Tesla's stock drops more than 5% on disappointing deliveries report

Tesla is coming off a year of declining deliveries due in part to increased competition from rivals in China offering lower-cost models.

EPA flags concerns about microplastics, pharmaceuticals in drinking water

There's been a lot of public is concerned about health risks from the chemicals, especially from the Make America Healthy Again movement. The agency's move doesn't in itself guarantee regulation.

Trump fires Bondi as attorney general, installs Blanche as acting AG

President Trump has ousted Pam Bondi as attorney general, saying she will be taking a job in the private sector.

Trump fires Attorney General Pam Bondi

President Trump was said to be unhappy with Pam Bondi's handling of DOJ files about Jeffrey Epstein, and its failure to prosecute his political enemies.

Stocks slide after Trump vows to continue Iran strikes

Stocks retreated Thursday after investors were left unsettled by President Trump's Wednesday night speech.

To a world at a loss as to how to handle Trump, I say this: the only answer may be to wait him out| Simon Jenkins

A great effort will be needed to undo the damage once the US president has gone. But with the constitution unable to bring him to order now, that is what we must do

The US is extraordinary. One day it goes to the far side of the moon and revives the space age. On the same day, its president is looking to the far side of the Earth and says he will take Iran “back to the stone ages”. It may be a giant leap for mankind, but in what direction?

There can be no point other than prestige in sending humans to the moon, which is why more than 50 years have passed since they last went there. Robots can perform all we need in space. Returning the Iranians to the stone age is a different matter. The last time the US made the same boast was against Vietnam in a typical threat (much misquoted) by Gen Curtis LeMay. Vietnam crushed the US in the ensuing war.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

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

Attorney General Pam Bondi out at DOJ

President Trump has announced that Attorney General Pam Bondi is out at the Justice Department. Her departure comes amid simmering frustration over her leadership and handling of the Epstein files.

‘You have to be serious’: Macron criticises Trump’s mixed messages about Nato and Iran

Speaking in South Korea, the French president defended the transatlantic alliance and called for return to peace

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Emmanuel Macron has sharply criticised Donald Trump’s inconsistent and often contradictory pronouncements on the Iran war and Nato, saying if “you want to be serious” it was better not to come out with a something different every day.

“There is too much talk … and it’s all over the place,” the French president said on Thursday during a state visit to South Korea. “We all need stability, calm, a return to peace – this isn’t a show!”

Washington Wizards apologize after $10k April Fools’ prank draws backlash

• Wizards apologize over half-time April Fools’ prank

• Promotion that appeared to trick fan draws backlash

• Team issues statement saying stunt was pre-planned

The Washington Wizards apologized on Thursday after an April Fools’ Day in-game promotion during their loss to the Philadelphia 76ers prompted criticism on social media.

During Wednesday night’s game at Capital One Arena, a fan was brought on to the court for a blindfolded half-court shot promoted as being worth $10,000. The shot missed, but arena staff and performers reacted as if it had gone in and briefly presented the fan with a ceremonial check as part of what later was revealed to a scripted skit.

Amazon to add 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge for sellers as Iran war drives up energy prices

With the war in Iran now in its fifth week, Amazon said it's adding a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge for third-party sellers in the U.S. and Canada.

Trump fires Pam Bondi, a loyalist and ally, as attorney general

Bondi earned president’s ire over handling release of Epstein files and failing to prosecute his political enemies

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Donald Trump has fired Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, according to multiple reports, dismissing a loyalist who reshaped the justice department, but still failed to please a president fixated on prosecuting political enemies and frustrated with the politically explosive release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future.”

Bodycam of Tiger Woods arrest shows golfer being handcuffed

Body camera video has been released of Tiger Woods' arrest, after a car crash in Florida. He has been charged with driving under the influence.

Iran's war propaganda homes in on Trump with Lego memes

Iranian propaganda is also homing in on the war's destabilizing impact on the global economy and energy prices, which have shot up in the U.S.

Jewish diaspora leaders urge Israeli president to stop West Bank settler violence

Former UK foreign secretary among 3,000 signatories of open letter to Isaac Herzog after spate of killings

The former British foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind is among leading members of the Jewish diaspora urging the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, to intervene to stop “attacks by Jewish extremists” on Palestinians in the West Bank.

An open letter to Herzog facilitated by the London Initiative – a liberal Zionist network of 360 people, including eminent Jewish, Israeli and Israeli Palestinian figures – has attracted more than 3,000 signatories, including diplomats, philanthropists, rabbis and academics from Australia, Canada, across Europe, South Africa the UK and US. It follows a spate of killings and arson attacks by settlers on Palestinian civilians in March.

Bodycam footage shows Tiger Woods’s shock after crash: ‘I’m being arrested?’

• Golfer has pled not guilty to DUI charges

• Hydrocodone pills found in pocket after arrest

Bodycam footage of Tiger Woods’s arrest for DUI shows the golfer looking surprised when he was handcuffed by police officers at the scene of a vehicle crash last week.

“I do believe your normal faculties are impaired, and you’re under an unknown substance, so at this time you’re under arrest for DUI,” Martin County Sheriff’s deputy Tatiana Levenar told Woods after officers conducted a series of field sobriety exercises on the 50-year-old.

Man charged in connection with "Texas Killing Fields" deaths

Prosecutors have charged a man allegedly connected to two deaths tied to the "Texas Killing Fields," a site where dozens of bodies have been found since the 1970s.

Grocery shock on the horizon for approaching U.S. elections as Iran war drags on

"It just pisses them off more," said Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, said in an interview when asked about how voters will react if food gets more expensive.

‘A wow moment’: ancient Romanian gold helmet returned in plea deal with theft suspects

Prosecutors unveil artefact linked to lost Dacian civilisation after it was stolen from Dutch museum last year

A priceless ancient gold helmet from Romania that was stolen last year from a museum in the Netherlands, has been recovered as part of a plea deal reached with the suspects.

Under the guard of balaclava-wearing police, prosecutors unveiled the 2,500-year-old Coțofenești helmet, which is considered a cultural icon of Romania, during a news conference on Thursday in the eastern Dutch city of Assen.

Tottenham head coach Roberto De Zerbi apologises for past comments on Mason Greenwood

• ‘I didn’t meant to take a stance,’ says Spurs head coach

• Fan groups had opposed De Zerbi’s appointment

The new Tottenham head coach, Roberto De Zerbi, has apologised for his past comments on Marseille forward Mason Greenwood and insisted he would never intentionally downplay the issue of violence against women.

Spurs turned to De Zerbi after interim head coach Igor Tudor was sacked on Sunday with the Premier League outfit in 17th position and only one point above the bottom three after a disastrous campaign.

Ziggy Stardust and Hacky Sack: What life was like the last time we went to the moon

The Artemis II mission is the first time humans have headed to the moon since 1972. That year also marked the debut of The Godfather and the Egg McMuffin.

Uganda receives first US deportation flight under third-country agreement

Dozen people arrive under new deal but legal challenges expected with scheme criticised as ‘dehumanising process’

A flight carrying people being deported from the US has landed in Uganda, as Donald Trump’s administration pushes on with its strategy of expelling migrants to countries they have no ties to.

The deported people would stay in the east African country as “a transition phase for potential onward transmission to other countries”, an unnamed senior Ugandan government official told Reuters.

Relief for astronauts as fault fixed on Nasa’s $30m Artemis II toilet

Mission control confirms ‘toilet go for use’ after glitch sorted

A blinking fault light on Nasa’s Orion spacecraft signalled an unwelcome setback at the start of the historic Artemis II mission: the toilet was out of order.

Fortunately for the four astronauts on board for the 10-day mission, the issue was quickly resolved, with mission control confirming: “Happy to report that toilet is go for use. We do recommend letting the system get to operating speed before donating fluid, and then letting it run a little bit after donation.”

HBO to air standalone special on the making of new Harry Potter series

Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic features interviews with cast members and will air on 5 April

HBO has more Harry Potter magic up its sleeve – today, the company announced a standalone, behind-the-scenes special to accompany its upcoming TV adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic will offer “an in-depth look at the making of the first season”, including plenty of production footage and details on the lengthy, UK-wide casting process for Harry, Ron and Hermione, played by Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton.

TikTok pulls Israeli ultranationalist’s account for breach of hate speech rules

Dozens of videos have gone viral on TikTok and Instagram showing harassment of Palestinians and activists

TikTok has removed an account belonging to an ultranationalist, pro-settlement Israeli influencer for breaching hate speech and bullying rules after the Guardian flagged videos showing him harassing activists in the occupied West Bank.

The Guardian has reviewed dozens of videos posted by various social media figures that have gone viral on TikTok and Instagram documenting the harassment of Palestinians as well as physical attacks on Israeli and international activists.

Orange skies over Crete as Storm Erminio sweeps Saharan sand across Greek island – in pictures

Storm Erminio has caused widespread destruction in parts of Greece, including the Attica region where a man died in Nea Makri. On the island of Crete, skies turned an eerie orange as winds of up to force 9 on the Beaufort scale carried dust from North Africa, forcing several flights to be rerouted

‘Slavery bounded his life’: Thomas Jefferson’s views on race – in his own words

A new book by historian Annette Gordon-Reed explores the former US president’s writings on race throughout his life

Thomas Jefferson’s interactions with enslaved people bookend his life. The third US president and a founder of the United States was born into a slave-owning family in a society upon which slavery was the bedrock. A Black woman was probably his earliest nursemaid – evidence shows that his mother did not breastfeed her children, so it is probable that a Black woman was also Jefferson’s wet nurse. His earliest memory, which he relayed to his grandchildren, was of being carried on a pillow via horseback by a man his family enslaved on a 50-mile journey to Tuckahoe, Virginia.

Given his status as an enslaver – Jefferson owned more than 610 people in his lifetime – those he held in bondage may have been the last people Jefferon saw before he died. An enslaved man, John Hemmings, built his casket. The omnipresence of slavery in his life and its clear contradictions with regards to his views on liberty, create a point of which much of the existing literature on Jefferson must attempt to make sense. Scholars have long tried to analyze and parse the juxtaposition of bondage and freedom for the former president. But in a new book by Annette Gordon-Reed, a Pulitzer prize-winning historian and a pre-eminent Jefferson scholar, Jefferson speaks for himself.

Protein chips, sex chocolate: what are ‘functional foods’, and do they actually boost health?

If a food is labeled ‘functional’, what does that mean? Not much, experts say

You’re at the grocery store, looking for a sweet snack. But these days, the chocolate aisle promises so much more than that: mental clarity, a stronger immune system, PMS relief and even sexual stamina – all in a few squares.

Chocolate is hardly the only treat to be reborn as a wellness product. Supermarket shelves now boast chips with added protein, gut-friendly sodas and collagen oatmeal – all part of the fast-growing “functional foods” market, which is expected to reach $586bn globally by 2030.

Oil price jumps and markets slide after Trump warning to Iran

Brent crude rises 8% as US president vows to hit Iran ‘extremely hard’ over coming weeks

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Oil prices have soared after Donald Trump vowed in a televised speech to hit Iran “extremely hard” over the coming weeks, knocking hopes of a near-term end to the conflict in the Middle East.

Brent crude prices jumped by as much as 8% on Thursday to $109.74 a barrel, reversing Wednesday’s drop when hopes of a de-escalation in the Iran war pushed the international benchmark below the $100-a-barrel mark at one point.

Award-winning Iranian human rights lawyer arrested in Tehran, says her daughter

Activists accuse Iran’s regime of crackdown on civil society as whereabouts of Nasrin Sotoudeh are unknown

• Is Iran using the war to hide a surge in executions?

The prize-winning Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been arrested in Tehran, according to her family, as activists accused the regime of cracking down on civil society under cover of the war with Israel and the US.

Sotoudeh’s daughter Mehraveh Khandan said her mother was taken from her home in Tehran late on Wednesday and that her whereabouts were unknown. Khandan suspected the arrest may be related to recent interviews about the war, in which Sotoudeh criticised the government.

Senate takes first step toward ending DHS shutdown as Trump vows to pay workers

President Trump said he would sign an order to pay all DHS employees as a plan to reopen most of DHS and pursue additional funding moves forward in Congress.

Higher gas prices have cost drivers an extra $8.4 billion, Democrats say

With gasoline topping $4 a gallon, it now costs almost $145 to fill up a Ford F-150 pickup truck, a new analysis finds.

Trump administration prepares up to 100% pharmaceutical tariffs on some imported drugs

The Trump administration is preparing to impose new tariffs on drugmakers that have not struck deals with the president to lower their U.S. drug prices.

Starbucks to award bonuses to baristas, expand tipping to promote turnaround efforts

Starbucks is in the middle of a turnaround focused on improving both the customer and employee experience.

‘People are exhausted by Blackpink and BTS’: the DIY Chinese bands redefining corporate ‘idol’ pop

Since the regime quashed China’s version of the K-pop industry in 2021, an underground ‘alt-idol’ culture has emerged, championing freedom and experimentation

Over the past decade, “idol” culture has turned east Asia into a pop music powerhouse as global audiences have flocked to Japanese and especially South Korean groups. Formed and exactingly trained by big entertainment conglomerates, bands such as BTS and EXO have blown up internationally thanks to bombastic songs, sensational dance routines and marketing campaigns designed to build a parasocial relationship between performers – idols – and their fans. Their neighbour China, however, the population of which is roughly eight times that of Japan and South Korea combined, has produced few groups with similar fame.

Until 2021, Chinese versions of Korean idol-training shows – think The X Factor with considerably more challenging choreography – were gaining huge audiences. But the shows, and the fan culture they inspired, drew the ire of the Chinese government. It cracked down on “toxic” fandom, an initiative that included banning idol-development shows. “It was an excuse to regulate the internet,” says Emily Liu, who runs the popular idol newsletter Active Faults. The government has also unofficially prohibited Korean pop idols from performing in mainland China for the last decade due to geopolitical tensions.

Sunn O))): Sunn O))) review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

(Sub Pop)
The doomy duo strip back their sound to tectonic guitars and feedback, conjuring an immersive, strangely euphoric listening experience recorded in the wilds of Washington

Nearly seven years on from Sunn O)))’s last two albums, the Steve Albini-produced companion pieces Life Metal and Pyroclasts, the drone metal pioneers’ 10th album presents itself as a return to basics. Eponymously titled and released on Sub Pop – the label that put out drone metal’s ur-text, Earth’s 1993 debut Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version – it strips away Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson’s penchant for collaboration (Scott Walker, Merzbow) and much of the expanded musical palette that came with it. No church organ, no dulcimer, no vocals, no radical reassembly of their material courtesy of Nurse With Wound’s Steven Stapleton: closer Glory Black features a brief burst of piano, and there are apparently synthesisers somewhere in the mix, but for the most part, the album seems to deal almost exclusively in heavily distorted down-tuned guitars and feedback, the core of Sunn O)))’s sound since they formed in 1998.

But clearly the notion of a back-to-basics album should not be confused with that of an understated one. It’s not really an adjective that fits something that lasts the best part of 90 minutes, comes wrapped in a sleeve featuring two Mark Rothko paintings – by permission of the painter’s estate – and features somewhere between 130 and 180 tracks of guitar per song. (The latter comes thanks to a studio procedure that involved producer Brad Wood miking up not just the duo’s amplifiers but each amplifier’s individual speakers, and setting up what he called “the world’s largest stereo array of room mics” to capture ambient textures.) It also comes complete with sleeve notes from nature writer Robert Macfarlane, which variously quote the Greek stoic Epictetus, Walter Benjamin, 19th-century naturalist John Muir, author Patrick White and indigenous American environmentalist Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Artemis II astronauts prepare to leave Earth’s orbit and head towards the moon

Nasa mission enters second day, with crew hoping to become first people to orbit moon in more than 50 years

Four astronauts are preparing to leave Earth’s orbit and slingshot towards the moon as Nasa’s Artemis II mission enters its second day.

The high-stakes 10-day voyage is expected to mark the first time in half a century that humans will return to the vicinity of the moon. It is a crucial test of Nasa’s ambition to land humans back on the lunar surface this decade, and stay there permanently.

AOC vows to block future US military aid to Israel, including for defensive systems

Ocasio-Cortez says Israel can fund its own defense and she will oppose any new US aid amid human rights concerns

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a US representative, said on Wednesday that she will oppose any future US military aid to Israel, including for defensive systems.

In a statement on social media, Ocasio-Cortez said that Israel was fully capable of funding “Iron Dome and other defensive systems”, and that “consistent with my voting record to date, I will not support Congress sending more taxpayer dollars and military aid to a government that consistently ignores international law and US law”.

How a lush Miami park was designed to keep flooding at bay – in pictures

As the climate crisis intensifies the storms lashing south Florida, it is imperative to design spaces that soak up the water. The 19.4-acre Bayshore Park is an example of how to design spaces that protect from and connect residents to nature

Italian football in crisis as FA chief resigns and Ceferin issues Euro 2032 warning

• Exit could spell end of Gennaro Gattuso’s tenure

• Ceferin: ‘Infrastructure is among the worst in Europe’

The crisis engulfing Italian football has deepened with the country’s football federation president, Gabriele Gravina, resigning and the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, warning that it risks losing its co-hosting rights for Euro 2032.

Gravina announced his resignation at an emergency meeting of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) general council two days after Italy failed to reach a World Cup finals for the third successive time, losing on penalties to the outsiders Bosnia and Herzegovina. He had come under heavy scrutiny since their exit in Zenica, the country’s minister for sport, Andrea Abodi, intensifying the pressure by calling for “a renewal of the FIGC leadership”.

Starbucks offers $1,200 bonuses to baristas who offer top customer service

The coffee chain said it will also pay its workers weekly to provide more financial flexibility.

DHS shutdown: Senate advances deal to fund agency with TSA, waits on House

The Department of Homeland Security shutdown that sowed chaos in airports across the country could draw to a close as GOP leaders coalesced around a deal.

Artist files war crime case in Paris over Israeli strike that killed parents in Lebanon

Lebanese-French man Ali Cherri demands investigation into Beirut bombing as possible war crime against civilians

A Lebanese-French artist has filed a legal complaint in a Paris court about an Israeli bombing of his family home in Lebanon that killed his parents and a domestic worker, claiming the attack could constitute a war crime.

The suit, filed with the French war crimes unit on Tuesday, is a rare instance of an individual pursuing war crimes charges for an Israeli bombing. It is also the first time a French court has taken a case over Israel’s bombing of Lebanon.

Hospice with 97% survival rate accused of defrauding Medicare for $7.45M

They were the first in a series of arrests planned Thursday, federal officials told CBS News.

Analysis: Trump's Iran speech ignores the risks of a return to the 1970s

Oil shocks crippled past presidencies. The Iran war is putting Trump into the danger zone.

Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry audiobook review – an extraordinary chronicle of terminal illness

The author’s father-in-law died just nine days after his cancer diagnosis, inspiring this moving and sharply observed account of his last days

Novelist Sarah Perry’s memoir of her late father-in-law, David, chronicles the period from his first signs of illness, when he began to have trouble swallowing, to his diagnosis of oesophageal cancer, to his death at the age of 77 just nine days later.

We first meet David, a retired chemist from Norwich, on a day trip with Perry and her husband in the summer of 2022. The three of them have gone to Great Yarmouth where, seemingly in good health, David gleefully eats four hot doughnuts. She reveals him as an unassuming man who lives in a bungalow, drinks Yorkshire Tea, delights in telling bad jokes, and likes doing sudoku and watching Antiques Roadshow on TV. But right at the start, Perry notes that David’s death was only weeks away. Though his illness was mercifully short, the speed at which it progressed caught his family unawares, leaving precious little time to prepare.

My husband doesn’t want to give up his mistress. Should I settle for half his heart? | Leading questions

It sounds like you are so concerned about losing him, you are considering losing yourself, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. This bit is the mistake

• Read more Leading questions

I just discovered by chance, and to my complete surprise, after more than 20 years of what I thought was a happy and faithful marriage, that my husband has had a year-long and passionate affair with an accomplished, charming, brilliant career woman whom I also regarded as a friend. I am accomplished too, but not nearly at her level, and I am also a bit older and I have less panache than her. I don’t think I can compete with her, and in any case I feel too proud to try.

Here is the thing: he says he doesn’t want to give her up, though he also says he does not want to marry her (she is in any case married though, it seems, in an open marriage). He also says he loves me and wants to remain married to me. I think if I demand he gives her up, he will end up unable to love me. I also think I will barely, or possibly not at all, be able to bear the pain of him continuing to see her. I am so unsure what to do or indeed what I can bear doing. I so don’t want to lose him. I have been deeply in love with him ever since we first met. Do I give him the world in return for half his heart?

JD Vance thinks space aliens are ‘demons’. Who can blame him? | Dave Schilling

Of course the vice-president is obsessed with extraterrestrials – look how bad things have gotten on Earth

I can’t fault anyone for looking around at the state of things on the planet Earth and pondering the existence of aliens. Who wouldn’t want to hop on the Starship Get-Me-The-Hell-Out-Of-Here right now? It costs me a vital organ to fill up my gas tank, everyone I know is unemployed and the cast of Bravo’s Summer House is crumbling before our eyes. Unfortunately for alien observer JD Vance, he’s partially responsible for two of the three. Pretty sure the vice-president isn’t hooking up with Amanda Batula, so he’s off the hook for that one.

On a recent appearance on The Benny Show, a conservative podcast you’ve never heard of, Vance outlined his “obsession” with UFOs. He might not be fully read into the current state of extraterrestrial discourse, but he does have a theory. Vance said: “I don’t think they’re aliens, I think they’re demons anyway, but that’s a longer discussion.”

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

Arizona girl who vanished 32 years ago found alive, sheriff says

Christina Marie Plante was last seen on May 19, 1994, after leaving home on foot to go to a stable where her horse was kept.

Tokyo cherry blossom and Holy Week processions: pictures of the day – Thursday

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

History of Kentucky bourbon and its role in U.S. culture

In the series "USA to Z," "CBS Mornings" takes a look at the role of Kentucky bourbon in U.S. history, its deep roots in American culture and its meaning to a family of three generations of distillers.

'Stay Alive,' about daily life in Nazi Berlin, shows how easy it is to just go along

Historian Ian Buruma chronicles the lives of ordinary Berliners — including his own father — during World War II. Stay Alive is about the past, but has powerful lessons for the present.

Concern U.S. may deport Iranians held by ICE back home to a warzone

Two gay Iranian men seeking asylum in the U.S. could face execution if they're deported to Iran, a move the Trump administration has not ruled out.

Killer rabbits, bunny boilers and the holy hand grenade of Antioch: Easter bunny movies – ranked!

From Watership Down and Fatal Attraction to Bambi and Python’s Holy Grail, rabbits are an unlikely constant in film – and often with sinister intentions. Here are the 20 best leporine movie moments

The mighty Alan Bleasdale wrote this razor-sharp farce set on New Year’s Eve in Liverpool, where rival Catholic and Protestant militants have accidentally booked the same venue. One of the acts going horribly wrong is Elvis Costello as a stage musician who says: “I’m a bit worried about me rabbit.” With reason, as it turns out.

Coca-Cola unveils ad campaign with 13 restaurant chains to boost drink sales as diner traffic falls

The restaurant industry has been struggling with declining traffic and sluggish sales growth.

Alpine condemn ‘hateful’ abuse of Colapinto and Ocon over F1 crashes

• Colapinto abused over Bearman’s crash in Japan

• Ex-Alpine driver Ocon clashed with Colapinto in China

Alpine have condemned on Thursday online abuse of Franco Colapinto for an incident in the Japanese Grand Prix as well as death threats directed at the Formula One team’s former racer Esteban Ocon over prior events in China.

They also dismissed suspicions from some fans of “sabotage” and claims their Argentinian driver was not being given the same quality equipment as his teammate Pierre Gasly.

Planning authorities to vote on Trump’s White House ballroom project

Ballroom is likely to get blessing from National Capital Planning Commission, which is chaired by ex-Trump lawyer

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Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project is likely ‌to get a blessing from Washington planning authorities on Thursday, two days after a judge ruled work cannot proceed without Congress’s approval.

The National Capital Planning Commission, which ​is chaired by one of Trump’s former lawyers, will deliberate and ​then vote on the “East Wing Modernization Project” on Thursday, ⁠according to a meeting agenda.

21 games later: Iraq back at the World Cup after epic qualifying campaign

The Lions of Mesopotamia have waited 40 years to return to the World Cup and they have had to do it the hard way

If anyone deserves the chance to celebrate Iraq’s return to the World Cup it is Aymen Hussein and not just because the striker scored the winning goal in the final intercontinental playoff against Bolivia on Tuesday.

Born and raised in Kirkuk in northern Iraq, a region affected first by war and then by Islamic State, Hussein lost his father in an al-Qaeda attack in 2008. Six years later his brother disappeared and the young footballer was then forced to flee with the remaining members of his family. Football provided Hussein with a way out and hope. Now he has given his country, one that is recovering from recent horrors but still susceptible to the general regional instability as current events show, one of the happiest moments in its recent history.

‘Ready to be exploited’: amid rust, weeds and power cuts, Venezuelans hope for a new oil boom

The infrastructure is crumbling and the government shaky, but memories exist of an industry that once thrived off Venezuela’s vast reserves of crude – and could do again, despite the climate crisis

At Campo Boscán, a vast complex in western Venezuela, the drills, pumps and pipelines that extract crude oil operate amid decay: roads are broken, weeds grow everywhere and many wells run inside metal cages to prevent theft. Albenis Merchán, a drilling technician with 35 years’ experience, recalls better times as he drives his pickup through the desolate landscape.

“We used to receive maintenance and safety training all the time. Supplies and spare parts were never lacking. Many things need to improve here to tap the full potential of this area,” he says.

Decades-old cold case linked to Ted Bundy

In 1974, 17-year old Laura Ann Aime went missing after attending a Halloween party. Her body was found a month later on the side of a highway. More than 50 years later, advances in DNA helped link her murder to notorious serial killer Ted Bundy.

Maui doctor accused of trying to kill his wife testifies she was the aggressor

Maui doctor Gerhardt Konig, who is accused of trying to kill his wife while on a birthday hike last year, testified Wednesday that his wife, Arielle Konig, was the aggressor. Gerhardt Konig said Arielle Konig almost pushed him "over the edge" of a cliff - contradicting the testimonies of his wife and son. Lilia Luciano reports.

Goodbye mrbrightside416: Google allows users to alter quirky Gmail addresses

Those in US given chance to have more professional usernames without losing access to account

Did your [email protected] email address seem funny at the time but less so now you are applying for dozens of jobs?

Google has said it is giving US users a chance to appear more professional by letting them change their Google account username – whatever appears before @gmail.com in an email address – without losing access to their account.

Fifa raises top ticket price for World Cup final to $10,990, up from $1,600 in 2022

• New tickets released for some group games and final

• Fans attempting to buy tickets encounter glitches

Fifa has raised the top ticket price for this year’s World Cup final to $10,990 as it released a new batch of tickets for sale on Wednesday.

The news, which came after the 48-team field for the World Cup was set, will do little to quell claims that Fifa is pricing fans out of the tournament. The most expensive ticket for the 2022 World Cup final was about $1,600.

Arizona woman who went missing ‘without a trace’ 32 years ago found alive

Christina Marie Plante was reported missing in May of 1994 from Star Valley when she was just 13 years old

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A woman in Arizona who went missing 32 years ago, when she was just 13 years old, has been found alive, authorities said this week.

Christina Marie Plante was reported missing in May 1994 from Star Valley, Arizona, after she “vanished without a trace from her community”, according to a statement released on Wednesday by the Gila county sheriff’s office.

‘Not up to standard’: Macron criticises Trump after comments about his marriage

Anger in France after US president puts on French accent and mocks Macron during private lunch in Washington

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Emmanuel Macron has said Donald Trump’s comments about his marriage were “neither elegant nor up to standard” after the US president put on an accent and mocked his French counterpart and his wife during a private lunch in Washington.

Arriving in South Korea on Thursday, Macron made clear his displeasure at Trump’s comments, which appeared briefly in a video on the White House YouTube channel before being removed.

Man pleads guilty to preventing lawful burial regarding 30 bodies at Hull funeral home

Funeral director Robert Bush had previously admitted to dozens of counts of fraud at hearing in October

A fraudulent funeral director has admitted giving families the wrong ashes, lying to them, stealing from them and also stealing from charities while he was “trusted by people at a time they needed him most”.

Robert Bush pleaded guilty to preventing a lawful burial after 30 bodies and a quantity of ashes were found at a funeral home in Hull in 2024, in a case that shocked an entire city.

Novo Nordisk says Wegovy pill outperforms Lilly’s oral GLP-1 in cross-trial comparison

Novo and Eli Lilly are both trying to shape the narrative of their rival pills, considered to be the start of the next phase of the weight-loss drug era.

Rams star Puka Nacua in rehab amid claims of antisemitic remark and biting incident

• Player was in rehab before lawsuit was filed, says attorney

• Wide receiver’s lawyer says client innocent of wrongdoing

Los Angeles Rams star Puka Nacua is in rehab and was there before he was sued by a woman who says he made an antisemitic statement and bit her on the shoulder, according to his attorney.

“He was in [rehab] a substantial period of time before any of these allegations broke ... and he’s scheduled to be there for a while longer,” Levi McCathern told The California Post.

McCathern told the newspaper Nacua’s decision to enter rehab was not a direct response to the lawsuit his accuser filed against him by Madison Atiabi last month, but an attempt “to improve his overall behavior in every aspect of his life.”

Artemis II launches into orbit as NASA begins historic moon mission

NASA's Artemis II astronauts launched on a nine-and-a-half-day mission around the moon and back.

What spring festivals remind us about food, family and fresh starts

Eid, Nowruz, Passover and Easter each tell their own story, but all are bound by generosity, memory and hope

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Spring has a way of bringing us together. Light stretches into the evening, markets brim with green shoots and, across kitchens, tables begin to fill again. Over these weeks, four festivals – Eid, Nowruz, Passover and Easter – bring something distinct in story and ritual, yet all four are threaded with food, family and the quiet insistence of renewal.

Eid arrives at the end of Ramadan with a particular kind of joy – one sharpened by restraint and softened by generosity. The table is abundant but never careless: dates to break the fast, fragrant rice dishes, slow-cooked meats, sweets soaked in syrup or dusted with sugar. In many homes there is maamoul, a delicate semolina biscuit filled with dates or nuts, and whole spreads of celebratory dishes tied to memory as much as to taste.

Trump makes case for Iran war. And, SCOTUS leans toward upholding birthright citizenship

President Trump addressed the nation last night, making his case for war with Iran. And, the Supreme Court majority seemed inclined to rule against the Trump administration on birthright citizenship.

More than half of World Cup countries face extra costs as Fifa fails to agree US tax deal

• Fifa has not agreed tax exemption with US government

• Burden will fall disproportionately on smaller nations

More than half the countries that have qualified for the World Cup are facing additional costs and potential losses due to Fifa’s failure to agree a blanket tax exemption with the United States government and significant variance in the host country’s international tax treaties.

As a not-for-profit organisation Fifa has had tax-free status in the US since the 1994 World Cup, but that exemption does not apply to all of the 48 qualifiers, whose national associations must pay a range of federal, state and city taxes on their earnings from the tournament this summer.

The US-Israel war on Iran is accelerating de-dollarization and America’s decline | Ahmed Moor

De-dollarization promises to reorder the world, reducing American power globally

The US-Israel war on Iran is expensive. It’s expensive in terms of human lives, first of all. It’s expensive too, in pure currency – about $12bn a week for the US. And it’s expensive in how it’s causing the tectonic structures that underpin our global economy to shift. De-dollarization, the name given to the process countries undertake in unwinding their reliance on the dollar, promises to reorder the world, reducing American power globally. Its impact will be felt domestically in what we pay to borrow and whether we can afford to borrow at all.

Iran’s near-total blockade of the strait of Hormuz has had a dramatic impact on the prices of oil and natural gas, which puts major inflationary pressure on the economy of every country in the world. Practically, inflation makes people and businesses poorer, a process that reinforces itself if it’s not stopped (which is partly why central banks exist).

Ahmed Moor is a writer and fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace

I handed over my dating life to AI. I don’t think she’ll see me again

In week five of Rhik Samadder’s diary, our resident AI skeptic decided to let AI take the lead on a date. If uncanny valley was a conversational style, it’s this

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I’m single. Is it because I am emotionally avoidant, waiting on a unicorn, or under 6ft tall? Perhaps a spicy meatball of all three?

Or could it be that I haven’t used the magic of AI yet?

Reform housing spokesperson sacked after Grenfell ‘everyone dies’ remarks

Simon Dudley fired after his comments were condemned by prime minister and families of fire victims

• UK politics live – latest updates

Reform UK’s housing spokesperson has been sacked from his role after he described the Grenfell Tower fire as a “tragedy” but said that “everyone dies in the end”.

Keir Starmer had called on Nigel Farage to sack Simon Dudley, a former head of Homes England, after comments which were condemned by Grenfell families and others.

US lifts sanctions on Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez

US moves towards reestablishing working relations between two countries after abducting President Nicolás Maduro

The US has lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, in the latest step towards normalising relations between the two countries after US forces abducted her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife.

The couple were taken to New York after their abduction in January to face charges of alleged drug trafficking, to which both have pleaded not guilty.

How Denver Summit smashed the NWSL attendance record in their first home game

NWSL newcomers attracted more than 60,000 fans to Mile High Stadium for landmark fixture against Washington

On Saturday in Denver, the NWSL set a new single-game attendance record for the second time in less than a year. This time, it was the league’s 16th franchise, Denver Summit, who did the honors in their first home game, hosting 63,004 fans at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium (home to the Denver Broncos). The league’s new milestone eclipses the previous record by about 23,000.

Denver’s entry into the NWSL has been a fast-paced and ambitious whirlwind. They were officially announced as the league’s 16th team in January 2025. Three days later, they became the fastest expansion franchise to sell 5,000 season tickets, with 5,280 sold in three days. They went on to sell out their 8,500 season-ticket allotment in short order, adding thousands to a waitlist.

Life Is Strange: Reunion review – a decade-long story comes to an impassioned close

PlayStation 5 (version tested), Xbox, Nintendo Switch 2, PC; Deck Nine/Square Enix
Max and Chloe, the two teen protagonists of the 2015 game, reunite as adults – giving players the chance to finally finish their journey

In 2015, Life Is Strange stood out for two reasons: its female protagonists, a depressingly rare feature at the time, and its unique brand of millennial cringe. The thirtysomething Frenchmen who created this series may not have had the best grasp of the 2010s teen lexicon, but they did have a good gauge on what’s important about any coming-of-age story, and that’s the relationships between the characters. Max Caulfield, the shy, time-travelling wannabe photographer, and Chloe Price, the traumatised, punk-rock tearaway, had a memorably intense friendship. It was the heart and soul of that game, and now, 11 years later, they are reunited as adults in this final chapter of their story.

For a lot of players, Max and Chloe felt like more than best friends. The game’s original developers were not brave enough to make this explicit in 2015, but newer custodians Deck Nine retconned a romantic relationship between Max and Chloe into 2024’s Life Is Strange: Double Exposure. You can still play Reunion as if the two really were just friends, resulting in some awkward ambiguity in some scenes. Whichever way you slice it, though, this is a game about first love, and how it always stays with you, even when its object does not. And damned if it didn’t make me feel something.

Trump says Iran war will wrap up "very shortly," but warns of more strikes in coming weeks

President Trump said in a speech that the U.S. will complete its military mission in Iran "very shortly," and that U.S. forces have achieved "overwhelming victories."

Archaeologists discover wreck of Danish warship sunk by Nelson 225 years ago

Divers in race against time to unearth wreck of the Dannebroge before seabed becomes construction site

More than 200 years after being sunk by Adm Horatio Nelson and the British fleet, a Danish warship has been discovered on the seabed of Copenhagen harbour by marine archaeologists.

Working in thick sediment and almost zero visibility 15 metres (49ft) beneath the waves, divers are in a race against time to unearth the 19th-century wreck of the Dannebroge before it becomes a construction site in a new housing district being built off the Danish coast.

Iran continues strikes across the Persian Gulf despite Trump's warning

Iran continued to target Gulf countries with ballistic missiles and drones Thursday as the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad issued a security alert warning of attacks by Iran-backed militias.

Baked cheesy smoked haddock and lemon icebox pudding: Henry Harris’ alternative Easter lunch

An easy and enjoyable Sunday supper made up of a cheesy fish dish and a biscuity iced dessert

Sometimes all you want is a hot, bubbling dish and a spoon, and for me today’s cheesy haddock is that dish – a 15-minute supper to be enjoyed in front of the telly with a salad or a large bowl of hot buttered peas. Add a lemony, biscuity iced dessert, and you have a light, very easy and enjoyable supper that’s almost the perfect close to a long Easter weekend.

The Guardian aims to publish recipes for sustainable fish. Check ratings in your region: UK; Australia; US.

These recipes are edited extracts from The Racine Effect: Classic French Recipes from a Lifetime in the Kitchen, by Henry Harris, published by Quadrille at £40. To order a copy for £36, go to guardianbookshop.com

Ending birthright citizenship would change the meaning of America | Moira Donegan

The supreme court appears poised to reject Trump’s attack on a foundation of US identity. We must hope it follows through

American opponents of birthright citizenship – the right of all those born on the soil of a country to claim full legal rights and political representation in that nation – like to point out that many countries don’t have it. On Wednesday at the supreme court, during the oral arguments in Trump v Barbara, the case challenging Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship in the United States by executive order, the Trump administration’s solicitor general, John Sauer, claimed that “almost every country” denies birthright citizenship. Trump himself made the unusual choice to attend the oral arguments in person, signaling his investment in the issue and perhaps hoping that his presence would intimidate the justices into ruling in his favor. But he left soon after Cecillia Wang, a lawyer for the ACLU who represented his opponents in court, began speaking. Not long after he left the supreme court building, Trump used Truth Social, his proprietary social media platform, to echo the rightwing argument about the supposed rarity of birthright citizenship worldwide. “We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow ‘Birthright’ Citizenship! President DONALD J. TRUMP” he posted.

This is not true. The United States’ birthright citizenship – which was originally established in very plain, explicit terms in the 14th amendment, and has been reaffirmed twice by Congress and by more than a century of supreme court precedent – is typical of the Americas. In the western hemisphere, only a handful of countries deny automatic full citizenship to infants born within their borders. They are contrasted with the rest of North and South America, where the legacy of slavery led most states to adopt birthright citizenship.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

‘Everyone is thinking about oil prices’: is Iran using the war to hide a surge in executions?

Regime has long used the death penalty to suppress dissent but now appears to be withholding information on the killing of hundreds of prisoners, say rights groups

It has been almost three months since Peyvand Naimi, 30, was arrested in connection with the mass street protests that spread across Iran in January before being brutally suppressed. Since then, he has been detained for more than a month in solitary confinement, appeared in a televised forced confession, and has undergone two mock hangings, beatings, interrogation, psychological torture and starvation.

He has been accused of involvement in the deaths of security agents during the protests and of celebrating the death of Iran’s former supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, but his family insist he has done nothing wrong and that no formal charges have been made. He has been denied access to a lawyer; his relatives fear he now faces execution.

Trump polled advisers about replacing Tulsi Gabbard as intelligence chief

Exclusive: Pressure intensifies for Gabbard after president’s displeasure with Iran war testimony

Donald Trump has privately asked cabinet officials in recent weeks whether he should replace his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, venting frustration that she shielded a former deputy who undercut his rationale for war with Iran, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

It is not clear that Trump will actually fire Gabbard over the episode. Currently, there is no standout candidate to take the job, and advisers have cautioned that creating a high-profile vacancy before a successor is ready could cause unhelpful political distractions.

As hoops betting spikes, it's New Hampshire and other states vs. prediction markets

In New Hampshire and states with legalized sports gambling, wagering helps fund government services. But now competitors like Kalshi and Polymarket are getting a cut of the action.

Made in Fire Island: how artists were at the heart of the LGBTQ+ mecca

A new book shows that the work of Robert Mapplethorpe and Peter Hujar – as well as a new generation of artists – would not be the same without the New York island

In the summer of 2015, Leilah Babirye, a sculptor, left her home town in Uganda and arrived for an artist residency in the bohemian, beach-y queer splendor of Fire Island’s Cherry Grove. She tells the story in a new book, Fire Island Art: 100 Years, released this month by Monacelli. After Googling “LGBTQ+ artist residences”, she earned a spot at the Fire Island Artist Residency, established four years earlier to make the famed enclave more accessible. But the lesbian daughter of a conservative minister wasn’t prepared for just how queer the place was. With its roving clusters of people buzzing around the dunes and pool parties to show off the various currencies – physical, financial, interpersonal – they had to spend, she says, “I thought Cherry Grove was America.” Was she wrong?

The story of the modern Fire Island is, in some ways, a particularly American one, in which outcasts light out for the territories to make their dreams come true. In the case of the picturesque barrier island off the coast of Long Island, those dreams were both sexual and creative from the start. Edited by John Dempsey, island resident and president of the Fire Island Pines Historical Society, Fire Island Art: 100 Years traces a legacy begun by the pre-war trio of Paul Cadmus, Jared French and Margaret French, who, as part of the artistic collaboration PaJaMa, made beguiling paintings and photographs of the unconventional intimacies they formed while summering among the island’s nooks and crannies.

I need to declutter my life. But I can’t even give my stuff away | Adrian Chiles

I bought a book that might have helped – but I’ve already mislaid it. Am I a lost cause?

Does anyone want some bits of guttering? They’re zinc, I think. Free to a good, or indeed any home! I’ll send them to you or even, to be on the safe side, deliver them myself. Because it would be mad to keep them, although not quite as mad as throwing them away. Please help.

I get this a lot, which is why I’ve got too much stuff. There’s stuff I’ve bought that I shouldn’t have. There’s stuff that I’ve bought, used, and is now of no use, because it’s become obsolete or it’s conked out. In the case of the guttering it’s the leftovers from a renovation, so not entirely my fault. And always, all around the house there are random bits and bobs of all shapes and sizes which I could and should get shot of. As a cry to myself for help I bought a book about decluttering called Clutter’s Last Stand. It was quite good but then, with weary irony, I lost it among the clutter. Perhaps it’ll show up one day.

Have Trump's tariffs worked? This is where things stand a year after 'Liberation Day'

It has been a year since President Trump announced double-digit tariffs on imports from around the world. So far, those levies have not produced the economic boom the president promised.

Trump's VA killed a home loan program. Vets are now losing their homes because of it

Foreclosures on VA loans are at their highest level in a decade. VA has a fix but it is months away and could still leave vets worse off than most other homeowners.

‘Swifts spark joy!’ Why these beautiful birds need our help – and 10 ways to give it

Britain’s swift population fell by two-thirds between 1995 and 2023. Make their lives a little easier with a bit more food and more places to nest

Swifts are wheeling, screaming endurance athletes. They don’t touch the earth for nine months of the year and fly about 14,000 miles annually – travelling from sub-Saharan Africa to nest in the UK, then back again. In Britain, they’re the sign that summer is coming or taking its leave. In between, they provide a heart-soaring display of beauty. No wonder they’re beloved.

“Swifts spark joy,” says Hannah Bourne-Taylor, a passionate swift advocate and author of Nature Needs You: The Fight to Save Our Swifts.

You be the judge: should my mum stop asking me to buy her new headphones?

Henry says Maggie is constantly losing them; she thinks her son is making a lot of noise about nothing. It’s up to you to give them a fair hearing

• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

Mum doesn’t look after her headphones because she knows I’ll always be there to buy her new ones

I’m 76, and don’t like online shopping. It only takes Henry 30 seconds to buy a new pair

‘Ring the alarm! Wake up! Be human!’: Aurora and Tom Rowlands on their new dance-pop duo Tomora

The Norwegian singer-songwriter and the Chemical Brother have combined their talents, and names, to create a wildly inventive new band. The collaboration has gone smoothly so far – but will they soon need separate tour buses?

The two members of Tomora are contemplating their forthcoming debut live shows, a slate that includes an attention-grabbing slot at this month’s Coachella festival. “We’re still kind of working it out, and I’m getting a bit, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on?’” worries Tom Rowlands, best known as one half of Grammy-winning banger merchants the Chemical Brothers, and now one half of Tomora. Rowlands’ mindset, however, contrasts heavily with that of Aurora, his new musical partner.

“I don’t have any stress in my being,” the Norwegian singer-songwriter and pop experimentalist says cheerily, sitting on the floor of the duo’s north London label office with her shoes off. “I’m always like: it’s fine,” she shrugs. “Yes, the house is on fire, but we’ll work it out.”

‘We’re trapped’: developer’s unpaid debt leaves London flat owners unable to sell

Hackney leaseholders feel council made the problem worse by leaving £850,000 debt uncollected for eight years

Leaseholders in east London have said they are “trapped in unsellable homes” because of an £850,000 debt owed by the building’s developer to Hackney council, who have let it go unpaid for eight years.

The 17 leaseholders, who live in a block of flats in Upper Clapton, have appealed to the council for help but their pleas, including requests for a meeting, have been ignored.

The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley review – the laureate of bad relationships

Riley has always skewered cruelty with shattering exactitude. What’s new in this story of two old friends in London is the delicacy she brings to moments of tenderness

In the opening pages of The Palm House, London is enveloped in a dust storm blown up from the Sahara. As old friends Laura and Putnam meet for a drink in a Southwark pub, a packet of crisps open between them, the occluded atmosphere renders the city unsettlingly strange: the sky is “dark yellow … like iodine”, while the pictures in the evening paper show a “blood red sun”, a “jaundiced” City square, a “prodigious cloud, menacing the Shard”.

Like a Saharan dust storm, Gwendoline Riley’s work recasts our relationship with the familiar, transforming ordinary, unremarkable lives of her characters into something startling and new. Her female protagonists, often writers themselves, struggle with bad relationships: in First Love, shortlisted for the 2017 Women’s prize, Neve grapples with an abusive marriage, while Bridget in 2021’s quietly brutal My Phantoms is caught up with her desperately self-involved mother. The mothers in Riley’s novels are mostly monstrous and persistent, the fathers mostly monstrous and dead. Her stories are not structured around linear plots – nothing much happens – but Riley’s disquieting acuity and her spare and unsparing prose makes them shimmer with tension. She has a phenomenal ear for dialogue, for the myriad ways in which people unknowingly lay themselves bare, both in what they say and, more agonisingly, in what they don’t – or can’t. She is the laureate of disconnection, her bone-dry humour edged with the vertiginous lurch of despair.

‘Kids would rather be down the park’: readers reflect on child-free pubs

With public houses increasingly restricting or banning children, we asked for your thoughts on adult-only pubs

A growing number of pubs in the UK are restricting or banning children, citing safety concerns, changing atmospheres and lost trade. We asked people their thoughts on adult-only pubs.

Many who contacted us supported child-free pubs, believing adult-only spaces were important, but a good proportion said they would change their mind if children were “properly supervised by parents”.

Artemis II crew begins "crazy first day" in space after exhilarating launch

NASA's Artemis II astronauts will spend about 24 hours orbiting the Earth and running checks on their spacecraft and life support systems before heading to the moon.

Rachel Roddy’s Easter cannelloni with spinach, peas, ricotta and mozzarella – recipe

Cannelloni made with sheets of fresh egg pasta are a treat, especially on a feast day, and they can be made the day before

Fresh sheets smelling of fresh air or fabric softener (or both) with hospital corners are one of life’s great pleasures. As are fresh sheets of egg pasta – the sort that comes in squat boxes protected by clingfilm and found in the fridge section alongside ravioli. They are also one of the most useful and certainly the most multi-talented of all the pasta shapes.

That they are labelled lasagne is limiting; of course, they can be lasagne, but they could just as easily be numerous other shapes. The most easy-going of which is maltagliati, meaning badly cut, which tells you everything you need to know about the approach required as you cut them (using a knife, pizza wheel or pair of scissors) into uneven bits that are ideal in all sorts of soups, but especially those with beans. With slightly more precision, the sheets can be turned into 1cm-wide ribbons (short tagliatelle, if you like) for meat or vegetable ragu. Similar ribbons, made with a fluted pasta cutting wheel, can be mafalde, while thicker ribbons create a sort of ersatz pappardelle. All ribbons, though, can be cut into quadrucci (little squares) – another shape ideal for soup. Larger squares can be mandilli de sea (silk handkerchiefs), which are great dressed with pesto. If the pasta is fresh enough, rectangles can also be pinched into farfalle (butterflies), although I think bow ties is a better description.

Arctic ice loss brings dual heatwaves to Europe and eastern Asia

The Barents Sea might seem too far away to affect our weather – but research shows it does

The Barents Sea, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia, might seem too far away to have an impact on our weather. But new research shows that ice loss on the sea is increasing the frequency of concurrent summer heatwaves across Europe and eastern Asia.

Jilan Jiang from the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences in Bejing, and colleagues, studied ice data and global weather patterns going back to 1979. The researchers discovered a link between stronger spring and summer ice loss over the Barents Sea since 2000 and dual heatwaves over Europe and eastern Asia.

Larva lamped: Colin the Caterpillar loses to eight lookalikes in cake taste test

Which? testers complain M&S sponge is ‘too dry’ as Waitrose’s Cecil tops the tree with ‘best buy’ gong

After a busy 35 years as a British party favourite, not to mention a bruising court battle with an alleged copycat, you might think Colin the Caterpillar had earned his place at the top.

But the “original” chocolate caterpillar cake has now been labelled the worst, bested by lookalikes in a taste test.

Thursday news quiz: daring dogs, delinquent capybaras and far too many bananas

Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?

It is time for the Thursday news quiz, where, thanks to our illustration from Anaïs Mims, you must decide whether you are gliding serenely across the waters of knowledge, your elegant neck forming a perfect question mark, or paddling furiously beneath the surface, one wrong answer away from an undignified flap. Fifteen questions on topical headlines, pop culture and general knowledge await. There are no prizes, but we always enjoy hearing how you got on in the comments. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 241