The 45 stylist-approved spring fashion essentials for women, all under $200

Linen pants, timeless tees and statement accessories can help give your wardrobe a refresh with warmer days ahead

• The 13 best women’s shoes for the office, vetted by stylish professionals

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

The sun has emerged. Warmth and longer days are beckoning. But peering inside your closet, you might find yourself at a loss.

“Seasonal changes often create a sense of urgency to reinvent ourselves. After a long winter, there’s a natural desire to shed heavy, worn-in layers and step into something new,” said Georgia Milton, a personal stylist.

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:15 pm

Tax Day is a reminder of America’s unequal tax system. But we can fix it | Zohran Mamdani, Gabriel Zucman and Joseph Stiglitz

There is no justification for a regressive system in which the super-rich contribute less than the rest of us

Today, we have more income and wealth inequality than ever before. New York City’s average household income is $131,000. Without extreme inequality, residents could live reasonably well. Instead, a few people at the top of the income ladder capture enormous wealth, while millions of others struggle just to get by. Some simply can’t make it. For them, New York has become fundamentally unaffordable.

This outsized level of inequality has enormous economic, political and social consequences. It undermines social and political cohesion, erodes trust in institutions and leads people to conclude, correctly, that the system is rigged.

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:00 am

Sex and drugs and poisoned champagne: 90 years on, we can finally see Joan Crawford’s wildest film

A legal dispute led to Letty Lynton, the golden age superstar’s controversial drama, being sealed away. Only now can audiences see what all the fuss was about

Joan Crawford was one of the biggest stars of Hollywood’s golden age, but one of her most famous, and controversial, films has not been screened legally since January 1936. Ninety years later, thanks to her grandson, that is all about to change. The 1932 MGM film Letty Lynton tells the lethal tale of a Manhattan socialite, her fiance and her vindictive ex-lover. It was a hit at the box office – although something of a conundrum for the critics. They just couldn’t understand how MGM had managed to sneak such a risque story past the censors. That was only the start of the trouble.

MGM had wanted to buy the rights to a play called Dishonored Lady, written by Edward Sheldon and Margaret Ayer Barnes. This was a hit on Broadway in 1930, but its booze, drugs and sex content meant it had already been designated by the Hays office as “unfit for motion picture adaptation”. MGM only backed out when the authors demanded $30,000 – and the Hays office made it clear they wouldn’t give an inch, not on a story about a woman they considered a “nymphomaniac”. Instead, for just $3,500, MGM bought the rights to Marie Belloc Lowndes’ novel Letty Lynton, which, just like Dishonored Lady, was inspired by the real-life case of Madeleine Smith. In 1857, Smith, a Scottish socialite, was tried for murder, accused of poisoning her lover with arsenic after he threatened to use her love letters to expose their affair and jeopardise her engagement.

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:00 am

My month in the tradwife world: ‘I can’t pretend I’m not enjoying myself at all ...’

In the past few months, there has been a boom in tradwife novels, while the accounts of influencers only grow more popular. What is it about this culture that makes it so compelling to young women?

‘No one I know wants to go spend their one wild and magical life being a shill for some billionaire tech asshole,” says Shannon, a character in Yesteryear, the buzzy new novel about a tradwife influencer by Caro Claire Burke. Shannon is a gen Z woman who is working as a producer for the protagonist, Natalie, a 32-year-old social media star seemingly with more than a little in common with some aspects of the real-life influencer Hannah Neeleman, who rose to fame documenting her life as a wife and mother on her ranch, Ballerina Farm.

“Just so they can breastfeed in a broom closet someday,” Natalie quips back.

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:00 am

Trump may believe he is the messiah – but his attack on the pope could prove costly for JD Vance | Arwa Mahdawi

The president’s attack on the head of the Catholic church and the AI depiction of himself as a Christ-like figure have not gone down well with one of the largest groups of swing voters in the US

Poor persecuted Donald Trump has frequently portrayed himself as a modern messiah. Some of his supporters, meanwhile, have compared him directly to Jesus. And, to be fair, while the son of God didn’t eat Big Macs on a private jet and encourage his followers to buy AI stocks, there are similarities between the two figures. Namely the miracle-working. The US president may not be able to turn water into wine, but he’s turned public office into a personal goldmine. This week, Trump also managed to transform a staunch atheist (me) into a defender of the Catholic church.

I’m not defending everything, mind you, just Pope Leo XIV’s recent condemnations of war. “God does not bless any conflict,” the pope wrote on X on Friday. “Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who … drop bombs.” During Saturday prayers, the pope also called out the “delusion of omnipotence”. While Leo didn’t name names, his statements were widely interpreted as a rebuke of the Trump administration, which has repeatedly framed its warmongering in religious terms.

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:28 am

‘I was peeing blood constantly’: my ketamine hell – and what made me stop

Thomas Delaney’s addiction issues started when he was a teen and worsened through his 20s. Eventually, an argument with his mother led him to change everything

Thomas Delaney never used to believe he was “good enough to be loved”. Growing up, he internalised the hurt he saw playing out at home. “I thought I was useless, I wasn’t a nice person … I even thought that my mum and dad didn’t love each other because of me.”

When I visit him (and his extremely affectionate black-and-white cat, Figaro) at home in Glasgow, Delaney, dressed in a jumper printed with the words “nicotine is dumb”, is frank about the impact his childhood had on him. “I had suicidal ideations from a very, very young age because I assumed that, if I was dead, maybe my mum and dad wouldn’t be arguing.” Later, he became addicted to ketamine. At his most unwell, he weighed just 38kg (6st).

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:00 am

Middle East crisis live: Netanyahu says there will be no ceasefire in Lebanon, US denies asking for Iran ceasefire extension

Pro-Hezbollah media says ceasefire set to begin tonight; Israel reportedly ‘not yet decided on issue’; White House says Iran talks ‘productive’

• US-Iran peace talks could resume in next two days, Trump says

Donald Trump said the “special relationship” between the US and UK was in a poor state but that it will not have impact on King Charle’s upcoming state visit to America.

In an interview with Sky News, the US president once again criticised Keir Starmer over his policies, particularly on energy and immigration, and reiterated his disappointment that the UK and other Nato allies had not joined his war against Iran when the US “needed them”.

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:46 pm

Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought

Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas

The critical Atlantic current system appears significantly more likely to collapse than previously thought after new research found that climate models predicting the biggest slowdown are the most realistic. Scientists called the new finding “very concerning” as a collapse would have catastrophic consequences for Europe, Africa and the Americas.

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is a major part of the global climate system and was already known to be at its weakest for 1,600 years as a result of the climate crisis. Scientists spotted warning signs of a tipping point in 2021 and know that the Amoc has collapsed in the Earth’s past.

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:00 pm

Snap Inc blames AI as it lays off 1,000 workers

Cuts by Snapchat’s parent company come in response to a declining stock price and pressure from an activist investor

Snapchat’s parent company plans to lay off 16% of its employees, around 1,000 people, citing “rapid advancements in artificial intelligence”, the social media company told staff on Wednesday in an internal memo. The staff reduction is part of a wave of tech industry layoffs in the past year, with many firms blaming AI for the cuts.

Snap Inc’s layoffs follow demands last month from Irenic Capital Management, an activist investor whose portfolio manager wrote a letter to the Snap Inc CEO, Evan Spiegel, calling on him to reduce costs and headcount while criticizing the company’s current strategy. In Spiegel’s memo to staff, he claimed that the layoffs would move Snap towards profitability and suggested that artificial intelligence could fill the lack of human labor.

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:23 pm

Oklahoma principal shot while tackling ex-student armed with handguns

Kirk Moore was injured as he disarmed a former pupil who opened fire at Pauls Valley high school

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox

An Oklahoma principal has been praised for preventing a tragedy at his high school by charging and disarming a former student armed with two semi-automatic handguns, an episode captured on dramatic surveillance video.

Kirk Moore, principal of Pauls Valley high school, was shot in the leg as he wrestled the attacker, a 20-year-old said by court documents to be obsessed with the 1999 shooting at Colorado’s Columbine high school in which 12 students and one teacher were killed.

Published: April 15, 2026, 1:26 pm

Scott Bessent ‘confident’ Fed chair nominee will be confirmed as Trump threatens Powell again – live

President has nominated Kevin Warsh to replace Powell, whom he has repeatedly attacked over interest rate decisions

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email

At a Turning Point USA event in Georgia on Tuesday, vice-president JD Vance was heckled by a protester who seemed to criticized the conflicts in the Middle East, including the war in Gaza.

“Jesus Christ does not support genocide,” the audience member shouted. The vice-president addressed the demonstrator and agreed with their statement, before responding to further comments from the heckler who appeared to say that the administration “supports a genocide in Gaza”.

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:55 pm

Suspect accused of planting pipe bombs on eve of January 6 faces new charges

Brian Cole Jr, accused of planting the devices near the RNC and DNC buildings in DC, faces two more felony counts

The individual accused of placing pipe bombs near the headquarters of both the Republican and Democratic national committees on the night before the January 6 Capitol attack is now facing two more felony counts, as detailed in a newly released indictment on Wednesday.

Brian Cole Jr, 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia, had previously been arrested in December and charged with transporting and positioning two improvised explosive devices outside the DNC and RNC buildings. The updated indictment introduces charges of attempting to use weapons of mass destruction and carrying out an act of terrorism while armed.

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:45 pm

Suspicion surrounds death of US influencer Ashly Robinson in Zanzibar

Lifestyle influencer died while on vacation with boyfriend, who local officials say has since had his passport ‘withheld’

Ashly Robinson, a US lifestyle influencer, died last week while on vacation in the Tanzanian islands of Zanzibar with her boyfriend, Joe McCann. Robinson’s death on 9 April, just days after her birthday and a marriage proposal from McCann, has sparked suspicion on social media, with users doubtful of the current narrative surrounding her death.

No arrests have been made, and police previously said that McCann was not suspected of wrongdoing. But officials in Zanzibar released a statement on Tuesday saying that McCann’s passport has been “withheld”.

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:14 pm

Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti facing ‘escalating abuse’ in Israeli jails

‘Palestine’s Mandela’ suffers three recent attacks including assault where prison guards set a dog on him, lawyer says

The jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti is at immediate risk in Israeli jails, where he has been attacked three times in as many weeks, including in one assault last month where prison guards set a dog on the 66-year-old, his lawyer has said.

Barghouti is often called Palestine’s Nelson Mandela. He is respected across otherwise feuding Palestinian factions, has broad popular support across occupied Palestine, repeatedly engaged with Israeli officials before his detention and long backed a two-state solution.

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:19 pm

NYC SantaCon charity fundraiser was more con than Claus, authorities say

Officials say charity fundraiser that flooded New York with drunk people in Santa costumes every Christmas was a con

A SantaCon charity fundraiser that floods New York City with inebriated young people in red and white Santa costumes every holiday season was true to its name: a con, federal authorities said as they arrested its organizer.

Stefan Pildes, 50, of Hewitt, New Jersey, was arrested on Wednesday and awaited an appearance in Manhattan federal court, where an indictment charging him with wire fraud was unsealed.

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:32 pm

Trump believes diet soda kills cancer cells, Dr Oz reveals

Physicians issue reminder to public after TV doctor and CMS chief relays president’s claim on Don Jr podcast

Donald Trump defended his consumption of diet soda by suggesting it might help prevent cancer, according to recent comments shared by Mehmet Oz in an interview with Donald Trump Jr.

The remarks have even prompted some doctors to remind the public that, no, diet soda will not do anything to prevent cancer.

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:31 pm

Fisa surveillance vote sparks fierce debate as Congress splits on warrantless monitoring

Donald Trump says he is ‘working very hard’ with House Republicans to extend Section 702 without changes

• US politics live – latest updates

A controversial law that grants the US government sweeping powers for warrantless surveillance is set to expire next week. Replacing it has inspired fierce debate within the White House and Congress, including a scheduled vote cancelled the day of.

A coalition of progressive Democrats and far-right Republicans is pushing for reform of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), but they face strong bipartisan opposition from lawmakers advocating for an 18-month renewal with no changes, in line with Donald Trump’s demands. House GOP leaders delayed a procedural vote on a clean extension of Section 702 on Wednesday, after the chamber’s rules committee approved the measure on Tuesday night. Republican leadership was expected to bring the measure to the floor on Wednesday but canceled the scheduled vote, amid dissent from privacy advocates in their own party. Legislative action on the bill could still occur later in the day, as Republicans address their internal disagreements.

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:59 pm

Pope Leo shares message of unity amid spat with Trump: ‘We can live in peace’

Leo doubles down on his message of peace as Trump and JD Vance continue to squabble with and insult the Vatican

The ongoing squabble between the Trump administration and the Vatican over the war in Iran took another twist on Wednesday when Pope Leo shared a message of peace and healing after the latest angry broadside from the White House.

On Tuesday, JD Vance capped several days of insults by insinuating the pontiff was not being truthful in matters of theology, and did not understand the concept of war.

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:28 pm

Trump’s largest crypto venture investor accuses company of freezing account and secret blacklisting

Justin Sun said World Liberty Financial built a ‘backdoor blacklisting function’ that froze his account. ‘We have the truth. See you in court,’ the company responded

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox

The largest investor in Donald Trump’s crypto venture has claimed that the firm “secretly” implemented a tool to unilaterally freeze his holdings of its cryptocurrency. He claimed the company could do the same to any other user.

In posts on social media platform X on Sunday, crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun said, without offering evidence, that World Liberty Financial had embedded what he described as a “backdoor blacklisting function” in the blockchain-based contracts used for the WLFI tokens.

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:53 pm

‘Psychological torture’: outcry over conditions at ICE desert detention camp

Detainees tell of abuse at sprawling Texas facility whose giant generators gobble energy and fuel climate crisis

Dust was everywhere, covering people’s blankets and clogging their airways inside Camp East Montana, the huge tent facility for immigration detention in west Texas, said D, a young Venezuelan man who was held there.

The air conditioning blasted constantly, keeping the living areas inside tents the length of two football fields at what felt like near-freezing temperatures despite the balmy weather outside, and rain leaked through the tarps, so people awoke on wet mattresses, he recalled.

Published: April 15, 2026, 11:00 am

The AI images Trump can’t get enough of

Who wouldn’t want to be a king, a footballer, a friend of lions, a maestro and Jesus?

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

In Donald Trump’s telling, the image showed him as a medical professional, never mind the lack of training.

“It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better,” Trump said, responding to the outrage after he posted an AI-generated photo which critics – including some on the right – say showed him as a Jesus Christ-figure.

A king

A skilled footballer

A person roaring with a lion

A maestro

What I think is supposed to be a rich guy, but instead looks like a money launderer

Superman

A 1930s-era private dick

Colonel Kilgore from Apocalypse Now

A Nobel peace prize winner

A very muscly Sith lord

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:30 pm

‘Putting your body on the line’: inside the US movement against war in Iran

Protests coincide with a congressional vote to stop arming Israel and a movement to withhold income taxes

• Middle East crisis – live updates

On Monday afternoon, dozens of people sat down in front of the New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s Manhattan office. Shedding their casual-business attire, they revealed matching shirts that read “FUND PEOPLE NOT BOMBS”.

They were some of hundreds of protesters – including Chelsea Manning, actor Hannah Einbinder and artist Molly Crabapple – to tell Gillibrand and the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer that they disapprove of the US sending more weapons to Israel, as the two countries wage wars in Iran, Lebanon and Palestine. Nearly a hundred protesters, including Manning, actor Hari Nef and New York congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, were arrested after the group shut down traffic on Third Avenue.

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:22 pm

The Dianna Russini fallout is less about scandal than who carries blame in the NFL | Melissa Jacobs

Rumors about the reporter and New England head coach Mike Vrabel flew all week. The conclusion to the saga was all too predictable

Dianna Russini, one of the NFL’s most high-profile reporters, is photographed holding hands with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel at a fancy resort in Sedona, Arizona. Rumors fly. Vrabel and Russini, who are both married to other people, issue statements denying the assumptions of something untoward. But the firestorm only grows. Russini resigns from her post at the Athletic, Vrabel continues with his job as usual.

The female reporter’s career is in shambles. Meanwhile, it’s business as usual for the male head coach.

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:20 pm

Are you breathing properly? How I found out I wasn’t

You might think of breathing as automatic, but dysfunctional breathing can arise even if you’re healthy

We’re often taught that breathing is automatic. We barely think about it, as with blinking or the quiet, constant work of the heart. But many otherwise healthy adults have dysfunctional breathing.

“Dysfunctional breathing, also known as breathing pattern disorder, is when breathlessness and/or difficulty in breathing is felt,” said Dr Stephen Fowler, a professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Manchester. It can occur outside the context of any disease. If a related condition is present, like asthma, the breathlessness might feel disproportionate to that condition, he said.

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:00 pm

‘I wanted my work to be shameless’: 93-year-old artist Joan Semmel on her trailblazing nudes

In the 1970s, the painter shocked the art world with paintings modeled on her own nude body. Now in her 10th decade, she’s celebrated as a feminist pioneer

On a life-revivingly sunny day in New York, light pours into the SoHo studio of the 93-year-old painter Joan Semmel. She’s lived in the floor-through railroad apartment since 1970, and she works out of a high-ceilinged room overlooking Spring Street, dominated by a decades-old snake plant. A loft stuffed with canvases occupies one side of the carpeted room, while the other wall displays four recent paintings that will appear in her upcoming show, Continuities, spread between locations of Alexander Gray Associates in New York and Xavier Hufkens in Brussels.

Each vibrant piece evokes elements that have long connected Semmel’s process – gesture, doubling, transparency and abstraction – and features the same model she’s used for more than 50 years: her own nude body. She has maintained that these are not self-portraits, and for much of her career they lacked heads. Semmel bursts into laughter while recalling her surprise when people asked how she felt about “being naked out there. I’m not, that’s a painting,” she says. “It’s a construct, but it’s not me.”

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:00 am

How Toni Morrison blurred the lines between being an editor and a writer

Two recent books about Morrison attempt to make sense of her legacy as a writer, editor and thinker on Black life

When I think of Toni Morrison’s novels, I often think of the poet Lucille Clifton’s response to Gorilla, My Love, the debut short story collection by “the other Toni”, Toni Cade Bambara: “She has captured it all, how we really talk, how we really are; and done it with both love and respect. I laughed until I cried, then laughed again. I loved it! She must love us very much.”

Published in 1972, Bambara’s collection roves through a Black girlhood filled with wit, tenderness, play and betrayal with a rhythmic intensity that moves the way a blues lyric drifts into memory. Morrison edited the book, the first fiction acquisition of her 16-year tenure as an editor at Random House. The Tonis were both single mothers navigating multiple forms of literary labor, and they became fast friends.

Published: April 15, 2026, 1:00 pm

Stephen Colbert to Trump: ‘Why would you start a beef with the pope?’

Late-night hosts discussed Trump’s attacks on the pope as the White House tries to spin his AI-generated Jesus photo into anything other than a disaster

Late-night hosts dissected Donald Trump’s ability to anger Christians around the world with his attacks on Pope Leo XIV and the AI-generated image depicting him as Jesus.

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:45 pm

Nonnamaxxing: do Italian grandmothers hold the secret to a long and happy life?

Gen Z are turning to nonnas for inspiration on how to live to be 100. Will donning a flowery dress and making their own pasta sauce do the trick?

Name: Nonnamaxxing.

Age: 70 to 100, and beyond.

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:47 pm

No more US military aid to Israel | Bernie Sanders

The time is long overdue for members of Congress to listen to the American people and end US military aid to the extremist Netanyahu government

I am a proud Jewish American. My father fled Poland in 1921 to escape poverty and antisemitism. Those in his family who stayed were murdered by the Nazis. Since childhood, I have known very well where antisemitism, racism, fanaticism and demagoguery lead.

So let me be clear. Speaking out against the horrific and inhumane actions of Israel, and its extremist leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, is not antisemitic. Speaking out about the dangerous and destructive role that Israel plays in shaping US foreign and military policy is not antisemitic. It is, in fact, what every member of Congress and every American should be doing.

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:00 pm

Ben Jennings on Trumpflation – cartoon

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:07 pm

The supreme court needs to put limits on Trump’s use of the pardoning power | Steven Greenhouse

The president has reportedly promised mass pardons to administration officials. His misuse of the power goes far beyond what the constitution’s authors intended

Since returning to office, Donald Trump has issued more than 1,800 pardons – to financial fraudsters, drug kingpins, January 6 insurrectionists and others. Unfortunately, Trump’s pardons don’t begin to conform with Alexander Hamilton’s high-minded vision of how presidents would use pardons.

When the US constitution was being written in 1787, Hamilton, a delegate to the constitutional convention, pushed to give presidents a broad pardoning power, saying presidents would use it with “scrupulousness and caution”. But Trump’s use of that power has been anything but scrupulous and cautious.

Published: April 15, 2026, 12:00 pm

Hungary’s strongman lost. His ideas live on in the White House | Jamil Smith

The United States tolerates Trump’s behavior because of our warped definition of strength

The strongest men I’ve known didn’t behave anything like Donald Trump.

They were capable of restraint, first off. They may have spoken loudly, but they never used volume to enforce authority. None of them thought domination equaled leadership. How silly that would be.

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:00 am

ChatGPT’s latest stylistic quirk is sinister, infuriating – and absolutely everywhere | Stuart Heritage

Once you start noticing “it’s not X, it’s Y” as you scroll online, you can’t fail to register it. I’ve become so hypervigilant that it has seeped into my subconscious thoughts

If you’ve never seen Jim Carrey’s 2007 psychological thriller The Number 23, then congratulations. It is a film about a man who sees the number 23 so many times that he ends up going bonkers. I used to think this film was stupid. However, now I appear to be living it.

My own personal number 23 is a rhetorical device: “It’s not X, it’s Y.” Everywhere I look, there it is. Whenever I hate myself enough to scroll through Facebook’s wilderness of algorithmically suggested posts, I find myself being smacked in the face with sentences such as: “Self-improvement isn’t a trend, it’s a lifestyle shift,” and “The small wins aren’t just moments, they’re the majority of your life.” Once you notice it, it becomes impossible to ignore. This weekend during a Peloton class (I know, shut up), I heard an instructor bark a variation of “this isn’t X, it’s Y”. Yesterday, a character did the same during a TV show I was reviewing, and I dropped a star from its score in retaliation.

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:08 pm

Hungary beware: authoritarianism can be checked, but it is rarely dismissed with a single blow | Blanche Leridon

Poland has shown that it takes far more time and energy to rebuild a country’s rule of law than it does to dismantle it

“Historic” is an adjective used too often these days, at the risk of trivialising the word and diluting its substance. But Sunday’s Hungarian election, which marked the fall of Viktor Orbán after 16 years in power, deserves the label. The chief architect of European illiberalism, the man who dismantled Hungary’s rule of law, presided over a system of endemic corruption and stood as an avowed enemy of Ukraine is gone.

The scale of the moment is undeniable. For Ukraine and for the European project, the relief is palpable. With an election turnout of 79.5% – the highest the country has seen since the fall of the USSR – and a strong mobilisation of the youth vote, the Hungarian people have delivered a clear mandate for change. Despite the explicit support of Donald Trump and the Maga-sphere, despite an electoral map gerrymandered in his favour and a locked-down media landscape, Orbán lost. What is more, he lost so decisively that he was forced to concede immediately. There is, without a doubt, reason for enthusiasts of liberal democracy to celebrate – a “Budapest spring” in its own right.

Blanche Leridon is director of French studies at Institut Montaigne, an author and a lecturer at Sciences Po Paris

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:00 am

Arsenal v Sporting: Champions League quarter-final, second leg – live

⚽ Champions League news; 8pm BST kick-off (first leg: 1-0)
⚽ Bayern v Real Madrid – updates | Live scores | Mail Simon

1 min: Peeeeeep! Luis Suarez gets the ball rolling.

The captains exchange pennants. Sporting’s looks rubbish. Not even embroidered. It’s like they forgot their proper pennant and had to buy one from a dodgy bloke outside the ground. It’s less a pennant than an insult.

Published: April 15, 2026, 7:03 pm

Bayern Munich v Real Madrid: Champions League quarter-final, second leg – live

⚽ Champions League news; 8pm BST kick-off (first leg: 2-1)
⚽ Arsenal v Sporting – updates | Live scores | Mail Michael

“Yes Neuer is a great keeper, but when you pitch him against Yashin, Banks, you’re really not comparing like with like,” emails Jeremy Boyce. “Chalk and cheese. Yashin, famously, could pick the ball up off the ground with one hand. Banks was a genius, saw him live once, crap match, Everton v Stoke, 0-0, the only moment of magic was a save he made. Neither of these would have been able to ‘play out from the back’ or any of that because it was a different game then. You could still pass back to the keeper! Neuer is great, but really? Up there with those greats from a bygone age? If you’re looking for a great German goalkeeper how about Trautmann as the GGKOAT ? How many others have played on with a broken neck?

No doubting that Trautmann is a legend for different reasons but he doesn’t touch Kahn or Sepp Maier, never mind Neuer. However, Jeremy does make a good point in comparing players from such different eras. It’s effectively impossible, as it was a completely different game and is just a subjective choice. But I’d have 1. Yashin 2. Neuer 3. Buffon (for what it’s worth).

Published: April 15, 2026, 7:02 pm

LIV Golf meeting in New York fuels speculation over rebel tour’s future

• Senior leadership not in Mexico City for LIV tournament

• Saudi focus now more on football and esport

LIV Golf executives have been called to a meeting in New York amid growing speculation over the future of the Saudi Arabia-funded rebel tour.

Rumours that LIV could soon be shut down had begun to circulate on social media on Tuesday evening with officials from the tour declining to respond. LIV’s next event in Mexico City will begin as planned on Thursday, although as first reported by the Daily Telegraph, the tour’s senior leadership were all absent having been diverted to New York. Many of LIV’s senior personnel, including the chief executive, Scott O’Neil, were at Augusta for the Masters last week and have stayed in the US.

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:01 pm

Spoelstra says Hornets’ Ball should have been ejected before ending Miami Heat’s season

• Ball appeared to trip Bam Adebayo in Tuesday’s game

• Hornets went on to win play-in game in overtime

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said LaMelo Ball should have been ejected for tripping Bam Adebayo, leading to an injury that knocked the Heat’s star center out of Tuesday night’s 127-126 play-in tournament loss to the Charlotte Hornets.

Ball fell to the floor after missing a shot on a drive to the basket early in the second quarter, and appeared to reach out and grab Adebayo’s left leg, causing the center to fall on his back. Ball was not called for a foul, and Adebayo remained on the floor as play continued. He eventually walked to the locker room under his own power but did not return.

Published: April 15, 2026, 12:58 pm

Former Alabama player allegedly impersonated NFL’s Penix, Njoku and McKinney in $20m loan scam

Luther Davis, a national champion with the Crimson Tide, is said to have worn wigs and make-up to secure fraudulent loans

A former University of Alabama national champion plans to plead guilty later this month to orchestrating an alleged scheme in which he impersonated NFL players and defrauded lenders out of nearly $20m. The alleged scam is described in detail by the US attorney for the northern district of Georgia, including depictions of the former defensive lineman donning disguises during loan closings.

Luther Davis, a member of the Alabama football team that won the 2010 national championship game, along with a partner, CJ Evins, “obtained at least thirteen fraudulent loans totaling more than $19,845,000”, the criminal information filing alleges. A criminal information (CI) document is filed by a US attorney when a defendant agrees to waive the constitutional right to indictment by a grand jury and instead proceed by typically entering a guilty plea; both Davis and Evins are doing so according to the court docket.

Aliya Sports said it had no further comment on this article. Sure Sports did not reply to a request for comment.

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:00 am

MLS will have fewer US World Cup players than ever. Its impact is being felt anyway

The league’s emphasis on youth development has seen its place in the careers of US national team players shift dramatically

• Sign up for the World Behind The Cup newsletter

When the United States men’s national team traveled to France for the 1998 World Cup, they did so with 16 Major League Soccer players on their 22-man roster. This was very much by design. MLS had kicked off in 1996 as a fulfilled promise made to Fifa by US Soccer for the right to host the 1994 World Cup. The new league then set about hoarding as many national team players as it could.

In a winless and mirthless tournament in 1998, fraught by a fractious camp, the Americans started an MLS player 21 times in their three group-stage matches, for an average of seven per starting lineup. That number has trended down ever since. In the 2002 run to the World Cup quarter-finals, setting the program’s modern high-water mark, an average of 5.4 MLS players made a start in the USA’s five matches. In 2006, it was 3.33. By 2010, that number had sunk to two; and in 2022, it was only one. In Qatar, the USMNT’s final group stage match against Iran was, in fact, the first time the team had started no MLS players at all at a World Cup since the league’s founding.

Published: April 15, 2026, 11:00 am

Unhappy Verstappen ‘has to be listened to’ over new rules, says F1 chief Domenicali

• Red Bull driver outspoken about regulation changes

• ‘In a meeting he was very keen to give suggestions’

Formula One must listen to Max ­Verstappen’s grievances about the sport’s new regulations and their effects on racing, according to F1’s CEO, Stefano Domenicali. His ­intervention comes as key ­players hold ­meetings to consider ­adjusting the rules for the remainder of the season.

Verstappen has been outspoken in his dissatisfaction with the new ­formula and the part energy management now plays in ­preventing being able to race flat-out. The four-time champion is not alone in his ­feelings with other drivers also ­critical of the deployment and recharging of ­electrical energy.

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:49 pm

How the streaming dream turned sports on TV into a costly maze

What began as a fan-friendly revolution has splintered into a confusing, expensive web of subscriptions, blackouts and ads

There was a moment, perhaps a decade ago, when it felt as if sports broadcasting nirvana was near. A world where ordinary fans could access any game on any device, any time, anywhere.

Or near enough, as cord-cutting devastated traditional cable subscription models and viewers who had long been locked into expensive and restrictive TV packages now had choices. Streaming nurtured a diverse and bespoke landscape.

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:00 am

More than £1bn pledged for Sudan as humanitarian crisis deepens

Donors exceed funding target at Berlin conference but prospects for ceasefire remain distant

More than £1bn (€1.15bn) has been pledged for war-ravaged Sudan at a conference in Berlin, eclipsing the funding target organisers had set to help mitigate the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

The financial commitments made on Wednesday will also help offset a chronic humanitarian funding shortfall in a country devastated by three years of conflict, where two-thirds of its population – 34m people – require assistance.

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:49 pm

Prosecutors won’t file domestic abuse charges against Taylor Frankie Paul

Mormon Wives star was accused of domestic violence by her former partner Dakota Mortensen

Prosecutors in Utah have declined to press charges against Taylor Frankie Paul, star of the reality show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, after she was accused of domestic violence.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Salt Lake county district attorney’s office said it would not be pursuing charges against Paul following a pair of domestic violence investigations stemming from allegations by Paul’s former partner Dakota Mortensen.

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:50 pm

Camp Mystic official says she still hasn’t reported flood deaths to Texas agency

Camp’s medical officer testified at a hearing as state health agency reviews camp’s application to reopen this summer

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox

The medical officer for Camp Mystic, the Christian summer camp in Texas where 27 girls and counselors were killed in a catastrophic flood last year, testified this week she has still not officially reported the deaths to the state health agency reviewing the camp’s application to reopen.

Mary Liz Eastland, a member of the family that owns and operates the camp, appeared in court this week as part of a hearing tied to a lawsuit brought by the family of eight-year-old camper Cecilia “Cile” Steward, whose body has not been found. The family is seeking to temporarily close off the camp’s flooded areas to preserve the damage as evidence while their lawsuit proceeds.

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:41 pm

Hungary’s prime minister-elect vows to suspend ‘propaganda machine’ state media

Péter Magyar compares media coverage to Nazi-era Germany and aims to ‘restore its public service character’

Hungary’s prime minister-elect has vowed to suspend state media news coverage, describing it as a “propaganda machine,” when his government takes office around mid-May.

Péter Magyar, whose landslide election victory on Sunday brought an end to Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power, detailed his plans for the suspension as he gave two tense interviews to public radio and television on Wednesday.

Published: April 15, 2026, 1:32 pm

Madonna announces sequel to her 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor

Confessions II reunites her with producer Stuart Price and is billed as a study of the dancefloor as ‘a ritualistic space where movement replaces language’

Madonna has announced the release of her 15th studio album, Confessions II: a sequel to Confessions on a Dance Floor, her disco-fabulous 2005 release regarded as one of the jewels of her discography.

The album will be released on 3 July. Details are still relatively scarce beyond that, but like its predecessor, Confessions II is a collaboration with the British producer Stuart Price.

When Stuart Price and I first started working on this record, this was our manifesto:

We must dance, celebrate, and pray with our bodies. These are things that we’ve been doing for thousands of years — they really are spiritual practices. After all, the dance floor is a ritualistic space. It’s a place where you connect with your wounds, with your fragility. To rave is an art. It’s about pushing your limits and connecting to a community of like-minded people.

Sound, light, and vibration
Reshape our perceptions
Pulling us into a trance-like state.
The repetition of the bass, we don’t just hear it but we feel it.

Altering our consciousness and dissolving ego and time.

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:24 pm

How big oil is cashing in on Iran war - The Latest

The world’s top 100 oil and gas companies made more than $30m every hour in unearned profit in the first month of the US-Israeli war in Iran, according to exclusive analysis for the Guardian.

The conflict pushed the price of oil to an average of $100 a barrel in March, leading to estimated windfall war profits for the month of $23bn for the companies.

Lucy Hough speaks to Damian Carrington, the Guardian’s environment editor

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:37 pm

‘Could this backfire on the GOP?’ – your questions about Trump’s restrictive voting act answered

Guardian democracy reporters George Chidi and Sam Levine answered your questions about the dramatic implications of the Save America Act for US voters

The latest version of the Save America Act could, if it is passed, upend voting for all Americans in the middle of a federal midterm election year and create costly, chaotic changes for elections workers. George Chidi, the Guardian’s politics and democracy correspondent and Sam Levine, who has spent years focusing on voting rights in the US, including for our ongoing series The fight for democracy, answered questions about Save’s implications on everything from the midterms to overseas voting.

George and Sam have now finished answering your questions. Read the Q&A below.

George: I think the Kansas example is instructive. Kansas enacted a law in 2013 requiring voters to prove their citizenship when registering. Evidence presented in a federal lawsuit challenging the law showed that 18,000 people were blocked from registering – about 8 per cent of people trying to register. That statistic only covers motor voter registrations; another study showed the overall number was closer to one in eight voters. Only about a quarter of those who were initially blocked ended up registering. (And no, these were not non-citizens - they were by and large born Americans who couldn’t lay hands on their birth certificates.) The blocked registrants were disproportionately young people with no party affiliation. The federal court struck down the law in 2018.

Arizona enacted a similar law in 2005, with similar results. Elections officials attributed the large number of blocked registrants to people whose married names didn’t match their birth certificates, or people who couldn’t get their birth certificate. In 2024, the US supreme court blocked the use of documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections in the Arizona case.

George: The hard part here is making an argument that will be heard by people who believe the “mainstream media” exists to lie to conservatives. I think the best answer is to show examples of people who look and sound – and perhaps believe the same things – as the people demanding high levels of documentation to vote. One of the less-spoken corollaries to voting registration changes as proposed is that it will disproportionately affect voters with a propensity to vote for Republicans. Married women. Rural voters. People who have never drawn a passport and don’t have easy access to a county clerk who can send them a new birth certificate.

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:32 pm

Peace activist, 91, walks across Ireland in protest against US military stopovers

Lelia Doolan, who finished 220km trek at parliament gates, says use of Shannon airport violates Irish neutrality

A 91-year-old peace activist has crossed Ireland on foot and arrived in Dublin to petition the government to bar US military flights.

Lelia Doolan completed a two-week, 220km (138 mile) trek on Wednesday, ending at the gates of parliament accompanied by throngs of supporters.

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:04 pm

Sinlaku rips through Northern Mariana Islands as strongest tropical cyclone this year

More than 1,000 people were in shelters across Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands as Sinlaku moved away

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox

Super Typhoon Sinlaku hammered the Northern Mariana Islands, flipping over cars, toppling utility poles and ripping away tin roofs.

Authorities were just beginning to assess the damage left behind by the typhoon, which first hit the islands on Tuesday night local time and continued with a barrage of fierce winds and relentless rains for hours on Wednesday. So far, there have been no reports of deaths.

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:52 pm

Sperm whales’ communication closely parallels human language, study finds

Analysis shows whales’ coda vocalizations are ‘highly complex’ and remarkably similar to our own

We may appear to have little in common with sperm whales – enormous, ocean-dwelling animals that last shared a common ancestor with humans more than 90 million years ago. But the whales’ vocalized communications are remarkably similar to our own, researchers have discovered.

Not only do sperm whale have a form of “alphabet” and form vowels within their vocalizations but the structure of these vowels behaves in the same way as human speech, the new study has found.

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:00 am

Heatwave threatens to shatter high-temperature records across eastern US

Intense heat in cities like New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC is unusual for April, weather experts say

A long-lasting weather pattern is poised to blast hot air like a furnace across the eastern United States, with the unusual heatwave threatening to shatter record high temperatures on Wednesday in big cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC.

The heat is unusual for April, not only because it is scorching much of the nation so early in the year but also for its duration. The near-record temperatures are expected to last into this weekend, forecasters say.

Published: April 15, 2026, 12:41 pm

‘We took clothes, a blanket and a dog’: the people displaced by a dam 50 years ago, but still fighting for justice

The Avá-Guarani community have received little recognition of the destruction of their land by the Itaipu dam on the Paraguay-Brazil border

When the Indigenous leader Teodoro Alves was a young child in his community of Ocoy-Jacutinga, on the border between Paraguay and Brazil, a river ran through it. The Paraná River, which rises in Brazil and flows south through Paraguay to the Río de la Plata between Argentina and Uruguay, once structured the lives of Avá-Guarani people along its banks.

That continuity, Alves says, was broken in the 1970s with the construction of the Itaipu hydroelectric dam, which submerged their lands and displaced hundreds of families. “I saw the Paraná River before the Itaipu dam was closed. Now I see an immense lake. The river died completely. It died with the Avá-Guarani people,” Alves says.

Published: April 15, 2026, 12:00 pm

South Africa names apartheid-era negotiator as ambassador to US

Appointment of Roelf Meyer seen as attempt to improve relations amid false US accusations of ‘white genocide’

South Africa has appointed a former apartheid government chief negotiator during the talks that ended white rule in the 1990s as ambassador to the US, in what is seen as an attempt to improve the deeply strained diplomatic relationship between the two countries.

Roelf Meyer replaces Ebrahim Rasool, who was expelled in March 2025 after he criticised the Trump administration.

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:04 pm

Short-term gains for China from US-Iran war may turn to longer-term pain

Beijing may be reaping some diplomatic benefit but Trump’s war holds risks for its energy security and economy

Two months ago, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, promised it would be a “big year” for China-US relations. He was right, but perhaps not in the way he expected.

Wang was speaking before a planned visit by the US president to Beijing in March, which would have been Donald Trump’s first trip to China since 2017. But the trip, and a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, was kicked back by several weeks after Trump decided to launch strikes with Israel against Iran, starting a war in the Middle East that has caused a global energy crisis and roiled diplomatic relations across the board.

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:45 am

Man convicted in wife’s disappearance arrested over unsolved 1990 murder

Bob McCaffrey, whose wife Gayle has never been found, to face murder charges over New Jersey killing of Lisa McBride

A man who was convicted in connection with his wife’s 2012 disappearance in South Carolina has been arrested over the murder of another woman in New Jersey 22 years earlier.

Robert “Bob” McCaffrey Jr, 54, was apprehended in North Carolina, where he had been residing, on suspicion of the 1990 killing of Lisa Marie McBride, 27, in New Jersey, authorities said in a statement.

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:00 am

US DoJ files for overturning January 6 convictions for far-right groups’ members

Filing seeks to overturn seditious conspiracy charges of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers members who laid siege to US Capitol in 2021

The US Department of Justice has requested that a federal appeals judge overturn convictions for members of far-right groups Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, who were previously found guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the violent siege of the US capitol in 2021.

Jeanine Pirro, the Donald Trump-appointed US attorney for the District of Columbia, signed separate motions on Tuesday to vacate convictions for a slew of individuals, including the Proud Boys’ leaders Ethan Nordean and Joseph Biggs as well as Stewart Rhodes, a former attorney who founded the Oath Keepers’ militia.

Published: April 15, 2026, 1:33 am

New EU entry-exit system causing up to three-hour delays, say airports

Airport body has asked for power to suspend EES checks requiring personal information and biometrics

Travellers going through some European airports are reportedly waiting up to three hours at border checks because of the EU’s new entry-exit system (EES).

Passengers in airports in countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Greece are waiting several hours at border checks, the Airports Council International (ACI) body has said.

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:46 pm

Cubans self-medicate as crisis takes toll on mental health: ‘There is no idea to hold on to’

Many people are turning to prescription drugs – and some to herbal remedies and even hard drugs – amid an outlook that feels bleaker than the collapse of the Soviet Union

Cris Sánchez believed he had left Cuba for good when he moved to London in 1994, but concerns for his ailing parents brought him back in 2018. Since then, the strain of life in Havana has caused him to turn to prescription drugs – “Just to take the edge off things,” he said.

He is not alone. Currently under a US-imposed oil blockade, and following years of economic decline, Cubans are self-administering regulated drugs in growing numbers, as a mental health crisis envelops the island.

Published: April 15, 2026, 11:00 am

Hidden treasures: Spanish archaeologists discover trove of ancient shipwrecks in Bay of Gibraltar

Researchers identify wrecks at the bottom of the sea from as far back as fifth century BC, from Europe and beyond

Spanish archaeologists exploring the bay that curves between the southern port of Algeciras and the Rock of Gibraltar have documented the wrecks of more than 30 ships that came to grief near the Pillars of Hercules between the fifth century BC and the second world war.

Over the millennia, the bay, which sits at the north end of the strait of Gibraltar that separates Europe from Africa, has swallowed everything from Phoenician and Roman vessels to British, Spanish, Venetian and Dutch ships – as well as the odd aeroplane.

Published: April 15, 2026, 8:00 am

Paris art enthusiast wins €1m Picasso painting in €100 charity raffle

Ari Hodara initially thought it might be a hoax after winning raffle he found out about by chance while dining out

A Picasso painting worth more than €1m (£870,000) has been won in a raffle by a software engineer from Paris who thought the whole thing might be a hoax.

Ari Hodara learned he was the winner of the raffle on Tuesday when he answered a video call from Christie’s auction house in Paris. “How do I check that it’s not a hoax?” the 58 year-old asked when he was told he was the new owner of the 1941 work by the Spanish master.

Published: April 15, 2026, 1:36 pm

A ruined building, five Ghanaians and an elegant horse: Ron Timehin’s best photograph

‘I went to this tourist resort in Accra wanting to show how the people who live there fish, play – and rest. Africans aren’t often portrayed in this way. And the horse pulls it all together!’

This was taken at Labadi, a popular tourist resort in Accra, the capital of Ghana. You don’t often see this side of it. People go there for the golden sand and nightlife but they don’t really integrate with the community who live there. I wanted to show how they fish – in traditional canoes – how they rest, how they play.

I love how this door looks fronting a ruined farm building. It represents the freedom of not being bound by walls. And I love the Ghanaian flag on the side – a nod to place and heritage. I just thought it was a beautiful set. The community keeps a few horses in stables, which they use to carry equipment. The one in the picture pulls it all together and adds elegance, because it’s such a majestic and beautiful animal. The way Africans are often portrayed in documentary photography isn’t like this.

Published: April 15, 2026, 1:47 pm

Margo’s Got Money Troubles review – Michelle Pfeiffer’s career renaissance starts here

The star powerfully plays the mum to Elle Fanning’s cash-strapped single mother and OnlyFans creator in this charming schmaltzfest – which could have been so much more

Margo’s Got Money Troubles first gives us the why. Margo’s got money troubles because Margo got pregnant. Margo got pregnant because she is so young, and she thought her English professor writing her a poem was A Good Thing (poems written by English professors are never A Good Thing). She started having sex with her English professor and their combined brain power clearly didn’t extend to contraceptive deployment. Margo stayed pregnant because there’s no story in “young woman has termination, goes on with the rest of her life pretty untraumatised, actually”. Margo had the baby. And that is where the money troubles start.

David E Kelley’s new series is an eight-part comedy-drama, adapted from the pugnacious romp of a 2024 bestselling novel by Rufi Thorpe, and directed by Dearbhla Walsh. It stars Elle Fanning (as great as she is in The Great) as the eponymous heroine and Michelle Pfeiffer as her mother, Shyanne (which, along with her role in The Madison, might signal a proper career renaissance for the actor – Kidman-style, but less boring).

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:00 am

Truth & Treason review – persuasive, punchy treatment of teenager who takes on the Gestapo

Based on a true story, Ewan Horrocks as a young German denouncing Nazism and Rupert Evans as a Gestapo officer work well to loosen the Christian saviour narrative grip

This second world war-set feature dramatises the story of German-resistance figure Helmuth Hübener, a Mormon teenager from Hamburg who went from being a member of the Hitler Youth to distributing leaflets denouncing the Nazi regime. According to the film, Hübener (Ewan Horrocks) was partly inspired to act because his Jewish friend Salomon Schwarz gets shipped off to Auschwitz – though Hübener’s main motivation, apparently, was that he wanted people to know the truth, hence the movie’s alliterative title.

It would be oh-so-easy to dismiss this film as maladroit Christian saviour-touting melodrama, however historically accurate it might be. It is especially tempting given one of the companies backing it is faith-based outfit Angel Studios, which brought us the QAnon-adjacent Sound of Freedom a few years back. Plus, poor old Salomon (Nye Occomore) barely features much before he meets his epiphany-inciting fate. He certainly doesn’t get as much screen time as Hübener’s chief antagonist, Gestapo officer Erwin Mussener (Rupert Evans), who we learn has a soft side and his own freight of tragedy to bear before he starts yanking people’s fingernails out.

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:00 am

Mother Mary review – Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel are lost in ludicrous pop star drama

Music from Charli xcx can’t save David Lowery’s dour chamber piece, despite some flashes of dazzling style

For a certain stripe of pop fan, diva worship comes along with having a high tolerance for their unique flavor of psychobabble. So when Anne Hathaway, as the titular singer in David Lowery’s Mother Mary, declares that her new single Spooky Action is about Einstein’s “transubstantiation of feelings”, I ignored the snorts from those in the theater beside me. Finally, I thought, fondly casting my mind back to when Lady Gaga would talk about her music as a reverse Warholian explosion: a pop star who is not afraid to lean into high-concept nonsense. My generosity quickly faded when I began to realize that Mother Mary – the character and the film – was missing a crucial component for any modern pop star worth their salt: self-awareness.

Mother Mary is a one-time music A-lister in search of a comeback after a mysterious event that has taken her out of commission. She seems … haunted, and is experiencing a fashion emergency to boot, unable to find anything to wear for her imminent return to the stage. Three days before she is due to make her big appearance she turns up in the rain at the gothic mansion of fashion designer Sam Anselm (an enjoyably over-the-top Michaela Coel), looking like a rat caught in a monsoon, begging for an outfit that “feels like me”. Sam has moved on considerably since she was Mother Mary’s partner in fashion, and perhaps her lover behind closed doors too. In fact, she entirely loathes the pop star. “You are a carcinogen, you are a tumor,” Sam says in an amusingly ominous voiceover. “The bile is rising.”

Published: April 14, 2026, 3:18 pm

Miracle Mile: boy meets girl, romcom meets nuclear war

This 80s thriller straddles both a charming love affair and the threat of impending apocalypse. Somehow, it all works

• Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

Miracle Mile is the result of an 80s romcom getting a severe bout of nuclear fear. It’s a uniquely chilling thriller, combining the disparate elements of screwball romance with a paranoid conspiracy to create a beat-the-clock urgency that defies categorisation and expectations.

Jazz musician Harry (Anthony Edwards) meets and falls in love with Julie (Mare Winningham) while visiting Los Angeles, having spent an idyllic afternoon together. Julie rushes off to work and Harry returns to his hotel, with the pair arranging to meet that night.

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

Published: April 14, 2026, 3:00 pm

From the devil’s violinist to devil’s horns - why classical and heavy metal are a natural pairing

With ear-splitting excess, flamboyant virtuosity and a talent for transgression, where classical music has led, metal has followed. Let’s hope the Philharmonia’s Metal Orchestrated concert turns it up to 11

The question is not why, but why has it taken so long? Putting heavy metal and classical together that is, as the Philharmonia are doing next week in their Forged in Sound: Heavy Metal Orchestrated gig, part of the Southbank Centre’s Multitudes festival.

There’s more that connects metal and classical music than sets them apart. A love of volume, turning the noise up to 11? From Black Sabbath to Stravinsky, check. A worship of virtuosity, of speed, technique and orgiastic instrumental excess, from Vivaldi to Van Halen? Absolutely. An all-too easily parodied sense of grandiloquence, pseudo-seriousness and expressive pomp and circumstance? I give you Richard Wagner and Iron Maiden. An addiction to flamboyant spectacle, a PR-driven flirtation with the dark side to build the mythology of the music and the performers? That too.

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:39 pm

‘She wanted to disappear in silence’: the magical life and mysterious death of married musician duo Irena and Vojtěch Havlovi

Blending minimalism, ambient and folk music in the former Czechoslovakia, the couple made pilgrim-like tours around Europe, beguiling everyone they met. Fans including the National’s Bryce Dessner explain their allure

The Czech duo Irena and Vojtěch Havlovi often seemed out of time. From the mid-80s, the married couple filtered minimalist composition, ambient and folk through baroque instruments, honing their craft in Prague’s churches and monasteries to create a mysterious combination of modernism and old European music against a communist backdrop. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the Havels’ unhurried music didn’t rush to match the new pace of capitalism in the country. Instead, they would tour Europe by rail and bus, describing themselves as “pilgrims who wander and play”, as Vojtěch said in a 2009 documentary directed by Vincent Moon. Whether playing their string instruments or minimalist piano etudes for four hands, the pair merged into a symbiotic life-form.

The couple saw themselves as acting in service of the music, “of this energy between us and the audience”, said Irena. “Something that can only be shared together, going through us, when the ego is a little asleep.”

Published: April 15, 2026, 11:09 am

‘R&B today is like Brazilian football – the creativity, the skill’: Odeal, the genre’s hottest UK star

After being dropped by his label, the British-Nigerian singer became huge as an independent artist. So why did the Brit awards snub him? Ahead of arena dates, he reflects on his journey so far

“I’m not looking at a crowd tonight,” Odeal says hours before his first ever Brixton Academy performance in late March. “I’m looking at my people; aunties, uncles, friends, peers and supporters.”

Dressed in loungewear and stretched across a leather sofa backstage at the south London venue, the British-Nigerian singer seems calm, as if he’s exactly where he expected to be. The 26-year-old has the type of fame particular to the British R&B scene: adoration and many millions of streams from the genre’s global fanbase, to the point where he’ll soon play arenas across the US in support of R&B megastar Summer Walker – though is yet to have much mainstream recognition beyond that.

Published: April 14, 2026, 2:00 pm

Shrooms, alligators and the swamp: how the ‘satanic e-girls of TikTok’ revived psychedelic sludge metallers Acid Bath

The Louisiana band came to a tragically early end in the 90s, but after going viral they’ll soon play stadiums with System of a Down. They look back on the claggy riffs and circle pits

‘It’s a mind-blower,” says singer Dax Riggs on the surprising TikTok-driven renaissance of the renowned 1990s psychedelic sludge metallers Acid Bath. “In the front row you’ll see an old fan and next to them is a 13-year-old kid singing all the words,” adds guitarist Sammy Duet. “What the hell is going on here?”

Formed in the Louisiana bayou in 1991 with oppressive, swampy sounds soundtracking tales of drugs, death and decay, Acid Bath deftly hopped from treacly, melodic grooves to bluesy licks and fast-chugging thrashers, sometimes in the same song. “Society here was totally decrepit and unfair in a lot of ways, but the beauty of the landscape is supreme,” says Riggs of the backwater wetlands that loomed large in their psyches. Their claggy, peculiar southern gothic style burned bright, before the death of bassist Audie Pitre in 1997 brought their journey to a close.

Published: April 14, 2026, 8:10 am

The Fallen by Louise Brangan review – an enraging account of Ireland’s Magdalene laundries

The horrifying story of the Catholic-run institutions that incarcerated thousands of women and girls

Many readers, and surely most Irish readers, will finish this book in a state of white-knuckled rage, mingled with sorrow and at least a pang of guilt. It is a detailed, thoroughgoing and appalling account of the Magdalene laundries, the most famous, and most infamous, among Ireland’s extended and varied landscape of penal or correctional institutions, which operated for most of the 20th century (the last of the laundries was closed in 1996).

As the academic Louise Brangan points out in The Fallen, it is easy to become confused by the number and variety of prisons, mental asylums, orphanages, workhouses and homes for unmarried mothers that proliferated in Ireland between the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 and the late 1990s. However, the Magdalene laundries were unique. Dr Brangan writes: “In a regime distinguished by its excessive inhumanity, the Magdalene laundries were its deep end. In 1951, when the laundries were at their height, for every 100,000 males, 27 were in prison … [while] for every 100,000 females, 70 were in a laundry. These were not peripheral: they were Ireland’s main carceral institution.”

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:00 am

Communion by Jon Doyle review – a charged debut about sin and solace

A man who meant to be a priest is faced with a moral crossroads in this ambitious and affecting first novel

Jon Doyle’s debut novel tells the story of Mack O’Brien, a young man who went to a seminary to study for the priesthood but was asked to leave because he had no real calling, and has therefore returned to his family home in Wales to work out what to do with his life. Cheek by jowl with his ailing, deeply religious mother, and a father struggling to process the grief of his own parents’ recent deaths, he finds himself drawn into participating in a local theatre production – playing a disciple in Owen Sheers’s now-legendary Passion of Port Talbot, an immersive community-led re-enactment of the crucifixion that took place over several days in Port Talbot in 2012, starring Michael Sheen.

Mack is recruited after a steelworker from the plant where he works as a security guard drops out of the show. Material enough for a novel already, one might think, but all this becomes more or less background noise when, on the same night he agrees to be in the play, Mack bumps into Siwan, a young woman he was close to at school. Siwan’s mother was an environmental activist who ended up going to prison for her protests. Siwan had visited him at the seminary on the day he agreed to leave the priesthood and said to him, “forgive me father, for I am about to sin”. The nature of the sin she is intent on committing becomes the focus of the novel.

Published: April 15, 2026, 8:01 am

My Year in Paris With Gertrude Stein by Deborah Levy review – wonderfully entertaining

Biography mingles with fiction as Levy explores the avant-garde writer through the story of three female friends in Paris

The narrator of Deborah Levy’s witty scherzo of a “fiction” – “novel” isn’t the word for this uncategorisable book – thinks that Gertrude Stein would have liked Sigmund Freud. She imagines them enjoying a cigar together while their wives make small talk. Would Frau Freud “have exchanged her recipe for boiled beef with Alice B [Toklas]’s recipe for hashish fudge”? The two never met (though with her interest in the “bottom character” and his in the “unconscious”, Stein and Freud would have had plenty to talk about), but that barely matters. This book is full of things that don’t actually happen, of relationships that are not what the people involved suppose them to be, of digressions and fantasies and encounters that are imagined but never take place.

It all starts with a lost cat. The cat is called “it”: lower-case “i” followed by lower-case “t”. This causes all sorts of linguistic confusion, highlighting the way we use the word “it” to mean something indeterminate (as in the first sentence of this paragraph), or something trivial, or something tremendous. The phrase “lost it” recurs, the “it” meaning – variously – one’s mind, sympathy with Ernest Hemingway, daring to be as unconventional as Gertrude Stein, the stream of consciousness “flowing under the mowed and manicured golf courses on which men swung their clubs in the 21st century”, the temptation to smile while being undermined by a patronising man, the drudgery of housekeeping, the thing – which might be obedience or shame – that holds an artist back from becoming a modernist … or love, or one’s mother, or a black-and-white cat with one deformed ear.

Published: April 14, 2026, 6:01 am

All Them Dogs by Djamel White review – murderous desires in the badlands of Dublin

Sparks fly in this homoerotic dance of desire and betrayal, from a powerful new voice in Irish literature

Toxic masculinity, that repressed and repressive male energy that does so much to fuel brutality and abuse, sometimes finds itself on the brink of a vulnerable homoeroticism. In Djamel White’s debut novel All Them Dogs, a vividly propulsive neo-noir, two violent men discover that murderous desires can lead to love as well as death. This is a fast-paced crime thriller with a psychosexual twist, set in a dangerously Freudian arena of Eros and Thanatos.

On the run for five years after killing a man in a gang fight, Tony Ward has returned to the badlands of west Dublin under the protection of a local crime boss. Teamed up with tall and sullen enforcer Darren “Flute” Walsh, Tony is back on his home turf grafting a grim routine of collecting debts and drug dealer’s dues. Propelled through a world of old scores and hard knocks, our protagonist is a shark who has to keep moving simply to survive. But when he and Flute are called upon to kill a failing dealer, their brutal conspiracy becomes a visceral dance of desire and betrayal.

Published: April 14, 2026, 8:00 am

Why I’m embracing the latest uncool thing in gaming

‘Unc’ is meant to disparage older players who favour slow-paced shooters and epic narrative games, but the industry should make games for all generations

• Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

While researching women’s experiences in multiplayer video games recently, I came across this thread on the subreddit about Bungie’s latest live shooter, Marathon. “I’ve played a lot of shooters, and as a feminine-presenting player tbh it’s often a struggle,” it reads. “I’ve heard all the ‘get back to the kitchen’ jokes … ​But Marathon has been completely different, guys. I haven’t had a single issue, people have been incredibly kind and helpful… ​The community feels genuinely welcoming to everyone.”

The top-voted reply? “Benefit of being an unc game.”

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:00 pm

‘Seeking connection’: the video game where players stopped shooting and started talking

In a post-apocalyptic landscape of cutthroat scavengers, surprisingly peaceful players are opting to team up and open up – a phenomenon that’s intriguing game developers and psychologists alike

The video game Arc Raiders is set in a lethal imagining of an apocalyptic future for humanity. Survivors have been forced to live deep underground in colonies while mysterious, murderous AI machines patrol the surface. Only the desolate ruins of former cities survive, and reckless human “raiders” take trips topside to conduct dangerous scavenging missions.

For all the menace of these armed robots, called Arcs, the deadly droids are not the biggest threat in this hugely popular game, which was released late last year and has sold more than 14m copies. Raiders operate with the constant anxiety that another person will shoot them on sight and steal their loot. Mercilessness is rewarded in this kind of competitive, high-stakes world.

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:00 am

‘One simple gesture says it all’: the world in black and white – in pictures

From sunbathers holding hands to rain-soaked metro stations, Marina Sersale’s magical monochrome images take us across Italy, Japan and beyond

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:00 am

‘This craving to go viral is tiresome’: the artists sick of the pressure to promote on social media

From Stewart Lee in his wolf costume to Werner Herzog’s big steak sizzle-up, artists are now under huge duress to ‘chase the algorithm’ and reach audiences. Many of them are hitting burnout – and hitting back

There was a meme recently featuring Tony Soprano looking characteristically menacing, with a caption that reads: “Imagine telling him he needs to create short form content to engage the algorithm.” But that sentiment feels inescapable: 82% of all internet traffic is now made up of videos, and the number of short-form videos published on the likes of TikTok and Instagram grew by 71% in the year from 2024.

You may have noticed there is a particularly high number of videos featuring people’s faces, which the algorithm rewards. All of a sudden, chefs, lawyers, podcasters, critics – all people with jobs once associated with an off-camera existence – are turning the lens on themselves. Even film director Werner Herzog, a once proud non-social media user, is now sizzling steaks and doing unboxing videos to camera.

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:00 am

Post your questions for Adam Scott

From his breakthrough role in public-sector comedy Parks and Rec to his mysterious and important work in corporate-dystopia drama Severance, the actor is ready to talk

Adam Scott has been a familiar face since the 90s, popping up in everything from Hellraiser IV: Bloodline to Star Trek: First Contact, and comedies including Knocked Up and Step Brothers. You might remember him – and his beard – as the smarmy boss sparring with Ben Stiller in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (“I was saying you know who looks good in a beard? Dumbledore. Not you”), or meddling with timelines in Hot Tub Time Machine 2.

It was his role as state auditor Ben Wyatt in Parks and Recreation, that made him indispensable: the anxious policy wonk turned devoted husband to Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler). Fans will have their own favourite Ben moments – from the two-second stop-motion film that took weeks to make, to the invention of the Cones of Dunshire board game and his earnest devotion to Game of Thrones and 90s alt-rockers Letters to Cleo.

Published: April 15, 2026, 11:25 am

Kanye West postpones Marseille concert as France considers blocking him from performing

Interior minister is ‘highly determined’ to block US rapper from performing in the southern city in June due to his past antisemitic remarks, sources say

Kanye West has announced he will postpone an upcoming concert in France, just after reports emerged that France’s interior minister is seeking to block the US rapper from performing due to his antisemitic remarks.

“After much thought and consideration, it is my sole decision to postpone my show in Marseille, France until further notice,” the rapper, legally known as Ye, wrote on X.

Published: April 15, 2026, 12:34 am

A moment that changed me: I was desperate to get off the mountain – and that gut instinct saved my life

From the moment I started climbing the 7,000-metre peaks of the Pamir mountains in Tajikistan, something felt off. What followed will stay with me for ever

I didn’t have a reason for my terrible feeling of dread – and that was part of the problem. From the moment I arrived in Tajikistan with my boyfriend, Tim, to climb two 7,000-metre (23,000ft) peaks, something felt off. It wasn’t a fear I could name: it was more like a constant, unnerving low hum.

A helicopter dropped us off – landing on a jagged glacier that was to be our base camp and act as a refuge from avalanches from the towering peaks that surrounded it. The helicopter flew far too low, skimming the glacier ice that looked sharp enough to tear it open. You could see it from the helicopter because there was a gaping hole in the back – a part was missing because it was so old.

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:45 am

MacBook Air M5 review: Apple’s best consumer laptop speeds up

Chip upgrade brings pro-level power, long battery life and plenty of storage, but the Air now faces real competition

Apple’s latest MacBook Air is its most powerful yet, comes with double the starting storage and is better than ever for getting work done and as the benchmark for a consumer laptop. But this year the new lower-cost MacBook Neo has muddied the waters.

The M5 MacBook Air starts at £1,099 (€1,199/$1,099/A$1,799) for the 13in version, which is £100 or equivalent more than last year’s excellent M4 version, but comes with at least 512GB of storage. It sits above the £599 MacBook Neo and below the £1,699 M5 MacBook Pro, making the Air Apple’s mid-range machine.

Screen: 13.6in LCD (2560x1600; 224 ppi) True Tone

Processor: Apple M5 with eight or 10-core GPU

RAM: 16, 24 or 32GB

Storage: 512GB, 1, 2 or 4TB SSD

Operating system: macOS 26 Tahoe

Camera: 12MP centre stage

Connectivity: wifi 7, Bluetooth 6, 2x Thunderbolt/USB 4, headphones

Dimensions: 215 x 304.1 x 11.3mm

Weight: 1.23kg

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:00 am

Plastic detox: six kitchen upgrades to rid your food of microplastics and Pfas

Get rid of ‘forever chemicals’. Here are our top plastic-free kitchen swaps to help you safely prep, cook, store and clean

• The six best plastic-free cutting boards in the US for 2026, tested

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

Microplastics in our cutting boards. “Forever chemicals” in our pans. How did cooking a simple meal start to feel so fraught?

Lately, concerns around toxins in the kitchen have only gotten louder. A steady stream of research and broad cultural attention (see: Netflix’s semi-alarmist new documentary The Plastic Detox) are spotlighting how plastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (Pfas) could be contaminating our food. Even the Environmental Protection Agency recently moved to classify microplastics as drinking water contaminants.

The best non-toxic pan: Our Place Titanium Always Pan Pro

The best microplastic-free cutting board: Material Kitchen MK Free Board

Published: April 14, 2026, 2:15 pm

Always in crisis mode? You might be catastrophizing – here’s how to stop

When your boss asks to meet, do you assume you’re about to get fired? Experts explain this common pattern

Your boss asks you for a meeting later in the week; you have never received negative feedback, but you automatically assume you’re about to get fired. Thoughts begin to swirl as you imagine the consequences: soon, you’ll be unemployed and unable to pay your rent.

Or, perhaps, when your partner is a little late coming home, you visualize a terrible accident on the motorway, their car crushed in the pile-up.

Published: April 14, 2026, 4:00 pm

Despite their bad reputation, parenting group chats are – for some – the village that never sleeps

Parent WhatsApp chats can be fraught spaces for new mothers. But for Wendy Syfret they were a late-night digital sanctuary

For the first few days after I brought my daughter home from the hospital, my house was busier than it had ever been. Family, friends, neighbours and even loose acquaintances crowded the doorway, plying me with food, gifts, hand-me-downs and advice.

But as the sun set, the crowds thinned. My daughter would wake for a long night of not sleeping and I’d retreat to my bedroom and, honestly, my phone.

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:00 pm

Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: how to make sandwich dressing your style bread and butter

Here’s an easy rule for making sure your outfit is always tasteful – even when you’re spread too thin

Some days inspiration strikes, and it feels fun and soul-nourishing to invest energy creating something fabulous for dinner. Other days, there’s a lot going on so you make a sandwich. And here’s the thing: both are fine. It’s a long game we’re playing here, folks.

Which is a roundabout way of saying: the sandwich rule, which I am about to share with you, is not style done the cordon bleu way, but it sure is useful for days when you want to look nice but don’t have time for drama.

Published: April 15, 2026, 1:00 pm

Sali Hughes on beauty: how to repair your hair in three minutes – no scissors or faffing required

Even the promise of stronger, healthier hair could never quite tempt me to use products as opposed to cutting it. Until now …

There are few brands one can credit with having changed the beauty game, but the launch of Olaplex just over a decade ago invalidated the assertion that the only way to fix damaged hair is to cut it.

It used a patented ingredient (the unpronounceable bis-aminopropyl diglycol dimaleate) to strengthen and rebuild all types of hair bonds ravaged by bleach, colour and other chemical or heat treatments.

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:00 am

Bosses say AI boosts productivity – workers say they’re drowning in ‘workslop’

Workslop refers to AI-generated work that seems polished but is flawed and in need of heavy corrections

Ken, a copywriter for a large, Miami-based cybersecurity firm, used to enjoy his job. But then the “workslop” started piling up.

Workslop is an unintended consequence of the AI boom. It’s what happens when employees use AI to quickly generate work that seems polished – at least superficially – but is in fact so flawed or inaccurate that it needs to be heavily corrected, cleaned up or even completely redone after it’s passed on to colleagues.

Published: April 14, 2026, 2:00 pm

From gentle strolls to zipline thrills: summer hiking in the Swiss Alps

The vertiginous Valais canton offers adventures aplenty, from abseiling down gorges to wild swims in glacial pools – and nights swapping hiking tales in mountain huts

Thick grey-green mud squidges through my toes as I step into the icy, irresistible water. I’m on the descent from the Britannia Hut at the foot of the Allalinhorn in the Valais canton of the Swiss Alps, and this turquoise pool of glacial meltwater has been on the horizon tempting me for an hour. I peel off all five layers of clothing and plunge into the murky water. After a night in a shared dorm without showers it’s bliss.

In winter, the jagged ridges of the Valais are the domain of expert skiers and ice climbers, but in summer the lower slopes become accessible to hikers, with the added bonus of the ski lift infrastructure. You can be surrounded by dramatic peaks with the security of well-marked trails ranging from gentle strolls to serious alpine routes. I’m here to hike to mountain huts, test my nerves on via ferrata routes, and fill my city-dweller lungs with clean Alpine air.

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:00 am

AI companies make powerful tech – but they’re also savvy marketers

Anthropic’s Claude Mythos AI is said to be frighteningly capable, but we shouldn’t get carried away by the hype

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, the Guardian’s US tech editor, writing to you from my happy village in Pokopia.

Tech companies are cutting jobs and betting on AI. The payoff is far from guaranteed

‘There’s a lot of desperation’: skilled older workers turn to AI training to stay afloat

‘It has your name on it, but I don’t think it’s you’: how AI is impersonating musicians on Spotify

‘It feels as if I’ve made a new best friend’: my experiment with AI journalling

‘Irresponsible failure’: Google, Meta, Snap and Microsoft slam EU over child sexual abuse law lapse

‘Abhorrent’: the inside story of the Polymarket gamblers betting millions on war

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home targeted with molotov cocktail

Published: April 14, 2026, 12:04 pm

What can I do with leftover rice? | Kitchen aide

Don’t be scared of cooked rice: our experts share safe ways to turn yesterday’s leftovers into something delicious

How do I store cooked rice safely, and what can I make with it the next day?
Michael, by email
“It’s a bit of a running joke with rice, because I think of all the people in China who aren’t spreading their leftover rice immediately on to a tray to cool and are still alive,” says Amy Poon, of Poon’s at Somerset House in London. “But I have to be responsible and say: cool the rice as quickly as possible, within the hour, and put it in an airtight container and pop it in the fridge [or freezer] straight away.” The reason being, as food science guru Harold McGee notes in his bible On Food & Cooking, “Raw rice almost always carries dormant spores of the bacterium Bacillus cereus, which produces powerful gastrointestinal toxins. The spores can tolerate high temperatures, and some survive cooking.” In short: good storage practices will prevent bacterial growth, not to mention open a whole world of dinner opportunities.

“Rice is the most versatile grain to have around as extras,” confirms Ping Coombes, author of Rice, but there’s another benefit, too. “When rice cools, the molecules rearrange into tighter bonds in a process called retrogradation.” This, Coombes continues, creates resistant starch, and the more resistant the starch, the slower the release of energy. “Eating chilled, pre-cooked rice makes it release sugar molecules into the blood stream more slowly, promoting the feelings of fullness for longer and preventing big variations of blood sugar.” But back to Michael’s prospective meals.

Published: April 14, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘Power in the hands of people’: union leaders push to revive ailing US labor movement

Organizers unveil new drive to reverse decline in union membership as workers seek to combat growing wealth inequality

• What does Trump’s restrictive voter ID bill mean for US democracy? Our reporters answered your questions

• US politics live – latest updates

Leaders of some of the largest unions in the US have unveiled a drive to jumpstart the country’s ailing labor movement and combat growing wealth inequality under Donald Trump.

To make it easier for workers to join a union, and strengthen the hand of new unions negotiating with powerful businesses, a string of prominent organizers joined together to launch Union Now, a non-profit designed to increase labor union density.

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:00 am

‘They want to keep denying us our rights’: workers in Vermont’s $5.4bn dairy industry fight for basic labor protections

Migrant labor fuels much of Vermont’s dairy industry, but workers are exempt from minimum wage rules, overtime protections and the right to unionize

Hilario’s work shift on a Vermont dairy farm began at 10.30pm when he lifted a red fleece blanket and rose from a makeshift bed next to the kitchen sink.

The 65-year-old pushed aside a lace curtain that covered his apartment door, dividing his room from the dairy’s sour-smelling milking parlor. In the barn, a horseshoe-shaped milking platform hummed awake. Super-producer black-and-white Holstein cows, twice Hilario’s size, peered out from vinyl curtains.

Published: April 15, 2026, 11:00 am

Justice denied: why families of apartheid victims are still searching for answers

Struggle for justice symbolises limitations of Truth and Reconciliation Commission, whose hearings began 30 years ago

Darkness had fallen on 27 June 1985 when Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto set off on the 150-mile drive back from a meeting of anti-apartheid activists in the South African city of Port Elizabeth, now known as Gqeberha. They never made it home.

About an hour into their journey, as the road wound north from the coast towards their home town of Cradock (now called Nxuba), the four men were pulled over by three white security police officers. They were handcuffed and driven back towards Gqeberha.

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:00 am

Tell us your experience with AI in job interviews

We would like to hear your experience of job interviews that were conducted partially or wholly by AI

Companies are increasingly using AI in their hiring processes – including conducting job interviews themselves. With this in mind, we would like to hear your experience of job interviews that were conducted partially or wholly by AI.

If you’re having trouble using the form click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here.

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:27 am

New year celebrations in parts of Asia and a baby elephant: photos of the day – Wednesday

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 12:12 pm