‘Accountability has arrived’: dual US court losses show shifting tide against Meta and co

With two unprecedented trial defeats, big tech firms face crisis akin to that faced by cigarette makers in the 1990s

In the span of just two days, the most powerful social media company in the world faced a more severe public reckoning than it has in years.

Jurors in California and New Mexico gave back-to-back verdicts this week that for the first time ever found Meta liable for products that inflict harm on young people. For years, lawmakers, parents and advocates have raised red flags over how social media can hurt children, but now the tech firms are being held to account via court rulings that could set long-lasting precedents.

Published: March 27, 2026, 12:25 am

Trump’s horrors keep accumulating. We need the No Kings protests more than ever | Moira Donegan

Thousands of No Kings events will be fueled by anger over ICE violence, the Epstein files released and a war in Iran. These protests have power

Things have changed since the last major No Kings protests, in October 2025. Back then, an estimated 7 million people poured into the streets to protest the Trump administration; this Saturday, at more than 3,000 events planned nationwide, the crowds are likely to be even bigger. In part, that’s because the Trump administration keeps pursuing more and more unpopular agendas, often with a sadism and indifference to popular opinion that becomes prominent in the news.

In January, ICE agents in Minneapolis killed two protesters – first Renee Good on 7 January, and then Alex Pretti on 24 January – who were in the streets trying to obstruct the agency’s kidnappings and voice their opposition to the Trump administration’s ethnic cleansing program. The two dead Americans were among the thousands who have become enraged at ongoing revelations of the extent and cruelty of Trump’s mass kidnapping, detention, and ethnic cleansing program, which has swept up tens of thousands of men, women and children.

Published: March 27, 2026, 10:00 am

I was paid to write fake Google reviews – then my ‘bosses’ tried to scam me

Undercover reporter gets a taste of the sprawling fraud industry in which cryptocurrencies play a crucial role

• Five firms including Autotrader and Just Eat investigated over fake review failings

The holiday flat near(ish) the Roman ruins of Pompeii was “disgusting”, and smelled of “a mix of dampness and sewage”, according to one reviewer on Google Maps. I never visited, but I gave it five stars.

I did the same for a DoubleTree by Hilton hotel across the River Thames, an Ibis budget hotel in east London that is part of the Accor group, a central Travelodge and the nearby Hyatt Place – some of the best-known hotel brands in the world. Scattered in there were requests for reviews for hostels and B&Bs in Genova, Naples, Maastricht, Krakow and Brussels. For a few days I had a new job: writing fake reviews on Google Maps in exchange for cryptocurrency.

Published: March 27, 2026, 8:31 am

‘A broken heart can turn somebody into a bad Casanova’: breakout R&B star Leon Thomas on defiance, D’Angelo and his ‘doggie’ persona

Winning two Grammys last month cemented the New Yorker’s transition from producer for the likes of Drake to guitar-soloing superstar. Now he has Stevie Wonder calling him up – though he’s conscious of living up to the greats

Forget viral hits or sold-out shows: you know you’ve reached the big time when the godfather of funk gives you custom-made headgear. Last spring, Leon Thomas was backstage at California’s Coachella festival and due to join Ty Dolla $ign, his label boss, for a performance alongside George Clinton. The cosmic crusader said to Thomas: “‘You’re the kid who does the dog song, right? I made something for you,’” Thomas recalls. “He gave me this cool white hat with a foxtail on it.”

Thomas wore it to play Mutt, his 2024 breakthrough single, followed by a rendition of Clinton’s 1982 P-funk anthem Atomic Dog. But not before Clinton hot-boxed the trailer. “I don’t really smoke weed any more, but I was in the dressing room with him and Ty,” says Thomas, 32. “They both were smoking so much – when I was on stage, I realised, ‘Ohhh, I’m a little buzzed right now!’” A spiritual baton had been passed. “We went up there and rocked the crowd,” Thomas continues. “It was like 12, 13,000 [people] out there, the energy was crazy. I don’t know if you can tell, I’m still buzzing.”

Published: March 27, 2026, 5:00 am

Flea: Honora review – Chili Pepper turns piper, taking up trumpet for a soulful jazz odyssey

(Nonesuch)
Imaginative interpretations of Funkadelic and Frank Ocean sit alongside starry collaborations and gorgeous instrumentals on the bassist’s brassy side project

While some rock musicians fill the boredom of long tours with nefarious activities, bassist Flea spent Red Hot Chili Peppers’ global jaunt of 2022-24 practising the trumpet, an instrument he first played as a child before funky rock pulled him away. Now, the 63-year-old’s daily routine and open spirit has produced his own deeply meditative and groovy jazz odyssey.

Named after a family member, Honora brings together a star-studded cast of peers and LA jazz and experimental luminaries for 10 tracks spanning Flea-penned instrumentals, chanted mantras and imaginative reinterpretations. The bassist doubles as narrator for spirited track A Plea, a yelled call for sanity (“Live for peace! Live for love!”) amid global madness and takes his trumpet to Eddie Hazel’s famous guitar solo on a beautifully plaintive remodel of Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain.

Published: March 27, 2026, 8:00 am

Four wives, two passports and a very elusive butterfly: one woman’s search for her lepidopterist father

Rena Effendi’s film Searching for Satyrus began with a quest for the endangered insect that bears her family name. Before long, she was reckoning with secrets, lies and the mysterious life of her wayward dad

High in the Caucasus mountains, the photojournalist Rena Effendi is searching for the butterfly that bears the name of the father she hardly knew. It is rocky, bleak, beautiful – and impossible. The grass is fried yellow by the increasingly fierce summer sun, the butterfly’s food has been grazed by sheep and, if it exists at all, Satyrus effendi usually flies only as a single insect across a square kilometre of rock, scree and slope.

A butterfly hunt makes an unlikely subject for a prize-winning documentary, but Searching for Satyrus is a gripping quest that reveals a remarkable part of the world little known to western audiences while examining issues from war and nationalism to global heating and extinction. Ultimately, however, Effendi’s search for her father’s butterfly becomes a moving reckoning with the secrets and lies in her family and the life of her wayward father.

Published: March 27, 2026, 8:00 am

Saudi Arabia urging US to ramp up Iran attacks, intelligence source confirms

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is said to view US-Israeli war as ‘historic opportunity’ to remake Middle East

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Saudi Arabia has urged the US to ramp up attacks on Iran, a Saudi intelligence source has confirmed, while it is weighing a decision on whether to join the fight directly.

The Saudi source confirmed reporting in the New York Times that said the kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has urged Donald Trump not to cut short his war against Iran, and that the US-Israeli campaign represented a “historic opportunity” to remake the Middle East.

Published: March 27, 2026, 8:16 am

A war of regression: how Trump bombed the US into a worse position with Iran

Analysts fear Iran has played a weak hand well and America has blundered into a defining strategic failure

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Four weeks into a war that was going to take four days, and that has so far cost the US about $30-40bn and Israel $300m (£225m) a day, America is further away from a diplomatic agreement with Iran than it was in May 2025.

Not only has the war failed to persuade Iran to agree to dismantle its nuclear programme in the comprehensive and irreversible way America demanded in a 15-point paper that it tabled on 23 May last year, the US is now having to negotiate to reopen the strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway that has been open ever since the invention of the dhow (with a short exception of a tanker war in the 1980s between Iran and Iraq).

Published: March 27, 2026, 11:10 am

Faith Kates: the woman who introduced models to ‘dear friend’ Jeffrey Epstein

Former talent agency boss had closer relationship with sex offender than thought, and supported him after 2009 arrest

A female executive at the top of the modelling industry had a close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and introduced him to women on the agency’s books, a Guardian investigation has found.

Until last November, Faith Kates ran Next Management modelling and talent agency, which has represented the likes of Alexa Chung, Milla Jovovich and Billie Eilish, a position she held for decades as the founder of the business. She stepped down quietly just weeks before the first major Epstein files were released, saying she intended to focus on charity work.

18 July 2009 10.18am

I am and will always be your friend...Unconditionally...will always be there for you.

5 September 2009 7.47pm

Thinking of you a lot and hoping you are finally enjoying some please [sic] and quiet..know you are always in my thoughts and prayers. You are a good friend my dear friend..

5 September 2009 7.54pm

thanks,, lets get back to work.

Published: March 27, 2026, 9:21 am

US Senate passes funding package for Homeland Security that excludes ICE

House of Representatives still needs to act before funded agencies such as airport security can reopen, CNN reports

The US Senate has passed legislation that will finance most of the Department of Homeland Security but withhold funds from ICE and part of Customs and Border Protection, the office of the Senate Democratic party leader, Chuck Schumer, said in a statement.

The agreement would fund DHS components such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and US Coast Guard, the statement said. CNN reported that the House of Representatives would still need to act before funded agencies within the department could reopen.

Published: March 27, 2026, 8:53 am

Trump EPA relied on industry science to weaken formaldehyde cancer rules, documents show

Papers reveal how chemical lobby influenced policy, reversing Biden-era limits on a common carcinogen

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox

A new trove of chemical producer and US Environmental Protection Agency documents reveal an elaborate industry operation that killed strong regulations around formaldehyde, a highly toxic carcinogen widely used in everyday goods from cosmetics to furniture to craft supplies.

The Biden EPA in late 2024 determined any exposure to formaldehyde increased the risk of cancer and other health problems. The Trump EPA in late 2025 moved to undo those findings and replace them with less protective figures.

Published: March 27, 2026, 11:00 am

US markets see biggest slump since start of US-Israel war on Iran

Dow closed 450 points down and S&P dipped 1.7% while Nasdaq fell 2.3% into correction territory

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox

US markets saw their biggest slump since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran on Thursday as Donald Trump said the conflict’s impact on oil prices had not been as bad as he expected.

The Dow closed 450 points down, while the S&P 500 dipped 1.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 2.3%, plunging into correction territory, which happens when an index falls at least 10% below its most recent peak.

Published: March 26, 2026, 9:01 pm

Venezuelans deported by US detail fresh claims of torture and abuse at El Salvador mega-prison

Petition seeks accountability from Salvadorian authorities over human rights violations at notorious Cecot facility

A group of 18 Venezuelan men whom the US expelled a notorious Salvadorian mega-prison are demanding that Salvadorian authorities be held internationally accountable for violation of human rights – detailing new allegations of torture, sexual assault and medical neglect.

A new petition, filed on Thursday before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, alleges that El Salvador violated the human rights of these men, who were expelled to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) last year without charge.

Published: March 26, 2026, 10:16 pm

Two humanitarian aid boats heading to Cuba have gone missing, Mexico says

Navy searching for two boats that left Isla Mujeres last week bound for Havana with nine crew members of different nationalities on board

Mexico’s navy said on Thursday it had activated a search-and-rescue operation in the Caribbean to locate two sailboats carrying humanitarian aid to Cuba after the vessels failed to arrive in Havana as scheduled.

In a statement, the navy said the two boats left Isla Mujeres, in the Mexican Caribbean state of Quintana Roo, last week bound for Havana with nine crew members of different nationalities on board.

Published: March 27, 2026, 2:21 am

Human rights groups cheer ‘watershed’ verdict in social media addiction trial

As many organizations celebrate outcome, some are skeptical as to what it means for privacy protections

The verdict in a landmark social media trial that Meta and YouTube deliberately designed addictive products has sparked calls for reform across borders. International human rights and tech freedom groups issued statements after the decision, praising jurors for holding social media companies accountable for harms to children and urging tech giants to change their design features to ensure children are safe.

Amnesty International said in a statement on Thursday that “this court decision is clear: these platforms are unsafe by design and meaningful change is urgently needed”.

Published: March 26, 2026, 9:46 pm

Trump signature to appear on US bills in first for sitting president

Treasurer’s signature to be removed for first time since 1861 in change made to mark US’s 250th anniversary

Donald Trump’s signature will soon appear on US paper currency, the treasury department announced Thursday.

The move marks the first time a sitting US president’s signature will appear on legal tender. To accommodate this change, the treasurer’s signature will be removed for the first time since 1861.

Published: March 26, 2026, 10:24 pm

Federal judge sides with Anthropic in first round of standoff with Pentagon

Face-off is over company’s refusal to let defense department use its Claude AI model in autonomous weapons systems

A federal judge in California sided with Anthropic in its case against the Department of Defense on Thursday, ordering a temporary pause on the government’s punitive measures against the artificial intelligence firm.

Judge Rita Lin granted Anthropic’s request for a temporary injunction while the northern district court of California hears the company’s case. Anthropic argued that the Department of Defense and Donald Trump violated its first amendment rights in declaring the company a supply chain risk and ordering government agencies to cease using its technology.

Published: March 26, 2026, 11:17 pm

Ukraine war briefing: Pentagon reportedly considering whether to divert aid from Ukraine to Middle East

US military stockpiles are under strain as a result of Iran war, Washington Post reports; Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets Saudi crown prince in Jeddah. What we know on day 1,493

Published: March 27, 2026, 3:26 am

Flatterers out in force to fill Trump’s head with Venezuelan statue dreams

President’s popularity top of mind at another weird and wild cabinet meeting – riff on merits of Sharpies included

They have become so notorious for displays of flattery and obsequiousness that critics have drawn comparisons with North Korea. Thursday’s cabinet meeting at the White House was no different.

Doug Burgum, the US interior secretary, outflanked his fellow praise singers by saying he believes that Venezuela – which the US attacked in January – intends to honour the president with a statue.

Published: March 26, 2026, 8:37 pm

Trump news at a glance: president tries to stop chaos at airports

Donald Trump said he will take executive action to pay 50,000 airport security workers as a deal stalled in Congress to address staff shortages – key US politics stories from 26 March 2026

Donald Trump said on Thursday he will take executive action to pay 50,000 airport security workers as a deal stalled in Congress to address staff shortages that have snarled travel around the country.

The US president said he was instructing the Homeland Security Department “to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports. It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!”

Published: March 27, 2026, 1:38 am

US House speaker gives Trump so-called ‘America First’ award amid global chaos

Critics mock Mike Johnson and Republicans for presenting the president with the newly concocted award

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox

Amid an aggressive war in Iran, heightening and devastating pressure on Cuba, immigration enforcement operations throughout the country and a partial government shutdown, the lead Republican in the House has given Donald Trump a newly concocted award.

Democrats, lawmakers and commentators are criticizing and ridiculing the “America First” award given to Trump on Wednesday evening during the National Republican Congressional Committee fundraiser.

Published: March 26, 2026, 5:46 pm

‘Tehran’s tollbooth’: a visual guide to how a trickle of ships still passes through strait of Hormuz

Many of the vessels willing to make the crossing are taking an alternative route through Iranian waters

Threats to shipping have effectively closed the strait of Hormuz since the US-Israel war on Iran began four weeks ago – upending global oil and gas supplies and sending energy prices soaring.

In normal times, tankers carry about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies through the narrow channel and on to the rest of the world, while about a third of the global fertilisers necessary for half of the world’s food production pass through in dry bulk vessels.

Published: March 26, 2026, 5:11 pm

Motherhood, makeup and Zumba: the rehabilitation of one of Mexico’s most dangerous prisons

In Modulo 2, a renovated wing of a high-security facility in Cancún, female prisoners find moments of solidarity, pride and creativity in their confinement

At the end of a road in the city of Cancún, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, a tall watchtower rises behind barbed wire and perimeter walls closely monitored by the army. This is where the Cereso stands, a high-security prison complex housing a men’s facility as well as a section called Modulo 2 that is reserved for females. A total of 284 women are held there.

Inside, time moves slowly. Days unfold according to a strict schedule, structured around chores and workshops organised by the prison administration.

A morning Zumba session in the yard of the Cereso. Physical activities are part of the facility’s daily routine

Published: March 27, 2026, 6:00 am

$30 an hour by 2030: new pushes to increase minimum wage in New York and California

Oakland and New York campaigns for $30 minimum wage gain steam as workers battle high costs and pushback

Mark Dorsey, a lifelong East Oakland resident, works two jobs to make ends meet. The 35-year-old Californian relies on manufacturing and service work through temp agencies and tries to work overtime or 10- to 12-hour shifts because “that’s the only way you can see a paycheck that’s worth something”.

Dorsey often makes minimum wage or close to it. The city of Oakland’s minimum wage is currently $17.34 an hour, higher than the minimum wage for the state of California, currently $16.90 an hour, but still not enough to support Dorsey.

Published: March 27, 2026, 11:00 am

Is Trump losing it? (the war of course) – podcast

Donald Trump says the US has won its war with Iran. Iranian officials responded to this by mocking him.

This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Susan Glasser of the New Yorker about analysis suggesting Trump is losing his touch when it comes to sealing the deal, winning elections or just having the energy to run the White House

Archive: NBC News, CNN, Bloomberg Television, ABC News, BBC News

Published: March 27, 2026, 5:00 am

Ready to order? 10 rules for restaurant diners

Show up, speak up … and just be nice. Here is one anonymous server’s advice for a happy meal

Hospitality is in a right state at the moment, what with the seemingly never-ending shitshow of rising rents and rates, extortionate VAT, higher staffing, produce and utility costs, and all those other well-documented socioeconomic pressures (don’t mention the Bre*it word, please). So the last thing those of us who work in this beleaguered industry need right now is to be kicked in the proverbials by the very people we rely on perhaps more than anyone. And, yes, by that I mean you, our lovely customers. So here is some advice on how to avoid infuriating your serving staff.

Turn up …
Pre-Covid, most restaurants didn’t have the balls to take card details or charge for late cancellations and no-shows, but that’s all changed now (thank God). If you buy a ticket to the football or a gig, say, you’ll be out of pocket if you can’t be arsed to turn up. Why should restaurants be any different? What’s more, even if we have charged you a cancellation fee, remember that we’ve still lost out on drink sales and service charge.

As told to Bob Granleese

Published: March 27, 2026, 10:00 am

Is foraging really feasible to feed myself?

This labor-intensive way of eating isn’t for everyone – and I’m not sure it’s for me. It requires planning and flexibility

When I called Robin Greenfield, an environmental activist and author, his assistant answered. “We’re stopped really quick,” Marielle said, adding “he is harvesting a ton of wild onions right now. He’ll be on in just a minute.”

I waited, curious to see his haul and bemused by his willingness to delay an interview for wild vegetables. I had called Greenfield, who wrote Food Freedom about the year he grew and foraged 100% of his food, to talk about just how possible, or hard, it is to do just that.

Published: March 27, 2026, 11:00 am

‘I didn’t think anyone would be into it’: Slayyyter turns midwest trash into pop gold

After a nine-year come-up, the self-described ‘worst girl in America’ is having a breakthrough

For the past several months, nothing has gotten me through this brutal New York winter quite like Crank, a fiendishly chaotic concoction by the electropop artist Slayyyter. The track is deliriously over-stimulating; the singer tweaks out over record-scratches and squelches and ferociously barrels through a chorus that sounds – and I mean this as a sincere compliment – like a plane crash. In these times of global catastrophe, I have found this soothing.

Slayyyter’s new album Worst Girl in America scratches a similar anarchic itch. Immediate, vertiginous and diabolically cheeky, the after-hours record finds her channelling a ferality that feels rare in our slopified pop culture (cue the rock-tinged Cannibalism), and has garnered breathless hype among those in the know. All five singles released from the project to date have the jet propulsion of someone fueled on years of pop star study and frustrated by, as she bluntly puts it, “my ninth year on the up-and-coming list”.

Published: March 27, 2026, 9:00 am

Experience: I’ve spent decades collecting over 260 postboxes

It started with an obscure railway postbox that had been thrown in a skip – now my museum has pieces from Scotland, Ireland and Hong Kong

Back in 1994, I went to north Wales to see the miniature steam trains – I was a fan of railways. On a platform at Rhyl station, I noticed the painted outline of a postbox – it was all that remained of one that had stood there since the late 1800s.

It turns out it had been vandalised, set alight and chucked in a skip. I asked the station manager if I could see it and he jokingly said: “Give me 20 quid and you can take it away with you.”

Published: March 27, 2026, 5:00 am

Week in wildlife: a flying rodent, a duty-free possum and an emerald viper

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Published: March 27, 2026, 8:00 am

Governments controlling prices? It has long been unthinkable – but may now be inevitable | Andy Beckett

In Mexico and Spain, leaders who have capped public costs have been rewarded at the ballot box. As another cost of living surge arrives, it may be a policy our leaders are unable to resist

Politicians are not supposed to meddle with prices. Even though much of politics is about whether voters can afford things – especially in an era of recurring inflationary shocks – ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union’s planned economy four decades ago, the orthodoxy across much of the world has been that only markets should decide what things cost.

As the hugely influential Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek argued, in a complex modern society, information is too dispersed among potential sellers and buyers of goods or services for government to make informed and correct decisions about the prices of those goods. Hence, his disciples say, the inefficiency of state-run economies, from post-colonial Africa to the eastern bloc.

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

Published: March 27, 2026, 8:00 am

Trump’s strategy to get his way: declare one fake ‘emergency’ after another | Steven Greenhouse

The US president’s tactic could put this fall’s elections at risk. A supreme court decision could go far to protect them

Hating legal constraints, Donald Trump has repeatedly taken unilateral actions for which he had zero legal authority unless he found some national emergency to declare. So Trump, no stickler for the truth, has conveniently invoked numerous national emergencies to justify his unilateral actions – whether imposing tariffs on dozens of countries or deporting immigrants without due process – even when there wasn’t anything close to a real emergency.

A recent example involves Trump’s anger at Spain. Early this month, Trump was so furious at Spain for not letting the US use its air bases to help his illegal war against Iran that he called for cutting off all trade with Spain. Trump said he would order a trade embargo, with his treasury secretary suggesting that he’d invoke a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

Published: March 27, 2026, 11:00 am

Progressive Paris has many weapons to fight the far right, but the best? Spaces where you can simply hang out | Alexander Hurst

Drop into any of the French capital’s ‘third places’ and you’ll find food, culture, community – and an antidote to the disaffection extremists feed on

Paris’s success in removing cars from its streets has been more widely praised than its progress in opening up mixed-use spaces. But the city’s enthusiasm for bringing what urbanists call “third places” to life is exactly why I found myself, just hours after voting in the first round of Paris’s municipal elections, dancing in telecoms company Orange’s former offices in Ménilmontant, the “seventh-coolest neighbourhood in the world”..

The building currently housing Print, a new pop-up, offers a breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tower, poised against the sunset – and, for now at least, it is an ephemeral temple to Millennial culture. It’s a five-storey space hosting photography exhibits, a coffee shop, sourdough pizza, two bars, a red-lit and mirror-adorned dance area and a sunset terrace. As well as pizza and fancy coffee, you can buy hoodies and art and design books – but most importantly, Print contains plenty of space where you can just be, without needing to spend a single euro.

Alexander Hurst writes for Guardian Europe from Paris. His memoir Generation Desperation is out now

Published: March 27, 2026, 5:00 am

Girlguiding didn’t have to do this to its trans members. There was another way | Zoe Williams

Girlguiding’s response to last year’s supreme court ruling is not the humane option – and changes the organisation’s identity

Great work, Guides; you’ve taken some members you had no idea even existed, and expelled them from your organisation with effect from September. This gives trans girls a humane half-year to extricate, because that’s definitely what kids want: to participate for six months in a uniformed, voluntary, social organisation that has explicitly kicked them out, while they look for somewhere more welcoming.

“Like every charity, we have to follow the law,” Girlguiding says in an online info pack whose FAQs are almost comically Stasi-lite. “Will volunteers be expected to carry out additional checks or ask for proof?” (The good news, folks, is that they won’t; the mind boggles at what those additional checks might be that didn’t breach at least some safeguarding protocols.) “How should volunteers check that trans girls have left?” (Some sort of dunking stool? In actuality, again, they won’t check.)

Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist

Guardian Newsroom: Can Labour come back from the brink?
On Thursday 30 April, join Gaby Hinsliff, Zoe Williams, Polly Toynbee and Rafael Behr as they discuss how much of a threat Labour faces from the Green party and Reform UK – and whether Keir Starmer can survive as leader.
Book tickets here

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

Published: March 27, 2026, 10:00 am

The verdict against Meta and YouTube is a victory for children – and the US justice system | Austin Sarat

In a court of law, tech titans will be judged not for who they are, but what they do. We should take comfort in that

Jury verdicts are meant to speak the truth, and today’s verdict in a California courtroom spoke the truth about the pernicious effects of platforms such as Instagram and YouTube on young people in the United States and around the world. The jury found two social media giants, Meta and YouTube, responsible for injuries incurred by a 20-year-old woman over the course of her childhood.

The plaintiff, referred to in court as KGM, claimed that her social media use had begun when she was six years old. Her suit alleged that the sites she regularly used had features designed to hold her attention and keep her coming back.

Published: March 26, 2026, 12:00 pm

Rebecca Hendin on Donald Trump’s 15-point peace plan – cartoon

Continue reading...

Published: March 26, 2026, 3:46 pm

I am not paying American war taxes this year. Will you join me? | Clara Vondrich

War tax resistance has a venerable tradition dating back to days before the US was even born. It’s time to revive this tradition

More than $20bn. That’s roughly the cost of our military operation in Iran to date.

Tax day is a month away. If you’re like me, it makes your stomach turn to watch the US practice regime change in the Middle East – again. If you’re like me, the reckless murder of more than 150 little girls in the name of “liberating” Iranian women fills you with rage. The worst part? You and I literally paid for this.

Published: March 26, 2026, 10:00 am

The Guardian view on China and Iran: the war poses bigger questions for Beijing than where to get its oil | Editorial

The limits of its partnership with Tehran are unsurprising. But this conflict raises broader issues for the superpower

For years, official Chinese rhetoric on Iran invoked their shared historical status as grand civilisations that have struggled against western aggression. Bilateral ties date back more than half a century. In 2021, they signed a comprehensive strategic agreement pledging $400bn of Chinese investment. And China’s economy is already flagging; it has just set its lowest growth target since 1991, underlining the importance of stability for Beijing.

So its muted response since the US and Israel launched their war is striking. Beijing condemned the attack, but it was Washington that postponed the summit between their leaders because of the conflict. As Gulf states that previously mediated back away, China shows no interest in stepping up.

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

Published: March 26, 2026, 6:50 pm

Gio Reyna keen to repay Mauricio Pochettino’s faith as World Cup approaches

The midfielder is determined to make his mark for the US men’s national team, despite struggles in club soccer

Gio Reyna admitted on Thursday that news of his call-up to the US national team may have come as a surprise.

“I guess you could say it was sort of one of [Mauricio Pochettino’s] more difficult decisions, or I guess controversial decisions to maybe bring me in,” he told reporters in Atlanta, where the US national team has gathered ahead of friendlies against Belgium and Portugal. “Again, I can’t appreciate it enough. Love this team, love this staff, love this group of people. So just always honored to be here.”

Published: March 26, 2026, 10:09 pm

NCAA Tournament: No 9 seed Iowa upset Nebraska to continue fairytale run

• Hawkeyes had already beaten No 1 Florida

• Alvaro Folgueiras shines again for Iowa

• No 11 Texas almost shock No 2 Purdue

Alvaro Folgueiras converted a critical three-point play when Nebraska only had four defenders on the floor, and ninth-seeded Iowa continued their unpredictable NCAA Tournament run under first-year coach Ben McCollum, beating Nebraska 77-71 in the Sweet Sixteen on Thursday night.

Bennett Stirtz scored 20 points and Folgueiras had 16 for the Hawkeyes (24-12), who knocked off top-seeded Florida in the second round on Folgueiras’ three-pointer in the closing seconds.

Published: March 27, 2026, 2:17 am

Phillies’ Alec Bohm sues parents for millions alleging they siphoned money from his accounts

• Player says parents paid for their own expenses

• Daniel and Lisa Bohm deny any wrongdoing

Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm has sued his parents for millions of dollars, accusing them of siphoning large amounts of his money into financial accounts they managed for him and then using some of the cash to pay their own expenses.

Bohm’s lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in a Philadelphia court, comes after the 29-year-old reviewed his personal and financial affairs in recent months, and said that his parents refused to give him access to the accounts or provide him with the information he sought about them.

Published: March 27, 2026, 1:58 am

Can Adam Freier’s California Legion solve America’s rugby problem?

CEO of a merged team in a US men’s competition shrunk to just six, the ex-Wallaby hooker is still at the sharp end – right where he likes to be

One day in March 2012, Adam Freier sat down to write a column for the Sydney Morning Herald. His Melbourne Rebels were on a losing streak and though he had 25 caps at hooker including a World Cup campaign for Australia, he was nearly 32 and staring at the end of a career at the coalface, 12 years in the front row of the scrum at the highest level. Describing a body breaking down, a struggling club, the agony of endless defeats, he imagined group therapy in front of “strangers in the local hall”.

“My name is Adam Freier, and I hate to lose.”

California Legion v Anthem RC kicks-off 6pm ET on Saturday, live on ESPN+

Martin Pengelly writes about rugby in the US on Substack, at The National Maul

Published: March 27, 2026, 10:00 am

Aryna Sabalenka sinks Rybakina to set up Miami Open final showdown with Gauff

• World No 1 wins semi-final 6-4, 6-3 at Hard Rock Stadium

• American beats Muchova 6-1, 6-1 to continue domination of rival

Aryna Sabalenka believes she is ready for the challenge of facing her rival Coco Gauff in the Miami Open final as she stands one win away from winning Indian Wells and Miami in the same year for the first time in her career.

“She’s a fighter,” Sabalenka said of Gauff. “She’s a great player, of course. We played a lot of matches, a lot of tight matches, a lot of big finals. And, yeah, she’s a great player and I’m really excited to face her in the final. I think it’s going to be a great battle and I cannot wait to play that match.”

Published: March 27, 2026, 5:26 am

Chess: iconic Reykjavik Open sparks memory of Bobby Fischer from 1973

The US legend declined a $25,000 offer from shoe firm Clarks to meet the cream of England’s juniors

The nine-round Reykjavik Open, which began on Wednesday afternoon at the Harpa Conference Centre and which continued with two rounds on Thursday, is an iconic event. It was first played as an all-play-all in 1964, when Mikhail Tal won, and is close to the Hotel Reykjavik Natura, formerly the Hotel Loftleidir, which featured prominently in the epic Bobby Fischer v Boris Spassky match of 1972.

The top seed in the capacity entry of 422 players is Iran’s Amin Tabatabaei, the only 2700-rated player in the field, with Romania’s Bogdan-Daniel Deac (2655) next, and the veteran Ukrainian Vasyl Ivanchuk (2624) the fourth seed.

Published: March 27, 2026, 8:00 am

The Quad God reborn: Ilia Malinin leads world championships after Olympic shock

• American on course for victory after short program

• 21-year-old had disastrous skate at Winter Olympics

Ilia Malinin bounced back from his disappointment at this year’s Winter Olympics by leading after the short program at the figure skating world championships on Thursday.

Malinin, sporting a new haircut, gave fans what they expected from the defending two-time world champion at O2 Arena in Prague.

Published: March 26, 2026, 4:55 pm

Tom Brady, 48, says he explored return to NFL but league ‘don’t like that idea very much’

• Role as minority owner of Raiders causes problems

• Former QB says he is ‘very happily retired’

Tom Brady says he explored the idea of making a return to the NFL as a player but the league “don’t like that idea very much”.

Brady’s last NFL game came in a defeat to the Dallas Cowboys in January 2023. Since then he has become a part-owner of the Las Vegas Raiders as well as a television analyst for Fox. A spokesperson for the league said that Brady, who turns 49 in August, would need to divest his stake in the Raiders if he was to return to playing.

Published: March 26, 2026, 3:58 pm

The nerdy, authentic Oklahoma City Thunder are a breath of fresh air

The relatable, endearing authenticity of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the defending NBA champions is a wonder to behold

Winter is over, though perhaps most NBA fans feel as if it’s just beginning. After a midseason slump, the Oklahoma City Thunder have won 12 of their last 13 games They’re clinging to a slim but steady three-game lead over the San Antonio Spurs atop the otherwise chaotic Western Conference. (The Lakers are good now? The Nuggets can’t find their footing? The Rockets can’t even stand up?) The Thunder’s flirtation with vulnerability was fun, but the defending champions look as invincible now as they did during their 24-1 run to begin the season. So, now as then, with nothing to criticize in the Thunder’s basketball, we are compelled to discuss their character and vibes.

Reviews are usually poor. I myself celebrated the Spurs when they recorded a hat-trick of wins over the Thunder in December, simply for injecting intrigue into a season that already seemed decided. The Defector podcast Nothing But Respect recently featured a series of anti-Thunder guests; after discussing the idea that artists don’t like OKC with musician Will Anderson, a host announced, “next week, we will have a real, actual Thunder expert to defend his team’s values”. Most of the comments on that episode seemed unconvinced by Ringer staff writer Tyler Parker’s arguments.

Published: March 26, 2026, 10:00 am

Human rights experts raise concerns over Olympics transgender women athlete ban

• Critics say new IOC guidelines violate fundamental human rights

• AOC backs new rules but accepts issue is ‘challenging and complex’

Over 100 human rights, sports and scientific groups, including the United Nations, have criticised the International Olympic Committee’s new gender eligibility guidelines as “a blunt and discriminatory response that is not supported by science and violates international human rights law”.

The IOC’s new guidelines, announced on Friday, mandate genetic sex tests for all athletes competing in its women’s categories, as well as blanket bans of people who identify as transgender, intersex or with sex differences.

Published: March 27, 2026, 3:34 am

‘The violence of racist tyranny’: African Guernica goes on display alongside Picasso masterpiece

Piece by late South African artist Dumile Feni is part of new series History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, But It Does Rhyme

On the second floor of the Reina Sofía, in the very spot where Picasso’s Guernica was first exhibited when it arrived in the Madrid museum 34 years ago, there now hangs a smaller, near-namesake of the Spanish artist’s most famous work.

While African Guernica, which was drawn by the late South African artist Dumile Feni in 1967, may lack the scale of Picasso’s masterpiece, its depth, anger and unnerving juxtaposition of man and beast, light and dark, and innocence and cruelty, are every bit as disturbing.

Published: March 27, 2026, 7:42 am

Nicolás Maduro appears again in New York court on ‘narco-terrorism’ charges

Deposed Venezuelan president and his wife, who both pleaded not guilty, were captured by US military in January

The deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro appeared in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday for his “narco-terrorism” case after his capture by US military forces earlier this year.

The hearing opened with the defense and prosecution arguing over whether Maduro should be allowed to use Venezuelan government funds to pay for his defense. The defense has insisted that the US is violating the deposed leader’s constitutional rights by blocking government money from being used for his legal costs.

Published: March 26, 2026, 5:58 pm

Savannah Guthrie fears her fame could be reason for mother’s disappearance

Today show host calls 84-year-old mother’s disappearance ‘unbearable’ in first interview since possible kidnapping

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox

Savannah Guthrie says she fears her own fame could have been the reason for her mother Nancy’s disappearance, which she has called “unbearable” in her first interview since the possible kidnapping.

Guthrie, a main co-anchor of the NBC News morning show Today, discussed the possible reasons for the disappearance of Nancy, who is 84 years old and was reported missing on 1 February from her home near Tucson, Arizona, in an interview with Guthrie’s colleague Hoda Kotb.

Published: March 26, 2026, 4:30 pm

Dash Crofts of Summer Breeze rock duo Seals and Crofts dies aged 85

Crofts helped define the sound of yacht rock with 1970s hits such as Summer Breeze and Diamond Girl

Dash Crofts, the yacht rock musician who helped craft 70s hits such as Summer Breeze and Diamond Girl as part of the duo Seals and Crofts, has died aged 85.

The news was announced on social media by the duo’s producer, Louie Shelton. He wrote: “Sad to hear our dear brother and partner in music has passed away today. Sending love and prayers to all his family and many fans. R.I.P. my brother.....Dash Crofts.” A family member confirmed that Crofts died due to complications following heart surgery.

Published: March 26, 2026, 3:11 pm

Billy Bragg calls for big turnout at London march against far right

Musician urges public to send clear message at what is expected to be UK’s biggest ever multicultural rally

Billy Bragg has encouraged people to send a clear message to those seeking to divide the country by turning out to support what is expected to be the biggest multicultural march in UK history on Saturday.

Speaking to the Guardian before the Together Alliance’s march against the far right in central London, the musician and political activist said participants hoped to “send out a message to our fellow citizens that we are willing to take a stand against [the politics of hate] being imported into the UK”.

Published: March 27, 2026, 9:00 am

Putin asks oligarchs to donate to Russia’s dwindling defence budget

Russian president expected to continue invasion of Ukraine until his forces have secured remaining areas of eastern Donbas

Vladimir Putin has asked Russia’s oligarchs to donate to the country’s dwindling defence budget to continue its invasion of Ukraine, it has been reported.

The Russian president is expected to continue the conflict, which began in February 2022, until Moscow has secured the remaining areas of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region not under its control, according to the Financial Times.

Published: March 26, 2026, 11:31 pm

‘It helped me feed my six children’: how Africa’s first water fund supports farmers to protect Kenya’s biggest river

Conserving the watershed of the Tana and improving farming methods is securing water supplies and livelihoods alike in a changing climate

When in 2017 David Nyoro became one of the first farmers to partner with Africa’s first water fund to conserve the watershed of Kenya’s biggest river, he received 180 high-value avocado seedlings. The 67-year-old’s farming methods had been dominated by annual crops that left large sections of his five-acre piece of land bare, increasing soil erosion and contributing to river sedimentation. “We used to lose a lot of topsoil to the river. Such loss of soil nutrients and poor farming practices meant we had less farm produce,” he says.

The avocado seedlings enabled him to grow his farm income to close to 2m Kenyan shillings (about £11,500 at today’s exchange rates), with each mature avocado tree yielding 70kg (154lbs) annually. He introduced cover crops to improve soil health and reduce soil erosion and sediment loads.

Published: March 27, 2026, 10:00 am

Antarctic whales’ remarkable comeback is threatened by krill fishing

Huge industrial trawlers are competing for krill – the main food source for whales – in the Southern Ocean, removing vital nutrients from the ecosystem

• Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

In Antarctica, one of our planet’s last great wildernesses, a remarkable comeback is taking place.

In the very same waters of the Southern Ocean where whalers slaughtered more than 2 million whales during the 20th century, pushing a number of species to the brink of extinction, populations are recovering. Humpback whales have been the fastest to bounce back since commercial whaling was banned in 1986, and populations are nearly at pre-whaling levels. Blue whales, the world’s largest animal, have been slower.

Fears net zero is ‘next Brexit’ as oil crisis fuels political climate divide

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

‘Yes to fields of wheat, no to fields of iron’: how the world’s greenest country soured on solar

‘It smells like a rancid fish and chip shop’: at sea with the Antarctic’s krill supertrawlers

‘There’s biological treasure here’: Chile’s endemic seals gain protection with new marine park

Surfing’s big break: how climate crisis insurance may save El Salvador’s waves

Published: March 27, 2026, 7:00 am

Beavers ‘breathe new life’ into Dorset as dams built and biodiversity returns

National Trust says one year after reintroduction they are enriching habitats and may be having kits this summer

They were released this time last year with fanfare, much hope and also, perhaps, a little trepidation.

Twelve months on, there have been ups and downs for the first beavers to be (officially) reintroduced into the wild in England since the semiaquatic mammals were hunted to extinction 400 years ago.

Published: March 27, 2026, 6:00 am

Iran’s black rain is latest grim example of weather in war zones

Strikes on oil facilities burned thousands of tons of stored fuel, producing a pall of toxic smoke

Black rain fell in Iran earlier this month, a grim phenomenon seen previously in other war zones.

Strikes on oil facilities burned thousands of tons of stored fuel. Unlike the clean controlled combustion inside an engine, uncontrolled burning leaves many particles of unburned fuel, producing a pall of toxic smoke over affected areas.

Published: March 27, 2026, 6:00 am

Lawyers for ICE gave false information to justify detaining thousands, filings reveal

Revelation was included in lawsuit challenging practice of targeting people seeking to gain legal status as they leave immigration courts

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox

Lawyers for ICE provided false information to justify arresting and detaining thousands of people who had attended immigration courts, according to newly filed court documents.

Federal prosecutors said that lawyers for ICE acknowledged that an agency memo from May of last year gave no authorization for the arrests, court documents show, despite previously citing it to justify the arrests.

Published: March 26, 2026, 1:50 pm

Bill Maher to receive Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain prize after White House denial

Comedian who called Trump ‘gracious and measured’ will win humor award the White House dubbed ‘FAKE NEWS’

Bill Maher will win the prestigious Mark Twain prize for American humor, the Kennedy Center said Thursday, less than a week after the White House forcefully denied that the comedian, who has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Donald Trump, would win it.

“For nearly three decades, the Mark Twain prize has celebrated some of the greatest minds in comedy,” Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice-president of public relations, said in a statement. “For even longer, Bill has been influencing American discourse – one politically incorrect joke at a time.”

Published: March 26, 2026, 1:30 pm

Newsom signs California bill to rename Cesar Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day

Lawmakers earlier passed bill to rename 31 March holiday following sexual abuse allegations against labor leader

Governor Gavin Newsom of California signed legislation on Thursday renaming Cesar Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day in the wake of shocking allegations that the labor leader sexually abused women and young girls.

The bill, passed by the state senate earlier on Thursday, authorized the renaming ahead of the state holiday on 31 March. The state has observed the holiday honoring Chavez, who in the 1960s built a major farm-worker labor rights movement in California’s agricultural heartland, for more than two decades.

Published: March 27, 2026, 12:35 am

New York City hospitals drop Palantir as controversial AI firm expands in UK

The decision follows activist pressure as Palantir faces growing scrutiny over NHS and UK government deals

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox

New York City’s public hospital system announced that it would not be renewing its contract with Palantir as controversy mounts in the UK over the data analytics and AI firm’s government contract.

The president of the US’ largest municipal public healthcare system, Dr Mitchell Katz, testified last week before the New York city council that the agreement with Palantir would expire in October.

Published: March 26, 2026, 11:48 pm

Hungary charges journalist after claims minister was in touch with Moscow

Investigative reporter Szabolcs Panyi covered story alleging foreign minister had passed information to Sergei Lavrov

The Hungarian government has filed charges against one of the country’s most prominent investigative journalists, accusing him of spying for Ukraine, as officials grapple with the fallout of allegations that Budapest shared confidential EU information with Moscow.

The claims of espionage cap off a tumultuous week in Hungarian politics, in which relations with the EU plummeted to new lows and polls suggested that Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party is still lagging behind in support before next month’s election.

Published: March 26, 2026, 6:37 pm

Nepal’s PM-to-be uses rap to call for unity in first post-election message

Balendra Shah, 35, is a symbol of change in country whose government was toppled last year in youth-led uprising

Nepal’s rapper turned politician Balendra Shah, who is about to be sworn in as prime minister, has issued his first post-election message in the form of a rap urging unity.

Hours before the release he swore an oath as a newly elected lawmaker, and he is due to become the Himalayan republic’s new prime minister on Friday.

Published: March 26, 2026, 5:43 pm

Spanish woman who won legal battle for right to euthanasia has assisted death

Noelia Castillo, 25, a paraplegic, had suffered from psychiatric illness and lived in constant pain

A Spanish woman who spent months fighting her father for the right to euthanasia after being sexually assaulted and becoming paraplegic has finally ended her life on her own terms by means of an assisted death.

Noelia Castillo, 25, had struggled with psychiatric illness since she was a teenager and tried to kill herself in October 2022 after being sexually assaulted. The attempt left her in constant pain and using a wheelchair. Eighteen months later, she used Spain’s euthanasia law, which was introduced in 2021, to secure permission to end her life.

In Spain, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 900 525 100. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie

Published: March 26, 2026, 7:34 pm

Sperm get lost in space, Australian research into microgravity impacts suggests

Study into how fertilisation could work in space finds sperm may get disorientated when trying to find an egg

Sperm in space are likely to get disoriented and lost while struggling to find their way to an egg, a new study has found.

When exposed to microgravity in experiments, sperm tumble around like an untethered astronaut, according to Adelaide University researchers.

Published: March 26, 2026, 4:00 pm

Spring break: Culture worth catching this season – podcast

Critics Catherine Shoard, Alexis Petridis and Hannah J Davies on what to watch and listen to this season

Spring is here, and alongside the return of sunshine and blossom there are plenty of new cultural offerings to get excited about. Nosheen Iqbal has summoned the Guardian’s film, music and TV critics to offer a rundown of the best of what’s to come.

Catherine Shoard explains why she thinks children’s films are the place to go for thoughtful analysis of how tech changes us, Alexis Petridis tells Nosheen why he is so intrigued by Harry Styles and excited about the third Kneecap album, and Hannah J Davies flags the welcome (if depressing) return of Euphoria.

Published: March 27, 2026, 3:00 am

No New York by Adele Bertei review – a vivid, vibrant musical coming of age

1970s and 80s New York are viscerally evoked in this potent memoir of the ‘no wave’ scene

You won’t necessarily have heard of Adele Bertei: she was a member of experimental jazz-punk band the Contortions from 1977 and recorded the pop-house single Build Me a Bridge. But her memoir is an essential slice of New York’s bohemian pizza pie, and works in part because she is a relative unknown, not weighed down by her own cultural baggage.

Following a troubled, itinerant upbringing, she arrives in Manhattan in 1977 to find a city on its knees. The big apple was in the red, both literally (fires were a regular occurrence) and monetarily (there was a municipal debt crisis). But pre-Aids and post-Warhol’s avant garde grip, it was also a place that was creatively open.

Published: March 27, 2026, 7:00 am

Your Friends and Neighbours to Portobello: the seven best shows to stream this week

Jon Hamm is back as the charismatic banker-cum-cat burglar, plus an irresistibly strange show about the TV host accused of being a mafioso

No one does problematic but sneakily likable middle-aged man like Jon Hamm and his charisma carries this black comedy about financier-turned-burglar Andrew “Coop” Cooper. Despite being offered his old job back, Coop has decided to continue with his riskily enjoyable crisis. While he emerged from season one’s explosive climax smelling of roses, he’s soon on a collision course with his squeeze/nemesis Samantha Levitt. And worryingly, age is catching up with Coop as a back spasm curtails his latest robbing spree. Every now and then, the show edges towards a satire on jaded suburban overconsumption. But it is slightly too keen to have its aspirational cake and eat it, so remains a flimsy (albeit fun) romp.
Apple TV, from Friday 3 April

Published: March 27, 2026, 7:00 am

Hook, line and cinema: why boxing films are still a knockout

The BFI’s new season, The Cinematic Life of Boxing, shows how this captivating genre has endured for more than a century and celebrates its ability to inspire generations

Almost as soon as film was invented, it became apparent that boxing was a prime candidate for a spectacle to be showcased by the nascent artform – and to help develop it. Small wonder: as new technologies sought to capture high-stakes emotion, physical intensity, furious spectacle, rivalry and personal turbulence, boxingseemed uniquely capable of absorbing these narratives. That it straddled the class gap further expanded its appeal in this new entertainment – one which would itself foster fresh interest in the sport.

The first sports film was an 1894 short of a six-round match between Mike Leonard and Jack Cushing. Only 23 seconds survive, yet its impact still smarts, 132 years on. Scores of directors have since been drawn to pugilistic stories: everything from prize fights to amateur spars to bare-knuckle brawls. In fact, no sport has been rendered cinematically to quite the same degree, whether through dramas, biopics or documentaries. The British Film Institute’s new season, The Cinematic Life of Boxing, studies this long, symbiotic fascination, and how film has successfully tapped into the sport’s psychological, sociological and political dimensions.

Published: March 26, 2026, 4:20 pm

William Shakespeare’s Romeo+Juliet review – Baz Luhrmann’s joyful tragedy is still extravagantly full of life

The 1990s love tragedy starring a young Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes is a tonic and a delight

Thirty years ago, Baz Luhrmann reinvented Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as a gangbanger love tragedy of the present day, with Mexico City standing in for an imaginary urban place called Verona Beach. The result was a terrific success, more of a success, I suspect, than Luhrmann ever had again; it was irreverent and questioning in just the right way, a sunburst of energy, but instinctively respectful to the story, with Luhrmann cutting the original text with co-screenwriter Craig Pearce but not changing or modernising it. It is full of life, extravagantly joyful, then passionately sad, and its lurid 90s crime-chic design doesn’t look dated. And in this Romeo and Juliet, Luhrmann never suspended the forward momentum to indulge campy musical setpieces, perhaps because Shakespeare’s language is the music and the dance; the text keeps the interpretation grounded.

The 21-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio, yet to have his massive breakthrough in Titanic (another story of starcrossed lovers), plays young Romeo Montague, whose family is locked into an unexplained Sicilian-style blood feud with the Capulet family. Romeo is a young idler and would-be poet, scribbling lines of verse into a notebook, and at this stage dreamily moping over a young woman called Rosaline, whose silent offstage existence is the play’s minor incidental mystery. (Brian Dennehy and Christina Pickles play his parents and they have much less of a role than the elder Capulets.)

Published: March 26, 2026, 11:00 am

Will Stephen Colbert’s Lord of the Rings film be Tom Bombadil’s time to shine?

The US talkshow host’s script will focus on chapters three to eight of Tolkien’s first volume – a section Hollywood originally thought disposable but is now circling back to monetise

As I write this, there are at least five days to April Fools’ Day. Yet the news that Stephen Colbert, the American late night host, is about to write a new Lord of the Rings movie based at least in part on some (more) bits of the JRR Tolkien tome that didn’t make it into Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning trilogy certainly feels like a prank.

We already knew we are about to get an entire film, directed by and starring Andy Serkis, titled Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and based on a sequence that was told in brief flashback during 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring. It’s due out next year. And there were rumours that more movies would be coming. The Scouring of the Shire, perhaps, based on the bit at the end of The Lord of the Rings when the hobbits go home and discover Saruman has set himself up as King of the Hobbits? Something centred on long forgotten segments of The Silmarillion or The Book of Lost Tales that have somehow not been covered by Amazon’s megabudget Rings of Power TV show? Perhaps an action adventure based on Farmer Giles of Ham?

Published: March 26, 2026, 2:23 pm

Miroslav Vitous: Mountain Call review | John Fordham's jazz album of the month

(ECM)
Jack DeJohnette and Michel Portal – both of whom died recently – are phenomenal foils for the Weather Report alumnus’s classical-influenced jazz

Czech double bass virtuoso and composer Miroslav Vitous must by now have shrugged off any residual irritation about the oft-circulated fact that he was a founding member of the legendary jazz-rock fusion band Weather Report in 1970. Vitous’s dislike of the band’s drift away from improv toward electric music and popular global funk saw him leave as their star was rising. His CV would turn out just fine: Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Jan Garbarek, John Surman and Jack DeJohnette were among his many classy playing partners. Seven years in the making, with Vitous now 78, Mountain Call reflects a lifetime’s immersion in classical music alongside jazz, and the balance of spontaneity, nuance and cinematic atmospherics that offered him.

Across multiple improv dialogues and two suites (all short, Vitous being no fan of loquacity), the set prominently features DeJohnette, who died in October, with Esperanza Spalding, saxophonist Bob Mintzer and the phenomenal French clarinettist Michel Portal, who died in February. Eight duo tracks for Vitous and Portal (mostly all-improvised) are worth the album alone, for their ever-shifting mix of mellow lyricism and challenging curiosity. In four improvisations on a standard clarinet, Portal segues graceful swoops, plaintive queries and staccato punctuation against Vitous’s turbulent undercurrent of muscular plucked runs and percussive accents. On bass clarinet, the Frenchman sweeps from resonant deep sounds to breathtaking glissando ascents hurtling to the upper register.

Published: March 27, 2026, 9:00 am

Mendelssohn: Symphonies and Oratorios album review – Andris Nelsons’ prodigious talent on full display

Gewandhaus Orchestra/Nelsons/Schuen/Zeppenfeld
(Deutsche Grammophon)
The Latvian conductor finds dynamic light and shade in seven discs’ worth of special performances with an orchestra once led by the composer himself

Andris Nelsons’ tenure may have been prematurely terminated in Boston, but this handsome box set with his other ensemble, the venerable Gewandhaus Orchestra, is proof positive of the Latvian conductor’s prodigious talent. Of course, Mendelssohn is in the orchestra’s DNA – after all, the composer held the reins in Leipzig from 1835 until his death in 1847 – but these performances, especially of the five symphonies, are pretty special.

Recorded live between 2021 and 2024, tempi are brisk, though never rushed. It’s the phrasing, elastic and full of dynamic light and shade, that brings these accounts to life. Listen to the ultra-lithe opening movement of the Italian Symphony, or the filigree woodwind in the Scottish Symphony’s scherzo. In Nelsons’ hands, the First Symphony – often the Cinderella of the set – takes its place alongside its more colourful cousins.

Published: March 27, 2026, 8:00 am

Paul McCartney: Days We Left Behind review – this wistful, lovely song is as McCartney-esque as it’s possible to be

(MPL/Capitol)
This nostalgic new single suggests a convincing mature style, without the unnecessary straining for relevance that marred some recent solo releases

• Paul McCartney announces 18th solo album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane

At 83, Paul McCartney remains one of rock’s most dependable arena-fillers, still packing out multiple nights in the biggest venues of whichever country he chooses to visit. But his recent solo albums have proved a decidedly mixed bag. There are always lovely songs that only Paul McCartney could have written: Seize the Day, Hosanna and I Don’t Know all offered compelling evidence that the extraordinary melodic instincts of the Most Successful Songwriter in the History of Popular Music were entirely intact as he stared down his ninth decade.

But they coexisted alongside ungainly lurches for contemporaneity that you rather wish he had left out: thumpy post-Mumford folk on 2013’s Everybody Out There; what appeared to be a Queens of the Stone Age pastiche in the shape of 2020’s Slidin’; a dreadful collaboration with pop songwriter for hire Ryan Tedder called Fuh You that even its co-author seemed to have misgivings about. “This doesn’t amount to anything – y’know, I wrote Eleanor Rigby,” he protested, which was a fair point but raised the question of how it still made the tracklisting of 2018’s Egypt Station.

Published: March 26, 2026, 3:00 pm

You saw me standin’ alone: songs about the moon – ranked!

As the Artemis II crew prepare for the first moon mission since 1972, we select the best songs about our lunar neighbour, from Ella Fitzgerald’s romance to Gil Scott-Heron’s social commentary

This tribute to comedian Andy Kaufman came at the height of REM’s superstardom, but it’s a typically elliptical song that defies easy analysis, the chorus seeming to compare the moon landing conspiracy theories with claims Kaufman faked his own death. Its bassline recalls another lunar classic, The Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen.

Published: March 26, 2026, 1:00 pm

Benjamin Wood: ‘John Fowles’s The Magus was so frustrating I threw it at the wall’

The author on the Steinbeck novel that moved him to tears, how becoming a father inspired him to reread Marilynne Robinson, and the culinary comforts of James M Cain

My earliest reading memory
When I was eight, my mother bought me Stanley Bagshaw and the Short-sighted Football Trainer by Bob Wilson. I grew up thinking he was the same Bob Wilson who played in goal for Arsenal and presented sport on ITV. That wasn’t true, but it has never dampened my appreciation of this brilliant rhyming picture book, which ought to be reissued to inspire more kids to read. My sons adore it.

My favourite book growing up
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck had a profound effect on me in secondary school. I was amazed by how vividly a writer could evoke a landscape in words. It was also the first novel that moved me to tears, and stories that can do that will always stay dear to me.

Published: March 27, 2026, 10:00 am

Daunting, inspiring, comforting, terrifying: the writers who can make silence as eloquent as words

From the hush of medieval lullabies to striking poems about Grenfell, great authors know how to deploy the power of silence

On a snowy Sunday morning in February 1808, the poet William Wordsworth was walking along Fleet Street in London. He’d just been to visit his friend, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in his lodgings on the Strand. Coleridge was at a low ebb: stuck in an unhappy marriage, weighed down by perennial financial difficulties, mentally blocked from writing, in poor health and addicted to opium. The visit had a lowering effect on Wordsworth’s own spirits. Walking along Fleet Street, eyes downcast, “ear sleeping”, feet moving automatically, he was absorbed in sombre thoughts.

But then something made him look up. A vision lay before him: Fleet Street blanketed with snow, “silent, empty, pure white”, and, at the end of it, the “huge and majestic form” of Saint Paul’s Cathedral. It was a spellbinding moment: the great thoroughfare temporarily devoid of carts and carriages, the cathedral looming blurrily out of the still-falling snowflakes – a real-life snow globe. “I cannot say how much I was affected at this unthought-of sight,” Wordsworth told his friend and patron, Sir George Beaumont, in a letter he wrote a few days later. “What a blessing I feel there is in habits of exalted imagination.” The great London silence was another piece in his accumulating pile of evidence that intuiting something beyond yourself is the route to becoming morally magnificent.

Published: March 26, 2026, 2:25 pm

Love Lane by Patrick Gale review – a homecoming tale with echoes of Brokeback Mountain

This kindly and companionable story of a man returning to 50s England after living in Canada offers a colourful evocation of the times

Towards the end of Love Lane, elderly protagonist Harry Cane becomes a figure of twinkly-eyed mischief. Gossiping with his granddaughter Pip, he advises her that “people without secrets … are like people with very tidy houses: usually not worth knowing”.

Dangerously buried secrets are very much the order of the day in Patrick Gale’s 18th novel. We start as we mean to go on: Love Lane opens with a recounting of the clandestine relationship between widower Harry and his bachelor brother-in-law Paul Slaymaker, Englishmen who separately emigrated to Canada around the turn of the last century. We first meet them as homesteaders in the unforgiving Saskatchewan wilds; Gale aficionados who encountered Cane in 2015’s A Place Called Winter remember the dark cloud of scandal that hastened his departure from Britain. The “steady tenderness” between Harry and Paul, which is passingly reminiscent of Annie Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain, gives the men succour as their neighbouring farms weather the bitter economic vicissitudes of the 1920s and 30s, but their wordlessly powerful bond is for ever altered by the arrival of Dimpy, a woman down on her luck, and her hard-hearted son, Davy.

Published: March 27, 2026, 9:00 am

Permanence by Sophie Mackintosh review – high-concept adultery fable

Unfaithful lovers escape to an uncanny alternate world, in this compelling allegory for infidelity and desire

Sophie Mackintosh has established a reputation for speculative literary fiction about young women’s desires and suffering at the hands of men. Her new novel, Permanence, is less plainly political than earlier work, concerned more with allegories of desire than oppression.

The novel begins in an uncanny hotel, where Clara wakes beside her lover, Francis. Clara works desultorily in an art gallery and shares a flat with a friend. Francis is an academic, an art historian married to a lawyer, the father of a toddler, but on this day he and Clara find themselves in a parallel world in which adulterous couples live in what seems at first to be a permanent holiday. The realised fantasy is bourgeois, north European: a cobbled old city where the sun always shines and there are many restaurants with clean tablecloths and good wine. There are parks full of perpetually blooming flowers, old stone fountains; markets offering ripe tomatoes, olive oil and bread; scented soap in clean bathrooms, and nothing for Clara and Francis to do but make love, bathe, eat, drink and stroll the charming streets. Clara finds pretty dresses, girlish pale blue silk and yellow cotton, awaiting her in the wardrobe, her favourite books beside the bed.

Published: March 26, 2026, 7:00 am

Stop the world, I want to get off and run a video rental store in the 1990s | Dominik Diamond

Retail sims aren’t my thing, but the tactile, nostalgic pleasures of hit indie title Retro Rewind have me yearning for the era of physical media, smoking indoors and uncomplicated geopolitics

It’s early doors, but 2026 may be the biggest bin fire of a year in my lifetime. Wars starting, then ending, then starting again in the course of a week. People running their cars on hopes and dreams because a tank of petrol costs more than the vehicle. Manospheric morons making millions. Several depressing celebrity deaths before I’ve so much as eaten my first Creme Egg of the year.

I had no idea that the antidote to my anxiety and rage would be a cheap little title, made by two French blokes, in what I usually regard as the most turgid gaming genre. Retro Rewind is the moment’s indie darling, selling more than 100,000 copies on Steam in a week. In it, you run a video rental shop in the 90s. You need to buy videos. Display them well. Drop flyers. Serve your customers. Buy more stuff. It’s no different from any other retail sim out there, and I normally shun them because I play video games to escape the boring world of work and into an exciting one of dragons, aliens, and being brilliant at sports.

Published: March 27, 2026, 10:00 am

C-3PO head used in Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back sells for more than $1m at auction

Memorabilia from Jaws, Cast Away and The Lord of The Rings also went under the hammer

A light-up C-3PO head used in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back has fetched more than US$1m at an auction.

The prop was part of a collection of film and TV memorabilia that went under the hammer on Wednesday as part of the Spring Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction at Propstore auction house in Los Angeles.

Published: March 26, 2026, 11:36 pm

Halle Bailey: ‘It’s a vulnerable place to be – a young woman cast as a Disney princess’

The singer and Little Mermaid star answers your questions on ‘cool auntie’ Beyoncé, Bridgerton – and being confused for Halle Berry

After your experience in two major romance projects – The Little Mermaid and You, Me & Tuscany – how do you know if you’ve found the right Prince Charming? EmmaTseng
I think each character has a different version of their Prince Charming. For Ariel, I love that she wasn’t all about looking for a prince and that she only went above water because she was curious for life and her future. Anna, my character in You, Me & Tuscany, is also going after her own heart with her impulsive decisions, because you only live once. Both characters are bold and headstrong, and when they stumble upon their Prince Charmings – who are reassuring and affirming and bring out the best in them – it’s just the cherry on top.

Your You, Me & Tuscany co-star Regé-Jean Page plays the Duke of Hastings in Bridgerton. Did his English charm rub off on you? And if you could be any character in Bridgerton, who would it be? MrSOBaldrick
Regé is so funny. He’s such a warm, kind-hearted guy. I feel his English accent really comes out now that we’re here in London. When we’re in my home – LA – it goes in and out. I hope some of his English charm rubbed off on me. I love Bridgerton, yes. I would want to be the queen, because she is amazing, gets to choose the diamond of the season, matchmake and watch people fall in love.

Published: March 26, 2026, 2:00 pm

Protect ya neck! Wu-Tang Clan as they’ve never been seen before – in pictures

Eddie Otchere spent 10 years photographing the New York hip-hop stars and other musicians. Here are the highlights of his thrilling new photozine

Published: March 26, 2026, 7:00 am

Seth Meyers on Donald Trump’s ‘present’ from Iran: ‘Is the president getting catfished?’

Late-night hosts discussed Trump’s hypocrisy over mail-in voting and his insistence that the US is not actually at war

Late-night hosts speculated on Donald Trump’s mystery “present” from Iran, as well as his delusions about a war he claims the US is not in.

Published: March 26, 2026, 2:27 pm

‘She broke the rules, fearlessly’: exhibition explores Vivienne Westwood’s revolutionary work

Show draws almost entirely from collection of Lancashire schoolteacher Peter Smithson, a fan since he was 10

Peter Smithson’s wife, Belise, has never minded when he receives a corset from Japan or a pair of fur-trimmed knickers and they are not for her.

“No, she’s never seen it as strange,” said Smithson, a chemistry teacher and Vivienne Westwood supercollector. “She has never judged it. She gets it. She knows it is part and parcel of who I am.”

Published: March 27, 2026, 6:00 am

Would you use cadaver fat for a boob job or butt lift? Some people already do

Cadaver fat from organ and tissue donors is being used for cosmetic procedures – and yup, it’s legal in the US, writes advice columnist Jessica DeFino

Hi Ugly,

I recently became aware of new cosmetic injectables derived from cadaver fat – as in, made of dead people. Apparently the fat is harvested from organ and tissue donors and used for procedures like Brazilian butt lifts and boob jobs.

Why is this column called ‘Ask Ugly’?

How should I be styling my pubic hair?

How do I deal with imperfection?

My father had plastic surgery. Now he wants me and my mother to get work done

Published: March 26, 2026, 4:00 pm

This little triangle scarf is suddenly everywhere. Here’s how to wear it

The humble triangle scarf is spring’s easiest outfit upgrade. Here are six ways to style one – including as a belt and a bonnet

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

It’s a bonnet. It’s a belt. It’s a bandana. Actually, it’s a triangle scarf.

Gen Z has officially ditched the classic long scarf, opting for a smaller style beloved by celebrities like Zoë Kravitz and trendy corporate gals alike.

Published: March 26, 2026, 7:17 pm

I asked AI about God. It asked me about myself instead

In week four of Rhik Samadder’s diary, our resident AI skeptic turned to HolyGPT to ask the ultimate question of why we are here

• Sign up for AI for the People, a six-week newsletter course, here

I remember my very first online search, back in 2001: “What is the meaning of life?”

I remember clicking through to a mysterious minimal website that told me all points of consciousness were facets of the divine wishing to perceive itself.

Published: March 26, 2026, 11:00 am

Marriage over, €100,000 down the drain: the AI users whose lives were wrecked by delusion

One minute, Dennis Biesma was playing with a chatbot; the next, he was convinced his sentient friend would make him a fortune. He’s just one of many people who lost control after an AI encounter

Towards the end of 2024, Dennis Biesma decided to check out ChatGPT. The Amsterdam-based IT consultant had just ended a contract early. “I had some time, so I thought: let’s have a look at this new technology everyone is talking about,” he says. “Very quickly, I became fascinated.”

Biesma has asked himself why he was vulnerable to what came next. He was nearing 50. His adult daughter had left home, his wife went out to work and, in his field, the shift since Covid to working from home had left him feeling “a little isolated”. He smoked a bit of cannabis some evenings to “chill”, but had done so for years with no ill effects. He had never experienced a mental illness. Yet within months of downloading ChatGPT, Biesma had sunk €100,000 (about £83,000) into a business startup based on a delusion, been hospitalised three times and tried to kill himself.

Published: March 26, 2026, 10:00 am

You be the judge: should my partner keep his ashtrays outside?

Rita wants Martin’s novelty ashtrays to stay in the garden. He likes to give them pride of place on the shelf. Whose argument is a smokescreen? You decide

• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

Martin says his novelty ashtrays are decor and will spoil in the rain, but ash in our home is gross

I’ve already compromised and cut down on smoking – plus they’re more like collector’s items

Published: March 26, 2026, 8:00 am

When a ​football manager’s ​wardrobe ​says ​more ​than ​his​ tactics

From flannel shirts to herringbone tailoring, Pep Guardiola’s stylistic pivot hint​s at a man renegotiating his identity ​in the twilight of ​his footballing era

• Don’t get Fashion Statement delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

Last Tuesday, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola lost to Real Madrid in a £270 shirt.

The grungy flannel number from the cult Swedish menswear brand Our Legacy was so noteworthy it consumed more post-match oxygen than the news that Manchester City had been dumped out of the Champions League before the quarter-finals. Never mind that Guardiola is beginning to look bereft of ideas for the first time in his career. All anyone cared about was whether he’d hired a stylist.

Published: March 27, 2026, 7:00 am

‘You go in bald and walk out with the best hair you’ve ever had’: the remarkable return of the toupee

Hair transplants have never been more widespread or more affordable. So why do so many balding men prefer glued-on hairpieces? And are the best really undetectable?

When you hear the word toupee, certain images spring to mind. Older men with suspiciously thick hair, say; or a poorly colour-matched partial wig covering a bald patch, perhaps flying off in the wind. These are the toupees of old.

Toupees are distinct from wigs in that they cover only part of the scalp, but both have a long history. While humans were wearing hairpieces as far back as ancient Egypt, toupees originated in the 18th century, the name developing from the French toupet, meaning “tuft of hair”. They became particularly prominent in the mid-20th century, with Time magazine estimating that more than 2.5 million men across the US were wearing toupees by 1970. But concerns about how obvious the pieces were, hammered home by ridicule in popular culture (see Monty Python’s Toupee Department sketch) combined with the gradual acceptance of shaved heads in fashion, led to their decline.

Published: March 26, 2026, 5:00 am

‘Even Beyoncé is still learning’: 10 expert tips on how to become more musical

Listen to an album each morning, pick an easy instrument, don’t be afraid to write bad songs … you’ve got this!

There are many benefits to making music, whether you are one or 100. But how should you approach choosing an instrument to play? And what are the best choices for a complete novice? We asked musicians for advice on how to live a more musical life, at any age.

Published: March 26, 2026, 11:43 am

Country diary: Look again at these unassuming spiky bundles – they’re firestarters | Phil Gates

Deerness Valley, County Durham: Rushes were matches before matches were invented, vital to the rural poor for a little light in the dark. Time to give them a try myself

From a distance, with a little imagination, they look like a prickle of porcupines. Closer, they are spiky clumps of soft-rush Juncus effusus: prolific seed-setters, invaders with relentlessly spreading rhizomes, which seem to creep further across this pasture with every passing year. A native plant revelling in our new climate, after another mild, wet winter tips the struggle for domination of waterlogged grazing land even further in its favour.

Superficially, this is one of the least charismatic members of our native flora, with its bundles of long, olive green, quill-like leaves, but splitting these open reveals hidden beauty. Inside lies pith packed with tiny silver star-shaped cells, with their rays joined at their tips, forming a three-dimensional lattice: Stellate parenchyma in botanical parlance.

Published: March 27, 2026, 5:30 am

From basil to pistachio and peas – in praise of pesto, whichever way you make it

Whether on pasta or pizza, in soup or even in a tart, this classic Italian sauce is one of your most versatile ingredients

• Sign up here for our weekly food newsletter, Feast

It was not without satisfaction that I found my 14-year-old son making pesto the other week – for the first 13 years of his life he referred to it as either “pesto-the-bogey-man”, or “gross”. To avoid interfering and sabotaging the moment, I didn’t look too closely, so I didn’t clock the shallow bowl and immersion blender combination. I did hear the noise – a blunt churn – as the blade hit the leaves and nuts. Acting more like a leaf blower than cutter, it sent green and white oily fragments up the cupboards and over pretty much every pot, utensil and tool nearby. Impressively unfazed, he managed to scrape a good proportion of the elements into the food processor and make an extremely tasty pesto, which was mixed with linguine, green beans and potatoes. Less effective was his clearing up (mine too, for that matter), and I am still finding dried green flecks stuck to slotted spoons.

Like mash and crumble, the word pesto comes from an action, in this case pestare, which means to pound or bash repeatedly with a pestle. In much the same way, though, that mash was wedded to potato, and crumble set up home and had kids with apples, pesto came to be associated with basil, pine nuts, pecorino, garlic and olive oil. This happy combination of ingredients occurred in Genoa, in the region of Liguria, hence the name pesto alla Genovese. Such was its popularity, that the pounded sauce joined Cher, Prince and Sade in becoming a one-name celebrity. It is so beloved that some fans have suggested that other pestos are impostors.

Published: March 26, 2026, 12:45 pm

‘It’s like having a friend everywhere you travel’: after 12 home exchanges, I’ll never book a hotel again

The Which? travel editor on the unexpected joys and considerable savings of house swapping. Plus top tips on how to do it

Imagine cutting the cost of accommodation on your next holiday to about £5 a day. You can have a whole house, rather than just a bedroom. And you can go almost anywhere in the world and stay as long as you like, within reason. Welcome to house swapping.

You’re sceptical, I know. I was, too. Our terrace house was too small. Too overflowing with stuff. The 1980s kitchen was too old (and battered). We aren’t in a nice enough neighbourhood. Who would want to stay here? Lots of people, it turned out.

Published: March 26, 2026, 7:00 am

Immigrant trucker returns to war-torn Ukraine rather than risk ICE encounter: ‘I preferred going back home’

New federal restrictions threaten licenses for noncitizen truckers, including Ukrainians who fled Russia’s invasion

Karina Krainova, who worked as a trucker in the US after fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where she is from, rushed to the closest motor vehicle’s office last fall, just days after the US transportation department tightened commercial driver’s license requirements for immigrant drivers like her.

She was already afraid of being deported back to Ukraine as the war rages on. She had entered the United States legally in 2024 under a Biden administration program that granted hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians a safe haven.

Published: March 26, 2026, 2:00 pm

Two salon owners wanted to go zero-waste. Could they do it and keep their business afloat?

Scisters Salon & Apothecary in the San Diego area is committed to sustainable beauty and going low-waste

The first thing you notice when you walk into Scisters Salon & Apothecary is what isn’t there. No wall of glossy plastic bottles promising “repair” or “shine”. No sharp chemical tang or aerosol haze. The only trash can is a tiny basket that mostly collects coffee cups and gum wrappers clients bring from home.

Instead, the shelves of this southern California salon are lined with large refill containers of shampoo and conditioner, houseplants dot the space, hair clippings are swept away for compost, and the air carries a trace of bergamot and vanilla.

Published: March 26, 2026, 3:00 pm

Uruguay faces dilemma from the deep: what to do with a salvaged Nazi eagle?

Sculpture was retrieved from German battleship sunk in 1939 Battle of the River Plate but its future is controversial

The enormous bronze sculpture of an eagle clutching a swastika in its talons spent nearly 70 years lying at the bottom of the River Plate, off the coast of Uruguay.

After being salvaged in 2006, it briefly went on display in the Uruguayan capital – before the government reconsidered the wisdom of granting such prominence to a Nazi emblem, and the eagle was hidden away on a military base.

Published: March 26, 2026, 3:41 pm

Taylor Swift, a cloned sheep and China fashion week: photos of the day – Friday

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

Published: March 27, 2026, 9:59 am