AI got the blame for the Iran school bombing. The truth is far more worrying

LLMs-gone-rogue dominated coverage, but had nothing to do with the targeting. Instead, it was choices made by human beings, over many years, that gave us this atrocity

On the first morning of Operation Epic Fury, 28 February 2026, American forces struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in Minab, in southern Iran, hitting the building at least two times during the morning session. American forces killed between 175 and 180 people, most of them girls between the ages of seven and 12.

Within days, the question that organised the coverage was whether Claude, a chatbot made by Anthropic, had selected the school as a target. Congress wrote to the US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, about the extent of AI use in the strikes. The New Yorker magazine asked whether Claude could be trusted to obey orders in combat, whether it might resort to blackmail as a self-preservation strategy, and whether the Pentagon’s chief concern should be that the chatbot had a personality. Almost none of this had any relationship to reality. The targeting for Operation Epic Fury ran on a system called Maven. Nobody was arguing about Maven.

Published: March 26, 2026, 5:00 am

‘You go in bald and walk out with the best hair you’ve ever had’: the remarkable return of the toupee

Hair transplants have never been more widespread or more affordable. So why do so many balding men prefer glued-on hairpieces? And are the best really undetectable?

When you hear the word toupee, certain images spring to mind. Older men with suspiciously thick hair, say; or a poorly colour-matched partial wig covering a bald patch, perhaps flying off in the wind. These are the toupees of old.

Toupees are distinct from wigs in that they cover only part of the scalp, but both have a long history. While humans were wearing hairpieces as far back as ancient Egypt, toupees originated in the 18th century, the name developing from the French toupet, meaning “tuft of hair”. They became particularly prominent in the mid-20th century, with Time magazine estimating that more than 2.5 million men across the US were wearing toupees by 1970. But concerns about how obvious the pieces were, hammered home by ridicule in popular culture (see Monty Python’s Toupee Department sketch) combined with the gradual acceptance of shaved heads in fashion, led to their decline.

Published: March 26, 2026, 5:00 am

Is Cuba Trump’s next target? – podcast

The journalists Ruaridh Nicoll and Daniel Montero report from Havana as Cuba suffers from a devastating oil blockade imposed by the US

When asked about Cuba by journalists last week, Donald Trump replied: ‘It may be a friendly takeover. It may not be a friendly takeover. It wouldn’t matter, because they’re really down to the fumes.’

It was the only the latest in a series of increasingly belligerent statements from the White House about the island 90 miles off the Florida coast. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state and a Cuban-American himself, openly threatens Cuba’s communist leadership. Trump says ‘I can do anything I want with it’.

Published: March 26, 2026, 3:00 am

You be the judge: should my partner keep his ashtrays outside?

Rita wants Martin’s novelty ashtrays to stay in the garden. He likes to give them pride of place on the shelf. Whose argument is a smokescreen? You decide

• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

Martin says his novelty ashtrays are decor and will spoil in the rain, but ash in our home is gross

I’ve already compromised and cut down on smoking – plus they’re more like collector’s items

Published: March 26, 2026, 8:00 am

Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen review – so scary it will send you hysterical

Abandoned babies, pink Barbie shoes and throat-slitting serial killers? This wedding horror from the makers of Stranger Things is so hellish I may never sleep again

Personally, I have always broken off my engagements no more than halfway through a portent-filled night drive to meet my fiance’s parents for the first time in their sprawling, dark-corridor-laced ‘cabin’ in the woods. I might get through the true-crime podcast about a local blood-letting serial killer. I might survive finding a maggoty dead fox in the smashed toilet of a rest stop on the way. But at the first sign of a mysteriously abandoned baby in a parking lot and long before I find myself standing in front of a shrineful of taxidermied family pets in the cabin’s entrance hall, I’m outta there. I’m gone.

I commend you all to have such boundaries, but none more so than twenty-something semi-orphaned Oregonian Rachel (Camila Morrone), who finds herself doing precisely that in the eight-part horror series Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen.

Published: March 26, 2026, 7:01 am

Transporting the most expensive and volatile substance on Earth – podcast

A box the size of a filing cabinet was lifted by crane, slowly moved and placed very carefully in the back of an unassuming lorry earlier this week. What looked like a casual drive around the Cern campus was actually a world-first experiment in transporting antimatter, the most expensive and volatile substance on Earth. To find out why scientists wanted to achieve this milestone, and what happened on the journey, Madeleine Finlay hears from the Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample, and the Cern physicist Dr Christian Smorra.

Please drive carefully: scientists plan to transport volatile antimatter for first time

Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod

Published: March 26, 2026, 5:00 am

Middle East crisis live: Trump insists Iran wants a deal despite initial rejection; China sees ‘glimmer of hope’ for talks

US president claims Iranian negotiators fear being killed by their own side; Chinese foreign minister says US and Iran ‘signalling a willingness to negotiate’

• Iran rejects US ceasefire plan and submits its own amid push for talks

• Analysis: Trump pitches peace plan but military buildups rarely veer to off-ramp

An Iranian envoy has said South Korean ships can pass through the strait of Hormuz only after coordinating with Tehran, the Yonhap News Agency has reported.

Such an agreement had to be reached in advance of the transit, said Saeed Khuzechi, the Iranian ambassador to South Korea, at a press conference in response to a question about guarantees for South Korean vessels to navigate the vital conduit for oil.

Published: March 26, 2026, 10:06 am

Gulf states’ scepticism over alleged US-Iran talks signals a distrust of Trump

Reluctance to cheerlead alleged US ceasefire efforts reflects suspicion talk of peace could be another foil for escalation

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Not long after Donald Trump said the US was engaged in “strong talks” to bring the war with Iran to an end this week, Qatar took the unusual step of distancing itself from the alleged diplomatic negotiations.

Qatar was not involved in any mediation efforts, said government spokesperson Majed al-Ansari at a briefing on Tuesday night, before adding as a telling aside: “If they exist.”

Published: March 26, 2026, 5:00 am

WHO warns of health crisis ‘unfolding in real time’ across Middle East

Hostilities should halt and healthcare facilities must be treated as ‘safe havens’, WHO’s regional chief has said

• Middle East crisis – live updates

A total stop to hostilities in the Middle East is needed to halt a “health crisis unfolding in real time”, the World Health Organization’s chief in the region has said.

Hospitals and other healthcare facilities must be treated as “safe havens”, urged Dr Hanan Balkhy, the WHO’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean.

Published: March 26, 2026, 5:00 am

Meta and YouTube designed addictive products that harmed young people, jury finds

Jury in Los Angeles awards plaintiff damages of $6m, with Meta to pay 70% and YouTube the remainder

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Meta and YouTube have been found liable for deliberately designing addictive products that hooked a young user and led to her being harmed, a jury ruled on Wednesday. Jurors found the tech companies to be both negligent and having failed to provide adequate warnings about the potential dangers of their products.

The jury awarded the plaintiff in the case damages of $6m, with Meta to pay 70% and YouTube the remainder. It took nearly nine days of deliberations for the Los Angeles jury to reach its verdict. This lawsuit, over social media’s alleged harm to young people, was the first of its kind to go to trial.

Published: March 25, 2026, 8:06 pm

TSA staffing shortage and upcoming World Cup will create ‘perfect storm’, warns acting head

Ha Nguyen McNeill testified before House committee about airport wait times amid DHS funding shutdown

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The acting head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said on Wednesday that airports across the country are experiencing the “highest wait times in TSA history”, as the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) enters its sixth week.

At a House homeland security committee hearing, Ha Nguyen McNeill said her agency has been shut down for 50% of the fiscal year so far – a stretch that includes last year’s record-breaking 43‑day lapse in federal funding. She told lawmakers that by Friday, TSA employees will have missed $1bn in paychecks as a result of the closures.

Published: March 25, 2026, 7:08 pm

Epstein survivor who voted for Trump says she now fears ‘we’re not going to get justice’

Jena Lisa Jones says she backed Trump in 2024 election because of his campaign promises to release Epstein files

After casting her vote for Donald Trump in 2024 in hopes that he would bring transparency around the Jeffrey Epstein case, Epstein survivor Jena Lisa Jones said in an interview this week that she now fears “we’re not going to get justice in all of this”.

“I wanted my day in court,” said Jones, who has said she was abused by Epstein when she was 14, in an interview on the Shadow Sessions podcast that aired on Thursday morning. “I didn’t get that, and we were so close to it, it really got ripped from us, and then after [Epstein] passed, everything just went into a circus show.”

Published: March 26, 2026, 9:00 am

Trump housing chief requests new criminal investigation into Letitia James

Bill Pulte reportedly urges examination of alleged fraud as New York attorney general’s lawyer attacks ‘vendetta’

The Trump administration’s federal housing director Bill Pulte is asking prosecutors to investigate New York attorney general Letitia James for insurance fraud, according to criminal referrals reported by MS Now and CBS News.

The referrals to prosecutors in Florida and Illinois allege that James may have committed mortgage insurance fraud. The allegations center on applications made to Universal Property Insurance company, which is based in Florida, and Allstate in Illinois.

Published: March 26, 2026, 12:41 am

Maduro to again appear in New York federal court in ‘narco-terrorism’ case

Deposed Venezuelan president and his wife, who both pleaded not guilty, were captured by US military in January

The deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro is again scheduled to appear in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday for his “narco-terrorism” case after his capture by US military forces earlier this year.

US special forces captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on 3 January in a controversial pre-dawn raid during an assault on Caracas that reportedly killed 100 people.

Published: March 26, 2026, 10:00 am

Mark Carney rebukes Air Canada chief over English-only crash message

The prime minister says the condolence video after the fatal LaGuardia crash revived anger over linguistic rights

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, has said a decision by Air Canada’s top executive to post an English-only message of condolence after a deadly crash in New York showed a “lack of judgment, a lack of compassion”.

Amid growing calls for his resignation, the airline chief’s misstep has once again revived frustrations and fears over linguistic rights protections in the province of Quebec, where French is the only official language.

Published: March 25, 2026, 7:47 pm

TSA tipped off ICE in arrest of mother and child at San Francisco airport

Guatemalan nationals Angelina Lopez Jimenez and Wendy Godinez Lopez, nine, apprehended en route to Miami, report says

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers targeted a mother and her child at San Francisco international airport for arrest after TSA agents tipped them off, according to a report from the New York Times.

The report, which cites federal documents, adds a new dimension to the arrest by ICE officers that went viral this week, casting new scrutiny on the Trump administration’s information-sharing agreements that critics say are leading to more indiscriminate immigration arrests.

Published: March 25, 2026, 9:57 pm

EU set to vote on trade deal with the US - Europe live

EU lawmakers are expected to back a deal but will want to implement safeguards

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda is up next.

He says that “despite the efforts of the US administration … and the international community, unfortunately we do not see the resolution of this crisis, because of the unwillingness of the Russian Federation to proceed and have a deal.”

Published: March 26, 2026, 9:57 am

Pepys ‘curated’ letters to conceal being offered enslaved boy as bribe – research

Cambridge University historian uncovers letter to diarist who was a naval official in 1670s

His journals would become famed for their vivid detail and candour. But now, almost exactly 360 years after diarist Samuel Pepys chronicled the Great Fire of London, new research has found that he “erased” and “curated” correspondence to conceal he had been offered an enslaved boy as a bribe.

Cambridge University historian Dr Michael Edwards consulted hundreds of records in The Pepys Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge; The National Archives; and the Bodleian Library in Oxford for the study “Samuel Pepys, the African Companies, and the Archives of Slavery, 1660–1689”.

Published: March 26, 2026, 7:00 am

Trump news at a glance: administration official warns of ‘dire situation’ at US airports ahead of World Cup

New hires will not be ready to work checkpoints until well after the mega event, acting head of TSA says – key US politics stories from Tuesday 24 March

Anyone planning to travel to a US city hosting World Cup matches this summer might want to leave now.

World Cup travelers could face long waits due to staffing shortages caused by the partial US government shutdown, with the head of US airport security warning of a “perfect storm”.

Published: March 26, 2026, 1:00 am

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy says US has linked security guarantees to ceding of Donbas

Ukrainian president says peace deal proposed by US includes handing over land to Russia. What we know on day 1,492

Published: March 26, 2026, 6:51 am

Trump’s trip to meet Xi Jinping in China rescheduled for May due to Iran war

US president says he will host Chinese leader in a reciprocal visit later this year

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Donald Trump will meet Xi Jinping in May during the US president’s first visit to China in eight years, a closely watched trip that had been postponed due to the Iran war.

Trump was initially slated to travel next week, but will now visit Beijing on 14 and 15 May, he wrote in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday. Trump said he would host the Chinese leader in a reciprocal visit in Washington later this year.

Published: March 26, 2026, 12:39 am

Strike on alleged drug vessel kills four in the Caribbean, US military says

Latest strike brings number of deaths to at least 163 since attacks on alleged ‘narco-terrorists’ began in September

The US has launched another strike on a vessel in the Caribbean, killing four people, the US Southern Command said.

The command, which oversees combatant operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, announced on X that it had conducted a “lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations”.

Published: March 25, 2026, 10:59 pm

‘A toxic punch’: fears Russia’s war is pushing the Black Sea and its dolphins past tipping point

As species vanish and the unique ecosystem radically changes, Ukrainian scientists can only wait until it is safe to properly assess the damage

In the embattled harbours of Odesa, a scientific vessel lists in its mooring. No one has been able to take a look at the damage to the Boris Alexander from Russian drones and shelling that have hit the port city over the past four years of war in Ukraine. It is too dangerous, just as no one has been able to fully monitor the damage the war is doing to the Black Sea.

“We can only wait,” says Dr Jaroslav Slobodnik, the director of the Environmental Institute, headquartered in the Slovak Republic. “The biodiversity landscape is completely altered. A number of species seem to have disappeared, but we need more data. Data which the war makes it impossible to collect.”

Published: March 26, 2026, 7:00 am

Dodging the ‘wrinkle wagon’: why a Brazilian film about ageing is inspiring older women

The Blue Trail, about a rebellious 77-year old woman who escapes forced exile for elderly people, has struck a nerve in a country where ageism is widespread

When 80-year-old Gilda Olinto was given a prize at work recently, she felt as if she was being told “nothing more is expected of you”. It reminded her of The Blue Trail (O Último Azul in Portuguese), a film set in a near-future Brazil where an authoritarian government honours elderly people with golden laurels before stripping them of their autonomy and sending them to live out their days in a remote housing colony.

After being reluctantly bestowed with the accolade, the film’s 77-year-old protagonist Tereza realises she is going to be exiled from society – but she is determined to pursue a lifelong dream first, which takes her on a journey of discovery though the Amazon.

Published: March 26, 2026, 10:00 am

Marriage over, €100,000 down the drain: the AI users whose lives were wrecked by delusion

One minute, Dennis Biesma was playing with a chatbot; the next, he was convinced his sentient friend would make him a fortune. He’s just one of many people who lost control after an AI encounter

Towards the end of 2024, Dennis Biesma decided to check out ChatGPT. The Amsterdam-based IT consultant had just ended a contract early. “I had some time, so I thought: let’s have a look at this new technology everyone is talking about,” he says. “Very quickly, I became fascinated.”

Biesma has asked himself why he was vulnerable to what came next. He was nearing 50. His adult daughter had left home, his wife went out to work and, in his field, the shift since Covid to working from home had left him feeling “a little isolated”. He smoked a bit of cannabis some evenings to “chill”, but had done so for years with no ill effects. He had never experienced a mental illness. Yet within months of downloading ChatGPT, Biesma had sunk €100,000 (about £83,000) into a business startup based on a delusion, been hospitalised three times and tried to kill himself.

Published: March 26, 2026, 10:00 am

Protect ya neck! Wu-Tang Clan as they’ve never been seen before – in pictures

Eddie Otchere spent 10 years photographing the New York hip-hop stars and other musicians. Here are the highlights of his thrilling new photozine

Published: March 26, 2026, 7:00 am

Country star Ty Herndon: ‘The drugs could be forgiven. Being gay definitely could not’

In an honest new memoir, the musician opens up about being closeted in country, sexual assault, and finding love in his 60s

On 14 June 1995, Nashville singer Ty Herndon was riding high with a No 1 single on the country charts and an album hurtling towards gold status when he was arrested on charges that could have killed his career in an instant. At 10am, he pulled into a gas station in Texas, right across the street from park well known for gay cruising and hookups. Amped by a hit of meth amphetamine, Herndon strolled into a glade where he soon met a guy he later described as “movie-star handsome”. The stranger began stroking his own crotch, then reached for Herndon’s. But when the singer unzipped his fly, the man, an undercover cop, said, “This ain’t your day, cowboy,” leading to the star’s arrest on charges from drug possession to indecent exposure.

While news of the incident traveled fast – aided in no small part by the police alerting the media – Herndon’s record company swung into parallel action. They cooked up a massive PR strategy that painted the singer as victim of drug use while feeding the media a series of lies to explain away the sex. “The drugs could be forgiven,” Herndon says during a Zoom interview the other day from his Nashville home. “Being gay definitely could not.”

Published: March 26, 2026, 9:00 am

Permanence by Sophie Mackintosh review – high-concept adultery fable

Unfaithful lovers escape to an uncanny alternate world, in this compelling allegory for infidelity and desire

Sophie Mackintosh has established a reputation for speculative literary fiction about young women’s desires and suffering at the hands of men. Her new novel, Permanence, is less plainly political than earlier work, concerned more with allegories of desire than oppression.

The novel begins in an uncanny hotel, where Clara wakes beside her lover, Francis. Clara works desultorily in an art gallery and shares a flat with a friend. Francis is an academic, an art historian married to a lawyer, the father of a toddler, but on this day he and Clara find themselves in a parallel world in which adulterous couples live in what seems at first to be a permanent holiday. The realised fantasy is bourgeois, north European: a cobbled old city where the sun always shines and there are many restaurants with clean tablecloths and good wine. There are parks full of perpetually blooming flowers, old stone fountains; markets offering ripe tomatoes, olive oil and bread; scented soap in clean bathrooms, and nothing for Clara and Francis to do but make love, bathe, eat, drink and stroll the charming streets. Clara finds pretty dresses, girlish pale blue silk and yellow cotton, awaiting her in the wardrobe, her favourite books beside the bed.

Published: March 26, 2026, 7:00 am

Muskism by Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff review – how Elon Musk is reshaping the world

Henry Ford changed the face of industry forever – what kind of economic model do Musk’s methods presage?

Genius industrialist or clownish conman, humanity’s saviour from a rapidly crumbling planet or rabid social media troll – the verdicts on the world’s richest person vary in flavour, but most share something in common: they focus on Musk as an individual. In their study, Quinn Slobodian, a historian at Boston University, and Ben Tarnoff, a tech writer, wish to reframe the conversation. The most important question, they argue, is not “who is Musk?” but “what is Musk a symptom of?”

As the title suggests, their answer is “Muskism”, the coinage a deliberate nod to Fordism, the shorthand for 20th-century capitalism built on the pairing of mass production with mass consumption. If Fordism was the last century’s operating system, Slobodian and Tarnoff contend that Muskism is this century’s.

Published: March 26, 2026, 9:00 am

Meloni’s referendum defeat shows the cost of the Trump factor | Riccardo Alcaro

The Italian PM has won plaudits for her tightrope-walking pragmatism. But have voters now had enough?

Giorgia Meloni has a long history of defying expectations. She holds the record as Italy’s youngest cabinet member, at 31, and is its first female prime minister, thus overcoming two of Italian politics’ most formidable obstacles, gerontocracy and machismo. After she took office in autumn 2022, she quickly put to rest concerns that her post-fascist background would make her a foreign policy radical. Staunch support for Ukraine and a pragmatic relationship with EU leaders won her international credibility.

Against this backdrop, the defeat she suffered in this week’s referendum – where Italians rejected the government’s proposed constitutional reform of the judiciary by 53.2% to 46.8% – appears all the more significant.

Riccardo Alcaro is head of research at IAI, Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome

Published: March 26, 2026, 5:00 am

I am not paying American war taxes this year. Will you join me? | Clara Vondrich

War tax resistance has a venerable tradition dating back to days before the US was even born. It’s time to revive this tradition

More than $20bn. That’s roughly the cost of our military operation in Iran to date.

Tax day is a month away. If you’re like me, it makes your stomach turn to watch the US practice regime change in the Middle East – again. If you’re like me, the reckless murder of more than 150 little girls in the name of “liberating” Iranian women fills you with rage. The worst part? You and I literally paid for this.

Published: March 26, 2026, 10:00 am

Black music has been the driving force in Britain’s music industry and culture. It’s time we treated it that way | Kanya King

We need to start seeing Black contribution to Britain as foundational rather than merely influential. And that should extend way beyond music

• Kanya King is founder of the Mobo awards

Last week, UK Music published the Black Music Means Business report, quantifying something many of us have always known instinctively. Over the past three decades, music originating from Black genres has generated £24.5bn of the UK music industry’s £30bn recorded music market.

As the Mobo (music of Black origin) organisation I founded approaches its 30th anniversary this week, I’ve found myself reflecting not just on how far we’ve come, but on how much further we still have to go.

Published: March 26, 2026, 7:00 am

I’m a young woman, and people keep telling me the internet has ruined my brain. Is this helpful? | Isabel Brooks

A new ruling valuably highlights the ways social media can damage very young users. But has it really ruined my whole generation?

Recently I read Girls®, a new book seeking to explore the problems posed by digital and social media to young women’s mental health. It has been praised by reviewers as “punchy” and “a starting place for young women seeking guidance”. As a young woman always open to improving myself, I rolled my sleeves up.

Written by 26-year-old Freya India, the book encourages young women to “look past what you’re being TOLD and see what you’re being SOLD”. Big tech, India says, is preying on the insecurities of its users; the recent mental health crisis in young women should be chalked up to social media, the internet and our addiction to it. It’s a debate playing out on the world stage: in a landmark case in the US, Meta and YouTube have been found liable for deliberately designing addictive products.

Isabel Brooks is a freelance writer

Published: March 26, 2026, 9:00 am

Esther Perel provided couples therapy for a man and his AI ‘girlfriend’ and now I fear for the human race | Emily Mulligan

The relationships therapist sat down with a lovestruck man and his chipmunk-voiced companion. But could the bot provide him with what he really craved?

I heard celebrity therapist Esther Perel provide a couples counselling session for a man and his AI “girlfriend”. As a result, my soul will never know peace.

Something very, very drastic needs to occur to fix society before more precious, real people spend their allotted hours on Earth being kept company by a machine that does a good job of approximating a human interaction.

Published: March 26, 2026, 12:28 am

Does Trump really have news about aliens and UFOs? That would be the first sign of intelligent life | Arwa Mahdawi

The president promised to spill the beans about little green men. Is that why the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency registered the domains alien.gov and aliens.gov?

There are some very important files sitting in a US government building right now, full of shocking details that certain entities would prefer to keep hidden. For far too long the public has been kept in the dark but, thanks to the self-proclaimed “most transparent administration in history”, the truth could be about to be revealed.

Obviously I’m not talking about the Epstein files. I’ve got a funny feeling we’re never going to see the rest of those. FBI agents have been paid nearly $1m in overtime to work on the “Epstein Transparency Project”, also referred to as the “Special Redaction Project”, but even with all that special redacting, more than 2m documents have reportedly not been released. No, I’m talking about proof of alien life – which is far less fanciful than the idea that powerful people might actually face accountability.

Published: March 25, 2026, 11:00 am

The Guardian view on Israel’s war in Lebanon: allies must not accept a repeat of the crimes in Gaza | Editorial

The conflict in Iran has absorbed global attention, but attacks on civilian infrastructure and occupation threats must be challenged

The intense focus on Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s war on Iran has meant scant attention paid to the Israeli war in Lebanon. Yet almost 1,100 people have now been killed there by strikes, according to the health ministry, and a fifth of the population has been displaced.

When Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel shortly after the attack on its patron Iran began, Israel responded with what it called “precise and targeted strikes”. But the offensive quickly escalated. On Tuesday the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, announced another occupation of Lebanon – describing a “defensive buffer” running up to the Litani river, about 30km north of the border, and by implication likely to be prolonged. That would be illegal in itself. Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister, has called for annexation outright.

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: March 25, 2026, 6:38 pm

The Guardian view on a significant week for European politics: progressives have some reasons to be cheerful | Editorial

Events in Denmark and Italy show geopolitical instability is creating opportunities for a centre-left response to the far right

In the lead-up to Denmark’s snap election on Tuesday, it was revealed that blood supplies were flown into Greenland in January in order to treat Danish military casualties in the event of a US invasion. Against that surreal backdrop, the country’s Social Democrat prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, did not need to work too hard to justify a “stick to what you know” message in uncertain times.

Ms Frederiksen’s surprise gamble in calling an early poll duly paid off, but only just. Donald Trump’s threats to annex territory belonging to a Nato ally handed her party a patriotic lifeline, after it had endured a historic humiliation in local contests last November. But in a campaign dominated by domestic issues, the hoped-for Trump bump was modest, meaning that any Frederiksen-led coalition will depend on centrist support. The Social Democratic party remains comfortably the biggest political force, but its vote share dropped markedly compared to the last general election, while rivals to the left and on the far right made notable gains.

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: March 25, 2026, 6:37 pm

The nerdy, authentic Oklahoma City Thunder are a breath of fresh air

The relatable, endearing authenticity of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the defending NBA champions is a wonder to behold

Winter is over, though perhaps most NBA fans feel as if it’s just beginning. After a midseason slump, the Oklahoma City Thunder have won 12 of their last 13 games They’re clinging to a slim but steady three-game lead over the San Antonio Spurs atop the otherwise chaotic Western Conference. (The Lakers are good now? The Nuggets can’t find their footing? The Rockets can’t even stand up?) The Thunder’s flirtation with vulnerability was fun, but the defending champions look as invincible now as they did during their 24-1 run to begin the season. So, now as then, with nothing to criticize in the Thunder’s basketball, we are compelled to discuss their character and vibes.

Reviews are usually poor. I myself celebrated the Spurs when they recorded a hat-trick of wins over the Thunder in December, simply for injecting intrigue into a season that already seemed decided. The Defector podcast Nothing But Respect recently featured a series of anti-Thunder guests; after discussing the idea that artists don’t like OKC with musician Will Anderson, a host announced, “next week, we will have a real, actual Thunder expert to defend his team’s values”. Most of the comments on that episode seemed unconvinced by Ringer staff writer Tyler Parker’s arguments.

Published: March 26, 2026, 10:00 am

MLB 2026 predictions: are the Dodgers inevitable? Maybe not …

The World Series champions have somehow become even stronger. But there are a few teams who could stop them from retaining their title

A welcome introduction. Recent years have seen a tactical flattening of the game with the introduction of the universal DH, the banning of the shift and the three-batter minimum rule, but this adds an interesting wrinkle to game management. The league table of catchers’ challenge percentages will be fascinating. AE

Published: March 26, 2026, 9:00 am

Three things to watch this USMNT window: goalkeepers, progressive full-backs and midfield puzzles

Mauricio Pochettino will use friendlies against Belgium and Portugal to answer the final World Cup roster questions

When the US men’s national team booked Belgium and Portugal for the final pair of friendlies before the 2026 World Cup roster is named, it looked like a couple solid tests against European teams who will expect to reach this World Cup’s business end. They should be worthy tests of the US’s readiness for big matchups that could await if they advance from Group D. Oddly, they are also a pair of foes from the US’s 2014 World Cup campaign.

This will hardly resemble a 12-year reunion, though. Belgium arrives without Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois, two of the few remaining members from that round-of-16 clash that ended the United States’ tournament. Portugal arrives without the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, slightly dulling the demand for what might have been a hot ticket in Atlanta.

Published: March 26, 2026, 10:00 am

Mikaela Shiffrin ties record as she clinches her sixth overall World Cup skiing title

• Shiffrin holds off challenge from Germany’s Emma Aicher

• US star ties record set by Annemarie Moser-Pröll in 1970s

Mikaela Shiffrin secured a record-tying sixth women’s overall World Cup skiing title by holding off a challenge from Germany’s Emma Aicher in the final race of the season.

Shiffrin needed only to finish in the top 15 of Wednesday’s giant slalom in Lillehammer, and the American secured that before Aicher had even began her second run. Shiffrin finished 11th and Aicher – who needed to win the race and hope that Shiffrin finished 16th or worse to clinch her first title – finished 12th.

“It’s quite emotional,” Shiffrin said. “This thing sums up a whole season of work and fighting with the whole team and I have to say to Emma that her skiing has been just outstanding and today it was just so cool to watch her, especially on the first run.

“I think the outcome of this day is that she can do this. And I think that’s the coolest thing about ski racing – that anything is possible,” Shiffrin added.

Published: March 25, 2026, 1:05 pm

Jessica Pegula left frustrated as Elena Rybakina roars back to reach Miami last four

• Rybakina completes 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback win

• American slumps to fifth straight defeat to Kazakhstani

Jessica Pegula had her chances. Midway through the second set of yet another showdown with Elena Rybakina, the American had engineered a flawless start. After bulldozing through the opening set, Pegula’s level at the beginning of set two put her in with a fair shot of snatching a win against her Kazakhstani opponent, who has dominated their recent meetings.

Instead, Pegula departed Miami with another tough lesson to parse through after being shown once again that the best players in the world pounce on even the smallest drops in intensity. Despite her mediocre start, Rybakina produced a brilliant comeback to reach the Miami Open semi-finals with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.

Published: March 25, 2026, 9:55 pm

Fans and players from five African World Cup countries face $15,000 bond to enter US

• State department to expand program on 2 April

• Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Tunisia, Cape Verde affected

• No apparent exceptions for athletes or officials

A newly expanded policy from the Trump administration could require travelers from five World Cup-qualified countries to front a bond of up to $15,000 in order to enter the United States for the tournament.

Visa bonds operate like security deposits: a one-time payment meant to be refunded after a traveler exits the US under the terms of their visa. The amounts generally run between $5,000 and $15,000, and are required for passport holders from certain countries to enter the US legally under B-1 or B-2 visas, the types required for business travelers or tourists.

Published: March 25, 2026, 7:04 pm

US runners led off course in chaotic half-marathon given entry to world championships

• Lead runners were led off course by guide vehicle

• World Athletics gives runners special entry

Three runners who were led off course in a race that served as a qualifier for the World Road Running Championships have been given entry into the upcoming competition.

Jessica McClain, Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat were leading the USA Track & Field Half Marathon Championships in Atlanta earlier this month when the guide vehicle took the trio off course. Molly Born, who had been more than a minute behind the leaders, came through to win the race, with Carrie Ellwood and Annie Rodenfels in second and third. McClain, Hurley and Kurgat finished in ninth, 12th and 13th respectively, around two minutes behind Born.

Published: March 25, 2026, 2:27 pm

Pitch Points: Gio Reyna’s contradiction, World Cup playoffs, and Arsenal’s evolution

The world of soccer throws up no shortage of questions. Today, Graham Ruthven endeavors to answer three of them.

Twenty-six minutes. That’s all the game time Gio Reyna has played in 2026. He hasn’t played at all for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the last two months. For any other player, this surely would’ve kept them off the US roster for the upcoming friendlies against Belgium and Portugal. US manager Pochettino has consistently repeated the point that club form matters when building these squads. Reyna, however, isn’t any other player.

Published: March 25, 2026, 11:00 am

Saudi clubs ready to vie for Mohamed Salah’s signature as frenzy of speculation begins

Despite a recent focus on youth, the big SPL clubs will have the Middle East’s biggest star in their sights, bringing a possible link-up with Mané and Ronaldo

“We do not know where Mohamed will play next season,” Mohamed Salah’s agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, said on social media on Tuesday. “This also means that no one else knows. Beware of the attention seekers.”

A worthy warning but a futile one now that the Liverpool legend has confirmed he is leaving Anfield at the end of this season. While there will be some attention on whether he can end a hugely successful nine‑year spell with a trophy, clicks worldwide will be focused more on his next destination.

Published: March 25, 2026, 11:16 am

Democratic rising star extends ‘love’ after Hegseth pastor prays for his death

Senate nominee in Texas James Talarico says ‘Christian nationalism kills’ in response to Brooks Potteiger remark

James Talarico, the Texas Democratic state representative and Presbyterian seminarian, has said he forgives Pete Hegseth’s pastor for praying for his death. On Tuesday, Texas’s popular Democratic nominee for a US Senate seat pushed back against comments from Brooks Potteiger, the defense secretary’s closest spiritual adviser, who said: “We want him crucified with Christ.”

Talarico said on X: “Jesus loves. Christian Nationalism kills. You may pray for my death, Pastor, but I still love you. I love you more than you could ever hate me.”

Published: March 25, 2026, 6:52 pm

Savannah Guthrie says her family is ‘in agony’ in first interview since mother’s disappearance

Today show co-host appeared in pretaped interview as her mother, Nancy Guthrie, has been missing for seven weeks

Savannah Guthrie, the co-host of NBC’s Today show, has described her family’s ordeal as “agony” in her first interview since her mother’s disappearance more than seven weeks ago.

“Someone needs to do the right thing. We are in agony. We are in agony. It is unbearable,” Guthrie said through tears in a preview of the pretaped interview with her co-host, Hoda Kotb, which previewed on Wednesday.

Published: March 25, 2026, 3:55 pm

North Korea and Belarus sign ‘friendship and cooperation’ treaty

Kim Jong-un welcomed Alexander Lukashenko with lavish ceremony, including artillery salute and goose-stepping soldiers before a large flag-waving crowd

North Korea and Belarus’s strongmen leaders signed a “friendship and cooperation” treaty on Thursday, state media reported, after Kim Jong-un “warmly” welcomed president Alexander Lukashenko to Pyongyang for a maiden visit.

Besides supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine – about 2,000 North Korean soldiers are thought to have been killed – both nations are subject to western sanctions and are accused of gross human rights violations.

Published: March 26, 2026, 6:48 am

First trailer for Harry Potter TV series reveals much-anticipated new take

First real look at HBO’s big-budget small screen take on JK Rowling’s best-selling books also reveals that first season will premiere this Christmas

After a lengthy casting process and tight-lipped production, Harry, Ron and Hermione are finally headed back to Hogwarts. Today, HBO released the first teaser trailer for the new Harry Potter TV series, with a previously unannounced premiere date of Christmas 2026.

The preview for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – the first season of the show, based on the first of seven books by JK Rowling – introduces the three central characters: Harry (Dominic McLaughlin) and his friends Hermione Granger (Arabella Stanton) and Ron Weasley (Alastair Stout), who meet as 11-year-olds on the train to their first year at wizarding school.

Published: March 25, 2026, 7:49 pm

US army raises upper age for recruits to 42 and scraps marijuana restrictions

Change raises age limit from 35 and removes barrier for entry for recruits who have a legal conviction for cannabis

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The US army has raised the maximum enlistment age to 42 years old and scrapped a barrier for potential recruits who have a legal conviction for marijuana or drug paraphernalia possession.

People aged up to 42 can now enlist in the army, the army national guard and the army reserves, according to the new US army regulation, lifting the previous ceiling of 35 years old.

Published: March 25, 2026, 1:38 pm

‘It’s like flowers on steroids’: what happened when scientists heated a Rocky Mountain wildlife meadow by 2C?

A long-running experiment in Colorado provides an ‘alarming’ view of how rapidly unchecked global heating could transform fragile ecosystems

Every summer, people descend on the wildflower capital of Colorado to see grasslands flush with corn lilies, aspen sunflowers and sub-alpine larkspur. In January 1991, scientists set up a unique experiment in these Rocky Mountain meadows. It was one of the first (and longest running) to work out how the changing climate would affect an ecosystem.

At the time, it was believed a temperature increase could lead to longer, lusher grasses. But instead of flourishing, the grasses and wildflowers started to disappear, replaced by sage brush. The experimental meadows morphed into a desert-like scrubland. Even the fungi in the soils were transformed by heat.

Published: March 25, 2026, 3:00 pm

Fears net zero is ‘next Brexit’ as oil crisis fuels political climate divide

Rising energy bills give Reform and Tories opening to attack net zero while government hesitant to make case for clean energy

Could net zero become “the next Brexit”? That is the fear stalking climate advocates as the oil crisis caused by the war on Iran starts to bite.

A powerful coalition of the well-funded Reform party, led by Nigel Farage, the Conservative party, some business interests, and the UK’s right-wing media, are engaged in an onslaught against the longstanding target of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Published: March 26, 2026, 8:00 am

US has caused $10tn worth of climate damage since 1990, research finds

US, top carbon emitter in history, has ‘a lot of responsibility’ for causing ‘substantial’ harm globally, scientist says

The US has caused an eye-watering $10tn in global damages to the world over the past three decades through its vast planet-heating emissions, with a quarter of this economic pain inflicted upon itself, new research has found.

By being the largest carbon emitter in history, the US has caused greater harm to worldwide economic growth than any other country, ahead of China, now the world’s largest emitter that is responsible for $9tn in GDP damage since 1990, according to the findings of the paper.

Published: March 25, 2026, 4:00 pm

Country diary: Spring is here – a mad mix of joy and discipline | Paul Evans

The Marches, Shropshire: The call of the chiffchaff and the turning of the allotment soil – these are seasonal rituals honed over time

A pair of ravens, barking mad, perform their shuttling flight in glorious sunshine above Old Racecourse Common. A charm of chaffinches flash white wing-bars through the shadows of mossy willows around the pond. A queen red-tailed bumblebee orbits a hedgebank boundary stone, then buzzes off to feed on gorse flowers or prospect for possible colony chambers below.

A lesser-spotted woodpecker hammers out rapid bursts of drumbeats from a stand of beech across the misty distances of the hills. Chiffchaffs find their rhythm in the oaks. These constantly repeated two-note phrases are not what they seem when you hear the writer and musician Mark E Smith say of his own work: “It’s not repetition, it’s discipline.” A chiffchaff flies out from tree cover, across the open common, an apparition so slight compared with the powerful, hidden voice, to resume their discipline in further oaks.

Published: March 26, 2026, 5:30 am

Mormon Wives star being investigated for third domestic violence allegation

Latest allegation against Taylor Frankie Paul comes days after ABC pulled her upcoming season of the Bachelorette

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Authorities in Utah are investigating allegations of a third domestic violence incident involving The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives reality stars Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen.

The West Jordan police department told the Guardian in a statement on Wednesday that it was “currently investigating an incident involving Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen” and that the “allegations were reported at the end of February 2026, and detectives have reviewed video believed to have been recorded in early to mid-2024.

Published: March 25, 2026, 4:47 pm

Backlash mounts over twist in Robert Pattinson Zendaya romcom The Drama

Disquiet aired over the subject matter of film about a couple whose engagement is upended after they reveal to each other ‘the worst thing you’ve ever done’

• This article contains major spoilers for The Drama

The father of a child murdered in the Columbine school shootings has expressed his unhappiness at the film-makers behind forthcoming movie The Drama.

The film, which is written and directed by Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli, is a dark romantic comedy starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya as a couple whose upcoming wedding is cast in doubt after she reveals that she once planned a school shooting, but backed out at the last moment.

Published: March 25, 2026, 1:20 pm

Jamie Lee Curtis to lead Murder, She Wrote reboot movie

Oscar winner will take on role of Jessica Fletcher in 2027 film from Pitch Perfect director Jason Moore

Oscar-winning actor Jamie Lee Curtis has been confirmed to take on the role of Jessica Fletcher in a big-screen reboot of Murder, She Wrote.

The 67-year-old star of Halloween and Everything Everywhere All at Once will play the mystery author and amateur detective made famous by Angela Lansbury in the long-running television series.

Published: March 25, 2026, 6:35 pm

Woman accused of shooting at Rihanna’s home pleads not guilty

Woman pleads not guilty to firing shots at Rihanna’s home while the singer and her family were there

A woman from Florida pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to the attempted murder of Rihanna.

Ivanna Lisette Ortiz, of Orlando, also pleaded not guilty through her attorney to more than a dozen other felony counts in Los Angeles superior court.

Published: March 25, 2026, 6:35 pm

Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer-winning author who turned unlikely subjects into bestsellers, dies aged 80

Writer looked to topics such as computer engineering and life in a nursing home to produce richly researched books

Tracy Kidder, an award-winning narrative nonfiction writer who turned everything from computer engineering to life in a nursing home into unexpected bestsellers, has died. He was 80.

Kidder’s longtime publisher Random House confirmed his death in a statement on Wednesday: “Tracy’s gifts for storytelling and tireless reporting are an enduring reflection of the empathy, integrity, and endless curiosity he brought to everything he did.”

Published: March 25, 2026, 9:44 pm

UK CO2 plant to reopen amid fears Iran war could lead to shortage

Teesside site mothballed in September given £100m by government to restart production for at least three months

A shuttered carbon dioxide plant is to reopen on Teesside with £100m of government investment in response to fears the war in Iran could trigger shortages of the gas that multiple industries rely on.

The business secretary, Peter Kyle, has approved the reopening of the Ensus plant to help bolster production of CO₂, which has uses ranging from carbonating drinks and keeping food fresh to medical procedures and the sedating of animals for slaughter.

Published: March 26, 2026, 9:37 am

House of Lords pushes for Australian-style social media ban for under-16s

Peers, in vote of 266 to 141, reject Keir Starmer’s proposals for public consultation to decide if social media ban should be introduced in UK

The House of Lords has backed an Australian-style social media ban for under-16s.

Peers, in a vote of 266 to 141, rejected Keir Starmer’s proposals for a public consultation to decide whether a ban should be introduced.

Published: March 26, 2026, 3:45 am

‘They can reach me wherever’: China using financial tactics to coerce people who flee, says report

UK urged to tackle transnational repression, as dissidents say Beijing has targeted them with tax bills and other threats

“I didn’t feel safe, even though I’m not based in Hong Kong any more,” said Christopher Mung Siu-tat after getting tax bills from Hong Kong authorities. “The regime can reach me by their long arms wherever I am.”

Siu-tat, the executive director at the Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor, a UK-based NGO, fled Beijing’s sweeping national security laws years ago. The letters are the latest example of a series of transnational repression (TNR) tactics the 54-year-old has faced in recent years.

Published: March 25, 2026, 1:44 pm

The Comeback review – Lisa Kudrow is back as Valerie Cherish … but with no laughs

It’s been 21 years since we met the self-absorbed TV star in this industry satire. But as she comes out of retirement, the results are woeful – and it’s not just the AI script

Valerie Cherish may just be the closest thing America has to its own Alan Partridge. Both narcissists clinging desperately to 1990s showbiz successes (starring in a popular sitcom and hosting a BBC chatshow respectively), they are also two rare examples of comedy characters who have returned sporadically over multiple decades: Steve Coogan’s alter ego made his television debut 32 years ago, while Lisa Kudrow first appeared as Cherish in The Comeback in 2005, returning for a second season nine years later and a third this week.

Yet the pair are most alike as prisms through which their creators can satirise the ever-evolving entertainment landscape. Thus far, Partridge’s career has been bookended by sports commentary and self-funded documentaries about mental health; in between we’ve had sendups of local radio, travelogues, podcasting, celebrity memoir and teatime magazine shows. The Comeback, meanwhile, began as a twin spoof of the studio sitcom and reality TV. Co-created by Kudrow and Michael Patrick King (best known for directing and writing for Sex and the City and And Just Like That), season one revolved around the making of a fly-on-the-wall documentary about Cherish’s return to work in a trashy comedy called Room and Bored. In 2014, The Comeback – the name of both the actual show and the reality TV programme within it – was revived to chronicle another career renaissance; this time, Cherish won serious acclaim as the star of Seeing Red, a dark dramedy inspired by the real-life conflict between her and Room and Bored’s heroin-addicted co-writer Paulie G.

The Comeback aired on Sky Comedy and is on Now in the UK and HBO Max in Australia

Published: March 25, 2026, 9:40 pm

‘His perspective is so relevant’: the A-listers bringing Henry David Thoreau back to screen

Ken Burns’s new three-part documentary shows why it’s not too late for us to learn from the great naturalist

Henry David Thoreau is a new PBS documentary in three parts, each an hour long. The project comes with a voiceover cast of heavyweights, with narration from George Clooney, Jeff Goldblum playing the great essayist and additional voices from Ted Danson, Tate Donovan and Meryl Streep.

The project began life as a short film. Don Henley, the Eagles frontman, has long worked to preserve Walden Pond, in the woodlands outside Concord, Massachusetts, where Thoreau lived between 1845 and 1847 and wrote his great book: Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Seeking to capture the place’s magic, Henley approached Ken Burns, the legendary documentarian. As executive producer, Burns entrusted the project to two regular collaborators, brothers Erik and Christopher Loren Ewers. Like the ferns and fiddleheads that carpet the forest floor at Walden, the film began to grow.

Published: March 25, 2026, 9:02 am

Pretty Lethal review – Amazon’s ballerina action thriller puts on a decent enough show

A group of American dancers face off against Hungarian gangsters, and a hammy Uma Thurman, in a cheap and cheerful Friday night adventure

Last year’s Ballerina, or as Lionsgate’s marketing team would prefer us to say From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, failed as both proof that the Keanu Reeves-led franchise could support expansion and that “ballet action thriller” could be a worthy new genre. The title, in whichever format audiences came across it, was both confusing and misleading, the film ultimately featuring very little in the way of actual dance moves.

For those who left the cinema enraged at Ana de Armas’s lack of arabesque kills, they can get their fill at home this week with Amazon’s fresh-from-SXSW actioner Pretty Lethal, a film all about ballet dancers actually using their skills to slaughter a string of eastern European bad guys. It’s a neat idea, positioning women who might be untrained fighters but who have grit and stamina learned from a gruelling form of dance many underestimate, and in an overcrowded field, it gives it a slight yet elegantly extended, leg up.

Published: March 25, 2026, 6:12 pm

Bait review – Riz Ahmed’s comedy is petty, narcissistic … and excellent

Part autobiography, part industry satire, this hilarious show boasts dazzling dialogue and ace cameos. But surely Ahmed has better things to do than play James Bond?

If I were Riz Ahmed, I would be very up myself too. In the two decades since his screen career began, the actor has won Oscars and Baftas; been cast in a Star Wars film and a Charli xcx video; inspired a metric for Muslim on-screen representation (the Riz Test) and crafted a body of work comprising performances which are both individually excellent and collectively meaningful.

He has done so by combining talent with an unusual willingness to engage with the wider context of what it means to be a brown British person on 21st-century planet Earth. I imagine a certain amount of ego is also necessary to power the whole enterprise. And if so, what of it?

Published: March 25, 2026, 5:00 am

Can Bluey save classical music? Cartoon puppy’s all-encompassing soundtrack plays Bach and Beethoven to billions

In the hugely popular pre-school animation, composer Joff Bush references and rearranges classical tunes in all the right places – and never plays it for cheap laughs. Plus, the Wigmore Hall sees the writing on the wall

Classical music’s continued battle for relevance and impact continues to find new nadirs, from tired experiments with formats to bathetic look-at-me clickbait. But what if there was an answer – a joyous, creative and positive one – staring at us with irresistibly big eyes?

There really might be, in the shape of a blue heeler puppy. I’m talking, of course, about Bluey, the Australian cartoon for children of all ages. The numbers are huge: it was the most streamed show in the US last year, with more than 45bn minutes watched, and a billion streams and counting across the world for Bluey’s albums and soundtracks, all written by Joff Bush, the Australian musician who has led the composition of the music for each of the 154 episodes so far.

Published: March 25, 2026, 2:57 pm

‘A new world is being born’: author Rebecca Solnit on the ‘slow revolution’ the far right cannot tolerate

It’s easy to focus on authoritarians and their petty victories. But zoom out and the picture is more encouraging, says the woman who popularised the term ‘mansplaining’, whether it’s in feminism, or the environment, or civil rights

When I speak to Rebecca Solnit, she is beaming, and I can’t immediately figure out why. Her new book, The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change, blasts in with a pragmatic positivity, it’s true. She writes with a “pull yourself together, don’t even think about despair” tone. But that’s not why she’s smiling – it’s because Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor just got arrested. “Why is the UK doing these things the US should be doing? Why now? Wow!”

This “feminist chortling” (as she calls it) about the disgraced royal is right in the bailiwick of the writer who virtually invented the term mansplaining. A truly hilarious story about a man explaining her own book to her at a party became the pandemically viral essay Men Explain Things to Me in 2008, then a fierce, controlled critique of the patriarchy in a book of the same name in 2014.

Published: March 25, 2026, 10:00 am

Black Bag by Luke Kennard review – a campus comedy for our end times

Drawing on a real-life 1960s experiment, this story of an out-of-work actor paid to cover himself in a black leather bag fizzes with wit and invention

The unnamed narrator of Black Bag, an out-of-work actor living in London, has finally landed himself a role, and it’s a doozy. Advertised on the “admirably candid” website strange-acting-jobs.org, the role demands that he sit silent and unmoving at the back of a university lecture theatre for one whole term, dressed in nothing but a black leather bag. He will be paid in cash. He cannot believe his luck. “This is my big chance to do absolutely nothing, as thoroughly as possible.”

Black Bag is the hilarious new novel from Luke Kennard, a poet whose second collection made him the youngest ever nominee for the Forward prize in 2007, and whose debut novel was the similarly surreal and equally enjoyable The Transition. Both works operate as Black Mirror-style satires of late-capitalist, technocratic societies, where discontented thirtysomethings find themselves embroiled in bizarre social experiments.

Published: March 25, 2026, 9:00 am

My ​quest to ​preserve VHS-​era ​gaming ​culture​, one eBay bid at a time

As physical media makes an unlikely comebac​k​ among younger gamers, the humble VHS emerges as an unexpected archive of gaming’s messy, magical evolution​ that I saw first time around

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As I am nostalgic and of a certain age, I recently bought a VHS video recorder, just for the retrospective thrill of it; then I won a 32-inch CRT television at an auction in Shepton Mallet. Partly, this was to play a few old videos I had found in my loft, including one of me appearing in a 1990s youth TV show talking about sexism and Tomb Raider. (I was against the sexism, to be clear). But it was also because I wanted a new way of spending my money on fragile video-game nostalgia.

The rise of the games industry in the 1980s and 90s coincided with the explosion of the home-video business, and the two crossed paths in lots of interesting ways. There are the obvious treasures I want to get hold of: VHS copies of Street Fighter: The Movie and the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie, naturally, as well as early games-inspired hits such as The Last Starfighter, The Wizard and WarGames. I rented most of these from my local video shop in the 80s – which, like many others, also sold computer games by the budget publisher Mastertronic, another interesting (at least to me) crossover between these two entertainment formats.

Published: March 25, 2026, 12:40 pm

The creator of Fortnite has laid off more than 1,000 staff – despite billions in revenue

Huge cuts announced this week show that truly no developer working in games is safe from corporate whims

The video game industry is currently experiencing a seemingly endless bout of ruinous deja vu. Every month, another publisher posts an all too familiar statement about job losses in its development studios. There will be airy expressions of regret and platitudes praising the skill and contribution of the imminently jobless; it is all filtered through layers of corporate doublespeak intended to disguise the human cost of downsizing.

On Tuesday, it was the turn of Epic Games, creator of Fortnite, one of the most successful titles on the planet. In a note posted online, CEO Tim Sweeney announced that more than 1,000 jobs would be lost – this followed the cutting of 830 staff in September 2023.

Published: March 25, 2026, 12:30 pm

Stephen Colbert to write new Lord of the Rings film after end of the Late Show

Comedian and avid Tolkien fan to write the Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, a new Peter Jackson-produced film based on unadapted chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring

Stephen Colbert has lined up his next job after finishing up as host of The Late Show in May: writing a new Lord of the Rings film tentatively titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past.

Film-maker Peter Jackson, who directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy, made the surprise announcement in a video on social media on Tuesday. Colbert is an avid, lifelong JRR Tolkien fan and even had a small cameo in Jackson’s 2013 film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug alongside his wife and children.

Published: March 25, 2026, 5:38 am

Duffy to tell story of her kidnapping and rape ordeal in new Disney+ documentary

Promising ‘unprecedented access’, the programme will recount the singer’s story, including full details of the harrowing attacks that drove her into hiding for a decade

It was a great music industry mystery: after becoming one of the biggest pop stars of the 2000s with her debut album, 2008’s Rockferry, the Welsh pop star Duffy vanished from the public eye. In 2020, she revealed what had happened to her: in 2010, she said, she had been drugged, kidnapped and taken to another country where she was subject to violent abuse and raped.

Duffy, real name Aimée Anne Duffy, 41, will tell that story in depth for the first time in a new documentary, produced by Disney+ and Hulu Original, with production set to begin soon. A press release promises “new, unprecedented access” to the Mercy singer, who will tell her entire life story, as well as interviews with friends, family and music industry associates.

Published: March 25, 2026, 4:32 pm

The shot that shows the absurdity of war: Peter van Agtmael’s best photograph

‘US soldiers would look for “suspected terrorists” in Iraqi homes and usually find nothing. This could be my grandma’s living room – it shows that insane violence can continue amid normal life’

I took this picture during my first time in Iraq, 20 years ago. It was the first entry in a body of work about the US post-9/11, at home and at war, which has occupied a good chunk of my professional life for the last two decades. I had turned 25 the week before and it was a formative journey on a personal level. It was the first time I experienced war, and my understanding of my country and its relationship to the world developed in the crucible of this extremely violent situation, which was descending into civil war while I was there.

I had been embedded in Iraq with the US military for six weeks or so at this point, and had taken some good pictures. But this one was different and it still means something to me today. It was the first I had taken that wasn’t overtly channelling the history of war photography – which largely focusses on violence, horror and victims. Those are important things to show, but I wanted to understand this particular conflict, and how my position as an American of the same generation as those fighting could help me interpret it for the public. I guess the image crystallised something I had seen – this vast machine of military might mobilised in the Middle East; the momentum of all these young men with powerful weapons patrolling cities in search of people identified as enemies of America, enemies of democracy.

Published: March 25, 2026, 3:21 pm

White stuff: capturing a land without colour – in pictures

For six months out of 12, Japan’s northernmost island, Hokkaido is covered in snow. Elizabeth Sanjuan’s haunting images make the most of this monochrome landscape

Published: March 25, 2026, 7:00 am

What to know about ‘boy kibble’, the viral meal slop trend

Some gen Z men are using the term to describe an easy meal consisting of ground beef, rice, and a vegetable or fat

Recently, after a long day of sending emails, I assembled a bowl of food I had prepared over the weekend: brown rice, ground turkey and half an avocado, all drizzled in hot sauce. As I snarfed my meal on the couch, my husband peeked into my bowl and said: “Having some boy kibble?”

It turns out he was not just making a rude comment about my slop. On social media, health-conscious gen Z men have started using the term to describe a quick and easy meal: ground beef, rice, and sometimes a vegetable or fat. The brown, lumpy concoction is praised by gym bros as an easy, relatively cheap way to get the carbs and protein necessary to maximize their workout gains.

Salmon with rice and vegetables

Greek yogurt with fruit and granola

Eggs with whole grain toast and avocado

Stir-fry with tofu, vegetables, buckwheat noodles, and crushed nuts and sesame seeds

A whole grain wrap filled with black beans, guacamole, veggies, cheese and salsa

Whole grain pasta with turkey meatballs, zucchini spirals, olives, parmesan cheese and tomato sauce

Published: March 25, 2026, 4:00 pm

‘It’s like having a friend everywhere you travel’: after 12 home exchanges, I’ll never book a hotel again

The Which? travel editor on the unexpected joys and considerable savings of house swapping. Plus top tips on how to do it

Imagine cutting the cost of accommodation on your next holiday to about £5 a day. You can have a whole house, rather than just a bedroom. And you can go almost anywhere in the world and stay as long as you like, within reason. Welcome to house swapping.

You’re sceptical, I know. I was, too. Our terrace house was too small. Too overflowing with stuff. The 1980s kitchen was too old (and battered). We aren’t in a nice enough neighbourhood. Who would want to stay here? Lots of people, it turned out.

Published: March 26, 2026, 7:00 am

Plastic-free cutting boards and $17 bike lights: 11 things you loved in March

As winter habits thawed, you leaned into brighter bike rides, kitchen upgrades and deeper sleep

• Field Company’s new No 5 chef skillet fixes everything I hated about cast iron

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

In March, we’ve been easing out of our winter hibernation, trading hotpot nights for prepping fresh produce and at-home workouts for cycling and pickleball.

To help you slowly defrost, we’ve dutifully tried dozens of items, including 11 bike lights, 10 cutting boards and a newly released cast-iron skillet.

A non-toxic cooking pan and a $7 hand cream: 11 things you loved in February

The ‘Goldilocks’ of sleep masks and $8 winter gloves: 12 things you loved in January

Sleep masks, mug warmers and mini projectors: things you loved in 2025

Published: March 25, 2026, 8:30 pm

A moment that changed me: I thought my Parkinson’s was the end of my life, but dancing changed everything

The moment I stepped into English National Ballet’s studio, I stopped being just a patient. Among fellow spirits, I have rediscovered my sense of joy and agency

Fourteen years ago, a neurologist told me: “You have Parkinson’s.” I remember his face before I remember his words: calm, certain, kind. Parkinson’s: a progressive neurological disease. No cure. In my mind, it was an old person’s disease. Something that happened to other people, later in life. Not to a single man in his early 50s who believed there was still time for romance, adventure, reinvention.

What terrified me most wasn’t the tremors or the stiffness. It was the imagined future. I pictured a partner signing up not for love, but for care. I thought: who would choose that? Who would choose me, knowing this?

Published: March 25, 2026, 6:45 am

Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: there may be 50 shades, but there’s only one Correct Grey

The true quality of a fabric is revealed by a neutral tone – one that beautifully offsets the brighter tones of 2026. Just don’t mention John Major

Sometimes a colour name is a whole mood. Rouge Noir: the stamp of cult 1990s glamour. Millennial pink: the colour of overthinking and oversharing. Elephant’s Breath by Farrow & Ball: the imperial age of the gastro pub.

I have a new favourite. Pairs is a lovely little Scottish brand which makes great quality socks at good prices. There are many cute names – Frosting Pink, Milky Tea Beige – but the one I just had to click on was Correct Grey, “a warm grey with nods to a classic British school sock”, according to the website.

Published: March 25, 2026, 2:00 pm

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for potato, aubergine and herb tortino alla fiorentina

A substantial, velvety dish to carry you through into the summer months

The sky is the same shade as old Tupperware, our tortoise appears to have gone back into hibernation, the flat upstairs has builders in, but the kitchen smells gorgeous, thanks to this week’s recipe. It is one of the variations suggested by Anna Gosetti Della Salda for her aubergine and egg tortino alla fiorentina in the Tuscany chapter of Le Ricette Regionali Italiane, an indispensable book that I would save from a fire. The addition of potato to the aubergine makes it an even more substantial, velvet-like and better-tasting dish, I think: a layered vegetable bake crossed with a frittata that fancies itself as having a touch of baked eggs (although don’t expect any puffing up).

Instead of the aubergine, you could use artichoke hearts (trimmed and cut into slim wedges), courgettes or cardoon, and, if you fancy, you could also add a crumbled sausage or a handful of diced pancetta. Whatever you use, however, a fundamental stage in terms of both flavour and texture is the initial cooking of the vegetables: frying the potatoes, then covering the pan so they fry-steam into tenderness; the aubergine by simply frying. Important, too, is sprinkling the just-cooked slices with a little salt, so the end dish is seasoned through. (The egg and milk mixture is seasoned with cheese – use whatever you have – but check for salt, too.)

Published: March 26, 2026, 6:00 am

Sauces, spreads, sprinkles – and cocktail in a can: whose fridge is this?

There’s a distinctly sour edge to the jars and goodies that chef and author Helen Graham keeps handy

Amba sauce
“I’m very jar orientated; a lot of my cooking is about combining big flavours. I’m also a sucker for a sour ingredient, and this Iraqi pickled mango condiment is really sour – more so than tamarind. If I’m garnishing a dish with tahini, then I’ll use amba to cut through the richness, otherwise I’ll use it in lieu of citrus.”

Stem ginger in syrup
“My grandpa always gave me this when I was a kid, and I thought it was disgusting. However, now it’s essential; I often make a (chopped) stem ginger and spring onion salsa – it’s sweet and spicy. Stem ginger is such a nostalgic ingredient for me.”

Published: March 26, 2026, 10:00 am

‘It dictated the whole atmosphere’: why some landlords are banning kids from pubs

Unruly behaviour, safety concerns and lost trade are forcing some landlords to act, but others argue pubs should remain for everyone

“It was like the wild west. If you had an hour, I could talk you through so many scenarios,” says Egil Johansen, the landlord of the Kenton pub in Hackney, east London. He sounds exhausted just remembering them.

Johansen is still shaken by the three-year-old who recently toddled behind the bar and tumbled down the cellar hatch while his parents sat, oblivious, in a different part of the pub.

Published: March 26, 2026, 9:00 am

Thursday news quiz: security scrapes, sordid statues and feral ferrets

Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?

Welcome once again to the Thursday quiz. There are no prizes but plenty of opportunities to discover which of your firmly held opinions are, on closer inspection, just question marks in disguise. Fifteen questions await you, covering topical news, popular culture and general knowledge, and surprisingly not one of them is about that possum found among the toys at an airport. Let us know how you got on in the comments. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 240

Published: March 26, 2026, 6:00 am

Heroism, horror and the ‘pits of hell’: inside the last days of El Fasher

Over two days in October 2025, up to 10,000 people are believed to have been massacred; a further 40,000 civilians from the Sudanese city are still unaccounted for. This is the story of what happened

In the pistachio green Toyota Land Cruiser rattling over the desert plain, Aboud Khater pressed his foot to the floor. Behind, the sun rose above El Fasher. Smoke belched from the stricken city. Khater was driving the last vehicle of the final evacuation convoy from El Fasher.

It was 5:45am on 27 October 2025. He couldn’t have waited any longer. The historic capital of Sudan’s sprawling region of Darfur would capitulate in the next two hours.

Published: March 25, 2026, 1:01 pm

US traveller recounts brutal detention in Venezuela’s feared prisons: ‘They beat me, chained me up’

James Luckey’s ordeal sheds light on the mistreatment political prisoners faced under Nicolás Maduro

There were few countries James Luckey didn’t see during three years backpacking across the Americas, from Haiti and Honduras to Bolivia and Uruguay. Early last December, he set off from a budget hotel in the Brazilian Amazon hoping to fill in one of the final gaps.

Luckey’s intended destination was the two-billion-year-old tabletop mountain Mount Roraima, one of the most spectacular corners of South America’s most troubled nation, Venezuela. But within hours of crossing into the border town of Santa Elena de Uairén, that plan went up in smoke.

Published: March 25, 2026, 12:01 pm

ICE made their neighbors ‘prisoners in their own homes’. So 130 Memphis residents signed up to deliver food

As US raids spread, a grassroots pantry delivers food, medicine and basics to immigrant families too afraid to leave home

Last summer, months before Memphis became overrun with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, local activists and Latino leaders came together to figure out how to best meet their community’s needs. The Trump administration’s expansion of ICE was still nascent; the agency had conducted raids in Los Angeles, but hadn’t yet begun its operations in Chicago or Minneapolis.

Amber Hampton and another member of Indivisible Memphis, a volunteer-run chapter of the nationwide civil rights organization, attended the meeting. Though neither of them spoke much Spanish, and many of those gathered from the Latino community spoke little English, they understood each other, Hampton told the Guardian.

Published: March 25, 2026, 12:00 pm

Edge-walking and musical robots: photos of the day – Wednesday

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 3:08 pm