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

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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

Why aren’t Republicans thrilled by the fall in teen pregnancies? | Arwa Mahdawi

In the US, the birth rate for 15- to 19-year-olds dropped 7% last year. But what seems like good news for society has been lamented by some leading Maga figures

Teenagers these days, eh? Instead of having unprotected sex and popping out babies, they’re wasting their time on TikTok, or something. According to a recent report, the teenage birth rate in the US fell by 7% in 2025. While this might seem like a positive development, it has been a cause of dismay among the Maga-adjacent crowd.

Take Fox News, which ran a segment framing the drop in teen pregnancies as alarming. “We still have 3.6 million births a year,” noted the medical analyst Marc Siegel. “But the problem is teens and young adults. From ages 15 to 19, the fertility rate is down 7%, and it’s down 70% over the last two decades, meaning we’re telling people that are young not to have babies, to wait until they’re in a more stable life situation.” I’m sorry, that’s a problem?

Published: April 14, 2026, 6:03 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

‘Such a water-cooler show!’ Jane Krakowski on Ally McBeal – and life as the world’s biggest scene-stealer

The 1990s series set her career alight; then came 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and countless theatre triumphs. She discusses Tina Fey, Stephen Sondheim and why it would take a broken leg to keep her off stage

‘I’ve been on three television shows that moved the needle a little bit,” says Jane Krakowski. “It sounds obnoxious for me to say it, so hopefully you’ll phrase that as if you said it.” In fact, I did also say it: the first was Ally McBeal, from 1997 until 2002, in which she played Elaine Vassal, an idiosyncratic character in a groundbreaking show. The kind of people who liked to sit around arguing about telly and post-modernism talked constantly about what kind of feminism McBeal was iterating, in the late 90s, with its scatty, neurotic heroine, such an unfamiliar screen trope of Career Woman, but somehow so much closer to life. Krakowski was almost the photo-negative of Calista Flockhart’s title character: brassy, eccentric, unconcerned by others’ opinions. Similarly, her character in 30 Rock, Jenna Maroney, acted as the bookend to Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon – Krakowski untouched by self-awareness, Fey beset by it. That ran from 2006 until 2013, and two years later, Fey’s follow-up, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, featured Krakowski as Jacqueline White, a magnetically unlikable wealthy socialite, in a fictional world so surreally improbable that it feels like a high-wire act only this particular cast could have pulled off.

You could split hairs about whether Ally McBeal invented the “dramedy” or just honed it, and the question of Fey’s comic sensibility could suck you in like quicksand. But in each show, Krakowski creates a character that you cannot imagine having landed, fully formed, on the page. She is expressive in a way that’s so high-voltage but so controlled, funny in a way that feels so instinctive but so deliberated, that the dialogue and the performance seem to explode together like two chemical elements.

Published: April 14, 2026, 9:00 am

‘They accomplished so much, even as they were dying’: the groundbreaking gay art of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek

A new book uncovers the yearning romance that fueled the Aids-era artists’ life and work

Andrew Durbin, author and editor-in-chief of Frieze Magazine, spent almost five years writing The Wonderful World That Almost Was. This dual biography of photographer Peter Hujar and sculptor Paul Thek, two gay artists who made extraordinary work in the years before and during Aids, focuses on their friendship, creativity and collaboration spanning more than 30 years. They died within a year of each other, in 1987 and 1988, both from complications from Aids.

The work and lives of Thek and Hujar have come storming back into the cultural conversation in recent years. Hujar was played by Ben Whishaw in Ira Sachs’s poetic 2025 film, Peter Hujar’s Day, and his images have been used as cover art for an Anohni and the Johnsons album and Hanya Yanagihara’s bestseller A Little Life. Thek’s equivalent moment has been slower; his most important works were large-scale installations in Europe, all lost, and which, as Durbin tells me, “everyone loved, but few could experience. And when they were finished, there wasn’t much left to sell. But I think his moment is about to come.”

Published: April 14, 2026, 9:00 am

‘My life has become a rollercoaster’: Francesca Albanese on death threats, danger and dread after accusing Israel of genocide

When the UN special rapporteur published her report Anatomy of a Genocide in March 2024, she was lionised by some and demonised by the Trump government. She describes what happened next

In retrospect, arranging to interview Francesca Albanese in a cafe was not the best plan. Before we could start, the waitress wanted a photo with the Italian human rights lawyer. So did the cashier. Then the cook came out of the kitchen in his whites for a group photo. Some of the customers wanted their turn. Albanese was gracious with all comers and chatty in three languages, so the process took some time.

Albanese, 49, has been getting similar rock star welcomes everywhere she goes lately, which is not the norm for unpaid UN legal experts. In other times, her job title – UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 – would sound like a recipe for obscurity. She is one of more than 40 special rapporteurs, human rights experts appointed to do pro bono investigations and reports on areas of concern.

Published: April 14, 2026, 4:00 am

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

US president says negotiations could restart in Islamabad under ‘fantastic’ Pakistani army chief Asim Munir

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Donald Trump has said that US-Iranian peace talks could resume in Islamabad over the next two days, and complimented the work of Pakistan’s army chief as mediator.

The US president was speaking on Tuesday to a New York Post reporter who had gone to Islamabad for the first round of ceasefire talks over the weekend. After an interview discussing prospects for negotiations, the reporter said the president had called her back “with an update”.

Published: April 14, 2026, 6:01 pm

California congressman Eric Swalwell officially resigns after another woman accuses him of rape – US politics live

Lonna Drewes claims in press conference that former candidate for governor drugged and assaulted her; Swalwell has denied allegations against him

• New accuser says Eric Swalwell sexually assaulted her in 2018

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As both chambers of Congress return to Capitol Hill today, the news of two resignation announcements is not the only thing news occupying lawmakers.

The House still needs to pass a bill to fund several Department of Homeland Security (DHS) subagencies, like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Coast Guard, amid a record-breaking partial government shutdown.

Published: April 14, 2026, 9:00 pm

House Democrats call for commission led by JD Vance to oust Trump

Measure by Jamie Raskin follows statements by Trump about annihilating Iran and post depicting himself as Jesus

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House Democrats on Tuesday proposed creating a commission that would work with JD Vance to remove Donald Trump from office under the 25th amendment, should they determine he is no longer fit to serve.

The measure, introduced by Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, follows a series of statements from Trump, including his recent warning that Iran’s “whole civilization will die” if it did not capitulate to his demands, and a social media post that depicted him as Jesus Christ.

Published: April 14, 2026, 7:01 pm

NAACP lawsuit accuses Elon Musk’s xAI of polluting Black neighborhoods near Memphis

Suit alleges the billionaire’s AI company is illegally spewing toxic pollutants from its datacenter in the Memphis area

A new lawsuit accuses Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company of illegally spewing toxic pollutants into the Black neighborhoods on the border of Tennessee and Mississippi.

The suit, filed Tuesday in Mississippi federal court, alleges xAI is violating the Clean Air Act due to emissions from its enormous datacenter in Southaven, Mississippi. The plaintiff – storied civil rights group the NAACP, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center – says xAI has been polluting the surrounding historically Black communities by using dozens of methane gas generators without permits. The organization is seeking to force the company to stop operating its unpermitted turbines in Southaven.

Published: April 14, 2026, 8:54 pm

ICE detention of US citizen in Minnesota investigated as kidnapping, false arrest

County officials review whether ICE’s warrantless raid and forced transport of a St Paul US citizen broke law

Authorities in Minnesota are investigating the detention by federal immigration officers of a US citizen as a possible kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment.

The arrest of ChongLy “Scott” Thao, 56, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in January became symbolic of Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s brutal crackdown in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul.

Published: April 14, 2026, 4:53 pm

Florida surgeon indicted after removing liver instead of spleen

Grand jury brings manslaughter charge over fatal 2024 operation where patient died on table

A surgeon in Florida has been indicted for manslaughter after he wrongly removed a patient’s liver instead of his spleen during an August 2024 procedure.

Thomas Shaknovsky, 44, was indicted by a grand jury in Tallahassee on Monday after prosecutors said he botched the surgery of 70-year-old William Bryan, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

Published: April 14, 2026, 7:22 pm

NFL reporter Russini resigns amid ‘self-feeding speculation’ over photos with Patriots’ Vrabel

• Photos prompted investigation by The Athletic

• Russini seen as one of NFL’s top reporters

NFL reporter Dianna Russini has resigned from The Athletic less than a week after photos of her and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel prompted an internal investigation at The New York Times-owned sports outlet.

The New York Post last week published the photos of Vrabel and Russini at an Arizona resort and said they were taken before the NFL owners meetings that began in Phoenix on 29 March.

Published: April 14, 2026, 8:23 pm

Disney to cut 1,000 jobs as CEO announces layoffs across company

Studio and television business, ESPN, certain corporate functions and more to see workforce reduced, source says

Walt Disney’s new chief executive, Josh D’Amaro, announced layoffs in an email to employees on Tuesday, as he looks to streamline the company’s operations.

About 1,000 positions will be eliminated, according to a person familiar with the development.

Published: April 14, 2026, 7:03 pm

Dembélé delivers knockout blow as PSG end Liverpool’s European dream

It will be of little consolation to Arne Slot and Liverpool that, for the second season in succession, they went toe-to-toe with Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield and had nothing to show for their endeavours. Having exited the FA Cup quarter-final with a whimper, Liverpool exited the Champions League quarter-final with a fight. The damage done in Paris proved irretrievable.

Ousmane Dembélé, so wasteful in the first leg at Parc des Princes, put the quarter-final beyond any doubt with a clinical late finish to ensure there would be no famous European comeback from Liverpool on this occasion. Slot’s team at least performed with belief, and for 72 minutes they had hope, but the European champions held their nerve to advance into the semi-finals. Dembélé inflicted further punishment with a second goal from Bradley Barcola’s second assist in stoppage time.

Published: April 14, 2026, 9:06 pm

JD Vance defends Trump amid spat with Pope Leo: ‘Stick to matters of morality’

Catholic vice-president effectively tells Leo to stay in his lane after pope criticized the White House over the Iran war

JD Vance has weighed in on Donald Trump’s feud with Pope Leo, effectively telling the pontiff to stay in his lane after the head of the Catholic church criticized the White House over the Iran war.

“It would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on in the Catholic church and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy,” the vice-president – a Catholic convert himself – said in an interview on Fox News on Monday night.

Published: April 14, 2026, 1:50 pm

Trump pick to lead Federal Reserve has assets worth over $100m, disclosures indicate

Kevin Warsh, seeking to replace Fed chair Jerome Powell, had to file financial disclosures for Senate approval

Kevin Warsh, the former Federal Reserve governor chosen by Donald Trump to lead the central bank, has submitted financial disclosures that suggest he holds assets worth well over $100m.

The document is required for his nomination to advance through the Senate, beginning with a yet-to-be-scheduled hearing.

Published: April 14, 2026, 1:13 pm

US edges closer to popular vote deciding winner of presidential elections

Virginia signs national popular vote bill into law, joining interstate compact with 17 other states and District of Columbia

A national majority vote for president is one step closer to reality after the Virginia governor, Abigail Spanberger, signed the national popular vote bill into law, joining an interstate compact with 17 other states and the District of Columbia.

Under the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, states would assign their presidential electors to the winner of the popular vote, regardless of the results within the state. The compact takes effect when states representing a majority of electoral votes – 270 of 538 – pass the legislation and thus would determine the winner of the presidential contest. With Virginia, the compact now has 222 electors.

Published: April 14, 2026, 5:12 pm

Trump accuses ally Meloni of lacking courage for not joining attacks on Iran

Remarks come as Italian PM suspends defence agreement with Israel amid growing domestic pressure over conflict

Donald Trump lashed out at one of his closest allies on Tuesday, saying Italy’s Giorgia Meloni lacked courage in light of her failure to join the US in attacking Iran.

“I’m shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” the US president said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Published: April 14, 2026, 5:11 pm

‘Nothing but tree skeletons’: record-breaking wildfires devastate US cattle country

Rising temperatures and extreme drought are driving more destructive spring fires across the Great Plains. This year, forces aligned to create the perfect storm in Nebraska

In a normal year, the vast grasslands that roll across the American Great Plains would be starting to green. But at the center of the US, where most of the nation’s beef producers graze their herds, this spring brought fire instead of moisture, leaving more than a million acres black and barren.

Multiple blazes raged across Nebraska, where the records for the annual acreage burned were obliterated in a single month. The state logged the largest blaze ever recorded when the Morrill fire cascaded across more than 642,000 acres (260,000 hectares) before it was contained in March.

Published: April 14, 2026, 11:00 am

‘A pope who uses his brain’: Vatican locals and visitors take sides in Leo v Trump spat

While some US visitors back their president, shopkeepers who serve the papacy and tourists support the pontiff

On the wall of the back room of an optician’s in Borgo Pio, a neighbourhood in Rome that borders the Vatican, hang the photos of five popes dating back to the late 1970s, charting both the recent history of Catholic church leaders and the shop itself.

As its owner, Walter Colantini, who fitted glasses for one of the pontiffs, gestured towards them, he recalled the diplomatic strain between the Vatican and White House over the 1991 Gulf war.

Published: April 14, 2026, 5:46 pm

Secretive Bilderberg group just met – but who knows what global elite said?

This year’s conference had plenty of newsworthy aspects, but it’s a mystery why the press fails to talk about it

The 72nd meeting of the Bilderberg group, the elite and secretive policy conference that is the longtime subject of endless conspiracy theories, was held at the weekend in Washington DC. A security cordon went up around the opulent Salamander hotel for the notoriously media-shy summit, which was packed as ever with prime ministers, military leaders, tech billionaires and the heads of giant investment companies.

Bilderberg, which since the 1950s has been the intellectual engine room of Nato, took place this year at a time of immense crisis and uncertainty for the alliance. In recent weeks, with Trump threatening at every turn to withdraw from the “paper tiger” of Nato, the “Trans-Atlantic Defence-Industrial Relationship” (as it’s called on the agenda) has reached a strained breaking point.

Published: April 14, 2026, 11:00 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

America’s hiking culture is built on ego

From peak-bagging to thru-hiking, Americans have turned traversing land into personal milestones. This wilderness ranger and Indigenous writer has witnessed it firsthand

Këmituxwe Éhènta Wehikiyànkw

You are walking in our old homeland

After spending 12 years backpacking some of America’s wildest trails as a wilderness ranger for the US Forest Service – and then losing that job to politics – last spring I set out for the Appalachian Trail (AT), the longest hiking-only footpath in the world.

Published: April 14, 2026, 12:00 pm

Coachella 2026 highlights: big stars, boisterous energy and millennial nostalgia power windy year

The festival might feel more corporate than ever but enthusiasm remained sky high with Bieber fever, a Demon Hunters surprise and a pop takeover

Even in the best of times, Coachella can be a heavy lift – long drive, perhaps longer lines and, if you do it right, extremely long days of careening between live music sets under the intense desert sun. Every year, North America’s largest music festival generates a round of buzz and scorn in near equal measure for good reason – the sky-high prices, the deluge of cringey social media boasts, the overwhelming vibes of influencer culture. Yet the faithful keep returning (and the agnostics keep tuning in online), forking over a minimum of $649 for a three-day pass or securing a brand deal to witness what continues to be the most expansive and comprehensive music slate in the country, a genuinely exciting mix of up-and-comers gunning for a breakout set and you-had-to-be there moments such as, say, the return of Justin Bieber …

While Bieberchella dominated much of the conversation on the ground this year – his low-key but sufficient Saturday headliner set drew perhaps the biggest crowd in festival history – Coachella 2026 offered plenty of range for those not interested in the comeback of the millennial icon. Coachella may be the one thing in America currently safe from actual inflation – there was no rise in ticket prices this year, though I have to imagine that, like last year, over half of attenders are on payment plans. But the inflation mindset prevails. Following its so-called flop era two years ago, when underwhelming headliner billing led to the slowest ticket sales in over a decade, the festival has returned to conversation-dominating form with a more is more approach: more international artists catering to more potential attenders; more infrastructure (a new underground movie theater, the Bunker, was tailor-made for Radiohead’s Kid A Mnesia audiovisual experience); more investment in an impressive livestream operation, as the festival continues its shift from in-person experience to global event/brand; more surprise DJ bookings – the xx’s Romy! John Summit! – that overflowed the EDM-heavy Do LaB.

Published: April 14, 2026, 2:18 pm

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

Jon Stewart on Trump’s Jesus photo denial: ‘Do you even care about lying to us any more?’

Late-night hosts discuss Trump posting an AI-generated image of himself as Christ amid his feud with Pope Leo

Late-night hosts reacted to the breakdown of peace talks between the US and Iran and Donald Trump’s one-sided beef with Pope Leo XIV.

Published: April 14, 2026, 3:45 pm

Placeholder partners: are you ‘the one’ – or just being used as a stopgap?

The abundance of choice on dating apps has led to some people discovering that romance is dead and they are just Mr or Ms Right Now

Name: Placeholder partner.

Age: As a phrase, new. As a concept, less so. It’s probably become more prevalent with the abundance of dating apps.

Published: April 14, 2026, 3:40 pm

Art, sex, nature: why is everything sold to us as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself?

How a reductive worldview is stripping meaning from our most valued activities

• This article was originally published as The six-second hug on Aeon.co

For decades, films out of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios have opened with Leo the roaring lion, garlanded with the motto ars gratia artis: art for art’s sake. Given that MGM is a money-making behemoth, we might doubt the sincerity of this high-minded sentiment. Still, it certainly expresses one of the few legitimate reasons why people should make movies. Art for the sake of anything else – profit, self-promotion, propaganda – isn’t really art at all, or at least not in its purest sense.

It therefore came as a bit of a shock to see a recent advert for the National Art Pass, which gives holders free or discounted entry to galleries and museums around the UK. The tagline “See more. Live more” sounded right: art does indeed enrich our lives. But it turned out that the “more” here was purely quantitative, not qualitative. “Grow some years on to your life with art,” proclaimed the main slogan, followed by: “Spending time in galleries and museums could help you live longer.” Art not for art’s sake, but for your heart’s sake, the fleshy not the spiritual one at that. This messaging around the arts has become ubiquitous, with Arts Council England promoting the idea that “engaging in creative and cultural activities has proven health benefits for individuals and communities”.

Published: April 14, 2026, 4:00 am

Why are Democratic leaders still ignoring voters on Israel? | Norman Solomon

Decisions at the latest Democratic National Committee meeting emphasized the disconnect between the party’s leadership and its base

When the Democratic party’s governing body adjourned its meeting on Saturday in New Orleans, supporters of Palestine and an end of the genocide in Gaza had few reasons to celebrate. The Democratic National Committee had refused to give any ground to the large majority of the party’s voters with distinctly negative views of Israel.

Last summer, a Quinnipiac Poll found that 77% of Democrats agreed that “Israel is committing genocide”. Last month, an NBC poll found that 67% of Democrats felt more sympathetic to Palestinians than Israelis, compared with 17% who felt more sympathetic to Israelis.

Published: April 14, 2026, 10:00 am

Trump has turned Title X upside down: from a contraception program into a pro-natalist machine | Moira Donegan

First the administration sought to defund Title X. Now it’s reimagining what it stands for

The Trump administration, dominated by religious anti-abortion conservatives and reeling in money from a new wave of pronatalist tech reactionaries, has long been considering ways to persuade, pressure and cajole women into having more babies. The Dobbs decision overturning Roe v Wade in 2022, in which Donald Trump’s three first-term supreme court appointees cast decisive votes, was a first step; later, after he returned to office, Trump reportedly fielded proposals for $5,000 “baby bonuses” – not quite enough to raise a child, one notices – and “motherhood medals” for fertile women that are similar to awards dispensed by the Nazi regime.

Now, it’s seeking out a new tactic: removing birth control access. This month, the Trump administration renewed its attacks on Title X, the federal reproductive health program that provides birth control to an estimated 2 million low-income Americans. In the White House’s proposed budget, funding for the program was eliminated altogether. Then, the Title X administrators at the Department of Health and Human Services announced new guidance to the program’s partner providers, the clinics and medical practices that actually dispense the medication and care. The program was changing, the providers were told. For decades, Title X had been a contraception program. Now, it was going to be reimagined as a pro-conception one.

Published: April 14, 2026, 11:00 am

Ella Baron on Israel and Lebanon’s peace talks – cartoon

Continue reading...

Published: April 14, 2026, 5:21 pm

AI learns language from skewed sources. That could change how we humans speak – and think | Bruce Schneier

Large language models aren’t trained on real-life conversations. As we encounter their language, it could affect our own

Because of the way they are trained, large language models capture only a slice of human language. They’re trained on the written word, from textbooks to social media posts, and our speech as captured in movies and on television. These models have minimal access to the unscripted conversations we have face to face or voice to voice. This is the vast majority of speech, and a vital component of human culture.

There’s a risk to this. The increased use of large language models means we humans will encounter much more AI-generated text. We humans, in turn, will begin to adopt the linguistic patterns and behaviors of these models. This will affect not just how we communicate with one another, but also how we think about ourselves and what goes on around us. Our sense of the world may become distorted in ways we have barely begun to comprehend.

Published: April 14, 2026, 12:00 pm

Behold, another second coming. But this one is Donald Trump – WAY BETTER than that Jesus guy | Marina Hyde

The Middle East on fire, a spat with the pope – and he posts himself as Potus Almighty. Will his disciples now see that their messiah has feet of clay?

You hear such a lot from Maga Republicans about how liberals think Trump voters are stupid. But not nearly enough about the far more salient point: that Donald Trump thinks Trump voters are stupid. Naturally, nobody deplores his own people as passionately as a populist, but even by those exacting historical standards Trump really does regard his supporters as a honking great throng of halfwits. How else to explain his seemingly retrofitted claim yesterday that the AI picture he posted of himself as Jesus was “me as a doctor”. Er, no. After it incensed leading figures in the Christian right, which makes up a large part of his voter base, the US president later deleted it, lamenting of these idiots that he “didn’t want anybody to be confused. People were confused.” Yeah, people are stoopid.

Alas, as you’ve no doubt seen, controversy still attends this image Trump shared on his Truth Social/True Sociopath platform. It depicts Trump in Jesus robes and holding a glowing orb of something – presumably heavenly light or radioactive material he omitted to tell Congress about – which he is transmitting restoratively into the forehead of some midwestern Lazarus. I’m sure we’d all love to know how the AI prompt for it could be “show me Donald Trump as a doctor”, or indeed how the LLM of choice would react when called out on its subsequent error. “You’re right – I overstated that. I shouldn’t have implied the US president is a benign deity who can raise the dead. To clarify – he’s a malignant narcissist and a tumour on the world. Thanks for catching that.”

Published: April 14, 2026, 12:44 pm

Could AI write this column? In a world of slop-inion, I’m certifying myself human | Peter Lewis

I actually don’t want to make my work easier. We should demand authenticity if we care about the sort of society that comes out the other end of this so-called revolution

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I never thought I’d have to write these words but here I am: my name is Peter and I am human.

What seems like a self-evident proclamation needs to be made now because the misuse of AI is transforming considered op-eds such as this into “slop-inion” that is infecting the editorial pages of reputable media outlets.

Published: April 14, 2026, 3:00 pm

The Guardian view on three years of war in Sudan: a vast humanitarian crisis persists because the fighting does | Editorial

A devastating ‘war of atrocities’ will continue as long as the United Arab Emirates and others back the belligerents

“Bloody unacceptable.” The UN’s top official in Sudan, Denise Brown, abandoned the language of diplomacy in addressing the failure to tackle a devastating three-year conflict which has been overshadowed by Ukraine, then Gaza, and now Iran. The humanitarian crisis has dominated discussions of Sudan, she argued: “How about focusing on finding a solution to end the war?”

The international conference convened in Berlin on Wednesday is intended to inject a sense of urgency, as the conflict enters its fourth year. Since Sudan’s generals turned upon each other, having overthrown the civilian government, tens if not hundreds of thousands of people have been killed. Four million have fled abroad to other fragile nations, and millions more are displaced internally. More than half the population – approaching 30 million people – are acutely food insecure. Much of the capital, Khartoum, lies in ruins.

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

Published: April 14, 2026, 6:02 pm

Atlético Madrid 1-2 Barcelona (agg 3-2): Champions League quarter-final, second leg – live reaction

Atlético Madrid held onto to reach the semi-finals against 10-man Barcelona on a pulsating night in the Spanish capital

I always feel sorry for the young mascots on Champions League nights. They are living the dream but having to dress like a credit card.

The teams are primed in the ‘tunnel’ which is more spacious than my house.

Published: April 14, 2026, 9:02 pm

Javier Mascherano resigns as Inter Miami manager months after winning MLS Cup

• Mascherano coached one full season with Messi in Miami

• Inter Miami have been off to a slow start in 2026

Javier Mascherano has stunningly stepped down as Inter Miami’s manager, just months after leading the team to their first MLS title.

In the club’s announcement of the move, Mascherano said he was leaving for “personal reasons,” though later on the announcement specifies that his coaching staff will also depart the club.

Published: April 14, 2026, 5:19 pm

Azzi Fudd taken first in WNBA draft by Dallas Wings in UConn reunion with Paige Bueckers

• Fudd goes No 1, reunites with Bueckers

• UCLA set record with five first-round picks

• Analysis: Ella Brockway goes pick by pick

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Azzi Fudd was selected by the Dallas Wings with the first pick of the WNBA draft on Monday night, capping a 12-month ascent from NCAA champion to the top overall choice and setting up a reunion with former University of Connecticut teammate Paige Bueckers.

The 5ft 11in guard, who led UConn to last year’s national title and was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player, is the seventh player from the program to go No 1. Bueckers, the top selection by Dallas in the 2025 draft and the reigning WNBA rookie of the year, watched Fudd’s name called from a sold-out crowd at the Shed, the $500m cultural center at Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s west side.

Published: April 14, 2026, 2:11 am

Return trip from NYC to World Cup final stadium could cost $100 during tournament

• NJ Transit says no decision has been finalized

• Trip to New Jersey stadium typically is $12.90

Train tickets from New York City to MetLife Stadium, the New Jersey site of eight World Cup games this summer, are set to increase sevenfold to more than $100 during the tournament, according to a new report.

The Athletic reported NJ Transit’s plans for the ticket increase on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the public transportation provider. NJ Transit told Fox 5 New York that the price has not been finalized. A decision is expected in the coming days, the Athletic report said.

Published: April 14, 2026, 7:40 pm

Javokhir Sindarov earns world chess title shot with stunning Candidates win

• Uzbek grandmaster wins Candidates with round to spare

• Sindarov, 20, to face India’s Gukesh for world title in fall

Javokhir Sindarov will challenge for Gukesh Dommaraju’s world chess championship this fall after clinching the Candidates tournament with a game to spare on Tuesday afternoon in Cyprus.

The 20-year-old Uzbek grandmaster closed out an emphatic victory in the 14-game double round-robin with a tame 58-move draw playing with the black pieces against Dutch star Anish Giri, moving to 9½ points and leaving the world No 9 two adrift with one round remaining.

Published: April 14, 2026, 6:03 pm

US Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker leaves for role with Saudi Arabia as World Cup looms

• Crocker hired Emma Hayes and Mauricio Pochettino

• Sporting director duties to be split in the meantime

US Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker is leaving his post with less than two months to go until the 2026 World Cup, US Soccer announced on Tuesday. The Guardian can also confirm Fox Sports’ earlier reporting that Crocker is taking up a similar role with the Saudi Arabia football federation.

US Soccer said Crocker’s duties will be shared by chief operating officer Dan Helfrich, assistant sporting director Oguchi Onyewu, women’s youth national team head of development Tracey Kevins, and “the broader sporting leadership team.”

Published: April 14, 2026, 2:45 pm

Boss of the Bronx: the turbulent reign of George Steinbrenner, baseball’s ultimate showman

A new book looks at how an eccentric shipping magnate ushered in a long run of success for the New York Yankees

George Steinbrenner could be quite the pitchman – whether selling New York to free agents or starring in Pepto-Bismol TV ads alongside Billy Martin. And now a new book remembers the late Yankees owner and the dynasty he founded.

The Bosses of the Bronx: The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner flows from the pen of sports journalist and author Mike Vaccaro. As the New York Post’s lead sports columnist for more than two decades, Vaccaro has witnessed the Steinbrenner dynasty from a rarefied perspective – the journalistic equivalent of a seat along the third-base line.

Published: April 14, 2026, 9:00 am

Former NFL cornerback Chris Payton-Jones dies at 30: ‘Everyone loved him’

• Former Arizona Cardinal dies in head-on collision

• Payton-Jones had built career in content creation

Former NFL cornerback Chris Payton-Jones died in a car accident Saturday night in Florida. He was 30.

Payton-Jones was driving a sedan eastbound in the westbound lanes of State Road 24 in Gainesville when his vehicle collided head-on with a pickup truck, according to News 4 Jacksonville. The three people in the truck sustained only minor injuries.

Published: April 13, 2026, 6:13 pm

Carney says it’s Canada’s ‘time to come together’ after Liberals secure majority

Byelection wins and defections push Canada’s Liberals into majority government under the prime minister

Mark Carney has said he will govern with “humility, determination and a clear understanding of what this moment demands” after his Liberals swept three byelections Monday evening, forging a parliamentary majority just more than a year after he took power.

Carney has achieved only the third majority government in two decades – and has done so in a highly unusual fashion, cobbling together both ballot box wins and defections from rival parties.

Published: April 14, 2026, 3:36 pm

‘We were never friends’: Kremlin plays down loss of ally following Orbán’s election defeat

Loss of closest European ally will force Kremlin to consider whether non-autocratic states can ever be reliable partners

• Europe live – latest updates

The Kremlin said on Tuesday it was pleased that Hungary’s prime minister-elect, Péter Magyar, appeared open to pragmatic dialogue, as Moscow adopts a wait-and-see approach after the election loss of its closest partner in Europe, Viktor Orbán.

“For now, we can note with satisfaction, as far as we understand, his [Magyar’s] willingness to engage in pragmatic dialogue,” said the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. “In this instance, there is mutual willingness on our part, and we will then proceed to take our cue from the specific steps taken by the new Hungarian government.”

Published: April 14, 2026, 12:29 pm

About 250 missing after boat carrying Rohingya refugees capsizes in Andaman Sea

Trawler set off from Bangladesh and reportedly capsized due to heavy winds, rough seas and overcrowding

About 250 people are missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsized in the Andaman Sea, according to the UN’s refugee and migration agencies.

The agencies said the trawler carrying more than 250 men, women and children reportedly sank due to harsh weather and overcrowding. It had departed from Teknaf in southern Bangladesh and was bound for Malaysia.

Published: April 14, 2026, 6:31 pm

White supremacist pleads guilty to Tennessee civil rights center arson

Regan Prater admits to setting blaze at Highlander center and bid to aid Hezbollah. His sentencing is set for September

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A man linked to white supremacist movements pleaded guilty on Monday to setting a fire that destroyed an office at a historic social justice center in Tennessee with ties to champions of the US civil rights movements, a court document shows.

Regan Prater also pleaded guilty to attempting to aid a foreign terrorist organization for efforts to provide the militant group Hezbollah “a list of personally identifiable information for individuals purportedly affiliated with the government of Israel”, according to a criminal information filed in February.

Published: April 14, 2026, 2:02 pm

Amazon to buy satellite firm Globalstar for $11.57bn in challenge to Musk’s Starlink

Deal, subject to regulatory approval, would give Bezos firm access to Globalstar’s network of two dozen satellites

Amazon said on Tuesday it would acquire a satellite company in an $11.57bn deal, bolstering its own fledgling space business as it looks to take on Elon Musk-led bigger rival Starlink.

The deal gives Amazon access to Globalstar’s network of two dozen satellites, boosting the tech giant’s ambitions to challenge SpaceX unit Starlink, which currently has about 10,000 units in orbit.

Published: April 14, 2026, 4:20 pm

Severe storms damage the Plains and midwest as forecasts warn of tornadoes

Thousands face power outages and a number of schools close across region as forecasters warn of hail and flooding

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A day after severe storms damaged communities in the Plains and the midwest, forecasters warned that storms could bring giant hail, tornadoes and severe wind gusts to the regions again on Tuesday afternoon and evening.

Authorities in Kansas reported several people with minor injuries after storms passed through on Monday. Three people were left with minor injuries in rural Franklin county, about 50 miles (80km) south-west of Kansas City, according to the sheriff’s office. In the town of Ottawa, officials said there was structural damage, but no deaths or injuries. A National Weather Service survey team will assess damage in the Ottawa area on Tuesday to determine whether a tornado passed through there, according to Chelsea Picha, a meteorologist with the weather service’s office in Topeka.

Published: April 14, 2026, 5:05 pm

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette saved from closure by Maryland non-profit

Parent company of non-profit news website Baltimore Banner announces it acquired paper for undisclosed sum

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has roots that date back to 1786, was set to close next month, in a major blow to the city and a sign of the distressed state of local news. Not any more.

On Tuesday, the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, the parent company of the Baltimore Banner non-profit news website in Maryland, announced it had acquired the Post-Gazette for an undisclosed sum.

Published: April 14, 2026, 4:59 pm

Inside a jubilant DC conference where ‘the climate deniers are in charge now’

Trump’s EPA chief Lee Zeldin’s presence shows how much influence climate deniers now have, experts say

As scientists confirmed that March was the United States’ most abnormally hot month in recorded history, dozens of climate deniers gathered to promote misinformation and tout their newfound influence on federal policy.

At a conference hosted by the prominent science-denying thinktank the Heartland Institute last week, a crowd of mostly middle-aged men in suits claimed the world is finally waking up to the idea that the climate crisis does not exist.

Published: April 14, 2026, 1:00 pm

‘Suddenly, boom, it’s completely warm’: summers are getting longer – especially in Sydney, study finds

Researchers examined trends in 10 global cities, with Sydney’s summer growing at two-and-a-half times the average

Scientist Ted Scott could feel that summers in his home state of Minnesota were not what they used to be.

With the climate crisis accelerating, Scott could feel and see the seasons changing from their usual patterns – especially summer – and he wanted to know what the data said.

Published: April 14, 2026, 7:11 am

‘Without them there is no life’: the race to understand the mysterious world of Africa’s fungi

Amid growing evidence of fungi’s key role in ecosystems and storing carbon, African scientists are championing the need to preserve ‘funga’ as much as flora and fauna

Madagascar has long been celebrated for its remarkable wildlife, with the vast majority of its species – from ring-tailed lemurs to certain species of baobab trees – found nowhere else on the planet. But when discussing the island nation’s endemic treasures, fungi are often left out of the conversation.

Yet “fungi are some of the most important things in the world”, says Anna Ralaiveloarisoa, a Malagasy scientist. “They feed 90% of terrestrial plants. Without them, there is no life on the Earth.”

Published: April 14, 2026, 4:00 am

Don’t mention the climate: Trump creates ‘beyond absurd’ situation at global finance talks

Developing countries face possible shelving of crucial green action plan at IMF and World Bank spring meetings

Governments desperate for cash to protect their citizens from the growing impacts of the climate crisis are being put in a “beyond absurd” situation this week at global finance talks: they are being urged not to mention the climate, even as they address the current oil crisis.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) spring meetings take place this week amid a fragile ceasefire in Iran and upended geopolitics. One of the priorities was to forge a new “climate change action plan” (CCAP) for the world’s biggest provider of funds to developing countries, to replace the current strategy, which expires in June.

Published: April 13, 2026, 1:00 pm

United Airlines CEO reportedly pitched merger with American, sparking competition fears

Critics warn of ‘absolute disaster for the flying public’ if two air travel giants try to combine

The CEO of United Airlines is said to have pitched a blockbuster merger with American Airlines during a meeting with Donald Trump, floating the combination of the world’s two largest carriers.

Scott Kirby, who leads United, raised the prospect during an encounter with the US president in late February, Reuters reported, citing two unnamed sources. Such a deal would overhaul the global air travel industry – and would likely face intense competition scrutiny.

Published: April 14, 2026, 3:48 pm

US states drop Medicaid coverage of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs as demand rises

Experts say any short-term financial benefit will be outweighed by long-term health costs related to obesity

Faced with high demand for GLP-1 drugs, some American cities and states that previously covered the cost of the weight-loss medication for low-income residents and public employees have now started to restrict or eliminate coverage.

The pullback stems from the dramatic increase in public spending on drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy in recent years.

Published: April 14, 2026, 11:00 am

Earthquake jolts rural Nevada near Carson City causing some damage

Video shot in the town of Fallon showed shattered glass and food scattered on the floor in the aisles of a grocery store

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A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck a rural part of Nevada east of the state’s capital of Carson City on Monday.

The temblor hit just before 6.30pm, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. It was centered 12.9 miles (21km) east of the town of Silver Springs at a depth of 3.1 miles (5km).

Published: April 14, 2026, 2:30 pm

Dolly Parton tops list of global figures in US favorability poll

The 11-time Grammy winner had a net favorability of 65%, Obama came second with 14%, while Zelenskyy had 12%

For the US public, the feeling that Dolly Parton expressed in her country music chart-topping 1974 classic I Will Always Love You is clearly mutual.

A poll of Americans’ opinions about more than 20 international luminaries established as much, with the 11-time Grammy winner and philanthropist leaving her two closest competitors – Barack Obama and Volodymyr Zelenskyy – in the dust by more than 50 percentage points.

Published: April 14, 2026, 10:00 am

Israeli ambassador to Germany condemns Bezalel Smotrich’s tirade against chancellor

Ron Prosor says verbal attack on Friedrich Merz referencing Nazi regime ‘erodes the memory of the Holocaust’

Israel’s envoy to Germany has criticised a far-right Israeli cabinet member who made historically charged accusations against the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, saying the attack “[eroded] the memory of the Holocaust”.

In a rare rebuke of a top Israeli official by an active ambassador, Ron Prosor said he wished to “unequivocally condemn” Bezalel Smotrich’s tirade against Merz, in which he made reference to the Nazi regime and said: “You will not force us into ghettos again.”

Published: April 14, 2026, 3:45 pm

Detention of journalist in Kuwait raises questions about crackdown on freedom of speech

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin was arrested after reporting on friendly fire incident during US conflict with Iran

• Middle East crisis live – latest updates

The detention of a prize-winning international journalist over his reporting of a friendly fire incident in Kuwait is raising questions about the crackdown on freedom of speech across the Middle East as a result of the US-Israel war with Iran, the Committee to Protect Journalists has warned.

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, born in the US and a Kuwaiti national, was arrested on 3 March during a brief visit to Kuwait. He published footage of a US air force F- 15 E Strike Eagle crashing in al Jahra west of Kuwait city. On his Substack he said the pilot and weapons officer had successfully ejected and survived. He added that video circulating online showed local residents assisting one of the crew in a civilian truck.

Published: April 14, 2026, 10:45 am

Spanish prime minister’s wife charged with corruption

Pedro Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, and two others charged after investigation triggered by group with far-right links

Begoña Gómez, the wife of Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has been charged with embezzlement, influence peddling, corruption in business dealings and misappropriation of funds at the end of a two-year investigation by a judge in Madrid.

Gómez, 55, has been accused of using her influence as the wife of the socialist prime minister to secure and manage a post at Madrid’s Complutense University, and of using public resources and personal connections to further her private interests.

Published: April 14, 2026, 10:58 am

UK’s armed forces are in a sad state – and they have only themselves to blame

The MoD shows little sign of learning from its mistakes – no wonder the Treasury is reluctant to agree to its demands

George Robertson, Tony Blair’s first defence secretary, a former Nato secretary general and an author last year of the latest in a series of evasive strategic defence reviews, accused Keir Starmer on Tuesday of a “corrosive complacency towards defence”. He said the prime minister was not willing to make the “necessary investment”.

Lord Robertson could have directed his fire elsewhere. He must know that no government department has been so complacent in the face of years of devastating evidence of waste, profligate contracts, and policy decisions that have avoided confronting new but increasingly clear security threats to Britain and other western countries.

Published: April 14, 2026, 3:02 pm

Is the new Super Mario Galaxy movie really that bad?

A shallow plot and advert-adjacent cameos justify the critics’ condemnation of Nintendo’s latest film. But there’s sincere affection for the universe here, too

I was bracing myself for the worst when I headed into the cinema with my children to watch the new Super Mario Galaxy movie over the Easter break. The reviews have been memorably dire. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw called it worse than AI; Empire deemed it a “humourless, hysterical trudge”. It’s been vilified even more than the first Mario movie, which film critics also hated.

I am a lifelong Nintendo fan, though – I literally wrote the book on the company – so even if it was terrible, there was a possibility that the Mario-loving child within me might temporarily take over my critical faculties and get me through it. That’s what happened with the first Mario movie, which I found to be perfectly OK. I was not actively offended by it, as the film critics seemed to be; audiences seemed to land mostly in my camp, if the huge discrepancy between its audience ratings and review ratings were any indication. Could the sequel really be that much worse?

Published: April 14, 2026, 9:59 am

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

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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.

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Published: April 14, 2026, 3:00 pm

Itch! review – skin-crawling body horror meets supermarket standoff in low-budget chiller

A killer itch and a trapped group of strangers make for a tense, if uneven, horror that balances grisly shocks with sketchy character drama

This horror is set in a world where a highly contagious disease causes itching so severe that the scratching proves quickly fatal; finally, a film targeting the under-served eczema community! The body horror elements are realised extremely effectively, with a woman literally tearing at her skin being the most effective set-piece. Alas, the film doesn’t have the scope (on what was clearly a modest budget) to indulge in very many of these. Much of the rest of the runtime is the pressure-cooker conversation that occurs between a motley crew of so-far-uninfected civilians caught out at a department store. While the reason they are trapped is horrific, this makes the film at least as much a character study as it is a horror, with variable results.

Scenarios from classic films which the film-makers may have had in mind include the hard-pressed band of isolated scientists confronting a shape-shifting monster in John Carpenter’s The Thing, the mismatched duo defending a defunct police station under siege in John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13, or even a non-John Carpenter film, Night of the Living Dead, in which survivors hole up in a farmhouse. The key to these types of films is a blend of genre excitement and character dynamics. It would have been great to see more of this from Itch!: on the one hand, a slightly bigger budget for more of the gnarly effects it pulls off so well in some brief scenes, and on the other, a sharper script to serve the human aspect.

Published: April 14, 2026, 4:12 pm

Euphoria season three review – grubby, desperate and absolutely not worth the wait

What a relief that this is the end for Sam Levison’s grim drama. A show which was once blackly funny is now humourless torture porn

To say that season three of Euphoria is long-awaited would be something of an understatement. HBO’s high school drama debuted in 2019, when it garnered a fanfare of attention with its heady mix of grinding trauma, heavenly eyeshadows and cheap/daring (delete as appropriate) feats, including a locker room scene starring 30 penises. In the years since, it cemented itself as a show with much to say about gen Z’s relationship to sex, drugs and mental health, and pushed Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney and former Disney teenybopper Zendaya to the A-list. It has also released a mere 18 episodes in that time, a victim of everything from the Covid pandemic to the Los Angeles fires. Like a new Rihanna album, Euphoria season three has – in time – become shorthand for a pop culture mirage that would maybe, possibly arrive sometime before 2030. At least, we hoped, before most of the cast were in their 30s.

Excitement, too, has waned over time. Rumours of rifts between the cast and creator Sam Levinson have only grown since its return was confirmed last autumn, and the press tour that followed has had a distinct flavour of “contractual obligation” about it (social media posts from the cast were few and far between, while Zendaya, in an interview with Variety, ambiguously described filming as a “whirlwind”). It brings me no pleasure, then, to report that, based on the three episodes released for review, Euphoria’s third (and probably final) run was absolutely not worth the wait. It’s a grubby, humourless work of torture porn that’s obsessed with and repulsed by sex work.

Published: April 13, 2026, 2:00 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

Helium: the invisible gas that powers AI, and why it’s in short supply – podcast

Alongside the oil and gas stranded in the strait of Hormuz is another commodity vital to today’s economy: helium. It is a critical element in all kinds of areas from MRI machines to the Large Hadron Collider, and even deep-sea diving. It is also integral to the AI boom. And this isn’t the first time its fragile global supply chain has been threatened. So why is helium so useful, and what will happen if the shortage continues? Ian Sample hears from co-host Madeleine Finlay, and from Sophia Hayes, professor of chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis

Clips: CBC

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Published: April 14, 2026, 4:00 am

Karol G at Coachella review – electrifying set destined for festival’s hall of fame

Empire Polo Club, Indio, California
With dazzling choreography and head-spinning set pieces, the Colombian star delivered a victorious statement of Latin pride

Late on the final night of Coachella’s first weekend, after more than a dozen songs, several glorious costume changes and some of the most luscious choreography ever seen in a headliner set, the Colombian superstar Karol G finally introduced herself in English: “I am Carolina Giraldo from Medellín, Colombia, and today, I am the first Latina woman to headline Coachella,” she said to deafening cheers from a crowd dotted with the flags of Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia and other Latin nations. “I’m very happy and very proud,” she added, but “at the same time, it feels late. There has been 27 years of this festival.” Both sincere and pointed, her remarks recalled Beyoncé in 2018, thanking the festival for allowing her to be the first Black woman to headline: “Ain’t that ’bout a bitch?”

Beyoncé is quite the name to invoke – we may never again see a set as virtuosic and culturally significant as Beychella – but on Sunday night, Karol G sure made the case for her inclusion in the festival’s hall of fame. Seeming at once years in the making and effortless, her 90-minute set was, like Bad Bunny’s landmark headliner slot three years earlier, an exuberant statement of Latin pride and pan-American unity as well as the joys of absolutely lethal, ass-shaking music so relentlessly danceable I broke a sweat on the coldest night of the festival. From the minute she first appeared, luminous in a glittering gold bikini and flanked by an army of sinuous background dancers, her hip undulations visible to the naked eye from the back rows – “not even Nascar has these curves,” she boasts in saucy opener Latina Foreva – the fireworks literal and physical barely ceased. If it’s going to take 27 years, well, best throw an undeniable fiesta.

Published: April 13, 2026, 2:31 pm

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

Ghost-Eye by Amitav Ghosh review – a climate-crisis novel let down by its prose

A reincarnation mystery drives this exploration of spiritual interconnectedness in a globalised world

What happens when a novelist cares more about their plot, or their message, than their prose? Plot and message have this much in common: they travel smoothest on the lubricating oil of cliche. Thus you might find yourself enjoying, at the level of story or argument, a novel that trundles along via lumps of workhorse novelese like the following: “manicured gardens”, “apple of their father’s eye”, “venerable patriarch”, “Little did I know then”, “keeping a weather eye”, “money was tight”, “Barely had the words left her mouth”, “engulfed by civil strife”, “I was taken aback”, “a piercing cry”, “an ear-splitting cacophony”, “a lick of paint”, “It was a marvel to behold”, “It was as though she were a woman possessed”, “The ceremonies went off without a hitch”, “She and I were polar opposites” …

This is, for much of its length, the experience of reading Amitav Ghosh’s 11th novel, Ghost-Eye. The plot has been quite intricately worked out. It seeds the reader’s curiosity, especially in the first half, with all sorts of intriguing mysteries. The subject – the various collisions of global and local in the post-second world war age – is important. But much of the prose is dead on arrival. I say this with regret. Like many readers, I think of Ghosh with gratitude: not just for the narrative riches of his Ibis trilogy (Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke and Flood of Fire), but for the work of intellectual framing he performed in his 2016 polemic The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable. Ghosh is at least partly responsible for the arrival of the climate emergency as an urgent subject in literary fiction over the last decade. He woke us from our slumbers.

Published: April 13, 2026, 11:00 am

On Memoir by Blake Morrison review – lessons in life writing from a master

Don’t be fooled by the A-Z treatment – this thoroughgoing guide asks deep questions about the art of autobiography

“I’ve had a life and I’ve also had a life as a life writer”: Blake Morrison opens his tour d’horizon of arguably literature’s most expanding and expansive genre with a flash of his credentials and an implicit call to further inquiry. What constitutes a life, and what can it mean to write about it? Can you write about your own from inside it?

Before his bestselling and highly praised account of his father’s life and death, And When Did You Last See Your Father?, was published in 1993, Morrison had a life as a poet, a critic and a literary editor. And perhaps his interest in penetrating the mysteries of another’s interior world was already in evidence: a few years earlier, he had written The Ballad of the Yorkshire Ripper, in which he had attempted to capture what newspaper reports had missed of serial killer Peter Sutcliffe (“So cops they lobbed im questions / Through breakfast, dinner, tea, / Till e said: ‘All right, you’ve cracked it. / Ripper, aye, it’s me.’”).

Published: April 14, 2026, 8:00 am

Hacker group threatens to release Grand Theft Auto VI data in Rockstar Games attack

The group named ShinyHunters have accessed a third party server and have given the company a deadline of 14 April to enter ransom negotiations

Rockstar Games, the studio behind Grand Theft Auto, has been the target of a cyberattack for the second time in three years. A hacker group called ShinyHunters said it would release data stolen from the company if ransom demands were not met.

ShinyHunters initially gave Rockstar a 14 April deadline to enter negotiations, having gained access to company servers operated by a third party.

Published: April 13, 2026, 4:51 pm

‘These flowers have witnessed horrific things’: Steve McQueen’s bountiful Grenada – in pictures

The artist and film-maker spent a summer on the island making poetic images of the local flora – and exploring their connections to Grenada’s historical trauma

Published: April 14, 2026, 6:01 am

‘It was life-changing’: the celebrated art historian who spent 46 years sitting for Frank Auerbach

Catherine Lampert is a historian, curator and model who spent much of her time sitting for her famous friends. She tells us what the likes of Auerbach, Lucian Freud and Euan Uglow meant to her

Last November, a work titled Potiphar’s Wife by British painter Euan Uglow appeared in a private sale by Christie’s in London. “We were all so excited,” says art historian and curator Catherine Lampert. “I had tried many times to find out where that picture was.” It depicts a woman lying on the ground against a blue wall, legs crossed and arms stretched out behind her to, it seems, stop a man in a T-shirt from leaving. Both cling to a beautifully draped length of orange cloth.

This is the last painting Uglow talked to Lampert about as he lay dying of cancer in August 2000. She had known him since her early 20s, had organised his first big show in 1974 and in those final months of his life, she was working on the catalogue raisonné of his paintings – an annotated list of Uglow’s complete works.

“Euan was quite cryptic,” she says. “But in the last months, he let me record him in anticipation of this book and then he would be quite” – she taps the table decisively with her hand – “‘This is what this picture is about.’ The last time I went to see him in hospital, he said, ‘Let’s get to work.’” Lampert only recorded a few minutes that day. But the details she gleaned – about the vertical yellow band that anchors the whole composition being “satiny and still” and the way the drapery “moves” – she treasured like gold dust.

Lampert is sitting at an aged square table that has been in her London home for 50 years, as has she. The many people who have sat around it (Uglow and Frank Auerbach among them), not to mention the art (Alison Turnbull) and photography (David Hockney in Lucian Freud’s studio; Auerbach and Leon Kossoff at a dinner) on the walls, speak to her status as a quiet giant of contemporary art.

Published: April 14, 2026, 9:18 am

Clannad singer and harpist Moya Brennan dies aged 73

The Grammy and Emmy-winning ‘first lady of Celtic music’ was credited with popularising Irish music and lyrics

Moya Brennan, the lead singer of Irish folk group Clannad, has died aged 73.

In her later years, Brennan had been living with pulmonary fibrosis and faced the possibility of a double lung transplant. A statement from her family said she died peacefully in the company of loved ones in her native County Donegal.

Published: April 14, 2026, 9:28 am

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Phil Collins, Oasis, Sade and Wu-Tang Clan among 2026 inductees

Iron Maiden, Billy Idol, Queen Latifah and Joy Division/New Order will also be inducted, along with the late Luther Vandross

Phil Collins, Iron Maiden, Billy Idol, Queen Latifah, Oasis, Sade and Joy Division/New Order will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with first-time nominees Wu-Tang Clan and the late Luther Vandross.

The list was revealed on Monday night in the US, during an airing of American Idol. To be eligible, artists must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years prior. Nominees were voted on by more than 1,200 artists, historians and music industry professionals.

Published: April 14, 2026, 3:17 am

The US small town coffee shop that created a viral drink: ‘I still don’t understand how it went so far’

The raspberry danish latte is making its way around the world after its inventors decided to share the recipe

• Give banana coffee a chance. How to make the viral (and delicious) Korean treat

A viral coffee drink created by a little college town coffee shop on the outskirts of Minneapolis is now making its way around the world after its inventors decided to give the recipe away for free.

After Little Joy Coffee’s raspberry danish latte, a spring seasonal drink, went viral in March, the shop’s owners decided to encourage coffee shops to rip off the recipe directly and add it to their menus.

Published: April 13, 2026, 11:00 am

Start small, grow what you like and be realistic: how to start a vegetable garden

You don’t need a yard or balcony to get going. We asked experts for their advice on how to grow your food

Maybe it’s because I’ve lived in cities my whole life, but I can’t think of anything more luxurious than popping out to your garden and eating a fresh tomato straight from the vine. How decadent to enjoy its crisp, bright flavor and the smug satisfaction that you coaxed this food into being with your own hands.

But what does becoming a modern-day Demeter actually entail? What if you don’t have a yard, or even a balcony? And is it worth growing your own food when supermarkets exist?

Published: April 13, 2026, 4:00 pm

The 10 best US gifts for new moms, according to a new mom

Keepsakes are quaint, but these are the gifts she’ll use every day, from stroller organizers to perfect pajamas

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

When I had my baby, all the usual gifts flowed in: flowers, cards, trinkets with my daughter’s name engraved. I appreciated them all, but as I settled into life as a new mom, what I really craved was the practical equipment that didn’t seem glamorous enough to gift: stroller organizers, backpacks, baby carriers.

So take it from someone who has been there recently: more than anything else, the new mom in your life will adore something that helps her and her baby get through the day unscathed. Or that gives her the confidence to survive another day of scrubbing spit-up on no sleep. Or just instills a sigh of relief at the end of a long day. Here are some of the top picks that helped me through, including some I’ve already gifted to fellow new moms.

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Published: April 13, 2026, 7:15 pm

Is it true that … having a diverse microbiome stops you from getting sick?

Having diverse microbes in the gut has been promoted as a way to boost immunity, but studies suggest it’s more complicated than that

The trillions of microorganisms that live in and on our bodies – known as the microbiome – have been hailed as the key to better immunity. “Lots of studies correlate the types of bacteria in your microbiome with health and disease across almost every mental and physical condition,” says Prof Daniel M Davis, head of life sciences at Imperial College London and the author of Self Defence: A Myth-busting Guide to Immune Health. “But most of that evidence is correlative, and we still need to understand exactly how the microbiome affects health.”

Scientists often look at one measure: diversity. In other words, how many different species of microbes live in the gut. “The more diverse your microbiome is, the more it seems to correlate with not being ill.”

Published: April 13, 2026, 7:00 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

Vegemite is recognised globally – but how many people know Milo was invented in Australia?

The chocolate malt powder is sold in more than 40 countries, and Australian cafe owners say there’s ‘jingoistic pride’ in serving it on their menus

• Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

When I order the jumbo-sized Milo Godzilla at Ho Jiak in Sydney’s Haymarket, it arrives as advertised – it’s comically large. The Malaysian restaurant prepares the drink by swirling Milo powder with hot water, adding sweet drizzles of condensed milk then chilling the mix with ice. Scoops of ice-cream are added and extra choc-malt powder is showered on top. Served in a one-litre jug, it’s so big I can’t finish it solo: staff hand me three takeaway cups to transport the leftovers.

Like many beloved Milo drinks, the Godzilla is native to south-east Asia. Without ice-cream, it’s essentially a Milo Dinosaur: an iced Milo heavily sprinkled with more of the choc-malt grains and served everywhere from Malaysian market stalls to Indian-Muslim restaurants in Singapore.

Published: April 14, 2026, 3:00 pm

Houseplant hacks: can a fan help plants repel pests?

They won’t save an unhealthy plant, but they do create better growing conditions in rooms with no airflow

The problem
Most plant advice focuses on light, water and soil. Air barely gets a mention, yet stagnant indoor air is one of the less discussed reasons houseplants struggle. Fungal spots, mould on the compost surface and pest infestations like mealybugs can all be traced back to a room with no airflow. We open windows in summer but rarely think about what happens in winter.

The hack
Running a small fan near your houseplants is said to improve stem strength, discourage mould and reduce pest pressure. In the wild, plants experience constant gentle movement; a fan replicates this indoors.

Published: April 14, 2026, 9:00 am

Vance’s bad week: vice-president risks becoming face of two Trump foreign policy failures

Orbán is out in Hungary and talks have failed to end the war in Iran – ill-fated road trip has been setback for Maga aims

Shortly before JD Vance’s ill-fated week crisscrossing the world, Donald Trump asked him during a private Easter brunch about how the Iran negotiations were shaping up. “If it doesn’t happen, I’m blaming JD Vance,” Trump said to laughs in the room. “If it does happen, I’m taking full credit.”

The joke at Vance’s expense contained an unfortunate nugget of truth: this is not an administration that rewards failure.

Published: April 13, 2026, 6:10 pm

‘That crazy old man should leave Cuba alone’: farmers bear the brunt of Trump’s pressure campaign

In Artemisa, the country’s agricultural heartland, sanctions and fuel shortages have made a tough life almost impossible

Abraham Rodríguez stares at the corn furrows he must plough before the end of the day. It is not even noon in Artemisa, Cuba, but the sun beats down hard and he’s already tired: working the land is a tough job. He has done it for almost half his life, since he was 13 and his mother got a divorce. He is turning 26 this year.

Farming has always been hard, he says, but now it is almost impossible to sustain. “I make 1,200 pesos (£1.80) a day, so I have to work two days to buy a bottle of oil.”

Published: April 13, 2026, 2:00 pm

Magazine covers and a Dignity Day march in Caracas: photos of the day – Tuesday

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

Published: April 14, 2026, 1:16 pm