Her husband is a double amputee in ICE prison. She confronted Kristi Noem over its cruel conditions: ‘I have a fire inside’

Mildred Danis-Taylor dropped everything to advocate for the release of her husband, Rodney Taylor. A brutal year of legal and health challenges led her to Capitol Hill

Shortly after 1pm on 4 March, in a crowded hearing room on Capitol Hill, Mildred Danis-Taylor and two of her daughters stood up from their seats so that Kristi Noem could see them.

As they looked across the chamber at the homeland security secretary, the Georgia representative Lucy McBath took the mic to describe the neglectful and dangerous conditions Danis-Taylor’s husband said he had experienced during 14 months of being locked up at ICE’s Stewart detention center in south Georgia.

Published: March 25, 2026, 11:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 11:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 3:00 pm

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

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

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

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

Salmon with rice and vegetables

Greek yogurt with fruit and granola

Eggs with whole grain toast and avocado

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 4:00 pm

NBA expansion explained: teams in Vegas and Seattle, LeBron’s role and hungry billionaires

The NBA’s board of governors voted to move forward with the cities as targets for its first expansion since 2004. Here’s what it means for the future of the league

The NBA has moved a step closer to adding teams in Seattle and Las Vegas.

The league’s board of governors met this week and voted to explore bids and applicants for teams exclusively in those two cities, beginning the process for its first expansion in more than two decades. Bids are expected to be in the $7bn to $10bn range per franchise.

Published: March 25, 2026, 3:44 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 5:00 am

Iran gives negative response to US ceasefire plan amid push for talks

Pakistani intermediaries deliver 15-point plan but some proposals proved intractable in previous negotiations

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Iranian officials expressed initial disapproval of a US ceasefire plan on Wednesday, even as intermediaries suggested direct talks between the two could start as early as this weekend.

Representatives from Pakistan who reportedly delivered the US plan to Iran told the Associated Press that it was a 15-point proposal that would include sanctions relief for Iran, dismantling Iran’s nuclear programme, restricting its use of missiles and reopening the strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for about 20% of the world’s oil.

Published: March 25, 2026, 3:54 pm

‘We want peace’: Iranians try to maintain semblance of normal life as conflict drags on

Explosions lit up Tehran skyline as Israel launched new airstrikes but by morning joggers were in the park

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The days after Nowruz, the Persian New Year, are usually a bustling time in Tehran, with spring arriving, trees blossoming, businesses reopening after the holidays, and people returning to work and school.

This year, however, Iranians are trying to maintain a semblance of ordinary life against the constant backdrop of explosions, airstrikes – and a conflict many fear may drag on for weeks or months.

Published: March 25, 2026, 4:51 pm

Trump’s war in Iran exposes US’s shift from a global guardian to an arbiter of chaos

The US is recklessly spreading economic havoc among global friends and foes while suffering little harm itself

To shield ordinary Indians from the war in Iran, the government in Delhi redirected supplies of liquefied gas to Indian families, for which it is the main cooking fuel, limiting supplies to the plastics industry. The Nepalese government rationed gas and the Philippines trimmed the government workweek to four days. Bangladesh closed universities and rationed fuel.

They have been hardest hit by Iran’s closure of the strait of Hormuz. Economies in Asia import over a third of the energy they consume, on average. Korea imports four-fifths; Japan nine-tenths; Thailand 55%. Most of this comes from the Gulf. About 80% of oil and oil products transiting through the strait in 2025 was destined for Asia, according to the International Energy Agency. But traffic through its waters has collapsed by 90%.

Published: March 25, 2026, 11:00 am

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

Six-week trial including whistleblowers and top executives at Meta and YouTube was first of its kind to go to trial

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Meta and YouTube have been found liable for negligence for deliberately designing addictive products that hooked a young user and led to her being harmed, a jury ruled on Wednesday. The tech companies have also been found liable for failure to warn. The jury awarded the plaintiffs in the case compensatory damages of $3m.

It took nearly nine days of deliberations for the Los Angeles jury to reach its verdict. Jurors also awarded punitive damages, which will be decided during the next phase of the trial.

Published: March 25, 2026, 5:54 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 4:00 pm

TSA official says workers have missed out on nearly $1bn in pay as airport turmoil continues amid shutdown – live

Some airports advise travelers to arrive four hours before their scheduled flights as TSA staff, who have been working without pay for over a month, are not reporting for duty

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Top officials at agencies affected by the ongoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown are testifying on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. The lapse in funding for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), has lasted 40 days with little end in sight.

During opening remarks, the Republican chair of the House homeland security committee, Andrew Garbarino, said that the shutdown has caused “massive disruptions” across airports, “weakened our nation’s cybersecurity posture” and “left states unsupported with less than 100 days until the start of major events across the United States, such as FIFA World Cup”.

Published: March 25, 2026, 6:00 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 3:55 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 1:38 pm

Israel’s death penalty bill for Palestinian prisoners moves to final vote

Legislation initiated by far-right Otzma Yehudit party drew mounting criticism from opponents and rights groups as it moved through the Knesset

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Israel’s parliament has advanced a contentious bill to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of terrorism to its final vote, after the Knesset’s national security committee approved the measure on Tuesday.

The legislation, initiated by the far-right Otzma Yehudit party led by the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has drawn sharp criticism from opponents who warn it would mark a significant escalation in Israel’s penal policy. Members of Otzma Yehudit have worn noose-shaped pins in support of the bill.

Published: March 25, 2026, 1:22 pm

Former Google executive Matt Brittin selected to be next BBC director general

Former Olympic rower to lead corporation as it hammers out future funding model with government

The BBC has turned to a former tech executive to steer it through a critical period in its history, as it attempts to navigate government talks over its future and huge changes in media consumption.

Matt Brittin, who stepped down as Google’s president in Europe, the Middle East and Africa last year, will replace Tim Davie as the corporation hammers out its crucial future funding model with the government.

Published: March 25, 2026, 3:17 pm

Mormon Wives star being investigated for third domestic violence allegation

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 4:47 pm

Backlash mounts over twist in Robert Pattinson Zendaya romcom The Drama

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

• This article contains major spoilers for The Drama

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 1:20 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 1:01 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 12:00 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 12:01 pm

How weaving, glamping and kayak tours are helping to tackle deforestation in Argentina’s Gran Chaco

Small farmers and community-led conservation groups are trying to protect one of the biggest semi-arid forests in the world – under threat from expanding agriculture, wildfires and the ‘logging mafia’

Jorge Luna stands in a piece of Argentina’s Gran Chaco forest that he calls his own. Birds sing as he surveys skyscraping molle trees, known as pepper trees, palo santo and algarrobo, or carob trees. “It’s good wood,” says Luna, 55. “I was about to cut them down.”

Selling timber promises quick and easy money in the sprawling ecosystem that covers parts of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil. But it comes at a steep price, contributing to rampant deforestation and irreversible damage to the forest.

Published: March 25, 2026, 11:00 am

Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s election integrity push: ‘Like Bill Cosby telling you he’ll watch your drink for you’

Late-night hosts discussed Trump’s restrictive voting bill, ICE agents at US airports and a mysterious ‘gift’ from Iran

Late-night hosts mocked Donald Trump’s mail-in voting as he tries to end mail-in voting, ICE agents in US airports and a mysterious “gift” from Iran.

Published: March 25, 2026, 3:21 pm

As a furniture removalist I learned all mattresses are stained, and that’s fine

You’ll never catch me owning a glass dining table now I’ve moved so many. But it was the people I worked alongside who made the job what it was

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My “wilderness years” began when I lost a job I loved hosting a daily radio show in Melbourne, then spent a decade slowly rebuilding my broadcasting career. That meant most of my on-air appearances went back to being unpaid, and the rent wasn’t going to cover itself.

To survive financially, I spent 10 years saying yes to almost every job I stumbled across: pub trivia host, wedding DJ, babysitter, copywriter, documentary reviewer, arts event moderator. But the gig that changed my life was the years I spent as a furniture removalist.

Published: March 25, 2026, 2:00 pm

‘It’s going to give us closure’: could there finally be justice for the murder of Patrice Lumumba?

The assassination of the Congo’s first prime minister has been shrouded in mystery – but the impending trial of a Belgian diplomat may provide answers

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Patrice Lumumba was assassinated more than 60 years ago, but his killing still hangs over the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Even for non-Congolese Africans, some born years after Lumumba’s death, his killing symbolises something traumatic – the suffocation of the pan-African liberation dream by western colonial forces.

Last week, after decades of avoidance and denial, there was an extraordinary development. A Belgian court ruled that a former Belgian diplomat, 93-year-old Étienne Davignon, will stand trial in connection with the killing.

Published: March 25, 2026, 2:31 pm

We’re letting big corporations gamble with our lives. Act now, or the food could run out | George Monbiot

The fragility of the global food system fills me with dread – and the war with Iran has exposed just how close to collapse it is

The fate of environmentalists is to spend their lives trying not to be proved right. Vindication is what we dread. But there’s one threat that haunts me more than any other: the collapse of the global food system. We cannot predict what the immediate trigger might be. But the war with Iran is just the right kind of event.

Drawing on years of scientific data, I’ve been arguing for some time that this risk exists – and that governments are completely unprepared for it. In 2023, I made a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into environmental change and food security, with a vast list of references. Called as a witness, I spent much of the time explaining that the issue was much wider than the inquiry’s scope.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

Published: March 25, 2026, 7:00 am

Struggling to cope with the relentless and bleak news cycle? Go to bed early | Jodie Wilson

When we can’t control what’s happening in the world, there is some solace in the predictability of a comforting routine and the safe landing of a warm bed

An early bedtime is my number one prescription when things go awry. It’s a reliable comfort through all life seasons, especially when uncertainty is rife and sleep is disturbed.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I spend a considerable amount of time each day thinking about how nice it would be to get into bed. We’ve just passed the autumn equinox which means we’ll light the first fire soon and “hottie season” will officially commence. Yes, my partner of 20 years is handsome but it’s the hot-water bottle that gets preference when the temperature drops, the world threatens to implode and extra cosiness is required.

Published: March 25, 2026, 2:00 pm

When my best friend died, I couldn’t bear to delete her phone contact. Here’s why I never will

Soon after the author Gabrielle Carey died, her name lit up my phone – causing an indescribable mix of elation and disbelief

A couple of weeks after my oldest friend died, my phone rang and her name lit up the screen. It was “Gab” calling. I knew that Gabrielle Carey could not possibly be calling me but, for a few peculiar moments, I was gripped by the powerful conviction that she was.

Maybe the last few weeks had been a nightmare and when I slid my thumb across the accept button, it would actually be her speaking. Maybe she was ringing to tell me her death was all a joke and that she wanted to see if I was up for a walk, needed me to help tidy her house or had a book-related question she thought I could answer. Such is the human brain; numerous thoughts like these can scuttle through your mind in microseconds.

It was a complex feeling, both elation and disbelief, something I have otherwise not experienced because no one from the realm of the dead has ever tried to call me before. Perhaps the Germans have a word for this – they usually do.

Published: March 25, 2026, 2:00 pm

There are no missiles raining down on Havana. But what I saw there was still warfare | Owen Jones

Trump’s oil blockade is starving the island of vital resources. His brute force isn’t making America great again – it’s breeding resentment across the globe

The US has become a power that knows only how to destroy. In the Ramón González Coro maternity hospital in Havana, Cuba, I saw what that looks like in human terms.

Maria lies on a hospital bed, wrapped in a dark blue blanket, two friends at her side. She is 50, with terminal cervical cancer, and nothing but praise for her doctors. But she is also a victim of a decades-long US siege, drastically intensified by Donald Trump’s decision earlier this year to threaten tariffs against countries that deliver fuel to Cuba. The result has been no fuel imports for three months, meaning the island is running out of diesel and fuel reserves. The electricity grid is collapsing and life is grinding to a halt.

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist

Published: March 25, 2026, 10:00 am

The Islamic Republic has not crushed the Iranian people’s resolve. This war will not do so either | Azar Nafisi

Life and freedom are integral to the Iranian spirit. Even amid these dark days, I have hope that the conflict could liberate my people

What is a writer’s responsibility? I feel that it has always been to give voice to those who have been silenced and to keep people alive through recreating them in our imagination, time and time again.

This is what I have in mind as the Iranian people live through their worst period of suffering in 47 years. Thousands are dead. Friends in Tehran hide in their homes, not able to go out for explosions and acid rain. Worst of all, they know that it is not just foreign bombs that threaten their lives. Their own government continues to patrol the streets with guns, beating people, arresting them, killing them.

As told to Lucy Pasha-Robinson. Azar Nafisi is an Iranian-American writer and the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, Read Dangerously, and other works

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 6:00 am

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

• Shiffrin holds off challenge from Germany’s Emma Aicher

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

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 1:05 pm

The Celtics’ orca-loving Joe Mazzulla is an NBA oddball. He’s also a masterful coach

The 37-year-old may come across as corny and gauche. But he’s already won one NBA championship and it probably won’t be his last

The Boston Celtics’ head coach, Joe Mazzulla, is a very odd man. He is also a very good coach.

Take, for example, a story Celtics guard Derrick White told in an interview last November. According to White, the first sound at one Celtics practice wasn’t a whistle.

Published: March 25, 2026, 10:00 am

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 11:00 am

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

• Lead runners were led off course by guide vehicle

• World Athletics gives runners special entry

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 2:27 pm

Coco Gauff battles impostor syndrome on way into Miami Open semi-finals

• American No 4 seed beats Belinda Bencic 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in quarter-final

• Gauff next faces 13th seed Karolína Muchová for a place in final

Coco Gauff may be struggling with an unfamiliar arm injury, indifferent form and the pressure of attempting to transform her serve with the entire tennis world watching, but the one quality that will never evade her is her fighting spirit.

Under far from ideal circumstances, Gauff’s mental toughness continues to guide her through the Miami Open draw and to her best ever result at her home town tournament. She navigated a path into the semi-finals for the first time in her career with an arduous 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win over Bencic.

Published: March 25, 2026, 5:08 am

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 11:16 am

Drama amid the deluge: 50 years since James Hunt won F1 world title in Japan

Flamboyant Briton won his first and only world championship in dramatic fashion in Japan in the last race of the 1976 season

Niki Lauda once described James Hunt as “one of my few real friends in racing”, the great rivals sharing a genuine bond even as they fought fiercely for the Formula One world championship in 1976.

Its destination was decided at the Japanese Grand Prix – where the sport heads for the third race of this season on Sunday – with this year marking the 50th anniversary of an extraordinary contest when Hunt won his only F1 title in an engrossing finale.

Published: March 25, 2026, 10:16 am

Molly Miller, ‘pretty privilege’ and women’s basketball’s beauty trap

Arizona State’s head coach has turned around a losing program. Unsurprisingly, much of the discourse on the internet was not based on her leadership skills

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In March 2025, the Arizona State women’s basketball team were looking for a coach who could end a drought that had seen them go without a NCAA Tournament appearance – or even a winning season – since 2019-20.

The choice was Molly Miller, a proven and successful head coach at Grand Canyon. Miller had led the Lopes to their first NCAA Tournament appearance and a 32–3 record in her final season with the team – a benchmark for the program and an important accomplishment within the broader scope of college basketball. She soon turned around Arizona State, leading them to a 24-11 record and a first appearance at the NCAA Tournament in six years. (Their season ended in the First Four.)

Published: March 24, 2026, 9:00 am

Mother was allegedly trafficked to US and illegally detained by ICE while accused abuser is free, lawyers say

The woman was arrested at routine ICE check-in and separated from two children, aged 18 months and four

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A Venezuelan mother of two who was allegedly trafficked to the US has been unlawfully detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and could soon be deported, according to her lawyers.

The woman has applications in process for asylum and a visa designed for victims of trafficking.

Published: March 25, 2026, 1:00 pm

Epstein accountant and lawyer say federal agents never questioned them

In House depositions, disgraced financier’s associates say they were not contacted after his 2008 plea deal

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Jeffrey Epstein’s accountant and his attorney have both said that federal government investigators never interviewed them about the late financier’s crimes and their work with him, according to deposition videos released by the House of Representatives’ oversight committee.

Richard Kahn, Epstein’s accountant, and Darren Indyke, Epstein’s lawyer, said in hours of closed-door interviews with the committee that they did not witness, nor were involved in, any wrongdoing relating to Epstein, who died in 2019 after being charged with child sex trafficking.

Published: March 25, 2026, 12:55 pm

Prosecutors examined whether Trump disclosed classified map on plane after leaving office

Susie Wiles was on plane and witnessed event, according to files shown to House judiciary committee

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Federal prosecutors examined whether Donald Trump showed a classified map to people on his plane after his first term, including to his now White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, according to justice department materials produced to the House judiciary committee.

The incident was described in a 13 January 2023 briefing memo prepared for the then attorney general, Merrick Garland – roughly six months before special counsel Jack Smith charged Trump with retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club.

Published: March 25, 2026, 4:27 pm

US left without functioning vaccine panel as adviser says ‘drama distracts’

Move comes after judge voided Kennedy’s ACIP picks, leaving key flu, Covid and RSV vaccines in limbo

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Amid upheaval to the US vaccine advisory committee Robert Malone, the former co-chair and controversial figure who has opposed vaccines, says he has been pushed out and will not be involved in any future decisions. The move comes after a federal judge stayed the appointment of 13 members of the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP), essentially invalidating their roles on the committee and the decisions they have made.

Those new advisers were all hand-picked by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, after he fired the previous 17 members of the ACIP in June – but the judge ruled they were unqualified and not selected properly.

Published: March 25, 2026, 1:34 pm

Bond between dogs and humans dates back more than 15,000 years, study finds

Research suggests hunter-gatherers were feeding dogs and giving them ritual burials as early as the last ice age

They are humankind’s best friend, and now ancient DNA analysis has revealed that the enduring bond between dogs and humans dates back more than 15,000 years.

The groundbreaking research, published in the journal Nature, pushes back the oldest genetic evidence for domestic dogs by 5,000 years, revealing that hunter-gatherers were feeding the animals and giving them ritual burials long before the emergence of agriculture.

Published: March 25, 2026, 4:00 pm

Bernie Sanders and AOC introduce bill to pause building of new datacenters

Lawmakers say moratorium on construction would buy time to create strong, federal guardrails for AI

Amid an unprecedented energy crisis and the rapid buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure, progressive lawmakers have unveiled a new policy to place a moratorium on the construction of AI datacenters.

The policy, announced by Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democratic representative, on Wednesday morning, aims to ensure the AI boom protects the environment and communities, and benefits workers instead of harming them. A temporary ban, the lawmakers say, would give the US government time to create strong federal safeguards for AI, which is “affecting everything from our economy and wellbeing to our democracy, warfare and our kids’ education”.

Published: March 25, 2026, 11:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 4:32 pm

UK iPhone users face over-18 age check to use services after update

Ofcom says decision is ‘real win for children and families’ but some users raise concerns over privacy

Millions of Apple iPhone customers in the UK will now have to confirm they are 18 or older to use all available services, including by showing a credit card or by scanning an ID.

The move, believed to be a first for a European market, comes amid pressure on tech companies from the government to do more to protect children online.

Published: March 25, 2026, 4:32 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 5:38 am

Red volcanic mud coats homes after Hawaii’s worst floods in 20 years

Oahu residents face gruelling cleanup as floods damage hundreds of homes and losses are expected to top $1bn

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The worst flooding to hit Hawaii in two decades has swept homes off their foundations, floated cars out of driveways and left floors, walls and counters covered in thick, reddish volcanic mud.

Authorities said hundreds of homes had been damaged, along with some schools and a hospital. On Monday, new downpours set off a fresh round of flooding on Oahu’s south side while residents on the island’s North Shore cleaned up and assessed the destruction from last week’s torrents. The National Weather Service said showers and thunderstorms were expected to wane but the Big Island remained under a flash flood watch.

Published: March 24, 2026, 2:57 pm

Epic river migrations of fish rapidly collapsing, UN report finds

Vast journeys, among world’s great wonders, found to be under threat as freshwater fish populations crash by 81%

“It’s very hard to imagine what’s going on beneath the water when you look at a river – but you have billions of fish making these epic migrations, some of the largest animal migrations on Earth,” said Dr Zeb Hogan, at the University of Nevada in the US.

The longest migration of any freshwater fish species is that of the dorado catfish, which makes a migration of 7,000 miles (11,000km), from spawning in the foothills of the Andes to feeding in the Amazon estuary and back again. The silver-gold fish themselves were incredible, said Hogan: “They get to about 2 metres long.”

Published: March 24, 2026, 12:00 pm

US public health groups urge firing of EPA boss Zeldin, saying he ‘brazenly betrayed’ agency

Advocates say Lee Zeldin’s EPA has rolled back protections and cut staff and funding, putting health at risk

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More than 160 environmental and public health organizations on Tuesday called for Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, to resign or be fired.

“No [EPA] administrator in history – Democratic or Republican – has so brazenly betrayed the agency’s core mission,” the groups wrote in an open letter. “EPA’s foremost purpose is to protect human health and the environment. With Administrator Lee Zeldin at the helm, EPA has abandoned its mission, creating damage that will take decades to address.”

Published: March 24, 2026, 4:18 pm

‘Extraordinary event’ for mountain gorillas as new twins born in DRC

Conservationists celebrate second twin birth just two months after another set discovered in Virunga national park

A second set of mountain gorilla twins has been born in Virunga national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in what conservationists are celebrating as an “extraordinary” event for the endangered primates.

Just two months after tiny twin mountain gorillas were discovered by rangers in the Virunga massif, in eastern DRC, another rare twin birth has been found by park wardens. This time, an infant male and female have been spotted in the Baraka family, a troop of 19 mountain gorillas that roam the region’s high-altitude rainforests.

Published: March 24, 2026, 12:42 pm

Professor sues Texas university that terminated contract after Palestine talk

Idris Robinson says Texas State violated his constitutional rights over off-campus talk seized on by pro-Israel activists

Philosophy professor Idris Robinson has sued Texas State University officials, asserting that the school violated his constitutional rights by ending his contract after he gave a talk on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict off-campus in another state where a fight broke out, the Guardian has learned.

Perhaps in part because Robinson did not introduce himself as connected to Texas State at the event, it took several pro-Israel social media accounts a year to identify him and launch a campaign to get Robinson fired, targeting the school’s leadership and accusing him of being a terrorist and inciting violence.

Published: March 25, 2026, 11:00 am

Ex-teammate of quadruple amputee US cornhole pro accused of murder says case shocks him

Dayton Webber’s former playing partner says: ‘Dayton has a great family, and I care about that family. Yet obviously, there is somebody [who] died’

The former doubles partner of a professional, championship-winning cornhole player who had his four limbs amputated in his infancy and is now accused of a deadly shooting says he was shocked to learn about the case, calling it an instance of at least two families being torn apart in one fell swoop.

“I’ve been mad, sad – it sucks,” Mike Hoffman said of his past cornhole teammate Dayton Webber during a telephone interview on Tuesday.

Published: March 25, 2026, 9:00 am

Democrats flip seat in Florida state house in district that includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

Emily Gregory defeats Republican Jon Maples in district that is home to US president’s Palm Beach estate

Democrats managed to flip a seat in the Florida state house in the district that is home to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.

Emily Gregory, a Democrat, defeated Republican Jon Maples, who had an endorsement from the US president, in the special election in Florida’s 87th state house district. The Associated Press called the race on Tuesday evening, with Gregory, a public health expert and small business owner, leading by more than 2 percentage points.

Published: March 25, 2026, 1:02 am

Meta ordered to pay $375m after being found liable in child exploitation case

New Mexico hails ‘historic’ win after jury finds firm misled consumers over safety and enabled harm against users

A New Mexico jury on Tuesday ordered Meta to pay $375m in civil penalties after it found the company misled consumers about the safety of its platforms and enabled harm, including child sexual exploitation, against its users.

This is the first jury trial to find Meta liable for acts committed on its platform.

Published: March 24, 2026, 11:16 pm

Denmark’s prime minister given first chance at forming government after election

Danish palace says it has asked Mette Frederiksen to try to form new majority with her Social Democrats and leftwing parties

Denmark’s outgoing prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has been given the first shot at forming another coalition government after an election which saw her leftwing bloc and the opposing rightwing parties fail to win a parliamentary majority.

A statement released by the Danish palace on Wednesday said Frederiksen had been asked to see if she could pull together a new majority involving her Social Democrats, who had their worst general election since 1903 but remain the biggest force in parliament.

Published: March 25, 2026, 3:30 pm

Revealed: secret plans for two-day London Marathon with 100,000 runners

• ‘Double London Marathon’ plans backed by mayor’s office

• 2027 event would raise tens of millions more for charity

The London Marathon is in advanced talks about staging a two-day event in 2027, allowing tens of thousands more runners to take part in the iconic race and to raise tens of millions more for charity.

While the Double London Marathon, as it is being called internally, has not been granted formal approval it is believed to have the backing of the mayor’s office for it to be staged on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 April next year.

Published: March 25, 2026, 12:30 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 1:44 pm

Could the continent’s far right be suffering from a Trumplash?

France’s National Rally missed key targets in local elections ahead of next year’s seismic presidential vote – and the mainstream is doing OK elsewhere, too

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The Rassemblement National is not invincible. A year out from a make-or-break presidential vote, that might be the main lesson (though there are others, which may prove more significant) from last weekend’s local elections in France. What’s more, news elsewhere – Giorgia Meloni’s referendum defeat in Italy, Janez Janša beaten in Slovenia, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán in trouble, the left bloc largest in Denmark – might suggest the rest of Europe’s far right are not having it all their own way, either.

But let’s focus first on France – if only because while local elections are rarely a wholly accurate guide to future national outcomes, these ones seem to provide some pointers – and the stakes in the country’s next major election are vertiginously high.

Published: March 25, 2026, 3:20 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 9:02 am

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 10:00 am

Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice review – double the Vince Vaughn in middling time travel comedy

Another run-of-the-mill streaming caper that fails to offer anything we haven’t seen done better many times before

Back in his 2000s studio comedy heyday, there would have been something commercially grabby about a film that offered up two Vince Vaughns for the price of one. In that period, it would have been a wide theatrical release and probably a considerable draw in the wake of hits such as Dodgeball, Wedding Crashers and The Break-Up. But cut to 2026, and the exhaustingly titled action comedy Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is a far shakier prospect, a drastically less marketable actor in a weakened genre that’s now almost exclusively streaming only.

It doesn’t help that it also lands after a year packed with other actors doing double duty – Robert Pattinson in Mickey 17, Dylan O’Brien in Twinless, Robert De Niro in Alto Knights, Elle Fanning in Predator: Badlands, Theo James in The Monkey and an Oscar-winning Michael B Jordan in Sinners – and what might have felt like a unique selling proposition now feels like yet more of the same. The film, which recently premiered at SXSW and is now landing swiftly on Hulu/Disney+, is the very definition of more of the same, a flavourless soup of limp quips and needle drops that resembles any other star-led action comedy that one has already double-screened on a streamer in recent times.

Published: March 24, 2026, 6:38 pm

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at 60: Elizabeth Taylor still crackles with feral energy

Mike Nichols’ 1966 adaptation of Edward Albee’s septic drama helped cement the play in the zeitgeist – where it has remained for the past six decades

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After a long day at work, we may not instinctively leap to films about toxic marriages and relationship breakdowns – but by God they can make good drama. Blue Valentine, The Squid and the Whale and A Separation are some of the great portraits of love turned septic. But perhaps greatest of all is Mike Nichols’ directorial debut – a sizzling adaptation of Edward Albee’s legendary Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which arrived in 1966, four years after the play, and helped cement it in the zeitgeist.

The film was nominated for every eligible Academy award and won five, including best actress for Elizabeth Taylor, who delivers a searing performance as the ferocious yet vulnerable Martha. It’s lost none of its gut-busting charge today and her brilliantly performed experience still crackles with emotional electricity.

Published: March 24, 2026, 2:00 pm

Surrender to It review – insufferable bunch of actors reconnect for hiking weekend of pain and comedy

There are echoes here of 1992’s Peter’s Friends, and given this thriller’s preposterous script and amateurish production it is likely to generate similar levels of disdain

Writer-director Tim Bryn Smith clearly never got the memo, drafted immediately after the waves of derision that greeted luvvie-fest Peter’s Friends back in 1992, that any film revolving around a bunch of friends who are or were formerly actors having a reunion is fair game for sneering, sniping and all kinds of eye-rolling disdain. Because no one really likes watching actors playing actors, despite the recent Oscar win for Sentimental Value. But Bryn Smith and his chums apparently haven’t read the room, so here’s the damn near insufferable Surrender to It, which revolves around a motley collection of ageing would-be thespians who all met at a drama workshop back in the day reuniting for a hiking weekend.

The script, credited to Bryn Smith and Chris Wetton, feels like it rose out of a bunch of improv exercises and random suggestions fished out of a hat. One strand involves bereaved couple Dani (Daemian Greaves, the best of a very average lot in terms of performances here) and Celena (Melissa May Smith) who are mourning their dead son. While this is handled with some sensitivity, the maudlin tone doesn’t mix at all well with the supposedly comic subplots that occupy the rest of the running time. These focus on the other (highly unlikely) former best buds that include Ram (Fletcher Graham) who’s gone on to become a big-time movie star recovering from a recent scandal in the manner of Johnny Depp who has one hanger-on with him (Alexander Rose). Hugo (Bryn Smith) is meant to be the talent that never flourished who harbours deep feelings for another member of the group, but not the one you might think. There’s influencer Evie (Chantelle Lee) who has her own secret feelings for one of the cohort, and her pal Chrissy (Clare Alexandra Isabelle McGill) who is being courted by a gigolo with a ridiculous Latin accent whom we never meet. Dopey Timmy (Ben Grace) wants everyone to help him find treasure hidden by his recently deceased father.

Published: March 24, 2026, 11:00 am

‘We are a very resilient people’: in the face of Trump’s threats, Cuban cinema comes out fighting

With the island back in Washington’s sights, the Screen Cuba festival is taking UK audiences beyond the blockade

At a packed trade union meeting in Havana, one of the workers calls out management’s delays in sending a technician to repair faulty machinery. Perhaps, he suggests, the required specialist has yet to be born. Another labourer called Lina – one of the few women employed at the site – stands up to criticise the dilapidated state of the dockyard.

All the while, a bourgeois theatre director named Oscar looks on in search of characters for his next creative project. This is Hasta Cierto Punto (“Up to a Certain Point”), Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s 1983 film interrogating the state of gender relations in post-revolutionary Cuba.

Published: March 24, 2026, 12:20 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 2:57 pm

Robyn: Sexistential review – pop doyenne returns with emotional grenades and a new philosophy

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After 2018’s meditative Honey, the Swedish star returns to her trademark skin-tingling electro bangers – but this time she’s unpicking her trademark fixation on romantic love

The self-proclaimed Fembot has always pushed people’s buttons. Robyn might be best known for bringing raw emotion to the dancefloor, but her pop bangers about desire and despair are often spiked with commentary on social programming: “Plug me in and flip some switches,” she once quipped, posing as a sexed-up cyborg with a bloody, beating heart. So it’s not a shock to find the Swedish star in a lab coat on Dopamine, her first single in seven years. The song rushes with glittering, arpeggiated synths, but Robyn, now 46, holds it at arm’s length. “I know it’s just dopamine, but it feels so real to me / I’m tripping on our chemistry,” she muses, taking notes as her synapses tingle. “Is love more than chemicals?” she seems to be asking. Does it matter if it’s not? But this time the song is no social critique – it’s a whole new philosophy.

Sexistential, Robyn’s ninth album, unravels the fixation on romantic love that fuelled her biggest songs. Gone are the soft edges and pulsing, sensual house of her previous album Honey, and back are the sharp electronic sounds of 2010’s Body Talk through a new lens. With long-term collaborator Klas Åhlund and a few familiar faces (including Metronomy’s Joe Mount and Swedish pop royalty Max Martin), Sexistential reimagines Robyn’s discography without romance as a vehicle. The title track is a sub-three-minute case study in her new mentality. Over minimal, jerking 80s house Robyn raps about hooking up while undergoing IVF as a solo parent: “Fuck a single mom, I’m not judgmental,” she winks, cleaving sex from reproduction and nuclear family. Its counterpart is Blow My Mind, a revamp of her billowy 2002 single made psychedelic, faster, sharper – no longer a textbook love song, but a song about loving her young son.

Published: March 24, 2026, 9:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 9:00 am

Enough Said by Alan Bennett review – a man for all seasons

Nostalgia, shame and gossip from Alan Bennett in the fourth instalment of his diaries

In the introduction to this new instalment of Alan Bennett’s diaries, which run from 2016 to 2024, the author worries about what to write: “I have said everything before. At 90 it’s impossible to avoid repetition.” And, indeed, I was halfway through the entries for 2020 before they started to seem familiar. It turns out that I had already reviewed Bennett’s pandemic diaries when they were released as a slim standalone volume in 2022.

Here they are again, then, this time embedded in a much longer stretch of journal-keeping, characterised by Bennett’s customary looping between past and present. The repetition turns out not to matter because the prose is sufficiently layered to take on new meanings as the context shifts. Bennett’s pandemic years read differently now that Covid is in the rearview mirror. The first time round, I got the impression that, devoted to the NHS though he is, the banging of pans on a Thursday evening struck him as a bit daft. Reading the section again, I’m convinced he detested the whole performative palaver.

Published: March 24, 2026, 9:00 am

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 12:40 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 12:30 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 3:21 pm

White stuff: capturing a land without colour – in pictures

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 7:00 am

Bridgerton’s fifth season will focus on queer love story between Francesca Bridgerton and Michaela Stirling

In a first for the juggernaut Netflix show, the young widow will find herself in a ‘complicated’ relationship with her cousin-in-law

Dearest gentle reader … Netflix has announced that Bridgerton’s upcoming fifth season will focus on a gay lead storyline in a first for the hit romantic period drama.

Netflix confirmed the news on Tuesday while also revealing that the new season is in production.

Published: March 25, 2026, 4:38 am

Jay-Z on refusing to settle sexual assault lawsuit: ‘I can’t do it, I would die’

The rapper discussed his 2024 sexual assault lawsuit and the Kendrick-Drake beef in a new GQ cover story

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Jay-Z has spoken out about his recent sexual assault lawsuit in a new interview.

The suit alleged that Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs raped a a 13-year-old girl at a party in 2000. Combs and Jay-Z denied all allegations after the lawsuit was filed in late 2024, and the case was voluntarily dismissed in February 2025.

Published: March 24, 2026, 3:01 pm

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 6:45 am

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

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

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 2:00 pm

Dyson Airwrap i.d. v Shark FlexStyle: we tested the rival hair stylers and the results surprised us

The hair stylers work in a similar manner, but there are key differences – here’s how to decide which one is right for you

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For nearly 20 years, I’ve been straightening my long, curly hair with so many different gadgets, they fill their own enormous drawer. Inside you’ll find a hair dryer and a backup in case the first one ever breaks; a curling iron that rotates in two directions; a hair-straightening brush for dry hair and another for wet hair; and a broken flat iron I can’t bring myself to part with, plus the replacement I just bought.

Despite this arsenal, I’ve never been able to style my hair, per se – no beachy waves, no sky-high volume, no tousled Bridget Bardot sexy bedhead situation.

Published: March 24, 2026, 9:47 pm

‘It can spare people so much pain’: what is an advance directive and should you get one?

My sister and I had to make decisions that determined the course of my parents’ final hours. This important end-of-life document could have guided us

My parents died three years and two ICU rooms apart. Both were still in their 60s. Neither had a finished will, much less an advance directive – a set of care instructions someone prepares in case they become incapacitated – that could have guided my sister and me. In our early 30s, shellshocked by brutal surprise, we made decisions that determined the course of their final hours.

Today, we trust that we honored their wishes, but doubt and distress linger.

Published: March 24, 2026, 4:00 pm

Do we really need eight hours sleep a night – and what happens if we don’t get it?

We’re told that sleep is a superpower, making us smarter, healthier and happier. But how much is enough? And is insomnia as bad for us as we think?

‘Once, after I did a presentation, someone came up to me and said, ‘I don’t get eight hours of sleep a night. Am I going to die?’” says Prof Russell Foster, head of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at the University of Oxford. “And I said, ‘Well, yes, you’re going to die. But, you know, we all die eventually.’”

This exchange is, hopefully, comforting, but it also shouldn’t be too surprising. Over the past decade or so, we’ve been repeatedly told that sleep is everything from a legal performance-enhancer to an actual superpower – and, conversely, that if we don’t get enough shuteye we’re risking an early start to our eternal slumber. But how bad is a lack of sleep, really? And if we seem to be coping fine on six hours a night, is there a chance we’re still setting ourselves up for problems further down the line?

Published: March 24, 2026, 2:00 pm

‘What’s your favourite thing about me?’ How to deal with a conversational narcissist

We all know a person who sees every chat as an opportunity to go on and on about themselves. And sometimes that person is us …

Name: Conversational narcissism.

Age: Christened in 1979.

Published: March 25, 2026, 4:11 pm

My petty gripe: Using pink to denote ‘HARK, THIS BE A WOMAN’ is beyond the power of my lady brain to comprehend

All Jo Khan wanted was a normal motorcycle jacket. Instead she was offered cursive script and flowers

A few years ago I wandered through a large motorcycle store in search of a nice leather jacket. I wanted something classic. Simple, cafe-racer vibes, black or brown – no frills, literal or figurative. Easy, right?

At the back of the shop I found the (limited) women’s range and nearly threw up in my mouth. It’s no wonder these jackets were tucked away. Was that … an embroidered flower? Some flowing cursive script? Why, for the love of two-wheeled transportation everywhere, would I want pink on my motorbike jacket?

Published: March 25, 2026, 2:00 pm

Holy parades and earthly pleasures in Spain: Easter in Granada

The ancient city – with its gardens, hammams and Moorish architecture – comes alive in spring and its Holy Week processions are among the most authentic in Andalucía

As I turned the corner on a narrow, cobbled street in Granada, I felt as if I had stumbled upon a slightly sinister re-enactment society. Mysterious men dressed in white robes and tall, conical, face-covering hats with slits for their eyes were followed by women in black dresses and mantillas, holding pillar candles and crosses, then children wearing caped cloaks, carrying baskets of prayer cards.

It was indeed a re-enactment of sorts, but deeply rooted in Catholicism, representing the Passion of Christ, staged during Holy Week (Semana Santa), which runs from 29 March to 5 April this year. Easter processions are held across the country, but this Andalucían city hosts one of the most authentic in Spain.

Published: March 25, 2026, 7:00 am

Move over, pistachio – it’s pecan time! The food trends hotlist

What’s cooking and what’s past its best-before date, from air fryers to hot honey, and doner kebabs to CBD

Intercultural cuisines
From Indo-Chinese and Taiwanese-Tex Mex, to Viet-Cajun and Cape-Malay, brace your tastebuds for culinary cultures colliding in the most delicious ways.

Published: March 24, 2026, 10:00 am

‘I’m deathly afraid’: what is digital spirituality leading us toward?

Where traditional religion once gathered people together, digital spirituality is now consumed in isolation, mediated by tech gods with opaque agendas

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Jim Pu’u didn’t set out to find God. His soul-searching began with a modest idea: to leave a record of his life in case something happened to him. His own father had died young, leaving behind only scraps of his memory, and he didn’t want his daughter to face the same void.

In December of 2024, Pu’u, who is 36 and runs a warehouse for a commercial flooring company in Las Vegas, turned to AI.

Published: March 24, 2026, 5:00 pm

The ‘self-deportee’ hounded out of the US to Mexico: ‘There are days when I feel literally insane’

Abel Ortiz lived in LA since he was a newborn. The Guardian filmed him as he left after 38 years. Now, we catch up with him in Mexico City, fired up and grieving in his new life

• Watch: Abel leaves LA is an original Guardian Documentary that follows Abel’s last week in the United States

A couple of weekends ago, as dusk was falling over the Escandón neighbourhood of Mexico City, Abel Ortiz was startled by the sound of two American women yelling at each other on the street outside his apartment.

They were nose to nose, screaming in English while bemused Mexicans looked on.

Published: March 24, 2026, 11:00 am

Airbnb in firing line as Cape Town’s housing crisis catches up with middle class

Social media full of complaints about digital nomads, while waiting list for social housing gets longer

Earlier this month, graffiti appeared on the promenade in Sea Point, on Cape Town’s wealthy Atlantic Seaboard: “Digital nomads go home! Now!”

Social media is full of complaints about the abundance of American and German accents, foreign property buyers, and properties being listed on Airbnb, all of which are being blamed for soaring housing costs.

Published: March 24, 2026, 9:21 am

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

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

Published: March 25, 2026, 3:08 pm