Falling fertility, debt and AI: is the US headed toward a population crisis?

Americans having less kids plus an ageing population could be a recipe for disaster that further erodes social stability

Remember environmentalist Paul Ehrlich’s 1960s-vintage prediction about how overpopulation would deplete the Earth’s resources and condemn millions to starvation? His Malthusian condemnation of humanity’s voracious appetite has kept a grip on the debate over the future of the planet, even scaring the young out of having children.

Ehrlich was wrong. Yet as we have come around to the thought that overpopulation won’t kill us all, we are being walloped by another demographic emergency: we are not having too many kids, we are having too few. This problem is real.

Published: April 19, 2026, 11:00 am

How to train your brain to see possibility instead of doom

Our minds evolved to minimise unpredictability. But if we learn to live with doubt, a world of opportunities opens up

It can feel as though the world is tilting towards chaos: political shocks, economic instability, technological upheaval and a constant stream of bad news. Faced with so much uncertainty, many of us default to a sense of impending doom. But is that reaction hardwired – or can we train ourselves to keep a more open mind?

A useful starting point is humility. Every generation, it seems, believes it inhabits uniquely turbulent times, as literary epics down the ages testify. Uncertainty has always been part of the human condition, and none of us can really know what tomorrow holds.

Published: April 19, 2026, 11:00 am

Lesbians are reclaiming Madonna as we await her new album, Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II | Tiff Bakker

The singer is not only a hero for gay men. For a young lesbian like me in the 1990s, she was an object of desire and an inspiration

Recently, when Madonna deleted every post from her Instagram profile, it was as if a gay flare had been fired around the world.

Cue a flurry of texts from gay male friends, with one declaring that this “purging of the Sistine Chapel” meant the release of Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II was imminent, 20 years after her original disco masterpiece, because Madonna had pulled the same stunt on Instagram in 2023 before announcing our gay Christmas: the Celebration tour.

Tiff Bakker is a New York-based writer who specialises in arts and culture

Published: April 19, 2026, 11:00 am

‘I don’t want to waste the gas’: Uber and Lyft drivers reeling as fuel prices soar

Drivers face dilemma of driving more or cutting back – and support from ride-share giants decried as ‘slap in the face’

Drivers for Uber and Lyft across the US are spending hundreds more dollars on fuel each month after the US-Israel war on Iran triggered a sharp rise in oil prices.

Support offered by the ride-hailing companies amounts to a “slap in the face”, drivers operating their services told the Guardian, as many are forced to choose between driving more to make the same money as previously – or cutting back their miles to reduce costs.

Published: April 19, 2026, 10:00 am

‘Beloved daughter, sister, cousin, friend’: will D4vd’s arrest for murder bring justice for Celeste Rivas Hernandez?

After months of investigation, the singer was arrested on Thursday in a shocking case that has gripped Los Angeles

The tragic case of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenager found dead in the trunk of a Tesla belonging to the alt-pop singer D4vd, has gripped Los Angeles for more than half a year.

The death of the missing middle schooler, and the nature of her ties to the up-and-coming musician, sparked extensive media coverage and speculation online. But aside from grim details released after the discovery of the 14-year-old’s body in September, authorities in LA said relatively little about their investigation.

Published: April 19, 2026, 11:00 am

This is how we do it: ‘I’ve been pregnant for almost our entire relationship’

Sol and João had a whirlwind romance and now have a baby on the way – which has changed their sexual connection for better and worse …
• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

João has been turned on by the changes pregnancy has brought so far

Sol’s pregnancy has changed the way we have sex, but I’m also attracted to the changes

Published: April 19, 2026, 10:00 am

Middle East crisis live: Trump says talks to resume on Monday and warns US will ‘knock out’ every power plant if Iran doesn’t accept deal

The US president said negotiators would head to Pakistan as Iran pledged to keep the strait of Hormuz closed until the US naval blockade is lifted

• Full report: Iran closes strait of Hormuz again ‘until US lifts blockade’

UN secretary-general António Guterres has strongly condemned the killing of a French peacekeeper and the wounding of three others in an attack in southern Lebanon, spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement to the Associated Press.

The UN peacekeeping force came under attack with small-arms fire on Saturday morning, with two of the injured hurt seriously, France’s president and the force known as UNIFIL said.

Published: April 19, 2026, 12:43 pm

Michigan gas station clerk saves teen from alleged kidnapper after she whispers ‘help’

In Hamtramck, Abdulrahman Abohatem placed himself between 16-year-old girl and man before police arrest

A gasoline station clerk who came to a suburban Detroit girl’s defense when she entered his store and mouthed the word “help” ultimately had a hand in saving the teenager after a stranger had kidnapped her at gunpoint on her way to school, according to authorities.

“I believe this could have [gone] a lot worse than it did,” said police chief Hussein Farhat of Hamtramck, Michigan, at a news conference addressing a rescue partially attributed to convenience store employee Abdulrahman Abohatem. “We have every belief that this could have ended really badly.”

Published: April 19, 2026, 9:00 am

Virginia’s redistricting vote ‘a critical step’ for the swing state

Purple state which recently elected a Democratic governor will now choose whether to replace existing voting maps with ones that favor Democrats

Nearly three months to the day after his term as Virginia’s governor ended, Republican Glenn Youngkin stood in an unshaded corner of an office parking lot to warn dozens of conservative activists that they were in the midst of “the most important election” in the commonwealth’s 237-year history.

The question before the voters casting ballots at an early voting precinct a few yards away in the city of Leesburg ahead of Tuesday’s special election was whether to temporarily set aside Virginia’s congressional maps intended to advantage neither party and replace them with a new version that could allow Democrats to win all but one seat in the 11-member delegation in the November midterm elections.

Published: April 19, 2026, 11:00 am

Canadian astronaut’s bon mots help heal wounds from French language row

Jeremy Hansen praised for speaking French in space after Air Canada chief’s linguistic snub exposed tensions and drew rebuke from PM

Few people foresaw humanity’s quest for the moon as accurately as the 19th-century French author Jules Verne, whose two works –From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon – anticipated many of the features of modern lunar exploration.

But Verne’s language had never been spoken in deep space until the Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen uttered four words during Nasa’s recent Artemis II mission.

Published: April 19, 2026, 11:00 am

More than 20 arrested over Queensland’s controversial ‘from the river to the sea’ laws during weekend of protests

Activists vow to challenge laws in the high court after a weekend of mass protests across Brisbane

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Pro-Palestinan activists have vowed to challenge new Queensland laws banning the phrase ‘From the River to the Sea’ in the high court after more than 20 people were arrested in a weekend of mass protests across Brisbane.

At least two more people were arrested on Sunday in a march on Parliament House to protest against the laws, a day after 20 were arrested for reciting the prohibited expression or displaying it on a banner.

Published: April 19, 2026, 7:11 am

Nathalie Baye, prolific star of French and Hollywood cinema, dies aged 77

Actor who worked with the great French auteurs in the 1970s and 80s and starred in Spielberg’s Catch Me if You Can died of Lewy body dementia, says family

The French film star Nathalie Baye, who starred in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, has died at the age of 77, her family said on Saturday.

Baye, a stalwart of French cinema, starred in about 80 films and took home the best actress César, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, four times, including three years running from 1981 to 1983. She died on Friday evening at her home in Paris from Lewy body dementia, her family told AFP.

Published: April 19, 2026, 11:06 am

Jon Ossoff calls out ‘Mar-a-Lago mafia’ amid presidential bid rumors

Georgia senator says Americans will pay for Trump’s Iran war, and family’s corruption, with child and health care cuts

At a campaign rally in Augusta, Georgia, on Saturday, the Democratic senator Jon Ossoff mocked Donald Trump’s rosy predictions on Iran and tore into what he called the unprecedented corruption of the president’s family.

While Ossoff is running for re-election in November, he trained most of his fire on the president, and the vice-president, amid mounting speculation that the Democrat could launch a bid for his party’s nomination for the presidency in 2028.

Published: April 18, 2026, 10:13 pm

‘Oscar of science’ awarded to team behind gene therapy that restores lost vision

Married couple Jean Bennett and Albert Maguire developed Luxturna, which helped a patient see their child’s face for the first time

A married couple who met over a dissected brain and went on to create the first approved gene therapy for blindness have been awarded one of the most lucrative prizes in science.

Molecular biologist Jean Bennett and ophthalmologist Albert Maguire share the $3m (£2.2m) Breakthrough prize for life sciences with physician Katherine High for the 25-year-long project, during which the couple adopted a pair of dogs they had treated for blindness.

Published: April 19, 2026, 6:00 am

French director of Nazi collaborator film rejects ‘historical gaslighting’ claims

Xavier Giannoli says criticism that Les Rayons et les Ombres invites sympathy for characters is ‘profoundly dishonest’

The director of a box office hit film about Nazi collaboration and its Oscar-winning star have described criticisms they have whitewashed wartime atrocities as dishonest and “a scandal”.

Xavier Giannoli and the actor Jean Dujardin were responding to a bitter row that has divided French historians over the film Les Rayons et les Ombres (Rays and Shadows), which recounts the story of the wartime press baron Jean Luchaire.

Published: April 19, 2026, 4:00 am

Trump tests his luck with the religious right amid feud with pope and AI Jesus posts

Trump appears to have crossed a line with his Christian supporters. Will it come back to bite him in the midterms?

Donald Trump’s depiction of himself as Jesus Christ and recent spat with Pope Leo XIV could come back to bite him and the Republican party in the midterm elections, according to experts, with some newly aggrieved Christian groups set to play an outsized role in key races across the US.

The president’s Trump-as-the-Messiah Truth Social post sparked immediate criticism among some Christians, including some on the right. Trump, 79, said he thought the AI image of him administering an ethereal light to a stricken man’s head as translucent figures descended from the heavens represented him as a doctor.

Published: April 19, 2026, 12:00 pm

Trump and Tehran’s series of mismanaged posts stall progress towards peace

US president’s desperation for war to end has seen him trying to speed through a process he does not fully control

A set of mismanaged and premature media announcements by Donald Trump and Tehran has led to the collapse of progress towards a peace settlement between Iran and the US.

The recent missteps ended with Iran saying it would reinstate a complete block on the movement of commercial shipping through the strait of Hormuz and that it would not allow any of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to be exported out of the country.

Published: April 18, 2026, 3:04 pm

Pope Leo says he was not ‘trying to debate’ Trump over US attack on Iran

Pontiff says that despite ‘certain narrative that has not been accurate’, he will continue to preach message of peace

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Pope Leo XIV said on Saturday that it was “not in my interest at all” to debate the US president, Donald Trump, about the Iran war, but that he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace.

Leo spoke to reporters aboard the papal plane flying from Cameroon to Angola as part of his 11-day tour of Africa.

Published: April 18, 2026, 7:06 pm

ICE deported 174 Daca recipients through most of last year, agency head says in letter

So-called Dreamers – undocumented immigrants who arrived as children – were allowed to stay in US under Obama-era program

From January through September 2025, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 174 people who were renewing their protections from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program, the head of the agency has said in a letter reviewed by the Guardian.

The letter, written by ICE’s acting director, Todd Lyons, and sent to the Illinois congressional representative Delia Ramirez, also confirmed that a total of 270 Daca recipients were arrested during that same timeframe, or over the first nine months of Donald Trump’s second presidency.

Published: April 18, 2026, 2:00 pm

Why are Harvard’s slavery researchers quitting or being fired?

The school’s $100m project to examine its slave ownership in Antigua is mired in controversy as academics allege obstruction

Christopher Newman remembers seeing campus police officers as he walked into a human resources office at Harvard University, but he didn’t imagine that they were there for him.

It was July 2024, and Newman had just turned in the results of a two-month-long internship with the Harvard University Archives: an annotated bibliography for the landmark 2022 Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Initiative report, which detailed the university’s ties to slavery across three centuries. He completed his project on Friday, 26 July, and on Monday, he said he received an email that HR wanted to meet with him.

Published: April 18, 2026, 10:00 am

Harmeet Dhillon: DoJ lawyer a top contender for Trump’s retribution mission

Pugilistic presence has laid waste to civil rights decision – her take-no-prisoners approach has alarmed legal experts but earned president’s plaudits

When Donald Trump abruptly fired Pam Bondi earlier this month, he made it clear that an unmistakable priority for the justice department would be using the nation’s top law enforcement agency to seek retribution against his political rivals.

For months, Trump pressured Bondi to move ahead with prosecutions against James Comey, Letitia James, Adam Schiff and other rivals, even publicly venting his frustration with Bondi in October. The justice department eventually did secure indictments against Comey and James, but the cases later collapsed. Trump fired Bondi on 2 April, reportedly because he was angered by the department’s lack of progress in prosecuting enemies. Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, has since said Trump has the “right” to direct investigations at the justice department.

Published: April 19, 2026, 11:00 am

‘After all the horrible things we’ve been through,’ he said to me, ‘if I die of cancer, it will make a bad story’: Siri Hustvedt on losing Paul Auster

First there was the double tragedy that tore the family apart – then came a deadly diagnosis. The writer reflects on life after the death of her novelist husband

I am alive. My husband, Paul Auster, is dead. He died on 30 April 2024, at 6.58pm here in the Brooklyn house where I am now writing these words. He was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer in January 2023. But before that, in early November 2022, Paul had a CT scan in the emergency room at Mount Sinai West hospital. The radiologist spotted a mass in his right lung and noted it might be cancer.

We all die, but only some of us know our lives could end soon. Although I had often thought about what it would mean to live without Paul, I began to imagine it more often. I imagined walking around the house alone. I imagined grieving. If your father dies, I said to our daughter, Sophie, I will lose my every day.

Published: April 19, 2026, 11:00 am

‘Women want to experience pleasure’: how the female gaze caught the attention of film, TV and fiction

From passionate romantasy novels to premium television dramas, culture is bringing the agency, desires and interior lives of women to the fore. It’s proving good for business, but is this a permanent revolution?

Do you voraciously read the pages of steamy romantasy bestsellers by Sarah J Maas or Rebecca Yarros? Or flood your group chat with breathless recaps of the latest goings-on in TV series such as Heated Rivalry or Bridgerton? Or even immerse yourself in the divisive and challenging cinematic worlds of Emerald Fennell? If so, you surely can’t have failed to notice that in pop culture, the female gaze – storytelling that highlights the meandering, textured, sublimely messy inner worlds and wants of women – is enjoying an explosion.

On TV, you can see it everywhere, in the interior lives and desires taken up by Big Little Lies, Sirens or Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington’s Little Fires Everywhere. Romantasy harbours it in the shape of powerful maidens and sex in fae (fairy) realms, while Fennell’s Wuthering Heights and Promising Young Woman are marketed with the promise of converting women’s experiences into dark beauty on the big screen.

Published: April 19, 2026, 9:00 am

Israel had a bad week in Europe. Does it herald a wider shift in EU relations?

With Orbán gone and Meloni distancing herself, EU sanctions on trade and settlers are looking more likely

It was a bad week for Israel in Europe: the country lost its staunchest regional ally when Viktor Orbán was toppled from power in Hungary, and Italy suspended a key defence pact.

The shifts are likely to pave the way for long-delayed sanctions against violent settlers in the occupied West Bank, and add to broader pressure for the EU to reconsider its relationship with Israel over its wars in Gaza and the wider region.

Published: April 19, 2026, 11:36 am

I was bullied when I was young and now find it very hard to make friends | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

Your history of being picked on at school has a lot do with your feelings of being ‘faulty’. Getting involved in a group of mixed ages would help avoid memories of childhood

I’m in my late 30s and have a beautiful two-year-old boy and a supportive husband. But when I take my son out I feel like a rejected teenager again, surrounded by groups taking their kids out together.

I had friends when I was younger, but moved schools as a teenager and was badly bullied. It affected my confidence to the point I was painfully shy through most of university. I thought I was ugly, stupid, unlikable and found it hard to make friends. Then I moved to London, where it was also hard to make friends.

Published: April 19, 2026, 5:00 am

From sleeping lions to spitting snakes: a year in the life of London zoo vets

As the zoo celebrates its 200th birthday, photographer David Levene captures the people keeping their (sometimes very dangerous) patients healthy and happy. Introduction: Patrick Barkham

• Some images may be upsetting to young audiences

How do you shift a sedated rhino? Can a dormouse be drugged? What happens to a lion with an unusually small ear canal? How does the world’s longest venomous snake respond to treatment?

Published: April 19, 2026, 5:00 am

JD Vance could yet save his political skin. But it will mean turning on Trump – and soon | Simon Tisdall

The vice-president has endured his most humiliating – and damaging – week as his boss’s fall guy. How much more can Maga’s great hope take?

For a would-be president, JD Vance has an unfortunate habit of getting into fights he cannot win. Three losing battles in the past week – with Iranian negotiators, Hungarian voters and Pope Leo – brought censure, humiliation and mockery raining down on his head. None were of Vance’s choosing. All were fought vicariously on Donald Trump’s behalf.

The vice-president is paying a high price for sycophantic loyalty to his boss. His poll ratings are plunging. His Maga succession hopes falter. He suffers by association – although his own inflammatory statements and misjudgments often make matters worse. Yet amid growing doubts about Trump’s mental health and fitness to govern, Vance remains the White House’s next-in-line.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Published: April 19, 2026, 7:00 am

War isn’t a ‘moral’ issue – at least not for the Trump administration | Dave Schilling

The US president’s grudge match with the pope underlines how religion really functions in American politics

I’m not a particularly religious person, even though everyone tells me how cool believing in God is now. Every so often, we get a new trend piece about how rad and chill Christianity has become. All the skateboarders and chads are churchmaxxing. Only atheists wear skinny jeans any more. Christopher Hitchens would totally get mogged by Pat Robertson. Personally, I don’t buy it. Influencers like Logan Paul and IShowSpeed aren’t going on Twitch to tell their viewers to tithe 10% of their earnings to the Lord. They’re encouraging them to buy cases and cases of Prime Hydration Drink and watch WrestleMania.

In my research on the topic, I found this article from the Independent this year that claims that gen Z is, like, totally down with Christ and can’t wait to chug Mountain Dew with their local pastor in a musty basement. No sooner had I clicked the link than I found an editor’s note that the poll that supported the claim was found to be fraudulent.

Published: April 18, 2026, 11:00 am

Don’t knock small talk. It has the power to mend a world ripped apart by rage | Bidisha

All good? Busy day? Small talk is a social good with a bad reputation. We dread it, but it’s vital for human connection

Hi there, how’re you? How’s it going? You alright? All good?

As any Briton knows, none of these questions is an inquiry into your emotional state, the material conditions of your life or your opinion on anything. Respond positively – “all good so far, touch wood” is nice – then move on to the purpose of the interaction: “I’m returning an Amazon package?”

Bidisha is a broadcaster, critic and journalist for BBC, Channel 4 and Sky News

Published: April 19, 2026, 9:00 am

Are you a ‘gentle partner’ or a ‘Fafo partner’? I know which team I’m on | Polly Hudson

Yes, we should all cut our loved ones some slack. But asking me to listen attentively to my husband’s football chat – and mirror it back to him – is definitely a step too far

How do you tell the difference between a sign from the universe and a coincidence? It’s been a challenging couple of weeks in my house, because my husband has been Going Through Something. In other words, Arsenal FC have been up to their old tricks. He’s their most ardent fan, a cheap seats season ticket holder (he can only see half the pitch). I stay out of it, mainly, viewing it as a vaguely amusing masochistic hobby, which probably bodes well for me in a general sense since he remains devoted even though they almost always disappoint, if not devastate him.

Recently, he has been particularly despondent. Yet again, Arsenal were on the brink of triumph, and then started playing as if they were an out of shape pub five-a-side team mistakenly welcomed on to the pitch, like that man who was waiting in the BBC reception for a job interview and ended up live on air. The Guardian’s latest match report compares this season to “watching somebody have their toenails very slowly peeled off with a set of pruning secateurs”.

Published: April 19, 2026, 4:00 am

Division is a threat to resistance. Here’s how to build a stronger coalition | David C Turner III and Eric Morrison-Smith

People won’t join us just because we’re right. They’ll join if we make them feel like they belong

“Settle your quarrels, come together, and understand the reality of our situation. Understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying that could be saved, that generations more will live poor, butchered lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution.”

George Jackson wrote these prophetic words more than 50 years ago. At that time, he and his comrades were enduring unimaginable violence inside California’s prisons – a microcosm of the fascism already alive in the United States.

Show up, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Talk to people whose politics aren’t perfect.

Work with those still in process because they, too, have revolutionary potential.

Refuse to turn on the people closest to us and focus on the real enemy.

Published: April 19, 2026, 11:00 am

Is Meghan Markle really the most trolled person in the world? | Arwa Mahdawi

I have a lot of sympathy for Meghan but, at times, I do think that the Duchess of Sussex could do with putting her trials and tribulations in perspective

Iran may have reopened the strait of Hormuz, but a global energy crisis has not yet been averted. The war has already damaged as much as $58bn worth of power infrastructure. Even under the best-case circumstances, these could take years to repair.

Luckily, I think I’ve got a way to get us out of this mess. First we invent some sort of large suction device (technical details to be worked out later). Then we turn it on and hoover up all the rage directed at the Duchess of Sussex. Boom, energy crisis solved.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnist

Published: April 18, 2026, 10:00 am

Online abuse is silencing women on a staggering scale – it’s a democratic crisis | Sharon Kechula

The experience of a Kenyan politician who dared to have her babies abroad is far from unique, and laws are not enough to make digital spaces safe for women

In March last year, soon after giving birth to her twins, Susan Kihika was subjected to a campaign of online abuse. Kihika, who is governor of Nakuru county in Kenya’s rift valley, was accused of abandoning her country because she took her maternity leave in the US after being treated there for a high-risk pregnancy.

The criticism quickly escalatedto attacks and sexist smears. Soon social media commenters were accusing her of sleeping her way into politics. Her location was shared.

Published: April 18, 2026, 5:00 am

Who’d have thought a fossil-fuel shill like Trump would be the one to spark a green revolution? | George Monbiot

The US attack on Iran has made the need for renewable energy inarguable. Environmentalists are now being seen for the pragmatists that they are

Donald Trump has done more to accelerate the energy transition than anyone else alive. Fossil fuel companies bankrolled his presidential campaign to stop the transition in its tracks. But when you back a volatile narcissist, unable to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time, you shouldn’t expect to control the outcome.

It’s not that the fossils are suffering yet. As prices have soared since Trump and Netanyahu attacked Iran, oil executives have been selling shares at gobsmacking prices: the CEO of Chevron, for example, has cashed $104m so far this year. Vladimir Putin has also received a massive boost to his Ukraine invasion budget. As promised, Trump has gutted clean energy rules and programmes, green alternatives and environmental science. A fortnight ago, he stated, with the usual quantum of evidence (zero): “The environmentalists, I mean, they are terrorists … I call them environmental terrorists.”

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

Published: April 18, 2026, 7:00 am

Everton v Liverpool: Premier League – live

⚽️ Premier League updates from the 2pm BST kick-off
⚽ Live scores | Latest tables | Clockwatch | Email Daniel

Otherwise, Florian Wirtz is again given a chance to assert and establish – the numbers and profiles behind him, more defensively minded, offer him yet some ballast, but does he have the necessary speed of thought and play, along with the required combativeness, to make a difference?

The problem he has is that he replaced two full-backs who were better in attack than defence, with … two full-backs who are better in attack than defence. Essentially, he doesn’t have a combination that works, so has prioritised solidity and experience here, the new lads excluded. That means Dominic Szoboszlai again plays at the back, which means Liverpool must do without their best midfielder in the centre of the pitch; I guess the plan might be for him to invert, but otherwise Slot will hope that the ball-carrying and tenacity of Curtis Jones compensate.

Published: April 19, 2026, 12:43 pm

‘Last year is over’: Oklahoma City launch title defense as NBA’s parity era faces test

The league hasn’t had a repeat champion since the 2017-18 Warriors. The level-headed, consistent Thunder may be the ones to change that

The NBA has not seen a reigning champion take its title defense as far as the conference finals, let alone hoist a second consecutive Larry O’Brien trophy, since the Golden State Warriors were cut off at the ankle and calf by the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 Finals. That’s seven straight seasons in which parity has ruled supreme, for better or for worse, and dynastic runs seem fated to be a thing of the past.

Not if one team in America’s heartland has anything to say about it. The Oklahoma City Thunder embark on these 2026 playoffs in search of historic greatness, trends be damned. And less than two weeks before the first game of the postseason tips off, you’d be hard pressed to find substantive evidence to believe their goal won’t be achieved.

Published: April 19, 2026, 10:00 am

Bengals land Dexter Lawrence from Giants for No 10 pick in draft-week splash

• Lawrence dealt in blockbuster draft-week trade

• Giants now hold the fifth and 10th picks overall

• Trade follows tackle’s push for a new contract

The Cincinnati Bengals acquired three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence from the New York Giants for the 10th overall pick in next week’s NFL draft, two people with knowledge of the trade told the Associated Press on Saturday night.

Both people spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal is pending a physical.

Published: April 19, 2026, 1:10 am

Nottingham Forest v Burnley, Aston Villa v Sunderland, and more – football clockwatch

⚽ Today’s games | Latest tables | Premier League top scorers
⚽ Everton v Liverpool live | Get in touch with Tom by email

OK, so it was all building to this, then. The slow‑burn plotlines. The room‑temperature action sequences. The winter afternoons on the sofa watching men wrestle unhappily, staring out of the window as the frigid wind tousles the clouds, wondering about the death of all things, and also why referees not only have to speak now but speak in the same awkward Yorkshire bingo‑caller voice.

Published: April 19, 2026, 12:42 pm

Humanoid robots show rapid advances as they race past humans in Beijing half-marathon

• Winning robot records faster time than Jacob Kiplimo’s world record

• More than 100 robots run in parallel tracks to avoid collisions with humans

Dozens of Chinese-made humanoid robots showed off their fast-improving athleticism as they whizzed past human runners in a half-marathon race in Beijing on Sunday, having lagged far behind a year earlier.

The race’s inaugural edition last year was riddled with mishaps, as many robots struggled to get off the starting line, and most were unable to finish.

Published: April 19, 2026, 4:57 am

NFL will not investigate Mike Vrabel’s behavior amid Dianna Russini fallout

• NFL says no probe into Vrabel over resort photos

• Patriots silent on whether team will launch review

• Russini resigned from job after images surfaced

The NFL is not investigating Mike Vrabel’s behavior after published photos of the New England Patriots coach and former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona resort prompted her resignation and an internal investigation at The New York Times-owned sports outlet.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed to the Associated Press on Saturday the league is not looking into the matter. The Patriots didn’t immediately respond to a question about whether the team has launched its own review of Vrabel’s actions.

Published: April 18, 2026, 10:36 pm

‘That’s a guppy’: Baumgardner swats aside Britain’s Dubois as feud escalates

• American dismisses Dubois as ‘not on my level’

• Baumgardner targets bouts with Taylor or Serrano

• British stablemate touts fight as ‘best versus best’

A dismissive Alycia Baumgardner said Britain’s Caroline Dubois still has more to prove before the American will entertain a fight between the two unified champions.

That was the curt assessment from Baumgardner early Saturday morning after she retained her WBA, WBO and IBF junior lightweight world titles with a controlled, at times punishing display across 10 three-minute rounds against Bo Mi Re Shin in a main event that started well past midnight at Madison Square Garden.

Published: April 18, 2026, 8:49 pm

Skydiver rescued after crashing into scoreboard before Virginia Tech spring game

• Skydiver crashes into Lane Stadium scoreboard

• Parachute snags above field before spring game

• Victim rescued, officials say condition stable

A skydiver crashed into the Lane Stadium scoreboard before Virginia Tech’s spring football game Saturday.

Virginia Tech officials said on X that the skydiver “was safely secured and is currently stable” following rescue efforts. The incident caused a delay in the start of the spring game.

Published: April 18, 2026, 10:02 pm

‘I’m extremely lucky to be here’: Jelena Dokic on childhood dreams and talking tennis

Australia’s former world No 4 player and now respected pundit speaks about highs and lows in her life, and the importance of family on success

All sports stars know that dealing with highs and lows comes with the territory, as part of the job. But few have been through such extremes as Jelena Dokic, who spent her whole career – and much of her life –navigating painful moments. Abused, physically and psychologically, by her father, Dokic suffered from depression and an eating disorder and, at her very lowest moments, contemplated suicide.

But Dokic never gave up, showing rare resilience, built from her experience growing up in a war-torn country and being a refugee twice. (Dokic was born in Croatia – part of the former Yugoslavia – and moved to Serbia, before settling in Australia.) Somehow, even in the worst moments off the court, she was able to produce incredible moments on it.

Published: April 18, 2026, 8:00 pm

Stabbings, kidnap threats and arson attacks: how the Iranian regime targets UK journalists

Staff at outlets critical of Tehran have faced chilling intimidation and violence, amid calls for greater protection and support

Iranian journalists working in London say they fear for their lives after a recent spate of threats and physical attacks, which they blame on a Tehran regime intent on silencing Persian-language news media such as BBC Persian and Iran International.

On Wednesday, the London offices of Iran International, a news channel that opposes the regime in Tehran, were the target of an attempted arson attack, with an “ignited container” thrown into the car park of a neighbouring building, according to the Metropolitan police.

Published: April 19, 2026, 6:00 am

Bulgaria votes as pro-Russian former president leads in the polls

Eighth election in five years follows government collapse in December, with stability and cost of living among key issues

Bulgarians are voting in the eighth parliamentary election in five years, with the clear frontrunner, the pro-Russian former president Rumen Radev, promising to stamp out corruption and end a succession of weak, short-lived governments.

Radev, a Eurosceptic former fighter pilot who has opposed military support for Ukraine, stepped down from the presidency in January to run in the election, which comes after mass demonstrations forced out the previous government in December.

Published: April 19, 2026, 9:45 am

Traders placed over $1bn in perfectly timed bets on the Iran war. What is going on?

Suspicious wagers on the US-Israel war in Iran are creating huge windfalls and raising concerns among lawmakers

Sixteen bets made $100,000 each accurately predicting the timing of the US airstrikes against Iran on 27 February. Later, a single user would make over $550,000 after betting that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would topple, just moments before his assassination by Israeli forces. On 7 April, right before Donald Trump announced a temporary ceasefire with Iran, traders bet $950m that oil prices would come down. They did.

These bets and other well-timed wagers accurately predicted the precise timing of major developments in the US-Israel war with Iran, creating huge windfalls and raising concerns among lawmakers and experts over potential insider trading.

Published: April 18, 2026, 11:00 am

Investigators examine whether Ukraine terrorist attack was directed by Russia

The gunman, who killed six people in Kyiv before police shot him dead, was a Ukrainian citizen born in Moscow

Ukrainian investigators are examining whether a terrorist attack in Kyiv was directed by Moscow after a man shot dead six people on Saturday before he was killed by police.

The gunman, 58, opened fire on passersby before barricading himself in a supermarket and taking hostages. Detectives sealed off the area in the Holosiivskyi district and tried to negotiate with him. He refused and was killed after a 40-minute standoff.

Published: April 18, 2026, 8:19 pm

‘I will never give up’: Ben Roberts-Smith denies war crime allegations in first public statement since his arrest

The Victoria Cross recipient faces five charges of war crime murder over allegations he killed unarmed civilians during his service with the Australian SAS in Afghanistan

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Alleged war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith says he has “never run from a fight in my life” as he denied war crime murder charges relating to the shooting deaths of five unarmed civilians.

In his first public comments since being arrested on 7 April, Roberts-Smith spoke to the media from the Gold Coast, where he has been bailed ahead of a possible trial.

Published: April 19, 2026, 5:07 am

‘Ignorance and cruelty’: former USAID official details devastation inflicted by Doge cuts

Nicholas Enrich was an eyewitness to the dismantling of the US foreign aid organization by the Trump administration

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Nicholas Enrich was working in Kenya in 2003 when the then US president George W Bush signed a landmark $15bn, five-year commitment to combat HIV, the largest international health commitment by any nation to fight a single disease.

It was the peak of the epidemic, and for the young American government aid worker “it clicked that my government was ready to join the fight against HIV and I was excited to be a part of that”, he says.

Published: April 18, 2026, 12:00 pm

French man, 86, issues historic apology for family’s role in transatlantic slavery

Pierre Guillon de Prince believed to be first in France to formally apologise for ancestors’ connections to slavery

An 86-year-old man has issued what is believed to be the first formal apology by someone in France for their family’s role in transatlantic slavery.

Pierre Guillon de Prince’s ancestors were shipowners based in Nantes, the country’s largest port for transatlantic slavery. They transported about 4,500 enslaved Africans and owned plantations in the Caribbean.

Published: April 18, 2026, 7:17 pm

Norwegian politicians hope Epstein files inquiry will restore faith in democracy

Disgraced financier’s links to politicians and civil servants as far back as 30 years ago to be examined

The Epstein files have shaken Norway’s faith in democracy, the head of the Norwegian parliament’s oversight committee has said, as a sprawling investigation into the connections between its foreign office and the late sex offender gets under way.

An independent commission to look into information brought to light by the Jeffrey Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice was launched on Wednesday after the Norwegian parliament voted unanimously last month for it to be set up.

Published: April 18, 2026, 10:48 am

‘We can’t wait’: Venice already seeking floods plan B five years after barriers’ launch

Rising sea levels and ecological damage caused by heavy use of flood defence system force city authorities to consider next move

The Arsenale, the colossal shipyard that was the engine of the Venetian Republic’s domination for seven centuries, remains the nucleus of the city’s control over the water. Its northern section is made up of cavernous brick warehouses called capannoni, which in the 16th century could produce a warship a day through a rigorously ordered assembly line.

Now, one of them houses the operations centre of the Mose, the sprawling flood defence system that protects the city.

Published: April 18, 2026, 1:00 pm

Stranded and dying, the German whale is a parable of our troubled relationship with these sea giants

Even as we empathise with these intelligent animals, our relentless push for resources kills them in their thousands, just as whalers once hunted them to the brink of extinction

For weeks now, a humpback whale has been trying to die. Entangled in ropes, it had wandered into the shallow Baltic Sea. Unable to feed, it is now subject to extreme dehydration, since whales satisfy their thirst through the fish they eat.

In such a parlous situation, the whale’s last resort was to strand itself on Poel Island, in the Bay of Wismar. Sadly, it has been a slow death. Beached whales die because they are crushed by their own weight. The German humpback’s agony may have been prolonged because it lay in shallow water and was thus only partly submerged.

Published: April 18, 2026, 6:00 am

FBI’s Kash Patel denies excess drinking amid officials’ US security concerns

Agency director threatens to sue Atlantic for report citing allegations from two dozen current and former colleagues

The FBI director, Kash Patel, is denying allegations detailed in a new report that he drinks to excess and has been unreachable at times during his tenure in office.

Patel threatened to sue the Atlantic over the story published on Friday, which detailed his alleged heavy drinking and how members of his security detail have on multiple occasions had difficulty waking him.

Published: April 18, 2026, 5:09 pm

Police use gas and rubber bullets on activists at beagle facility in Wisconsin

Law enforcement rebuffs protesters at breeding and biomedical research farm amid attempt to remove dogs

A chaotic scene unfolded Saturday at a beagle breeding and biomedical research facility in Wisconsin as about 1,000 animal rights activists seeking to breach the property were rebuffed with rubber bullets and pepper spray by law enforcement.

It was the latest attempt by protesters to take beagles from the Ridglan Farms facility in Blue Mounds, a small town about 25 miles (4okm) south-west of Madison. In a March raid, activists removed 13 dogs from the facility. The Dane county sheriff’s office has since referred charges for burglary and trespassing, among others, to the local district attorney’s office against 62 people related to that incident.

Published: April 18, 2026, 11:59 pm

US midwestern states at risk of severe thunderstorms, weather agency warns

About 26 million people are under tornado watches from Wisconsin to Oklahoma, according to one report

A stretch of the midwestern states is at risk of severe weather, forecasters warned on Friday, as tornadoes battered towns across the central US region, leaving behind debris and destroyed property.

According to the National Weather Service, severe thunderstorms may be seen in north-west Oklahoma through western Missouri during Friday afternoon and evening.

Published: April 18, 2026, 2:01 am

Rat poison found in baby food jar in Austria after product recall

Police say poison detected in jar of HiPP carrots and potatoes as maker says items may have been tampered with

Rat poison has been found in a jar of HiPP baby food, police in Austria have said, after a recall of the product from more than 1,000 Spar supermarkets in the country over safety fears.

Police in Burgenland said in a statement that a sample from one of the 190g (7oz) jars of carrots and potatoes baby food reported by a customer had tested positive for rat poison.

Published: April 19, 2026, 10:00 am

‘I was fighting two wars’: Ukraine’s soldiers confront their addiction struggles

Troops frequently use substances to help cope with untreated PTSD and anxiety, producing a negative spiral

Seven years clean, Oleksandr believed he had left addiction behind. Then, a year into fighting Russia, the Ukrainian soldier was prescribed painkillers for a shoulder injury. Under the strain of war, he relapsed and quickly began using stronger illicit opioids.

“From that moment, I was fighting two wars – one inside myself and one with Russia,” he said, speaking at a rehabilitation facility in Kyiv.

Oleksandr relapsed into addiction after treatment for a shoulder injury sustained during fighting.

Published: April 19, 2026, 4:00 am

Sincere dialogue needed to ease Cuba’s ‘grave humanitarian crisis’, say Mexico, Spain and Brazil

In joint statement, the three countries call for lasting solution to crisis, without explicitly mentioning the US and its oil blockade

Mexico, Spain and Brazil have voiced concern about the “dramatic situation” in Cuba, which has faced months of pressure from US president Donald Trump, with the trio urging “sincere and respectful dialogue”.

Without explicitly mentioning the US, the three leftist-led countries expressed on Saturday “deep concern regarding the grave humanitarian crisis that the people of Cuba are enduring, and call for the adoption of necessary measures to alleviate this situation”.

Published: April 19, 2026, 2:26 am

‘A quiet, radical act’: Muslim neighbours support members of attacked London synagogue

After attempted arson attack, communities are determined to remain resilient and open

“How good and how wonderful it is when friends sit together,” reads a variation on a verse from Psalms painted high on the wall inside Finchley Reform Synagogue (FRS). For the congregation gathering in a cheerful hubbub before its Shabbat service on Friday evening, it felt like an especially apt sentiment.

Three days after the synagogue was the target of an attempted firebombing, hundreds of members made an extra effort to come together in determined, if slightly nervy, solidarity, joined by guests including local politicians, other faith leaders, police officers – and one particularly special group of neighbours.

Published: April 18, 2026, 12:29 pm

My Phantoms author Gwendoline Riley on winning $175,000: ‘It was unimaginable. I felt overwhelmed.’

Renowned for her darkly funny novels exploring failed relationships, the writer has been awarded the Windham‑Campbell prize for a body of work. She explains why it will change her life – if not her outlook

It’s possible that she might be feeling more tolerant of straitened circumstances because her work has just received significant critical – and material – recognition in the shape of a Windham-Campbell prize. These awards are the antithesis of many other hoopla-heavy literary prizes: each year, eight writers across fiction, nonfiction, drama and poetry are given $175,000 (£135,000) to allow them to work with financial ease and security; previous winners include Anne Enright, Margo Jefferson and Yiyun Li. An anonymous jury selects the recipients from a pool of nominations – nominators and their choices also remain undisclosed, with the criteria being excellence across a body of work – and, aside from a select number of events, there’s little of the media circus about the whole affair. They are, quite simply, a boon to writers without obvious additional means, who are all operating in an increasingly challenging marketplace.

What did it feel like to be selected? “Unimaginable. It was just an ordinary, wet Wednesday, and I had an email through. I hadn’t heard of it, but then I did remember seeing Anne Enright getting it, because I remember some of the language she used to describe what it was like to get exactly this kind of call. And then I came up with the phrase ‘Deus Ex Cashmachina’, which I think would work better on the page than when you say it out loud. And then I felt completely overwhelmed. I think they filmed me crying.”

Published: April 19, 2026, 11:00 am

Madonna: I Feel So Free review – album teaser offers hypnotic glimpse of a return to her club scene roots

(Warner Records)
The ‘Queen of Pop’ conjures the heady vibes of a small hours dancefloor with this exceptionally crafted single

Recent years have not been particularly kind to Madonna. Her tours have been dogged by controversy of a very different type to the scandal she once happily courted: in 2024 some disgruntled fans attempted to sue her for turning up on stage two hours later than scheduled.

Her albums have garnered a noticeably mixed reception and sold in increasingly diminishing quantities, each one shifting half what its predecessor did: she dismissed 2012’s MDNA and 2015’s Rebel Heart as albums she made “reluctantly”, but there were fewer takers still for 2019’s Madame X, an authentically bizarre patchwork of trap, reggaeton, Portuguese fado and politically inclined lyrics.

Published: April 18, 2026, 2:11 pm

Can a new biopic change your mind about Michael Jackson?

In life, the singer’s image was shaken by abuse allegations. In death, he is a billion-dollar business

In December 1993, Michael Jackson’s genitals were photographed by the Santa Barbara county sheriff’s department and the Los Angeles police department (LAPD). The pop music titan had been accused of sexually abusing Jordan Chandler, a 13-year-old boy who had accompanied Jackson on his Dangerous world tour and regularly shared a bed with the singer. Chandler had made a drawing of distinctive markings and blotches on Jackson’s crotch which matched the photos, law enforcement said. “Not just the genitalia,” said deputy district attorney, Lauren Weis, in comments echoed by LAPD colleagues. “But a particular mark on the underside of his penis which the victim described.”

The incident is a well-known part of Jackson lore; in a live satellite feed broadcast shortly after, the singer branded the strip-search “the most humiliating ordeal of my life”. The following month, Jackson paid a reported $25m to settle the case out of court. Jackson and his estate have always maintained his innocence in Chandler’s claims and nearly a dozen other allegations of child molestation. “All these lies and all these people coming forward to get paid … ,” he told Diane Sawyer in a 1995 interview. “Just lies. Lies, lies, lies.”

Published: April 18, 2026, 9:00 am

Half Man: Richard Gadd’s follow-up to Baby Reindeer is uncomfortably erotic – and utterly monstrous

Gadd and Jamie Bell are so frank they’re almost feral in a show so violent you’ll think you can taste blood in your mouth. This man can hit a nerve like no other

Part of the thrill of Baby Reindeer was the feeling of watching the birth of a monster. Comedians starring in their first scripted drama tend to base their characters gently on themselves, prodding at their own foibles without doing proper damage – but Richard Gadd set fire to that safety net by dramatising his own experience of being stalked, along with other, even darker moments of victimhood, with an honesty that was transgressive.

On screen and in his old real life, the helpless Gadd’s unhinged admirer Martha (Jessica Gunning) pursued him unstoppably, like the fiend in a horror movie; once Baby Reindeer’s word-of-mouth popularity exploded and Gadd won major awards for playing himself at his most vulnerable, though, his success made him one of the most powerful creators in television. That queasy disconnect was fascinating. The prospect of watching a new Richard Gadd show is exciting, of course. It’s also a bit frightening.

Published: April 18, 2026, 6:00 am

The Guide #239: Two successful seasons in, The Pitt has resuscitated the medical drama

In this week’s newsletter: A year after its US debut, the buzzy hospital thriller finally lands in ​the UK and traces the long, messy evolution of a genre that reflect​s the state of our healthcare systems

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After a wait more interminable than most spells in an A&E reception area, medical-drama-of-the-moment The Pitt finally made it on to UK screens last month, via the arrival of streaming service HBO Max, and just about everyone I know has spent the following weeks hoovering it up. Some, in fact, are already up to speed with its second season (the finale aired last night on US TV) and so are trying very, very hard not to blurt out major plot points at the office tea point/on public transport/in an actual hospital waiting room – we’re in a post-spoiler age, remember.

I’ve been a little bit slower off the mark – mainly because it took so long to figure out if I actually had access to HBO Max as part of my bafflingly arcane Sky TV package – but I’m racing through it now, and so am ready to share the same observations that everyone else made weeks, or in the case of the US, a full year ago. The main one being: how did not one TV producer have the idea to mash together ER and 24 before? It was right there, staring you all in the face! (Jed Mercurio, whose forgotten 2015 medical drama, Critical, also had a real-time element, might have a finger raised in objection at this point.)

Published: April 18, 2026, 6:01 am

‘I became a New Order groupie’: Tim Burgess’s honest playlist

The Charlatans frontman plays Kate Bush deep cuts in his car and loves a bit of Abba, but which scary industrial noiseniks soundtrack his sexy time?

The first single I bought
I remember seeking out Long Haired Lover from Liverpool by Little Jimmy Osmond when I was six. I bought it from Rumbelows on Northwich High Street – it sold washing machines, TVs, blenders and the Top 40 7-inch singles at the back.

The song I inexplicably know every lyric to
I’ve long been obsessed by Steve Ignorant from Crass. I’ve had various stalls at record markets over the years, and at one, this guy came up and said: “Do you really know the lyrics to all Crass songs?” He tried to catch me out by singing Do They Owe Us a Living?, but I knew them from start to finish.

Published: April 19, 2026, 8:00 am

Lost Federico García Lorca verse discovered 93 years after it was written

Eight-line poem found on the back of a manuscript sheds light on Spanish poet’s preoccupation with time

A previously unknown verse attributed to Federico García Lorca has been discovered 93 years after the celebrated Spanish poet and playwright is believed to have jotted it on the back of one of his manuscripts.

Lorca is thought to have written the eight-line poem in 1933 while working on the collection Diván del Tamarit, a homage to the Arab poets of his native Granada.

Published: April 18, 2026, 4:00 am

Kae Tempest on creativity and his gender transition: ‘I’m just glad to be alive’

Ten years after his debut novel, the poet and musician has written a follow-up exploring self-discovery and a life lived on the edge. He talks about sexuality, pronouns and drawing strength from the literature he loves

Kae Tempest sidles into a pub near his house on a weekday afternoon and orders a pint of mineral water. At his side is Murphy, an enormous, 14-year-old alaskan malamute dog with startling blue eyes who settles down on the floor next to his master and goes to sleep. “He’s all right,” Tempest says. “He’s very friendly. He won’t even put his nose up.” The rapper, performance poet, playwright and novelist has a ginger beard and is wearing Timberland boots, baggy jeans and a black hoodie over a blue-and-white striped collared shirt. His hair is hidden by a cap. Years ago, his dramatic russet hair was long, but he cropped it when he dropped the “T” from his first name and came out as nonbinary, a watershed moment in his gender transition. Now testosterone has deepened his voice and his journey has reached its final stage – from they/them to he/him.

As Tempest has been famous since his late 20s, showered with accolades ranging from Mercury nominations for two of his albums (including his debut, Let Them Eat Chaos) to becoming the youngest poet ever to receive the Ted Hughes award for the epic performance poem Brand New Ancients, this odyssey has taken place in public. On his song I Stand on the Line, from his last album Self Titled, Tempest vividly describes the anxiety of having to deal with the hostility of some people’s reactions to his “second puberty” (“Out in the limelight like, please, nobody look at me / I’m looking for myself, all I’m seeing is the bitterness / Coming my way when I’m using the facilities”). So is it a heavy burden to be such a visible trans person? “It’s just my life,” Tempest replies, his voice a soft south London growl, much quieter than the thrilling, declamatory style of his performances. “I’m just glad to be alive. How beautiful,” he adds. “Because you felt like you might not be at some point.”

Published: April 18, 2026, 8:01 am

Yann Martel: ‘I hate the rich people of this world – of which I’m one, because of Life of Pi’

The Canadian author on good writing advice from Martin Amis, his love for digging and getting rid of billionaires

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Your novels Life of Pi, Beatrice and Virgil, and The High Mountains of Portugal all feature animals in starring roles. If you could be any animal, which would it be, and why?

A sloth, because it has a peaceful, long life. Or maybe a koala. They both look like stoners. A sloth just hangs there in its tree, it sleeps 22 hours a day – or maybe it’s meditating. Most creatures take the strategies of overt camouflage or speed to stay alive, whereas the sloth’s like, “I’ll be so slow that no one will notice me.” It grows a kind of algae on its fur, which makes it hard to see in the South American jungles. So it’s kind of hiding and being at one with the universe.

Published: April 18, 2026, 8:00 pm

Graham Norton: ‘Back in the day, my monologues were full of terrible jokes about people’

The comedian and broadcaster on moaning about his eyebags, being stabbed by muggers, and his publicity-shy pet

Born in County Dublin, Graham Norton, 63, studied at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. In the 1990s, he was a standup and appeared in the sitcom Father Ted. Since 2007, he has presented The Graham Norton Show for the BBC. He hosts Eurovision, is a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, and is presenting new reality show The Neighbourhood, which starts on 24 April on ITV. He has won nine Baftas and written three memoirs and five novels. He is married and lives in London and West Cork.

When were you happiest?
Our wedding weekend in Ireland.

Published: April 18, 2026, 9:00 am

Father of man who inspired Super Mario was also named Luigi, researcher finds

Elisabeth Zetland, a senior researcher at MyHeritage, found that the actual Luigi had immigrated to US from Italy

Gaming enthusiasts have known for years that Nintendo named its mustachioed, superhero plumber after the company’s landlord, Washington state businessman Mario Arnold Segale.

But it has only just been determined that Nintendo may have unknowingly named Super Mario’s fictional brother after Segale’s real-life father: Luigi, whose biography evokes that of millions of 20th-century US immigrants from Italy.

Published: April 18, 2026, 3:20 pm

Help, there’s a cockroach in my coffee! 16 gross ingredients hidden in your favourite foods

From wood pulp in ice-cream to peat in portobellos, science has transformed how we dine. Do you know exactly what’s lurking in the grub we eat?

Microbial slime and a side helping of sand doesn’t sound like much of a meal, but a startling amount of the food we eat today contains ingredients that are, at the very least, unexpected – and, at worst, dangerous, such as heavy metals from polluted soils.

Then there is the thorny question of what ultra‑processed foods in our diets might be doing to us. “While each food additive, so‑called processing aid, fortificant and unrecognisably modified ingredient has been tested individually and declared safe, are they really?” asks Chris Young, who runs the Real Bread Campaign for Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, and was named joint winner of Slow Food In The UK’s 2025 person of the year award. “The studies are relatively small and short, leaving history littered with additives that we were once promised would not harm us but were later withdrawn or banned on health grounds. What might the long-term effect be of eating such substances, individually or in the cocktails created for each product and across our shopping baskets?”

Published: April 18, 2026, 11:00 am

Scotland in bloom: wildflowers turn the Outer Hebrides into a Technicolor dream

The machair is nature’s dazzling display on these remote islands, but this rare habitat also plays a vital role for wildlife and the resurgent crofting community

Some 8,000 years ago, behind the retreating glaciers, a remarkable environment was born on the western fringes of Scotland’s Outer Hebridean islands, forged by the wind and waves. It began with rising sea levels and sweeping Atlantic gales depositing crushed shell-sand inland; this settled over glacial sediment to form a coastal belt of lime-rich soil. Buffered from the sea by mounting sand dunes, this winter-wet and summer-sunned substrate produced one of Europe’s rarest habitats: the “machair”, Gaelic for “fertile grassy plain”. Abounding in diverse, colourful wildflowers and an array of associated wildlife, coastal machair is a precious, globally important outpost of biodiversity, supporting everything from purple orchids and nodding blue campanulas to endangered birdlife, otters and rare bumblebees.

As a wildflower fanatic, visiting the Outer Hebrides in peak machair bloom has long been an aspiration. Over the years, I’d read accounts of its arresting, vibrant seasonality – its shifting blankets of red and white clover, yellow trefoil and creamy eyebright, bold against the sky. Although remnant machair is also found in north-west Ireland, its greatest extent lies on this Scottish archipelago, notably the islands of Barra, Uist and Harris.

Published: April 18, 2026, 6:00 am

‘A sticky mess’: I was cleaning my bathroom all wrong – here’s how to do it like a pro

Tips on how to clean your bathroom like a pro, our favorite plastic-free kitchen upgrades, and more

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Each week the Filter newsletter cuts through the noise to bring you smart, practical recommendations on how to live better – from what is worth buying to the tools, habits and ideas that actually last.

Some people have their cleaning routine down to a science. And others fly by the seat of their pants. I’m in the latter category, spraying down surfaces and hoping for the best.

Published: April 18, 2026, 2:15 pm

The moment I knew: Our knees touched and we froze – it was cinematic

Tomas Telegramma had a platonic chemistry with his colleague Steph Vigilante. But one night as the heaven’s opened, so did his emotional floodgates

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

In 2019, I started a job as a junior editor for an online city guide in Melbourne. I was struck by the social media coordinator, Steph, who worked quietly and diligently in a corner of the office, but had a surname that was at odds with her vibe. She was Vigilante by name, but not by nature.

Our shared Italian heritage was an instant bonding agent. We had chemistry, sure, but it was purely platonic. Even when lockdown put a pin in all things in real life, work’s instant messaging app helped our friendship survive working from home. I’d write stories about the city; Steph would cleverly bring them to life on social media. The synergy was real.

Published: April 18, 2026, 8:00 pm

Blind date: ‘We laughed so hard the man at the next table shushed us’

Rebecca (left), 26, a stage manager, meets Sophie, 28, a standup comedian

What were you hoping for?
Great conversation, since I’ve had way too many dates where I’ve borne the weight of the chat.

Published: April 18, 2026, 5:00 am

Tim Dowling: I’m all at sea … on a reservoir near Heathrow airport

At my age, I never thought I’d need another qualification. But here I am, grappling with knots and a man overboard in 35 mph winds

I’m at the helm of a 15-foot rigid inflatable boat (Rib) in terrible weather: there are storm clouds approaching from the south-west and the wind is already gusting at 35 mph. Waves are breaking over the bow, dropping a bucketful of water into my lap each time. As I bear off to port, the boat lurches in the heavy swell, and someone at the starboard bow shouts, “Man overboard!”

I should also probably mention that I’m in a reservoir, between the M3 and Heathrow airport, less than 12 miles from my house. And also: the man that’s gone overboard is a buoy with a face drawn on it in permanent marker. I’m not here to save anybody; I’m here in pursuit of a Level 2 Powerboat Handling certificate.

Published: April 18, 2026, 5:00 am

How a fiery attack on Sam Altman’s home unfolded

Molotov cocktail attack on OpenAI CEO’s home comes amid growing discontent against artificial intelligence

In the early hours of 10 April, a man approached the gate of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s house in San Francisco and hurled a molotov cocktail at the building before fleeing. The suspect, 20-year-old Daniel Moreno-Gama, was arrested less than two hours later while allegedly attempting to break into the headquarters of OpenAI with a jug of kerosene, a lighter and an anti-AI manifesto.

Federal and California state authorities have charged Moreno-Gama with a range of crimes including attempted arson and attempted murder. His parents issued a statement this week saying that their son had recently suffered a mental health crisis. Moreno-Gama, who has not yet entered a plea, faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Published: April 18, 2026, 2:00 pm

Did Harry and Meghan tour Australia to make money – or cosplay a return to royal life?

Along with a luxe wellness retreat and MasterChef appearance, the faux royal tour included time spent on causes the couple clearly care about

• Prince Harry and Meghan’s visit to Australia – in pictures

In Aussie parlance, Meghan and Prince Harry’s whirlwind visit down under was the very definition of a “Claytons” tour.

Claytons in Australia is primarily known as a cultural phrase for a substitute, fake or ersatz version of something, the saying evolving from a 1970s/80s non-alcoholic beverage marketed as “the drink you have when you’re not having a drink”.

Published: April 19, 2026, 12:00 am

Six great reads: Iran’s social media memes, an abandoned department store and a 1,200-year-old record of cherry blossoms

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days

Published: April 18, 2026, 5:00 am

Sunrise in the strait of Hormuz and the pope in Africa: photos of the weekend

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

Published: April 19, 2026, 12:23 pm