Senate reportedly makes progress on DHS funding deal amid turmoil at US airports – live

Senate majority leader John Thune tells Punchbowl News he thinks Democrats have Republicans ‘last and final’ offer to strike a funding deal

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We are awaiting the start of Donald Trump’s latest cabinet meeting, which was due to start at 10am eastern time. This will be the 11th such session Trump has staged since re-entering the White House in January last year. Previous meetings have been open and freewheeling – as well as newsworthy.

The Pentagon is preparing plans for a “final blow” in the war with Iran that could include deploying ground troops and a massive bombing campaign, Axios reports, citing four sources – including two US officials.

From Laurel Hubbard to sex testing in five years: why the Olympics U-turned on transgender rules

The IOC’s shift in position on trans women in elite sports is seismic, but new president Kirsty Coventry is reflecting a changed political climate

By any measure, it amounts to one of the most astonishing U-turns from a governing body in modern times. Four and a half years ago, the International Olympic Committee was lauding the appearance of the first transgender weightlifter, Laurel Hubbard, at an Olympics, and issuing a framework to sports saying that transgender women “should not be deemed to have an unfair or disproportionate competitive advantage” over biological women.

Now it has not only ripped up every last morsel of that guidance but also performed a spectacular 180 turn as well.

Fannie Mae accepts first crypto-backed mortgage product

Better Home and Finance is partnering with Coinbase on a crypto-backed mortgage that conforms to Fannie Mae guidelines.

Nicolás Maduro appears again in New York court on ‘narco-terrorism’ charges

Deposed Venezuelan president and his wife, who both pleaded not guilty, were captured by US military in January

The deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro again appeared in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday for his “narco-terrorism” case after his capture by US military forces earlier this year.

The hearing opened with the defense and prosecution arguing over whether Maduro should be allowed to use Venezuelan government funds to pay for his defense. The defense has insisted that the US is violating the deposed leader’s constitutional rights by blocking government money from being used for his legal costs.

Middle East crisis live: Trump claims Iran ‘begging to make a deal’ and has let some tankers through strait as a ‘present’

US president addresses conflict at cabinet meeting with fresh barbs against Nato and the UK in particular

• Analysis: Trump pitches peace plan but military buildups rarely veer to off-ramp

An Iranian envoy has said South Korean ships can pass through the strait of Hormuz only after coordinating with Tehran, the Yonhap News Agency has reported.

Such an agreement had to be reached in advance of the transit, said Saeed Khuzechi, the Iranian ambassador to South Korea, at a press conference in response to a question about guarantees for South Korean vessels to navigate the vital conduit for oil.

DOJ admits ICE courthouse arrests relied on erroneous information

Hundreds of immigrants have been arrested at immigration courthouses. It is unclear whether the federal government's admission could lead to some of those arrests being overturned.

Senate holds test vote on DHS funding as Democrats weigh GOP offer

The Senate is holding a test vote on advancing a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. Follow live updates.

Trump describes UK aircraft carriers as ‘toys’ in latest anti-Nato jibe

Starmer tells MPs he will not react to US president’s repeated insults amid Iran war

• Middle East crisis – live updates

• UK politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump has dismissed British warships as “toys” in his latest jibe at Nato countries for their lack of involvement in the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Speaking at the White House on Thursday, he claimed he had told the UK: “Don’t bother, we don’t need it.”

Trump has previously alleged that he requested two aircraft carriers from the UK that Keir Starmer had initially rejected and then offered to send. No 10 has denied that a request was made or denied.

Americans face calls to cut their energy usage as Iran war drags on

As oil prices surge, some experts are urging consumers to take energy-conserving steps like working from home or driving less.

DOJ close to finalizing deal to hand over voter roll data to DHS, sources say

DOJ plans to turn over voter data it's collecting from states to DHS for use in immigration and criminal investigations, sources say.

Nepal’s PM-to-be uses rap to call for unity in first post-election message

Balendra Shah, 35, is a symbol of change in country whose government was toppled last year in youth-led uprising

Nepal’s rapper turned politician Balendra Shah, who is about to be sworn in as prime minister, has issued his first post-election message in the form of a rap urging unity.

Hours before the release he swore an oath as a newly elected lawmaker, and he is due to become the Himalayan republic’s new prime minister on Friday.

Maduro held in a "jail inside of a jail" under special restrictions, sources say

Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife appeared Thursday in federal court in Manhattan.

Lawmakers call for Air Canada chief to resign after English-only message to plane crash victims

Quebec’s legislature passes vote calling on Michael Rousseau to step down, citing ‘lack of respect for the French language’ and families in mourning

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The chief executive of Air Canada has apologized for his inability to express himself in French after politicians called for his resignation for his English-only message of condolence after Sunday’s deadly crash in New York.

But lawmakers in Canada’s lone Francophone province rejected the mea culpa as “too little too late” and overwhelmingly passed a motion calling for the head of Canada’s flagship carrier to step down.

MEPs back plans for ‘return hubs’, raising fears of ‘human rights black holes’

European parliament votes in favour of sending refused asylum seekers to offshore hubs, in ‘historic setback for refugee rights’

People with no right to stay in the EU could be detained for up to two years or sent to offshore centres described by experts as possible “human rights black holes” under plans voted for by the European parliament on Thursday.

An alliance of mostly centre-right and far-right lawmakers voted for a proposal to increase returns of undocumented migrants to their home countries, in a further sign of strain on the grand coalition of centrist political forces that has traditionally driven EU lawmaking.

United Airlines, flight attendants reach labor deal for first raises since pandemic

United Airlines and its flight attendants union reached a new labor deal.

Finnish MP convicted for saying homosexuality is ‘developmental disorder’

Christian Democrat Päivi Räsänen, who was fined €1,800, was supported by conservative US group Alliance Defending Freedom

A Finnish member of parliament has been found guilty by the country’s supreme court of inciting hatred after claiming that homosexuality was a “developmental disorder”, in a conviction that prompted criticism from far-right government ministers.

Päivi Räsänen, of the Christian Democrats, made the claims in a pamphlet first published in 2004 and reproduced on the website of the Luther Foundation Finland and the Finnish Evangelical Mission Diocese in 2007.

Iran says Trump ‘negotiating with himself’: what next for war? - The Latest

Donald Trump insists Iran is still interested in cutting a peace deal despite Tehran rejecting the US plan. Iran has now put forward a five-point counterproposal and says the war will end on its own terms. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s senior international correspondent, Julian Borger

Spanish woman wins legal battle to end her life under euthanasia law

Noelia Castillo, 25, has struggled with psychiatric illness since she was young and tried to kill herself in October 2022

A Spanish woman who spent months fighting her father for the right to euthanasia after being sexually assaulted and becoming paraplegic is expected to end to her life on Thursday.

Noelia Castillo, 25, has struggled with psychiatric illness since she was a teenager and tried to kill herself in October 2022 after being sexually assaulted. The attempt left her in constant pain and using a wheelchair. Eighteen months later, she used Spain’s euthanasia law, which was introduced in 2021, to secure permission to end her life.

In Spain, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 900 525 100. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected] or [email protected]

Federal Reserve urges judge to deny bid to revive Jerome Powell probe subpoenas

President Donald Trump, in his latest jibe at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, called him a "moron,' and blasted him over keeping interest rates too high.

‘Tehran’s tollbooth’: a visual guide to how a trickle of ships still passes through strait of Hormuz

Many of the vessels willing to make the crossing are taking an alternative route through Iranian waters

Threats to shipping have effectively closed the strait of Hormuz since the US-Israel war on Iran began four weeks ago – upending global oil and gas supplies and sending energy prices soaring.

In normal times, tankers carry about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies through the narrow channel and on to the rest of the world, while about a third of the global fertilisers necessary for half of the world’s food production pass through in dry bulk vessels.

Brussels opens investigation into Snapchat amid concern over children’s safety

European Commission says social messaging app is exposing children to grooming and sexual exploitation

Brussels has opened an investigation into Snapchat over concerns the social messaging app is exposing children to grooming, sexual exploitation and other criminality.

In a separate decision on Thursday, the European Commission also said four pornographic websites were failing to prevent minors seeing adult content, harming young people’s mental health and fuelling negative gender attitudes.

Minnesota elections office subpoenaed in probe over state voter rolls, sources say

The Minnesota Secretary of State's Office has been ordered to turn over certain voter records.

The Quad God reborn: Ilia Malinin leads world championships after Olympic shock

• American on course for victory after short program

• 21-year-old had disastrous sake at Winter Olympics

Ilia Malinin bounced back from his disappointment at this year’s Winter Olympics by leading after the short program at the figure skating world championships on Thursday.

Malinin, sporting a new haircut, gave fans what they expected from the defending two-time world champion at O2 Arena in Prague.

Trump to Congress: End DHS shutdown or face 'very drastic measures'

Lawmakers are stalled on funding the Department of Homeland Security as airport delays mount.

Savannah Guthrie says "we cannot be at peace without knowing" as search for mom continues

In Savannah Guthrie's first interview since her mother, Nancy Guthrie, disappeared, the "Today" co-host described her daily struggles. Police believe Nancy Guthrie was taken from her Tucson home in the middle of the night. She was reported missing Feb. 1. Jonathan Vigliotti reports.

Israel says it has killed Iran naval chief overseeing Strait of Hormuz blockade

Israel's Defense Forces said Thursday that Iranian naval commander Alireza Tangsiri has been killed in a "precise strike" in the port city of Bandar Abbas.

Passengers describe surviving LaGuardia collision: "I'm a walking miracle"

Rebecca Liquori and Rachel Mariotti worked together to remove the exit door and help passengers off the plane after the deadly collision at New York's LaGuardia Airport.

Savannah Guthrie fears her fame could be reason for mother’s disappearance

Today show host calls 84-year-old mother’s disappearance ‘unbearable’ in first interview since possible kidnapping

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Savannah Guthrie says she fears her own fame could have been the reason for her mother Nancy’s disappearance, which she has called “unbearable” in her first interview since the possible kidnapping.

Guthrie, a main co-anchor of the NBC News morning show Today, discussed the possible reasons for the disappearance of Nancy, who is 84 years old and was reported missing on 1 February from her home near Tucson, Arizona, in an interview with Guthrie’s colleague Hoda Kotb.

Meta's court defeats add to Zuckerberg's recent woes, represent 'watershed event' for social media

Meta suffered stinging defeats in two separate trials involving child safety that underscore shifting public sentiment toward the social media industry.

Hook, line and cinema: why boxing films are still a knockout

The BFI’s new season, The Cinematic Life of Boxing, shows how this captivating genre has endured for more than a century and celebrates its ability to inspire generations

Almost as soon as film was invented, it became apparent that boxing was a prime candidate for a spectacle to be showcased by the nascent artform – and to help develop it. Small wonder: as new technologies sought to capture high-stakes emotion, physical intensity, furious spectacle, rivalry and personal turbulence, boxingseemed uniquely capable of absorbing these narratives. That it straddled the class gap further expanded its appeal in this new entertainment – one which would itself foster fresh interest in the sport.

The first sports film was an 1894 short of a six-round match between Mike Leonard and Jack Cushing. Only 23 seconds survive, yet its impact still smarts, 132 years on. Scores of directors have since been drawn to pugilistic stories: everything from prize fights to amateur spars to bare-knuckle brawls. In fact, no sport has been rendered cinematically to quite the same degree, whether through dramas, biopics or documentaries. The British Film Institute’s new season, The Cinematic Life of Boxing, studies this long, symbiotic fascination, and how film has successfully tapped into the sport’s psychological, sociological and political dimensions.

MLB faces a historic shift as potential lockout, media rights and other league changes loom

Several changes await MLB after this season, including its CBA's expiration, new media partners, and potential expansion and league realignment.

Israeli strike hits Deir al-Balah camp in Gaza, killing at least one person – video

At least one person was killed and several others were injured after an Israeli strike hit the Deir al-Balah camp. Witnesses told the Associated Press that they had received warning calls from apparent Israeli military personnel before the strike, asking them to evacuate and move about 500 metres away from the tent camp. Gaza's health ministry says at least 680 people have been ⁠killed by Israeli fire since the October ceasefire. Israel says four soldiers were killed by militants in Gaza in the same period

Alexander Kluge, author and key film-maker in the New German Cinema movement, dies aged 94

A winner of the Golden Lion at Venice, Kluge was a committed pacifist and one of the last living torchbearers of the Frankfurt school of neo-Marxist cultural criticism

Alexander Kluge, a German film-maker and author who elevated cinematic collages into an art form and won the top prize at the Venice film festival in 1968, has died aged 94, his publisher has announced.

A former assistant of expressionist master Fritz Lang, Kluge was an accomplished director of intellectually rewarding, if at times oblique filmic essays, and an ever-productive writer of short fiction.

America's first AI-fueled war is unfolding right now in Iran. This is how we got here

Bloomberg journalist Katrina Manson discusses the Pentagon's secretive campaign to build America's AI warfare capabilities and the obsessive Marine colonel behind it. Her new book is Project Maven.

Reps Ro Khanna and Tim Burchett to push fraud probe across all 50 states

Khanna, D-Calif., who is separately leading Democrats on a bill to impose a federal wealth tax, told CNBC in December he would introduce the fraud probe as soon as he found a Republican cosponsor.

Would you use cadaver fat for a boob job or butt lift? Some people already do

Cadaver fat from organ and tissue donors is being used for cosmetic procedures – and yup, it’s legal in the US, writes advice columnist Jessica DeFino

Hi Ugly,

I recently became aware of new cosmetic injectables derived from cadaver fat – as in, made of dead people. Apparently the fat is harvested from organ and tissue donors and used for procedures like Brazilian butt lifts and boob jobs.

Why is this column called ‘Ask Ugly’?

How should I be styling my pubic hair?

How do I deal with imperfection?

My father had plastic surgery. Now he wants me and my mother to get work done

Sperm get lost in space, Australian research into microgravity impacts suggests

Study into how fertilisation could work in space finds sperm may get disorientated when trying to find an egg

Sperm in space are likely to get disoriented and lost while struggling to find their way to an egg, a new study has found.

When exposed to microgravity in experiments, sperm tumble around like an untethered astronaut, according to Adelaide University researchers.

Tom Brady, 48, says he explored return to NFL but league ‘don’t like that idea very much’

• Role as minority owner of Raiders causes problems

• Former QB says he is ‘very happily retired’

Tom Brady says he explored the idea of making a return to the NFL as a player but the league “don’t like that idea very much”.

Brady’s last NFL game came in a defeat to the Dallas Cowboys in January 2023. Since then he has become a part-owner of the Las Vegas Raiders as well as a television analyst for Fox. A spokesperson for the league said that Brady, who turns 49 in August, would need to divest his stake in the Raiders if he was to return to playing.

Football Daily | World Cup playoffs mean it’s crunch time for Gattuso, Bellamy and Potter

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It’s Geopolitics World Cup playoff day, dear reader, and Gibraltar are playing Latvia in a winner-takes-all clash. Sadly, for football romantics, that game is the first leg of a Nations League promotion/relegation playoff. Uefa’s scheduling feels a bit cruel, like making some poor flunky do the graveyard shift while Bacchanalia Revisited takes place on the floor above. And what a party it’s going to be. Sure, the process of qualifying has become so convoluted that even Bobby Seagull doesn’t fully understand it, but now we’ve reached the stage where everything is terrifyingly simple. There are no second chances any more, and the only guarantee is of thrills, spills and bellyaches. Sixteen European teams are involved in Thursday’s semi-finals; by Tuesday night, four will be on their way to the GWC and 12 will be wondering whether they can still legitimately cherish the memories they made en route to the playoffs.

I’m so saddened by the news of John Toshack’s dementia diagnosis, the fate of too many from his era. He was my first footballing idol, a big handsome hero of the team I knew and loved as long as I’d lived. I would save a sweet for home-game Saturdays and ask my dad to pass it to him at half-time (of course a Kop season ticket didn’t preclude that!), and Dad always said Tosh had thanked me. It’s good to know he has detailed memories of his many days of glory, and I hope life is kind to him in those remaining” – Kathryn Nolan.

Riccardo Calafiori complains that Italy gaffer Gennaro Gattuso calls him more often than his mum does (Wednesday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). What’s the problem? I’d be ecstatic if Gattuso called me more than my mother. It’d be terrific to talk about football with a World Cup, Big Cup and Serie A winner. My mother tends to focus more on weekend plans, the noise level in restaurants, and how often my kids do or don’t call her. No offence Mum, but I’d rather talk tactics than family stuff” – Mike Wilner.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Rebecca Hendin on Donald Trump’s 15-point peace plan – cartoon

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Uruguay faces dilemma from the deep: what to do with a salvaged Nazi eagle?

Sculpture was retrieved from German battleship sunk in 1939 Battle of the River Plate but its future is controversial

The enormous bronze sculpture of an eagle clutching a swastika in its talons spent nearly 70 years lying at the bottom of the River Plate, off the coast of Uruguay.

After being salvaged in 2006, it briefly went on display in the Uruguayan capital – before the government reconsidered the wisdom of granting such prominence to a Nazi emblem, and the eagle was hidden away on a military base.

Google warns quantum computers could hack encrypted systems by 2029

Banks, governments and tech providers urged to upgrade security because current systems will soon be obsolete

Banks, governments and technology providers need to be prepared for quantum computer hackers capable of breaking most existing encryption systems by 2029, Google has warned.

The tech company said in a blogpost that quantum computers would pose a “significant threat to current cryptographic standards” before the end of the decade and urged other companies to follow its lead.

House Dem accused of stealing FEMA funds set to face rare ethics "trial"

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida is accused of using part of the $5 million to bolster her campaign and on luxury goods.

Russia is helping Iran with intel to kill Americans, says top EU diplomat

Russia is providing intelligence support to Iran in the Middle East war to "kill Americans," Kaja Kallas said Thursday.

Trump says Justices Barrett, Gorsuch ‘sicken me’ after Supreme Court tariff ruling

The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, said President Trump did not have authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs.

More than 100 daily high temperature records expected this week

As a searing heat wave slowly expands over the western two-thirds of the U.S., more than 100 daily temperature records are forecast through Sunday.

Tom Brady says he's asked NFL about potential comeback: 'They don't like that idea very much'

Tom Brady has asked the NFL about its policy of allowing minority owners to return as players, but he has no plans on returning the field, he told CNBC.

Fossil fuel companies finally accept the climate crisis – just not their role in it

The era of corporate climate denial is over but in courts around the world the big names have shifted strategy

While the US government continues to call climate change a hoax and attack the science, in courtrooms from The Hague to Honolulu, fossil fuel companies are taking a different approach. Shell, Chevron, RWE and TotalEnergies all accept that climate change is real, human-caused and serious. The era of corporate climate denial, at least in legal proceedings, is largely over.

What has replaced it is a more nuanced position: accepting the science of climate change while contesting their responsibility for it.

Paul McCartney: Days We Left Behind review – this wistful, lovely song is as McCartney-esque as it’s possible to be

(MPL/Capitol)
This nostalgic new single suggests a convincing mature style, without the unnecessary straining for relevance that marred some recent solo releases

• Paul McCartney announces 18th solo album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane

At 83, Paul McCartney remains one of rock’s most dependable arena-fillers, still packing out multiple nights in the biggest venues of whichever country he choses to visit. But his recent solo albums have proved a decidedly mixed bag. There are always lovely songs that only Paul McCartney could have written: Seize the Day, Hosanna and I Don’t Know all offered compelling evidence that the extraordinary melodic instincts of the Most Successful Songwriter in the History of Popular Music were entirely intact as he stared down his ninth decade.

But they coexisted alongside ungainly lurches for contemporaneity that you rather wish he had left out: thumpy post-Mumford folk on 2013’s Everybody Out There; what appeared to be a Queens of the Stone Age pastiche in the shape of 2020’s Slidin’; a dreadful collaboration with pop songwriter for hire Ryan Tedder called Fuh You that even its co-author seemed to have misgivings about. “This doesn’t amount to anything – y’know, I wrote Eleanor Rigby,” he protested, which was a fair point but raised the question of how it still made the tracklisting of 2018’s Egypt Station.

Suit asks court to force Trump administration to use 'The Kennedy Center' name

The motion is part of a lawsuit challenging President Trump and the Center's board, who now refer to the complex as "The Trump Kennedy Center."

Bill Maher is getting the Mark Twain Prize after all

There was confusion about whether the satirist would be getting the Kennedy Center's top humor award after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it "fake news." Now it's confirmed.

Kennedy Center announces Bill Maher will receive Mark Twain Prize

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, whose board is filled with the president's allies, announced Bill Maher will receive the prize in June.

Nigeria takes its place on world stage in quest to become regional superpower

Nigeria and UK look to strengthen trade and economic ties amid growing calls from Africa and Caribbean for reparative justice

“There are chapters in our shared history that I know have left some painful marks,” King Charles said during a state banquet to welcome the Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, to the UK, in a year in which the monarch is expected to come under renewed pressure to make a formal apology for transatlantic slavery and colonialism.

But while demands grow from African and Caribbean nations for the UK to further reparative justice, Nigeria and the UK are looking to the future of global trade.

Daunting, inspiring, comforting, terrifying: the writers who can make silence as eloquent as words

From the hush of medieval lullabies to striking poems about Grenfell, great authors know how to deploy the power of silence

On a snowy Sunday morning in February 1808, the poet William Wordsworth was walking along Fleet Street in London. He’d just been to visit his friend, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in his lodgings on the Strand. Coleridge was at a low ebb: stuck in an unhappy marriage, weighed down by perennial financial difficulties, mentally blocked from writing, in poor health and addicted to opium. The visit had a lowering effect on Wordsworth’s own spirits. Walking along Fleet Street, eyes downcast, “ear sleeping”, feet moving automatically, he was absorbed in sombre thoughts.

But then something made him look up. A vision lay before him: Fleet Street blanketed with snow, “silent, empty, pure white”, and, at the end of it, the “huge and majestic form” of Saint Paul’s Cathedral. It was a spellbinding moment: the great thoroughfare temporarily devoid of carts and carriages, the cathedral looming blurrily out of the still-falling snowflakes – a real-life snow globe. “I cannot say how much I was affected at this unthought-of sight,” Wordsworth told his friend and patron, Sir George Beaumont, in a letter he wrote a few days later. “What a blessing I feel there is in habits of exalted imagination.” The great London silence was another piece in his accumulating pile of evidence that intuiting something beyond yourself is the route to becoming morally magnificent.

Will Stephen Colbert’s Lord of the Rings film be Tom Bombadil’s time to shine?

The US talkshow host’s script will focus on chapters three to eight of Tolkien’s first volume – a section Hollywood originally thought disposable but is now circling back to monetise

As I write this, there are at least five days to April Fools’ Day. Yet the news that Stephen Colbert, the American late night host, is about to write a new Lord of the Rings movie based at least in part on some (more) bits of the JRR Tolkien tome that didn’t make it into Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning trilogy certainly feels like a prank.

We already knew we are about to get an entire film, directed by and starring Andy Serkis, titled Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and based on a sequence that was told in brief flashback during 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring. It’s due out next year. And there were rumours that more movies would be coming. The Scouring of the Shire, perhaps, based on the bit at the end of The Lord of the Rings when the hobbits go home and discover Saruman has set himself up as King of the Hobbits? Something centred on long forgotten segments of The Silmarillion or The Book of Lost Tales that have somehow not been covered by Amazon’s megabudget Rings of Power TV show? Perhaps an action adventure based on Farmer Giles of Ham?

EPA approves sale of higher-ethanol fuel in bid to lower gas prices

Higher blend has been prohibited in warm weather because of concerns it could worsen smog

The US Environmental Protection Agency said on Wednesday that it would temporarily allow widespread sales of a higher-ethanol gas blend in a move that it hopes will tamp down consumer prices that have soared since the Iran war began.

The higher-ethanol blend has been prohibited in warm weather because of concerns it could worsen smog.

What to know about the "wild, wild West" of viral peptide claims

Here's what to know about peptides, what they can and can't do, and what's driving viral claims about possible health benefits online.

French league postpones Lens match to allow PSG weekend off between Liverpool games

• Lens were opposed to moving the Ligue 1 game

• The top two sides will now play on 13 May

Paris Saint-Germain’s visit to Lens, potentially a crucial encounter in the Ligue 1 title race, has been postponed to give PSG more time to prepare for their Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool.

The match between the top two teams in France’s top division – PSG lead Lens by a point – was scheduled for 11 April but will now take place on 13 May, three days before the final round of fixtures.

LaGuardia collision survivors on escape and helping other passengers: "I'm a walking miracle"

Air Canada passengers Rebecca Liquori and Rachel Mariotti worked together to remove the emergency exit door on the plane that collided with a fire-rescue truck at LaGuardia Airport. They speak to "CBS Mornings" about "holding on to each other" during the incident, how they helped other passengers and processing what happened.

Global forecasting group sees U.S. inflation at 4.2% this year, much higher than Fed estimate

The forecast is a sharp step up from the prior projection of 2.8%. Moreover, it is much higher than the 2.7% Fed officials estimated.

‘The internet has seen me at my best and my worst’: meet Jojo, Australia’s ASMR superstar

With 5.17 million YouTube subscribers, the 27-year-old might be the most successful ‘ASMRtist’ in the world

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It would be crass for Jonah Singer to reveal what he makes from being a YouTube content creator, but he will show Guardian Australia his new $100,000 mic. The 5128-C is a head and torso simulator (a half-manikin fitted with ear mics, capable of binaural recording); he’s named it Alex, after a Minecraft character. It lives in his beautiful studio (part of his larger studio and office complex) in Sydney’s Erskineville. Yes, the 27-year-old is doing all right.

As “Jojo”, Singer specialises in ASMR: autonomous sensory meridian response. It’s the tingly, relaxed sensation that some people get when exposed to “triggers” such as whispering, rustling and mouth noises.

David Squires on … the Socceroos being a trailblazer for the prestigious Fifa Series

Our cartoonist steps into the mind of Gianni Infantino as Australia prepare to host the tantalising new global event

Transgender women athletes banned from female events at Olympics by IOC

• DSD athletes also face exclusion from future Olympics

• IOC says move will protect ‘fairness and safety’

The International Olympic Committee has banned transgender women and DSD athletes from the female category of events at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and future Games.

Kirsty Coventry, the president of the IOC, said the landmark decision had been taken because “it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category”.

Lawyers for ICE gave false information to justify detaining thousands, filings reveal

Revelation was included in lawsuit challenging practice of targeting people seeking to gain legal status as they leave immigration courts

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Lawyers for ICE provided false information to justify arresting and detaining thousands of people who had attended immigration courts, according to newly filed court documents.

Federal prosecutors said that lawyers for ICE acknowledged that an agency memo from May of last year gave no authorization for the arrests, court documents show, despite previously citing it to justify the arrests.

TSA forced to consolidate lanes, may have to close small airports

The TSA's top official says the situation at U.S. airports could get even worse if the partial government shutdown​ that has frozen officers' paychecks continues.

What comes next? Three attack scenarios as U.S. sends thousands more troops to Middle East

One of Iran's top lawmakers has said that they were anticipating a potential ground invasion of one its islands.

Buddhist monks protest and cherry blossoms bloom: pictures of the day – Thursday

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

Why Max Verstappen gave me my marching orders from a press conference | Giles Richards

Former world champion’s ultimatum blindsided me, but there are more serious issues than an F1 driver being cross with you for doing your job

In the grand scheme of things I enjoy a remarkably privileged career, paid to cover Formula One, a sport I have loved since 1976. So I am loth to complain, but was deeply disappointed when Max Verstappen chose to eject me from his press conference on Thursday at the Japanese Grand Prix over a question asked at the end of last season.

Our first face-to-face in 2026 came at Suzuka when it turned out the Dutchman had a positively elephantine recollection. When he saw me he stared, smiled and declared he would not speak until I left. In the course of a brief 30-second exchange, he told me to “get out”. I have never been asked to leave a press conference. It is an extremely rare occurrence for a journalist in F1, with barely anyone able to recall more than one or two examples.

You saw me standin’ alone: songs about the moon – ranked!

As the Artemis II crew prepare for the first moon mission since 1972, we select the best songs about our lunar neighbour, from Ella Fitzgerald’s romance to Gil Scott-Heron’s social commentary

This tribute to comedian Andy Kaufman came at the height of REM’s superstardom, but it’s a typically elliptical song that defies easy analysis, the chorus seeming to compare the moon landing conspiracy theories with claims Kaufman faked his own death. Its bassline recalls another lunar classic, The Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen.

$100,000 in Social Security benefits? New proposal would cap them.

With Social Security's trust fund sliding toward insolvency, one group wants to cap benefits for the wealthiest U.S. couples.

From basil to pistachio and peas – in praise of pesto, whichever way you make it

Whether on pasta or pizza, in soup or even in a tart, this classic Italian sauce is one of your most versatile ingredients

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It was not without satisfaction that I found my 14-year-old son making pesto the other week – for the first 13 years of his life he referred to it as either “pesto-the-bogey-man”, or “gross”. To avoid interfering and sabotaging the moment, I didn’t look too closely, so I didn’t clock the shallow bowl and immersion blender combination. I did hear the noise – a blunt churn – as the blade hit the leaves and nuts. Acting more like a leaf blower than cutter, it sent green and white oily fragments up the cupboards and over pretty much every pot, utensil and tool nearby. Impressively unfazed, he managed to scrape a good proportion of the elements into the food processor and make an extremely tasty pesto, which was mixed with linguine, green beans and potatoes. Less effective was his clearing up (mine too, for that matter), and I am still finding dried green flecks stuck to slotted spoons.

Like mash and crumble, the word pesto comes from an action, in this case pestare, which means to pound or bash repeatedly with a pestle. In much the same way, though, that mash was wedded to potato, and crumble set up home and had kids with apples, pesto came to be associated with basil, pine nuts, pecorino, garlic and olive oil. This happy combination of ingredients occurred in Genoa, in the region of Liguria, hence the name pesto alla Genovese. Such was its popularity, that the pounded sauce joined Cher, Prince and Sade in becoming a one-name celebrity. It is so beloved that some fans have suggested that other pestos are impostors.

As wealth taxes gain traction, Warren proposes levy on the ultra-rich

Sen. Elizabeth Warren's bill would raise taxes on households worth more than $50 million and on billionaires.

Italy seizes €20m of assets allegedly bought with money embezzled from Ursula Andress

‘Misappropriation of financial resources’ from actor, 90, tracked to property, vineyards and olive groves in Tuscany

Italian authorities have seized €20m (£17.3m) of assets in Tuscany, including property, vineyards and olive groves, allegedly bought with money embezzled from the actor Ursula Andress.

Andress, 90, had filed a complaint in her native Switzerland alleging a “progressive and significant depletion of her assets” by individuals charged with managing her finances, Italy’s financial crimes police said in a statement on Thursday.

Prediction market bets on sports, election, war would be verboten under new legislation

Lawmakers have introduced a flurry of measures to rein-in prediction markets in recent weeks, as the platforms have come under increased scrutiny.

Rep. Seth Moulton bans staff from using prediction markets like Kalshi, Polymarket

Congressional lawmakers are ramping up efforts to rein-in prediction markets.

Video in Hawaii doctor's trial shows moments after wife alleges husband tried to kill her

Police bodycam video played in court during the trial of a Hawaii doctor accused of trying to kill his wife a year ago showed the moments officers arrived on the scene. Gerhardt Konig has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of his wife. Warning: this video is disturbing.

Census shows U.S. metro areas where growth slowed the most in 2025

Population estimates released by U.S. Census Bureau show growth rates slowed sharply in metro areas in 2025, as immigration dropped and hurricanes pushed people out of some Gulf Coast counties.

More than 480 TSA officers have quit since the start of the partial government shutdown

Since the start of the partial government shutdown, more than 480 TSA officers have quit their jobs. Meanwhile, the acting TSA administrator said on Wednesday that the situation at airports could get worse and smaller airports may have to close "if we do not have enough officers."

‘This group of girls is writing history’: how Nantes Women are shaking up the French hierarchy

We spend a day with the surprise package of the Première Ligue to find out how they have taken the top flight by storm

There is one video that is on repeat on the Nantes players’ phones: Lucie Calba’s goal in last weekend’s 3-0 win against Strasbourg, an exceptional passage of play in which eight players touched the ball to move it up the entire pitch in only 18 seconds.

“It’s very satisfying because we’re able to reproduce everything we work on in training in matches,” says Camille Robillard, the team’s No 10 and a product of the club’s academy, clearly fascinated by the goal getting so much attention. A goal “in the Nantes style”, referring to the men’s team of the 1990s, known for their attacking, fluid play and constant movement.

Netanyahu claims that victory over Iran would bring peace to Israel. He should look closer to home | Dahlia Scheindlin

As Israelis grow weary of sheltering from missile attacks, their prime minister is using the war to distract from the Palestinian issue

An opinion poll conducted in Israel two weeks into the war on Iran demonstrated what looked like euphoria: surveys by thinktanks such as the Israel Democracy Institute and the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) show that nearly 80% of the public supported the war. Among Israel’s Jewish population that figure rose to 91%.

The true picture is more complicated. The INSS also found that among Arab citizens, who are predominantly Palestinian and make up about 20% of the Israeli population, about two-thirds were opposed to the war. And reality is always more complex than polling figures: from Tel Aviv, I can see that the Jewish Israelis driving the sweeping support are simultaneously exhausted after what is now more than three weeks of running from missile attacks day and night, and by the economic, social and physical damage of the war.

Church leaders criticise Christian owner of GB News over channel’s climate attacks

Exclusive: Paul Marshall also challenged over his own ‘misleading’ statements and £1.8bn of fossil fuel investments in his hedge fund

The co-owner of GB News and “committed” Christian Sir Paul Marshall has been criticised by a group of church leaders over the TV channel’s attacks on climate science and action.

The hedge fund manager was also challenged over his own statements, which were called “misleading”, by the 100-strong group, which includes the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and two current bishops.

Four knockout bakes and tips from the master: Edd Kimber’s recipes for cooking with chocolate

From a white chocolate cheesecake tart and flourless chocolate cake to double chocolate olive oil and marbled matcha cookies, explore chocolate’s endless versatility

Chocolate is a truly magical ingredient. Not only is it a powerhouse of flavour, it also pairs beautifully with other ingredients to make something incredible. Chocolate isn’t one note, mind; from the heady richness of an intense dark chocolate to the nostalgic creaminess of milk chocolate and the often maligned simplicity of white chocolate, it can be the star of the show or simply the supporting act. Chocolate can do it all.

‘Black music is not a subculture – it is the engine’: Why the Mobo awards matter more than ever, 30 years on

Three decades after launching the awards, founder Kanya King reflects on being ahead of the crowd and why Mobo has always been more than music

For the audience watching performances by twentysomethings Olivia Dean, Myles Smith and Aitch on Thursday night in the Co-op Live arena in Manchester it will seem like a lifetime away from 1996, when the Mobo awards began.

What has become known as a joyful celebration of music of Black origin came from “a very real sense of frustration”, said Kanya King, Mobo’s founder and chief executive. “I could see the impact that Black music and culture was having on British culture – I mean it was shaping everything – but it wasn’t being properly recognised or respected by the mainstream industry.”

‘Even Beyoncé is still learning’: 10 expert tips on how to become more musical

Listen to an album each morning, pick an easy instrument, don’t be afraid to write bad songs … you’ve got this!

There are many benefits to making music, whether you are one or 100. But how should you approach choosing an instrument to play? And what are the best choices for a complete novice? We asked musicians for advice on how to live a more musical life, at any age.

Southeast Asia turns to nuclear as Iran war disrupts energy supplies

Analysts say the Iran war energy crisis is also adding momentum to nuclear interest and action in the region.

Iran rejects U.S. peace plan. And, jury finds Meta, Google to blame in addiction trial

Iran rejects a U.S. proposal to end the war and counters with a different peace plan. And, a jury finds Meta and Google negligent in a trial over social media's harms.

This congressman says Muslims ‘don’t belong’ in the US. How does he keep winning a district with so many? | David Daley

Andy Ogles’ election victories in Tennessee are a product of an electoral system broken by gerrymandering

Andy Ogles represents more Muslims than any other Tennessee congressman. Yet he has no interest in representing them. He doesn’t even want them in the country.

“Muslims don’t belong in American society,” the third-term Republican wrote on Twitter/X last week. He’s proudly doubled down on his incendiary statement, which joins a long list of Islamophobic beliefs. During last year’s New York City mayoral campaign, Ogles called Zohran Mamdani “a communist who has publicly embraced a terroristic ideology”. The US naturalization system, he said, required “any alignments with communism or terrorist activities to be disclosed. I’m doubtful he disclosed them. If this is confirmed, put him on the first flight back to Uganda.”

William Shakespeare’s Romeo+Juliet review – Baz Luhrmann’s joyful tragedy is still extravagantly full of life

The 1990s love tragedy starring a young Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes is a tonic and a delight

Thirty years ago, Baz Luhrmann reinvented Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as a gangbanger love tragedy of the present day, with Mexico City standing in for an imaginary urban place called Verona Beach. The result was a terrific success, more of a success, I suspect, than Luhrmann ever had again; it was irreverent and questioning in just the right way, a sunburst of energy, but instinctively respectful to the story, with Luhrmann cutting the original text with co-screenwriter Craig Pearce but not changing or modernising it. It is full of life, extravagantly joyful, then passionately sad, and its lurid 90s crime-chic design doesn’t look dated. And in this Romeo and Juliet, Luhrmann never suspended the forward momentum to indulge campy musical setpieces, perhaps because Shakespeare’s language is the music and the dance; the text keeps the interpretation grounded.

The 21-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio, yet to have his massive breakthrough in Titanic (another story of starcrossed lovers), plays young Romeo Montague, whose family is locked into an unexplained Sicilian-style blood feud with the Capulet family. Romeo is a young idler and would-be poet, scribbling lines of verse into a notebook, and at this stage dreamily moping over a young woman called Rosaline, whose silent offstage existence is the play’s minor incidental mystery. (Brian Dennehy and Christina Pickles play his parents and they have much less of a role than the elder Capulets.)

My last fight with my Palestinian father still haunts me. Neither of us could bury the past

My eternally exiled father was dying and witnessing a siege on Gaza. Afterwards I could go home – but he couldn’t

The last fight we ever had, my father and I, occurred on a night in May 2021 on the eve of his first chemo treatment. At this point in our story, I was a new mother, and he was a year and a half from his death. To treat his stage four prostate cancer, he had been given a series of experimental hormone treatments, which had put him in a sort of male menopause and which had just begun to fail. This last fight of ours also happened to fall right in the middle of that previous siege of Gaza (before the more recent one none of us will ever forget), which itself resulted in the destruction of 40 schools and four hospitals.

That night in May, we were in the rented ranch house in Arizona, the one with the broken dishwasher and the blue pool slide that had not been functional for decades, the house with its view of the sky and faint hint of the McDowell mountains. Though my father had lived in Palestine, Syria, Kuwait and Italy, he had fled to the Sonoran Desert after going bankrupt in New York in the early 1990s and loved the dramatic landscapes of the west with a fealty he had for nowhere else. Whereas I missed New York like a lover. I felt unmoored, restless. Exiled.

Keely Hodgkinson pokes fun at West Ham over world championships stadium dispute

• British world champion mocks club in tweet

• Club refusing to vacate stadium for event in 2029

Keely Hodgkinson has playfully poked fun at West Ham after it emerged they could ruin London’s chances of hosting the 2029 World Athletics Championships.

Sebastian Coe, the World Athletics president, has made it clear he wants those world championships to be held in September as a finale to the athletics season. However, West Ham do not want to give up the London Stadium for approximately three weeks for the event as their season will have started.

Two drone strikes on civilian targets kill 28 people in Sudan

Market in North Darfur and truck carrying civilians in North Kordofan hit as civil war approaches fourth year

At least 28 civilians have been killed in two separate drone strikes in Sudan, according to health workers, as the country’s brutal civil war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) approaches its fourth year.

A strike hit a market in the town of Saraf Omra, in North Darfur state, on Wednesday, killing “22 people, including an infant, and injuring 17 more”, a health worker at the local clinic told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Dodging the ‘wrinkle wagon’: why a Brazilian film about ageing is inspiring older women

The Blue Trail, about a rebellious 77-year old woman who escapes forced exile for elderly people, has struck a nerve in a country where ageism is widespread

When 80-year-old Gilda Olinto was given a prize at work recently, she felt as if she was being told “nothing more is expected of you”. It reminded her of The Blue Trail (O Último Azul in Portuguese), a film set in a near-future Brazil where an authoritarian government honours elderly people with golden laurels before stripping them of their autonomy and sending them to live out their days in a remote housing colony.

After being reluctantly bestowed with the accolade, the film’s 77-year-old protagonist Tereza realises she is going to be exiled from society – but she is determined to pursue a lifelong dream first, which takes her on a journey of discovery though the Amazon.

Marriage over, €100,000 down the drain: the AI users whose lives were wrecked by delusion

One minute, Dennis Biesma was playing with a chatbot; the next, he was convinced his sentient friend would make him a fortune. He’s just one of many people who lost control after an AI encounter

Towards the end of 2024, Dennis Biesma decided to check out ChatGPT. The Amsterdam-based IT consultant had just ended a contract early. “I had some time, so I thought: let’s have a look at this new technology everyone is talking about,” he says. “Very quickly, I became fascinated.”

Biesma has asked himself why he was vulnerable to what came next. He was nearing 50. His adult daughter had left home, his wife went out to work and, in his field, the shift since Covid to working from home had left him feeling “a little isolated”. He smoked a bit of cannabis some evenings to “chill”, but had done so for years with no ill effects. He had never experienced a mental illness. Yet within months of downloading ChatGPT, Biesma had sunk €100,000 (about £83,000) into a business startup based on a delusion, been hospitalised three times and tried to kill himself.

Sauces, spreads, sprinkles – and cocktail in a can: whose fridge is this?

There’s a distinctly sour edge to the jars and goodies that chef and author Helen Graham keeps handy

Amba sauce
“I’m very jar orientated; a lot of my cooking is about combining big flavours. I’m also a sucker for a sour ingredient, and this Iraqi pickled mango condiment is really sour – more so than tamarind. If I’m garnishing a dish with tahini, then I’ll use amba to cut through the richness, otherwise I’ll use it in lieu of citrus.”

Stem ginger in syrup
“My grandpa always gave me this when I was a kid, and I thought it was disgusting. However, now it’s essential; I often make a (chopped) stem ginger and spring onion salsa – it’s sweet and spicy. Stem ginger is such a nostalgic ingredient for me.”

The U.S. and Iran are in 'indirect talks,' says intermediary Pakistan, as war rages on

Pakistan's foreign minister said the country is relaying messages and that Iran is deliberating on a U.S. proposal. Israel says it killed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's navy chief.

Trump's attacks on offshore wind could hurt infrastructure spending across the economy

President Trump has tried to kill offshore wind's future in the U.S. But industry analysts say the attacks could hurt business confidence across the U.S. economy.

Meet Figure AI: The company behind the humanoid robot hosted by Melania Trump

The White House hosted its first humanoid robot guest, with first lady Melania Trump appearing alongside a robot from startup Figure AI.

It's Equal Pay Day. Women have lost ground for the second year in a row

The annual observance marks how far into the new year women must work to make what men earned in the previous year. This year, it's March 26, a day later than it was in 2025.

Country star Ty Herndon: ‘The drugs could be forgiven. Being gay definitely could not’

In an honest new memoir, the musician opens up about being closeted in country, sexual assault, and finding love in his 60s

On 14 June 1995, the Nashville singer Ty Herndon was riding high with a No 1 single on the country charts and an album hurtling towards gold status when he was arrested on charges that could have killed his career in an instant. At 10am, he pulled into a gas station in Texas, right across the street from a park well-known for gay cruising and hookups. Amped by a hit of meth amphetamine, Herndon strolled into a glade where he soon met a guy he later described as “movie-star handsome”. The stranger began stroking his own crotch, then reached for Herndon’s. But when the singer unzipped his fly, the man, an undercover cop, said, “This ain’t your day, cowboy,” leading to the star’s arrest on charges from drug possession to indecent exposure.

While news of the incident traveled fast – aided in no small part by the police alerting the media – Herndon’s record company swung into parallel action. They cooked up a massive PR strategy that painted the singer as victim of drug use while feeding the media a series of lies to explain away the sex. “The drugs could be forgiven,” Herndon says during a Zoom interview the other day from his Nashville home. “Being gay definitely could not.”

Muskism by Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff review – how Elon Musk is reshaping the world

Henry Ford changed the face of industry forever – what kind of economic model do Musk’s methods presage?

Genius industrialist or clownish conman, humanity’s saviour from a rapidly crumbling planet or rabid social media troll – the verdicts on the world’s richest person vary in flavour, but most share something in common: they focus on Musk as an individual. In their study, Quinn Slobodian, a historian at Boston University, and Ben Tarnoff, a tech writer, wish to reframe the conversation. The most important question, they argue, is not “who is Musk?” but “what is Musk a symptom of?”

As the title suggests, their answer is “Muskism”, the coinage a deliberate nod to Fordism, the shorthand for 20th-century capitalism built on the pairing of mass production with mass consumption. If Fordism was the last century’s operating system, Slobodian and Tarnoff contend that Muskism is this century’s.