Ditch Spotify: how to actually support the bands and artists you love

A musician offers tips to helping your favorite artists thrive – from switching streamers to buying merch

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Each week we cut 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.

I stream thousands of minutes of music every year. Since 2016, it’s been me and my perfectly curated Spotify playlists against the world.

Published: March 7, 2026, 3:15 pm

‘Would you like me to cry now?’: Louis Theroux on the manosphere, marriage and misunderstandings

He’s television’s most daring documentary-maker, known for asking questions others wouldn’t. But Theroux doesn’t seem to like it when the tables are turned

On the pavement outside the Netflix office, I stand in the rain, confused. Was that interview a little off? Louis Theroux seemed not to like my questions, which were typical interview questions, related to him and his big glossy Netflix debut, Inside the Manosphere. He seemed, I don’t know, prickly? A bit testy? I’m prone to rumination, so perhaps I am overthinking. Because Louis Theroux is a good guy, right? He skewers the bad guys. And yet here I am, baffled. The only thing to do is sit in a cafe and replay the tape.

Theroux is solicitous, lightly ironic in tone. “Louis,” he says. “How do you do?” I am fine. Looking forward to our chat, as you may imagine. Theroux, 55, might be north London dad in appearance – specs, grey T-shirt, black jeans, sneakers – but he’s the grandmaster of both the immersive documentary and interview form. The son of American writer Paul Theroux (a nepo baby before they existed), he has built a 30‑year career in television, much of it at the BBC, making a virtue of being a socially awkward verbivore, hyper‑curious, super-funny.

Published: March 7, 2026, 6:00 am

This new ultralight skillet fixes everything I hated about cast iron

Field’s new chef skillet is light, easy to maneuver and pretty enough to earn a permanent spot on your stovetop

• The seven best non-toxic cooking pans in the US, tested in a food lab

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Cast iron carries a reputation: cumbersome, fussy and annoying to clean. My 10.25in Lodge skillet is so heavy that I mostly reach for it with dread when my ceramic-coated pan is occupied and I really need another one. I’d call our relationship polite, but distant.

But not all cast iron requires a workout. Field Company, the premium manufacturer that makes one of our top non-toxic pans, just released a skillet that weighs no more than a bottle of wine. After testing an early sample of the No 5 chef skillet, I’m surprised to report that I’ve been reaching for this small but mighty workhorse every day. It not only cooks several basic dishes better than my other pans, but is also comfortable to use. At $125, it costs far more than a budget-friendly Lodge, but it works so, so much better.

The best cast-iron skillet for beginners (and egg lovers)
Field Company No 5 Chef Skillet

The best cast-iron cleaning kit

Published: March 7, 2026, 12:00 pm

The moment I knew: He stepped out of the shower and into a robe – he looked pretty handsome

Paul Heath knew the rice-cooking David McLean was his sort of guy. Then one humid morning, he reached for the camera to capture a post-shower moment

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We met in 1998, at a health and relationship course run back then by the Gay Men’s Health Centre in Melbourne. I saw David across the crowded room at a drinks session afterwards and slowly made my way around to talking with him. We were both in our mid-30s, and I’ve always gone for those tall skinny guys. We chatted easily and before he left I scribbled down my number.

He rang a few weeks later on a Saturday night, apparently figuring I wouldn’t be home and that he’d just leave a message. When I picked up, I think he was a little thrown. He said something like: “Hi, um, hang on a sec, oh fuck, I’ve gotta turn the rice down!” And I thought, this is my sort of guy – Saturday night at home cooking rice, what’s not to love.

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Published: March 7, 2026, 7:00 pm

‘A very paternalistic attitude’: why is female desire still not taken seriously?

In documentary The Pink Pill, the fight to provide access to the so-called ‘female Viagra’ exposes an industry that still discounts the needs of women

Barbara Gattuso had been happily married for decades when she signed up, in the late 2000s, for a clinical trial involving a potentially revolutionary new drug. She and her husband had once had a fulfilling sex life, both pre- and post-children. But at some point during her perimenopausal years, her desire disappeared. It wasn’t stress, fatigue or relationship issues, though her lack of libido certainly contributed to those. It was more like a mysterious evaporation – like “somebody pulled the plug”, as she recalls in a new documentary on flibanserin, the experimental drug that proffered potential relief.

Originally developed as an anti-depressant by the German company Boehringer Ingelheim, flibanserin had instead shown promise as a treatment for low female libido, working on neurotransmitters in the so-called “sex center” of the brain. In a video from that trial filmed by Dr Irwin Goldstein, the “godfather of sexual medicine” and a key consultant on Viagra – that revolutionary blue pill for men with erectile dysfunction – Gattuso appears nearly giddy. She was chasing her husband around again, she said. She felt “phenomenal”, like a “new woman on this drug”. She was plugged in.

Published: March 7, 2026, 10:03 am

My dad made the biggest jewelled egg in the world. The obsession would destroy his marriage, family and fortune

The mad venture – which my mother nicknamed ‘your father’s ego’ – would swallow my childhood. Years later I went on a quest to understand what really happened to his glittering folly

BBC Television Centre, 2 May 1990. “Who would spend £7m on an egg?” The question echoes around the TV studio. At home, six million people watch as chatshow host Terry Wogan smiles knowingly, his brown eyes twinkling. “Seven million pounds,” he repeats in his Irish brogue.

“And you can’t even eat it.”

Published: March 7, 2026, 12:00 pm

Trump says Iran being ‘decimated’ but refuses to rule out US troop deployment – Middle East crisis live

US president claims US and Israel are ‘winning the war by a lot’ amid overnight explosions in Tehran

• Full report: Iran rejects Trump’s demand for unconditional surrender as a ‘dream’

• From ‘peace president’ to Operation Epic Fury: Trump’s road to war

The Saudi defence minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, urged Iran on Saturday to “avoid miscalculation” after missile and drone launches at the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said earlier in the day it had blocked repeated missile launches at an airbase housing US military personnel and drone attacks at a major oilfield.

We stressed that such actions undermine regional security and stability and expressed hope that the Iranian side will exercise wisdom and avoid miscalculation.

Published: March 8, 2026, 2:54 am

From ‘peace president’ to Operation Epic Fury: Donald Trump’s road to war

In reality, US president’s opposition to foreign entanglements had only ever been partial

• Middle East crisis live: latest news updates

Donald Trump ordered the launch of the war on Iran last Friday afternoon while on board Air Force One, as the presidential plane made its descent towards Corpus Christi, Texas.

Trump was on his way to the port city to give a speech titled American Energy Dominance and had spent the three-hour flight chatting to Texas Republican politicians including the state’s two hawkish senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, about his options in Iran.

Published: March 7, 2026, 9:00 am

‘How many American troops should die for this?’: veterans split on war with Iran

For many veterans of post-9/11 wars, the strikes on Iran bring troubling echoes of the 2003 invasion of Iraq

• Middle East crisis – follow live

Nearly two decades after his second tour, Nathan Wendland is still troubled by his experiences in Iraq.

Like 700,000 other Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, the 46-year-old former US army staff sergeant receives compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder. Last January, Wendland checked himself into a psychiatric emergency room because he was worried he would kill himself. He was on the mend, but then Donald Trump ordered a sustained campaign of airstrikes on Iran. All those memories came flooding back.

Published: March 7, 2026, 12:00 pm

Trump tells Starmer help not needed even as US uses UK bases for Iran strikes

US president delivers stinging criticism of UK prime minister over delayed support for Iran war

• Middle East crisis – follow live

Donald Trump has renewed his stinging criticism of UK prime minister Keir Starmer over the lack of immediate UK support for the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, adding: “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”

Published: March 7, 2026, 10:37 pm

‘We were ready’: Democratic attorneys general lead fight to stop Trump

As some elected leaders choose to play nice with the president, Democratic AGs have done the opposite – to impressive effect

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Four Democratic attorneys general, sitting in their offices from New York to California with state flags and books behind them, announced a new lawsuit on Thursday, alleging the president, yet again, had broken the law by attempting to create new tariffs without congressional approval.

It’s a now familiar scene for the group of top law-enforcement officials who have collectively filed more than 50 lawsuits against the Trump administration, serving as a counterweight to the president’s quest to expand his power and circumvent the constitution.

Published: March 7, 2026, 12:00 pm

ICE deports family, including deaf boy who wasn’t given his assistive devices

California state superintendent says mother and sons arrested during ICE check-in and deported to Colombia

California’s superintendent is calling for the return of a hearing-impaired six-year-old after he, his mother and his five-year-old sibling were detained on Tuesday while reporting for their check-in at an ICE office in San Francisco and deported to Colombia.

Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez and her sons were arrested during their visit to ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (Isap), said Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership (ACILEP). A relative who was waiting outside for Gutierrez and her sons was unable to hand off the assistive devices necessary for the six-year-old, who is deaf and has a cochlear implant.

Published: March 7, 2026, 2:00 pm

Water polo player at elite LA school sues after years of alleged harassment

Aidan Romain, 18, says he endured sexual, physical and racist abuse at famed California private school

An 18-year-old Black water polo player filed a lawsuit against one of Los Angeles’s most elite private schools last week, alleging he was sexually assaulted and racially harassed by teammates for years while school staff failed to intervene.

Aidan Romain is accusing Harvard-Westlake school in Studio City; its president, Richard Commons; the head of the boys’ water polo program, Jack Grover; and former teammate Lucca van der Woude of allowing a “culture of harassment” within the elite program. The lawsuit was filed on 27 February in Los Angeles superior court.

Published: March 7, 2026, 3:00 pm

Bombing at nightclub in Peru injures 33 people, including minors

Explosion happened in pre-dawn hours at Dalí nightclub in the province of Trujillo along Peru’s northern coast

A bombing at a nightclub in Peru has injured 33 people, including minors, authorities said Saturday.

The explosion happened in the pre-dawn hours at the Dalí nightclub in the province of Trujillo along Peru’s northern coast, according to a statement from the local emergency operations center.

Published: March 7, 2026, 6:56 pm

US agency did not perform safety checks of more than 100 food ingredients, analysis finds

Review of FDA records by the Environmental Working Group reveals firms are exploiting rule to send new chemicals in food system

More than 100 substances widely used in common US foods, supplements and beverages underwent no health and safety review by the US Food and Drug Administration, a new analysis of federal records finds.

The review of FDA records by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) non-profit reveals that diverse products across the food pyramid, such as Capri Sun drinks, Kettle and Fire organic broth, Acme smoked fish, and Quaker Oats snack bars, use a range of substances that have not undergone review by regulators.

Published: March 7, 2026, 1:00 pm

‘Kitty karma’? Jessie Buckley tries to claw back approval after enraging cat-lovers

Oscar favourite insists she is a ‘lover of cats’ after telling podcast about ultimatum she once gave to now-husband

If Jessie Buckley fails to win the Oscar for best actress next week it will be a sign that cat lovers have got their claws out.

The Irish actor is the runaway favourite for her performance in Hamnet, but in recent days has stumbled into a controversy over a stated antipathy to cats.

Published: March 7, 2026, 7:17 am

A Japanese ‘conman’ tried to sell an undercover DEA agent nuclear materials – but how did he get them?

Takeshi Ebisawa, sentenced to 20 years in prison last week, believed he was selling weapons-grade plutonium to Iran

A plot to supply Iran’s nuclear weapons program, heroin from the Golden Triangle, Burmese ethnic insurgents and rocket launchers were the subject in courtroom 24A in New York’s federal courthouse last week when a man described as a leader in Japan’s Yakuza organized crime syndicate was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The transnational plot, which the US Drug Enforcement Administration had been investigating since 2019, involved Japanese organised crime leader Takeshi Ebisawa, who along with three Thai men, had been arrested in New York in 2022.

Published: March 7, 2026, 1:00 pm

Trump news at a glance: US leader says Iran being ‘decimated’; admits US troop deployment not off the table

Deployment of US ground troops could be discussed later on and ‘would be a great thing’ says president Trump. Key US politics stories from 7 March at a glance

As the war in the Middle East rages on, US president Donald Trump has acknowledged that deploying ground troops in Iran in future is not off the table.

Pressed by the Guardian on whether he would send in troops to secure the enriched uranium, believed to be stored at Iranian nuclear sites that the United States bombed in Operation Midnight Hammer last year, Trump suggested that was a possibility.

Published: March 8, 2026, 1:08 am

Trump convenes ‘Shield of Americas’ summit with 12 Latin American leaders

In Miami, president calls for regional cooperation to counter Chinese economic and political interests

Donald Trump changed the channel from Iran to the western hemisphere on Saturday, convening a gathering of Latin American leaders at his Miami-area golf club to discuss regional interests and establishing what he called a “counter-cartel coalition”.

“Just as we formed a coalition to eradicate Isis, we now need a coalition to eradicate the cartels,” he told 12 regional leaders gathered at what the White House called the “Shield of the Americas” summit.

Published: March 7, 2026, 6:01 pm

Trump news at a glance: president marks first week of Iran attacks with call for nation’s ‘unconditional surrender’

Friday saw US and Israel carry out some of the heaviest bombardments so far in the conflict – key US politics stories from 6 March at a glance

Donald Trump said on Friday that only Iran’s “unconditional surrender” will bring an end to the offensive launched seven days ago, as the US and Israel carried out some of the heaviest bombardments so far in the conflict.

“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, when US strategic bombers were in action over Iran and intensive Israeli strikes in Lebanon forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes.

Published: March 7, 2026, 2:00 am

They were teens when a parent was deported. They still feel the pain as adults

The Guardian spoke to adults now in their 20s, 30s, and 40s to reflect on the lasting impact of family separation in the US

Jesús usually came home from school to a raucous scene: the family TV blaring, his mom loudly cooking dinner and his two young sisters fighting about nothing in particular. When his dad came home from work, they’d all gather around the kitchen table for dinner.

But this day was different.

Published: March 7, 2026, 2:00 pm

What does the US military’s feud with Anthropic mean for AI used in war?

Tech policy professor who served in US air force explains how a feud between an AI startup and the US military illuminates ethical fault lines

Anthropic’s ongoing fight with the Department of Defense over what safety restrictions it can put on its artificial intelligence models has captivated the tech industry, acting as a test of how AI may be used in war and the government’s power to coerce companies to meet its demands.

The negotiations have revolved around Anthropic’s refusal to allow the federal government to use its Claude AI for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons systems, but the dispute also reflects the messy nature of what happens when tech companies have their products integrated into conflict. The Pentagon this week declared Anthropic a supply chain risk for its refusal to agree to the government’s terms, while Anthropic has vowed to challenge the designation in court.

Published: March 7, 2026, 2:00 pm

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy offers help to Saudi Crown prince on combatting Iranian drones

Zelenskyy cites Ukraine expertise with ‘Shahed’ drones; deaths and casualties rise from Russian attack on Kharkiv. What we know on day 1,474

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday he had spoken to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the situation in Iran and the Middle East and restated Kyiv’s offer to help deal with Iranian drones. “Ukraine has been fighting against (Iranian-designed) ‘Shaheds’ for years, and everyone acknowledges that no other country in the world has such experience,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram of his conversation. “We are ready to help and expect that our people will also receive the necessary support.”

Ukrainian manufacturers of cheap interceptor drones designed to knock out enemy unmanned aerial vehicles say they have the capacity to export in large volumes, amid inquiries from the US and Middle East prompted by the Iran war. Hundreds of drones based on Iran’s Shahed model and now made in Russia fill Ukraine’s skies during frequent attacks, and many are downed by air defences including western missiles, fighter jets, truck-mounted guns and interceptor drones.

Reported deaths and casualties from a Russian missile strike on a five-storey residential building in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv have risen to at least 10 people, including two children, and 16 others wounded, officials said. Zelenskyy condemned Saturday’s attack and called for an international response. He said Russia struck Ukraine overnight with 29 missiles and 480 drones, targeting energy facilities in Kyiv and other central regions, with damage reported in at least seven other locations.

Police in Sweden have seized a false-flagged cargo ship off its southern coast believed to belong to Russia’s shadow fleet and suspected of transporting stolen Ukrainian grain, authorities said Saturday. The 96-metre (315-foot) Caffa left Casablanca in Morocco on 24 February and was headed for St Petersburg when armed Swedish police boarded it on Friday off the southern town of Trelleborg. “The vessel is on the Ukraine sanctions list. Information indicates that it has essentially been used to transport grain that is stolen, as we understand it, from Ukraine,” the coast guard’s acting head of operations, Daniel Stenling, told a press conference.

Questions about the America’s weapons stockpiles have grown as the US campaign against Iran escalates, with many Democratic lawmakers arguing that Trump is waging a “war of choice.” Missile defence systems are under the most strain, according to experts, with Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, interceptors in high demand in Ukraine and Israel, respectively. “I’m not particularly worried about us actually running out during this conflict,” said Ryan Brobst, a scholar focused on US defense strategy at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies. “It’s about deterring China and Russia the day after this conflict is over.”

Published: March 8, 2026, 2:57 am

Texas fracker turned escort says repression allowed business to flourish

Mickey says his stint as a handyman transformed into a lucrative sex business due to the region’s ‘self-denial’

A western Texas fracker starring in a podcast about how his attempted moonlighting as a handyman turned into lucrative sex work largely solicited by distracted oil industry professionals’ housewives says he believes his region’s repressive sexual attitudes gave his side gig an opening to flourish.

“There’s an inherent kind of self-denial,” the subject of The Handyman of West Texas, identified only as Mickey, said in a recent interview. “We all have these thoughts. But we lie to ourselves and try to conform to … how you’re supposed to be repressing your own pleasure.”

Published: March 7, 2026, 11:00 am

Blind date: ‘I could tell we were going to click right away’

Harry, 24, an ecologist, meets Freya, 24, a theatre-maker and cook

What were you hoping for?
Some tasty food, and a nice evening with good company to block out the Sunday scaries.

Published: March 7, 2026, 6:00 am

Six great reads: how to get a pay rise, Catherine Opie’s images of queer America, and the influencers saving pubs

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

Published: March 7, 2026, 6:00 am

My cultural awakening: a Rihanna song showed me how to live as a gay man in Iran

My sexuality had to be hidden from my friends, my parents, not to mention the authorities. Then I found freedom at house parties and one song that sums up me finally being able to be myself

I was raised in Tehran, under the Ayatollah’s sharia law and daily watch of Basij – the “morality police”. My parents fell in love with the Islamic Revolution when I was a baby and welcomed life under its strict religious rules. The Ayatollah’s face stared down from the walls at home, a daily reminder of what was expected and what was forbidden. This included being gay, but by my teenage years I knew I was different from my peers, and began hiding my sexuality from my parents and the world outside.

The other side of life under the regime was that there was little room for celebration: happy events, even religious ones, came with inherent guilt while frivolous outside influences, including western music, were considered dangerous. And so I was in my mid-20s before I went to my first real party: an underground gathering that would become my gateway to a hidden, gay Tehran.

Published: March 7, 2026, 7:00 am

Tim Dowling: it’s time for my humiliating private tour with the builder

I have to show him all the jobs that I have either left undone or tried to do and made worse

My wife is out when Mark the builder is scheduled to come by to see what needs doing, so I have to show him myself. This, I know, will amount to a humiliating private tour of all the home repairs I have either left undone, or tried to do and made worse. It’s been two years since I last did this, so the tour will be extensive. Just before 11am the bell rings. It is a cold morning, but Mark, as usual, is wearing shorts. We start in the back garden.

“Here is where I tried to cut back the ivy and install two trellis sections,” I say, “but instead I pulled half the garden wall down.”

Published: March 7, 2026, 6:00 am

'Don't die': the two words that sum up our lives in Tehran now | Anonymous

In a park overlooking the city, I ran into a group of young people chatting and joking. As the bombs fall, fragments of life remain

I was at work last Saturday when I heard the blast. Since that moment, the world has been turned on its head. The school called asking me to come and pick up my child. I rushed to the metro and headed north in a carriage filled with anxious people calling their loved ones to ensure their safety, melancholy etched on their faces, uncertainty metastasising from one to another as they checked the latest news on their mobiles.

This is the second time within a year that Israel has decided to go for a war of choice with Iran, but I suppose that is the new normal. Israel has long enjoyed a unique position of near-total impunity when it comes to harassing Palestinians, and now the green light to aggression seems to extend to its unending wars and spreading of terror across the region. And it feels different this time. The pretence that there is some level of precision in the strikes is gone. Instead, the attacks appear indiscriminate, with targets ranging from schools to hospitals, from police stations to urban amenities – all hit with a level of might that seems aimed at demolition, total destruction, the flattening of the city.

Published: March 7, 2026, 8:00 am

Kristi Noem is out. Could Pam Bondi follow? | Arwa Mahdawi

The attorney general faces a subpoena over the Epstein files. She won’t say much – but Democrats are calling for her ouster

After spending $220m of taxpayer money on an advertising campaign in which she demanded migrants self-deport, Kristi Noem is now being forced to make a hasty exit of her own. On Thursday, Donald Trump announced that his luxury-jet-loving homeland security secretary was being shipped off to become special envoy for “the Shield of the Americas”, a new “security” summit that Trump has dreamed up. Markwayne Mullin, a former mixed-martial artist and Republican senator, will replace her.

Noem’s ouster was a long time coming. But it’s worth stressing that she doesn’t seem to have lost her job because of the many controversies that have plagued her tenure, including the killing of two US citizens by immigration agents. Rather, she committed the cardinal sin of making Trump look stupid. Which, to be fair, isn’t hard.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Published: March 7, 2026, 2:00 pm

Courts have threatened to hold the Trump administration in contempt. It’s time to follow through | Austin Sarat

The administration has been accused of failing to comply with hundreds of orders. The courts must not be paper tigers

Late last month, a Minnesota federal court judge, Patrick Schiltz, issued an opinion detailing hundreds of instances in which the Trump administration has failed to comply with court orders. He threatened to find it in contempt and to impose penalties.

Schiltz and other federal judges have made such threats before, but they have not followed through. It is time they did, lest they turn their courts into paper tigers.

Published: March 7, 2026, 12:00 pm

Trump shouldn’t ease Russia sanctions – they are choking its economy | Phillip Inman

As the US waives its ban on India buying Putin’s oil for 30 days, Europe must bolster its own measures, such as stopping the flow of luxury cars

Donald Trump handed Vladimir Putin a financial lifeline last week when he waived a ban on India buying Russian oil for 30 days.

Trump found himself in a furious row last year with Narendra Modi over his country’s oil deals with Moscow, only for fences to be partly mended when India’s biggest importer later capitulated.

Published: March 7, 2026, 4:00 pm

The chaos of a failed state in Iran would be a perfectly acceptable outcome for Netanyahu | Aluf Benn

The Israeli PM’s war on its nemesis is playing well domestically. But real safety for Israelis requires another leader altogether

• Aluf Benn is the editor-in-chief of Haaretz

When Yitzhak Rabin became the prime minister of Israel in 1992, he debated which regional power would be the Jewish state’s stronger enemy – the Islamic Republic of Iran, or Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Baghdad had the stronger military, but Rabin decided that Tehran posed the larger threat with its combination of Islamist ideology, regional proxies and nuclear ambitions.

Rabin’s response to the looming Iranian threat was negotiating land-for-peace deals with Israel’s immediate neighbours – the Palestinians, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon – following the example of the pre-existing peace with Egypt. He argued that a ring of normalisation would strengthen Israeli security and counter the rise of radical Islam, and believed there was an urgency to conclude the peace process before Iran, following the Israeli example, acquired the bomb and became a regional hegemon. Rabin predicted in early 1993 that within a decade, Tehran’s rulers could cross the nuclear threshold.

Aluf Benn is the editor-in-chief of Haaretz

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Published: March 7, 2026, 6:00 am

Pedro Sánchez’s lone stance against Trump may look risky, but it is cannily pragmatic | Eoghan Gilmartin

The Spanish PM’s defiant foreign policy line may seem outspoken. The truth is that he is a sound strategist at home and abroad

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, called his 2019 political memoir A Manual for Resistance: a fitting title for a centre-left leader known for his survival skills and willingness to hold the line under pressure. So it was hardly surprising that he stood firm on Wednesday when Donald Trump threatened Spain with a trade embargo over his opposition to the US-Israeli bombing of Iran.

“We are not going to be accomplices to something that is bad for the world – and contrary to our values and interests – simply out of fear of reprisals,” Sánchez insisted. Having already stated that the strikes were “a violation of international law”, he summarised his government’s position simply as “no to war”.

Eoghan Gilmartin is a freelance journalist who has covered Spanish politics for Jacobin Magazine, Tribune, Novara Media and Open Democracy

Published: March 7, 2026, 5:00 am

Chelsea deny Wrexham their Hollywood story as Garnacho and João Pedro seal Cup cracker

The video assistant referee was never likely to be the hero of the piece, having already intervened to dismiss George Dobson late in normal time. When Lewis Brunt nudged in a 114th-minute header, the Cae Ras was delirious, considering a penalty shootout and the potential for another classic upset in north Wales. The red line of destiny was drawn and the glory evaporated. In many ways it was a fittingly dramatic moment on a night of pure entertainment as Chelsea played the FA Cup villain against the plucky underdog.

It was everything a cup tie should be. Goals from Sam Smith and Callum Doyle twice gave Wrexham the lead, and hope of replicating the giantkilling of Arsenal in 1992, only for an Arthur Okonkwo own goal and Josh Acheampong strike to take the game into extra time. Alejandro Garnacho, who had earlier been the victim of the red-card challenge from Dobson, volleyed home the third and, after Brunt’s goal was disallowed, João Pedro netted a jeopardy-ending fourth, after Wrexham’s heart had already been broken.

Published: March 7, 2026, 8:42 pm

Norris, Verstappen and Hamilton slam ‘worst’ F1 cars after torrid Australian GP qualifying

• Briton is one of three champions scathing of new regulations

• Overhaul had made the cars go from ‘best to worst’ in a season

Three world champions – Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris – have delivered a damning verdict on Formula One’s regulations overhaul after qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

Norris, McLaren’s defending champion, was scathing of the changes, saying that driving the car “sucks” and they were probably the “worst” ever made, while Hamilton criticised the new engine and chassis rules as “completely against” F1’s principles.

Published: March 7, 2026, 11:07 am

US win first medals of Winter Paralympics as Oksana Masters leads American one-two

• Masters wins 10th Paralympic gold in biathlon sprint

• Gretsch silver completes US one-two in sitting race

• Victory marks Masters’ 20th Paralympic medal

Oksana Masters led a United States one-two finish in the women’s 7.5km sitting sprint on Saturday, winning gold to deliver the United States’ first medals of the Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics. Masters crossed the line in 21:21.3 at Val di Fiemme, coming in 16 seconds ahead of teammate Kendall Gretsch, who took silver.

Both Americans shot a perfect 10-for-10 on the range, leaving the race to be decided on the snow. Masters proved fastest over the course, pulling away from Gretsch on the final lap to secure the 10th Paralympic gold medal of her career. Germany’s Anja Wicker claimed bronze.

Published: March 7, 2026, 2:58 pm

Olympic champion Alysa Liu withdraws from world figure skating championships

• Olympic champion Liu withdraws from worlds

• US star rests after historic Milan gold medal

• Sarah Everhardt replaces Liu on US team roster

Olympic figure skating champion Alysa Liu has withdrawn from the world championships later this month, an unsurprising move for the defending champ after she won the first Winter Games gold medal by an American woman in more than two decades.

Liu would have performed alongside Olympic teammates Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito when worlds begin 24 Match at O2 Arena in Prague. Bradie Tennell was the first alternate but declined, so Sarah Everhardt will take Liu’s place on the US team.

Published: March 7, 2026, 6:10 pm

Aaron Judge sets tone as USA trounce Brazil to launch World Baseball Classic campaign

• Judge homers as US rout Brazil in WBC opener

• Turang drives in four runs as US draw 17 walks

• Manny Ramirez’s son hits two homers for Brazil

Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer and Brice Turang had three hits and four RBIs to lead the United States to a 15-5 win over Brazil in their World Baseball Classic opener Friday night.

There was one out and one on in the first when Judge, the first player to commit to the team last April, connected off Bo Takahashi at Houston’s Daikin Park.

Published: March 7, 2026, 12:05 pm

Sonay Kartal shocks Navarro at Indian Wells while Draper starts title defence in style

• Kartal beats No 20 seed Emma Navarro 6-1, 3-6, 7-6

• British men’s No 1 defeats Bautista Agut 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

Jack Draper came from behind to beat Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to start his title defence in Indian Wells, and his success was followed by a superb performance in the women’s event from Sonay Kartal, as the British No 2 twice broke back to stay in the match and beat the No 20 seed, Emma Navarro, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (2).

Kartal, the world No 54, raced through the first set but needed a medical time out and Navarro levelled the match in the second. The Briton was serving first in the final set but failed to put her opponent under much pressure and was broken in the ninth game by the American. The defiant Kartal broke back but could not hold her serve next up, meaning the world No 25 would serve for the match again at 6-5. Kartal refused to go down without a fight, saved a match point, broke back and then dropped just two points in the tie-break.

Published: March 8, 2026, 12:12 am

Pogacar makes it three in a row at Strade Bianche while Chabbey sprints to glory

• Teenage French sensation Paul Seixas finishes second

• Swiss wins women’s race in a thrilling finish

Tadej Pogacar won a record fourth Strade Bianche title as he made a triumphant start to his 2026 season, with the teenage French sensation Paul Seixas second. The world champion made a typically devastating long-range break around 80km from the finish, after which it was a procession to the line in Siena for his third win in a row.

In doing so, the four-time Tour de France winner proved once again that his appetite to triumph – and dominantly – has not diminished despite his myriad successes. One of the 27-year-old Slovenian’s main targets for this season comes in two weeks’ time at the Milan-San Remo one-day classic, one of only two of the five Monument races he is yet to win.

Published: March 7, 2026, 4:26 pm

The World Cup is no stranger to strife – but this summer’s finals already feel damaged | Jonathan Wilson

A hundred days from their first game, Iran’s prospects of playing in the US are fast fading as turbulent times once more affect the tournament

Saturday marks 100 days from what should be the start of Iran’s World Cup, a Group G fixture against New Zealand in Inglewood, near Los Angeles. As the United States bombs Iran – and Iran bombs a range of countries, including three that have also qualified – it seems all but impossible that they can take part in the tournament.

Were Iran to pull out or be expelled, they would become the first qualified nation since India and France in 1950 not to take up their place. Neither withdrawal in 1950 was political (in truth, saying there were two withdrawals is a technicality; those were chaotic years for qualification). India pulled out not, as has often been claimed, because they were banned from playing barefoot, but because they couldn’t afford the trip.

Published: March 7, 2026, 8:00 pm

Baltimore Ravens land Maxx Crosby in blockbuster trade with Las Vegas Raiders

• Baltimore send two first-round picks to Vegas

• Pass-rush help arrives for Lamar Jackson’s side

Five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby is heading to the Baltimore Ravens, two people with knowledge of the trade told the Associated Press on Friday night.

Both people spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal can’t be announced until the NFL’s new year starts next week.

Published: March 7, 2026, 3:42 am

Thousands march on US embassy in London calling for end of strikes in Iran

Speaking outside the embassy, Your Party MP Zarah Sultana told protesters: ‘we will not be ignored again’

• Middle East crisis – follow live

Thousands of protesters calling for the end of US and Israeli strikes on Iran have marched to the US embassy in central London.

Groups including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Stop The War, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Muslim Association of Britain, the Palestinian Forum in Britain and Friends Of Al-Aqsa led the march to the embassy on Saturday afternoon, after gathering on Millbank, near Westminster.

Published: March 7, 2026, 8:38 pm

Three people killed and three hospitalized as Michigan town hit by tornado

Roofs torn off and trees knocked down in Union City as more than 7m Americans at risk of severe weather

Three people have been killed and three were taken to a hospital after a tornado hit a southern Michigan town on Friday, authorities said.

Powerful storms ripped across the state, tearing the roof off a home improvement store, sending parts of a storage building flying and knocking down trees as warnings were issued across the southern part of the state.

Published: March 7, 2026, 2:33 am

Pakistani man convicted of plotting to kill Trump over death of Iranian commander

Asif Merchant accused of trying to recruit people in 2024 plan to target Trump, Biden and other politicians in retaliation for killing of Qassem Suleimani

A Pakistani man has been convicted of planning to kill Donald Trump and other prominent US politicians two years ago at the behest of Iran.

Asif Merchant was accused of trying to recruit people in the US in a plan targeting Trump and others in retaliation for the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Suleimani in 2020, during Trump’s first term as president.

Published: March 7, 2026, 4:30 am

Ukraine war briefing: nationwide air alert issued after at least six killed in strikes on Kharkiv and Dnipro

Search operations under way as drones hit residential buildings; US considers lifting more sanctions on Russian oil. What we know on day 1,473

Russian strikes killed at least six people across Ukraine early on Saturday, authorities saidtriggering a nationwide air alert. The bodies of five people were found in the rubble of an attack on an apartment block in the Kharkiv region, while one person was killed in the Dnipro region. Ten people were wounded in the attack, including two boys aged six and 11, and a 17-year-old girl, regional military chief Oleg Synegubov posted on Telegram. It was not immediately clear whether the six dead were among those wounded. Synegubov said rescuers were searching for up to 10 other people, including a child, who were feared trapped under the rubble of the five-story building, which was “practically destroyed” in the strikes.

Ukraine’s neighbour and Nato member Poland said it was scrambling military planes in response to the attack. “Due to missile attacks by the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory, military aviation has begun operating in our airspace,” the Operational Command of the Armed Forces posted on X.

The Trump administration is considering lifting sanctions on more Russian oil, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has said. On Thursday Washington temporarily eased sanctions to allow India to buy from Moscow amid a surge in global oil prices as the US-Israel war on Iran all but halted shipping activity in the strait of Hormuz. Bessent insisted the new measures were not aimed at easing sanctions imposed on Russia over its conduct in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, but instead only affect supplies already in transit.

An anti-drone system developed by an American company and proven to work in Ukraine soon will head to the Middle East to help defend against Iranian drones, two US officials told the Associated Press. The system, known as Merops, fires drones against drones and has shown success in fighting those used by Russia in its war against Ukraine. The system was deployed to Romania and Poland last year.

It comes amid reports Russia has provided Iran with information that could help Tehran strike American warships, aircraft and other assets in the region, two officials familiar with US intelligence on the matter have told the Associated Press. It’s the first indication that Moscow has sought to get involved in the war.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the United States and its allies in the Middle East are seeking Ukraine’s expertise in countering Iran’s Shahed drones. Tehran has been supplying Russia with Shaheds for its war on Ukraine and are now utilising them in retaliatory attacks throughout the Gulf. Zelenskyy says that he’s spoken to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait about possible cooperation. “Ukraine knows how to defend against Shahed drone attacks because our cities have faced them almost every night,” said Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Olga Stefanishyna. “When our partners are in need, we are always ready to help.”

The European Commission has joined far-right leaders across Europe in criticising Volodymyr Zelenskyy over what sounded like a physical threat to the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, over his veto of a €90bn loan to Ukraine amid an ongoing dispute over gas supplies. “We hope that one person in the European Union will not block the 90bn. Otherwise we will give this person’s address to our armed forces, to our guys. Let them call him and talk to him in their own language,” he said, in comments that caused shock in Budapest.

Meanwhile, Hungary’s pro-Russian foreign minister accused Ukraine of seeking to interfere in upcoming Hungarian elections in which Orbán faces an unprecedented challenge. Péter Szijjártó spoke to several hundred pro-government protesters outside Ukraine’s embassy in Budapest, claiming Ukraine wanted a more Kyiv-friendly government after April elections, and alleging without evidence that Ukraine was working with the EU and Orbán’s opposition to block oil deliveries.

The Russian flag was flown at the Winter Paralympic Games opening ceremony in Verona on Friday night, the first time it has appeared at an international sporting event since the invasion of Ukraine. It was a more subdued athletes’ procession than in Paralympics past, with nearly half of the 56 competing countries choosing not to send athletes to the ceremony and all flags carried by local volunteers.

Published: March 7, 2026, 3:37 am

Republican representative Darrell Issa of California says he will not run for re-election

Issa was first elected to Congress in 2001 to represent a district that was recently reconfigured due to Prop 50

Republican representative Darrell Issa, whose southern California district was reconfigured following the passage of Proposition 50, has decided not to run for re-election.

“After a quarter-century in Congress – and before that, a quarter-century in business – it’s the right time for a new chapter and new challenges,” he said in a statement on Friday, the last day he would have been able to file as a candidate.

Published: March 7, 2026, 2:56 am

After jail, house arrest and an ankle monitor, a reprieve for a ‘Cop City’ protester: ‘The process was the punishment’

With no conviction, John Mazurek’s felony arson case for allegedly torching police motorcycles will finally be resolved

On the phone from his Atlanta house last week, John “Jack” Mazurek said he felt “a few pounds lighter”.

It was no wonder. The 33-year-old Georgia carpenter was in a new reality, after resolving a three-year case involving attempts to charge him with felony arson for allegedly torching police motorcycles as part of a protest movement against a police training center known as Cop City.

Published: March 7, 2026, 1:00 pm

Colleen Hanabusa, first woman to be president of Hawaii state senate, dies aged 74

Former US representative who broke barriers as first woman president of state senate dies after five-month cancer battle

Former US representative Colleen Hanabusa, who was the first woman to serve as president of the Hawaii state senate, has died. She was 74.

Hanabusa died early on Friday after a five-month battle with cancer, said Mike Formby, her friend and former chief of staff in the US House.

Published: March 7, 2026, 1:13 am

Canadian PM Mark Carney says former prince Andrew should be removed from royal line of succession

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s ‘deplorable’ alleged actions warrant his removal from the royal line of succession, Carney says

The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has said Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor should be removed from the royal line of succession for alleged actions he described as “deplorable”.

Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Carney said the actions that have caused the former prince to be stripped of his royal titles “necessitate” his removal from the line of succession.

Published: March 7, 2026, 2:08 am

A Beautiful Loan by Mary Costello review – a profound exploration of the inner life

How are we to account for things that lie outside ordinary language? A woman’s emotions are precisely observed in a novel that brilliantly captures what it means to be human

In each of her previous novels and story collections, the Irish author Mary Costello has revealed the inner vastness hidden within even the quietest lives. Her latest book, A Beautiful Loan, goes further, with a faithful, poetic exploration of the multitudes we contain and what it means to be human.

From the outset, in the novel’s prologue, Anna tells us she is determined to account for herself and her life. But we are to expect no ordinary narrative, concerned only with “actual events”, “evidence-based” or relying on “historical data”. No, Anna is interested in the “climate of the psyche” and “the vibrations of the soul”. Can it be that the very things we cannot quantify or rationalise are what make life meaningful?

Published: March 7, 2026, 7:00 am

Harry Styles review – Netflix concert is a communal love-in with some big pop moments

Co-op Live, Manchester
Recorded for the streaming giant, this performance wrestles songs from the star’s new album into more interesting shapes

As 2026’s first big pop moment, everything around Harry Styles’ new album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally feels suitably blockbuster. At last weekend’s Brit awards, Styles premiered the record’s lead single, Aperture, alongside a troupe of dancers and an expensive-sounding choir, while Friday’s “one night only” de facto album launch party takes place in a 20,000 capacity arena.

This is “intimate” for Styles, who switches to stadiums this summer – and the show is being recorded for posterity by Netflix. The streaming Goliath’s presence means all phones are to be placed in a recyclable bag that prevents the use of recording equipment; it’s a nice way to stay inside the moment, sure, but chiefly a fail-safe against spoiling the forthcoming TV special.

Published: March 7, 2026, 3:54 am

What links Joni Mitchell, Ian Dury and Frida Kahlo? The Saturday quiz

From ancient China and Paris’s Latin Quarter to ‘Han shot first’, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz

1 The slogan “Han shot first” protested against the re-editing of which film?
2 The boundaries of the North, East and West Ridings met at which city?
3 What is the smallest species of UK crow?
4 Which notorious Disney film was based on stories by Joel Chandler Harris?
5 Which precursor of the UN was established by the treaty of Versailles?
6 Rama IX ruled which country from 1946 to 2016?
7 Which singer and pianist was born Eunice Waymon?
8 What military force was the BAOR?
What links:
9 Ancient China; California; Nagasaki; Latin Quarter of Paris; Rome?
10 Alert (possible); warning (expected); severe warning (risk to life and significant disruption)?
11 Covalent; ionic; metallic?
12 Bakelite; french fries; internal combustion engine; saxophone; standard map projection?
13 Ade Adepitan; Ian Dury; Frida Kahlo; Joni Mitchell; Itzhak Perlman; FDR?
14 Bligh’s ship; Olympus Mons location; Panthera leo; Via Lactea?
15 Isabella of France and Margaret of Anjou; Chester Burnett; Jordan Belfort?

Published: March 7, 2026, 7:00 am

Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for Arya’s birthday udon | The new vegan

A classic fried tofu stir-fry that’s bang-full of flavour

My funny, curious, panda-loving daughter, Arya, is turning nine this week. So I wanted to write a recipe to celebrate her and some of her favourite things to eat. Arya adores the chewiness of udon, the bounciness of tofu, the sweet, sour saltiness of sweet soy and tamarind, the crunch of cabbage and she’d put chilli (in any form) over her breakfast cereal if she could (although it’s optional in this recipe). Happy birthday, Arya.

Published: March 7, 2026, 6:00 am

Why are cats’ ears on top of their head and not at the sides? The kids’ quiz

Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes

• ​Submit a question

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World.

Published: March 7, 2026, 7:00 am

‘Landscapes as wild as they get in Europe’: family hiking in Albania and Montenegro

Mountain hikes, river swims and centuries-old traditions appeal to the whole family on a trip to the Balkans

‘Uno, Uno, Uno No Mercy!” the six-year-old son of our hosts for the day bellows while leading my boys, 10 and 12, into his dimly lit corrugated iron home. I let out a little sigh of relief. The popular card game is a much-needed icebreaker as ominous clouds close in on the remote stan (the Albanian word for a shepherd dwelling). Despite the language barrier, much laughter and consternation soon spill out of the darkness, just as hail hammers down on the tin roof. Dogs bark, chickens cluck and sheep bleat as the thunder grows louder, and we all – our eight hosts, seven guests and one guide – shelter in the tiny kitchen, the living room-cum-bedroom (now Uno parlour), or on the veranda.

It’s day two of a seven-day trip with Undiscovered Balkans, crisscrossing between Albania and Montenegro on foot and by car. Having always wanted to hike the Peaks of the Balkans trail, a 119-mile (192km) hike linking Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania, I jumped at the chance to sample this new guided itinerary. Combining some of the region’s most famous hikes with gentler excursions for kids, such as a day experiencing life as a shepherd, or visits to remote swimming spots, it seemed a novel alternative to our usual “get a map and hope for the best” approach to hiking holidays.

Published: March 7, 2026, 7:00 am

Am I on my phone too much? The Becky Barnicoat cartoon

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Published: March 7, 2026, 6:00 am

Seven days on, seven questions about the US-Israeli war on Iran

One week on from the first strikes, we look at why the war started, what the cost has been and what may come next

• Middle East crisis live: latest news updates

The US-Israeli war on Iran, now into its seventh day, has set the Middle East alight, threatening millions of people’s lives and livelihoods as the violence spreads in widening arc stretching from central Asia to the edge of Europe.

The joint operation, named “Epic Fury” by the US and “Roaring Lion” by Israel, has been sold as a high-impact show of intimidating power, but its impact so far beyond the chaos and bloodshed is unclear. What is certain is that predictions that this type of war would destabilise the region have indeed rapidly materialised.

Published: March 7, 2026, 7:00 am