

The Strait of Hormuz, the world's most critical chokepoint for oil shipments, has been effectively closed since the U.S. and Israel began the war on Iran.

Has Today had its day? BBC’s flagship Radio 4 show grapples with podcast age

As it searches for a new editor and presenter, programme is facing questions over its direction and status

With well over 5 million listeners a week tuning in to hear whether another tongue-tied minister will fall foul of its legendary 8.10am interview slot, Radio 4’s Today programme continues to be one of the BBC’s flagship news shows.

It has also traditionally been the pinnacle for broadcasters, producers and editors alike, keen to be associated with a show that has strived to set the daily news agenda since the 1950s.

Desperation and destiny on the line when Wales and Italy collide in Cardiff

Two sides on different recent trajectories meet with Steve Tandy finding cause for optimism despite another wooden spoon looming

Which is the sharper motivator, the avoidance of fresh humiliation or the attainment of new heights? Cardiff could be the place this weekend for any students of psychology more interested in such nuances than anything so obvious as an actual attempt to win the title.

Suffice to say, neither Wales nor Italy can win the Six Nations this weekend, nor exert any influence on its outcome. It is mathematically possible for Wales to knock England into last place for the first time in the extended championship’s history, but students of mathematics needn’t bother. For the record, Wales would need to win with a bonus point and, in concert with France, who play England, cover their current deficit of 100 in points difference.

Hegseth says "no clear evidence" Iran is placing new mines in Strait of Hormuz

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine briefed on Operation Epic Fury in Iran Friday.

U.S. military plane crashes in Iraq, officials say

An aerial refueling tanker crashed in Western Iraq, U.S. officials said.

Fourth-quarter GDP revised down to just 0.7% growth; January core inflation was 3.1%

The PCE price index for January was expected to show headline inflation at 2.9% and core at 3.1%.

Economic growth late last year was much weaker than previously thought

GDP grew at a sluggish 0.7% pace in the final months of 2025 as the government shutdown hurt economic activity.

One of FBI's most wanted fugitives is captured in quickest arrest ever

Samuel Ramirez Jr., 33, was wanted for his alleged involvement in the murders of two women on May 21, 2023.

King Charles concerned about Alberta separatist movement, First Nation chief says

Joey Pete of Sunchild First Nation said king seemed ‘committed to learning’ after meeting Indigenous leaders

King Charles has expressed concern over a simmering separatist movement in western Canada, according to Indigenous leaders who met the head of state at Buckingham Palace.

Members of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations travelled to London from their territories in the province of Alberta to raise the alarm over the secessionist movement, arguing that it ignores key agreements signed between First Nations and the crown nearly 150 years ago.

Business owner says rapidly rising price of diesel "is a shock to our whole system"

As gas prices increase, AAA says the cost of diesel is rising even faster. Diesel powers trucks, planes, trains and farm equipment. One business owner said if the spike continues, they may have to pass on some of the cost to the consumer. Skyler Henry reports.

Snow geese, a lava flow and Oscars prep: photos of the day – Friday

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

A teacher was found dead in her bed. Unusual clues left police searching for answers.

Jocelyn Peters, an award-winning third grade teacher in Missouri, was found shot to death in her bed in 2016. Inside her apartment, police found potato fragments splattered in her bedroom and when questioned about the case, a man swallowed potential evidence - leaving investigators searching for answers.

Rabbi vows to defy far-right harassment of Jewish-based refugee support work

Synagogues and groups helping displaced people are coming up against hostility driven by conspiracy theories

A leading Jewish refugee advocate has vowed that solidarity work with asylum seekers will continue despite growing harassment from far-right activists targeting Jewish organisations supporting refugees.

Rabbi David Mason, the executive director of the UK Jewish refugee charity HIAS+JCORE, said groups such as theirs had increasingly faced antisemitic abuse and conspiracy theories from far-right activists, most notably online.

Toyota recalls 550,000 Highlander SUVs because seats may fail to lock

Parts defect affecting Highlander and Highlander Hybrid vehicles can increase the risk of injury, according to a safety notice. Here's what to know.

Breaking down the national security threat amid recent attacks across U.S.

Recent attacks at a synagogue in Michigan and at Old Dominion University in Virginia are the latest in a series of incidents since the start of the Iran war. National security contributor Sam Vinograd speaks about the recent incidents and if there are any national security concerns.

In my 20s ‘treat ’em mean, keep ’em keen’ felt like power. In my 50s I see that dating strategy for what it is: fear

I am capable, a woman of substance. Yet I get a ‘maybe’ from a man I meet on a dating app and I regress three decades

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I was raised on the scripture of the 1990s: Treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen. It was the Golden Rule. The dating equivalent of Slip, Slop, Slap. Whispered at sleepovers. Bolded in the margins of Dolly magazine. Never pick up on the first ring. Never say you’re free on a Saturday. Be the prize, not the contestant.

In my 20s, this felt like power. (It was mostly fear in better lighting but I didn’t know that yet.) I mastered breezy indifference. I timed my texts to the minute: double the time he took, plus 10 for mystery. I thought I was teaching men my value. I thought I was training them to love me.

What lesson can our kids learn from Operation Epic Fury? | Fiona Katauskas

It’s not all fun and games

• See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here

Trump’s war in Iran marks the culmination of his imperial presidency | Mohamad Bazzi

The path to this reckless war was paved by the collapse of accountability in Washington

Since he reclaimed the White House, Donald Trump loves being compared with a monarch with unprecedented powers. “LONG LIVE THE KING!” Trump said on social media last year, after his administration tried to kill congestion pricing in New York. In October, the US president posted an AI-generated video of himself dumping brown sludge on protesters who participated in a daylong mass protest, known as “No Kings”, against his administration. In the video, Trump wore a crown and was flying a fighter jet labeled “KING TRUMP”.

He has also launched a relentless campaign of self-aggrandizement, plastering his name and face on government buildings, including the Kennedy Center and the US Institute of Peace. Trump demolished the White House’s East Wing and is overseeing plans to replace it with an enormous ballroom; the National Park Service designated the president’s birthday as a free-admission day at national parks; and the US treasury is poised to issue $1 coins featuring Trump’s image to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America’s independence later this year.

King Conan is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s chance for a late-period masterpiece, like Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven

If the long-mooted third instalment of the 80s sword and sorcery series finally gets off the ground, it could be Arnie’s chance to go from ageing action hero to cinematic totem

If you’re a fan of 1980s and 1990s Arnold Schwarzenegger, his late-era career has probably come as a bit of a disappointment. The Austrian oak was once Hollywood’s most reliable tool for punching killer robots, but he’s never really had his Unforgiven moment. Despite an absurdly influential run of sci-fi and fantasy movies, Schwarzenegger has missed out on the sort of grizzled, late-career reckoning that might have deconstructed his own youthful myth, just as Clint Eastwood’s epic 1992 western confronted the very legend the actor-director spent decades building.

It’s not as if Hollywood hasn’t tried. In fact, studios have spent the last decade or so trying to produce Schwarzenegger’s “old warrior” phase, as if prodding the action hero myth with a stick to see if it still roars. The problem is, nothing has quite landed. Terminator: Dark Fate turned the T-800 into a retired drapery salesman reflecting on his own violent past. Maggie had him as a grieving father in a quiet zombie family drama. Aftermath is essentially a sombre meditation on grief that briefly veers into revenge thriller territory. None quite managed to become the monument to the Schwarzenegger enigma that the actor’s era-defining body of work seemed to demand. If Arnold fans wanted the sort of late-career statement that turns an ageing action star into a cinematic totem, they instead got an increasingly mortal-looking man who turns up in mid-budget streaming thrillers looking faintly concerned.

Old Dominion gunman identified as ex-National Guardsman previously jailed for ISIS support

One person was killed and two were injured in a shooting Thursday at Old Dominion University in Virginia. Officials identified the gunman as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Virginia National Guardsman who pleaded guilty in 2016 to providing support to ISIS. Nicole Sganga reports.

Temple Israel rabbi, staff say they "immediately knew that something was wrong," credit training

Rabbi Josh Bennett of Temple Israel and Cassi Cohen, a staff member who was inside at the time, speak to "CBS Mornings" about the attack at the Michigan synagogue. The two credit the security training of the staff, saying "we know that these moments can happen to us, but we will always be prepared."

Michigan synagogue attack suspect lost family members in recent airstrike in Lebanon

The Department of Homeland Security confirms Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen, was the man behind Thursday's synagogue attack in Michigan. Sources told CBS News that Ghazali lost two brothers, a niece and a nephew to an airstrike in Lebanon about 10 days prior. Jonah Kaplan reports.

Giant robots battle it out in Detroit's Robowar

Fighting robots is a cultural fantasy going back at least to Richard Matheson's 1956 story "Steel." One Detroit impresario is now bringing the idea to the stage — and real audiences.

High court claimant was fed answers through his smart glasses, judge finds

Witness statements by Laimonas Jakštys ‘were clearly prepared by others’, insolvency judge rules

A claimant was being fed answers through his smart glasses while giving evidence in the high court in London, a judge has found.

Laimonas Jakštys was “untruthful in denying his use of the smart glasses” and his witness statements “were clearly prepared by others”, the insolvency judge Raquel Agnello KC ruled.

Suspect in Michigan synagogue attack had lost family in Israeli strike on Lebanon

Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, who was born in Lebanon and became a naturalized US citizen, lost two brothers, a niece and a nephew in the airstrike

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The armed suspect who drove a vehicle into the hallway of a large Michigan synagogue complex that includes a school had lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike in his native Lebanon just last week, an official said on Friday.

A potential mass-casualty event was averted when security guards already in place at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township on the outskirts of Detroit killed the driver before any harm could come to the synagogue’s staff, teachers and 140 children at the early childhood center there on Thursday afternoon.

Elisabeth Leonskaja review – piano legend’s unerring sense of architecture reveals connections and kinships

Wigmore Hall, London
In her recital programme of Beethoven, Schoenberg, Chopin, Webern and Schubert, the Austrian pianist brought new insights and expressive playing

Eighty-year-old piano legend Elisabeth Leonskaja throws herself on to the piano stool and into the two tumultuous descending chromatic scales that open Beethoven’s Op 77 Fantasia in G minor in a single gesture. We have a long way to go in a recital programme that reads like an Mittel-European lucky dip – Beethoven, Schoenberg, Chopin, Webern, Schubert – and Leonskaja isn’t messing around.

Of course, there was nothing chance about the programming. The Austrian pianist’s expressive, emotional playing may grab the headlines, but it’s the unerring sense of underlying architecture that’s the thread through her long career. We heard that here, not just within each of the works, but in the shared foundations, and sometimes secret connecting passages, she revealed between them.

France returns sacred talking drum looted from Côte d’Ivoire over 100 years ago

Djidji Ayôkwé was handed to Ivorian officials in Paris earlier this month

A sacred artefact looted by French colonial authorities more than a century ago has been returned to Côte d’Ivoire in one of the most significant cultural restitutions to a former French colony in years.

The Djidji Ayôkwé, a talking drum confiscated in 1916 by French administrators, landed at 8.45am on Friday at the airport in Port Bouët on the outskirts of the economic capital, Abidjan. It was handed over to Ivorian officials in Paris earlier this month after being removed from the Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Museum.

Inside The Pitt: the stunning, smash-hit medical drama from the team behind ER

It has swept awards, been lauded for its accuracy and become a word-of-mouth triumph. Now, after a big delay, The Pitt launches in the UK. We visit the set to meet the team behind this tense, unflinching US medical drama

Like many US hospitals, Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center (PTMC) is a place where time melts away. Rain or shine, 1am or 1pm, everything is bathed in the same retina-frying fluorescent light. Wait times often exceed several hours; in the lobby is a barrage of all-caps warnings (“aggressive behavior will NOT be tolerated”), while several TVs play clips of a Deadliest Catch-style show in two-minute loops. Purgatory, it seems, looks a lot like an American hospital … as recreated on a soundstage in Burbank, California.

On the day I visit PTMC, the 52-bed ER on the Warner Bros lot, the hold-up is some babies. The infant actors are here to film a second season scene for The Pitt, the HBO Max medical drama that singlehandedly resuscitated the genre back from its Grey’s Anatomy flatline, swept almost every television award in the US and is now, finally, heading for the UK. (No bad blood, though: on set, I glimpse a flyer for a Pitt softball game against the crew of Seattle Grace.) Developed by the team behind 90s hospital hit ER, The Pitt follows a melange of hospital workers – the doctors, nurses, social workers, security and administrative staff of a cash-strapped emergency room in Pittsburgh – as they deal with everything from gunshot wounds to burnout, fentanyl overdoses to dreaded note-taking, with all the emotional trauma in between.

ICE agents reveal daily arrest quotas and surveillance app in rare court testimony

Under oath, officers said they were told to make eight arrests a day and given special tech to help choose ‘targets’

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US immigration agents in Oregon used a custom-made app to identify neighborhoods and people to target, and had daily arrest quotas they sought to meet during operations, courtroom testimony has revealed.

Details about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers’ surveillance tools and arrest goals in the state have come to light in a federal lawsuit that compelled officers to answer questions under oath, offering a rare window into opaque, internal strategies that are generally kept secret and have been driving mass detentions and chaotic raids.

South African photographer Zanele Muholi: ‘My mother worked for a white family. I remember the pools I wasn’t allowed to swim in’

The artist has spent three decades changing the face of African art, and has just won the prestigious Hasselblad award. But they say the win isn’t about them – it’s for under-represented people still living with the echoes of Apartheid

Zanele Muholi has been named the winner of the 2026 Hasselblad award. The South African artist, who identifies as non-binary, now takes their place within the pantheon of the world’s greatest art photographers, from Carrie Mae Weems, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Wolfgang Tillmans and Sophie Calle all the way back to the forebears of the art form, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Ansel Adams.

It’s the kind of accolade that codifies the breathless reception with which Muholi’s work has been heralded to date. When their 2020 survey show at London’s Tate Modern was stymied by pandemic visitor restrictions, the gallery brought it back four years later. One critic likened their arresting self-portraits to Rembrandt’s.

How does Trump keep henchmen like Rubio in check? He literally makes them wear shoes that are far too big | Marina Hyde

The art of the heel: if you want a shot at the US presidency, you better be ready to sartorially debase yourself on the world stage

The secretary of state of the United States of America is openly slopping around in a pair of too-big shoes that he has to wear because the president gave them to him. Why? Possibly as a piece of exquisite and complex satire about the size of his penis; possibly because Marco Rubio exaggerated his shoe size because he rightly assumed it would be linked to presidential speculation about the size of his penis.

According to the vice-president, JD Vance, Donald Trump gives all his best boys a particular brand of shoe, either after guessing their size or making them disclose it. “The president, he kind of leans back in his chair,” explained Vance a couple of months ago, “and he says: ‘You know, you can tell a lot about a man by his shoe size.’” Strong words, particularly from a president with such famously tiny hands. Incidentally, Vance casually dropped it into the anecdote that he wore a 13.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

Israeli-backed Palestinian militias step up operations against Hamas in Gaza

Armed groups appear to have increased their firepower as they carry out raids deep in Hamas-controlled territory

Pro-Israel Palestinian militia have launched repeated raids, clandestine assassination and abduction operations deep inside parts of Gaza controlled by Hamas in recent months, with new operations launched recently despite the outbreak of conflict with Iran.

The militia, which are all based in eastern parts of Gaza that are under Israeli control after a ceasefire came into effect in October, have received significant logistic support from Israel since last year but appear to have increased their firepower, allowing new and more aggressive attacks in recent weeks.

Twisted Yoga review – a wild exposé of a tantric sex cult

This three-part documentary about women who were exploited and duped into sex work is filled with astonishing detail – while being sensitive to its interviewees

You are invited to an exclusive yoga retreat at “the villa”. When you arrive, it’s a grim building in Romania in which women cavort in micro-bikinis and drink each other’s urine after a mass orgy. You are summoned to meet a spiritual guru in Paris. When you arrive, a woman wraps your sim card in tin foil and drives you to the suburbs. Later you are taken to a dingy flat where you are expected to have hours-long sex with an elderly man whom you must “transfigure” into a less undesirable entity.

If this were a dream, you’d probably wake up disturbed by the weirdness of your subconscious. But for a number of women, this surreally terrifying chain of events was no nightmare. While the finer details of Twisted Yoga’s tale may be intriguingly wild, the broader picture is infuriating and sad.

Oscars 2026: how to watch, nominations, what to read and predictions

Get ready for drama and glamour. Hollywood’s annual end-of-season party is on Sunday – here is your guide on where to watch and what to expect

The end is in sight: after months of campaigning, roundtables, red carpets and hot takes, it’s time for the big show. The Academy Awards are Hollywood’s end of season party, its senior prom and sports day all rolled into one, as the film world’s great and good stuff themselves into their tuxedos and/or fanciest frocks for a night of (we hope) entertaining mutual backslapping.

It’s fair to say that, so far, this awards season has been somewhat eventful, from the N-word fiasco at the UK’s normally sedate Baftas to the Timothée Chalamet Balletgate. Now the dust has settled, it looks like a straight fight between Ryan Coogler’s vampire thriller Sinners and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Thomas Pynchon adaptation One Battle After Another for most of the big prizes. Anderson’s chunky auteur project looked for a while as though it might have the edge, but since nomination day, when Sinners got more nods than any other previous film, momentum has appeared to move decisively in its direction. We shall see.

USA’s Noah Elliott and Kate Delson win Paralympic banked slalom gold

• Elliott wins men’s SB-LL1 banked slalom title

• Delson captures women’s SB-LL2 gold for US

• Schultz earns bronze in final Paralympic race

Noah Elliott of the United States won gold in the men’s SB-LL1 banked slalom on Friday at the Milan Cortina Paralympics, while fellow American Kate Delson captured the women’s SB-LL2 title in para snowboarding.

Elliott posted the two fastest times of the competition, finishing the course in 58.96sec on his first run and improving slightly to 58.94sec on his second. In banked slalom, riders take two runs down the course and their fastest time determines the final standings.

‘Beauty is always changing’: Alessandro Michele’s Roman tribute to Valentino

The first proper show since Valentino’s death is about the late designer, about beauty – and about Michele’s mother

Valentino Garavani wanted to make beautiful clothes for the women who could afford them. The perpetually tanned designer, whose vision of jet set glamour was matched only by his own yacht-and-pug lifestyle, died in January. So there was an obvious logic in taking the first proper catwalk show since his death off the fashion week schedule and back to Rome, where he lived, worked, and died. Milan and Paris may be the capitals of European style, but Rome looks better.

Garavani left his own brand almost 20 years ago. But his singular approach to beauty has not been without its obstacles for his most recent successor, Alessandro Michele, who took over the fashion house in 2024. “It’s a complicated DNA because beauty is always changing,” he said after the show, which took place in the 17th-century Palazzo Barberini. “This collection is about Valentino. It’s about beauty. But it’s [also] about the tension between me and the brand, a beauty I’m trying to translate.”

Matildas survive North Korea scare to book spot in Women’s Asian Cup semi-final

• Australia win 2-1 over Korea DPR in nervous tussle in Perth

• Goals from Kennedy and Kerr secure 2027 World Cup qualification

The Matildas have avoided an early exit from their home Women’s Asian Cup and qualified for their ninth straight Women’s World Cup after a nervous 2-1 win over North Korea at Perth Rectangular Stadium on Friday night.

An early goal to midfielder Alanna Kennedy was doubled by a Sam Kerr screamer early in the second half, though a relentless North Korea side – who clawed a goal back in the 64th minute and registered almost five times as many shots over the course of the game – did not make it easy.

Add to playlist: the dadaist cubist racket of Angine de Poitrine and the week’s best new tracks

This hyped anonymous duo match the oddness of their costumes with shredding metal, microtonal flourishes and Dalek-style vocals

From Saguenay, Quebec
Recommended if you like Holy Fuck, Prescott, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Up next New LP Angine de Poitrine Volume II released 3 April. Touring the UK in May

In 2023, two young men – their earthly identities a jealously guarded secret – began “a joke that spilled into reality” intended to simulate something like its namesake heart condition. Weary of the solemn aura that attaches to guitar rock, they began playing what their website describes as “mantra-rock dada pythago-cubiste” as Angine de Poitrine. It is a joke delivered with mesmerising finesse.

The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup

The Library of Traumatic Memory by Neil Jordan; The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan; Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison; Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman; Spoiled Milk by Avery Curran

The Library of Traumatic Memory by Neil Jordan (Head of Zeus, £20)
Better known as a film-maker, Jordan has never stopped writing novels. His latest opens in 2084 in rural Ireland, where Christian Cartwright works for the Huxley Institute in the titular library, secretly misusing its memory storage technology to talk with his dead lover Isolde, restoring her to a semblance of digital life. The story moves between Christian’s experiences and similar events two centuries earlier in the life of his ancestor, Montagu Cartwright, the architect responsible for the Huxley Mansion and local church, who owned an ancient obsidian mirror, believed to have been the famous scrying glass of John Dee. Lyrically written, brimming with ideas, sometimes sinister and often humorous, it’s an enchanting read.

The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan (Tor, £22)
This debut novel is based on the historic Beast of Gévaudan, a wolf-like creature that terrorised a region of France between 1764 and 1767. But it is much more than another werewolf fantasy. The narrator, Sebastian Grave, seems immortal, writing a memoir in the 21st century about his adventures in the 1700s. Even then he was old, and shared his mind and body with a demon called Sarmodel, whose occult powers helped him to destroy a terrible beast. Twenty years later, the same area is once again ravaged by a bloodthirsty creature: since Sebastian is sent for by the man who had been his boon companion on the first hunt, and his lover, he hopes this means an end to their long estrangement. A wonderfully original, engrossing novel, combining history and fantasy, with a unique narrative voice and fascinating characters.

My mother’s best advice: you’re allowed to enjoy nice things

Whether it was a solo trip to a cafe, a nice lipstick or merely wandering around a shop that was out of her price range, my mum showed me that a little luxury goes a long way

My mum’s best advice was “You’re allowed to enjoy nice things.” Both elements – the nice things and being allowed them – were equally important. She was a fervent believer in the restorative power of a treat, taking herself out for solo breakfasts most weeks (a bacon muffin and a cup of coffee in the cosseted calm of Bettys Tea Rooms), ordering chips at the slightest provocation, staying in chic hotels she had a pre-internet gift for ferreting out and being coaxed by department store salesladies into buying expensive unguents.

She was even keener on treating others, including me. During my teens and early 20s, when I was ill and unhappy in my body, she took me for lavish lunches, booked me massages and accompanied me on spa trips. I recently found a note she had sent me when I was slogging, lonely and sad, through my finals, which had obviously come with some cash. “Buy yourself something frivolous darling,” it read. “A nice nail polish?”

Cuban president confirms talks with Trump officials amid US blockade

Negotiations aimed to ‘find solutions to the bilateral differences’ between the countries, Miguel Díaz-Canel said

Cuban officials have held talks with the US government to seek solutions to the blockade imposed on the Caribbean nation, Miguel Díaz-Canel has said in a video broadcast on national television.

“These talks have been aimed at finding solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences we have between the two nations,” Díaz-Canel, the Cuban president, said in the video, which aired on Friday, shortly before he was scheduled to address Cuban media in a rare appearance that comes amid a severe economic crisis and as the Communist government has come under increasing pressure from Donald Trump.

FBI investigates attacks in Michigan and Virginia. And, Senate passes housing bill

The FBI is investigating two separate attacks, one in Michigan and the other in Virginia, that happened yesterday. And, the Senate has passed the largest housing bill in decades.

Emma Brockes' digested week: Geopolitics and package holidays collide, and Chalamet goes too far

Actor’s remarks about two of the dramatic arts draws a delicious backlash. Plus, Crufts brings back happy memories

I was going to start with the Middle East, but let’s give ourselves a break and, instead, do the final of Crufts from last night. Crufts! As soothing as the Olympics but with lower stakes and cuter contestants. When I was in my first year of high school, my best friend and I used to “play Crufts” – look, it was a different time; at least we weren’t pretending to be on horseback – which entailed someone being the presenter and someone the dog lady, and when the presenter shrilled, “and it’s the Westie! The Westie has won Crufts 1990!” the dog lady had to take off around the living room, leash held high while the crowd went wild.

'Ghost town': Lebanon city deserted amid Israeli airstrikes – video dispatch

Israel has issued a new displacement order for southern Lebanon, instructing residents within 25 miles of the border between the two countries to head north. The order covers major Lebanese cities and dozens of villages. Israel’s military is considering an escalated campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah after the pro-Iran group launched its most intense attacks yet on Wednesday night. Guardian journalist William Christou reports from Nabatieh, a city in south Lebanon hit by Israeli strikes

• Israel strikes Beirut and orders south Lebanon evacuation as conflict mounts

Out of the blue? How the colour of light could be used to treat mental illness

A psychiatric unit in Norway has been testing its built-in lighting on conditions such as psychosis and depression

At first glance, the psychiatric ward in Trondheim looks much like any other unit caring for patients in acute mental distress. But as evening falls, filters descend over the windows, and the lights shift to a soft amber glow. By removing blue wavelengths that interfere with the body’s internal clock, doctors here are testing an unusual idea: that the design of the ward itself could become a form of treatment.

Light is the main signal regulating the body’s circadian rhythm – the roughly 24-hour biological clock that governs sleep and many other bodily processes. Mounting evidence links circadian disruption to conditions including depression, cardiovascular disease and dementia, and disturbed sleep-wake cycles are a long-recognised feature of mental illness, particularly bipolar disorder.

Seven in 10 Americans say Trump’s tariffs caused higher prices

Exclusive survey finds negative economic impacts felt across party lines as White House doubles down on tariffs

Seven in 10 Americans say Donald Trump’s tariffs have led to them paying higher prices, according to an exclusive new poll for the Guardian.

The Harris Poll survey presents Republicans with a major problem in the battle for the upcoming midterm elections. The majority of all voters (72%) believe Trump’s tariffs have had a negative rather than a positive impact and 67% said tariffs aren’t the right solution for improving the economy.

64% of Republicans agreed that Trump’s tariffs had led to higher prices compared with 77% of Democrats and 67% of independents who believed the same.

60% of Republicans also said that tariffs had had more of a negative impact on consumers than a positive one, compared with 81% of Democrats and 75% of independents.

Ex-CIA analyst David McCloskey on the Mossad’s intelligence inside Iran: ‘I was surprised’

The podcast host and author of The Persian reflects on why Israel’s precision in Iran caught him off guard

As the author of a novel depicting the Mossad’s snatch-and-assassination squads inside Iran, David McCloskey was less shocked than most by the stunning killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the theocratic regime’s most powerful figure, in a strike carried out by Israel.

What caught him more off guard were reports that the up-to-the-minute, pinpoint accurate intelligence essential for its success was provided by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Anthropic-Pentagon battle shows how big tech has reversed course on AI and war

Less than a decade ago, Google employees scuttled any military use of its AI. Now Anthropic is fighting Trump officials not over if, but how

The standoff between Anthropic and the Pentagon has forced the tech industry to once again grapple with the question of how its products are used for war – and what lines it will not cross. Amid Silicon Valley’s rightward shift under Donald Trump and the signing of lucrative defense contracts, big tech’s answer is looking very different than it did even less than a decade ago.

Anthropic’s feud with the Trump administration escalated three days ago as the AI firm sued the Department of Defense, claiming that the government’s decision to blacklist it from government work violated its first amendment rights. The company and the Pentagon have been locked in a months-long standoff, with Anthropic attempting to prohibit its AI model from being used for domestic mass surveillance or fully autonomous lethal weapons.

Former second world war soldier, 100, becomes oldest-known US organ donor

Dale Steele, who died in February, ‘is a powerful reminder that generosity has no age limit’, says CEO of non-profit

After spending some of his prime years aiding German concentration camp survivors and guarding Nazi leaders tried for crimes against humanity at Nuremberg, a US second world war veteran is now believed to have become his country’s oldest known organ donor.

The story of 100-year-old Dale Steele, who died in February after a head injury led to his being placed on life support, demonstrates how donors’ health is a more important consideration than how old they are, according to Live On Nebraska, an organ-procurement organization in his home state.

‘A minefield’: taoiseach prepares for St Patrick’s Day visit to Washington

Traditionally jovial affair poses potential debacle for Irish leader at odds with US over foreign policy, tax and immigration

For Ireland’s leaders, it has long been the highlight of the political calendar: a love-fest in Washington with hosts who sport shamrocks and toast Saint Patrick.

Irish delegations are traditionally received on Capitol Hill and at the White House in a blaze of goodwill and backslapping that has them wishing every day was 17 March.

Countries are negotiating rules to mine the deep sea. The U.S. is pushing ahead alone

With growing interest in mining critical metals from the seafloor, countries are now negotiating international rules. The Trump administration is forging ahead on its own, speeding up environmental review for mining the fragile ecosystem.

Russell takes pole for China GP sprint race in Mercedes front-row lockout

• Verstappen describes Red Bull as ‘undriveable’ on radio

• Bahrain and Saudi GP decision due after China race

George Russell laid down a further marker as the man to beat in the new Formula One season with a dominant run in qualifying to claim pole for the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix. He sealed another frontrow lockout alongside his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli, with Russell finishing more than half a second clear of their nearest rival.

The first sprint weekend under the new regulations is a journey into the unknown for teams and drivers and they had only the single hour of practice to understand how best to optimise their cars for energy deployment before qualifying.

All 6 U.S. crew are dead after a military aircraft goes down in Iraq

The U.S. military confirmed that all six crew members on an KC-135 aircraft died after the refueling plane went down in western Iraq, raising the U.S. death toll after two weeks of war with Iran.

Less respawning, more re-rolling: six of the best board games based on video games

From war zones and socially virtuous farming to ever-changing boards and role-playing with 167 dice, here’s our pick of the most absorbing table-based entertainment

Video games have long been heavily inspired by physical games, from chess and Scrabble to Dungeons & Dragons. The deck-building collectible card game, for example, has become immensely popular in digital form, thanks to hits such as Slay the Spire, Marvel Snap and Balatro. Now, an increasing number of games are going in the opposite direction, trading pixels for pieces and screens for spinners. Here are six of our favourites.

Company of Heroes 2nd Edition (Bad Crow Games, £119.70)

Daisy Johnson: ‘I wasn’t a fan of David Szalay, but Flesh is a masterpiece’

The Booker-shortlisted author on a momentous teenage encounter with The Bone People, getting a buzz from Peter Høeg’s Miss Smilla, and trying to avoid The Lorax

My earliest reading memory
Memories from my childhood are opening up as I read to my own young children at the moment. Something in the pictures of Helen Cooper’s The Bear Under the Stairs or Lane Smith’s The Big Pets takes me back to being four years old and being read to.

My favourite book growing up
I love the Sabriel series by Garth Nix and first read it alongside my father and, later, my younger brother. It was truly a shared joy to be immersed in that world, for a book to give us a new connection to one another.

Romania’s Eurovision song criticised for ‘glamorising sexual strangulation’

Calls for Alexandra Căpitănescu’s Choke Me to be banned as campaigners say lyrics are ‘dangerous’ and ‘reckless’

Romania’s Eurovision entry Choke Me has been labelled “dangerous” and “reckless” for appearing to glamorise sexual strangulation, an unsafe practice that can lead to brain injury and death.

Campaigners against sexual violence said the entry, in which the words “choke me” are repeated 30 times during the three-minute song, was “playing fast and loose with young women’s lives”.

Bailiffs board Ryanair plane after airline refuses to pay delayed flight compensation

Austrian officials took action after airline ignored court order to pay €890 to unnamed women

Bailiffs have boarded a Ryanair aircraft after the airline refused to pay compensation to a passenger whose flight was delayed.

Austrian officials took action after the budget carrier ignored a court order to pay the unnamed woman €890 (£742) in legal costs and compensation for a delayed flight two years ago.

‘Wouldn’t life be easier if I were white?’: inside a provocative race-swap body horror

In director Amy Wang’s debut movie Slanted, a mysterious procedure allows people of colour to become white, speaking to her own difficult feelings as a teen

In March 2021, six Asian women were killed in a mass shooting in Atlanta. Amy Wang, an Asian Australian writer and director, who emigrated to America in 2015, remembers that tragedy well. “It was the first time I felt genuinely unsafe here,” she says. Alongside a growing fear, childhood memories resurfaced – the internal and external racism and the exhaustion of never quite fitting in. “I moved to Australia when I was seven and didn’t speak English – it was a tough time for me,” she admits. And then there was one particular recurring thought. “There were many times when I’d wake up as a teenager and think to myself: ‘Wouldn’t life be easier if I were white?’” So, she turned that past feeling into art.

The art is Slanted, Wang’s audacious feature debut – a film whose premise is, by design, completely unhinged. An insecure Asian American high schooler undergoes a procedure at a mysterious cosmetics clinic called Ethnos (tagline: if you can’t beat them … be them) that renders people of colour visibly white, permanently. It’s taking ‘I don’t see colour’ to the ultra-extreme: equality achieved only when we all look the same, and that means whiteness. The surgery works. And then things get complicated.

It's Chalamet vs. ballet in this week's news quiz. Are your answers en pointe?

Meanwhile, if you've been paying attention to medicine, basketball and the British Parliament, you'll get at least three questions right this week.

Light and Thread by Han Kang review – a tantalising book of reflections

This prose work from the Nobel literature winner opens up her novels and offers beautiful imagery

When Korean novelist Han Kang won the Nobel prize in literature in 2024, the committee praised her “intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”. In other words, Han’s work looks both out at the world – towards the 1980 Gwangju massacre fictionalised in her novel Human Acts –  and inward to the human experience, as with The Vegetarian’s portrait of one woman’s claustrophobic struggle.

Much of the appeal of Han’s work is in its mystery, the gaps she leaves for the reader to close. So it is tantalising to have this collection of prose, “a book of reflections” that might illuminate the darker corners of her work.

Diagonale des Yeux: Madeleine review | Safi Bugel's experimental album of the month

(Knekelhuis)
Music boxes, miaows and strange melodies pepper the whimsical and charmingly lo-fi post-punk of Laurène Exposito and Théo Delaunay

The lyrics for Diagonale des Yeux’s debut album were written in the style of an exquisite corpse game, with members Laurène Exposito and Théo Delaunay taking it in turns to patch together ephemeral thoughts and themes in a mix of French, German, English and Spanish. The bizarre, multilingual stories that emerged match the French duo’s ramshackle, home-recorded sound, which features everything from toybox percussion to farmyard sound effects.

Their whimsical approach is anchored in the outsider pop and post-punk of 1980s Europe, which embraced discordant instrumentation and disaffected vocals. These 12 tracks are charmingly lo-fi, built around rudimentary synth and guitar melodies that often careen into strange directions. Acolytes jumps from frenetic punk jam into swooning breakdown and back again within just 90 seconds; Le Rayon Orchidée stumbles groggily to a halt like a malfunctioning music box. Both sing, adding to the theatrics: playing around with effects, they range from pitch-shifted, kitten-like miaows to macho groans.

‘Massive boost of serotonin!’: How a dose of nature is treating mental illness

A project in London is helping hundreds of people, providing a genuine alternative to traditional treatments

“What you’ve got there from the sun on your face is a massive boost of serotonin!” says Alison Greenwood, founder of Dose of Nature, the charity successfully prescribing time outside as a treatment for mental health.

Greenwood is striding round Pensford Field, a tiny patch of wildness tucked behind houses in south-west London. The bright day is illuminating the early blackthorn blossom, gleaming off the pond where a heron watches tiny froglets and shadows of birch trees on a wood-chip path. “All these trees and plants are giving off phytoncides, and they’re good for your immune system too,” the former NHS psychologist says.

Egg prices have taken a beating. What's behind the drop?

A year ago, eggs were scarce and prices were sky-high. But avian flu took a much smaller toll on America's egg-laying chickens this winter than last, and egg prices have tumbled 42%.

Medicaid can share data with ICE. Here's how that 180-degree change spreads fear

When Medicaid began sharing personal data with federal immigration authorities last year, it upended decades of explicit promises to patients. Now, even eligible immigrants fear getting the health coverage.

Nasa ‘on track’ for Artemis II moon mission launch as soon as 1 April

US space agency says it is working towards new date after February launch delayed by technical difficulties

Nasa has said the long-delayed launch of Artemis II, the first crewed flyby mission to the moon in more than 50 years, could happen as soon as 1 April.

“We are on track for a launch as early as April 1, and we are working toward that date,” Lori Glaze, a senior Nasa official, told a press conference on Thursday. Technical difficulties delayed a launch originally expected in February.

Dynasty: The Murdochs review – who cares which billionaire will control even more billions?

This Netflix’s documentary about Rupert’s warring children blurs the lines with HBO drama Succession. But, ultimately, it’s a depressing catalogue of nepotism that it’s hard to be enthused about

‘To explain the Murdochs, you have to understand the television show Succession.” So quips New York Times writer Jim Rutenberg a few minutes into this four-part documentary about Rupert Murdoch’s empire – and, specifically, his children’s battle for control of it when he dies.

It’s a canny opener. Jesse Armstrong’s series about media mogul Logan Roy and his warring children, thought to be based on the Murdochs, was a gripping smash hit, and this documentary is soon excitedly matching the eldest Murdoch siblings – independent Prudence from Rupert’s first marriage, dutiful favourite Lachlan, “problem child” James and brilliant but overlooked (pesky X chromosomes!) Elisabeth – to their Succession counterparts. (Rupert’s two younger daughters from his third marriage aren’t in the running.) But don’t be fooled: despite the suspenseful strings and off-key piano motifs, this is no Emmy-award-winning drama. Rather, it is an exhausting if exhaustive rundown of all things Murdoch, with the siblings’ manoeuvrings often the least interesting part. In the documentary, as in life, they are overshadowed by their dad.

Dynasty: The Murdochs is on Netflix now

Sports quiz of the week: world records, wrong turns and wild scenes

Have you followed the big stories in football, winter sports, cricket, rugby, horse racing, athletics, basketball and F1?

‘Villages are burned, animals slaughtered. We have to let the world know what’s happening’: Tinariwen and Imarhan fight for Tuareg music

Tinariwen went from Saharan weddings to Grammy-winning acclaim – but violence has forced the desert blues masters into exile. Now, a new generation is stepping in to help

Since their formation in 1979, Tuareg guitar band Tinariwen have been constantly moving. Based variously in Mali, Libya and Algeria, the Grammy-winning group have used their desert blues music as a lament for a wandering refugee status that continues to this day.

Co-founder Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni says the group are currently in Algeria, after band members had to flee their homes in Mali in October 2024. “The Malian military and the Russian mercenary group Wagner have been burning villages, slaughtering animals and raping women,” he says. “No one is talking about what is happening – no politicians or journalists – so we have to let the world know through our music.”

‘It’s one of those lifetime things’: viral videos turn Rio favela rooftop into tourist hotspot

People from across the world queue for hours to get a video taken on the famous ‘Gateway to Heaven’ rooftop in the heart of Brazil’s most iconic city

It was day three of the British family’s holiday in Brazil and, as the sun rose over Rio’s undulating mountains, they set off for the city’s most talked about tourist haunt.

“It’s our first time in Brazil. We’re really looking forward to it,” said Paul Boswell, a 58-year-old builder from Basildon, Essex, before clambering on to the motorbike that would carry him there.

A new wave of defiance: the Turkish film-makers standing up to autocracy

İlker Çatak’s Yellow Letters and Emin Alper’s Salvation both won headline honours at the Berlin film festival and show dissenting cinema is thriving in the face of Erdoğan’s repression

‘I want calm in our building,” says the landlord of a couple who have been purged from their jobs in the film Yellow Letters, before asking them to leave the premises. “We’re all responsible for keeping the calm here”. Turkish cinema, however, has never been less inclined to keep the peace. İlker Çatak’s Yellow Letters and Emin Alper’s Salvation, two politically outspoken films that examine Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s autocratic regime, shared the top prizes at this year’s Berlinale: the Golden Bear for Çatak and Silver for Alper.

These striking works share a lot more. Both titles are co-produced by Liman, an indie film company from Turkey. Nadir Öperli, Salvation’s producer, co-produced Yellow Letters alongside Enis Köstepen who produced and co-wrote Çatak’s film. Both in their mid-40s, they are key figures in the new wave of Turkish cinema that has risen from the ashes of Yeşilçam, the national film industry body that collapsed in the late 1980s. Aesthetically bold yet accessible, and steeped in Turkey’s rich tradition of dissent, their projects expose Turkey at a precarious moment of political repression and economic hardship.

Hooked by Asako Yuzuki review – follow-up to global hit Butter

A Tokyo high-flyer tries to befriend her favourite blogger in a novel that wears its aura of black comedy lightly, and its political statements more heavily

Asako Yuzuki’s international bestseller Butter was a taste sensation based on the true story of a Japanese female serial killer and gourmet chef who scammed and poisoned male victims with her culinary offerings. Attempting to get a scoop, a journalist bonds with the convicted prisoner by asking her for recipe tips, and gradually reassesses her own life and values as a result of this peculiar relationship. One review described the book as “the Martha Stewart Show meets The Silence of the Lambs”, but as well as the crime thriller/foodie mashup, a critique of capitalist society and deep-seated misogyny also emerged from the narrative. Yuzuki’s prose style, a mix of the banal and the profound, proved to be catnip for sales.

Hooked is the follow-up for English-language readers, though it was written earlier, in 2015, and like the previous novel is translated with crackling verve by Polly Barton. While a more introspective work, its high-wire plot and uneven trajectory make for a relentlessly dizzying experience. Fans of Butter might even view it as a trial run.

‘No cars, unspoilt beaches and seabirds rule’: readers’ favourite European island escapes

From the rugged north of Scotland to the glittering Aegean, our tipsters recommend islands for slowing down, lazing around and taking in nature
• Tell us about a spring activity or day out – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher

A short ferry ride from Vigo (daily and overnight visitor numbers are capped) took us to the tiny archipelago of the Cíes Islands, a protected cluster of islands where seabirds rule and tiny beaches remain unspoilt. There are no cars on the island and only a few small restaurants dotted about. There is one campsite, with little else but the waves of the Atlantic to lull you to sleep. I felt as if I had won the lottery when we visited and knew this would be an experience not easily matched.
Helen E

U.S. launches fresh Section 301 probes into 60 economies over forced-labor trade practices

The forced-labor probes follow Section 301 investigations launched on Wednesday, targeting excess industrial capacity across more than a dozen economies.

Do we want to keep fixing the same issue? Unlearned lessons from the first big oil crisis

As energy prices tripled in the 1970s due to Middle Eastern wars, Scandinavia, France and the Netherlands sped up green transition

When Middle Eastern wars sparked an oil crisis in the 1970s, tripling energy prices and throwing economies into chaos, some countries looked beyond short-term solutions. The French made nuclear the pillar of their power system. Scandinavians insulated buildings and funnelled waste heat into homes. The Dutch built bike lanes where others wanted motorways. The Danes developed wind turbines.

Such steps cleaned filthy air and cut imports from autocrats but took a back seat when Russia invaded Ukraine half a century later. Europe raced to buy gas from the US and Middle East. Policies to roll out renewables by cutting red tape helped reduce dependence, but calls to use less energy and reduce waste were muted. Industry lobbying and populist backlash have since sabotaged efforts to phase out petrol cars and fossil boilers.

Beddy buys: what to wear if you are obsessed with your sleep score

Is the secret to a decent night’s kip a good sleep kit? Silky pyjamas, cosy socks and a dressing gown you won’t mind being seen in when putting the bins out will certainly help

Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for caramelised white chocolate and rhubarb cheesecake | The sweet spot

Blonds really do have more fun – a special-occasion sweet treat that’s perfect for Mother’s Day

It’s often my own impatience that forces me to make no-bake cheesecakes over baked ones. They’re not at all as faffy, though it’s pretty hard to beat the lighter, silkier texture you get with a baked version plus the extra effort is worth it on a special occasion such as Mother’s Day. I’ve sweetened the filling for this one with caramelised white chocolate – it brings a beautiful, creamy, dulce de leche-type caramel flavour that even the biggest white chocolate haters should enjoy. If making your own caramelised white chocolate feels a step too far, however, just buy bars of blond chocolate instead. Top with gently poached rhubarb for a pop of colour and to cut through the richness.

Everything is a political weapon since Trump’s re-election, says Germany’s ex-economy minister

Robert Habeck says world has moved on from weaponising energy to using tariffs, technology and more to inflict harm

The weaponisation of energy when Russia invaded Ukraine has given way to “weaponising everything” since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Germany’s former economy minister has said.

Robert Habeck, the Green politician responsible for keeping the lights on during the last energy crisis, said the belief gas “would never be a political weapon” led successive German governments blindly into Putin’s trap by building the Nord Stream pipelines and selling strategic reserves to Gazprom, which Russia emptied before the invasion.

Nearly three-quarters of England’s woods inaccessible to public, study finds

Exclusive: Campaigners call for government to introduce right-to-roam bill that allows people to walk around their local woodlands

Nearly three-quarters of England’s woods are off-limits to the public, buried government documents show.

The study by Forest Research, which is a government-funded quango, found that 73% of English woodland is publicly inaccessible.

Mining’s toxic timebomb: dams full of poisonous waste are dotted around the world. What happens when they burst?

While tailings dams are meant to last for ever, extreme weather events are making many unstable – with devastating consequences for nature and humans

As soon as the barrier broke, a flood of poison brought death to the river. Gushing through the fragile wall built to hold back mining waste in Zambia’s copper belt in February 2025, more than 50m cubic litres of acid and heavy metals poured into the Chambishi stream – a tributary of the Kafue River, the country’s longest waterway.

Thousands of lifeless fish rose to the surface as a plume of acid floated downriver, leaving dead crocodiles and other wildlife in its wake.

Experience: I suffered terrible burns as a child – then became a firefighter

I was sick and tired of the world treating me like a victim, so I decided to flip the narrative. At 25, I tried out for my local volunteer fire academy

When I was six years old, my entire body went up in flames. It was 1992, in my home town of Hawthorne, Nevada. My older brothers were out playing and I went to call them for dinner. I followed their voices, just a few houses down from ours, to find them playing with a bowl of kerosene they’d found and a lighter. When they flicked the lighter, the bowl caught fire. My brother freaked out and kicked it over in a bid to contain the flames. They weren’t aware I was just inches away.

Soon I was submerged in flames. The pain was excruciating. I was tackled to the ground by a neighbour I’d never met, who covered me in a sleeping bag, extinguishing the flames. It haunts me to this day to think of what he would have seen: a six-year-old boy on fire outside his house.

Snoop Dogg, pigsty fights and the wrong kind of snow: Cillian Murphy and Barry Keoghan on making the Peaky Blinders movie

The actors and creator Steven Knight discuss the Shelbys’ big-screen swan song, how fans propelled the show to success, and that undercut

In June 2023, Barry Keoghan texted Cillian Murphy to wish him a happy Father’s Day. The pair had shared the screen six years before, in the film Dunkirk. “Cillian and Colin [Farrell] are people I admire greatly, and always keep in touch with,” says Keoghan. A reply from Murphy pinged back soon after: “Thank you. Would you like to play my son in Peaky Blinders the movie?”

Murphy remembers it a bit differently: that he was the one initiating contact (which is how Tim Roth and Rebecca Ferguson came on board). But he’s happy to let Keoghan’s version be recorded as fact.

U.S. launches new investigations into 60 countries as it fights to restore tariffs

The Trump administration has launched investigations into dozens of countries accused of failing to crack down on forced labor, flexing a law that lets the federal government impose tariffs.

Draper knocked out as Medvedev capitalises on controversial call in Indian Wells

• British No 1’s title defence ends with 6-1, 7-5 loss

• Carlos Alcaraz beats Cameron Norrie to reach semis

Jack Draper was controversially ruled to have caused a hindrance to Daniil Medvedev as his Indian Wells title defence ended in the quarter-finals. The 24-year-old Briton, looking understandably weary from his exploits in beating Novak Djokovic less than 24 hours earlier, went down 6-1, 7-5 to the former world No 1.

The decisive moment came at 5-5 and 0-15 in the second set when the French umpire, Aurélie Tourte, decided to award Medvedev a point following a video review after Draper had raised his arms at a disputed line call and was deemed to have distracted his opponent, with Medvedev going on to seal a crucial break.

Old Dominion shooting suspect was previously imprisoned for trying to support ISIS

The suspect, who was killed following the shooting, had previously been imprisoned for several years for trying to support ISIS, the FBI said.

Brave ROTC students credited with stopping deadly shooting at Old Dominion

Officials praised the "brave" actions of ROTC students who confronted a gunman Thursday after he opened fire in a classroom​ on the campus of Old Dominion University, killing one person and injuring two others.