‘Fund people, not bombs’: inside the US movement against war in Iran

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

• Middle East crisis – live updates

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:22 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:20 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:00 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:00 am

‘Weird green is having a moment’: 45 spring fashion picks under $200

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:15 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:00 am

US and Iran in indirect talks to extend two-week ceasefire

White House feels ‘good about the prospects of a deal’ as Pakistani officials launch new round of diplomacy

The US and Iran have been in indirect talks aimed at extending the two-week ceasefire beyond its expiry on 22 April, as Pakistan’s army chief arrived in Tehran to continue mediation efforts.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, denied on Wednesday that the US had “formally” requested to extend the two-week ceasefire but added that Washington remained “very much engaged in these negotiations”.

Published: April 15, 2026, 7:26 pm

Democrats file articles of impeachment against Hegseth for ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’

Accusations refer to attack on Iran without congressional authorization and strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats

House Democrats filed six articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, accusing the defense security of “high crimes and misdemeanors”, in reference to the attack on Iran without congressional authorization and deadly strikes on suspected drug smuggling boats, among other official acts.

The move comes as the Trump administration faces mounting scrutiny over recent foreign action, particularly the war with Iran.

Published: April 16, 2026, 2:07 am

Sonia Sotomayor apologizes to Brett Kavanaugh in US supreme court justice spat

In a spilling of the court’s divisions in public, Sotomayor had criticized Kavanaugh over a dissenting ruling on ICE raids

Sonia Sotomayor, a US supreme court justice, issued an apology on Wednesday for her recent criticism of fellow justice Brett Kavanaugh, an unusual public mea culpa that underscores the continuing divisions within the nation’s top judicial body over its direction and actions in high-profile cases.

Sotomayor had criticized Kavanaugh at an event in Kansas last week for an opinion he wrote in September concurring with the court’s decision backing roving immigration raids in California. Kavanaugh is one of the court’s six conservative justices, while Sotomayor is the senior member of the court’s three-justice liberal bloc.

Published: April 16, 2026, 1:50 am

Trump threatens to fire Fed chair Jerome Powell amid pressure campaign

US president says he has ‘held back’ on firing the head of the Federal Reserve leading up to end of Powell’s term in May

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Donald Trump threatened to fire Jerome Powell if he stays on as US Federal Reserve chair past the end of his tenure and doubled down on a criminal investigation into renovations of the central bank’s headquarters.

As the White House pushes Trump’s new nominee to take charge of the Fed, Kevin Warsh, Powell has a month left in the role. The possibility of Powell staying on as chair past 15 May, the official end of his term, has grown amid mounting scrutiny of Trump’s approach to the Fed in the Senate, which is required to approve Warsh’s nomination.

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:55 pm

Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:00 pm

Shares in Allbirds surge after maker of wool sneakers announces pivot to AI

Rebrand as NewBird AI sent shares up 582% in bizarre and rapid turnaround for firm that had fallen on hard times

Allbirds, the maker of minimalist wool sneakers beloved by Silicon Valley, announced on Wednesday that it is leaving shoes behind and pivoting to artificial intelligence. The new focus and rebrand as “NewBird AI” sent the company’s stock up 582% as of mid-day during a flurry of trading.

The surging stock price and new direction is a bizarre, rapid turnaround for a company that had fallen into disrepair in recent years. Once valued at $4bn, Allbirds’ shares had lost 99% of their worth since 2021 and earlier this month the company announced plans for a $39m sale to brand management firm American Exchange Company.

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:00 pm

France seeks release of 86-year-old French widow detained by ICE

Agents detained Marie-Therese Ross in Alabama on 1 April after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to DHS

The French government is pressing the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to release the 86-year-old French widow of a military veteran from immigration custody after she was detained earlier this month.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained Marie-Therese Ross in Alabama on 1 April after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to DHS. Ross is now being held at a federal immigration detention facility in Louisiana.

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:42 pm

Georgia man charged over attacks that killed DHS worker and another woman

Killings of Lauren Bullis and woman not yet identified in ‘random’ Monday attacks draw attention of Trump officials

An Atlanta man has been charged in a string of attacks over a matter of hours that left two women dead and a man in critical condition, drawing the Trump administration’s attention after one of the victims was identified as a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employee who was walking her dog.

The killing of the DHS worker, Lauren Bullis, and shootings of the two other victims on Monday led the homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin to issue a statement raising concerns that the 26-year-old suspect, British native Olaolukitan Adon Abel, was granted US citizenship in 2022.

Published: April 16, 2026, 12:12 am

Virginia strips tax breaks for organizations connected to the Confederacy

The United Daughters of the Confederacy – responsible for placing Confederate statues across the US – will now have to pay property taxes

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On Monday, Virginia’s governor, Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat and the state’s first female governor, signed into law a bill that eliminates tax exemptions for organizations connected to the Confederacy.

HB167, passed by Democrats in the Virginia house and senate, specifically removes the Virginia division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Stonewall Jackson Memorial, the Virginia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, along with other groups, from the state’s list of organizations that are exempt from state property taxes.

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:13 pm

Trump news at a glance: president renews threats against federal reserve chair, pushes his replacement

Trump reiterated his claim that Powell is doing a ‘bad job’ as justice department continues with criminal investigation into Powell over renovations at the Fed’s headquarters – key US politics stories from 15 April at a glance

Donald Trump threatened to fire Jerome Powell if he stays on as US Federal Reserve chair past the end of his tenure and doubled down on a criminal investigation into renovations of the central bank’s headquarters.

As the White House pushes Trump’s new nominee to take charge of the Fed, Kevin Warsh, Powell has a month left in the role. The possibility of Powell staying on as chair past 15 May, the official end of his term, has grown amid mounting scrutiny of Trump’s approach to the Fed in the Senate, which is required to approve Warsh’s nomination.

Published: April 16, 2026, 1:00 am

Trump believes diet soda kills cancer cells, Dr Oz reveals

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:31 pm

Tax day: US taxpayers spend hundreds more on military as Trump pushes for vast increase

As Americans race to file their federal taxes before Wednesday’s deadline, new analysis breaks down where the money goes

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Many US households spent hundreds more tax dollars on the military last year, according to new analysis, as Donald Trump’s plans to dramatically increase federal defense spending faces growing scrutiny.

Millions of Americans will race to file their taxes on Wednesday, the final day for federal returns, amid concern over rising living costs and government spending.

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:00 am

Trump’s push to cut interest rates has echoes of ‘banana republic’, says Yellen

Former US Fed chair says lowering rates to reduce debt service cost can lead to inflation getting out of control

• Business live – latest updates

The former US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen has attacked Donald Trump’s push for lower interest rates, comparing it to the actions of a “banana republic”.

The US president has repeatedly urged the central bank to slash interest rates, in the hope of cutting the government’s borrowing costs on its $39tn (£29tn) debt.

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:51 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 11:00 am

The AI images Trump can’t get enough of

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

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

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

A king

A skilled footballer

A person roaring with a lion

A maestro

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

Superman

A 1930s-era private dick

Colonel Kilgore from Apocalypse Now

A Nobel peace prize winner

A very muscly Sith lord

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:30 pm

‘Designed to disorient’: LA art museum unveils enormous concrete gallery, 20 years in the making

Stretched across a boulevard and shaped like an ‘amoeba’, the divisive Geffen Galleries open next week

Two decades ago, the new director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) began a project to revitalize the space for the 21st century. On Wednesday, the institution unveiled the results of that $724m effort: the David Geffen Galleries, a hulking, curving concrete building that spans Wilshire Boulevard.

In a city of striking modern architecture, from the Getty Museum to the Disney Concert Hall, the opening is a landmark event. The project, whose unconventional shape has been likened to an amoeba, has inspired praise and polarization.

Published: April 16, 2026, 12:31 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:00 am

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:45 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:00 am

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

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

Name: Nonnamaxxing.

Age: 70 to 100, and beyond.

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:47 pm

No more US military aid to Israel | Bernie Sanders

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:00 pm

Ben Jennings on Trumpflation – cartoon

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:07 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:28 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 12:00 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:08 pm

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

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:00 am

Díaz and Olise late show sends Bayern into semi-finals after Real Madrid classic

When the dust kicked up by an utterly scintillating two-legged struggle had settled, Bayern Munich could bathe in the glow of a win for the ages and linger dreamily on the prospect of a semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain.

It is the tie most neutrals wanted but the bar for entertainment has been raised sky high now. Real Madrid should curse themselves, and one of their number in particular, for letting things career out of their control at the death; the sadness for those with no skin in the game came from being deprived an additional half-hour of the near ceaseless thrills both teams were serving up here.

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:11 pm

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

• Funding for $5bn tour could be cut back

• Saudi focus now more on football and esport

The future of LIV Golf is in doubt, with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund preparing to cut funding for the $5bn rebel tour.

LIV executives were late arriving at the tour event in Mexico City this week after being called up to a meeting in New York, with uncertainty over the immediate future first emerging at the Masters in Augusta last weekend. Rumours that LIV could even be shut down had begun to circulate on social media on Tuesday evening, with officials from the tour declining to respond.

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:01 pm

Edgy Arsenal squeeze past Sporting to set up Atlético Madrid semi-final

To borrow a line from Mikel Arteta, it is not meant to be easy. And it was anything but on the latest anxiety-ridden, claustrophobic occasion for his Arsenal team. The club’s recent wobble has been pronounced. The loss to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final. The FA Cup exit at Southampton. The Premier League defeat against Bournemouth that has imperilled their title push. The nerves are pounding like a migraine and this was a night which was always going to be entirely outcome-based.

Hold on to the 1-0 lead from the first-leg of this quarter-final and it would be triumph – only a fourth appearance in the semi-finals of the competition. Fall short against a tidy Sporting team and ignominy was guaranteed; a deepening of the existential crisis. It is City next at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, after all.

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:01 pm

Las Vegas Aces re-sign four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson to reported $5m contract

• Aces retain championship core with Wilson signing

• Contract is the most lucrative in league history

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The defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces completed the process of bringing back their core group by re-signing four-time MVP A’ja Wilson on Wednesday.

Terms were not released, per club policy, but ESPN reported the deal is a three-year, $5m supermax contract, which would make it the most lucrative in WNBA history.

Published: April 15, 2026, 7:49 pm

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

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 12:58 pm

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

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 11:00 am

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

• Red Bull driver outspoken about regulation changes

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:49 pm

Live Nation and Ticketmaster had monopoly over big venues, US jury finds

Verdict in states’ case says concert giant stifled competition in ticketing industry, raising pressure for changes

Concert giant Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had a harmful monopoly over big concert venues, a Manhattan federal jury has found, dealing the company a loss in a lawsuit over claims brought by dozens of US states.

The jury deliberated for four days before reaching its decision on Wednesday in the closely watched case, which helped peel back the curtain on a business that dominates live entertainment across much of the world.

Published: April 15, 2026, 8:19 pm

‘Vought cuts kill people’: Aids activists interrupt Trump budget chief hearing

Proceedings brought to halt as protesters condemn Russ Vought for slashing Pepfar program amid sweeping aid cuts

Protesters decrying delays to funding in the battle against HIV/Aids charged into a congressional hearing where the Trump administration’s budget czar, Russell Vought, was testifying in Washington on Wednesday.

The demonstrators disrupted the proceedings on Capitol Hill and twice brought the hearing to a halt.

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:38 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:50 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:59 pm

Geelong fire: fuel supply fears after out-of-control blaze at one of Australia’s two remaining oil refineries

Petrol production affected at Viva plant in Corio as mayor calls blaze ‘unprecedented’

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An explosive fire at a Geelong oil refinery – which supplies half of Victoria’s fuel and 10% of the nation’s – has broken out, with petrol production to be affected for some time and authorities warning the full extent of the damage is still unknown.

The blaze at the Viva Energy facility in Corio – one of two refineries left in Australia – broke out just after 11pm Wednesday, with Fire Rescue Victoria alerted to the blaze by multiple calls to triple zero “reporting explosions and flames”.

Published: April 16, 2026, 12:51 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:45 pm

Gray whales, once rare in San Francisco Bay, dying there at alarming rates

Researchers find increase in whale deaths in the bay, largely because of collisions with vessels on busy shipping route

Gray whales have historically been a rare sight in the San Francisco Bay. They trek from the warm lagoons of Mexico’s Baja California more than 10,000 miles (16,000km) north to the Arctic region to feast on shrimp-like animals during the summers, seldom stopping in the busy shipping corridor for prolonged periods.

But in recent years, that story has changed in a dire way. A new study, published this week in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, has found that gray whales in the bay have been dying at alarming rates, largely due to collisions with vessels.

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:45 pm

Oklahoma principal shot while tackling ex-student armed with handguns

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 1:26 pm

Roblox to implement youth protections and pay $12m in Nevada settlement

Popular gaming platform will require age verification, restrict nighttime notifications for minors and limit chats

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Roblox, a gaming platform popular with kids, will implement increased protections for young users and pay more than $12m to the state of Nevada in what the state attorney general, Aaron Ford, on Wednesday called a first-of-its-kind agreement.

“This settlement will create a safer environment for our children online, and I hope that it will serve as a bellwether for how online interactive platforms allow our state’s youth to use their products,” the Democrat said Wednesday.

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:40 pm

$30m an hour: big oil reaping huge war windfall from consumers, analysis finds

Exclusive: Climate action blockers including Saudi Arabia, Russia and major fossil fuel firms set to make extra $234bn by end of 2026

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The world’s top 100 oil and gas companies banked more than $30m every hour in unearned profit in the first month of the US-Israeli war in Iran, according to exclusive analysis for the Guardian. Saudi Aramco, Gazprom and ExxonMobil are among the biggest beneficiaries of the bonanza, meaning key opponents of climate action continue to prosper.

The conflict pushed the price of oil to an average of $100 (£74) a barrel in March, leading to estimated windfall war profits for the month of $23bn for the companies. Oil and gas supplies will take months to return to pre-war levels and the companies will make $234bn by the end of the year if the oil price continues to average $100. The analysis uses data from a leading intelligence provider, Rystad Energy, analysed by Global Witness.

Published: April 15, 2026, 11:02 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:52 pm

Sperm whales’ communication closely parallels human language, study finds

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:00 am

Heatwave threatens to shatter high-temperature records across eastern US

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

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

In the nation’s capital, forecasters were calling for a high temperature of 93F (33.9C) late Wednesday afternoon and another high of 93F on Thursday.

Published: April 15, 2026, 12:41 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:41 pm

Big US banks rake in near $50bn profit as Iran war shakes markets

Six lenders, including Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan report jump in first-quarter earnings

Big US banks raked in nearly $50bn (£37bn) worth of profits in the first three months of the year, as they benefited from stock market turbulence triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Wall Street’s largest lenders have reported a jump in first-quarter earnings, reflecting the surge in demand for trading services as investors dumped risky stocks and bonds and sought safer havens for their cash.

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:04 pm

South Africa names apartheid-era negotiator as ambassador to US

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:04 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:23 pm

Ukraine war briefing: Netherlands to spend almost $300m on making drones for Ukraine

Nato promises not to lose sight of Ukraine conflict; Russia attacks Kyiv. What we know on day 1,512

The Netherlands will spend 248m euros ($293m) on producing drones for Ukraine, Dutch defence minister Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius said on Wednesday. “Drones play a crucial role on the modern battlefield. Ukrainians deploy them with incredible skill to repel the incessant Russian attacks,” she said after meeting her counterparts from Nato countries and the alliance’s secretary general Mark Rutte in Berlin on Wednesday. “Thanks to the good cooperation with Ukraine, we are learning directly from this. This also offers opportunities for our business community,” she added. The drones will be manufactured in the Netherlands and Ukraine.

Rutte and Kyiv’s top allies vowed Wednesday they would not lose sight of Ukraine’s conflict with Russia and called on others to urgently boost their support for the country. With the outbreak of the US-Israel war against Iran, fears have grown that international support for Kyiv is waning, more than four years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion. American-led talks to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since the second world war have stalled since the start of the Middle East war, at a time US support for Ukraine was already weakening under US president Donald Trump.

Russia’s defence ministry warned on Wednesday that European plans to step up drone supplies to Ukraine are dragging those countries deeper into a war with Russia. The ministry said it believes governments in a number of EU countries have decided to increase the production and supply of drones to Ukraine, a move Moscow views as a step that is escalating the conflict. It published a list of factories and enterprises in several European countries it alleges manufacture drones or drone components, and gave their addresses, including sites in Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, Israel and Poland, among others.

Russian forces attacked Ukrainian capital Kyiv with missiles early on Thursday, killing a 12-year-old child, injuring several people, including emergency crew members, and damaging buildings, mayor Vitali Klitschko said. “As a result of the enemy attack, a 12-year-old child has been killed,” Klitschko wrote on Telegram. “At the moment, 10 people are injured. That includes several medics.” He said a large fire had broken out in a building in the Obolon district in the north of the capital, while debris had fallen in several locations. Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said at least four people had been injured.

A Russian strike on an apartment building in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa killed one person and injured six on Wednesday, the head of the local military administration said. Serhiy Lysak, writing on Telegram, said apartments from the fifth to the seventh floor of the building were damaged. He posted photos showing at least one apartment badly damaged and debris strewn throughout the building’s interior.

Ukraine’s defence ministry said on Wednesday it was introducing a new model of operations integrating drone warfare with infantry activity and pointed to successes announced by its top commander in retaking territory from Russian forces in the south of the country. Top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said Kyiv’s forces had regained control of nearly 50 sq km (19 sq miles) of its territory from Russia in March, building on its gains since the start of the year. Drones have assumed a prominent role in the four-year-old war pitting Kyiv against Moscow. Both sides have also devoted resources to developing ways to intercept drones and upgrade air defences.

A Ukrainian unit told AFP on Wednesday that it has carried out more than 100 attacks on the front using ground robots, after president Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently hailed the capture of a Russian position thanks to this new method. “In total, there have already been over 100 such operations,” said a source within the NC-13 company, which specialises in the use of these combat machines and is part of Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade. “These operations include the elimination of enemy personnel, the destruction of shelters, command posts, and other enemy infrastructure objects. These are no longer isolated incidents, but systematic combat operations,” the source said. The systems allow the replacement of infantry assaults – which can result in soldier deaths – but also to detect and engage targets and prevent enemy infiltrations, the source said.

Published: April 16, 2026, 1:24 am

Suspicion surrounds death of US influencer Ashly Robinson in Zanzibar

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:14 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:04 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:19 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 1:47 pm

Balls Up review – Mark Wahlberg is a hoot in gross-out football comedy

Peter Farrelly’s World Cup-themed buddy movie winningly channels the juvenile charm of his 90s classics

If another Gulf war, classic price-gouging tactics and long-distance stadium treks have you down about this year’s World Cup, consider the alternative from the director who gave us Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something About Mary. Balls Up is the fourth major feature that Peter Farrelly has helmed solo since he and his brother, Bobby, drifted into separate pursuits. And even though this comedy flies well over the crossbar set by those instant classics, Prime Video at the very least should have given it the chance to stand on its own merits in a theatrical release – where, one suspects, this ribald delight would have had little trouble finding an audience, especially among football fans looking for an escape from the doom and gloom the host nation has brought to this year’s tournament.

A note of caution to viewers who think they may have time to build up to show-stopping hair gel-style gags: this buddy comedy is filthy right out of the gate. (Welcome to the streaming era!) Paul Walter Hauser is Elijah, the sheepish product designer exec behind a revolutionary, testicle-shrouding male prophylactic that his teetering company is trying to position as the World Cup’s official condom. Mark Wahlberg is Brad, the hotshot salesman who closes the deal with the Brazilian travel ministry, then promptly blows it by seducing the cabinet minister, Santos (Benjamin Bratt), into an innocent toast that triggers a relapse from nine years of sobriety, culminating in an 8-ball rager that goes viral.

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:22 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:39 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 11:09 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 8:01 am

Long live the ‘unc game’

‘Unc’ (short for uncle) is meant to disparage older players, but the industry should make games for all generations

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 2:00 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:00 am

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Altering our consciousness and dissolving ego and time.

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:24 pm

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 4:00 am

Post your questions for Adam Scott

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 11:25 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:45 am

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

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

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

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

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

Processor: Apple M5 with eight or 10-core GPU

RAM: 16, 24 or 32GB

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

Operating system: macOS 26 Tahoe

Camera: 12MP centre stage

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

Dimensions: 215 x 304.1 x 11.3mm

Weight: 1.23kg

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:00 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 1:00 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 9:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 6:00 am

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 5:32 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 3:37 pm

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

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

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

• US politics live – latest updates

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 10:00 am

Tell us your experience with AI in job interviews

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

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

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Published: April 15, 2026, 10:27 am

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

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

Published: April 15, 2026, 12:12 pm