Bondi rescinds policy banning some DOJ employees from attending partisan events

Attorney General Pam Bondi has rescinded a policy that prohibited political appointees at the Justice Department from attending campaign events or fundraisers, according to a memo seen by CBS News.

White House pushes back against mounting questions over any US involvement in Iran school strike – live

Karoline Leavitt bats away question over bombing that reportedly killed 175 people

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Gen Caine said today that the US will “now begin to expand inland, striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory”, after forces were able to establish air superiority.

“The throttle is coming up,” Caine said, “as opposed to ramping down”.

Newcastle United v Manchester United: Premier League – live

⚽ Premier League updates from the 8.15pm GMT kick-off
⚽ Live scores | Table | Follow us on Bluesky | And mail Scott
⚽ Brighton v Arsenal, Man City v Nottingham Forest – live

The teams are out! Newcastle in black and white stripes, Manchester United in red. Everyone as they should be, looking nice and dandy. Mark Knopfler’s magnum opus tootles in the background, and we’ll be off in a couple of minutes. In the meantime, Peter Oh has a pairing suggestion: “I assume that Chris Paraskevas isn’t having beer with his bacon-and-egg sandwich, given it’s a work breakfast. If he’s looking for a drink recommendation, may I remind him of the adage ‘if life gives you Lammens, make lemonade’.”

Pre-match postbag. “It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world when people are starting to talk about this version of Manchester United as the outsider making a late gallop on the outside of the title race. Yet if they want proof that a big lead can be blown at this time of the year, they only have to look at how their opponents today did that famous Devon Loch back in the late 90s. Not so sure how many people would ‘love it!’ if somehow Carrick’s mob actually prevailed, however” – Justin Kavanagh

Officers who killed Austin gunman won't face charges

Travis County DA Jose Garza said Tuesday that suggestions that he would seek charges in the killing were "intentionally false" and political in nature, calling the officers heroes.

Brighton v Arsenal, Manchester City v Nottingham Forest, and more: Premier League – live

⚽ Latest news from four games kicking off at 7.30pm GMT
⚽ Live scores | Table | Follow us on Bluesky | And mail Niall
⚽ Newcastle v Manchester United – follow it live

Some pre-game chat from Pep Guardiola, who confirms Nico O’Reilly is out of the squad after “feeling uncomfortable” in training with a knock.

“We can only focus on ourselves for the rest of the games … I don’t know what is going to happen. Today is how we behave against Forest. Haaland has made an incredible impact since he arrived years ago. In the first quarter of this season he was outstanding. We need everyone. Everyone has to be ready.”

Google faces first lawsuit alleging its AI chatbot encouraged man's suicide

Google is accused in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a man who committed suicide in October, allegedly at the direction of the tech giant's AI chatbot, Gemini.

Watch Live: Noem testifies on Trump immigration crackdown at House hearing

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is testifying before the House Judiciary Committee. Follow live updates.

Trump nominee to lead nation's cyber agency removed from post as senior DHS adviser

Although Sean Plankey's access badge was taken and he was escorted out of Coast Guard headquarters Monday, he remains the nominee to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, sources said.

Curling stones stolen from Cortina venue before start of Winter Paralympics

• Theft of two stones in Italy being investigated

• Mixed doubles wheelchair event started on Wednesday

The theft of two curling stones due to be used at the Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics is being investigated, World Curling has confirmed.

Action in Italy got under way on Wednesday night with the preliminary rounds of the inaugural mixed doubles wheelchair competition, but the drama started earlier when it was discovered the rocks were missing from the Cortina curling stadium.

The Bride! review – Jessie Buckley is electrifying as frizzy-haired, black-tongued monster’s wife

The actor has a blast as bride to Christian Bale’s lonely creature in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s darkly comic and gleefully bizarre reimagining of the 1935 film

Did you know that “Frankenstein” isn’t the name of the monster, but the mad scientist who created him? The answer is almost certainly yes. But that’s no thanks to the 1935 film The Bride of Frankenstein, which appears to have created this monstrous misconception – because let’s face it, the idea of a middle-aged Swiss scientist getting married isn’t all that shocking. In that sensational Frankenstein sequel with Boris Karloff returning as the monster, Elsa Lanchester was his bride and Mary Shelley, a doubling that may have inspired this new riff on the monster’s other half from writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal. There’s another barnstorming performance from Jessie Buckley as the sinister spouse, leaving savage bite marks all over the scenery and on her gallant co-star Christian Bale. It’s her name, not the title, that deserves the exclamation mark..

This new monster’s-wife tale is a rackety, violent black comedy with twists of Rocky Horror and extended homages to the top-hat-and-tails sophistication of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein. It’s also a gangster joyride from the roaring 20s and 30s with Mr and Mrs F-M reimagined as a kind of post-death Bonnie and Clyde. It takes as its premise the idea that Mary Shelley is an angry ghost, spewing out into the shadowy netherworld her patrician contempt for the mediocre menfolk that surrounded her in life, and longing for a suitable living woman to insinuate herself back into.

Tariff refund delays could cost U.S. $700 million a month in interest

The U.S. government must also reimburse businesses for the interest they paid on tariffs recently struck down by the Supreme Court, according to the Cato Institute.

Key takeaways from House hearing with Walz, Ellison on Minnesota fraud

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told lawmakers that fraud "happened on my watch," but defended his administration's handling of the allegations.

Rep. Tony Gonzales will face House ethics panel probe over 'sexual misconduct' claim

Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales has come under fire for allegedly having a romantic relationship with a staffer who died by suicide last year

Putin accuses Ukraine of attacking gas tanker that exploded and sank off Libya

The Arctic Metagaz burst into flames before sinking after what the Russian president described as a terrorist attack

Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of carrying out a terrorist attack on one of Russia’s liquefied natural gas carriers which exploded into flames and sank in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya.

The Arctic Metagaz had been sanctioned by the US and EU for being part of Moscow’s “shadow fleet” of ageing tankers that carry its oil and gas around the world, skirting Western restrictions.

US submarine sinks Iranian warship as conflict spreads beyond Middle East

Frigate goes down off Sri Lanka as Washington and Israel step up their offensive and promise to hit ‘deeper’ targets in Iran

• Middle East crisis – live updates

A torpedo fired by a US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the south coast of Sri Lanka as the Trump administration followed through on its threats to destroy Tehran’s military and political leadership.

At least 87 Iranian sailors were killed in the attack on the Iris Dena on Wednesday. The frigate was sailing in international waters as it returned from a naval exercise organised by India in the Bay of Bengal. The torpedo strike prompted questions from former US officials about whether Washington’s aim of eliminating all of Iran’s military breached international law.

Broadcom set to report earnings after the bell

Broadcom, which contributes to Google's tensor processing units, called for artificial intelligence revenue to double in the February quarter.

Starmer’s slow start in the war against Iran could leave UK playing catch-up

Prime minister’s initial refusal to help US could constrain Britain’s ability to protect its nationals in the Gulf and reassure allies

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Britain knew that the US was considering attacking Iran from the moment Donald Trump told protesters that “help is coming” in the middle of January. It was obvious to the world that the White House was serious when the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group was sent to the Arabian Sea in late January.

But as Trump gradually built up his “massive armada”, reinforcing it with a second carrier strike group in mid-February, UK deployments were constrained and limited even though there was a recognition that it was likely allies and bases with British soldiers would be attacked in an Iranian retaliation.

Blackout in Cuba leaves millions without power amid US oil chokehold

Latest outage darkens island facing dwindling oil reserves and increasing pressure from Washington

A blackout has hit the western half of Cuba, leaving millions of people in Havana and beyond without power in the latest outage to affect an island struggling with dwindling oil reserves and facing increasing pressure from Washington.

Cuba has experienced a series of major blackouts in recent years, even before the US cut off oil shipments to the Caribbean’s largest island. Cuba’s government has attributed its economic crisis to decades of economic sanctions from the US.

Democrats tread cautiously around another Trump impeachment after 'illegal' Iran strikes

Since the attack on Iran, congressional Democrats have called the operation unconstitutional. But another impeachment hasn't seriously entered the conversation.

Trump officially nominates Kevin Warsh as Fed chair to replace Jerome Powell

Sen. Thom Tillis has said he would block Kevin Warsh's nomination until a federal criminal investigation of Fed Chair Jerome Powell is dropped

Intercontinental World Cup playoffs in doubt as Iraq squad face travel chaos

• Iraq team due in Mexico for playoff final on 31 March

• Middle East crisis has made travel plans uncertain

The intercontinental World Cup playoffs are in doubt with officials from the Iraq Football Association (IFA) in crisis talks with Fifa over concerns they may be unable to take part in the final scheduled for Mexico later this month.

The Guardian has learned that the IFA received a letter from Iraq’s national airline, Iraqi Airways, and the Ministry of Transportation informing them that the country’s airspace will remain closed for “at least four weeks”, which would leave around 40% of the squad unable to travel.

Trump’s ‘quasi-dove’ era is over. Iran strikes expose his hawkish turn

Deploying the world’s most powerful military seems to exert an almost erotic fascination for Donald Trump

• This was originally published in This Week in Trumpland; sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday

It was a claim uttered repeatedly on the 2024 campaign trail: “I’m the only president in 72 years that didn’t start a war,” Donald Trump said in Sioux City, Iowa.

Fact checkers cried foul and pointed out that Jimmy Carter, president from 1977 to 1981, did not start any wars either. But Trump won the election anyway.

Colossal Biosciences breeds controversy while trying to revive mammoths

A Texas biotech company is trying to bring mammoths and other extinct creatures back to life. The science is as intriguing as the ethical questions are thorny.

Husband of Labour MP among three arrested on suspicion of spying for China

Exclusive: David Taylor, husband of East Kilbride and Strathaven MP Joani Reid, arrested by counter-terror police

A former Labour adviser who is married to a Labour MP is among three men who have been arrested on suspicion of spying for China.

David Taylor, the husband of the Labour MP Joani Reid, was arrested by detectives from counter-terrorism police in London on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, and as part of a wider investigation into national security offences related to China.

"Deadliest Catch" deckhand dies after falling overboard in Alaska

Todd Meadows, a crewmember on the reality TV show "Deadliest Catch," died after he was reported to have fallen overboard, the Coast Guard said.

‘He’s no Winston Churchill’: why Starmer can shrug off Trump’s insults over Iran

The prime minister’s cautious stance about helping the US against the Tehran regime mirrors that of the electorate

• Middle East crisis: live updates

It was perhaps the most attention-grabbing moment of prime minister’s questions. Responding to yet another Conservative salvo about his approach to Iran and how it might affect ties with America, Keir Starmer was direct.

“American planes are operating out of British bases – that is the special relationship in action,” he said. “Sharing intelligence every day to keep our people safe – that is the special relationship in action. Hanging on to President Trump’s latest words is not the special relationship in action.”

Gov. Walz, AG Ellison testify at hearing on fraud

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were called to testify at a House Oversight Committee hearing on fraud and the "misuse" of federal funds in the state.

What to know about the agency Trump says will insure ships in the Gulf

President Trump said the government agency will provide political risk insurance to "all shipping lines" operating in the Persian Gulf.

The Guardian view on the US-UK relationship: Trump is pushing Britain closer to Europe | Editorial

An unreliable and volatile American president makes a compelling case for closer security and defence cooperation with continental allies

There is truth to Donald Trump’s declaration earlier this week that the UK-US relationship is “not what it was”, although there is no indication that he understands the reasons for the change.

The US president is “very disappointed” that Sir Keir Starmer has been “uncooperative” in the war against Iran, offering only limited logistical support to American forces. The prime minister’s concession that RAF resources can be involved in defensive operations does not compensate for the prior refusal to put Britain’s military assets at American disposal. It came too late for Mr Trump, whose irritation turned to culture-war jibes about “windmills” ruining British landscapes and a false claim about the prevalence of sharia courts.

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.

Covid inquiry reaches ‘bittersweet’ final day of witness testimony

Campaigners say ‘hard-hitting, clear-sighted and damning’ inquiry – the most expensive in history – ‘absolutely has been worth it’

• ‘A new normal’: inquiry’s key findings on how Covid changed UK society

Bereaved families have marked the final day of witness testimony in the long-running Covid inquiry by saying government “incompetence, chaos and callousness is now on the public record”.

Matt Fowler, the co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK (CBFFJ), urged officials to use the inquiry as a blueprint “to take brave, decisive, urgent action” and warned that the country was still not prepared for a future crisis.

GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales heads to a runoff in Texas amid a new ethics probe in the House

Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales has faced increasing pressure from his party to resign or drop out of his race after allegations of an affair with a staffer.

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

The fallen soldiers identified by the Pentagon were Sgt. Declan Coady, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, Capt. Cody Khork, and Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens.

The U.S. is not the place to be for investors in 2026 so far. Where they are turning to for gains

International stocks remain compelling for investors even amid heightened fears from the U.S.-Iran conflict this week.

Catherine Opie: To Be Seen review – a queer carousel of tattoos, fake moustaches and toddlers in tutus

From butch alter egos to radical images of motherhood, the photographer rises to the challenge of capturing her community in imposing and glorious style

Catherine Opie has done for butches what Hans Holbein the Younger did for the Tudor nobility. Since she graduated in the late 1980s, amid the Aids crisis, Opie has made portraits of her community, friends and family, adopting unflinching realism, saturated colours, and dramatic tonal contrasts from the 16th-century portrait painters. Many of Opie’s most famous portraits – included in her new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery – use these devices deliberately, a declaration that these people deserve, as the title of the show underlines, to be seen.

Opie has always been interested in construction – how we can be transformed by costume, posture, pose, role-play. This show is a testament to that, and her love of tattoos, piercings and body modifications (she does live in LA, after all). She’s especially drawn to the performance and presentation of masculinity – in the 1991 series Being and Having, one of the earliest bodies of work in the show and still one of Opie’s best known. She has 13 lesbian friends dress up as their masculine alter egos – Opie also appears as her own, Bo. They don a range of fake moustaches and are photographed close, so their faces fill the frame against an egg-yolk yellow background, the glue attaching the hair to their faces clearly visible. Their nicknames are engraved into name tags, like they’re trophies.

Satellite images show Iran school strike hit more buildings than earlier reported

The images suggest that precision munitions struck other buildings, including a clinic that was also inside the complex.

Israel strikes Tehran and Beirut as Iran vows ‘complete destruction’ in region

Rapidly escalating war enters fifth day and spreads as far as Indian Ocean with sinking of Iranian vessel off Sri Lanka

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Israel has carried out a wave of airstrikes on Iranian security targets and Hezbollah in Beirut as Tehran threatened the “complete destruction of the region’s military and economic infrastructure” as the rapidly escalating war entered its fifth day and reached as far as the Indian Ocean off Sri Lanka.

The Israeli military said it had hit buildings in Iran belonging to the Basij, the volunteer police arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and buildings belonging to internal security forces. Police stations and IRGC headquarters in the Kurdish regions of north-western Iran were also razed by strikes, Kurdish media reported.

Remember Twitter? Elon Musk testifies over flip-flop in $44 billion buyout

Musk is on trial for a case filed by Twitter investors in 2022, the year he purchased the social media company for $44 billion.

The posh egg problem: how they became a status symbol – and shoplifting target

Pretty coloured eggs from fancy breeds can now cost as much as £4.50 for half a dozen. But some people have found a sneaky way to avoid paying a premium

Name: Posh eggs.

Age: Best before three weeks from now.

The 2026 Oscar-nominated documentaries are sensitive and transformative

This year's Oscar-nominated documentaries include a tale of terminal cancer, dispatches from behind bars in Alabama, and stories from Iran and Russia.

In these troubled times, who isn’t loving the nostalgia of the Kennedys and Love Story’s 90s New York? | Emma Brockes

It’s monstrously presumptuous? Unforgivably glib? Perhaps. But this stylised drama is the show we all need right now

If you are looking for a break in the clouds from this terrible news cycle, can I direct you towards Love Story, the nine-part series executive-produced – but crucially, not written! – by Ryan Murphy, which documents the love and untimely deaths of John F Kennedy Jr and his wife, Carolyn Bessette. You might think this isn’t for you, that it’ll be too tabloidy or that you’re not interested in JFK Jr. But while Love Story, which takes us back to a very particular version of early-1990s New York, might not seem like the show we want right now, it is exactly the show that we need.

This probably sounds like a heartless summary of a true story that ends in the terrible deaths of two young people (in 1999, while flying his wife and her sister from New Jersey to Martha’s Vineyard, Kennedy crashed his light aircraft, killing everyone on board). But that tragic end only suffuses the preceding nine hours of storytelling with a kind of pearly, nostalgic light, just the thing to see off the iron-grey wash of today’s reality. The New York of Love Story isn’t the city’s current iteration, with its impossible rents and charmless finance bros ruining downtown. Nor is it the 1990s New York of, say, Home Alone 2, in which Donald Trump strides through the Plaza Hotel and Central Park is a crime-ridden disaster.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist

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How the US-Israeli war on Iran created a massive hole in global airspace

Airlines are using long-readied contingency plans but bottlenecks have formed that no amount of planning can fix

• Middle East crisis – live updates

A war engulfing the Middle East has cleared the region’s skies, forcing airlines to make drastic rerouting plans and leaving a massive void in usually busy global airspace.

With Israel and the US bombing Iran day after day – and Tehran responding with waves of missiles and drones attacks – airlines have been forced to divert their passenger jets away from the Gulf or risk a catastrophic accident.

Finn Allen’s record ton blasts New Zealand past South Africa into T20 World Cup final

• New Zealand, 173-1, bt South Africa, 169-8, by 9 wkts

• Black Caps opener Allen blasts 100 not out from 33 balls

South Africa won every match they could afford to lose in this tournament and then lost the first one that they had to win.

They were completely marmalised by New Zealand, who won the first semi-final by nine wickets. Finn Allen ripped through South Africa’s feared fast bowling attack, and hit an unbeaten hundred off just 33 balls. It was the fastest century in the history of the competition, and, as Allen said himself, the innings of his life. Only two batters have ever hit a faster ton in international T20 cricket.

European Commission proposes ‘Buy EU’ plan to compete against China

Plan, which aims to preserve jobs in clean tech and low-carbon sectors, could include UK if there is reciprocal market access

The European Commission has proposed a “Buy EU” plan to boost domestic low-carbon industries and help the continent compete against China.

The commission published a draft regulation – called the Industrial Accelerator Act – on Wednesday, setting demands for EU-made and low-carbon content on bodies spending public money. The rules mark a big shift in economic thinking from Brussels, long a bastion of open markets.

Could war in the Middle East trigger a global economic crisis?

Global oil and gas prices have spiked as the conflict in the Middle East halts energy exports from the region. The strait of Hormuz has been in effect closed since the war began, causing fears of a global economic crisis. About a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped through the narrow passage of water, but, according to reports, traffic has dropped by about 80%, with little sign of return. How long until we feel the effects? Nosheen Iqbal speaks to John Collingridge, the Guardian’s head of business.

Americans urged to leave 14 Middle East countries amid Iran war

The State Department said it was facilitating charter flights from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE for Americans.

‘It’s my F-you ring’: why divorced women are transforming their wedding jewelry

‘Divorce rings’ have been gaining popularity. But for some women, freedom warrants a stronger, more defiant symbol

I have been a divorce coach for five years. Every client’s process is different, but occasionally I notice new trends. One afternoon, a woman showed up to her session fuming. Her soon to be ex-husband was trying to claw back her engagement ring through his attorney.

“Absolutely not,” she said, her jaw stiffening. “That ring is mine. I earned it. And I already know exactly what I’m doing with it.”

Formula One 2026: team-by-team guide to the cars and drivers

McLaren could start slowly, Mercedes may set the pace, while newcomers – and returning heroes – add huge interest

Car MCL40 Engine Mercedes Principal Andrea Stella Debut Monaco 1966 GPs 994 Constructors’ titles 10 Last season 1st. Held their nerve to close out the constructors’ and drivers’ double last season, albeit with the latter going to the wire as they rather tied themselves in knots trying to be fair to both drivers. Enter this year a little off the front but in a season likely to be marked by a fierce development battle, will expect to exploit their huge strengths in bringing the car on with alacrity and be in the mix in no short order.

Trump has launched an unprecedented assault on the environment. Where’s the pushback?

Climate deniers expected more resistance to the fossil fuel blitz. But Democrats, billionaires and activists have gone silent

• This story is published in partnership with DeSmog, the climate investigations site

As Donald Trump assaults the legal foundation of America’s ability to regulate global warming emissions, climate deniers have been privately celebrating what they claim is the “silent” acquiescence of billionaires, Democrats, climate activists and even reporters to the president’s aggressive pro-fossil-fuel agenda.

“In my 26 years of being focused on climate, I’ve never seen anything like this. Trump is gutting everything they ever stood for,” Marc Morano, a long-time climate denier, said in January at the World Prosperity Forum, a five-day event in Zurich, Switzerland, billed as a rightwing alternative to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Berlin film festival head to keep job after Gaza free speech row

German government convened a crisis meeting after several prize winners condemned Israel’s actions against Palestinians

The American head of the Berlin film festival, Tricia Tuttle, will keep her job after a free speech row over Gaza, but the event will have to consider a new code of conduct to “fight antisemitism”, the German culture ministry has said.

Tuttle’s position came under threat after an awards gala at the end of the 76th edition last month, in which several prize winners condemned Israel’s actions against Palestinians from the stage.

Democratic Reps. Green, Menefee advance to runoff in redrawn Texas district

Rep. Christian Menefee, who was first elected earlier this year in a special election, is running against longtime Rep. Al Green, who had been gerrymandered into the same district.

House opens inquiry into Texas lawmaker over alleged affair with aide

Tony Gonzales allegedly had affair with Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, who later died after setting herself on fire

• US politics live – latest updates

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The House ethics committee said on Wednesday that it has opened an investigation of Tony Gonzales, a Republican representative from Texas, over allegations that include having an affair with an aide.

The top Republican and Democratic members on the committee said in a joint statement that an investigative panel would look into whether Gonzales engaged in sexual misconduct toward an employee in his office and whether he discriminated unfairly by dispensing special favors or privileges.

JFK Jr and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: how the 1990s power couple became today’s biggest style icons

The TV drama Love Story has brought their fashion back into the spotlight – and inspired nine big trends, from bootcut jeans to backwards caps

When images taken on the set of the Disney+ series Love Story: John F Kennedy Jr & Carolyn Bessette were teased on social media in June, fans were adamant that the show had got the styling wrong. The fictionalised drama details the relationship between John F Kennedy Jr, then the world’s most eligible bachelor, and the fashion publicist Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, tracing their courtship and marriage, which was lived out under the scrutiny of the press.

“This is fashion murder,” wrote one user underneath a picture of Sarah Pidgeon, who plays Bessette Kennedy, and Paul Anthony Kelly, who depicts Kennedy Jr. Such was the outrage that the executive producer Ryan Murphy was forced to defend the styling as “a work in progress”, which led to him hiring a new costume designer, Rudy Mance, to focus on the historical precision. Nine months later, the internet has done a U-turn, with fans now rushing to emulate the couple’s on-screen and off-screen 90s looks. In the past week alone, searches for “Carolyn Bessette style” have increased by 150% on Google. Here are nine trends that the fans are championing.

Someone is using my wheelie bin as a toilet. How has it come to this? | Catherine Shoard

It seemed hard to believe, and it was even harder to clean. All I know about the culprit is that they must be agile

Last summer, I found poo in the wheelie bin. Nothing unusual there: you can’t blame dog walkers for a reluctance to tote warm sacks in a heatwave. But this was different. This was unbagged and … not canine.

Had our bin really moonlit as a loo? It seemed hard to believe. Someone would have had to trundle it from its traditional position by the path, line it up with the wall, flip its lid, walk into the neighbours’ garden, climb on to their bike shed and strategically crouch, conscious that one false wobble could be, if not fatal, then certainly quite messy. In full view of the street. On a sort of podium. When a handy hedge was right there. Surely not?

Epstein files: Goldman Sachs' Ruemmler, Bill Gates, Leon Black will testify to House panel

Kathryn Ruemmler said last month she would leave Goldman Sachs at the end of June after fallout over her emails with Jeffrey Epstein.

Nicola Jennings on Donald Trump and Keir Starmer – cartoon

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Union tries to seize control of works council at Tesla’s German factory

Lawsuits and slander claims fly in IG Metall’s battle with Elon Musk over employment rights and conditions

• Business live – latest updates

Europe’s largest trade union is trying to gain control of the works council at Elon Musk’s Tesla gigafactory near Berlin, in an industrial relations showdown marked by lawsuits and mutual accusations of slander.

The works council, an elected body of employees that negotiates everything from working hours to pay deals with a company’s management, is considered an entrenched aspect of the German corporate world, particularly in the car industry.

House Ethics panel investigates Tony Gonzales over allegations of affair with aide

The House Ethics Committee announcement comes one day after the Texas primary, which resulted in Rep. Tony Gonzales and Brandon Herrera heading to a runoff.

Global sea levels have been underestimated due to poor modelling, research suggests

Analysis shows average levels are 30cm higher than thought, and up to 150cm in south-east Asia and Indo-Pacific

Sea levels around the world have been underestimated due to inaccurate modelling, with research suggesting ocean levels are far higher than previously understood.

The finding could significantly affect assessments of the future impacts of global heating and the effects on coastal settlements.

A Biden-era rule sought to stabilize child care. Why Trump wants it gone

The Trump administration has proposed repealing a Biden-era rule that required states to change how they pay out child care subsidies, citing the potential for fraud.

FBI agents Patel fired worked in counterintel, including on cases involving Iran

Many of the agents who were fired last week by FBI Director Kash Patel were assigned to a squad that worked on global counterintelligence cases, including those involving Iran, sources said.

Will Trump’s Middle East war also engulf Friedrich Merz?

The war will have incalculable implications for Europe – and yet, the chancellor has held back from publicly challenging an increasingly erratic Donald Trump

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You could be forgiven for thinking Friedrich Merz would rather be anywhere but Germany of late.

But hopes that his stop in Washington this week would provide the chancellor even a brief respite from woes at home were dashed by Donald Trump’s risky Iran gamble.

European stock markets rally after report of ‘secret outreach’ by Iran to try to end war

UK’s FTSE 100 up by more than 50 points, while pan-European Stoxx 600 share index rises 1.2%

• Business live – latest updates

European stock markets have rallied on a report claiming Iran is engaging in a “secret outreach” to end the war in the Middle East, after several days of heavy losses on indices around the world.

The New York Times reported that a day after the attacks began, operatives from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence indirectly contacted the CIA with an offer to discuss terms for ending the conflict.

Syngenta says it will stop making pesticide linked to Parkinson’s disease

Company will halt production of controversial paraquat weed killer by end of June as it faces thousands of lawsuits

Syngenta, maker of a controversial pesticide linked to Parkinson’s disease, said on Tuesday that it would stop making its paraquat weed killer by the end of June.

The announcement comes as the company is facing several thousand lawsuits brought by people in the US who allege they developed Parkinson’s disease due to their exposure to Syngenta’s paraquat products.

Private companies added 63,000 jobs in February, January revised to just 11,000 additions, ADP says

Greetings from Southwest Papua, which has some of the world's richest marine biodiversity

The Raja Ampat islands in Indonesia's Southwest Papua province are a marine biodiversity hotspot and a divers' paradise.

Families remember U.S. reservists killed in Kuwait, members of an Iowa logistics unit

Four U.S. soldiers were killed in the Iran war on Sunday and IDed Tuesday by the Pentagon; two soldiers haven't yet been publicly identified. Their unit kept troops supplied with food and equipment.

Actor reaches settlement with Old Vic theatre over Kevin Spacey assault claims

Ruari Cannon agrees out-of-court settlement with London theatre over the allegations, which Spacey denies

An actor who alleged that he was sexually assaulted by Kevin Spacey has reached a settlement with the Old Vic theatre.

Ruari Cannon, who waived his right to anonymity, was an actor at the Old Vic during Spacey’s tenure as artistic director.

Pre-Spice Girls Geri Halliwell dressed as sci-fi character Barbarella: Soulla Petrou’s best photograph

‘She saw these tarot cards on my table and asked me to read her future. I predicted absolutely nothing’

A month or so after I’d broken into music photography, a friend who was a stylist got in touch to say she knew a girl who was going to be in this really huge girl band. I was quite sceptical – it’s the kind of claim you hear a lot working as a photographer – but we ended up arranging to do a shoot at my house.

My friend styled the shoot, which was based on 60s and 70s TV shows and movies we grew up watching, involving strong women fighting evil – things like Wonder Woman and Charlie’s Angels. This one is based on Jane Fonda’s character Barbarella in the 60s sci-fi film, which is one of my favourites, with outfits designed by Paco Rabanne.

Gen Z flocks to Chinese medicine as trust in US health system plummets: ‘It’s so personalized to being human’

As Americans embrace ‘alternative’ remedies, people online joke that they’re ‘Chinamaxxing’ their wellness routines

Did you drink ice water today? If you did, that was “not very Chinese of you”, according to Sherry Zhu, a 23-year-old Chinese American creator based in New Jersey. If you were really serious about “becoming Chinese”, you would be sipping hot water every day, she warned in a TikTok video with millions of views. “I really do feel like, digestion-wise, a lot better when I’m drinking hot water,” she later explained to GQ.

Zhu’s guidance is taken from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), a health system that dates back 5,000 years and offers a holistic approach to treating symptoms – physically, emotionally and spiritually. Other creators of Chinese descent have their own TCM hacks: keep your feet warm and your periods will be more bearable. Drink tea made with goji berries, jujubes and ginger as a cure-all. Move your body every day to promote the flow of qi, or internal energy. “Do my Chinese baddie routine with me,” they caption their videos in half-authoritative, half-joking tones. “Advice from your Chinese big sister.”

Even for fans like me, the Pokémon 30th anniversary ‘stuff’ is a bit much

With the wait for the new Winds and Waves games set to stretch into 2027, Pokemon’s 30th anniversary celebrations have plugged the gap with a deluge of nostalgia bait. Is the franchise in danger of losing its heart?

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It has been almost impossible to escape Pokémon for the past few weeks. To mark the 30th anniversary of the original games, the Pokémon Company has been on an unprecedented promotional nostalgia trip for the entire month: there was a campaign where celebrities gushed about their favourite Pokémon, gifting us the memorable sight of Lady Gaga singing with a Jigglypuff, and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (great Game Boy Advance remakes of the original 1996 games) were rereleased on the Nintendo Switch. The Natural History Museum in London has opened a special Pokémon pop-up shop, and a limited-edition greyscale Pikachu plush toy sold out in about three seconds (they will be making more, to the disappointment of scalpers everywhere).

And all that is just the start. We’ve seen the opening of a Pokémon theme park in Tokyo, the announcement of a tiny Game Boy-shaped music player that plays the games’ soundtrack, a collaboration with high-fashion brand JimmyPaul that had its own runway show … it’s been endless. Regular readers will know that I am exactly the target audience for this festival of Pokémon nostalgia: the first generation of Pokémon kids and now hurtling towards 40. And yet I have been unmoved by most of this, even slightly annoyed by it.

Some baby formula brands contain heavy metals, Consumer Reports says

Tests of dozens of baby formulas by Consumer Reports found that nearly half contained potentially dangerous chemicals.

Americans frustrated with government response as they try to evacuate Middle East

As the U.S. and Israel continue to hit targets inside Iran and Iran retaliates, the Trump administration has ordered U.S. nationals to leave 14 countries. But some Americans have expressed frustration with the government as they try to evacuate. Matt Gutman reports.

‘A woman of her time, in the worst way’: Industry, Ghislaine Maxwell and the Epstein scandal

An heiress helping to traffic young women to brutal billionaires: the finale of the banker drama used one of its characters to take on a huge real-life scandal

Just who is Yasmin Kara-Hanani? It’s a question that has dogged Industry’s trauma-logged heiress since the series began in 2020. “Who have I married?” wonders Henry Muck, Yasmin’s hapless aristocratic new husband about his ruthlessly ambitious bride in her Lady Macbeth era.

The season four finale solves the mystery with a shocking Epstein-inspired arc. As the Tender scandal spirals, revealing the payment processor/wannabe bank as a front for Russian intelligence, the former Lady Muck cuts and runs from her marriage to Henry, as well as her job in communications at Tender. She is now carving a niche for herself trafficking young women to a transnational crew of brutal billionaires hellbent on breaking the social contract nation by nation. Turns out, Yasmin (Marisa Abela) is a millennial-style take on Ghislaine Maxwell. It’s a ruinous evolution perversely pitched as a dream realised.

Hegseth says U.S. torpedo sank an Iranian warship as military campaign ramps up

In Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's second news briefing since the start of the Iran war, Hegseth said the U.S. had sunk an enemy ship by a torpedo for the first time since World War II.

Yes, Keir Starmer must do better and go faster in bringing Britain closer to Europe. Here’s how to reset his reset | Naomi Smith

MPs warn the plan so far lacks direction and drive, but there are four clear ways to really move on from our disastrous Brexit

Many of us have been there: in the driver’s seat on a tricky hill start, when the engine cuts out and the car judders to a halt. Since the EU-UK summit last May – the event that was supposed to map a new and dynamic way forward – stalling is fast becoming a real risk for Keir Starmer’s most crucial long-term policy area: improving Britain’s relationship with the EU.

Today’s report by MPs on parliament’s foreign affairs committee rightly warns that despite the hugely welcome – and essential – progress in relations with our closest allies and neighbours, Starmer’s project is “suffering from a lack of direction, definition and drive”. If Labour is to deliver a growing economy, improve living standards for every UK resident and tackle the very real threat of Reform UK, getting the EU reset back into gear is a matter of urgency.

Naomi Smith is chief executive of Best for Britain

Google faces lawsuit after Gemini chatbot allegedly instructed man to kill himself

Lawsuit is first wrongful death case brought against Google over flagship AI product after death of Jonathan Gavalas

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Last August, Jonathan Gavalas became entirely consumed with his Google Gemini chatbot. The 36-year-old Florida resident had started casually using the artificial intelligence tool earlier that month to help with writing and shopping. Then Google introduced its Gemini Live AI assistant, which included voice-based chats that had the capability to detect people’s emotions and respond in a more human-like way.

“Holy shit, this is kind of creepy,” Gavalas told the chatbot the night the feature debuted, according to court documents. “You’re way too real.”

Hanging on to Trump’s latest words ‘is not the special relationship’, Starmer tells MPs

Prime minister says getting British nationals to safety is his priority as Badenoch attacks his approach at PMQs

• Middle East crisis – live updates

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Keir Starmer has told MPs that “hanging on to President Trump’s latest words is not the special relationship” after criticism of his stance on the Iran conflict.

A day after Donald Trump dismissed Starmer as “not Winston Churchill”, angry that the US was denied use of British bases for initial strikes, the prime minister’s handling of the UK response to the conflict came under attack by Kemi Badenoch, the opposition leader, at prime minister’s questions.

U.S. satellites helped rescue 300 people last year. Here's how.

A network of satellites supported 300 rescues across the U.S. and its surrounding waters in 2025, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

Defense tech companies are dropping Claude after Pentagon's Anthropic blacklist

Anthropic customers that do business with the government are having to make the tough call on whether to abandon Claude.

House Oversight Committee report accuses Walz, Ellison of fraud "cover-up"

The report comes just hours before Walz and Ellison are expected to testify before the committee.

Maritime and port workers: how is the Middle East conflict affecting you?

With shipping routes disrupted and tensions rising across the region we want to hear from maritime workers, sailors and port workers and others working at sea who are affected

The conflict in the Middle East is disrupting shipping across the region, including in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest maritime routes.

Maritime traffic through the strait, the narrow channel linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, has effectively been closed since strikes on Iran began. Some vessels have been diverted or delayed and ports and shipping companies are dealing with heightened security concerns and uncertainty.

Susan Choi and Katie Kitamura among authors longlisted for Women’s prize for fiction

Sixteen novels are in contention for the £30,000 award, now in its 31st year, with settings ranging from climate-ravaged islands to a near-future Kolkata

Katie Kitamura, Susan Choi, Kit de Waal and Lily King are among the authors longlisted for this year’s Women’s prize for fiction.

Awarded annually and now in its 31st year, the prize comes with £30,000, and is one of the most prominent accolades for women’s writing in the English language. The 16-strong list features a selection of novels that range in setting from climate-ravaged islands to a near-future Kolkata, and from 1970s Birmingham to East Berlin on the brink of reunification.

To browse all books in the Women’s prize for fiction 2026 longlist, visit guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

A quick hack for looking A Bit Dressed Up? Just add a dash of shine | Jess Cartner-Morley

If you want to add some glitz to elevate your look, try shiny earrings, metallic shoes or a snazzy belt

Once in a while, it is fun to pull out all the stops and get properly dressed up. To wear something gorgeous and probably impractical, do your makeup carefully, rather than in two and a half minutes, and coerce a family member into taking a photo before you leave the house.

It is awards season, and red carpet fashion hoopla is all around us. But for those of us who don’t have an Oscar nomination, the nights that call for weapons-grade glam are few and far between, especially at this time of year. Which is fine by me because, frankly, who has the time? In real life, for most of us, quick styling hacks when you want to look A Bit Dressed Up are way more useful than a ball gown. Accessories that elevate your look from blah to belle, easy tricks that give your outfit a sense of occasion. These, not the bells-and-whistles party dresses, are the real treasures of your wardrobe.

What a viral speech in Ireland reveals about colonial history and Caribbean English

Linguists say reaction to Irish TD’s remarks reflects shared regional English roots and enduring impact of empire

When the politician Thomas Gould rose to speak in the Irish parliament recently, few expected a lesson in colonial linguistics.

Yet clips of his speech began circulating online last week, with some viewers saying he sounded unmistakably Jamaican. The reaction was animated, particularly among Jamaican heritage communities.

Beam lifting, digital fashion and a bike race: photos of the day – Wednesday

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

Weekly mortgage demand surged 11% higher last week, as rates sat near 4-year low

Lower mortgage rates last week caused a run on refinancing and renewed interest from homebuyers, but rates have already moved higher again.

Noem defends immigration crackdown and criticizes DHS funding lapse at hearing

Democratic senators and some Republicans grilled DHS Secretary Kristi Noem at a hearing on Tuesday where she defended her handling of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement. Noem also criticized Democrats for a DHS funding lapse that impacts FEMA, TSA and more.

Cornyn, Paxton head to runoff while Talarico projected winner over Crockett in Texas primary

CBS News projects Democratic state Rep. James Talarico has defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary for Senate in Texas. Longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn faces a runoff in late May against state Attorney General Ken Paxton. Ed O'Keefe reports.

X to ban users from earning revenue if they post unlabelled AI-generated war videos

Social media feeds have been flooded with fake battle scenes since start of Iran conflict

Elon Musk’s X will ban users from making money on the platform if they repeatedly post unlabelled AI-generated war videos, after social media feeds were flooded with fake battle scenes from the Iran conflict.

The social media platform, which has about half a billion monthly active users, will suspend people from earning revenue from posts for 90 days if they put up AI-generated videos of an armed conflict without adding a disclosure that it was made with AI. A second infraction wouldlead to a permanent ban, it said on Tuesday night, after the first days of the conflict in Iran were marked by a torrent of bogus online footage.

Trump denies Israel forced U.S. strikes on Iran

U.S. nationals have been urged to leave the Middle East as strikes continue across the region amid the Iran war. Some Americans in the region are struggling to find a way home and blaming the U.S. government for a lack of assistance. Charlie D'Agata reports.

Luke Donald to remain Europe’s Ryder Cup captain and go for historic three-peat

• Englishman has led team to back-to-back triumphs

• Tiger Woods is first choice to take over US captaincy

Luke Donald will captain Europe’s Ryder Cup team for a third time in a move that will increase pressure on the PGA of America to tie down Tiger Woods to lead the US at Adare Manor next September. Woods, who is the first choice to succeed Keegan Bradley, has been publicly vague on his captaincy status.

The announcement on Donald’s captaincy, revealed by the Guardian earlier on Wednesday, has enhanced Europe’s sense of continuity and togetherness with the US picture uncertain. Donald has been widely lauded for his approach in Rome and New York, where Europe won back-to-back Ryder Cups. After a dramatic success at Bethpage last year, it was apparent players wanted the Englishman to remain in office.

Strikes on Iran continue as some Americans struggle to find way out of Middle East

U.S. nationals have been urged to leave the Middle East as strikes continue across the region amid the Iran war. Some Americans in the region are struggling to find a way home and blaming the U.S. government for a lack of assistance. Charlie D'Agata reports.

'No to war’: Spain PM hits back at Trump threat to cut trade over air base dispute

His comments come after the U.S. president pledged to cut off all trade with Madrid over its position on the Iran conflict.

From MTV Cribs to The Bachelor Mansion: what reality TV homes reveal about viewers

In book Dream Facades, Jack Balderrama Morley examines houses from shows including Keeping Up with the Kardashians to see what we can learn

Houses have always been at the center of reality TV. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous set the domestic stage in the 1980s with its quasi-documentary look into the real lives of the ultra-wealthy. It walked so MTV Cribs could run, and in September 2000, Cribs became what critic Sam Jacob called “the most popular architectural media ever”. Known for its unhinged (and sometimes fake) house tours by the celebrity owners themselves, the hit show’s Ozzy Osbourne episode spun off in 2002 into The Osbournes, which Kris Jenner used for the basis of her pitch for Keeping up with the Kardashians. The rest is history.

In the book Dream Facades: The Cruel Architecture of Reality TV, author Jack Balderrama Morley reflects on residential settings and takes us through these histories, reflecting on how homes and design in reality shows are at once aspirational escapism, sinister characters, extensions of our own desires, and artifacts of American urban history. “I’m interested in what reality TV show homes represent, and why so many of us love getting lost in them,” Morley said. “On screen, they become appendages of our own homes.”

Relentless sun and ruthless populists: how the climate crisis will change the next 20 years

Former diplomat Arthur Snell says a heating planet is accelerating conflict and migration – and fostering a new age of empire. Democracies are dangerously unprepared, he warns

After a diplomatic career spent in the war zones of Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen, the last place Arthur Snell expected to cheat death was on holiday.

But it was an uncomfortably close brush with a falling boulder while climbing in the Swiss Alps that helped to bring his personal and professional lives together. His beloved mountains were, he realised, becoming less stable thanks to a changing climate. And if physical geography drives the way states exercise their power, as classic geopolitical theory argues, then a heating planet must be dislodging more than rocks.

‘A real dark situation to be in’: thousands of starving seabirds stranded in biggest ‘wreck’ in a decade

Puffins, guillemots, razorbills and terns are washing up on shores across Europe, after a string of storms affected their ability to find food

The two puffins washed up among seaweed and bits of plastic on a beach in Newquay, Cornwall, on a damp February morning. Normally, these much-loved seabirds pull in crowds of tourists eager to see their courtship rituals, but these were rolling in the surf, dead. Most people walking past probably missed them.

Their breast bones were sticking out, they had no fat on them, and their muscles were wasted; the pair probably starved to death, unable to find enough food out in the Atlantic Ocean where they spend the winter.

Workers at top 20 US low-wage firms rely on public assistance, report says

Exclusive: study finds workers at 20 S&P 500 firms rely on Medicaid and Snap as CEO pay and buybacks soar

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Many workers at some of the largest US corporations have no choice but to rely on healthcare and food assistance because of low wages, even as CEO compensation continues to grow, according to a new report released Wednesday.

The report, published by the Institute of Policy Studies, focuses on 20 of the S&P 500 corporations that have primarily US-based workforces and report the lowest median wages of the group.

Trump administration waging illegal war on Iran, experts say

Administration offers shifting explanations as it acts without congressional approval or legal premise

The Trump administration is waging an illegal war on Iran, one that defies both the US constitution and international armed conflict laws, according to several legal scholars and bipartisan lawmakers.

The Senate will vote Wednesday on whether to halt Donald Trump’s military offensive, which he launched on 28 February. Hundreds of people, including six US personnel, have been killed in a conflict that has now expanded to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Israel and the Persian Gulf.

Big investors have been fleeing for-sale housing market, even before Trump ordered ban

President Donald Trump wants to ban big investors from buying single-family rental homes, but investors have already been selling due to high home prices.

Why supporting a shelter for women is now 'kind of radioactive'

That's how researcher Beatriz Garcia Nice describes the new U.S. stance under the Trump administration to programs addressing gender-based violence.