JetBlue Airways raises bag fees as fuel prices soar

Airfare has climbed for routes around the world, driven by higher fuel prices since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.

White House blames Democrats for record-breaking DHS shutdown after House Republicans reject Senate’s compromise bill – live

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says there are still long security lines at airports throughout the country, and morale among TSA agents has ‘plummeted’

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The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the US is about to hit $4, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

This is up 33% from a month ago, when the average price was $2.98 per gallon. The hike is the highest national average since 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Trump administration scaling back asylum crackdown, sources say

The unprecedented move amounted to an indefinite suspension of all asylum requests filed outside of immigration court, regardless of the applicant's nationality.

3/30: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Major Garrett speaks to UAW president Shawn Fain as the Trump administration deals with upcoming tariffs with the markets sliding up and down and consumer confidence sliding. Plus, Sen. Mark Warner joins to discuss the Trump administration's mistake of its own making — sharing attack plans over an app.

Middle East crisis live: US and Iran in talks, White House insists; Trump ‘quite interested’ in asking Arab allies to help pay for war

Donald Trump’s spokesperson claims Iranian regime ‘increasingly eager’ to make a deal before deadline; Leavitt says Trump to say more on sharing cost

• Full report: Iran accuses US of plotting ground assault while publicly seeking talks

• Analysis: what the Houthis’ entry into the Iran war means for the conflict and the wider region

Donald Trump is weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds (454kg) of uranium from Iran, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing unnamed US officials.

The mission would likely put American forces inside the country for days or longer, the report says.

But the president remains generally open to the idea, according to the officials, because it could help accomplish his central goal of preventing Iran from ever making a nuclear weapon.

The combined effect of both waterways being shut to commercial traffic from countries that neither the Iranians nor Houthis favour would be devastating.

Napoleon Bonaparte’s remark that “the policy of a state lies in its geography” has never seemed more apt.

Fed's Powell tells students not to despair despite tough job market

In a Monday speech, Powell also touched on the impact of the Iran war, saying that longer-term inflation expectations remain in check.

Powell sees inflation outlook in check, no need to hike rates because of oil shock

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell spoke Monday at Harvard University.

Avi Lewis, elected to lead Canada’s New Democratic party, promises ‘NDP comeback’

Ex-TV host pledged to centre party around equity, with higher wealth taxes, green energy and tuition-free education

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Canada’s embattled New Democratic party (NDP) has elected the former broadcaster and self-proclaimed socialist Avi Lewis as its new leader, as it looks to rebuild following a devastating federal election last year that saw it lose official party status.

A record number of members voted in the three-day NDP leadership convention, giving Lewis a first-ballot win that underscored widespread support. Lewis pledged to convert the “tremendous momentum” of the convention into an “NDP comeback”.

Laura Dern to star in Epstein investigation limited series from Adam McKay

Dern will play Miami Herald reporter Julie K Brown in first scripted take on the Epstein story, based on Brown’s book

Laura Dern is taking on the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, in a new limited series executive produced by Adam McKay based on journalist Julie K Brown’s work busting open the story.

Dern will play Brown, the Miami Herald investigative reporter on the late, disgraced financier’s tail when no one else was, for the first scripted take on the Epstein case. The screenplay will be based on Brown’s 2021 book Perversion of Injustice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story. Sharon Hoffman, a writer on the 2020 limited series Mrs America, will write the project and serve as co-showrunner with Eileen Myers (The Night Agent, Masters of Sex). McKay, the writer-director of Don’t Look Up and executive producer on the HBO juggernaut Succession, among other credits, will serve as executive producer alongside Dern and Brown.

US reopens embassy in Venezuela in significant thawing of relations

Resumption of diplomatic operations come three months after former president Maduro was abducted

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The US government is resuming operations at its embassy in Venezuela, the state department announced on Monday, nearly three months since former president Nicolás Maduro was abducted from the country and locked up in the US.

The resumption of US diplomatic operations in Venezuela marks a significant step in the US-Venezuela relationship, as the Trump administration begins to work closely with the government of Delcy Rodríguez, the acting president who replaced Maduro after his forcible ousting by US troops. Rodríguez was Maduro’s vice-president.

British Steel on track to be fully nationalised within weeks

UK plans to take economic control from Chinese owner Jingye a year after stepping in to run plant, sources say

British Steel is on track to be fully nationalised within weeks, the Guardian understands, a year after the government took over the daily running of the loss-making business from its Chinese owner.

The steelmaker, which employs 3,500 people at its plant in Scunthorpe, was taken under government control last April amid fears that the owner Jingye was planning to shut down the site.

Ben Jennings on Donald Trump and the moon mission – cartoon

Continue reading...

This is what really causes recessions, a former top Trump White House economist says

Recessions are about shocks, and energy is a prime culprit, Tyler Goodspeed says

Never mind leading the free world, if Donald Trump were your ageing father, when would you take away his car keys?

Presidential decisions can mean life or death for millions around the world, that’s why constitutional safeguards exist. But do they work in practice?

Donald Trump’s cognitive skills are amazing. So amazing! So great! So much better than any other dumb presidential contender you could mention, at least according to Trump himself, who bragged once again last week of how he had repeatedly aced what he calls “a very hard test for a lot of people”. (It’s thought he means a screening tool for mild cognitive impairment in elderly people.)

Sure, the 79-year-old leader of the free world recently interrupted a cabinet meeting in the middle of a war to ramble on at length about a conversation he supposedly had with the head of the Sharpie pen company over supplying bespoke presidential felt-tips, of which the firm said it could find no record. And made a baffling joke about Pearl Harbor during a press conference in front of an alarmed-looking Japanese prime minister. And called the strait of Hormuz the “strait of Trump”, before adding that that was absolutely deliberate because “there are no accidents with me”. But anyway, to be clear, his mental state is great. The greatest!

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

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

Court of appeal says it cannot rule on which identical twin fathered a child

One twin wanted to take parental responsibility from the other for child P after both had sex with child’s mother

A woman who had sex with identical twins within four days of each other is unable to ensure one of them takes parental responsibility because it is “not possible” to know which is the father, the court of appeal has said.

One of the twins was registered as the father on the birth certificate of the child, referred to as P. His identical twin, along with the mother, sought to take over parental responsibility by asking the court of appeal to overturn a previous family court decision.

Figure skating season ends with redemption and heartbreak. What do fans watch next?

Worlds marks the last competition of the 2025-2026 season. Skaters have some time to go on tour, rest up and learn new routines before the next season starts in July.

Analysis: A new oil shock is building. The next few weeks of war will be decisive for the economy.

Energy markets are starting to reflect the growing risk of physical supply disruptions.

BBC accused of making ‘propaganda’ films for Saudi sovereign wealth fund

Critics say films lauding country’s attitude to women and green credentials could damage corporation’s reputation

The BBC has been accused of making “glossy propaganda films” for Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and taking money from a “repressive regime”.

BBC Storyworks, the corporation’s commercial arm, has entered into a partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). The broadcaster has made a series of films and written articles lauding the country’s supposedly progressive attitude to women and eco-friendly credentials. These are hosted on a mini-site that carried BBC branding.

TV star’s AI porn allegations spark national debate in Germany

Collien Fernandes accuses ex-husband Christian Ulmen of sharing sexually explicit deepfake images of her online

A high-profile German TV star’s allegations that her ex-husband spread AI-generated pornographic images of her have triggered a national debate and put pressure on the government to tighten laws around digital violence against women.

In an interview with the news magazine Der Spiegel last week, Collien Fernandes accused her former husband Christian Ulmen, a prominent TV presenter and producer, of impersonating her online for years and sharing sexually explicit deepfake images.

Dua Lipa to curate London literature festival at Southbank Centre

The British pop star will lead the 2026 London literature festival in collaboration with her Service95 book club, as part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary celebrations

Brit award-winning pop star Dua Lipa is to curate this year’s London literature festival at the Southbank Centre, organisers have announced.

The festival, now in its 19th year, will run from 21 October to 1 November, with Lipa shaping a programme of events across the opening weekend and beyond in collaboration with her Service95 book club. The news comes as part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary programme and during the UK’s National Year of Reading.

Air Canada CEO to retire after backlash over English-only crash message

Air Canada will seek a new CEO with "the ability to communicate in French" after Rousseau's English-only condolence message about the deadly New York crash.

Air Canada CEO to resign after backlash to video tribute of pilots killed in crash

Michael Rousseau faced mockery for speaking English and not French while addressing fatal LaGuardia airport crash

The head of Canada’s largest airline is stepping down after his video tribute to pilots killed in a fatal collision became a public relations nightmare for Air Canada, prompting a wave of mockery and indignation at him from both the public and politicians for not speaking French.

Air Canada’s CEO, Michael Rousseau, will retire by the end of the third quarter of 2026, the company said on Monday. He will continue to lead the company and serve on the board of directors until that time, the carrier said.

Everything to know about NASA's moon mission launching this week

NASA is poised to launch four astronauts April 1 on a historic nine-day trip around the moon and back. Here's everything to know about the Artemis II mission.

Islamabad talks signal emergence of new four-nation bloc in Middle East

Unlikely grouping of Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey steps up efforts to broker ceasefire and curb dominance of Iran and Israel

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The meeting on Sunday of the foreign ministers of Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey in Islamabad not only represented the best hope for a ceasefire in Iran but was also the embryo for a new order designed to curb Israeli and Iranian dominance after the war.

Although the four nations have met as a quartet before, the one-day meeting of foreign ministers in Islamabad on Sunday was, in a way, the official opening ceremony of an initiative that is intriguing diplomats.

‘Boxing is a dirty business, like politics, bro’: Derek Chisora on Nigel Farage, brain damage and burgers

The great old warhorse of British boxing, who faces his 50th and final bout on Saturday, reflects on retirement, Deontay Wilder and his friendship with the Reform leader

“Nigel’s here,” Derek Chisora says as he gives me a nudge when we walk into a restaurant called Boisdale in Belgravia. The great old warhorse of British boxing and I have been ambling around this stretch of London in search of a place where we can sit down and talk. He settles on Boisdale, which tags itself as “a British restaurant” and “a carnivore’s delight”.

Even though we are not dropping in for lunch, Chisora has enough of a swagger to blag us a private room. We look more ragged than the diners, including Nigel Farage, and I’m not sure the seemingly bewildered staff have a clear idea who Chisora is, but we sweep through the restaurant, climb the stairs and find ourselves in a discreet room. After Chisora orders a bottle of water for us to share he asks the waiter to let Farage know he is here.

Don’t stop at Duolingo, set realistic goals, balance skills: how to start learning a new language

Language experts say you should learn in the right order and shift to a growth mindset

If there’s one thing guaranteed to make a pop-culture character look cool and sophisticated, it’s being multilingual. Think James Bond, Yasmin from Industry or Scrooge McDuck.

Learning a new language not only makes you look cool – it also allows you to familiarize yourself with another culture, connect with new people and enjoy a wider variety of art and media. And it’s good for your brain. Studies have shown that learning a new language is associated with improved concentration, stronger communication skills, a more powerful memory and greater creativity.

Mohamed Salah could make Liverpool return at Manchester City in FA Cup

• Forward sustained muscle problem against Galatasaray

• Alisson still a major doubt for game on Saturday

Liverpool are hopeful that Mohamed Salah will return from injury in the FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester City on Saturday as the Egypt international prepares for his emotional farewell tour.

Salah missed Liverpool’s defeat at Brighton before the international break with a muscle problem sustained in the Champions League rout of Galatasaray. The 33-year-old forward, who announced last week that he would leave Liverpool at the end of the season, was also forced to miss Egypt’s friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Spain. The Pharaohs face the latter in Barcelona on Tuesday.

Did you solve it? R y clvr ngh t rd ths sntnc?

Th nswrs t tdys pzzls

Earlier today I set you the following puzzles. Listed below are ten common phrases or sayings in the English language, five of which are found in Shakespeare. Each letter is replaced by a box the same width and height as the letter. Consonants are blue, vowels are green.

The solutions are presented as a group at the bottom.

Will Trump put boots on the ground in Iran? - The Latest

As thousands of US soldiers and marines arrive in the Middle East, Iran is accusing Washington of privately plotting a ground assault while publicly touting ceasefire talks. Donald Trump threatened to ‘obliterate’ Iran’s energy infrastructure, said his ‘preference would be to take the oil’ in Iran and that US forces could seize the regime’s export hub on Kharg Island, while also claiming he was in talks with a new ‘reasonable regime’. Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi forces have also entered the conflict, bringing the threat of further damage to the global economy.

Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian columnist and host of Politics Weekly America, Jonathan Freedland

John Oliver on Maga’s love for Viktor Orbán: ‘For them, Orbán is a blueprint’

The Last Week Tonight host examined the rightwing Hungarian leader’s slow domestic coup as a model for Republican leaders

On the latest episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver looked into the reign of Viktor Orbán in Hungary, ahead of the country’s election on 12 April. The rightwing leader is the longest-serving head of state in the European Union, having been elected in 2010 with an absolute majority in government for almost 16 years.

A staunch religious conservative, he is also beloved by some Republicans in the US, and has been officially endorsed in the upcoming election by Donald Trump. But “the lovefest between Orbán and American conservatives is a two-way street,” Oliver explained. Just last week, Orbán praised the US president at a Republican party Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) offshoot in Hungary. “Since President Trump’s win, the western world has become a better place,” Orbán said. “Gender propaganda and woke ideology have been pushed back. People can proudly embrace Christianity as the foundation and sustaining force of our civilization. What’s happening now is the largest political realignment in western civilization in 100 years. The epicenter of this change is the United States, and its European forward base is Hungary.”

US quadruple amputee cornhole pro suspected of murder had ‘a dark side’, ex-girlfriend claims

Tori Mattingly told TMZ Dayton Webber would ‘lash out’ at her during four-year relationship that ended in 2025

A woman who claims she was romantically involved with a quadruple-amputee cornhole champion and the man he is accused of shooting dead in a murder case grabbing national attention has spoken of dating both of them – and said the accused killer had “a dark side”.

Tori Mattingly told TMZ in an interview published over the weekend that Dayton Webber would “lash out” at her during their four-year relationship. That relationship ended in February 2025 before she dated Bradrick Wells, the alleged victim of a deadly shooting in Webber’s car in suburban Washington DC on 22 March.

Interpol arrest warrant requested in Congo-Brazzaville for Jean-Guy Blaise Mayolas

• Football federation president on the run with wife and son

• Conviction in absentia of wide-ranging corruption charges

Authorities in Congo-Brazzaville have applied to Interpol for an international arrest warrant against Jean-Guy Blaise Mayolas, the president of the country’s football federation, Fecofoot, after he was convicted of embezzling $1.1m in Fifa funds.

Mayolas is on the run with his wife and son after they were all sentenced to life imprisonment this month for embezzling funds provided by world football’s governing body as part of its Covid-19 relief plan in February 2021. As the Guardian revealed last year, that included almost $500,000 earmarked for the Congo women’s team.

‘If I didn’t have dwarfism, I’d probably be quite normcore’: Midgitte Bardot on sex, drag and street harassment

Their shows caused mayhem. Now Tamm Reynolds – AKA Midgitte Bardot – is really going for the jugular, hitting back at prejudice with a wild new act

Most performers want attention when they’re on stage. Tamm Reynolds, however, gets it all the time – even when not dressed in fishnets and push-up bra as their alter ego, Midgitte Bardot. “I also like having my bush and ass out,” Reynolds adds. Before we meet at Woolwich station in London, where the artist has kindly agreed to pick me up in their car, they send me a text: “I’m assuming you know what I look like.” Sure enough, they are hard to miss. As a non-binary trans drag queen with dwarfism, Reynolds must be in a minority of one.

Yet to define Reynolds purely in those terms would be to do them a massive disservice, since they are also a writing and performance powerhouse. Three years ago, in Travis Alabanza’s queer cabaret revue Sound of the Underground, Midgitte climbed aboard a cherry-picker in order to sing a filthy blues rock tune called Hot Piss, brandishing a jug of frothy yellow liquid. The climax can’t adequately be described in a family newspaper, but it resulted in the loudest cheer I’ve ever heard at the Royal Court. Eat your heart out, Jerusalem.

NASA is just days away from historic Artemis II moon launch

On Wednesday, the crew of NASA's Artemis II could blast off on a mission around the moon and back. No astronaut has ventured out to the moon since the 1970s.

Tiger Woods arrested for DUI after rollover car crash, Florida sheriff says

Golf legend Tiger Woods was arrested for a DUI after a rollover car crash in Florida on Friday, the Martin County sheriff said.

Texas house speaker directs committee to study annexing parts of New Mexico

New Mexico governor calls order ‘not serious’ as south-eastern counties note divisions with Democratic Santa Fe

The speaker of Texas’s house of representatives says he is entertaining the idea of expanding the state by annexing some New Mexico counties.

Dustin Burrows, who has been the chamber’s speaker since 2025, ordered a state legislative committee on 26 March to look into the legal and economic options to add “one or more contiguous counties” of New Mexico to the state of Texas.

Brent crude touches $115 a barrel, while U.S. stocks recover some losses

With stocks cheaper than they were before the Iran war, some investors are looking for an opportune time to buy.

Drink in the jeopardy of the World Cup playoffs, it’s the last we’ll get for a while | Jonathan Wilson

The expansion of this summer’s 48-team tournament mean Tuesday’s games will be the best we see until the round of 16

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• Live in a World Cup host city? Tell us your stories

There is always a slightly odd rhythm to the World Cup. The final round of qualifying games is almost invariably more exciting than the early games at the tournament itself, and now with 32 teams making it through the group stage and into the knockout rounds, that is likely to be even more true for the 2026 edition. Those final qualifiers in November were thrilling and meaningful – Troy Parrott’s hat-trick! Scotland scoring two absurdly good goals in the same game! DR Congo beating Nigeria on penalties as bottles rained down from the stands! Honduras failing to score against Costa Rica! – and Tuesday will be too as 12 teams battle for the six remaining slots.

But for those not involved in World Cup playoffs, there is an unsatisfying phoniness to the friendlies they must play instead, with experimental line-ups and weary players going through glorified training exercises. While it’s never good to be letting in five goals, neither the USA nor Ghana should be too concerned about the defeats to Belgium or Austria.

DHS shutdown set to stretch on with Congress on 2-week break

The shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security is set to stretch on after House Republicans rejected a Senate-passed solution to the standoff late last week.

Barbie Dream Fest: why did the ‘ultimate fan event’ leave visitors fuming?

Devotees who paid $450 for a fun-filled “experience” in Florida last weekend were met with a concrete-floored warehouse and a $1 Barbie-branded hand sanitiser. Could this top the notorious Willy Wonka Experience?

Name: Barbie Dream Fest.

Age: Barbie has been around since 1959, so technically of pensionable age, even if she doesn’t look it. Barbie Dream Fest took place last weekend, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Fed Governor Miran still backs cuts, says interest rates could be 'about a point' lower this year

Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran spoke Monday on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."

Watch Fed Chair Jerome Powell speak live to an economics class at Harvard

This will be one of Powell's final scheduled public appearances before his term ends in May.

Trump says U.S. will destroy Iran’s oil wells, Kharg Island without deal to 'immediately' reopen Hormuz Strait

Donald Trump warned the U.S. will completely obliterate all of Iran's electric generating plants, oil wells and Kharg Island if a peace deal is not reached.

Corey Feldman speaks out about Rob Reiner Oscars tribute snub: ‘Like a family reunion I wasn’t invited to’

Stand By Me co-stars Wil Wheaton and Jerry O’Connell joined Billy Crystal and a dozen other stars on stage at the Academy Awards to pay tribute to the film’s director

Stand By Me star Corey Feldman has said he was sorry to be omitted from the tribute to Rob Reiner at the Oscars earlier this month.

At the start of the Academy Awards’ in memoriam section, Billy Crystal took to the stage to pay extended tribute to the writer and director and his wife, photographer Michele, who were killed in December.

‘After one gig, someone stole my car with my dole money in it’: Morcheeba on how they made The Sea

‘The string section we got in thought I was the tea boy. When I asked for a psychedelic improvisation like A Day in the Life, they went: “Why is this guy telling us what to play?”’

We’d made our first album and were waiting for it to come out. But we wanted to carry on writing more stuff while we were in the mood. I even cut Christmas dinner short at my uncle’s in Brixton, London, so we could get back to the studio. We would work until we passed out, then I’d sleep underneath the mixing desk with my head in the bass drum, as that’s where the pillow was.

Putin likely to stage another Salisbury-style attack, exiled oil tycoon says

Mikhail Khodorkovsky says Russian security services may seek to create a ‘sense of vulnerability’ in Britain

Vladimir Putin is likely to stage another Salisbury-style attack on UK soil unless the government adopts more aggressive tactics against the Kremlin, the exiled Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky has said.

The former oil tycoon has emerged as a leading figure in Russian diaspora opposition circles and claims to be well-informed about current thinking and developments among Moscow’s elite.

Football Daily | Tottenham embrace the chaos in bid to stop slide into Championship

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Like a Christmas day can of John West tuna chunks for one with an accompanying bottle of champagne and war movie triple-bill chez Richard Keys, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is the gift that keeps on giving. Like Gregory Peck’s crack commando unit attempting to silence the eponymous guns of Navarone, Spurs currently find themselves in an extremely high-stakes race against time only to be repeatedly thwarted at every turn by a mixture of internal sabotage, the at times unbearable burden of leadership and immense dissatisfaction among the rank and file. The mission? To escape an ignominious, financially ruinous slide into the Championship. The plan? A chaotic improvisation that suggests the club hierarchy are just making things up as they go along, one ill-judged managerial appointment at a time.

I’m delighted to hear of Mr Roy’s return to the touchline but it raises a question for me. As a philistine who only learned of his TBOF (two banks or four) in Friday’s Football Daily, I’m compelled to ask how it differs from fellow England alumnus Mike Bassett’s FFFR (four, four, flippin’ two)“ – Simon Riley.

A double doff of the cap to Big Paper’s Jonathan Wilson this weekend. Firstly, for pointing out that ‘in the 2018 World Cup semi-final, the clearest signal England were done for was Jordan Henderson gamely running shuttles as Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic and Ivan Rakitic knocked the ball round him’ a whole eight years before Tommy Tuchel picked him for the game against Uruguay. And, secondly, for hoping that most readers would know, or could be bothered to Google, what the ‘Gaia hypothesis’ is, in the very same piece. Never change, Wilson, never change” – Noble Francis.

So Tudor lasted 44 days at Spurs (with some compassionate extension). Bloody hell, that was shorter than Liz Truss’s tenure in charge of the government. At least he didn’t spaff £65bn in the process, so the experiment might be deemed a success if one sets the bar very very low” – Nigel Sanders.

I was playing Football Manager earlier today when I got offered the Tottenham job. I thanked them but declined the offer, hung up the phone and then returned to playing my game” – James Vortkamp-Tong.

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

How quickly will airport security lines ease after TSA workers get paid?

The Department of Homeland Security said TSA agents should begin receiving pay as early as Monday, March 30.

Who is an American? The Supreme Court will decide

President Trump claims that there is no automatic guarantee to birthright citizenship in the Constitution. But, will that claim hold up in court?

The nightmarish sounds of Squid Game composer Jung Jae-il: ‘Having no identity very much defines my identity’

Korean composer behind Netflix’s most-watched series on world tour celebrating calculated imperfection in his scores

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If you were among the 265 million viewers who made Squid Game Netflix’s most-watched series so far, you were likely left mentally and aurally scarred by first season’s end, traumatised by the discordant whistle of a child’s recorder; the sheer banality of a primary school music room reimagined as a herald of human carnage.

That sound was the work of composer Jung Jae-il, whose career has been defined by this sort of strange and unsettling contradiction; he is a master in the art of subverting all that is musically familiar – recasting the naive, the genteel, and the elegant into the chilling harbingers of horror.

Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

Expat influencers sold Dubai to the world and were paid to look the other way. Now the dream is crumbling | Brigid Delaney

The Maseratis are borrowed, the helicopters rented by the hour. But deep down Dubai is a lonely place, built by oppressed people

For people living in close proximity to a war zone, the lack of sympathy for Australian and British expats and influencers in Dubai has been, on the face of it, curious.

Since their adopted home was bombed in the initial days of the war, they have faced mostly ridicule and contempt in their home countries.

AI lectures, Old West folk heroes and Mark Twain: what is Bob Dylan up to joining Patreon?

By far the biggest musician to have joined the membership-based platform, Dylan’s posts have so far been puzzling – and therefore entirely in character

A couple of years back, the august music writer David Hepworth came up with a great line about Bob Dylan. Dylan, he averred, “is like China: we can see what he’s doing, but never quite work out why he’s doing it”. That’s certainly true about the unexpected launch of the 84-year-old singer-songwriter’s Patreon. Everything about it is confusing.

For one, there’s the choice of platform. Plenty of major music stars have flocked to the newsletter provider Substack in recent years to share their thoughts or show their workings and, perhaps, earn a little cash on the side: everyone from Patti Smith and Dolly Parton to Charli xcx and Rosalía. But Patreon, where fans pay monthly subscriptions for exclusive content from all sorts of creators – podcasters, visual artists – has never really taken off with big rock and pop musicians: the biggest name it could boast, until now, was Ben Folds.

JD Vance says aliens are ‘demons’ and details obsession with UFOs

Vice-president promises ‘to get to the bottom of’ reports of US government files about unidentified flying objects

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JD Vance, the vice-president of the United States, said this weekend that he considers aliens to be “demons”.

As the war in Iran continues, petrol and grocery prices soar and chaos continues at US airports as a partial government shutdown endures, Vance appeared on the conservative Benny Show podcast, released Saturday, to promise that he would spend time looking into what he called his “obsession” with UFOs and extraterrestrial visitors.

Meet the astronauts about to make history on flight around the moon

NASA's Artemis II astronauts — three space station veterans and a Canadian rookie — stand out even in an astronaut corps full of super achievers.

‘Every child wants to find joy’: the scheme designing playground equipment for disaster zones

As one in six children worldwide is affected by war, a UK charity is providing children in refugee communities from Ukraine to Ethiopia with flatpack timber climbing frames

Like many new parents, photographer Alexander Meininger found his world changed after he had kids. “You end up spending a lot of time observing them in playgrounds – whether you want to or not,” he says.

Meininger, who grew up in Germany but now lives in London, likes making things. So when he saw how much his young sons enjoyed the jungle gym and play forts at the local park, he made an indoor treehouse for them. That was as far as it went – until the Ukraine war. Watching the destruction of infrastructure on television, Meininger wondered what he could do to help Ukrainian children, and alighted on the idea of playgrounds. This was his first step towards creating Playrise, a charity he launched this week in London that makes flatpack play equipment and furniture for displaced families living in disaster relief zones.

Parades, art installations and ruined rooms filled with rubble: photos of the day – Monday

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

What to know about Tiger Woods' DUI arrest and his future plans

Tiger Woods is out of jail after being charged with DUI after a crash on Friday in Florida. He hasn't entered a plea yet in the incident and his representatives didn't respond to requests for comments. Nicole Valdes reports on the incident and what's next in Woods' future after he recently teased a possible return to the Masters.

Russia welcomes arrival of oil tanker in Cuba after Trump softens approach to U.S. blockade

A Russian oil tanker carrying a humanitarian shipment of 100,000 tons of crude oil reportedly arrived in Cuba on Monday.

Court dismisses Cardiff’s £106m claim against Nantes over Emiliano Sala’s death

• French court rules against club in damages claim

• Sala died in 2019 plane crash on way to Wales

A commercial court in France has dismissed Cardiff’s claim for more than £100m compensation after the death of Emiliano Sala. Seven years after the plane crash that killed Sala, Cardiff were seeking €122m (£106m) for loss of income and other damages from the player’s former team Nantes.

Rulings by Fifa, the court of arbitration for sport and Switzerland’s supreme court have gone against Cardiff in their legal dispute with Nantes since Sala died in January 2019.

I discovered the elusive chestnut mining bee in New York after a gap of 119 years

For decades, there was no record of Andrena rehni exisiting in the US. In 2018 it was found in Maryland and five years later I found it in New York State

I’ve loved insects ever since I was a kid and spent summers looking for them. My mum would always tell me that from the age of one – even before I could walk – I would happily sit outside, watching ants and trying to follow them back to their colony.

As an adult, I take people out to meadows with nets to catch insects and take a close look at them. It’s about trying to cultivate a childlike curiosity that people have lost or forgotten in daily life.

F1 must find answers to safety crisis after Bearman’s escape but there are no easy fixes | Giles Richards

F1 has five weeks before the next race in Miami and they will need every minute to fix a hugely complicated problem

Oliver Bearman emerging unhurt from a huge accident at the Japanese Grand Prix was considered a lucky escape. Formula One must think it is catching a break given there is a full month to work out how best to reduce the chance of such an incident happening again. F1 is going to need every minute of that time given the complexity of the problem.

Bearman’s Haas car was travelling at 307kph (191mph) when he was forced to veer off‑track as he came up behind the relatively slow moving Alpine of Franco Colapinto. The closing speed between the two cars was 50kph, a frightening pace. The scenario was one many had been warning about before the season had even begun. With the deployment of electrical energy, and its subsequent recovery now an integral part of F1, Bearman was using his boost mode while Colapinto was recovering energy, hence the big difference in speed.

Human bone found on beach traced back to banker missing since 1999

A human bone discovered on a California beach in 2022 has been traced back to a former banker who vanished from that area more than two decades ago.

Amnesty International warns Fifa World Cup risks becoming ‘stage for repression’

• Group says US is facing a ‘human rights emergency’

• ICE director said agency will play ‘key part’ at tournament

Amnesty International has warned that the World Cup, spread across three North American countries, risks becoming a “stage for repression”. The human rights organisation published a report on Monday – “Humanity Must Win” – calling on Fifa and the host countries, the US, Canada and Mexico, to take urgent action to protect fans, players and other communities.

Fifa has promised a tournament where everyone “feels safe, included and free to exercise their rights”. But Amnesty said that pledge sat in “stark contrast” to conditions in all three host nations, especially the US, which hosts three-quarters of the 104 matches.

Millions protest Trump administration at "No Kings" rallies

Millions of people protested at "No Kings" rallies across the U.S. and Europe over the weekend against the Trump administration's policies and the war in Iran. Organizers estimate at least 8 million participated in more than 3,300 protests worldwide.

Adults underestimate risk of abuse posed to women by ex-partners, UK data shows

Figures show 42% of callers to Refuge identify former partner as abuser, but only 12% of adults recognise this possibility

The risk posed to women by ex-partners in cases of abuse is underestimated by large swathes of the British public, according to the charity Refuge.

Data from the charity’s helpline found that 42% of people who call Refuge for help identify a former partner as their abuser, a statistic which underlines how common it is for an ex to be a cause of harm after a relationship has ended.

What to know about the legal fight over Trump's birthright citizenship order

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday over the legality of President Trump's executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship.

Iran warns against U.S. launching ground operation

Iran issued a warning to the U.S., against a possible ground invasion as both sides continue to launch air and missile strikes. Holly Williams has the latest.

Travel issues continue at airports as House rejects Senate deal that could end partial shutdown

Travelers over the weekend experienced more long lines at Transportation Security Administration checkpoints after House Republicans rejected a deal passed by the Senate that could have ended the partial government shutdown. TSA workers may still soon get paid though, due to an executive order from President Trump. Jason Allen reports.

Stuart Penkett obituary

Atmospheric chemist whose laboratory work helped to identify the causes of acid rain and the hole in the ozone layer

Stuart Penkett’s discovery of the chemical processes that cause acid rain transformed our understanding of atmospheric pollution and what was required to deal with it.

Penkett, who has died aged 87, and his colleagues at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) in Harwell, Berkshire, published a landmark paper in 1979 in the journal Atmospheric Environment, identifying how sulphur dioxide, primarily emitted from industrial sources, is converted into sulphuric acid in clouds that subsequently falls as rain.

Florida space coast cities abuzz before Nasa’s Artemis launch: ‘At the doorstep of the future’

Cape Canaveral and Titusville, long ghost towns after 1969 moon landing, have witnessed space industry ‘renaissance’

Almost six decades have passed since the space coast of Florida experienced an atmosphere quite like this. On its beaches and in cities, there is an air of anticipation, excitement and anxiety to match the final days of Nasa’s storied Apollo moon program.

At 6.24pm ET on Wednesday at Cape Canaveral, subject to adverse weather and last-minute technical hitches, four Artemis II astronauts – three Americans and one Canadian – will become the first humans to blast off on a journey to the moon since 1972.

Trump is fighting a ‘boomer war’ in Iran: a relic unpopular with anyone under 60 | Stephen Wertheim

To see this war as archaic, the last squawk of the Middle East hawks, is at once maddening and hopeful

From the moment the United States and Israel attacked Iran, the news seemed incongruous with the year 2026. A war to kill the Ayatollah and overthrow the government – this was the fantasy of neoconservatives after September 11, before today’s college students were born. Hadn’t every president since, Donald Trump most boisterously of all, repudiated regime-change wars in the Middle East?

When he announced the strikes in an overnight video, decked out in a USA ball cap, Trump evoked an even more distant era. The president barely bothered to claim that Tehran posed some kind of imminent threat. Instead, he recited the litany of misdeeds perpetrated by the Islamic Republic since it took power in 1979.

‘Battle of the titans’: Trump’s distorted reality on Iran war runs into a brick wall

War is testing operating principle that has guided Trump for decades: construct a narrative, declare it to be true and relentlessly force the world to submit to it

“Let me say, we’ve won,” he told a rally in Kentucky on 11 March. “I think we’ve won,” he said on the White House south lawn on 20 March. “We’ve won this war. The war has been won,” he said in the Oval Office on 24 March. “We are winning so big,” he promised a fundraising dinner on 25 March.

Donald Trump keeps declaring victory in Iran. But saying it over and over does not make it so. While the US president insists that his military campaign in the Middle East is a historic success, the world is bracing for a conflict that continues to metastasize and could wreak havoc on the global economy.

Painting considered workshop copy is in fact by Rembrandt, expert says

Exclusive: UK owner’s version of Old Man with a Gold Chain reunited in Chicago with undisputed work by Dutch master

A portrait in a UK collection that has long been dismissed as a workshop copy of an almost identical painting by Rembrandt was in fact also painted by the 17th-century Dutch master, according to a leading scholar.

Each of the paintings, titled Old Man with a Gold Chain and dated to the early 1630s, is a near-lifesize depiction of an older man wearing a gold chain and a plumed hat.

TSA workers may receive pay soon. And, Israel plans to expand its invasion of Lebanon

TSA workers have now been without pay for more than 40 days, as Trump says he has a plan to pay them. And, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces plans to expand the invasion of Lebanon.

Trump to revoke protections for endangered species in Gulf of Mexico

President is convening so-called ‘God squad’ to override provisions of Endangered Species Act for ‘national security’

Donald Trump is dispatching a so-called “God squad” of top officials to revoke protections for endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico, purportedly to protect national security by expanding oil and gas industry operations.

If successful, the administration may kill off dozens of protected species – from Rice’s whales and whooping cranes to sea turtles.

Trump’s Iran war is holding him hostage | Sidney Blumenthal

If there is any consistency to Trump’s policy, it is a series of frantic attempts to justify his original blunder and extricate himself from its dire consequences

Donald Trump has lost his Iran war. He is the Iranian hostage. Unlike the US embassy personnel captured as hostages for 444 days, Trump threw himself into Iranian hands. Less than a month into his “short-term excursion”, his stated objectives have been scattered to the winds. There is no regime change, no uprising and no access to oil wealth along the Venezuelan model. The decapitation gambit – assassinating Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior Iranian leadership – has failed to destroy the regime. Despite the massacre, it is Trump who stands exposed to slings and arrows for the rashest military adventure since Custer at Little Bighorn.

Iran maintains a chokehold on the strait of Hormuz and, through its narrowest passage of 21 miles, on the global economy. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecasts a spike of inflation to 4.2% in the US, a 40% increase since Trump returned to office. The stock market has dived into correction territory. Iran has also demonstrated its capacity to wreak existential destruction on the Gulf states whose rulers’ delusion of their invulnerability and US protection has been shattered. “I’m the opposite of desperate,” Trump declared on 26 March. “I don’t care.”

‘He can say he went to the gym’: people are pumping themselves with fat from corpses to perk up their pecs, boobs and butts

‘Zombie filler’, or using cadaver tissue that’s been sterilized and branded as Alloclae, is the latest cosmetic surgery rage. Is it safe?

The residential block at 655 Park Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side is so storied it has its own Wikipedia entry. It has housed luminaries from bestselling romance author Danielle Steel to esteemed yachtsmen and the 20th-century heir William Kissam Vanderbilt II. A more recent resident, on the ground floor, is Alpha Male Plastic Surgery, a clinic offering a broad menu of elective procedures catering to the needs of the modern man.

On a coffee table in the waiting room, fanned-out brochures tout facelifts, non-surgical penile implants, and Tesamorelin – an FDA-approved peptide injection targeting stubborn visceral belly fat. Flatscreen monitors mounted behind the front desk shuffle through ads for a “Full Male Model Makeover”, proprietary procedures like BodyBanking® and the 360 TorsoTuck®, and for the gym rat who habitually skips leg day, even “Amazing New Calves”.

Fighter jets intercept plane near Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort

Fighter jets were scrambled over Palm Beach after a civilian plane breached restricted airspace near President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, officials said.

Mary Beth Hurt, star of Interiors and The World According to Garp, dies aged 79

The actor, who was nominated for three Tony awards, made her film debut in Woody Allen’s Interiors and worked into the 2010s including in films made by her second husband, Paul Schrader

• Mary Beth Hurt – a life in pictures

The actor Mary Beth Hurt, who starred in films including Interiors and The World According to Garp, has died of Alzheimer’s aged 79.

The news was confirmed on a joint Facebook post by her daughter, Molly Schrader, and her husband, the writer and director Paul Schrader.

Trump says he has "no problem" with Russian tanker bringing oil to Cuba

When asked if a New York Times report that the tanker would be allowed to reach Cuba was true, Mr. Trump said: "If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem whether it's Russia or not."

Trump is weighing all options on Iran's Kharg Island

President Trump said the U.S. could "take the oil in Iran" and that he was considering sending U.S. forces to seize Kharg Island's oil terminal.

Rob Schneider calls on US to restore military draft

The actor and comedian, posting on X, said that ‘unlike in today’s universities’ the military would teach young people ‘how truly great their country is’

The actor and comedian Rob Schneider has urged the US to “restore the military draft for our nation’s young people” amid the ongoing war with Iran.

Posting on X, Schneider, 62, who has not served in the military, wrote:

I took off my headphones – and noticed a stranger in peril

Slumped on the pavement, she wasn’t breathing – and I wouldn’t have realised if I’d been listening to music as usual. Time to stop blotting out the world …

For years I walked the streets of London wearing noise-cancelling headphones, absorbed in playlists, politics podcasts or long voice notes from friends, and a million miles away from wherever I was. One damp January evening last year, I was walking home from my parents’ house, headphones dead in my bag, when I noticed a small figure slumped on the pavement with her eyes closed. I might not have noticed her had I been in my own world, fixated on what was playing in my ears.

I asked for her name. “Can you hear me?” I tried several times, my voice tightening. She didn’t respond, and worse, she didn’t seem to be breathing. My mind raced back to the one first aid class I took in school, but drawing a blank and worried that I might get it wrong, I dialled 999 and frantically tried to figure out if I could feel her pulse.

College Republicans director made racist and sexist remarks on live streams

Review of Kai Schwemmer’s broadcasts undermines claim ‘process of growth’ had led him to abandon bigoted views

Kai Schwemmer, the newly appointed College Republicans of America political director, has made racist, antisemitic, homophobic and sexist statements while espousing extremist rightwing views on abortion, a Guardian review of livestream recordings can reveal.

Schwemmer said he would accept a world in which slavery was legal if abortion was criminalised, describes himself as “very much an anti-universal suffrage guy” and accepts a supporter’s description of him as “our Mormon Nick Fuentes” – referring to the white nationalist influencer whose platform he streamed on for years.

​​Being Ola review – a sweet and gentle film about disability, friendship and abandonment

Documentary follows a resident of a Norwegian village for people with learning disabilities, spotlighting his connection with a Danish care worker

This is a sweet, slight, gentle film about Ola Henningsen, a man in early middle age with a round, placid face who lives in a village community in eastern Norway for people with learning and developmental disabilities. (The original title in Norwegian translates as Ola: A Completely Ordinary Unusual Guy.) Director Ragnhild Nøst Bergem interviews Ola and follows him around the village; Ola describes himself as “slow” and yet also appears perfectly intelligent and articulate.

But the film shows us something over and above this: Ola’s relationship with Lasse, a Danish care worker who once lived in the community alongside the residents, helping with activities, and who did nothing to discourage Ola thinking of him as his “best friend”. But Ola was clearly very hurt, even heartbroken, when Lasse (inevitably) had to leave the community and go back to Copenhagen because his employment term had come to an end. The second part of the film shows Ola going on a trip to see Lasse (which would have been impossible without Bergem accompanying him as his carer) and to some extent confessing to him his feelings of abandonment.

Philanthropy is a 'significant form of power.' Here's how Jeffrey Epstein exploited that

A large share of science funding comes through philanthropy, with little legal or public scrutiny. This lack of oversight allowed Jeffrey Epstein to cultivate scientists and launder his reputation.

Weather tracker: Thunderstorms drench UAE and Saudi Arabia

Abnormally strong jet stream triggers deluge in Middle East, while north Africa braces for 60-80mph gusts

An unusual weather pattern unleashed severe thunderstorms across parts of the Middle East last week, battering countries including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The Arabian peninsula – typically dominated by arid desert climates – received up to 150mm of rain in just a few days.

The deluge was caused by an abnormally strong jet stream, which helped a deep area of low pressure to develop north of Saudi Arabia. This, in turn, drew moist tropical air from the Indian Ocean and triggered intense storms.

Trump administration cuts turned rural towns into sitting ducks for disasters

The Trump administration has delayed billions of dollars for projects to protect Americans from floods, wildfires and hurricanes. Local leaders are increasingly anxious.

‘Prosthetics aren’t made for people like us’: the brothers creating innovative artificial limbs for Africans

When Ubokobong Amanam lost his fingers in an accident he teamed up with his brother John, a special effects artist, to design a prosthetic that suited him – now they run a thriving business

On a humid morning in Uyo, Nigeria, Ubokobong Amanam shows off the lifelike prosthetic where his fingers once were. The skin bears tiny wrinkles, and the nails are naturally shaped. Seven years ago, he was badly injured in a firework accident. Doctors could save him, but not his fingers.

The prosthetics available at the time were clumsy, poorly fitted and designed for bodies nothing like his.

‘Worst case I get to ride a lot’: Lael Wilcox on her quest to become the fastest human to cycle round the world

After setting the women’s around-the-world record two years ago, the Alaskan is aiming for a new mark with her next 18,000 mile journey

On 11 September 2024, Lael Wilcox returned to Chicago after 108 days in the saddle, smashing the women’s around-the-world cycling record by more than two weeks. The extraordinary feat had taken her 18,000 miles over remote mountains and across 22 countries. But it left Wilcox with a lingering question: could she break Mark Beaumont’s outright record of 78 days and 14 hours?

Shaving 30 days off her time would require a major pivot in philosophy from adventure riding to pure racing, with an emphasis on efficiency, aerodynamics, and rigorous planning. Motivated to prove that women can compete with men in ultra-cycling, Wilcox will start her second attempt on 7 June in Chicago.

As birthright citizenship goes to Supreme Court, here's how Americans feel about it

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday on whether all children born in the United States can continue to automatically receive citizenship.

How much protein do you need? Here's how to personalize your optimal intake

The Dietary Guidelines released this year recommend higher levels of this essential nutrient. But protein needs are personal. Here's how to assess yours.

Murder trial opens over alleged masonic lodge crime network in Paris

Twenty-two defendants, including intelligence agents and police, accused of committing crimes on behalf of Freemason mafia

Twenty-two people have gone on trial in France on charges of murder and other serious crimes centred on a masonic lodge accused of running hit squads.

Thirteen defendants – including former intelligence agents, soldiers and businessmen – face possible life sentences. Prosecutors allege the group carried out murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy on behalf of a mafia network inside the Athanor lodge in the Paris suburb of Puteaux.

Lázár by Nelio Biedermann review – a Hungarian epic from a 22-year-old author

The fortunes of a single family are entwined with the turmoil of the 20th century in this ambitious, gothic-inflected debut

This gothic-inflected saga has received much attention in Europe for its quirky and confident take on 20th-century Hungarian history. It is sobering to reflect that its author not only has no personal memory of the end of communist rule in eastern Europe, but that he wasn’t even alive when the twin towers fell. Born in 2003, Nelio Biedermann is among the first wave of gen Z writers of fiction and Lázár is his debut novel.

The opening pages introduce us to a world straight out of gothic fable. In an isolated manor house by a forbiddingly dark forest, a strange-looking baby is born. This unearthly child, Lajos, is fated to carry forward the family name of the Lázárs, a noble dynasty with an alarming tendency to go mad, die violently, or both. Meanwhile, in another wing of the house lurks the baron’s older brother, Imre, who is barred from the baronetcy by reason of insanity.

Fears of increased small boat Channel crossings as UK-French deal nears end

New agreement delayed amid home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s demands for more interceptions of dinghies

A renewed deal between the UK and France to stop small boat Channel crossings has not yet been signed, with a day to go before the current one expires, raising questions about whether people smugglers will be able to act unimpeded from later this week.

Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron announced the previous £468m deal on 10 March 2023, weeks before it came into force. The UK pays two-thirds of the cost of policing France’s northern border and the current agreement expires on Tuesday. Discussions on it began last July at the 37th UK-France summit and British officials travelled to Paris last week for another round of talks.

Is it true that … you can never eat too much fibre?

Fibremaxxing is everywhere, and most of us should eat more roughage, but your gut won’t thank you for overloading

Fibre has replaced protein as TikTok health influencers’ macronutrient du jour, with “fibremaxxers” urging followers to pack as much roughage into their diets as possible. But is the sky really the limit?

“In theory,” says Dr Emily Leeming, a dietitian at King’s College London and the author of Fibre Power (out in May): our ancestors may have eaten up to 100g of fibre a day, but that’s far beyond what most modern guts can tolerate.

The security council has allowed unchecked power and brutality. To protect peace, we must reform the UN | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

A world without rules is an insecure world. It’s time for multilateralism that truly reflects the global order

Every violation of international law invites the next. From Afghanistan to Iran, and across Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Gaza and Venezuela, the line between what is permitted and what is prohibited has been steadily blurred by the complicit inaction of the UN security council. Wielding the veto as both a shield and a weapon, its permanent members too often act without grounding in the UN charter. They play with the fate of millions, leaving a trail of death and destruction.

Until recent years, there was at least an attempt to give interventions a veneer of legitimacy through UN endorsement. Today, the open exercise of power no longer even tries to keep up appearances. The guardrails of multilateral institutions are becoming too narrow to contain hegemonic rivalries. Without multilateralism, we risk replacing an imperfect system of collective security with the brutal reality of widespread insecurity. When all constraints on the use of force are removed, chaos prevails.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the president of Brazil

‘Assault on justice’: how far-right attacks are threatening rule of law in Europe

Judicial independence is under threat as populist politicians target judges and authoritarian governments attempt constitutional reforms

• Revealed: Five EU governments found to ‘consistently’ dismantle rule of law

In March last year, a Paris court found Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzlement and barred her from running in next year’s presidential race in France. The far-right figurehead took to the airwaves to slam a “political decision” and “denial of democracy”.

Le Pen, who has appealed, said she had been subjected to a “tyranny of judges” and a “political assassination”. The “system” had dropped “a nuclear bomb” on her. The presiding judge was then threatened by others on social media and her home address shared.

The pet I’ll never forget: Merlin the therapy sheep

When Merlin came to live with me, his only job was to clear the weeds from my fields. But his calm, affectionate nature has made him a vital part of my therapy practice

Merlin the sheep came to me by chance four years ago. A friend of mine had a lamb she was bottle-feeding, but she couldn’t look after it any more so she asked me if I could take care of it. I live in Moortown, Leeds, and rent about three hectares (seven acres) of land in Eccup, a small village nearby, where I’ve kept horses for about 13 years. I needed some help clearing the weeds that the horses wouldn’t eat and sheep seemed like the best solution because they’ll eat anything – so I said yes.

The lamb was called Bambi and when I came to collect her, my friend offered me another lamb, Merlin. Shortly after, Bambi died and it was just Merlin left. It wasn’t long until he started to show his special powers.

Q review – freedom, lies and transgressions in emotional fallout from a secretive Muslim women’s movement

Jude Chehab turns the camera on the maelstrom – and slow liberation – after her mother’s expulsion from controversial group al-Qubaysiat

Opening the Pandora’s box of her family secrets, Jude Chehab makes a complex and moving documentary debut that unfolds both as an investigation and as a kind of intergenerational therapy. For decades, her mother, Hiba, was devoted to al-Qubaysiat, a highly secretive female Muslim order that operates in Lebanon and Syria. Chehab’s grandmother Doria had also been a follower, and the film-maker herself was initiated into the group as a young girl. For the two older women, this all-female religious movement inspired feelings of solidarity and freedom, yet al-Qubaysiat also demanded absolute submission to the leader, known to followers as the Anisa, or the Teacher. And when Hiba was expelled for unclear transgressions, her world fell apart.

In contrast to other documentaries on controversial organisations, Chehab’s film doesn’t sensationalise the tactics of indoctrination. In fact, information about the group only comes in bits and pieces, as revealed by Hiba and Doria. This storytelling choice lifts the focus away from the unseen but powerful Anisa, focusing instead on the emotional maelstrom endured by Hiba and the rest of Chehab’s family. Chehab might have thought of her camera as a potent tool for catharsis, yet when she urged her father to speak on the al-Qubaysiat, his answers were not as scathing as she had hoped, as if he had gone off an imaginary script.