‘I’d introduce aliens to shito sauce.’ Items our panel would take into space

Artemis II’s astronauts packed their wedding rings, notebooks and a supply of maple syrup. Here’s what our writers would fly to the moon

Published: April 3, 2026, 5:00 am

‘I lost a $3m brand deal. I was like: OK, losers!’ Swedish pop provocateur Zara Larsson on fame, fun and fighting the power

After a decade in pop’s underground, Larsson’s radiant fifth album turned her into one of the world’s biggest stars. It’s about time, she says, relishing the attention without sacrificing her morals

On a warm spring day, Brooklyn’s century-old Paramount theatre has been transformed into a base camp for all things Zara Larsson. Stage techs scurry past entourage members, managers furiously tap smartphones and various figures patiently await their moment with the Swedish superstar.

Down a plushly carpeted flight of stairs, Zara Larsson is on all fours, saying “puss puss” (Swedish for “kiss kiss”) into a camera. Despite all the craziness around her, she is locked in, wearing electric-blue stockings, tangerine booty shorts and a tiny blazer that makes her look like Malibu Barbie at graduation. A man powers up a leaf-blower, sending Larsson’s blond hair flying. After hitting a few poses, she tippy-taps over in maribou-trimmed stilettos and offers me a can of water. “Cheers!” she says as we clink.

Published: April 3, 2026, 4:00 am

Your Friends & Neighbours season two review – Jon Hamm was made for this moreish crime caper

The star returns as wealthy neighbourhood thief Coop in this rich dessert of a show. But as he tackles middle-age malaise, there’s a lot of heart – plus a guest appearance by James Marsden

Does Your Friends & Neighbours love its unhappy, very wealthy characters, or despise them? Does it laugh at the 1%, envy them, pity them? It does all of the above at once and, as we return to the fictional enclave of Westport, New York – an obvious stand-in for real financiers’ playground Westchester – this mischievous US dramedy is still a rich dessert of a show, unhealthy but oh so moreish.

Jon Hamm is Andrew “Coop” Cooper, a role that, if it were given to any other actor, would require them to do their best Jon Hamm impersonation. Sturdy, smooth – this is a man made of oak and mahogany, when the rest of us are bags of twigs and jelly – and seemingly always with a tumbler of $500 whisky in his fist, he is blessed with the ability to charm any man/woman into a deal/his bed. Other men have been handed their place in the banking elite and are now drifting through a life of luxury; Coop is better at playing the game than they are because he is sharp enough to see what a sham it all is. He has that trademark deep Hamm gaze, a tension behind the eyes.

Published: April 3, 2026, 7:00 am

The families torn apart by the Minab school bombing – podcast

Tess McClure reports on the US bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Iran, and the families who lost loved ones in the attack

On 28 February, during the first US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran, there was a strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab.

“The impact of dropping a 2,000-plus pound bomb on a primary school full of children mostly seven to 12 years old and their teachers is just unimaginable,” Tess McClure, the Guardian’s editor for rights and freedom, tells Nosheen Iqbal.

Published: April 3, 2026, 2:00 am

Experience: I climbed the tallest tropical tree in the world

It was a slow ascent: I needed to check for wasps, snakes and scorpions

I was born in Tawau, a Malaysian city on the island of Borneo, and grew up around logging camps – my dad worked in the industry. In the early 90s, a lot of the forest here started being cleared for commercial use. At the time, I just thought that was the way things were.

That changed when I began working in conservation as a teenager at the South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership in the nearby Danum Valley. My job was to plant seedlings in places where the forest had been cut down. I began to learn about the importance of keeping the forest safe.

Published: April 3, 2026, 4:00 am

Pope Leo’s first Easter: one year in, what do Catholics think of the new pontiff?

Some would like Leo to be more vocal on world conflict, but others say he uses his influence discreetly

As Leo marks his inaugural Easter as pontiff, almost a year after his predecessor’s death, some Catholics are still trying to work out what kind of pontiff he is.

The feast – the most important in the church’s calendar – comes against the backdrop of war in the Middle East, sparked by the US-Israeli strikes in Iran.

Published: April 3, 2026, 5:00 am

Middle East crisis live: Iran says it shot down US fighter jet, warns against UN vote on ‘defensive force’ in strait of Hormuz

Iranian foreign minister criticises security council vote on military protection for shipping in the strait a ‘provocative action’

• Full report: Trump warns Tehran ‘more to follow’ after strike destroys Iran’s largest bridge

Iran has said a second US F-35 fighter jet has been shot down over Iran, with the state news agency saying it’s unlikely the pilot survived, Reuters reports.

The incident comes as Iran has been firing on targets across the Middle East, on Friday, including firing missiles at Israel and Bahrain, and setting alight an oil refinery in Kuwait with drone attacks.

Published: April 3, 2026, 6:13 am

Trump fires Pam Bondi, a loyalist and ally, as attorney general

Bondi earned president’s ire over handling release of Epstein files and failing to prosecute his political enemies

• US politics live – latest updates

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Donald Trump has fired Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, dismissing a loyalist who reshaped the justice department but still failed to please a president fixated on prosecuting political enemies and frustrated with the politically explosive release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social: “Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900. We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future.”

Published: April 2, 2026, 7:46 pm

Canadian woman held with daughter by ICE is released after nearly three weeks of detention

Tania Warner is fitted with ankle monitor and released along with seven-year-old daughter Ayla Luca after being deemed not a flight risk

A Canadian woman and her seven-year-old daughter, who were held for nearly three weeks in a notorious detention center by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), were released on Thursday evening after posting a bond of $9,500.

Tania Warner and her daughter Ayla Luca, originally from British Columbia, are both Canadian citizens. Warner moved to the US in 2021 when she married Edward Warner, a US citizen. “Very happy to have my family home … it’s been a whirlwind day,” said Edward Warner.

Published: April 3, 2026, 3:59 am

Artemis II astronauts rocket towards the moon after breaking free of Earth’s orbit

Spacecraft’s engine fired up for six minutes to propell astronauts on their three-day voyage towards Earth’s natural satellite

The four Artemis astronauts have fired up their spacecraft’s engine to break away from Earth’s orbit and zoomed towards the moon, a milestone that commits Nasa to the first crewed lunar flyby in more than half a century.

With enough thrust to accelerate a stationary car to highway-driving speed in less than three seconds, the Orion capsule engine blasted on Thursday the astronauts on their trajectory towards the moon, which they now will loop as part of the 10-day Artemis 2 mission.

Published: April 3, 2026, 5:42 am

President of Wisconsin’s largest mosque detained by US immigration agents

Attorneys for Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian-born US green card holder, say he was targeted for criticizing Israel

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The president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque was detained by federal immigration agents, drawing accusations from local officials and religious leaders that the arrest was motivated by his statements against Israel.

Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident of the United States, was taken into custody by nearly a dozen US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Monday in Milwaukee after he left his home, according to the Islamic Society of Milwaukee.

Published: April 2, 2026, 10:13 pm

Top US army officer steps down after Hegseth reportedly demanded removal

Pentagon announces Randy George retiring from role as US army chief of staff, ‘effective immediately’

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Randy George, the US army’s top officer, is stepping down from his role after the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, reportedly requested that he retire immediately. The Pentagon confirmed on Thursday that George, who had been serving as the army’s 41st chief of staff, was retiring.

“General Randy A George will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately. The Department of War is grateful for General George’s decades of service to our nation. We wish him well in his retirement,” Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement shared on social media.

Published: April 2, 2026, 10:37 pm

Maryland man receives 20-year sentence for pet crematorium scam

Rodney Ward returned debris instead of pets’ ashes and stored animals’ bodies in hearse or threw them out on road

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A Baltimore county man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of defrauding pet owners through his fake crematorium business, returning rocks and sand to grieving victims instead of ashes.

On Tuesday, 56-year-old Rodney Ward was also ordered to pay $12,510 in restitution to victims. He had pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft and five counts of malicious destruction of property over $1,000, according to the Baltimore county state’s attorney’s office.

Published: April 2, 2026, 9:09 pm

Alleged maple syrup scam in Quebec uncovered by Canadian broadcaster

A Radio-Canada reporter noticed his maple syrup tasted odd; testing revealed it was adulterated with cane sugar

An investigation by Canada’s national broadcaster has found that a major Quebec producer has been diluting its maple syrup with cane sugar and selling the fraudulent product to grocery chains.

In a sting operation that involved false identities and covert recordings, journalists from Radio-Canada’s Enquête programme found that a low-cost syrup sold in major grocery store chains was heavily diluted.

Published: April 2, 2026, 7:07 pm

Federal judge throws out most of Blake Lively’s claims against Justin Baldoni

Judge Lewis Liman dismissed 10 of Lively’s 13 claims against Baldoni, including claim of sexual harassment

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A federal judge has thrown out the majority of Blake Lively’s claims against Justin Baldoni.

In a court ruling on Thursday, Judge Lewis Liman dismissed 10 of the 13 claims in Lively’s lawsuit against her co-star and director of the domestic violence film It Ends With Us.

Published: April 2, 2026, 9:34 pm

Coalition of countries discuss ‘every possible measure’ to pressure Iran into reopening strait of Hormuz

Yvette Cooper hosts virtual summit of more than 40 countries to consider coordinated action in face of closure of vital shipping lane

• Middle East crisis live – latest updates

More than 40 countries gathered to discuss “every possible diplomatic, economic and coordinated measure” to pressurise Iran into reopening the strait of Hormuz, the UK foreign secretary has said.

After chairing a virtual summit on Thursday, Yvette Cooper said coordinated action was needed as Iran’s “reckless strikes” on international shipping and efforts to “hijack the global economy” were hitting nations from across the globe “who played no part in this conflict”.

Published: April 2, 2026, 6:37 pm

How have Trump’s Iran war aims changed and has he achieved any of them?

President has said US will shortly achieve its objectives – but it is not clear what exactly those objectives are

• Middle East crisis – live updates

In his address to the nation on Wednesday evening Donald Trump said the US would “very shortly” achieve its strategic objectives in Iran – partly because the White House has constantly adjusted its goals since the start of the war on 28 February.

Published: April 2, 2026, 3:55 pm

‘A litany of lies’: Trump’s rambling primetime Iran address sparks backlash

US president’s 19-minute Wednesday address at the White House was met with bewilderment from commentators

Donald Trump’s primetime nationwide address on the war with Iran caused widespread bewilderment, with commentators voicing shock at his vow to continue bombing to “bring them back to the stone ages”.

Speculation before Wednesday’s speech from the White House Blue Room suggested that the president might be about to signal a winding up of the US military effort, which began on 28 February.

Published: April 2, 2026, 4:43 pm

Oil price jumps and markets slide after Trump warning to Iran

Brent crude rises 8% as US president vows to hit Iran ‘extremely hard’ over coming weeks

• Business live – latest updates

Oil prices have soared after Donald Trump vowed in a televised speech to hit Iran “extremely hard” over the coming weeks, knocking hopes of a near-term end to the conflict in the Middle East.

Brent crude prices jumped by as much as 8% on Thursday to $109.74 a barrel, reversing Wednesday’s drop when hopes of a de-escalation in the Iran war pushed the international benchmark below the $100-a-barrel mark at one point.

Published: April 2, 2026, 3:59 pm

Trump news at a glance: president gives his loyal enforcer the boot

US attorney general Pam Bondi failed to please a president fixated on prosecuting political enemies – key US politics stories from Thursday 2 April at a glance

Spring cleaning has begun at the White House.

Donald Trump on Thursday fired Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, dismissing a loyalist who reshaped the justice department but still failed to please a president fixated on prosecuting political enemies and frustrated with the politically explosive release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Published: April 3, 2026, 1:00 am

Pete Hegseth allows troops to carry personal firearms on military bases

Defense secretary signs memo letting members request permission to carry firearms on military installations

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo on Thursday that would allow military service members to request permission to carry their personal firearms on military installations such as bases, naval yards and recruitment centers, claiming the new policy will allow soldiers and other military personnel to defend themselves in case of an attack.

While the full text of the memo has yet to be made public, it appears to loosen the current policy that allows for personnel to get permission to have their weapons on base on a case-by-case basis, and requires that they are registered with the base’s authorities and stored in a secure device.

Published: April 3, 2026, 12:49 am

Trump threatens 100% tariff on US drug makers that don’t strike deals to lower prices

New tax will hit branded drugs and active ingredients while exempting generics for at least one year

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Donald Trump is threatening 100% tariffs on pharmaceutical companies that have not struck deals to lower US drug prices.

The new tariff will only apply to branded drugs and their active ingredients. Generic drugs, which make up more than 90% of medicines sold in the US, will be exempted from tariffs for at least one year. Orphan, veterinary and other specialty drugs are exempt if they are from trade deal countries or meet urgent public health needs.

Published: April 2, 2026, 9:33 pm

Trump’s White House ballroom wins approval of planning authorities

Blessing from NCPC comes just days after judge ruled work on project cannot proceed without congressional approval

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Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project received the approval of Washington’s planning authorities on Thursday, two days after a judge ruled work cannot proceed without Congress’s approval.

The National Capital Planning Commission, which ​is chaired by one of Trump’s former lawyers, gave the green light to the “East Wing Modernization Project” on Thursday, describing the ballroom as just the latest stage over two centuries of continuous changes.

Published: April 2, 2026, 6:42 pm

Workers carved the largest modern Hindu temple in the west. Now, some have incurable lung disease

Workers allege abuse, visa fraud and medical neglect during the New Jersey temple’s construction – and say two died from lung disease caused by inhaling silica dust

In the center of the suburban town of Robbinsville, New Jersey, sits the largest modern Hindu mandir outside India.

What visitors from around the world see is a breathtaking display of craftsmanship – hand-carved stone from Rajasthan assembled across a sprawling 185-acre complex. The temple has gone viral on social media for its intricate designs, which took millions of hours to complete. Baps Swaminarayan Akshardham, the religious organization behind the site, has built similar temples across the globe. But some workers say these monumental structures came at a high cost.

Published: April 2, 2026, 11:00 am

‘Food security timebomb’: a visual guide to the Gulf fertiliser blockade

UN says record numbers of people could face acute hunger if conflict continues

The world has become well versed in the importance of the strait of Hormuz to the world’s energy flows, but attention is increasingly turning to its vital role in another market – the fertiliser on which harvests depend.

A third of the global trade in raw materials for fertiliser passes through the maritime choke point, which is also the route for 20% of shipments of natural gas, which is required to make it.

Published: April 3, 2026, 3:00 am

A day in the life of Asia’s fuel crisis

From farms in New Zealand to factories in Delhi, the effects of the oil crisis triggered by the Iran war are rippling across Asia

Published: April 3, 2026, 4:00 am

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

From comfy loafers to sleek pumps, these picks keep you comfortable through long workdays and commutes

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Perhaps no work outfit is complete without a well-made office shoe. A winning pair adds polish and enough cushion that your feet aren’t aching by 5pm.

But what is versatile enough for both the office and happy hour? What is a practical pump that doesn’t look like your grandmother’s? Is there such a thing as a good office sandal?

Nafeesah Attah, a lawyer in New York City. She often spends long days standing in court.

Alyson Ciotola Giuffreda, a personal stylist and former luxury retail worker who has worked for more than 20 years in fashion.

Lily Owens, a social media manager and content creator in Greenville, South Carolina. She is frequently on her feet while filming content.

Allie Anthony, an Emmy-nominated reporter who has covered football for NFL on Prime.

Moya Leung, a marketing professional in Atlanta.

Published: April 2, 2026, 7:15 pm

‘It’s the year of gay Brazilian cruising!’ The makers of Night Stage on public sex and their ‘deranged erotic thriller’

Writer-directors Marcio Reolon and Filipe Matzembacher talk about the ‘assimilation myth’, why Wim Wenders is wrong and how they’re developing queer western and horror movies

You wait for ever for a visually electrifying Brazilian film featuring scenes in a gay cruising ground, then two come along at once. First, the Oscar-nominated The Secret Agent showed nocturnal trysts in Recife being violently interrupted by a rampaging disembodied leg. Now hedonists in the queer thriller Night Stage flock to a park in the southern city of Porto Alegre where they can openly make the beast with two or more backs. “It’s the year of gay Brazilian cruising!” says Marcio Reolon, mock-triumphantly.

Reolon co-wrote and co-directed Night Stage with his partner, Filipe Matzembacher, who is seated beside him this morning in their Berlin apartment. The couple’s look is best described as exchange-student punk: studded bracelets, silver earrings thick as curtain rings. Reolon, who is 41 with sharp cheekbones and a cockatoo quiff, wears a padlock on a chain around his neck. The 37-year-old Matzembacher, cherubic and curly-haired, sports a barbed-wire tattoo on his left hand.

Published: April 3, 2026, 7:00 am

Protein chips, sex chocolate: what are ‘functional foods’, and do they actually boost health?

If a food is labeled ‘functional’, what does that mean? Not much, experts say

You’re at the grocery store, looking for a sweet snack. But these days, the chocolate aisle promises so much more than that: mental clarity, a stronger immune system, PMS relief and even sexual stamina – all in a few squares.

Chocolate is hardly the only treat to be reborn as a wellness product. Supermarket shelves now boast chips with added protein, gut-friendly sodas and collagen oatmeal – all part of the fast-growing “functional foods” market, which is expected to reach $586bn globally by 2030.

Published: April 2, 2026, 4:00 pm

The anti-Maga talkshow: after 70 years, PBS’s The Open Mind still has it

For decades, the TV programme has made a quiet case for depth, civility and political conversation that doesn’t insult your intelligence

In December 1973 the public television current affairs programme, The Open Mind, held a special edition devoted to what its main guest, the historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr, dubbed the “imperial presidency”.

The televised roundtable discussion was well timed. Escalating oil prices from the Opec crisis were wreaking havoc with the global economy, the Watergate scandal was blazing in Washington, and Richard Nixon was looking increasingly Richard II-like in the Oval Office as he attempted to pull off what Schlesinger called an “escape from accountability”.

Published: April 2, 2026, 11:00 am

Trump’s surreal speech on Iran shed no light on his goals | Kenneth Roth

The US president couldn’t give a single coherent reason for why this aggressive war of choice must still be prosecuted

Donald Trump’s self-congratulatory speech on Iran on Wednesday night was as puzzling as it was divorced from reality. I had hoped he would declare victory and end the war. Some feared he might provide cover for a ground invasion. Instead, he told us in essence to be patient, that he is almost done, but he was utterly unclear about what more there is to accomplish.

If there was ever a purpose to the war, it was to curtail Iran’s capacity to develop a nuclear weapon. Trump harped on that goal repeatedly in his speech, noting that he had long vowed that he “would never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon”. But he didn’t mention that Iran has long agreed to eschew a nuclear weapon. If that is the only goal, this entire war has been pointless.

Published: April 2, 2026, 6:29 pm

To a world at a loss as to how to handle Trump, I say this: the only answer may be to wait him out| Simon Jenkins

A great effort will be needed to undo the damage once the US president has gone. But with the constitution unable to bring him to order now, that is what we must do

The US is extraordinary. One day it goes to the far side of the moon and revives the space age. On the same day, its president is looking to the far side of the Earth and says he will take Iran “back to the stone ages”. It may be a giant leap for mankind, but in what direction?

There can be no point other than prestige in sending humans to the moon, which is why more than 50 years have passed since they last went there. Robots can perform all we need in space. Returning the Iranians to the stone age is a different matter. The last time the US made the same boast was against Vietnam in a typical threat (much misquoted) by Gen Curtis LeMay. Vietnam crushed the US in the ensuing war.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

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

Published: April 2, 2026, 5:51 pm

Ending birthright citizenship would change the meaning of America | Moira Donegan

The supreme court appears poised to reject Trump’s attack on a foundation of US identity. We must hope it follows through

American opponents of birthright citizenship – the right of all those born on the soil of a country to claim full legal rights and political representation in that nation – like to point out that many countries don’t have it. On Wednesday at the supreme court, during the oral arguments in Trump v Barbara, the case challenging Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship in the United States by executive order, the Trump administration’s solicitor general, John Sauer, claimed that “almost every country” denies birthright citizenship. Trump himself made the unusual choice to attend the oral arguments in person, signaling his investment in the issue and perhaps hoping that his presence would intimidate the justices into ruling in his favor. But he left soon after Cecillia Wang, a lawyer for the ACLU who represented his opponents in court, began speaking. Not long after he left the supreme court building, Trump used Truth Social, his proprietary social media platform, to echo the rightwing argument about the supposed rarity of birthright citizenship worldwide. “We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow ‘Birthright’ Citizenship! President DONALD J. TRUMP” he posted.

This is not true. The United States’ birthright citizenship – which was originally established in very plain, explicit terms in the 14th amendment, and has been reaffirmed twice by Congress and by more than a century of supreme court precedent – is typical of the Americas. In the western hemisphere, only a handful of countries deny automatic full citizenship to infants born within their borders. They are contrasted with the rest of North and South America, where the legacy of slavery led most states to adopt birthright citizenship.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

Published: April 2, 2026, 10:00 am

The US-Israel war on Iran is accelerating de-dollarization and America’s decline | Ahmed Moor

De-dollarization promises to reorder the world, reducing American power globally

The US-Israel war on Iran is expensive. It’s expensive in terms of human lives, first of all. It’s expensive too, in pure currency – about $12bn a week for the US. And it’s expensive in how it’s causing the tectonic structures that underpin our global economy to shift. De-dollarization, the name given to the process countries undertake in unwinding their reliance on the dollar, promises to reorder the world, reducing American power globally. Its impact will be felt domestically in what we pay to borrow and whether we can afford to borrow at all.

Iran’s near-total blockade of the strait of Hormuz has had a dramatic impact on the prices of oil and natural gas, which puts major inflationary pressure on the economy of every country in the world. Practically, inflation makes people and businesses poorer, a process that reinforces itself if it’s not stopped (which is partly why central banks exist).

Ahmed Moor is a writer and fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace

Published: April 2, 2026, 11:00 am

JD Vance thinks space aliens are ‘demons’. Who can blame him? | Dave Schilling

Of course the vice-president is obsessed with extraterrestrials – look how bad things have gotten on Earth

I can’t fault anyone for looking around at the state of things on the planet Earth and pondering the existence of aliens. Who wouldn’t want to hop on the Starship Get-Me-The-Hell-Out-Of-Here right now? It costs me a vital organ to fill up my gas tank, everyone I know is unemployed and the cast of Bravo’s Summer House is crumbling before our eyes. Unfortunately for alien observer JD Vance, he’s partially responsible for two of the three. Pretty sure the vice-president isn’t hooking up with Amanda Batula, so he’s off the hook for that one.

On a recent appearance on The Benny Show, a conservative podcast you’ve never heard of, Vance outlined his “obsession” with UFOs. He might not be fully read into the current state of extraterrestrial discourse, but he does have a theory. Vance said: “I don’t think they’re aliens, I think they’re demons anyway, but that’s a longer discussion.”

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

Published: April 2, 2026, 2:00 pm

Bodycam footage shows Tiger Woods’s shock after crash: ‘I’m being arrested?’

• Golfer has pled not guilty to DUI charges in Florida

• Woods tells police he was on phone with ‘the president’

• Hydrocodone pills found in pocket following arrest

Bodycam footage of Tiger Woods’s arrest for DUI shows the golfer looking surprised when he was handcuffed by police officers at the scene of a vehicle crash last week.

“I do believe your normal faculties are impaired, and you’re under an unknown substance, so at this time you’re under arrest for DUI,” Martin County Sheriff’s deputy Tatiana Levenar told Woods after officers conducted a series of field sobriety exercises on the 50-year-old.

Published: April 2, 2026, 5:03 pm

Washington Wizards apologize after $10k April Fools’ prank draws backlash

• Wizards apologize over half-time April Fools’ prank

• Promotion that appeared to trick fan draws backlash

• Team issues statement saying stunt was pre-planned

The Washington Wizards apologized on Thursday after an April Fools’ Day in-game promotion during their loss to the Philadelphia 76ers prompted criticism on social media.

During Wednesday night’s game at Capital One Arena, a fan was brought on to the court for a blindfolded half-court shot promoted as being worth $10,000. The shot missed, but arena staff and performers reacted as if it had gone in and briefly presented the fan with a ceremonial check as part of what later was revealed to be a scripted skit.

Published: April 2, 2026, 5:31 pm

Chelsea’s precarious project further rocked by Cucurella and Fernández comments | Jacob Steinberg

Difficult spell for Liam Rosenior’s side has not been helped by interventions from two of their senior players

Trust the process. Ignore the haters. Promise that the trophies will come. Stay on brand. Disappear on international duty and issue a brazen come-and-get-me plea to Real Madrid. Suggest a move to Barcelona would be difficult to reject. Don’t silence the noise. Increase the noise. Question the club’s transfer policy. Say you miss the previous manager. Say Madrid is your favourite European city. Say it more than once. Hang on. Have we gone off-message here?

These have been a turbulent few weeks for Chelsea. Humbled in Europe by Paris Saint-Germain, and in danger of allowing their Premier League campaign to spiral out of control, they could have done without two of their biggest players creating a PR storm during the international break. Marc Cucurella and Enzo Fernández did not get the memo, though. Fernández is clearly after a summer move – “I really like Madrid, it’s similar to Buenos Aires,” the Argentina midfielder said this week. Meanwhile Cucurella did not hold back during a recent interview with the Athletic, saying Chelsea have “paid the price” for their inexperience, questioning Enzo Maresca’s mid-season departure and saying the heavy defeat by PSG in the last 16 of the Champions League has left players “discouraged”.

Published: April 2, 2026, 6:00 pm

This year, one word is echoing through women’s March Madness: joy

Whether in the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat, coaches and players at this NCAA tournament have found the fun in basketball again

Kara Lawson’s Duke team saw their Final Four dreams dashed with a 70-58 loss to UCLA on Sunday. The Blue Devils had pulled an impressive, buzzer-beating upset of No 2 seed LSU in the Sweet 16 days before, but against the No 1 Bruins in the Elite Eight, they didn’t give a repeat performance. They missed a few key moments in transition that could have changed the game and helped them to their first Final Four in 20 years.

In the end, though, it was OK.

Published: April 2, 2026, 10:00 am

Rams star Puka Nacua in rehab amid claims of antisemitic remark and biting incident

• Player was in rehab before lawsuit was filed, says attorney

• Wide receiver’s lawyer says client innocent of wrongdoing

Los Angeles Rams star Puka Nacua is in rehab and was there before he was sued by a woman who says he made an antisemitic statement and bit her on the shoulder, according to his attorney.

“He was in [rehab] a substantial period of time before any of these allegations broke ... and he’s scheduled to be there for a while longer,” Levi McCathern told The California Post.

McCathern told the newspaper Nacua’s decision to enter rehab was not a direct response to the lawsuit his accuser filed against him by Madison Atiabi last month, but an attempt “to improve his overall behavior in every aspect of his life.”

Published: April 2, 2026, 11:58 am

FA Cup quarter-finals: things to look out for this weekend

Chelsea dare not lose, West Ham and Leeds play out a survival dress rehearsal, while Phil Foden urgently needs to make an impact

Phil Foden made two starts for England over the international break as Thomas Tuchel experimented with how the Manchester City attacking midfielder could be used at the World Cup. He played in a couple of positions but was ineffective in two collectively subpar performances from the Three Lions. It means he has one assist and no goals in his past 22 appearances for club and country in what has been an underwhelming campaign for the 25-year-old. He has dropped below Rayan Cherki in Pep Guardiola’s pecking order and has not completed a full 90 minutes since January. In the Carabao Cup final, Foden was permitted a late cameo, and it feels like this is the time when he should be making a difference in the final stages of the season. There are still trophies to be played for, even if winning the Premier League title would involve a huge turnaround against Arsenal. This means the FA Cup is the most promising prospect and Foden should be desperate to start and remind everyone of the world-class player he could be, especially against a Liverpool side who often struggle against smart No 10s. The next six weeks could be make or break for Foden’s City and international career, so he must seize every opportunity. WU

Manchester City v Liverpool, Saturday 12.45pm (all times BST)

Chelsea v Port Vale, Saturday 5.15pm

Southampton v Arsenal, Saturday 8pm

West Ham v Leeds, Sunday 4.30pm

Published: April 2, 2026, 11:01 pm

Alpine condemn ‘hateful’ abuse of Colapinto and Ocon over F1 crashes

• Colapinto abused over Bearman’s crash in Japan

• Ex-Alpine driver Ocon clashed with Colapinto in China

Alpine have condemned on Thursday online abuse of Franco Colapinto for an incident in the Japanese Grand Prix as well as death threats directed at the Formula One team’s former racer Esteban Ocon over prior events in China.

They also dismissed suspicions from some fans of “sabotage” and claims their Argentinian driver was not being given the same quality equipment as his teammate Pierre Gasly.

Published: April 2, 2026, 1:06 pm

Italian football in crisis as FA chief resigns and Ceferin issues Euro 2032 warning

• Exit could spell end of Gennaro Gattuso’s tenure

• Ceferin: ‘Infrastructure is among the worst in Europe’

The crisis engulfing Italian football has deepened with the country’s football federation president, Gabriele Gravina, resigning and the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, warning that it risks losing its co-hosting rights for Euro 2032.

Gravina announced his resignation at an emergency meeting of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) general council two days after Italy failed to reach a World Cup finals for the third successive time, losing on penalties to the outsiders Bosnia and Herzegovina. He had come under heavy scrutiny since their exit in Zenica, the country’s minister for sport, Andrea Abodi, intensifying the pressure by calling for “a renewal of the FIGC leadership”.

Published: April 2, 2026, 2:48 pm

Pre-World Cup results have you worried? They probably shouldn’t

For examples of how little a team’s form in the World Cup run-in matters in the tournament itself, look no further than the US

The last time the United States men’s national team entered into the final stretch of their preparations for a World Cup on home soil, the results were dire. From January through April of 1994, the Americans, who were mostly sequestered in a full-time training camp, played 12 games and won just twice. They even managed to lose to Iceland, who were a total non-factor in global soccer back then.

Then, that ’94 team went on to survive the group stage and narrowly lose to eventual champions Brazil, 1-0, in the round of 16. They delivered on expectations in spite of their deflating run-in.

Published: April 2, 2026, 11:00 am

TikTok pulls Israeli ultranationalist’s account for breach of hate speech rules

Dozens of videos have gone viral on TikTok and Instagram showing harassment of Palestinians and activists

TikTok has removed an account belonging to an ultranationalist, pro-settlement Israeli influencer for breaching hate speech and bullying rules after the Guardian flagged videos showing him harassing activists in the occupied West Bank.

The Guardian has reviewed dozens of videos posted by various social media figures that have gone viral on TikTok and Instagram documenting the harassment of Palestinians as well as physical attacks on Israeli and international activists.

Published: April 2, 2026, 4:08 pm

‘I will not yield’: Taiwan convulsed by 17-year prison sentence for populist opposition figure

The opposition Taiwan People’s party stands by founder Ko Wen-je despite sentence, alleging prosecutors were pressured by ruling DPP party

Opposition figure Ko Wen-je put on a defiant display in front of tens of thousands of supporters outside Taiwan’s Presidential Office, two days after being handed a 17-year prison sentence on corruption charges.

“I will not yield! I will not surrender!” Ko shouted on Sunday in Taipei, as he turned towards the grand, red-brick Japanese colonial-era building in order to directly address President Lai Ching-te.

Published: April 2, 2026, 11:43 pm

Costa Rica strikes deal to accept third country deportees from US

Central American country to receive up to 25 migrants a day expelled as part of Trump’s immigration crackdown

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The Costa Rican government has agreed to receive up to 25 deported migrants a week from the United States, the latest deal in the Trump administration’s unprecedented efforts to deport scores of people to “third countries”.

With the new agreement, Costa Rica seeks a closer alliance with Donald Trump’s government, which has been securing cooperation from other Central American countries in accepting deportees from other nations who have been detained by US immigration agents.

Published: April 2, 2026, 4:00 pm

Google to tap into gas plant for AI datacenter in sharp turn from climate goals

Texas power plant would emit 4.5m tons of carbon dioxide per year, more than that of the entire city of San Francisco

Google’s plan for a partnership with a natural gas power plant that could provide energy for one of its datacenters in Texas was unearthed by new research and confirmed by the company. The move is part of an ongoing about-face for the tech giant, which once pledged to be carbon neutral by 2030 and has long been seen as a pioneer in clean energy.

The gas power plant is slated to be built in Armstrong county, a sparsely populated area in the Texas panhandle. According to a report by the research organization Cleanview, the project is being led by Crusoe Energy, which partnered with Google to develop the datacenter campus known as “Goodnight”, named after a nearby town.

Published: April 2, 2026, 6:55 pm

Sex at arm’s length? Male octopuses use specialised arm to mate, scientists find

Sensory organ in male cephalopod able to detect female hormone progesterone, even if male cannot see partner

Sex might seem an intimate act, but scientists have shed fresh light on how octopuses manage it at arm’s length.

Male octopuses use a specialised arm called the hectocotylus to place a package of sperm inside the female’s reproductive system.

Published: April 2, 2026, 6:17 pm

‘Ready to be exploited’: amid rust, weeds and power cuts, Venezuelans hope for a new oil boom

The infrastructure is crumbling and the government shaky, but memories exist of an industry that once thrived off Venezuela’s vast reserves of crude – and could do again, despite the climate crisis

At Campo Boscán, a vast complex in western Venezuela, the drills, pumps and pipelines that extract crude oil operate amid decay: roads are broken, weeds grow everywhere and many wells run inside metal cages to prevent theft. Albenis Merchán, a drilling technician with 35 years’ experience, recalls better times as he drives his pickup through the desolate landscape.

“We used to receive maintenance and safety training all the time. Supplies and spare parts were never lacking. Many things need to improve here to tap the full potential of this area,” he says.

Published: April 2, 2026, 1:00 pm

Drive slower, work from home and ditch the tie: the world responds to Iran war energy crisis

Oil crisis triggered by blockade of strait of Hormuz prompts emergency measures to protect supply and halt rising prices

Shrinking fuel stocks and soaring prices are leading countries around the world to burn coal, ration fuel, shorten work weeks and tell citizens to stay at home.

Fossil fuel supplies have reduced since the war against Iran led to the closure of the strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for oil and seaborne gas. The shortfall has prompted emergency measures as government’s attempt to halt rising costs that have thrown economies into chaos.

Published: April 2, 2026, 5:00 am

Not if, but when: how Spain’s coastal towns are preparing for tsunamis

In the holiday hotspots of the Costa del Sol, the risks are rarely mentioned. But in neighbouring Cádiz, the country’s first tsunami-ready town is leading by example

Even on a wet, wintry day in Málaga, the Mediterranean looks benign. But only 25 miles (40km) south-west of its port, where half a million tourists disembark from cruise ships into the Costa del Sol each year, lies a system of tectonic plates and faults that fracture the seabed between Spain and north Africa.

Earthquakes are routine here. They are mostly too small to notice but sometimes strong enough to rattle glasses in cafes on the seafront. In December, a tremor with a magnitude of 4.9 off the coast of Fuengirola triggered more than 40 calls to Andalucía’s 112 emergency line.

Published: April 2, 2026, 4:00 am

The dark side of the balloon boom – is it time they were banned?

From balloon arches at parties to mass balloon releases at funerals, these bits of floating rubber and plastic can have disastrous effects on wildlife. As some retailers are refusing to sell them, here are some alternatives

I remember, as a child, hanging on to one specific party balloon for what seemed like years. I don’t remember how or where I acquired it, but it had initially floated high, bobbing against the ceiling, and, over time, lost its buoyancy, coming to rest on the carpet. Yet, when a family friend asked if they should pop the now sad-looking balloon, I assumed they were joking – like when an adult asks, teasingly, if they should eat your last slice of birthday cake – and was distraught when they followed through. I didn’t care that it had become grubby and partly deflated – I’d had that balloon for what felt like for ever.

This, it turns out, is the problem with many balloons. Not that clingy young children might become over-attached to them, but that they are often a single-use plastic – and even biodegradable alternatives such as latex balloons do not decompose quickly, meaning they can pose a significant risk to wildlife and the environment. In 2019, scientists found that balloons eaten by seabirds are more likely to kill them than other kinds of plastic – yet they do not seem to have been earmarked in the same way as, for example, plastic straws. If anything, balloon-based decor has become more popular in recent years, with balloon arches or tunnels deployed not just at birthdays but at events ranging from baby showers to shop openings. Balloon drops are used at New Year’s Eve celebrations and graduation parties, and balloon releases have also endured – particularly at funerals, where the unleashing of helium-filled balloons signifies the letting-go of a loved one.

Published: April 2, 2026, 4:00 am

How a lush Miami park was designed to keep flooding at bay – in pictures

As the climate crisis intensifies the storms lashing south Florida, it is imperative to design spaces that soak up the water. The 19.4-acre Bayshore Park is an example of how to design spaces that protect from and connect residents to nature

Published: April 2, 2026, 3:00 pm

Why thousands of New Yorkers swap gas for induction stoves in clean energy push: ‘It makes sense’

US states from California to Georgia are promoting induction stoves for climate, health and cost benefits

Marcos Ramos hasn’t been able to cook a full meal at home in nearly four years, after a gas leak resulted in a lengthy supply cut off for his New York City apartment building.

Now, though, Ramos will be able to cook again thanks to a technology that is gradually advancing in the US after being embroiled in an unlikely culture war – the electric induction stove.

Published: April 2, 2026, 10:00 am

Trump polled advisers about replacing Tulsi Gabbard as intelligence chief

Exclusive: Pressure intensifies for Gabbard after president’s displeasure with Iran war testimony

Donald Trump has privately asked cabinet members in recent weeks whether he should replace his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, venting frustration that she shielded a former deputy who undercut his rationale for war with Iran, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

It is not clear that Trump will actually fire Gabbard over the episode. Currently, there is no standout candidate to take the job, and advisers have cautioned that creating a high-profile vacancy before a successor is ready could cause unhelpful political distractions.

Published: April 2, 2026, 10:00 am

CDC temporarily halts testing for several infectious diseases amid staffing shortages

Federal agency, which normally supports state and local public health labs, has been hobbled by staff departures

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The US federal agency responsible for monitoring diseases has temporarily halted certain diagnostic testing, including those for rabies, human herpesvirus and several other infectious illnesses.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a list on Monday showing that more than two dozen types of testing are now unavailable.

Published: April 2, 2026, 5:52 pm

Hungary elections: what is at stake and who is likely to win?

Viktor Orbán, an icon for the global far right, could face defeat despite an electoral system weighted in his favour

Hungarians go to the polls on 12 April in Europe’s most consequential election of the year, with Viktor Orbán, the country’s illiberal prime minister and global far-right icon, facing possible defeat, after 16 years in power, by a former loyalist, Péter Magyar.

Published: April 3, 2026, 4:00 am

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy offers expertise on keeping waterways open amid Middle East conflict

‘Ukraine has expertise concerning sea waterways, and the defence and reopening of maritime traffic,’ says president. What we know on day 1,500

Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered on Thursday to provide Ukraine’s expertise in dealing with freedom of navigation in the Black Sea to those countries considering how to keep the strait of Hormuz open amid the conflict in the Middle East. The Ukraine president, speaking in his nightly video address, said the foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, had taken part in a virtual meeting devoted to reopening the strait of Hormuz, attended by about 40 countries. “Ukraine has relevant expertise concerning sea waterways, and the defence and reopening of maritime traffic,” he said. “If [our] partners are ready to act, we will consider how we can strengthen them, how we can apply our expertise, knowledge and technological potential.”

Russia’s army recorded no territorial gains on the frontline in Ukraine in March, for the first time in two and half years, AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) showed. The Russian army’s advances have been slowing since late 2025 due to Kyiv’s localised breakthroughs in the south-east, and losing ground in March and February on the southern section of the frontline, between the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, the analysis showed. Across the entire frontline, Ukrainian forces managed to recapture 9 sq km in March.

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, gave “field guidance” at the Memorial Museum of Combat Feats at the Overseas Military Operations, which is under construction , state media KCNA said. The museum in Pyongyang will be a place to commemorate the fallen soldiers sent to support the Russian army in the war in Ukraine. The construction of the museum is almost complete and Kim said the opening ceremony would be held in mid-April, marking the first anniversary of the deployment of the North Korean soldiers.

Six Ukrainian children will be returned from Russia to their families in Ukraine, the White House said on Thursday, citing efforts by Melania Trump to expedite their return. A seventh Ukrainian child will also be returned to their family later this month, the first lady’s office said in a statement. Ukraine says almost 20,000 children have been illegally sent to Russia and Belarus, where they are sometimes subject to military training and forced to fight against their own country’s troops.

Russian strikes across Ukraine on Thursday killed at least two people and wounded dozens, officials said, as Moscow stepped up its attacks amid stalled peace talks. In the south-eastern Kherson region, Russia attacked “with artillery, mortars and UAVs”, the regional prosecutor’s office said on social media. A 42-year-old man was killed when a drone hit a civilian car, and 16 others – including a teenage boy and three police officers – were wounded in air attacks and artillery shelling, it added. In the Chernihiv region, north of the capital Kyiv, Russia attacked with a ballistic missile, the head of Chernihiv’s military administration, Dmytro Bryzhynsky, said on Telegram.

Russian forces maintained a daylong barrage of drone strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, on Thursday, injuring at least two people, local officials said. Kharkiv’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, posted reports on Telegram throughout the day and well into the evening, noting strikes in four city districts. One city official said there had been at least 20 drone strikes. He said some had triggered fires and two people had been injured in an evening attack, including an eight-year-old girl.

Russian forces carried out 129 attacks on Ukrainian gas and heating facilities during the recent 151-day heating season, the state oil and gas firm Naftogaz said on Thursday. “The Russians hit pipelines, gas production, underground storage facilities, heating systems – everything that Ukrainians depend on for heat and gas,” it said in a statement.

Published: April 3, 2026, 12:20 am

‘A wow moment’: ancient Romanian gold helmet returned in plea deal with theft suspects

Prosecutors unveil artefact linked to lost Dacian civilisation after it was stolen from Dutch museum last year

A priceless ancient gold helmet from Romania that was stolen last year from a museum in the Netherlands, has been recovered as part of a plea deal reached with the suspects.

Under the guard of balaclava-wearing police, prosecutors unveiled the 2,500-year-old Coțofenești helmet, which is considered a cultural icon of Romania, during a news conference on Thursday in the eastern Dutch city of Assen.

Published: April 2, 2026, 4:46 pm

Orange skies over Crete as Storm Erminio sweeps Saharan sand across Greek island – in pictures

Storm Erminio has caused widespread destruction in parts of Greece, including the Attica region where a man died in Nea Makri. On the island of Crete, skies turned an eerie orange as winds of up to force 9 on the Beaufort scale carried dust from North Africa, forcing several flights to be rerouted

Published: April 2, 2026, 4:01 pm

‘Slavery bounded his life’: Thomas Jefferson’s views on race – in his own words

A new book by historian Annette Gordon-Reed explores the former US president’s writings on race throughout his life

Thomas Jefferson’s interactions with enslaved people bookend his life. The third US president and a founder of the United States was born into a slave-owning family in a society upon which slavery was the bedrock. A Black woman was probably his earliest nursemaid – evidence shows that his mother did not breastfeed her children, so it is probable that a Black woman was also Jefferson’s wet nurse. His earliest memory, which he relayed to his grandchildren, was of being carried on a pillow via horseback by a man his family enslaved on a 50-mile journey to Tuckahoe, Virginia.

Given his status as an enslaver – Jefferson owned more than 610 people in his lifetime – those he held in bondage may have been the last people Jefferon saw before he died. An enslaved man, John Hemmings, built his casket. The omnipresence of slavery in his life and its clear contradictions with regards to his views on liberty, create a point of which much of the existing literature on Jefferson must attempt to make sense. Scholars have long tried to analyze and parse the juxtaposition of bondage and freedom for the former president. But in a new book by Annette Gordon-Reed, a Pulitzer prize-winning historian and a pre-eminent Jefferson scholar, Jefferson speaks for himself.

Published: April 2, 2026, 4:00 pm

I did not tell my sister that our other sister was dying. Silence was the right choice, yet murky and painful

In family estrangement, the mud and dirt gets everywhere, Kathryn Heyman writes. And it is very hard to undo what has been done

Years ago, when I lived in Scotland, my neighbour had fallen out with her mother. Although they lived mere streets from each other they hadn’t spoken for three years, and my friend had no idea why, nor any inclination to ask. Once, I asked her what she would do when her mother died, what it would be like if she found out afterwards. It seemed a terrible loss to me, the idea that she might not know about the death for weeks or months. It would have seemed impossible to me then that I would enact a similar estrangement decades later.

In 2020, every time I saw my sister’s name pop up on my phone, I’d brace myself, wondering if this was it. V had been living with cancer for 15 years, in and out of remission, each return marked with a new metastasis. This time, she said only that she needed a meeting of The Sisterhood, which was what I’d named our group chat. Four sisters in the family, but only three at the meeting; there was no question of inviting our fourth sister who, anyway, lived in another country.

Published: April 2, 2026, 2:00 pm

Stephen Colbert on Trump attending birthright citizenship hearing: ‘That’s mob-boss-level intimidation’

Late-night hosts discussed Trump becoming first sitting president to attend supreme court oral arguments, for a bombshell case on birthright citizenship

Late-night hosts tore into Donald Trump’s intimidation tactics at the supreme court hearing on birthright citizenship and another judge’s order to halt construction of his White House ballroom.

Published: April 2, 2026, 3:46 pm

Killer rabbits, bunny boilers and the holy hand grenade of Antioch: Easter bunny movies – ranked!

From Watership Down and Fatal Attraction to Bambi and Python’s Holy Grail, rabbits are an unlikely constant in film – and often with sinister intentions. Here are the 20 best leporine movie moments

The mighty Alan Bleasdale wrote this razor-sharp farce set on New Year’s Eve in Liverpool, where rival Catholic and Protestant militants have accidentally booked the same venue. One of the acts going horribly wrong is Elvis Costello as a stage musician who says: “I’m a bit worried about me rabbit.” With reason, as it turns out.

Published: April 2, 2026, 1:26 pm

‘The US is no longer the go-to place’: How Korean culture is taking Latin America by storm

Everything Korean – from K-pop and skincare to food and clothing – is booming in popularity in Chile, Mexico and Brazil

On the polished flagstones of a Santiago cultural centre’s forecourt, four Chilean girls dance in energetic union, counting their steps aloud in Korean.

In front of them, a YouTube video with 1.3bn views plays atop a speaker throbbing to the beat of How You Like That, by the K-pop megastars Blackpink.

Published: April 2, 2026, 9:00 am

Sunn O))): Sunn O))) review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

(Sub Pop)
The doomy duo strip back their sound to tectonic guitars and feedback, conjuring an immersive, strangely euphoric listening experience recorded in the wilds of Washington

Nearly seven years on from Sunn O)))’s last two albums, the Steve Albini-produced companion pieces Life Metal and Pyroclasts, the drone metal pioneers’ 10th album presents itself as a return to basics. Eponymously titled and released on Sub Pop – the label that put out drone metal’s ur-text, Earth’s 1993 debut Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version – it strips away Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson’s penchant for collaboration (Scott Walker, Merzbow) and much of the expanded musical palette that came with it. No church organ, no dulcimer, no vocals, no radical reassembly of their material courtesy of Nurse With Wound’s Steven Stapleton: closer Glory Black features a brief burst of piano, and there are apparently synthesisers somewhere in the mix, but for the most part, the album seems to deal almost exclusively in heavily distorted down-tuned guitars and feedback, the core of Sunn O)))’s sound since they formed in 1998.

But clearly the notion of a back-to-basics album should not be confused with that of an understated one. It’s not really an adjective that fits something that lasts the best part of 90 minutes, comes wrapped in a sleeve featuring two Mark Rothko paintings – by permission of the painter’s estate – and features somewhere between 130 and 180 tracks of guitar per song. (The latter comes thanks to a studio procedure that involved producer Brad Wood miking up not just the duo’s amplifiers but each amplifier’s individual speakers, and setting up what he called “the world’s largest stereo array of room mics” to capture ambient textures.) It also comes complete with sleeve notes from nature writer Robert Macfarlane, which variously quote the Greek stoic Epictetus, Walter Benjamin, 19th-century naturalist John Muir, author Patrick White and indigenous American environmentalist Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Published: April 2, 2026, 3:22 pm

‘Ring the alarm! Wake up! Be human!’: Aurora and Tom Rowlands on their new dance-pop duo Tomora

The Norwegian singer-songwriter and the Chemical Brother have combined their talents, and names, to create a wildly inventive new band. The collaboration has gone smoothly so far – but will they soon need separate tour buses?

The two members of Tomora are contemplating their forthcoming debut live shows, a slate that includes an attention-grabbing slot at this month’s Coachella festival. “We’re still kind of working it out, and I’m getting a bit, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on?’” worries Tom Rowlands, best known as one half of Grammy-winning banger merchants the Chemical Brothers, and now one half of Tomora. Rowlands’ mindset, however, contrasts heavily with that of Aurora, his new musical partner.

“I don’t have any stress in my being,” the Norwegian singer-songwriter and pop experimentalist says cheerily, sitting on the floor of the duo’s north London label office with her shoes off. “I’m always like: it’s fine,” she shrugs. “Yes, the house is on fire, but we’ll work it out.”

Published: April 2, 2026, 7:00 am

Made in Fire Island: how artists were at the heart of the LGBTQ+ mecca

A new book shows that the work of Robert Mapplethorpe and Peter Hujar – as well as a new generation of artists – would not be the same without the New York island

In the summer of 2015, Leilah Babirye, a sculptor, left her home town in Uganda and arrived for an artist residency in the bohemian, beach-y queer splendor of Fire Island’s Cherry Grove. She tells the story in a new book, Fire Island Art: 100 Years, released this month by Monacelli. After Googling “LGBTQ+ artist residences”, she earned a spot at the Fire Island Artist Residency, established four years earlier to make the famed enclave more accessible. But the lesbian daughter of a conservative minister wasn’t prepared for just how queer the place was. With its roving clusters of people buzzing around the dunes and pool parties to show off the various currencies – physical, financial, interpersonal – they had to spend, she says, “I thought Cherry Grove was America.” Was she wrong?

The story of the modern Fire Island is, in some ways, a particularly American one, in which outcasts light out for the territories to make their dreams come true. In the case of the picturesque barrier island off the coast of Long Island, those dreams were both sexual and creative from the start. Edited by John Dempsey, island resident and president of the Fire Island Pines Historical Society, Fire Island Art: 100 Years traces a legacy begun by the pre-war trio of Paul Cadmus, Jared French and Margaret French, who, as part of the artistic collaboration PaJaMa, made beguiling paintings and photographs of the unconventional intimacies they formed while summering among the island’s nooks and crannies.

Published: April 2, 2026, 9:00 am

Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry audiobook review – an extraordinary chronicle of terminal illness

The author’s father-in-law died just nine days after his cancer diagnosis, inspiring this moving and sharply observed account of his last days

Novelist Sarah Perry’s memoir of her late father-in-law, David, chronicles the period from his first signs of illness, when he began to have trouble swallowing, to his diagnosis of oesophageal cancer, to his death at the age of 77 just nine days later.

We first meet David, a retired chemist from Norwich, on a day trip with Perry and her husband in the summer of 2022. The three of them have gone to Great Yarmouth where, seemingly in good health, David gleefully eats four hot doughnuts. She reveals him as an unassuming man who lives in a bungalow, drinks Yorkshire Tea, delights in telling bad jokes, and likes doing sudoku and watching Antiques Roadshow on TV. But right at the start, Perry notes that David’s death was only weeks away. Though his illness was mercifully short, the speed at which it progressed caught his family unawares, leaving precious little time to prepare.

Published: April 2, 2026, 2:00 pm

The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley review – the laureate of bad relationships

Riley has always skewered cruelty with shattering exactitude. What’s new in this story of two old friends in London is the delicacy she brings to moments of tenderness

In the opening pages of The Palm House, London is enveloped in a dust storm blown up from the Sahara. As old friends Laura and Putnam meet for a drink in a Southwark pub, a packet of crisps open between them, the occluded atmosphere renders the city unsettlingly strange: the sky is “dark yellow … like iodine”, while the pictures in the evening paper show a “blood red sun”, a “jaundiced” City square, a “prodigious cloud, menacing the Shard”.

Like a Saharan dust storm, Gwendoline Riley’s work recasts our relationship with the familiar, transforming ordinary, unremarkable lives of her characters into something startling and new. Her female protagonists, often writers themselves, struggle with bad relationships: in First Love, shortlisted for the 2017 Women’s prize, Neve grapples with an abusive marriage, while Bridget in 2021’s quietly brutal My Phantoms is caught up with her desperately self-involved mother. The mothers in Riley’s novels are mostly monstrous and persistent, the fathers mostly monstrous and dead. Her stories are not structured around linear plots – nothing much happens – but Riley’s disquieting acuity and her spare and unsparing prose makes them shimmer with tension. She has a phenomenal ear for dialogue, for the myriad ways in which people unknowingly lay themselves bare, both in what they say and, more agonisingly, in what they don’t – or can’t. She is the laureate of disconnection, her bone-dry humour edged with the vertiginous lurch of despair.

Published: April 2, 2026, 6:00 am

Life Is Strange: Reunion review – a decade-long story comes to an impassioned close

PlayStation 5 (version tested), Xbox, Nintendo Switch 2, PC; Deck Nine/Square Enix
Max and Chloe, the two teen protagonists of the 2015 game, reunite as adults – giving players the chance to finally finish their journey

In 2015, Life Is Strange stood out for two reasons: its female protagonists, a depressingly rare feature at the time, and its unique brand of millennial cringe. The thirtysomething Frenchmen who created this series may not have had the best grasp of the 2010s teen lexicon, but they did have a good gauge on what’s important about any coming-of-age story, and that’s the relationships between the characters. Max Caulfield, the shy, time-travelling wannabe photographer, and Chloe Price, the traumatised, punk-rock tearaway, had a memorably intense friendship. It was the heart and soul of that game, and now, 11 years later, they are reunited as adults in this final chapter of their story.

For a lot of players, Max and Chloe felt like more than best friends. The game’s original developers were not brave enough to make this explicit in 2015, but newer custodians Deck Nine retconned a romantic relationship between Max and Chloe into 2024’s Life Is Strange: Double Exposure. You can still play Reunion as if the two really were just friends, resulting in some awkward ambiguity in some scenes. Whichever way you slice it, though, this is a game about first love, and how it always stays with you, even when its object does not. And damned if it didn’t make me feel something.

Published: April 2, 2026, 10:47 am

Louis CK to headline Hollywood Bowl for Netflix festival

Headlining set for Netflix Is a Joke festival marks first outing with major streamer since misconduct allegations in 2017

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Netflix is welcoming Louis CK back into its fold.

The comedian, long subject to questions regarding rehabilitation and so-called “cancel culture”, will headline a show at the Hollywood Bowl next month as part of the streamer’s Netflix Is a Joke festival – his first major outing with a streamer since allegations of sexual misconduct at the height of the #MeToo movement. Later this summer, Netflix will also premiere CK’s new special, Ridiculous, which he directed and executive-produced.

Published: April 2, 2026, 7:43 pm

HBO to air standalone special on the making of new Harry Potter series

Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic features interviews with cast members and will air on 5 April

HBO has more Harry Potter magic up its sleeve – today, the company announced a standalone, behind-the-scenes special to accompany its upcoming TV adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic will offer “an in-depth look at the making of the first season”, including plenty of production footage and details on the lengthy, UK-wide casting process for Harry, Ron and Hermione, played by Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton.

Published: April 2, 2026, 4:16 pm

‘People are exhausted by Blackpink and BTS’: the DIY Chinese bands redefining corporate ‘idol’ pop

Since the regime quashed China’s version of the K-pop industry in 2021, an underground ‘alt-idol’ culture has emerged, championing freedom and experimentation

Over the past decade, “idol” culture has turned east Asia into a pop music powerhouse as global audiences have flocked to Japanese and especially South Korean groups. Formed and exactingly trained by big entertainment conglomerates, bands such as BTS and EXO have blown up internationally thanks to bombastic songs, sensational dance routines and marketing campaigns designed to build a parasocial relationship between performers – idols – and their fans. Their neighbour China, however, the population of which is roughly eight times that of Japan and South Korea combined, has produced few groups with similar fame.

Until 2021, Chinese versions of Korean idol-training shows – think The X Factor with considerably more challenging choreography – were gaining huge audiences. But the shows, and the fan culture they inspired, drew the ire of the Chinese government. It cracked down on “toxic” fandom, an initiative that included banning idol-development shows. “It was an excuse to regulate the internet,” says Emily Liu, who runs the popular idol newsletter Active Faults. The government has also unofficially prohibited Korean pop idols from performing in mainland China for the last decade due to geopolitical tensions.

Published: April 2, 2026, 3:23 pm

Björk, Rihanna and a passionate embrace: visions of love – in pictures

A new book celebrating four decades of fashion photography duo Inez and Vinoodh features celebrity portraits, surrealist visions and a meditation on love itself

Published: April 2, 2026, 6:00 am

Her daughter was murdered seven years ago. Why are images of the crime still on social media?

Bianca Devins was 17 when she was killed by a man who then shared photos of her mutilated body on sites like Instagram and Snapchat – something her mother Kim describes as ‘psychological terrorism’. Here, she reveals her battle to get them offline

Early on a Sunday in July 2019, police arrived at Kim Devins’ house in upstate New York with a story that made no sense. They were there to do a “welfare check” on Devins’ 17-year-old daughter, Bianca. They said they had received reports from people who feared she may have been “hurt”. Bianca had gone with her friend Brandon Clark to a concert in New York City, a four-hour drive away. “Did they mean that they’d been in an accident?” says Devins. “The police bodycam footage from that time shows how confused I was.”

Amid it all, Devins called her dad, who lived close by, to ask him to come over. Somehow, while making that call, she realised that something dreadful had occurred. “I always pinpoint it to that exact moment, even though we didn’t understand what was happening,” she says. Her body knew before she did that she had lost her daughter. “All of me shook. I could almost see myself from the outside. It was as if my brain shut down to protect me and I left my body. I don’t think I’ve fully returned since.”

Published: April 2, 2026, 9:00 am

‘Walking is the best way to discover offbeat Corfu’: a spring hike across the Greek island

Explore wild scenery, empty beaches and beautiful villages on the 110-mile Corfu trail, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year

The riverside was heaving. Families spilled from cafes. A marching band trooped on to the bridge, their tasselled metal helmets dazzling in the sun. Priests with bushy beards delivered ageless chants from beneath their cylindrical kalimavkion hats. Men let off shotguns, terrifying the air. Easter Monday in Lefkimmi.

We hadn’t planned this. Simply right place, right time. The capital of southern Corfu, Lefkimmi is a working town, untroubled by tourism. There are Venetian-style houses – variously neat, tatty and decrepit – but no “attractions” to speak of. Just Corfiots doing Corfiot things: chewing the fat in their finest for this religious celebration – Greek Orthodox Easter, which falls on 12 April in 2026 – plus zipping about on scooters, drinking coffee, buying baklava and ice-creams.

Published: April 2, 2026, 6:00 am

My husband doesn’t want to give up his mistress. Should I settle for half his heart? | Leading questions

It sounds like you are so concerned about losing him, you are considering losing yourself, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. This bit is the mistake

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I just discovered by chance, and to my complete surprise, after more than 20 years of what I thought was a happy and faithful marriage, that my husband has had a year-long and passionate affair with an accomplished, charming, brilliant career woman whom I also regarded as a friend. I am accomplished too, but not nearly at her level, and I am also a bit older and I have less panache than her. I don’t think I can compete with her, and in any case I feel too proud to try.

Here is the thing: he says he doesn’t want to give her up, though he also says he does not want to marry her (she is in any case married though, it seems, in an open marriage). He also says he loves me and wants to remain married to me. I think if I demand he gives her up, he will end up unable to love me. I also think I will barely, or possibly not at all, be able to bear the pain of him continuing to see her. I am so unsure what to do or indeed what I can bear doing. I so don’t want to lose him. I have been deeply in love with him ever since we first met. Do I give him the world in return for half his heart?

Published: April 2, 2026, 2:00 pm

I handed over my dating life to AI. I don’t think she’ll see me again

In week five of Rhik Samadder’s diary, our resident AI skeptic decided to let AI take the lead on a date. If uncanny valley was a conversational style, it’s this

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I’m single. Is it because I am emotionally avoidant, waiting on a unicorn, or under 6ft tall? Perhaps a spicy meatball of all three?

Or could it be that I haven’t used the magic of AI yet?

Published: April 2, 2026, 11:00 am

‘Kids would rather be down the park’: readers reflect on child-free pubs

With public houses increasingly restricting or banning children, we asked for your thoughts on adult-only pubs

A growing number of pubs in the UK are restricting or banning children, citing safety concerns, changing atmospheres and lost trade. We asked people their thoughts on adult-only pubs.

Many who contacted us supported child-free pubs, believing adult-only spaces were important, but a good proportion said they would change their mind if children were “properly supervised by parents”.

Published: April 2, 2026, 6:00 am

Thursday news quiz: daring dogs, delinquent capybaras and far too many bananas

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

It is time for the Thursday news quiz, where, thanks to our illustration from Anaïs Mims, you must decide whether you are gliding serenely across the waters of knowledge, your elegant neck forming a perfect question mark, or paddling furiously beneath the surface, one wrong answer away from an undignified flap. Fifteen questions on topical headlines, pop culture and general knowledge await. There are no prizes, but we always enjoy hearing how you got on in the comments. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 241

Published: April 2, 2026, 5:00 am

US supreme court’s ‘conversion therapy’ ruling opens ‘can of worms’. What’s next?

The court ruled 8-1 against a Colorado law banning ‘conversion therapy’ for youths. What does it mean for other states, and why did two liberals side with conservatives?

The US supreme court ruled 8-1 this week against a Colorado law banning “conversion therapy” for youth, in a case that could have major consequences for transgender and queer youth across the US, and for healthcare more broadly.

Colorado’s 2019 law prohibits licensed clinicians from seeking to change the gender identity or sexual orientation of youth patients under 18. It is one of 23 states with similar restrictions.

Published: April 2, 2026, 4:35 pm

Rationale for Iran war questioned after Trump says ‘I don’t care’ about regime’s uranium stockpiles

US president’s apparent decision to leave highly enriched uranium in hands of regime creates a more risky scenario than before the war began, experts say

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Donald Trump has said he does not care about Iran’s stock of highly enriched uranium (HEU), arguing it was deep underground and could be monitored by satellite, raising questions about one of the key US justifications for the war.

Experts said that if the US-Israeli offensive against Iran concluded with the Tehran government still in control of its 440kg HEU stockpile, it would be significantly closer to the capability of making nuclear warheads than if the US had pursued a potential negotiated settlement that was on the table at the time the US and Israel launched the war on 28 February.

Published: April 2, 2026, 2:47 am

‘Weak and pathetic’: why is the EU not using its leverage to stop Israel?

Deep divisions on Israel mean the union has failed to act over Lebanon, Gaza, or settler violence in the West Bank

The human costs of Israel’s attacks on Lebanon were plain to see when the Irish MEP Barry Andrews visited Beirut last month. He met people who had fled Israeli airstrikes and complied with evacuation orders in southern Lebanon.

At makeshift shelters – converted schools – conditions were even worse than during Israel’s last incursion in 2024, he was told. “There are dirty mattresses, dirty blankets, [people] are getting infections, they are getting rashes,” he said recalling a picture of misery compounded by swingeing aid budget cuts.

Published: April 2, 2026, 4:00 am

Tokyo cherry blossom and Holy Week processions: pictures of the day – Thursday

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

Published: April 2, 2026, 1:44 pm