I was the US soft power czar. Our popularity may never recover | Richard Stengel

Trump’s venal persona and his war on Iran will do untold damage to America’s ability to make a positive difference in the world

Early one Sunday morning in the summer of 2003, I drove into the center of a little South African beach town on the Indian Ocean to pick up the Cape papers. Local news agents still employed the English custom of putting front pages on A-frame stands on the sidewalk. It was during the first months of the Iraq war, and from two blocks away, I could see the headline, in big block type: “WHY BUSH IS WORSE THAN BIN LADEN.”

It was disheartening to see – especially so far from home – but it did correspond to something familiar: American favorability around the world tends to swing sharply with wars (especially ones America starts) and who the US president is. Within weeks of the American attack, the international support the US had after 9/11 was squandered.

Published: April 5, 2026, 1:00 pm

I’m back in London after almost a decade in the US – and I’m feeling homesick | Bim Adewunmi

I’d forgotten how reticent Brits can be. Try to connect with strangers and they just recoil

I don’t know how accurate it is that the children of immigrants are themselves well suited to leaving home. But I do know my own experience – I first left home when I was 11 to go to boarding school, and I’ve barely looked back since. My most recent leaving happened at 33, when I moved from London to New York with a multi-year visa, clutching a receipt for the large brown boxes that would arrive some weeks after me.

I have the good fortune to root well in new soil. You’ve heard of the idiomatic fish out of water? I have strong evidence to suggest that I am not that fish – I am the fish that thrives outside the water, perhaps even astride a bicycle. I moved to New York in 2016, with the intention of staying exactly 12 months: to report on an electric election year – and then return home with a chapter (“My Brooklyn Year”) of my eventual memoir tucked away in my mind. Instead, I stayed for almost a decade. Much has changed: silvery streaks have appeared at the crown of my head. My palate has widened dramatically to accommodate the vast cuisines of North America. Sometimes, when I stand up from my desk, I make an involuntary sound. And now, I am back. Coming home, just as my older bones are discovering, is an experiment in friction.

Bim Adewunmi is a freelance journalist

Published: April 5, 2026, 1:00 pm

The best USB chargers in the US for phones, laptops, travel and more

These are the best USB chargers in the US to keep devices juiced up quickly and safely for all your tech needs

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

USB chargers power the world. From phones to laptops and even bike lights, the gadgets we use every day increasingly rely on USB connections for power, making chargers an indispensable tool to keep your life running.

Though the U in USB stands for “universal,” you sadly can’t expect every USB charger to work with every USB device. Modern devices use different charging speeds, protocols and ports. That means if you’re still relying on the brick that came with your phone from a decade ago, it’s time for an upgrade. A high–quality USB charger will cover all your bases to charge devices quickly and safely, all in a compact package.

Best overall USB charger:
Baseus PicoGo AE11

Best budget USB charger:
Anker 511 Nano 3

Published: April 5, 2026, 5:15 pm

‘We’re home’: Even in a draw, Inter Miami’s stadium opener was a win for David Beckham

Nu Stadium’s first game of any kind saw the South Florida club accomplish a long-held goal barely under the deadline

Lionel Messi may have scored, captained the side and had a quarter of the new building named in his honor, but this was unmistakably Inter Miami co-owner Sir David Beckham’s night.

The inaugural game at Nu Stadium in Miami – an entertaining 2-2 draw with Austin FC – was the culmination of the former England captain’s arduous, thirteen-year odyssey to first establish an MLS team in Miami, then fill it with superstars, win major honors and, critically, build a world class arena for the team to play in.

Published: April 5, 2026, 12:52 pm

Comeuppance: how an orgasmic ‘cult’ ended in a prison term for its founder

Nicole Daedone, who promised spiritual wellbeing through her OneTaste enterprise, received a nine-year sentence but some question if freedom of thought is being criminalized

Clitoral stimulation as a path to spiritual connection, mental clarity and emotional wellbeing has been practiced for millennia. After being convicted on forced labor conspiracy charges related to the practice (and getting sentenced to nine years by a Brooklyn court last week), Nicole Daedone was given the opportunity to address the court.

Known as the “The Oracle” of OneTaste, a trademarked orgasmic meditation enterprise that extolled the benefits of hours of arousal, Daedone, 57, swiveled her chair toward the public gallery, smiled broadly, and said: “No.”

Published: April 5, 2026, 10:00 am

Joe Rogan and the influencers who built Maga are revolting over Iran. Was this an alliance doomed to fail? | Jason Okundaye

Unlike Trump’s cronies in the White House, outside voices are not so easily disciplined. There’s a lesson here for all future political movements

If you spend enough time swiping online, you may have seen skits by the American comedian and influencer Druski (real name Drew Desbordes), in which he parodies everything from Republican patriots to flashy mega churches. Once again, he has exploded on social media channels with a skit satirising “conservative women in America”, a nakedly targeted roast of Erika Kirk, now the CEO of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) after her husband, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated last year.

Predictably, it has drawn conservative backlash, with Ted Cruz calling the video “beneath contempt”. But Desbordes is far from the only one mocking Erika Kirk. Her entrances to the Charlie Kirk memorial and TPUSA’s AmericaFest have been widely memed online for their surreal, WrestleMania-like production and pyrotechnics. In fact, much of the opprobrium comes from her own side. Far-right live streamer Nick Fuentes has disparaged Kirk’s public appearances after her husband’s death (“she looks like she’s over the moon”), and commentator and conspiracy theorist Candace Owens, a former darling of TPUSA, repeatedly takes aim at her (Owens describes Druski’s skit as “hilarious”).

Jason Okundaye is an assistant Opinion editor at the Guardian

Published: April 5, 2026, 8:00 am

Middle East crisis live: Trump uses expletive-ridden social media post to threaten Iran’s infrastructure

US president tells Iran: ‘Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell’; Iran spokesman accuses Trump of ‘reckless moves’

• ‘Unhinged madman’: US politicians react to Trump Iran threat

Iranian media has claims that a US aircraft was destroyed while searching for the crew member of a missing US F-15 fighter jet.

“An American enemy aircraft that was searching for the pilot of a downed fighter jet was destroyed by the fighters of Islam in the southern region of Isfahan,” the Tasnim news agency quoted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as saying. The Guardian was unable to verify their claim.

Published: April 5, 2026, 6:08 pm

Trump’s mass deportation plan has broken the quiet of small US towns: ‘We have to take care of each other’

Immigration agents have spread into rural western Wisconsin, taking dozens of people from towns in more politically conservative areas

The Mexican restaurant where multiple workers were taken in February still sits dark, across the road from a travel plaza where people were also arrested by federal agents.

An Ecuadorian market in a nearby town targeted by immigration agents is back open again, with a sign on the door telling people to ring the bell before entering.

Published: April 5, 2026, 2:02 pm

Chance of alien life ‘goes to heart’ of space missions, Nasa chief says

Jared Isaacman says odds of evidence we are not alone are ‘pretty high’ four days after Artemis II rocket lifted off

• Nasa’s Orion spaceship four days into Artemis II mission: in pictures

The top official at Nasa says that the chance of alien existence is a factor in how the US space agency plans its missions.

Speaking on Sunday, Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman told CNN’s Meet the Press that investigating the existence of alien life “goes to the heart of many things that we do at Nasa”, adding: “Our job here is to go out and try and unlock the secrets of the universe.”

Published: April 5, 2026, 5:26 pm

Secret Service investigates reports of gunfire near White House

No injuries reported and no suspect found after a search of park and surrounding area, agency says

The US Secret Service said on Sunday it was investigating reports of overnight gunfire near Lafayette Park, which is across the street from the White House.

No injuries were reported and no suspect was found after a search of the park and the surrounding area after midnight, the agency said in an online post.

Published: April 5, 2026, 12:51 pm

Worker for US defense contractor killed in Iraq as colleagues say they are pressured to stay

Man working for V2X died in night attack as five sources say they are being placed in harm’s way

A man employed by the US defense contractor V2X has been killed in a drone attack on Erbil airbase, amid concerns from colleagues that they are being placed in harm’s way and pressured to remain in Iraq despite security risks, five sources said.

The worker, from Kenya, died in a night attack in his sleeping quarters on the base on 24 March. Another five workers were injured. They are from Kenya and India, and are among a group of about 45 workers employed by V2X who have remained on the base. One of the workers is in a critical condition with severe burns, sources said.

Published: April 5, 2026, 11:00 am

Satellite mirror plans could disrupt sleep and ecosystems worldwide, scientists say

Letters to US agency raise concerns over tech firms’ plans to use reflective satellites and expand numbers in low Earth orbit

Proposals to deploy reflective mirrors and up to 1m more satellites in low Earth orbit could have far-reaching consequences for human health and ecosystems, leading sleep and circadian rhythm researchers have said.

Presidents of four international scientific societies representing about 2,500 researchers from more than 30 countries are among those who have raised concerns in letters to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Published: April 5, 2026, 11:49 am

US health officials appear to shy away from anti-vaccine talk ahead of midterms

Elections seem top-of-mind for the Maha movement as key polling indicates anti-vaccine views are a liability

US health officials appear to be shying away from voicing negative views of vaccines in public as November’s midterm elections loom and key polling indicates anti-vaccine views are a liability.

Health officials have made unprecedented changes to routine vaccine recommendations in the past year – slashing one-third of the US childhood schedule, including the recommendation for hepatitis B immunization at birth. But even before a federal judge essentially invalidated these moves, officials haven’t championed their dramatic changes after Donald Trump’s pollsters recommended veering away from anti-vaccine ideology ahead of the midterms.

Published: April 5, 2026, 1:00 pm

Mamdani pledged affordable New York housing in his campaign. How is that going?

Mayor’s decision to appeal court order that the city must expand its housing voucher program has angered advocates for the homeless

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani’s decision to appeal a court order that the city must expand its housing voucher program, despite his campaign pledge to implement it, has angered advocates for the homeless population.

Mamdani, who must figure out how to close a $5.4bn budget deficit, explained his decision by citing the cost of the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) program, which helps people staying in shelters or at risk of homelessness find permanent housing.

Published: April 5, 2026, 4:00 pm

Mexican art world protests over plan to send Frida Kahlo masterpieces to Spain

Cultural figures sign open letter asking government for clarity on how long landmark collection will remain abroad

One of the world’s most important collections of 20th-century Mexican art, including works by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, is set to be exported to Spain under an agreement with Banco Santander, sparking outrage among Mexico’s cultural community.

Nearly 400 cultural professionals have signed an open letter calling on the Mexican government to offer greater clarity on what the deal means for the masterpieces, particularly the works by Kahlo, which the Mexican state has declared an “artistic monument”.

Published: April 5, 2026, 9:00 am

A strategy ‘to make life intolerable’: Israeli settlers are driving Christians out of West Bank

The Taybeh community has survived crusaders and the Ottoman and British empires, but the latest attacks leave its future in question

Taybeh, a small hilltop town in the heart of the West Bank is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. After increasing attacks from Israeli settlers it now feels itself under siege and is fighting for its very existence.

The town’s ancient Greek name was Ephraim where, according to the gospels, Jesus hid with his disciples from the Jewish religious hierarchy, the Sanhedrin, before making his final fateful trip to Jerusalem.

Published: April 5, 2026, 5:00 am

Rice’s whales existed before humans. Now Trump could make them extinct

The US has invoked national security to remove protections for the endangered cetacean, of which only about 50 are left

Since before modern humans existed Rice’s whales have been diving to the depths of the ocean to gorge on fat-rich fish while growing to leviathan proportions, their bodies spanning the length of a bus and weighing as much as as six elephants.

Unfortunately for these grand creatures, their only home became a patch of the Gulf of Mexico that the oil and gas industry, much later, became highly interested in for drilling. Only about 50 of these baleen whales still exist on Earth, surrounded by clanging aquatic highways of boats and shifting drilling infrastructure.

Published: April 5, 2026, 11:00 am

‘I always considered social media evil’: big tobacco whistleblower on tech’s addictive products

Jeffrey Stephen Wigand revealed how tobacco companies targeted children; now he sees similar marketing by big tech

A key whistleblower in the tobacco industry’s landmark trials of the 1990s has been watching big tech’s recent court battles closely. Jeffrey Stephen Wigand, a biochemist who helped reveal how tobacco companies targeted children and hid just how addictive cigarettes were, has been struck with a feeling of familiarity. Last week’s verdict in a major social media trial that Meta and YouTube deliberately designed addictive products has only strengthened comparisons to the legal crackdown on big tobacco. Wigand sees it, too. His first thought, as he learned about the litigation in California, was that social media companies, through their advertisements, were trying to addict children – much like the tobacco industry did.

A Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube to be negligent last week. Plaintiffs’ lawyers relied heavily on internal documents and correspondence to demonstrate that company leadership dismissed concerns about how features of social media could be harmful. Meta was also found liable in a separate trial in New Mexico, alleging that it had failed to prevent child sexual exploitation. These verdicts are the first time Meta has been found liable for how its products affect young people – after years of criticism, much of it from angry parents who feel social media harmed their children’s mental health.

Published: April 5, 2026, 2:00 pm

The kindness of strangers: I was taken aback by a rude remark. Then it hit me – she was absolutely right

I vividly remember thinking how out of line she was. But as I thought more about what she said, I realised she’d done me a favour

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

More than 30 years ago, I set out to build my dream house in a small rural town. It was a stressful process exacerbated by a demanding career that required me to travel across Asia and the Pacific for weeks at a time. The challenges of juggling parenting, marriage, my work and the house felt overwhelming at times. Not to mention the builders were falling behind schedule and often did not show up at all.

One day I found myself in a lighting shop, finally ready to buy light fittings. The woman who ran the shop was not exactly friendly but as it was the only shop of its kind around, she won my business by default. I asked her a few questions about some lights and received only one- or two-word answers. I made the purchase, and as I was about to leave, she looked me firmly in the eyes and said: “You know, no matter how hard you think you have it, there are always others who have it much worse than you.” With that, she turned and went into the back of the shop.

Published: April 5, 2026, 3:00 pm

‘It’s dark in here – you can cry’: Mitski hosts intimate residency at LA high school

The artist performed songs from her new album in a five-night residency at Hollywood high school’s auditorium

With a swaying ocean projected on the stage, bathing the space in the brilliant light of sunset and sea, the figure holding a microphone almost appeared to be floating with the waves.

It added to the surreal effect that permeated the auditorium of Hollywood high school on Thursday night as singer Mitski performed Dead Women from her new album Nothing’s About to Happen to Me.

Published: April 5, 2026, 2:00 pm

‘I still think it’s one of the great films of all time’: All the President’s Men turns 50

In April 1976, the flawless Watergate film premiered in Washington – cast members and reporters share their memories of ‘the granddaddy of journalism movies’

The rustle of a notepad. The click of a pen lid. On a floral-patterned sofa sits Dustin Hoffman with long hair, big collar and a lean and hungry look. Opposite is Jane Alexander, wearing a blue button-down dress, cornered and nervous in the glow of a table lamp. In this taut, claustrophobic acting masterclass, no detail is too small.

“The makeup artists ran in because the sweat was pouring off Dustin’s face,” Alexander recalls with a laugh. “Gordon [Willis, cinematographer] said, ‘Don’t touch that, I’m lighting off his sweat!’ I love that.”

Published: April 5, 2026, 11:00 am

They’re in clouds, electric sockets and even on toast. Why do humans see faces in everyday objects?

Human brains are designed to detect faces as quickly as possible, which can lead to the perception of ‘false faces’

Faces: we see them in clouds, electrical outlets and even a $28,000 toasted sandwich said to look like the Virgin Mary.

Known as face pareidolia, seeing faces in inanimate objects or patterns of light and shadow is a common phenomenon.

Published: April 5, 2026, 3:00 pm

This is how we do it: ‘The fact he’s comfortable enough with his sexuality to be intimate with other men is so hot to me’

Before Miguel, Sandra’s sex life was rather vanilla. When they got together, he suggested swinging – and all that changed

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

I never thought, when I was a pregnant Catholic teenager, that I’d have this lifestyle, but my God, it’s fun

She can’t get enough of hearing about my hook-ups, and I can’t get enough of the fact that she can’t get enough

Published: April 5, 2026, 10:00 am

Saturday Night Live: Jack Black’s fifth time as host leads to standout episode

The comedian/musician joins a rare club in an episode filled with surprise cameos and genuinely funny skits

Jack Black has had a nearly 27 year relationship with Saturday Night Live, first showing up in May 1998 as one half of his musical duo Tenacious D. Since then, he’s been at the helm of a bevy of fan favorite episodes, triumphantly returning to host last year after a mysterious two decade long gap in between appearances. Tonight, he takes SNL’s reins for the fifth time: but will he become a Saturday Night star once again?

“That game was miraculous. It was spectacular. One could call it, miraca-tacular.” So says Kenan Thompson in his tried-and-true impression of Charles Barkley. In the sketch, Thompson’s Barkley can’t help but wade into politics from Iran to Pam Bondi. “We should all be glad that that freckle-chested dragon lady is gone,” he barks, before the season’s breakout star Ashley Padilla appears as Bondi to give “equal time” to the other side.

Published: April 5, 2026, 1:45 pm

Here are three ways we can turn anti-Trump solidarity into political power | Robert Reich

The No Kings protests affirmed widespread opposition to Trump’s actions. As the midterms approach, we have an opportunity

Last weekend, millions of us once again affirmed the foundation of the common good.

Across America, people showed their solidarity – in opposition to Trump’s ill-considered war in Iran, with immigrants being targeted by ICE and border patrol agents, with current and former public officials whom Trump is prosecuting, with the students and universities whose freedom to learn and speak continues to be threatened by Trump, in favor of the earth and stopping climate change, and with every American who’s determined to reject dictatorship.

Target vulnerable Republican senators and House members. Either get them to switch parties or become independents who caucus with Democrats, or flip their seats.

Republican majorities are razor-thin in both chambers, and some Republicans who represent purple districts and states are struggling to keep their Republican supporters behind them. (They’re also struggling with their own consciences in continuing to support Trump’s authoritarian fascism.)

Begin organizing and mobilizing now to get out the vote for November’s midterm elections – aiming for Democratic takeovers of both chambers of Congress by wide margins, which will severely limit what Trump can do after January 2027.

The key will be to get out the vote. Make a plan. Use phone trees. Write postcards. Arrange transportation for people who need it.

Root out and challenge any Trump Republican attempt to intimidate likely Democratic voters or manipulate the election process.

It’s important that neither Trump nor his state lapdogs diminish the turnout of likely Democratic voters in the weeks leading up to the November midterms – by stationing federal agents near polling places, interfering with the counting or certifying of ballots, or altering laws and rules to make it harder to vote.

Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com. His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now in the US and in the UK

Published: April 5, 2026, 11:00 am

From microshifting to coffee badging: whatever happened to just doing your job?

Buzzy workplace trends all point to the same thing: avoiding work while still collecting a paycheck

There’s another hot trend in the workplace – microshifting, and it’s about to revolutionize the workday by breaking the traditional 9-to-5 into short, flexible and non-linear bursts of activity rather than a continuous 8-hour stretch. Microshifting allows for a better work-life balance. Why not do a yoga class or pop to the shops during work hours? I mean, what is “work” anyway?

Like bare minimum Mondays, where workers recuperating from weekend hangovers allow themselves to accomplish the least amount the day after, or coffee badging, which involves taking the time out of the workday to protest an employer’s in-office requirements by driving into the office, swiping your badge, having a coffee, then taking more time out of the workday to drive back home, it used to have another name, as the Guardian noted earlier this year: “Taking the piss.”

Published: April 5, 2026, 2:00 pm

Ella Baron on Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth and the Easter story – cartoon

Continue reading...

Published: April 5, 2026, 4:22 pm

Trump’s working-class support is waning | Jared Abbott and Dustin Guastella

Our survey finds that 20% of 2024 Trump voters are considering abandoning Republicans in 2028. But the picture isn’t rosy for Democrats either

A new survey offers some novel insight into Trump’s corroding coalition.

The survey, which I (Abbott) conducted with the scholar and author Joan C Williams, sampled about 1,940 Trump voters and captured the attitudes of the broad coalition that brought Trump to the White House in 2024. Respondents were asked if they intended to vote Republican in the 2028 presidential election and, in particular, their views on immigration – Trump’s strongest issue.

Jared Abbott is the director of the Center for Working-Class Politics. Dustin Guastella is a research associate at the Center for Working Class Politics and the director of operations for Teamsters Local 623

Published: April 5, 2026, 1:00 pm

The Easter story reminds us to not give in to despair and instead tenaciously face the joys and sorrows of life

The potency of the crucifixion story lies in how, as we experience the sometimes devastating travails of human existence, God himself suffers with us

• Making sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life

Twelve months ago I lost a close friend to brain cancer. He was 53 years old and survived two years after the initial shock of the diagnosis. For about 18 months of that time, with chemo and radiotherapy holding the tumour at bay, he was fit and strong and we surfed together, attended footy matches and had family get-togethers. It was hard to accept he was actually dying.

But once treatment came to an end, his demise was rapid. The last months were excruciating for him and his family, the final weeks unspeakably sad. It was confronting to witness how death took hold of him as we watched him fade away. The last time I saw him, struggling to stay awake and clearly in much discomfort, he thanked me for coming and said he expected to be “much improved the next time I see you”. It was a joke. His last one to me.

Published: April 5, 2026, 3:00 pm

The hill I will die on: Order be damned – a house full of clutter is a happy house | Robin Craig

Forget bare walls and clean lines. Give me curiosity and obsession. Give me evidence of a life well lived

I have a friend whose flat when I visit feels like stepping into someone else’s mind. It’s filled to the absolute brim with stuff: cupboards full of mismatched mugs, chintzy ceramic dogs adorning the shelves, piles of books everywhere and, most impressively, a display case lovingly filled with dozens of Kinder egg toys. The funny thing is, I always leave feeling calmer than I would in any stripped-back, magazine-ready living room.

Clutter gets a bad rap, but in a world where we’re told to optimise and streamline everything, its chaos feels stubbornly human. I think clutter, when done right, can be the clearest sign of a life being well lived. It shows that someone has character, taste and experiences they have grown from. I love seeing homes that look like people actually live in them. The worst feeling is entering someone’s house and being met with completely clear walls and countertops, perfectly matching dinnerware sets and shelves full of pristine, untouched books. It’s like stepping into The Stepford Wives.

Robin Craig is a freelance writer and journalist based in London

Published: April 5, 2026, 9:00 am

The Guardian view on Japan’s hidden century: cheap money, global risk | Editorial

Ultra-low rates turned the yen into easy cash for bankers. But the carry trade now binds global markets to decisions in Tokyo

In 2015, Clyde Prestowitz’s book Japan Restored imagined a Japanese century emerging from upheavals such as an Israeli attack on Iran. While conflict now grips the Middle East, there are few indications of the revolutionary change the former US national security official foresaw. But in one crucial respect this already is a Japanese century – thanks to the yen’s role as easy money for global finance.

The Bank of Japan’s loose monetary policy has turned the yen into the world’s cheapest and most reliable funding currency. By suppressing yields on public debt to keep Japan’s domestic economy afloat, the BoJ effectively created a publicly subsidised funding pipeline for bankers. They can make a quick buck by borrowing cheaply in yen and investing in higher-return assets, such as US equities. The “yen carry trade” surged after the pandemic, with speculators betting $435bn in the two years to 2024 out of the estimated $1.7tn worth of yen supplied. The profits for global investors are reckoned to run into tens of billions of dollars.

Published: April 5, 2026, 4:29 pm

West Ham United v Leeds United: FA Cup – live

• Updates from 4.30pm kick-off (BST) at London Stadium

• Survival or silverware? Farke faces dilemma at Leeds

1 min West Ham kick off from left to right as we watch. You’ll be pleased to hear that national treasure Danny Dyer is in attendance at the London Stadium.

“If he organisers are trying to recapture some of the long-faded ‘magic of the cup’, they’ll need to turn the pitch at Wembley into a quagmire for any potential meeting of Chelsea and Leeds,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “The 1970 FA Cup final was famously played the day after the Horse of the Year Show, and looked more suited to WWI trench warfare than a football match, even one in the 70s. May I suggest that England’s national stadium offer to host Ireland’s National Ploughing Championships on the same week?”

Published: April 5, 2026, 6:19 pm

Tradition, trepidation and that Augusta ‘thing’ – why the Masters remains golf’s greatest prize

Even the greatest golfers can wilt in pursuit of the Green Jacket – Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth and Tommy Fleetwood try to explain its special aura

They say the Masters is all about tradition. One involves the sense of trepidation that collides with excitement as the finest golfers in the world take to Augusta National. Rory McIlroy, now a Masters champion, was scared to take a divot when first taking to the Georgia venue. “For my first two or three times, it kind of felt like I was in a museum,” says Xander Schauffele.

Some visibly wilt under an intimidation provided by a course that is picture perfect. It is like the dazzling princess is concealing an axe.

Published: April 5, 2026, 2:27 pm

Angels’ Jo Adell acrobatically robs three home runs to shock Mariners

• Adell stole homers from Raleigh, Naylor and Crawford

• Zach Neto hits solo home run for game’s only run

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Jo Adell is known for his power bat but he put on a show for the ages with his glove in the middle game of the three-game series with the visiting Seattle Mariners.

Adell performed three home run robberies in a single game on Saturday and will look to help the Angels win the series when they close the set against the Mariners on Sunday at Anaheim, California. Zach Neto hit his 10th career leadoff homer for the game’s lone run, but Saturday night was the “Jo Show,” where a right fielder sometimes chided for his defensive shortcomings put on one of the best outfielder performances of all time.

Published: April 5, 2026, 3:49 pm

‘Let’s do it’: Deontay Wilder targets Anthony Joshua fight after beating Chisora

• Former world champions may finally meet in the ring

• Eddie Hearn says Joshua is ready for fight after car crash

Deontay Wilder called out Anthony Joshua for a long-awaited matchup between the former heavyweight champions, after Wilder edged Derek Chisora to clinch a split-decision victory in London on Saturday.

Wilder came face to face with Joshua as he walked past the Briton after the fight. The two fist-bumped, and the American said: “Let’s do it. It wasn’t a few words, I dapped it up with him and I said, now let’s get it on. I’m ready for whoever, [as] long as these guys are in the heavyweight division, I am here. You can call me Mr Clean, because I want to clean up the whole division. The division is nothing without Deontay Wilder.”

Published: April 5, 2026, 12:50 pm

NCAA Tournament: Michigan rout Arizona to set up final against UConn

• Wolverines and Huskies will meet for championship

• UConn top Illinois to reach third title game in four years

Michigan overpowered Arizona early and humbled the Wildcats, turning the Final Four meeting, billed as the ‘Game of the Year’, into a 91-73 Wolverines highlight reel in Indianapolis.

Junior center Aday Mara scored a career-high 26 points and had nine rebounds, a dinged-up Yaxel Lendeborg had 11 points in 14 minutes and Michigan blew through their fifth straight March Madness opponent by double digits while becoming the first team to break 90 points five times in a single tournament.

Published: April 5, 2026, 3:49 am

Spurs gamble on creative but combative De Zerbi conjuring up an escape plan

With seven games to save their status, Tottenham’s owners have taken risk on a gifted coach who favours tough love

It is ironic that the man who has appointed Roberto De Zerbi to be Tottenham manager, just as the club faces its most critical seven games this century, is also partially responsible for one of the most successful managerial recruitments in Mikel Arteta, albeit for north London rivals, Arsenal. And even that didn’t start well. Vinai Venkatesham was blindsided when photographs of him emerging from Arteta’s house at 1.20am were published in a newspaper at a sensitive stage in negotiations. The man who is now Tottenham’s chief executive only found out he had been rumbled when the pictures went online and was mortified.

Venkatesham was part of a committee that settled on Arteta as a replacement for Unai Emery, and while it was a huge gamble to entrust a novice to a club the size of Arsenal, it was at least inspired, which is more than can be said for his hiring of Igor Tudor, a coach with no Premier League experience, to save Spurs. Now Venkatesham, along with the sporting director, Johan Lange, has settled on De Zerbi, which is similarly high risk.

Published: April 5, 2026, 7:00 am

Geno Auriemma apologizes for ‘uncalled for’ behavior after tense exchange with Dawn Staley

• UConn coach’s outburst came after Final Four loss

• Auriemma: ‘No excuse for how I handled’ situation

• South Carolina coach says she is focused on title game

UConn coach Geno Auriemma has apologized for his actions during a heated exchange with Dawn Staley at the end of the Huskies’ loss to South Carolina in the women’s Final Four.

A visibly upset Auriemma went over to Staley in the final seconds of South Carolina’s 62-48 victory on Friday night and appeared to chastise her. Coaches from both teams had to separate them. When the game finally ended, Auriemma walked off the court to the locker room without going back to shake hands with anyone from South Carolina.

Published: April 4, 2026, 8:00 pm

Sydney Kings break Adelaide 36ers hearts in overtime thriller to win NBL Championship

• Kings defeat 36ers 113-101 in dramatic finals series decider

• Kendric Davis stars with 35 points and 13 assists in front of record crowd

The Sydney Kings have won their sixth NBL title with a dramatic 113-101 overtime defeat of the Adelaide 36ers in the decisive fifth game of the championship series.

Superstar Kings guard Kendric Davis starred with 35 points and 14 assists in front of an all-time NBL record crowd of 18,589 fans in Sydney on Easter Sunday.

Published: April 5, 2026, 7:07 am

Hungarian PM faces ‘false flag’ claims after Serbia says explosives found near pipeline

Incident prompts political scrutiny across Hungary as Viktor Orbán trails in polls before next Sunday’s election

Serbia has said it found “explosives of devastating power” near a pipeline that carries Russian natural gas to Hungary and beyond, sparking claims by Hungary’s leading opposition candidate of a possible “false flag” operation aimed at influencing the country’s elections.

On Sunday, Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said he had been informed by Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, of the discovery near an extension of the TurkStream pipeline, which transports Russian gas through the Balkans to central and eastern Europe.

Published: April 5, 2026, 5:13 pm

Easter Sunday around the world – in pictures

From Tehran to Cameroon, people take part in Easter celebrations

Published: April 5, 2026, 2:00 pm

Priest accused of coercing congregants for sex in Texas could have single trial for charges from three separate accusers

Prosecutors say Anthony Odiong exploited his parishioners’ emotional dependency to engage in sexual conduct with them

A Roman Catholic priest with ties to Texas and south-east Louisiana and criminally charged with abusing his position as a clergyman to pursue sex with three spiritually vulnerable female congregants faces being taken to trial on all of those cases at once.

The Texas district attorney’s office prosecuting Anthony Odiong filed a motion seeking to consolidate the three cases in late March, ahead of a trial date that the Guardian understands has tentatively been set for 4 May. Prepared by McLennan county first assistant district attorney Ryan Calvert, the motion notes that Texas state law allows “a defendant [to] be prosecuted in a single criminal action” if the crimes alleged “are connected or … are the repeated commission of the same or similar offenses”.

Published: April 5, 2026, 11:00 am

How Paris swapped cars for bikes – and transformed its streets

Under Anne Hidalgo – mayor for 12 years until last week – the French capital added bike lanes, cut traffic and reclaimed public space, but not without resistance

When Corentin Roudaut moved to Paris 10 years ago, he was too scared to cycle. The IT developer had biked everywhere as a student in Rennes but felt overwhelmed by the bustling French capital. Cars were everywhere. Cyclists had almost no protection.

But once authorities carved out space for a segregated bike lane on Boulevard Voltaire near his home in the 11th arrondissement, Roudaut returned to the two-wheel commute and did not look back.

Published: April 5, 2026, 3:59 pm

‘I was beaten and tortured’: how a British father and son made a fortune in Dubai then became wanted men

As the Middle East is drawn into war, expats and influencers are under pressure to only share the positive side of the UAE. In reality many are at risk of being put behind bars, and often find the UK government has little interest in helping them get out

A four-metre barbed-wire fence runs through the desert at the UAE‑Omani border. In the early hours of 17 February 2021, Albert Douglas, 58, a British businessman, was creeping along it, looking for a way through. Douglas, who cuts a slight figure, wears spectacles and has a broad, earnest smile, never expected things to come to this. He’d been forced to abandon his home on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah, the tree-shaped archipelago lined with upmarket residences, and go into hiding. Usually he’d be driving around in a Rolls-Royce, now he was in a pickup truck, being chauffeured by people smugglers. They’d transported him to the edge of the Al Ain border, which neighbours Oman, in the dead of the night. It was incredible, really, how fast the life he once led could evaporate. All that mattered now was getting to the other side of that fence.

A few weeks earlier, Douglas had been sitting at home, watching his supreme court appeal via video link. He was being hounded by the Dubai authorities over debts incurred by his son Wolfgang Douglas’s company and, while Wolfgang was in the UK, Albert had been arrested. Albert was facing a £2.5m fine and a three-year prison sentence – this was his final chance for a reprieve. He had always believed the truth would prevail, but as he watched the hearing play out, his faith in the system deserted him. He decided to lie low in a friend’s apartment while he weighed his options. It soon became clear that he didn’t have any. “That’s when I decided to leave,” he says. “I left it not to the last minute, but the last second.”

Published: April 5, 2026, 5:00 am

‘It’s all fear and headlines’: energy traders race to keep pace with volatile oil markets

Market volatility caused by Middle East conflict exposes energy traders to heavy losses and rumours of insider trading at the highest level

On the weekend that US-Israeli drones first began to rain down on Tehran, energy traders across the world’s major financial centres began to redraw their strategies.

When they returned to their trading desks on that March Monday morning, they found oil and gas prices spiking amid a market nightmare made real: the unprecedented shutdown of the vital trade route through the strait of Hormuz.

Published: April 5, 2026, 5:00 am

Uproar in Germany over law requiring men get military approval for long stays abroad

Ministry clarifies clause affecting those up to age 45 that is part of legislation that came into effect in January

A little-noticed clause in sweeping changes to Germany’s military service policy has caused uproar after it emerged that the law requires men aged up to 45 to get permission from the armed forces before any significant stay abroad, even in peacetime.

The legislation, which went into effect on 1 January, aims to bolster the military and demands all 18-year-old men fill out a questionnaire to gauge their suitability to serve in the armed forces, but stops short of conscription.

Published: April 5, 2026, 11:45 am

Pepsi drops Wireless sponsorship amid criticism of Kanye West booking

Sponsor pulls out after Keir Starmer calls decision to book rapper who wrote song titled Heil Hitler ‘deeply concerning’

Pepsi has said it is withdrawing its sponsorship of a UK music festival that is due to be headlined by Kanye West after Keir Starmer joined criticism of the event.

The musician is understood to have not yet made an application to come to Britain and could be blocked under powers allowing the authorities to do so if his presence is deemed not conducive to the public good.

Published: April 5, 2026, 11:37 am

How Trump’s Iran war could make the world more reliant on coal

The energy crisis sparked by the war is making some countries consider ramping up their use of dirty fuels

Not two months in office, as the price of west Texas crude approached $14 a barrel, President Jimmy Carter donned a cardigan to speak candidly about his strategy to face the permanent energy shortage he saw in the nation’s future.

His “fireside chat” is mostly remembered for asking Americans to lower the thermostat to 65F in the daytime and 55F at night, an idea that didn’t go down too well in the bitter winter of 1977.

Published: April 5, 2026, 11:00 am

Three-week-old mountain lion cub rescued by California biologists

Crimson, seen alone in Santa Monica mountains for days, gets care in Oakland zoo after mother nowhere to be found

It was an unusual scene. A lion cub alone for days in southern California’s sprawling Santa Monica mountains, emitting a noise that sounded like a cross between a purr and a light squeal, perhaps calling out for his mother.

Where was his mother?

Published: April 4, 2026, 9:10 pm

From early birds to emerging butterflies: UK shows signs of earliest spring on record

Citizen science data reveals early flowering, nesting and insect activity as global heating accelerate seasonal change

Bluebells are flowering, swallows are returning and orange-tip butterflies are flying in what could become Britain’s earliest recorded spring.

Records for early spring occurrences are being smashed as 2026 looks to be the earliest this century for frogspawn laying, blackbirds nesting, brimstone butterflies emerging and hazel flowering, according to Nature’s Calendar, which has logged citizen science records of seasonal change since 2000.

Published: April 4, 2026, 5:00 am

Man charged with impaired driving after after hitting Louisiana crowd celebrating Lao New Year

At least 15 people injured in incident with authorities saying some of the injuries believed to be serious

At least 15 people were injured on Saturday after an alleged drunk driver ploughed into pedestrians at a Louisiana parade celebrating the Lao New Year. Some of the injuries are believed to be serious, authorities said.

Louisiana State Police said a man had been charged with driving while impaired, 18 counts of first-degree negligent injuring and careless operation, after the incident in New Iberia.

Published: April 5, 2026, 2:30 am

California protection crews contain parts of wildfire that burned 4,100 acres

Springs fire, which had spread quickly by windy conditions, at least 45% contained on Saturday, say fire officials

California fire protection crews on Saturday were getting a handle on the wildfire that broke out the previous evening in Riverside county, fanned by high winds that quickly spread the flames to more than 4,100 acres.

The Springs fire, about 64 miles (103km) east of Los Angeles, was at least 45% contained on Saturday, a fire department spokesperson said. It was 25% contained late on Friday evening.

Published: April 4, 2026, 6:13 pm

‘Horror movie’: officials investigate after 21 dead dogs wash up on Washington state shore

Carcasses wash ashore Guemes Island in ‘creepy mystery’, with authorities saying canines appear to be the same size

Officials are investigating after nearly two dozen dead canines washed ashore on a Washington state island, in what one local has compared to “the start of a horror movie”.

The Skagit county sheriff’s office said 21 canines had been found on the shoreline of Guemes Island, about 80 miles north of Seattle, between 26 March and Friday.

Published: April 4, 2026, 4:59 pm

Former US air force master sergeant pleads guilty to defrauding military out of $37m

Alan Hayward James, who called himself ‘Al Capone’, admitted to rigging bids for IT contracts with Pentagon

A former US air force master sergeant who nicknamed himself “Al Capone” has pleaded guilty to defrauding the military branch out of $37m by inflating the cost of IT contracts – and giving some of the extra money to an individual he called “Godfather”.

Alan Hayward James, from Texas, ran a nine-year scam, beginning in April 2016, which also saw him funnel excess funds to himself, his family and his co-conspirators.

Published: April 4, 2026, 2:43 pm

Ukraine war briefing: Slovakia PM calls on EU to lift sanctions on Russian oil and gas

Robert Fico said ending sanctions on Russian energy imports would help tackle the energy crisis stemming from the war in Iran. What we know on day 1,502

Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico has called on the European Union to end sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports in order to tackle the energy crisis stemming from the war in Iran. Fico said in a statement after a call with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán that the EU should renew dialogue with Russia so member states can get missing gas and oil supplies from all sources, including Russia. Hungary and Slovakia’s leaders are outliers in the EU for maintaining relations with Moscow. Oil prices have surged since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran on 28 February, holding up shipments from the Gulf and creating what the International Energy Agency has called the biggest oil supply disruption in history.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced greater security cooperation with Turkey after meeting his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Istanbul on Saturday, as Kyiv seeks to leverage its wartime knowhow on the international stage. “This applies above all to the areas in which we can support Turkey: expertise, technology and experience,” the Ukrainian president wrote on Telegram. Erdogan told Zelenskyy that Turkey would continue to support negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end their war, the Turkish presidency said.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner could travel to Kyiv in April, the Ukrainian president’s top aide Kyrylo Budanov has said, amid efforts to revive peace talks with Russia which stalled after the outbreak of war in the Gulf. “Kushner, Witkoff, Lindsey Graham – those are the ones expected to come. Who else will be there, we’ll see,” Budanov told Bloomberg, adding that the meeting could take place shortly after Orthodox Easter on 12 April. Such a meeting would mark the first official visit to Kyiv for Witkoff and Kushner, who have previously met Ukrainian representatives in the US, but have travelled to Moscow for talks with Russia.

A Russian drone hit a covered market in the eastern Ukrainian city of Nikopol on Saturday, killing five people and wounding 25, officials said. Russia has been firing aerial broadsides at Ukraine throughout its more than four-year invasion, mostly at night, but in recent weeks it has stepped up daytime attacks. The market in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region, was hit at 9.50am local time, the local prosecutor’s office said. Regional governor, Oleksandr Ganja, said in a Telegram post that three women and two men were killed.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 286 drones overnight, of which 260 were intercepted. In the city of Sumy, not far from the border with Russia, a strike wounded 11 people, the national police said. In the capital, Kyiv, a drone strike caused a fire on the first floor of a three-story office and warehouse building, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. No casualties were reported. In the partially occupied Donetsk region, a Russian drone strike hit a civilian car, killing one woman and wounding another, according to the head of the local military administration.

The Russian-installed head of the occupied Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, said Ukrainian forces hit railroad infrastructure in the region and private houses, killing a family of three – a couple and their 8-year-old child.

Published: April 5, 2026, 12:03 am

‘Feels like history is being made’: will young Hungarian voters oust Orbán?

The rightwing populist has been in power for 16 years but a new generation of voters are preparing to vote for his opponent, polls suggest

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

As he rushed to finish off his cigarette before heading to class, Ákos, 20, confessed that he has more at stake than most as Hungarians prepare to head to the polls in the coming days.

“If things remain the same, or get even worse, I can’t see a future here,” said the aspiring teacher. “There are many people who want to try living elsewhere, and that’s totally fine, but I’m not one of them. For so long I’ve dreamed of working and teaching here.”

Published: April 4, 2026, 11:00 am

Fugitive mafia boss wanted for murder arrested at Amalfi coast luxury villa

Roberto Mazzarella, head of a notorious Camorra clan, had been on the run for more than a year

An Italian mafia boss, who was one of Italy’s most dangerous fugitives, has been arrested on murder charges after more than a year on the run, Italian police said on Saturday.

Roberto Mazzarella was the head of the notorious Mazzarella clan of the Camorra – the Naples-based organised crime gang.

Published: April 4, 2026, 4:10 pm

Italian council buys Mussolini’s villa to keep it away from ‘fascist nostalgics’

Riccione’s leftwing mayor, Daniela Angelini, says public purchase is victory for town and ‘act of love and vision’

An Italian council has bought a villa where Benito Mussolini spent his summer holidays, partly to avoid the property falling into the hands of “fascist nostalgics”.

Daniela Angelini, the leftwing mayor of Riccione, a town close to Rimini along Italy’s Adriatic coast, said the acquisition of Villa Mussolini through an auction was “an act of love and vision” and that bringing it back into public hands was a victory for the entire town.

Published: April 4, 2026, 8:00 am

Life of Pi author Yann Martel: ‘I thought the Iliad was a book for old farts… then I started getting ideas’

The best-selling novelist explains why his new retelling of Homer’s epic offers the ideal antidote to the age of Trump

Yann Martel’s writing studio, where he sits while we talk over Zoom, is a mere 10ft by 12ft; beyond his treadmill desk lie the drifts of snow that separate him from the house he shares with his wife, writer Alice Kuipers, and their four children. Martel was born in Spain, but his father’s academic work took the family to places including Portugal, France, Costa Rica and Alaska; perhaps it’s no surprise that, after all that travelling, he’s been settled in Saskatoon, Canada, for many years. But his novels couldn’t be any less rooted, in time or place: from the sea-tossed raft of the Booker prize-winning Life of Pi to the Dante-inspired Beatrice and Virgil and the era-shifting triptych of The High Mountains of Portugal, Martel is clearly possessed of an itinerant imagination.

Now comes Son of Nobody, for which Martel has written what the novel’s dismissive professor would term “pseudo-Homerica”; a version of the Trojan war seen from the perspective of an unknown soldier, Psoas, and discovered by an eager researcher in present-day Oxford, Harlow Donne. The poem appears in full, with Harlow’s story – including the breakdown of his marriage and his relationship with his young daughter, Helen – presented via digressive footnotes, at times scholarly but just as often humorous and domestic.

Published: April 5, 2026, 11:00 am

How to use procrastination to your advantage

As medieval sages understood, putting things off – done well – can open the doors to creativity and purpose

A soft rain hammers at the window. I’ve pushed the couch to the other side of the coffee table because I need to get closer to my floor lamp. In front of me is a stack of 40 student essays, unopened and ungraded. The water I boiled for tea went cold an hour ago and I’m looking up the age of celebrities on Wikipedia. David Hasselhoff (born 17 July 1952). Dannii Minogue (born 20 October 1971). Has my afternoon been wasted? Is this … procrastination?

Today the P-word has a bad reputation. Psychologists link it with increased anxiety, diminished self-esteem and depression. And magazines (like the ones I just sorted into a date-ordered stack) feature articles with headlines such as “How to Stop Procrastinating, NOW!” Am I one of the 20% of the population with “chronic procrastination”, the lifelong tendency to avoid doing the things I should be doing? A few years ago, this would have alarmed me – but now I no longer worry. I embrace days like this. Because an obscure idea I discovered in a work of medieval theology has taught me how to relax.

Published: April 5, 2026, 11:00 am

‘Nobody would forgive me if I told the truth’: new film about pacifist turned Nazi collaborator divides France

In Les Rayons et les Ombres, Jean Dujardin plays a real-life press baron partying during the horrors of the second world war. Director Xavier Giannoli discusses bringing this still sensitive topic to light

Xavier Giannoli’s new film Les Rayons et les Ombres (Rays and Shadows) is told from the postwar perspective of Corinne Luchaire, a French actor who was once hailed as “the new Garbo” but grew too close to the Nazis during the German occupation years. As Luchaire records her thoughts on a borrowed tape recorder, she struggles to reconcile her unfaltering devotion to her father, the once-powerful press baron Jean, with his 1946 execution for treason.

Her wilful blindness collapses as the Jewish director who helped launch her career visits her cramped flat. When Corinne, played by newcomer Nastya Golubeva Carax, enquires after his sister, he reveals that she died in a concentration camp. “I didn’t know,” murmurs Corinne, only to be met with the devastating reply: “Did you even try to find out?”

Published: April 5, 2026, 5:00 am

Chess Mates: the fantastic true story of the sex toy rumour that buzzed around the world

It was the anal bead theory that caused a global sensation. Now, a new Netflix film tells the tale of two grandmasters, one scandal – and a whole lot of bad blood

Chess Mates (Netflix, Tuesday) has an unsettling early gambit: the face of Piers Morgan, looming via archive footage. “Have you ever used anal beads while playing chess?” Morgan asks down camera, as if prepping an ill-advised phone-in. “Your curiosity is concerning. Maybe you’re personally interested?” shoots back his interviewee, Hans Niemann (above). The minds of chess masters, as glimpsed in this fantastic documentary, are almost as compelling as any back-passage shenanigans on the table.

It’s worth looking up the whole clip, from when Niemann found himself at the centre of a cheating scandal. The 19-year-old had come from nowhere; in a match at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, he did the impossible and beat the Goat. That’s Norwegian Magnus Carlsen: an undisputed titan who sees lines of play like Neo sees the Matrix, and has held the world No 1 spot, unbroken, since 2011. Suspecting foul play, Carlsen withdrew from the competition. Ever since, suspicion has swirled round his American rival. Which is where the beads enter. So to speak.

Published: April 4, 2026, 6:00 am

‘I was getting down with a guy and he decided to put on One Love. It was creepy’: Duncan James from Blue’s honest playlist

The Blue singer thinks Aqua deserve respect and his mum once did karaoke with a legend. But what record did he buy to please his nan - with mixed results?

The song I inexplicably know all the lyrics to
Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis – the song I sent off on tape as my audition to Blue.

The song I do at karaoke
I had my 30th birthday party in a karaoke bar above a Chinese restaurant. My mum was doing It’s Raining Men by Geri Halliwell, just as Geri herself walked in, so she grabbed her, brought her on stage, and went: “Sing. It’s your song.” I thought: “Mum. She’s just arrived. Chill out!”

Published: April 5, 2026, 8:00 am

‘Enough of this me me me’: Blake Morrison on memoir in the age of oversharing

From sad-fishing on Facebook to sensational Substack revelations – today’s readers don’t have to look far for confessional writing. Is this the end of autobiography?

Every day I meet strangers who share intimate details with me. It’s called reading. In a newspaper piece a former sex addict recalls her need for BDSM (“when a sexual partner hurt me, I felt seen”) and how she conquered her dependency. On Substack an actor describes her grief on losing a baby (“After the miscarriage, I became convinced my daughter was backstage. I would push back the costumes on the rack and almost expect to find her”). And then there are the published memoirs, first-person stories of trauma, displacement and heartbreak. It’s not just women who unburden themselves, of course. As Martin Amis says in his memoir, Experience: “We are all writing it or at any rate talking it: the memoir, the apologia, the CV, the cri de coeur.”

Recent memoirs have upped the ante, though. What was once a geriatric, self-satisfied genre (politicians, generals and film stars looking back fondly on long careers) is now open to anyone with a story to tell – “nobody memoirs”, the American journalist Lorraine Adams has called them. Candour is the key, no matter how fraught the consequences. “Most writers I know,” Maggie Nelson writes in The Argonauts, “nurse persistent fantasies about the horrible things – or the horrible thing – that will happen to them if and when they express themselves as they desire”. But she takes that risk, addressing the book to “you”, her fluidly gendered husband Harry (who’s angry when she shows him a draft), while exploring identity, pregnancy, motherhood and sexuality.

Published: April 4, 2026, 8:00 am

‘Occasionally a picture can change the course of history’: 33 scandalous photos that shocked the world

When it comes to scandal, seeing is believing – which is why these images caused such a stir

Words can tell a story, but it’s pictures that will make you believe in it. Such is the power of a photograph; the ability to strip away illusions, to illuminate something hidden, and sometimes force us to accept unpalatable truths. When it comes to scandal, seeing is believing – occasionally even to the point that a picture changes the course of history.

How might life have been different for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had he not been photographed clutching the midriff of the 17-year-old girl he would later claim he had never met? Without this haunting triptych of the former prince, the late Virginia Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein’s fixer, Ghislaine Maxwell, hovering in the background, there would have been nothing physical to connect the then prince with a trafficking victim. Though for years Andrew’s friends insisted that the photograph must have been doctored, buried within the Epstein files recently released by the US Department of Justice is a note from Maxwell that appears to confirm it is real.

Published: April 4, 2026, 5:00 am

Josh Thomas on his nemesis, men's shorts and fighting Harry Styles: 10 Chaotic Questions – video

Who is Josh Thomas's preferred celebrity body swap? What's the weirdest thing he has done for love? Michael Sun sits down with the comedian to talk the ideal length of men's shorts, fighting famous people and his most controversial pop culture opinion

Published: April 4, 2026, 8:00 pm

Jo Nesbø: ‘How often do I have sex? I only do it outdoors, so it depends on the weather’

The novelist on working on a trawler, his near miss rock climbing, and being jailed for indecent exposure

Born in Oslo, Jo Nesbø, 66, played for Norway’s premier league football team Molde before injury ended his career. After military service, he gained an economics degree, then worked in finance. He also formed the band Di Derre, which topped the Norwegian charts. In 1997, he released The Bat, the first of his bestselling Harry Hole novels. His work has been published in 51 languages and he has sold more than 60m books. In 2017, his novel The Snowman was made into a film starring Michael Fassbender. A new series, Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole, premieres on Netflix on 26 March. He has a daughter and lives in Oslo.

When were you happiest?
When Molde won the Norwegian premier league in 2011, the year the club was 100 years old.

Published: April 4, 2026, 9:00 am

Eminem’s 8 Mile helped me survive abuse – and opened my eyes to a world outside of orthodox Judaism

My upbringing denied me access to the arts and led to me bottling up my feelings about what was happening to me. Then I saw Eminem taking control of his destiny, and decided I needed to do the same

At 15, I had never been to the cinema, or even watched a movie. I grew up in a strictly Orthodox Charedi Jewish household, the daughter of a rabbi, in Glasgow, where we had next to no exposure to cultural influences beyond our religious world. The bookshelves were stacked with biblical texts and teachings, we sang in Yiddish and I only saw TV at my less religious grandparents’ house, where we could watch the end of the tennis if it was finishing as we arrived.

By my mid-teens, my parents had moved to Jerusalem and sent me to live in Manchester, with a scholar who would later abuse me. The abuse went on for six months while his family slept or when they were out. I had no one to turn to or tell; even if I had, no one had taught me the words for what was happening to me. It was a complicated, lonely time without adults to rely on.

Published: April 4, 2026, 6:00 am

An AI bot invited me to its party in Manchester. It was a pretty good night

After forgetting the nibbles, refusing my costume requests and emailing GCHQ, ‘Gaskell’ did at least get us to show up

Two weeks ago, an AI bot invited me to a party it was organising in Manchester. It then promptly lied to dozens of potential sponsors that I’d agreed to cover the event, and misled me into believing there would be food.

Despite all this, it was a pretty good night.

Published: April 5, 2026, 7:00 am

Is the UK falling out of love with social media?

Ofcom data points to more passive consumption amid changes to apps and fears about mental health and past posts

Posting significant events in your life, from birthdays to weddings and promotions, is a social media staple. But Jenny, like many other Britons recently, has hesitated over contributing to the infinite scroll.

“I wouldn’t have even posted my wedding really,” she says. “But I had to because … There’s like an etiquette. Nobody else can post your wedding until you’ve posted. So my friends were like: ‘Please post, it’s been like a week.’”

Published: April 5, 2026, 5:00 am

No reservation required: our favorite restaurant dishes that ship to your door

I turned to my Filter colleagues to see how I can experience top foods from different places without traveling there

• This story was originally published in the Filter US newsletter on buying fewer, better things. Sign up here to get early access to it

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.

New Orleans’ gumbo can’t be beat. Maine’s fresh seafood is to die for. You haven’t tasted real coffee until you’ve made a trip to Portland.

Published: April 4, 2026, 2:15 pm

My teenage daughter’s OCD keeps getting worse. What can I do? | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

Exposure response prevention may help her to cope with her anxiety and learn that she doesn’t need to respond to intrusive thoughts

My daughter is 15 and has lived with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) for some time. Her compulsions change – counting, repetitive actions such as flicking light switches a certain number of times, showering/brushing her teeth in a particular order, placing things in her bedroom in a certain way …

She has had two courses of private therapy, but neither seemed to help. Both focused on the compulsions – for example, they’d encourage her to tackle one ritual at a time and try to eliminate it. It felt as though they were addressing the symptoms rather than the cause – new rituals can come to her in the moment and if one ritual is eliminated, it will quickly be replaced.

Published: April 5, 2026, 5:00 am

The moment I knew: he kissed me and it felt like I was standing on the edge of a whole new life

When Marisha Matthews first saw ‘cool minister’ Paul, she noticed his kind eyes and jewellery. Their growing relationship was a slow burn over many years

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

In the summer of 2014, I was living in Adelaide with my two young children in a very hot rental house with a low ceiling and a rat problem. It also had a slightly leaky pool, which was good for entertaining.

It was coming up to Australia Day, which I’ve always had mixed feelings about. I couldn’t stomach inviting people over for a plastic flag-fest, so I suggested my guests bring items to make a welcome package for refugees. As a first-generation Anglo Indian British Australian with Chinese siblings, and previously married to a Persian refugee, my family is full of the newly arrived.

Published: April 4, 2026, 8:00 pm

Blind date: ‘The restaurant shuffled our table around three times so we could keep chatting until they closed’

Rachel, 32, a consultant, meets Josh, 34, an accountant

What were you hoping for?
A lovely meal on a misty Saturday, hopefully with someone I’d like to see again.

Published: April 4, 2026, 5:00 am

‘Wild west’ reformer pilates boom is causing rise in injuries, experts warn

Lack of regulation for specialist classes leaves UK fitness enthusiasts at risk, say professional bodies

The boom in reformer pilates has created a “wild west” of studios where poor regulation has resulted in inexperienced teachers and a rise in injuries, professional standards bodies have warned.

Pilates is not formally or legally regulated, and as its popularity has surged, industry experts say, so too has the growth of packed reformer-based classes often led by instructors with limited training.

Published: April 4, 2026, 8:00 am

Friends, with recipes: how a love of food brought my husband and me together, and helped us part

Though we are no longer together, we talk food every time we speak and always ask what the other is having for dinner

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For our first date – a picnic on the grassy banks of the Molonglo River near Canberra – the man I would marry brought the tartan blanket (tick), the wine (tick), a crusty baguette (tick), the cheese (tick), and then the ka-boom of a chicken and grape salad he’d made from a recipe in a gourmet magazine. His score flew off the charts.

I’d met no other male who browsed gastro porn for inspiration. His culinary romance drew me to him, deaf to what would ultimately become the cautionary tale of too many cooks spoiling the broth.

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Published: April 4, 2026, 8:00 pm

A cruise through history on the Canal du Midi

Designed as a shortcut between the Atlantic and the Med, today the scenic waterway from Toulouse to Sète is seen as a living ‘work of art’

Centuries before Donald Trump started playing around with the world economy, “tariff” was a levy paid to Spain by ships using the strait of Gibraltar; it was named for Tarifa, the town near the strait’s narrowest point. France’s kings had long dreamed of a waterway linking the Atlantic to the Mediterranean: as well as depriving the Spanish monarch of easy money, it would save ships a long voyage around Spain and Portugal, risking storms and pirates.

From the Atlantic, vessels can reach Toulouse from the Gironde estuary (on the Garonne River), but not until the 1660s did anyone have a viable plan for the remaining 200km to the Med. Considered one of the biggest engineering feats of the 17th century, Pierre-Paul Riquet’s Canal du Midi (finished in 1681 and called the Canal Royal du Languedoc until the revolution) rewrote the history of transport and commerce in the south of France – for centuries it carried wheat and wine, people and post.

Published: April 5, 2026, 6:00 am

Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for Sichuan-style braised aubergines with tofu | The new vegan

A cheerful rice bowl fragrant with ginger, garlic and spring onion, and laced with a sprightly chilli bean sauce

With spring in the air, I want a dish that’s the equivalent of turning the key in the ignition, firing up the engine and riding off into the sun. In short: something with a bit of va-va-voom. That dish, for me, is these Sichuan aubergines, a take on the classic “fish fragrant aubergines” (so called because the same aromatics are often used to cook fish). Creamy to begin with, they’re layered with flavour by way of ginger, garlic, spring onion and, finally, laced with delight and good times owing to the bright chilli bean sauce and vinegar.

Published: April 4, 2026, 5:00 am

Tim Dowling: spring has sprung – and so has our tortoise

I’m on the sofa with a beer, watching a show where people always end up not buying property in Mediterranean resorts

I’m sitting in my office shed looking through the open door into the garden. It’s warm and sunny – the first spring-like day of spring.

Across the lawn I see my wife open the kitchen door and place the tortoise on the back step. Later it will be cold and he will have to come in, and I will not be able to find him. I make a mental note to start the search before dark. On my way to the kitchen an hour later, I notice he’s already disappeared.

Published: April 4, 2026, 5:00 am

Death, displacement and military duties: children plunged into crisis by Middle East war

The US-Israeli war will have a lifelong impact on millions of children across the Middle East

Millions of children have been plunged into crisis by the war in the Middle East, with reports of child soldiers in Iran, mass forced displacements in Lebanon and the killing of hundreds of minors.

According to the UN agency for children, Unicef, more than 340 children have been killed and thousands injured since the US and Israel launched their attacks on Iran, which has retaliated with bombings across the region.

Published: April 4, 2026, 7:00 am

Politics of Black hair: why grooming rules are under scrutiny across the diaspora

From schools in Ghana to workplaces in Britain, underpinned by the colonial roots of ‘respectability’, conversations around natural hairstyle persist

Last month a Jamaican woman said her teenage son had been pulled from lessons because school staff had deemed his afro hairstyle inappropriate.

“The dean of discipline called me to state that my son has been removed,” Michelle Scott said. “You’re telling me that you took him, a fifth-form student, out of classes to go and get a haircut?”

Published: April 4, 2026, 11:00 am

As a state visit looms … can King Charles tame Trump?

Royal visitors have long been popular in the US, and Charles has decades of diplomacy under his belt. But can soft power save the special relationship?

What’s the worst that could happen when King Charles visits Donald Trump in Washington at the end of this month? And what will be the best outcome from Keir Starmer’s point of view, since it is the prime minister who directed the visit to go ahead in the hope of improving our battered, supposedly special relationship? While the relationship is still apparently meaningful to Britain, to the US it appears to not mean so much – especially now.

The king goes where he is told, whether he would prefer to stay at home or not. This time to a land whose president denounces our aircraft carriers as toys and accuses us of cowardice, and whose defence secretary talks derisively of our Royal Navy. Perhaps Charles ought to wear his naval admiral’s uniform when he goes to the White House, medals and all.

Published: April 4, 2026, 5:00 am

Destruction in the Middle East and a view from space: photos of the weekend

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

Published: April 5, 2026, 12:20 pm