Middle East crisis live: Trump claims Iran war will be over ‘very soon’ but Tehran says it will determine when

US president says war is ‘very complete’ and threatens worse strikes if passage of oil via strait of Hormuz is blocked; IRGC says it will not let out ‘one litre of oil’

• Oil prices drop sharply after Trump moves to reassure markets

• Trump says Iran war is ‘very complete, pretty much’ as economic toll rises

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

Investor hopes for a swift resolution to the Middle East conflict propelled Australian shares higher today, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 finishing the day up 1.1% and recovering about $35bn in value after yesterday’s $90bn plunge.

Oil prices surged to a four-year high early in the week before coming back down below $US90 a barrel after Donald Trump suggested the Iran conflict would end soon, sending global stock markets higher.

Investigation: Hundreds of LA hospices have multiple indicators of fraud

A CBS News analysis of records for every hospice operating in Los Angeles County finds indications of fraud are growing.

Volkswagen flags a tough year ahead as 2025 profit halves on tariffs, China competition

Volkswagen reported a more than 50% drop in annual operating profit, citing the impact of U.S. tariffs, currency effects and a strategic shift at Porsche.

Fifty years of sexing up tech: Apple’s epic hits – and misses

Remember the iPod? How about the Pippin? In the half-century since it launched its first PC, Apple has given us some amazing innovations. We round up its biggest triumphs and flops

Fifty years after Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founded the company in Jobs’ parents’ garage in Los Altos, California, Apple has become a behemoth, and billions of us use its products every day. From the first successful home computers with colour screens, to the iPod, to the smartphone that set the template for the modern mobile era, the company has repeatedly reset consumer expectations.

As a result, the firm occupies a central position in the tech world, initiating trends and popularising products. Here are five of its most influential products from the past half-century – alongside some unusually big misses.

Georgia votes in high-stakes primary for Marjorie Taylor Greene’s House seat

Election will be a test of Trump’s sway and may provide a rare opportunity for Democrats in the southern state

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A special election for the successor to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s congressional district in Georgia on Tuesday will be a test of Donald Trump’s sway, and may provide a rare opportunity for Democrats in a deep-red pocket of the southern state.

Republican former prosecutor Clay Fuller is likely to come out of Tuesday’s jungle primary, in which the top two candidates go to a runoff regardless of party, alongside retired army general Shawn Harris, a Democrat. The two would face a run-off election on 7 April.

From scripts to sermons: is AI going to be writing everything soon? | Margaret Sullivan

‘Resistance is futile’, wrote one AI product manager for the Associated Press in internal messages to colleagues

No one wants a soulless sermon – that defeats the purpose – and Pope Leo XIV has taken steps to ensure that Roman Catholic priests don’t deliver one.

Artificial intelligence, the new pontiff said in a recent meeting with clergy, “will never be able to share faith”, which is what giving a homily is all about. Resist the temptation and write your own words, he urged.

Stellantis taps Toyota, Bosch suppliers for hybrid technologies for new Jeeps

Jeep maker Stellantis is leaning on technologies from automotive suppliers for its newest hybrid vehicles, CNBC has learned.

GLP-1s have transformed weight loss and diabetes. Is addiction next?

A large study found that people taking GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic for diabetes were less likely to be diagnosed with substance use disorder.

Trump gives mixed messages about when the war with Iran will end

In a phone call with CBS News Monday, Trump said "the war is very complete." But at a separate event with Republican lawmakers, he said the U.S. still needed to achieve "ultimate victory."

Morning news brief

Trump hails Iran successes but offers no end date, Lebanon wants talks with Israel, and two teens are charged in NYC attack attempt.

Twisted Yoga: how a search for enlightenment turned into a dangerous cult

A shocking new Apple series goes behind the yoga camps where women alleged criminal behaviour from a guru wanted for sexual exploitation charges

Practicing yoga has its benefits: the meditative calm, grounded-ness and balance. The devoted pursue transformative spiritual journeys, through poses, chants and breath work. Some followers of tantra yoga take things even further, using sensuality to channel their energy and reach beyond themselves, seeking out of body liberation and enlightenment.

But it’s that very pursuit that has also left hundreds vulnerable to alleged rape and trafficking.

Oil prices fall and stocks rebound after Trump says Iran war could end ‘very soon’

FTSE 100 opens higher and European markets rise as US president describes conflict as ‘very complete’

• Business live – latest updates

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Oil prices have tumbled from four-year highs, capping an extraordinary 24 hours in global markets and prompting global stocks to rebound after Donald Trump suggested the US-Israel war on Iran could end “very soon”.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, surged as high as $119.50 a barrel on Monday as the Middle East conflict intensified fears of a deepening energy supply crisis.

One year later: Mahmoud Khalil remains in limbo but ready to fight

The case of Khalil, who was detained last March, sits at the vanguard of a battle of immigrants' due process and civil rights, and the Trump administration's mass detention and deportation policies.

Why the 'mad scramble' to fill hormone therapy prescriptions for menopause

With the removal of FDA warning labels, hormone therapy to treat symptoms of menopause has grown in popularity. Now some patients are reporting delays in filling prescriptions for estrogen patches.

Why One Battle After Another should win the best picture Oscar

Paul Thomas Anderson’s capering clash between a demented repressive regime and ragtag freedom fighters is both cartoonish and deadly serious – and perfectly tuned to its times

Viva la revolution and don’t forget your password, your pronouns, your plaid gown and your gun. One Battle After Another, from writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, is the brawling rebel insider of this year’s Oscar race; a state-of-the-nation Hollywood spectacular that feels as disunited and unstable as the country it depicts. The film hates America and it loves it, too. It’s on the side of the angels even when it’s not quite sure who they are. It lights a candle to curse the darkness, and prays to God it hasn’t picked up a stick of dynamite by mistake.

“We have to stay out of politics,” Wim Wenders advised his fellow directors at last month’s Berlin film festival, and yet One Battle After Another is political to its fingertips, hard-wired to the here and now and perfectly anticipating the tenor of Donald Trump’s second term. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Bob, the one-time firebrand turned burnt-out stoner, who belatedly hauls himself off the couch when his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) is captured. Freely adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, the film updates the book’s jaundiced post-60s hangover for the ICE-age 2020s as the plot careens from the migrant detention camp to the sanctuary city to uncover a Christian Nationalist cell within the US federal government. The self-styled “Christmas Adventurers” are on a heaven-sent mission to make America great again. They say, “If you want to save the planet, you always start with immigration.”

Jean-Michel Aulas ruffles feathers in Lyon after swapping football for politics

Club’s former owner leads the polls in spiky mayoral race but is accused of putting forward ‘nothing of substance’

Karim Benzema doesn’t often involve himself in French politics. At the end of January, though, the striker gave a glowing endorsement of Jean-Michel Aulas, the former Lyon president who is leading the city’s mayoral race.

“He has everything it takes to do well,” Benzema said in a video played on the news channel LCI as Aulas was being interviewed. “He’s someone who people listen to, he knows where he wants to go and he has a lot of experience,” the former Real Madrid player added. The Lyon-born striker was later joined by Bafétimbi Gomis in showing support for their former boss.

NBA’s bizarre ‘tanking’ problem has spewed theories but no solutions | Sean Ingle

Logical situation of losing to get a better pick has led to big fines but June’s superstar draft created a ‘perfect storm’

Imagine you are the director of football at a crisis-stricken Premier League club in a world where relegation doesn’t exist and the planet’s best teenagers become available for free in a draft every June.

In this alternate universe, you are also aware of something else: the 2026 Premier League draft is one for the ages. Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí are in it. So are Bayern Munich’s Lennart Karl and Real Madrid’s Franco Mastantuono. Sign one of them and the glory days will suddenly beckon again.

The blistering speech that tells me Britain’s social care deadlock can finally be broken | Polly Toynbee

If anyone can convince politicians and public of the need to pay for a national care service, it’s Louise Casey. With her involved, I now have hope

No government in my lifetime has been dealt a worse hand than Keir Starmer’s. Austerity-broken public services, an empty Treasury, a jittery bond market freaked out by Liz Truss and then stricken by the arrival of Trump 2.0 with his bully-tariffs. Now Britain’s ally is setting the Middle East on fire in a murderous war, exploding oil and gas prices. This needs repeating regularly, lest anyone forgets the obstacles blocking this government’s best intentions for change.

One of those good intentions in the Labour manifesto was the creation of a national care service. Louise Casey, respected troubleshooter, was given a commission to review adult social care and solve its impossible dilemmas. She showed her thinking in a blistering speech last week.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

Guardian Newsroom: Can Labour come back from the brink? On Thursday 30 April, ahead of May elections, join Gaby Hinsliff, Zoe Williams, Polly Toynbee and Rafael Behr as they discuss the threat to Labour from the Greens and Reform – and whether Keir Starmer can survive as leader. Book tickets here or at guardian.live

‘Extraordinary cruelty’: images show longterm ‘starvation strategy’ in Sudan

Experts argue sensor and satellite data reveal targeted attacks on farming communities by the Rapid Support Forces were intended to prevent villages producing food

There is strong evidence that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed a war crime by depriving the villagers of north Darfur of the means to produce food, legal experts argue in a new analysis published today calling for the Humanitarian Research Lab’s (HRL) revelations to be used in international courts.

The destruction of the villages, farming equipment and infrastructure all provide strong evidence of a “starvation strategy” against a population already struggling with food insecurity because of the war, says Tom Dannenbaum, a professor at Stanford Law School and a leading expert on the use of starvation in war.

Tourist photography subverted: Luigi Ghirri was a master of composition

An exhibition of rare photographs by the Italian photographer highlights the abstraction and poetry of his lesser-known works

Seven of the best music festivals to visit by train from the UK

From jazz in Rotterdam and hip-hop in Paris to brass bands on the beach in Blackpool, the Guardian’s music editor chooses the best European festivals that can be reached by rail

Paris has some great festivals, such as Cercle (22-24 May), with dance music stars against the backdrop of planes and rockets in an outdoor aerospace museum, but the most accessible and democratic is Fête de la musique, which began in Paris in 1982 but is now popular across the country. It is a loose event encompassing dozens of free, semi-impromptu outdoor performances all over each host city, including plenty in Lille, which is even cheaper and quicker to get to than Paris on the Eurostar from London.

Thomasina Miers’ recipe for stuffed cabbage in white wine and escabeche, with buttered dill and pea rice | Sunday best

I can’t get enough of cabbage right now, and it’s the perfect wrap for this warmly spiced picadillo filling

I love stuffed vegetables. When I was young, I came across a recipe for stuffed aubergines in an old book of my mother’s and must have cooked it a score of times. Later, in the early 1990s and to the echoes of nouvelle cuisine, Delia Smith showed us how we could work similar magic with peppers and tomatoes. Then the technique went deeply out of fashion, but I stayed loyal, and continued quietly stuffing tomatoes, pumpkins and courgettes, all no doubt influenced by my travels in Mexico. Thoday’s stuffed cabbage is inspired by the most delicious tongue in a tantalisingly light escabeche that I once had at Nicos in Mexico City, and also because I can’t get enough of cabbage at the moment.

Thousands of authors publish ‘empty’ book in protest over AI using their work

About 10,000 writers including Kazuo Ishiguro, Philippa Gregory and Richard Osman join copyright campaign

Thousands of authors including Kazuo Ishiguro, Philippa Gregory and Richard Osman have published an “empty” book to protest against AI firms using their work without permission.

About 10,000 writers have contributed to Don’t Steal This Book, in which the only content is a list of their names. Copies of the work are being distributed to attenders at the London book fair on Tuesday, a week before the UK government is due to issue an assessment on the economic cost of proposed changes in copyright law.

Testing the waters: can pumping chemicals into the ocean help stop global heating?

To some it was a reckless experiment but scientists hope the dispersal of 65,000 litres of sodium hydroxide into the Gulf of Maine could ease the climate crisis

For four days last August, a thick slick of maroon bruised the waters of the Gulf of Maine. The scene, not unlike a toxic red tide, was the result of 65,000 litres of an alkaline chemical, tagged with a red dye, that had been deliberately pumped by scientists into the ocean.

Though it sounds perverse, the event was part of a scientific experiment that could advance a technology to combat both global heating and ocean acidification. Ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE), as the approach is called, acts like natural weathering, but on human – rather than geological – timescales.

Alexander brothers convicted of sex trafficking in Manhattan federal court

Three brothers, including two of the nation's most successful luxury real estate brokers, were convicted of sex trafficking Monday after a five-week trial.

Australia grants asylum to 5 members of the Iranian women's soccer team

Australia has granted asylum to five members of the Iranian women's soccer team who were in the country for a tournament when the Iran war began.

‘Charismatic and extremely confident’: how to recognise – and handle – a psychopath

Psychologist Leanne ten Brinke has spent decades studying toxic personality traits. What are the red flags to look out for among workmates, politicians and potential partners?

Coming face to face with a probable psychopath was enough to make Dr Leanne ten Brinke rethink her career choices. Early in her 20s, while studying forensic psychology in Halifax, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Ten Brinke was volunteering at a parole office, which would hold weekly group meetings for released sex offenders. “Most of the men showed contrition,” says Ten Brinke. “They really seemed to recognise the damage that they had done.” Except for one. The treatment programme seemed “like a game to him”, she says. One week, in a discussion about the impact their crimes had on victims, this rapist stared at Ten Brinke and, smiling slightly, started to say how much his victim looked like her, “and how I was ‘his type’. Clearly he was trying to scare me, and he did.”

It put her off a career working with convicted criminals, but she remained fascinated with “dark personalities” – psychopathy, mainly, but also narcissism, machiavellianism (manipulating and exploiting others) and sadism. From politics to business to the media, it wasn’t as if there was a shortage of people to study. There were selfish, callous, impulsive and manipulative people everywhere, often presenting as gregarious and charming. “It started to occur to me that these traits aren’t just confined to an underworld. These traits appear in all aspects of our lives,” she says.

How the US far right bought into the myth of white South Africa’s persecution

When Trump granted white South Africans refugee status, he was echoing a falsehood about Black people taking revenge for years of brutality. But no one flourishes in a repressive police state

There’s a little town in the scrub in South Africa – a full day’s drive from the country’s big cities – that has become perhaps the most scrutinised place on earth, given its size. It is 9 sq km (3.5 sq miles) of suburban-style houses harbouring about 3,000 people, with a main drag, a municipal swimming pool, one gas station and some pecan farms. Nothing of consequence ever really happens there, a fact the townspeople take as a point of pride. And yet over the past three decades, dozens of English-language news outlets have made a pilgrimage to it, often more than once. The New York Times alone has run four dedicated profiles. The essays have kept pace year after year, quoting the same people over and over, even as nothing of note occurred. There’s been no war, no disaster.

That changelessness is the point. No people of colour are allowed to live in the town, called Orania. The name is a nod to the river that runs nearby – and to the Orange Free State, the apartheid-era designation for the province in which it lies. Orania’s founders established it in 1991, the year after South Africa’s best-known Black liberation leader (and future president), Nelson Mandela, was freed following 27 years in prison.

Was Iran really building a nuclear weapon? – podcast

Among the many justifications Donald Trump has presented for the US and Israel attacking Iran has been the supposedly imminent threat posed by its nuclear weapons programme. But how close was the country really to developing an atomic weapon? Ian Sample hears from Kelsey Davenport, the director of non-proliferation policy at the Arms Control Association. She sets out why many experts don’t believe the country even had a structured nuclear weapons programme, and explains what she thinks the impact of the war could be on nuclear proliferation around the world.

Attacking Iran’s nuclear programme could drive it towards a bomb, experts warn

Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod

Short films made from brain activity of mice aim to show how they see world

Scientists hope results analysed after the mice watched video footage will help them understand their perceptions

Scientists have reconstructed short movies from the brain activity of mice that watched videos for a project that aspires to lift the veil on how animals perceive the world.

The brief movie clips are grainy and pixellated, but provide a glimpse of how mice processed footage that featured people taking part in various sports from gymnastics to horse riding and wrestling.

Oil tankers transiting Strait of Hormuz 'must be very careful,' Iran Foreign Ministry warns

The price of crude oil has sharply spiked as the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed as the United States and Israel wage war on Iran.

Iran women’s football team leave on bus after landing in Sydney as emotional supporters watch on

• Players board bus at Sydney airport after flying from Gold Coast

• Supporters shone torches through airport terminal window to players

The Iranian women’s football team were whisked away on a bus at Sydney airport before dozens of supporters gathered at an airport gate could reach them.

The team arrived in Sydney just after 8pm on Tuesday evening after leaving the Gold Coast. The football team exited the plane from the back and were escorted onto a bus surrounded by airport staff and Australian Federal Police.

3/2: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," as fallout continues from the unprecedented Oval Office meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Margaret Brennan speaks to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, GOP Reps. Mike Turner and John James and Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly.

New Zealand Covid response among world’s best but ‘scars’ remain, inquiry finds

Royal commission says response led by Jacinda Ardern was broadly ‘appropriate’, in a wide-ranging report featuring recommendations for future pandemics

A royal commission into New Zealand’s Covid response has found it was one of the best in the world but acknowledged the period had left “scars”.

The second of two inquiry reports on the pandemic was released on Tuesday and focused on the period between February 2021 to October 2022, when the government changed from an elimination strategy to one of suppression and minimisation of the virus. It also examined vaccine safety and the government’s immunisation programme, lockdowns and tracing and testing technology.

Vague and contradictory Trump says Iran war ‘won’, but not ‘won enough’

After oil prices surged on Monday the US president sought – and failed – to offer a clear vision for when the largest US intervention in the Middle East in years will end

• Middle East crisis – live updates

At one of the most consequential moments of his two terms in office, wartime president Donald Trump on Monday delivered a vague and contradictory forecast for how long the United States will continue to fight in Iran and what the ultimate goal of the US military campaign there will be.

With oil hovering above $100 a barrel for much of Monday and Middle Eastern allies fearing a further tumble into regional conflict, Trump appeared in Doral, Florida with the mission of calming global markets and reassuring skittish allies that he has a clear vision for how to end the largest US intervention in the Middle East since the Iraq war.

Trump’s Iran war will reinforce North Korea’s view that nuclear weapons are the only path to security

As speculation mounts that Kim Jong-un and Trump could meet this month, analysts say Pyongyang will continue to see nuclear weapons as a matter of survival

• Middle East crisis – live updates

North Korea’s launch last week of a missile from a naval destroyer elicited an uncharacteristically prosaic analysis from the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un. The launch was proof, he said, that arming ships with nuclear weapons was “making satisfactory progress”.

But the test, and Kim’s mildly upbeat appraisal, were designed to reverberate well beyond the deck of the 5,000-tonne destroyer-class vessel the Choe Hyon – the biggest warship in the North Korean fleet.

Prolonged Strait of Hormuz closure would cause oil prices to surge, experts warn

The Iran war is renewing concerns about the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. A prolonged closure could sharply drive up oil prices, experts said.

Alexander brothers found guilty on all charges in sex trafficking trial

Jurors in Manhattan federal court reached a verdict Monday after weeks of testimony in the sex trafficking trial of brothers Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander.

FBI launches terrorism probe into IED attack outside Mamdani's residence

Two men from Pennsylvania are facing federal charges for the incident. Video captured someone yelling "Allahu Akbar" just as a protester threw an "ignited device" during an anti-Islam demonstration in New York City.

Elon Musk's xAI wants to build a power plant in Mississippi. Regulators plan a key meeting on Election Day

The NAACP has accused Mississippi regulators of rushing a meeting to approve xAI plans for a massive, methane-burning power plant in Southaven.

Georgia teacher dies after student prank gone wrong

A Georgia teacher has died after authorities say he was struck by a vehicle during a late-night prank outside his home, prompting vehicular homicide charges against an 18-year-old. Mark Strassmann has more

Trump says Iran war will end 'very soon,' predicts lower oil prices

U.S. stock market indexes rose earlier in the day after an initial report that President Donald Trump said he believed the Iran war was largely finished.

Long security lines at U.S. airports as DHS funding affects TSA staffing

Wait times to get through security hit two hours in New Orleans and over three hours in Houston as TSA staffing took a hit amid the partial government shutdown.

Woman arrested in shooting at Rihanna's home in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Police Department has identified a woman arrested for allegedly firing several shots at the Beverly Hills home of pop star Rihanna. Carter Evans has details.

Frustration mounts at airports amid TSA staffing shortages spurred by DHS shutdown

Airline passengers in some of the United States' largest airports are seeing long security lines amid the ongoing partial government shutdown impacting the Department of Homeland Security. As Kris Van Cleave reports, more TSA employees are calling out sick as they work without pay.

Here's how much Americans are paying for gas as oil prices spike

The U.S. average gas price has jumped 48 cents since last week, with experts predicting that higher fuel costs could persist for months.

Trump says Iran war will end "very soon" at Florida news conference

At a Miami-area news conference Monday, President Trump said he expects the war in Iran to end "very soon," but also called it "the beginning of building a new country."

Americans react to rising gas prices: "Very frustrating"

The reality of the war in Iran is showing up at gas stations nationwide. Jo Ling Kent spoke to consumers at the pump.

Democrats threaten more Iran war powers votes, call for Hegseth, Rubio to testify

Democrats are vowing to interrupt normal order in the Senate unless Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio testify publicly.

Ig Nobels to move awards to Europe due to concern over US travel visas

Scientific awards – which honor research that makes people laugh and then think – to move away from ‘unsafe’ US

The annual Ig Nobels, a satirical award for scientific achievement, are shifting for the first time from the US to Europe due to concerns about attendees getting visas, organizers announced on Monday.

Organized by the Annals of Improbable Research, a digital magazine that highlights research that makes people laugh and then think, the 36th annual ceremony will be held in Zurich. It’s usually held in the US in September, a few weeks before the actual Nobel prizes are announced.

Jack Draper sets up Djokovic clash after beating Cerundolo at Indian Wells

• Draper defeats Argentinian 6-1, 7-5 in third round

• Cameron Norrie sees off Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4

Jack Draper continued his impressive comeback from an arm injury by beating Francisco Cerundolo to set up a last-16 clash with Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells.

Draper rode his luck at the end of the second set to clinch a 6-1, 7-5 win and set up his first meeting with Djokovic since he took the first set off the defending champion on his Wimbledon debut in 2021.

Top permitting-reform Republican, Democratic senators meeting as talks thaw: API chief

Speeding up the federal permitting process is a top priority for the energy and tech industries.

Warsh to meet Tillis as Senate confirmation remains blocked

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has refused to advance Warsh's confirmation until a probe into Fed Chair Jerome Powell is dropped.

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

Seven American service members have been killed since the war with Iran started in February.

New Mexico authorities launch search of ranch previously owned by Epstein

The so-called Zorro Ranch was the site of numerous alleged abuses, but was not subject to intense scrutiny

New Mexico authorities launched a search of a ranch previously owned by Jeffrey Epstein, state officials announced on Monday.

The late convicted sex offender and financier’s so-called Zorro Ranch was the site of numerous alleged abuses, according to civil and criminal proceedings. But the location was not subject to the same scrutiny as other Epstein properties, and a Guardian investigation in February revealed that federal authorities apparently never searched the New Mexico ranch.

Trump threatens not to sign any bills until Congress approves strict voter ID act

Save Act would limit voting access in the US and centers on Trump’s unfounded claims of noncitizens stealing elections

Donald Trump renewed his push Monday for the Save America Act, a curtailment of voting access, after threatening on Sunday not to sign any bills until Congress approves the legislation.

“All voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote,” Trump said during remarks on Monday at a Republican event in Miami. “No mail-in ballots, except for illness, disability, military or travel.”

Uber launches women-only option across the US

Uber is expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its ride-hailing platform

Uber launched a feature on Monday to allow both female riders and drivers across the US to be matched with other women for trips, expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its ride-hailing platform.

The new feature is being rolled out nationwide despite an ongoing class action lawsuit against the policy in California, filed by Uber drivers who argue that it is discriminatory against men. Rival ride-hailing company Lyft is also facing a discrimination lawsuit over a similar offering that it introduced nationwide in 2024.

Rooster review – Steve Carell and a naked college president add wisdom to this cringe comedy drama

The master of the everyman gifts us some hard-won parenting insights in this blissfully awkward show about a father and daughter relationship

Humankind, as TS Eliot’s bird said in Burnt Norton, cannot bear too much reality. That feels especially salient now, when we have more reality arriving in a day than we used to have to process in a year.

At the same time, unless you go the whole high-fantasy hog and offer 100% escapism via immersion in a completely alternative world, it is becoming trickier for your audiences to believe in you at all. Programmes set in the real world have to acknowledge the new way of it. Pure, frothy comedy just became that much harder to pull off – and it was never easy. But walking the line between too much reality and not enough is almost as difficult.

Watch live: Trump holds press conference as Iran war fallout roils oil market

Alexander brothers, high-profile US real estate brokers, guilty of sex trafficking

Oren, Alon and Tal Alexander convicted in New York after being accused of raping dozens of women

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Three brothers, including two of the nation’s most successful luxury real estate brokers, were convicted of sex trafficking charges on Monday after a five-week trial over accusations that they used drugs and force to rape scores of women they had dazzled with their wealth and opulent lifestyle.

The verdict came after 11 women testified they were sexually assaulted by one or more of the brothers: twins Oren and Alon Alexander, 38, and Tal Alexander, 39.

Seventh U.S. service member killed in Iran war identified as Sgt. Benjamin Pennington

Pennington, 26, from Glendale, Kentucky, was wounded on March 1 during an Iranian strike at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. He died on Sunday.

NTSB member fired by White House over workplace allegations that he denies

National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman called the allegations against him false and a "political hit job."

OpenAI to buy cybersecurity startup Promptfoo to better safeguard AI agents

Promptfoo's team will join Sam Altman-led OpenAI, and its technology will be integrated into the Frontier platform for AI agents.

Apple turns 50, in a world it helped create

David Pogue, author of "Apple: The First 50 Years," talks with Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak, CEO Tim Cook, and others about the vision of Steve Jobs, and how the company's products and services have reshaped life, technology and culture in the 21st century.

FBI obtains records of Arizona Senate audit of 2020 Maricopa County election results, Republican says

President Donald Trump touted the fact that the records had been obtained by the FBI. He long has claimed he was cheated out of victory in the 2020 election.

Stocks regain ground after early losses as oil prices cool

After a sharp drop in early trading, stocks recovered part of those losses as oil prices fell back below $100.

Oracle is building yesterday’s data centers with tomorrow’s debt

The OpenAI deal fallout exposes the fundamental danger of being the most leveraged player in a market where the chip cycle moves faster than the concrete dries.

Raw oysters and clams recalled in 9 states over norovirus risks

Food containing norovirus may smell and taste normal but still cause serious illness if consumed, FDA warns.

Definition of anti-Muslim hate will not harm free speech, says Steve Reed

Communities secretary tells MPs that government has to act against record levels of hate crimes

A new definition of anti-Muslim hate will not restrict freedom of speech, the communities secretary has pledged, as he said that “clear expectations” will still be set for new arrivals and existing communities in Britain to learn English.

MPs were told by Steve Reed that the government had a duty to act against record levels of hate crime against Muslims, but that “you can’t tackle a problem if you can’t describe it”.

‘We thought we were doomed’: Canadian fishers in dramatic rescue after ice shelf floats away

Anglers describe harrowing phone calls to loved ones once ice detached from shores of Georgian Bay in Ontario

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Kevin Fox thought the spring-like temperatures that had temporarily pushed the cold away from south-eastern Ontario meant a good day on for ice fishing, a popular winter pastime in the region.

After shifting location because the wind and ice “didn’t feel right” and the fish weren’t biting close to shore, he and a friend joined nearly two dozen others far out on a sheet of ice in Lake Huron. They followed the familiar routine of anyone who spends a day on the ice: they drilled holes, dropped their lines and waited.

Live Nation to open Ticketmaster to other sellers in U.S. antitrust deal

Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, has reached a deal with the Department of Justice as part of a high-stakes antitrust trial.

‘Revolutionary’: Ukrainian para-biathlete wins silver using ChatGPT as his coach

• Murashkovskyi benefits from artificial intelligence support

• ‘I used it as a psychologist, coach and sometimes as a doctor’

Team Ukraine have hit the ground running at the Winter Paralympics, standing second in the medal table after three days of competition. Their resolve and determination has been inspirational to many, but one athlete has revealed a secret weapon in their search for a competitive edge.

Maksym Murashkovskyi, who won ­silver in the men’s visually impaired biathlon on Sunday and did not miss a shot, has been ­working with ­OpenAI’s large language model. “For the past six months, I have been training with ChatGPT,” he said. “It was not only ­tactics. It was half of my ­training plan, ­motivation, etc. So it was a huge ­volume of all of my training. I used it as a psychologist, coach and, sometimes, as a doctor.”

California rep. leaves GOP to become an independent, complicating majority

Rep. Kevin Kiley of California said Monday he was immediately leaving the Republican Party to become an independent.

Two teens charged over ‘Islamic State-inspired’ attack outside Mamdani home

Pair charged with throwing explosive devices during anti-Islam protest described by mayor as ‘appalling’

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Two teenagers were charged on Monday with offenses including terrorism and using a weapon of mass destruction after they allegedly threw improvised explosive devices during an anti-Islam demonstration on Saturday outside the residence of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani.

According to a 10-page criminal complaint filed in federal court in the US southern district of New York, 18-year-old Emir Balat threw the devices at protesters after they were handed to him by Ibrahim Kayumi, 19. It said both declared allegiance to the Islamic State terror group.

Ben Jennings on Donald Trump, Iran and surging oil prices – cartoon

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Fears of 1970s-style stagflation arise with oil spike to $100. How big a threat is it?

High inflation and slow growth present a double threat, as measures like interest rate cuts and government spending only aggravate inflation.

3/9: Face the Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," after a whiplash week of on-again, off-again tariff announcements, Canadian ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman joins to discuss the costs and consequences of a trade war. Plus, former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill discusses President Trump's diplomatic pivot on Ukraine.

Iran's strategic oil island thrust into the spotlight as Middle East conflict escalates

Kharg Island serves as the centerpiece for Iran's oil industry, accounting for roughly 90% of the country’s crude exports.

Now we have proof: dealing with difficult people really does age you

Researchers have found evidence of what many of us always suspected: ‘hasslers’ shorten your lifespan. And they know by exactly how long

Name: Hasslers.

Age: More like ageing.

Sheinbaum tells Trump: stop illegal arms trade from the US to Mexico

US president claimed he wanted to eradicate cartels and made comments about Mexico’s president that were deemed sexist in summit speech

• ‘Iron river’: Mexico’s cartel violence fuelled by trafficked firearms from US

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Claudia Sheinbaum has responded to Donald Trump’s description of Mexico as the “epicenter of violence,” by calling on the US government to step up efforts to combat gun trafficking.

“There is something that the US can help us a lot with: stop the trafficking of illegal weapons from the US to Mexico,” the president of Mexico said. “If they stopped the entry of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico, then these groups wouldn’t have access to this type of high-powered weaponry to carry out their criminal activities.”

Anthropic sues Trump administration over "supply chain risk" order

Anthropic sued the Defense Department and other federal agencies on Monday over the government's move to designate it a risk to the supply chain.

Amazon's Zoox expands robotaxi testing to Phoenix and Dallas

Zoox will start by deploying a fleet of retrofitted Toyota Highlander SUVs, before rolling out its toaster-shaped robotaxis for testing.

Ukraine sent drone experts to protect US bases in Jordan, says Zelenskyy

Interceptor drones and operators deployed to Middle East after ‘requests for help from 11 countries neighbouring Iran’

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Ukraine’s president has said he dispatched interceptor drones and operators to protect US bases in Jordan last week, one of 11 countries that had asked Kyiv for help as the US-Israeli war against Iran continued into its 10th day.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview that he had responded to a US request for help in defending Jordan last week as Ukraine seeks to improve relations with Gulf and Middle Eastern countries coming under attack from Iran.

Von der Leyen calls for EU foreign policy to be ‘more realistic and interest-driven’

European Commission head says rules-based system can no longer be relied upon to protect the continent’s interests

Europe can “no longer be a custodian for the old-world order” and needs “a more realistic and interest-driven foreign policy”, the head of the European Commission has said.

Speaking to an audience of EU ambassadors on Monday, Ursula von der Leyen said the union “will always defend and uphold the rules-based system” but could no longer rely on it to defend European interests and shelter the continent from threats.

Iran could face possible Fifa tournament ban if they withdraw from World Cup

• Fifa can take disciplinary action against exiting nations

• ‘Sanctions include exclusion from future competition’

Iran could face disciplinary action from Fifa, including a possible ban from future tournaments, if they unilaterally withdraw from the World Cup.

Donald Trump told Politico last week that he “really doesn’t care” if Iran fail to take part in this summer’s tournament, but Fifa remains committed to the World Cup going ahead with all qualified teams participating.

Syrian who fled to UK charged with crimes against humanity over violent crackdown

Former intelligence officer charged with murder and torture in first prosecution of its kind in England and Wales

A former Syrian intelligence officer who fled to the UK has been charged with murder and torture as crimes against humanity, in the first prosecution of its kind in England and Wales.

The 58-year-old man, who has not been named for legal reasons, is alleged to have played a leading role in the violent crackdown on protesters in Syria at the start of uprising against the regime of former leader Bashar al-Assad in 2011.

To my Palestinian sister in ICE detention – I will carry you until you are free | Mahmoud Khalil

One year ago, ICE arrested me for protesting for Palestine. Leqaa Kordia is still caged – also for daring to speak the truth

Sunday marked one year since Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, was arrested last year for his political advocacy. Below, he writes to Leqaa Kordia, a fellow Palestinian currently in ICE detention in Texas. Khalil was released after more than three months but the Trump administration continues to seek his deportation; Kordia has been detained for nearly a year. Read more about her case here.

Dear Leqaa,

‘Sky is the limit’: Analysts warn oil prices could surge further

Energy analysts warned that oil prices could continue to rise in response to the war in the Middle East.

Verdict on the start of F1’s new era: five talking points from the Australian GP

Mercedes’ flying start lives up to promise, but new regulations receive scathing reviews

The pre-season favourites had done their level best to play down their expected advantage in the buildup to the Australian Grand Prix, but it was impossible to hide. A dominant one-two by the best part of a second for George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in qualifying was followed by a similarly assured one-two finish in the race.

Congressional Democrats demand reversal of Russian oil sales into India as energy prices soar

Russia is reportedly helping Iran target U.S. forces in the Middle East and could now benefit from a windfall of new oil and gas sales.

Live Nation reaches surprise settlement with justice department in antitrust case

Live Nation will pay $280m to states in lawsuit, and Ticketmaster will open parts of platform to rival companies

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Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, has reached a surprise settlement with the Department of Justice in its antitrust case just one week after the trial began.

Under the agreement, Live Nation will create a $280m settlement fund for states that participated in the lawsuit and Ticketmaster will be required to open parts of its platform to rival ticketing companies, Live Nation announced Monday.

Face the Nation: Fitzpatrick, Suozzi, Hill

Missed the second half of the show? The latest on...Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, who is one of the bipartisan co-chairs of the House Problem Solvers Caucus, tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that he will be voting against the continuing resolution to avoid a shutdown because there has been "no outreach on a bipartisan basis." His GOP counterpart, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, says he is undecided, and it "remains to be seen" if his party has the votes, and Fiona Hill, who served as a top National Security Council official in the first Trump administration, tells "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that the White House's decision to stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine has "emboldened Russia to really step up the attacks".

These 10 jobs are most exposed to AI, Anthropic finds

The maker of the Claude chatbot says its research could help identify economic disruptions by measuring how AI is currently reshaping work.

TSA staff shortages lead to hourslong security lines for travelers at some airports

Travelers are facing hourslong waits at some airport security lines amid TSA staffing shortages.

Rosanna Arquette says Quentin Tarantino’s use of N-word in Pulp Fiction is ‘racist and creepy’

Arquette says 1994 film is ‘great on many levels’ but she ‘cannot stand that [the director] has been given a hall pass’

Pulp Fiction and Desperately Seeking Susan star Rosanna Arquette has said she found Quentin Tarantino’s use of the N-word in Pulp Fiction to be “racist and creepy”.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Arquette said of the film, in which she plays the tattooed and pierced wife to Eric Stoltz’s syringe-wielding drug dealer: “It’s iconic, a great film on a lot of levels. But personally I am over the use of the N-word – I hate it. I cannot stand that [Tarantino] has been given a hall pass.”

Revealed: UK’s multibillion AI drive is built on ‘phantom investments’

Exclusive: Rented datacentres and ‘supercomputer’ site that’s still a scaffolding yard raise questions for Starmer’s push to ‘mainline AI into veins of economy’

• From press release … to scrap metal site: the Essex supercomputer that’s still a scaffolding yard

A multibillion-pound drive to “mainline AI into the veins” of the British economy is riddled with “phantom investments” and shaky accounting, a Guardian investigation has found.

Since 2024, successive Conservative and Labour governments have proclaimed massive deals to build new datacentres, create thousands of jobs and construct a supercomputer.

Trump tariffs: Customs and Border Protection tells judge it can't comply with refund order

CBP told Judge Richard Eaton that the technology upgrades it plans would save more than 4 million man-hours in processing refunds for Trump's tariffs.

Trump says he's "not happy" about Iran's new supreme leader

Mojtaba Khamenei was named Iran's new supreme leader following the death of his father in the U.S.-Israeli strikes.

She was arrested for holding a protest sign in small-town California: ‘This is a testing ground’

Jenny O’Connell-Nowain was put under house arrest, and her husband, Benjamin, lost his job after they protested at board of supervisors meetings

Jenny O’Connell-Nowain was ready to go to jail.

She had been prepared to spend six months in the custody of the Shasta county sheriff’s office. One of the top prosecutors in this part of far northern California had presented the evidence against her in a weeklong trial, and a jury had delivered a guilty verdict. A judge offered probation, but O’Connell-Nowain did not agree to the terms.

A Mississippi mother couldn’t find accurate sex ed for her kids. So she started a class at church

As states scale back requirements for comprehensive sex ed, some parents and faith communities are stepping in to teach what schools won’t

When Wendy Pfrenger’s children started high school in the town of Oxford, Mississippi, she had the choice to enroll them in abstinence-only or abstinence-plus sex ed.

Although the abstinence-plus option would include instruction on contraception, neither curriculum was required to provide medically accurate information. As a parent, she felt like the lessons her teens were receiving fell short of their reality.