The US may send thousands of troops to Iran. Have we learned nothing from the past? | Moustafa Bayoumi

In 2003, the US claimed its Iraq incursion would be brief. Now there’s competition for the title of worst-planned war in American history

The US-Israel war on Iran is a colossal blunder of world historical proportions. As clear an act of aggression as one can imagine, the war is blatantly illegal, continuing the death blow to international law and norms that began (most recently) with Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.

The war has also been launched with magnificently poor planning, as the United States seems shocked by and unprepared for how Iran uses every means at its disposal to restrict shipping in the strait of Hormuz. And with the massive disruption to the international supply of energy and certain necessary commodities, the global economy is teetering on collapse, with the United States and Israel mortgaging the futures of many poorer nations around the world – especially in Asia and Africa – for their own imperial adventurism.

Published: March 31, 2026, 12:00 pm

The Drama review – Zendaya and Robert Pattinson’s controversial wedding film delivers on its promise

A woman’s confession on the eve of her nuptials causes uproar in this insouciantly offensive provocation from the director of Dream Scenario

• This review contains spoilers

How much of your past should you reveal to your adorable fiance before the big day? Very tricky issues are probably best avoided in the run-up to the ceremony, but can still be recklessly raised by attractively naive young people who assume the worms surely can’t be that big or plentiful – or difficult to get back into the can.

Such a situation is the centre of this contrived but amusing high-concept, high-anxiety movie from Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli; a Euro-satire of American bourgeois aspiration that sets out to discomfit and excruciate in the spirit of Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure or Thomas Vinterberg’s Festen.

Published: March 31, 2026, 10:00 am

Washington state’s ‘historic’ millionaire tax takes aim at super-rich – will it succeed?

As living costs rise, the state where Gates and Bezos made billions is targeting top earners – could other states follow?

Noel Frame knows exactly how difficult it is to raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy, because she has been trying to do just that – first as an activist, then as a state legislator – for the past 15 years. And until recently almost all of her efforts ended in failure.

She lives in Washington, a solid blue state that should, in theory, be hospitable to the idea of more progressive taxation and has plenty of multimillionaires to target, since it is the home of Microsoft, Amazon and an array of other tech-driven corporations. While the wealth of these tech giants has grown exponentially in recent decades, the state – which levies no income taxes – has struggled to bring in enough revenue to pay for basic services like public schooling and long-term healthcare.

Published: March 31, 2026, 1:00 pm

Chatting dating, jazz and the Harlem Renaissance: the exclusive supper clubs where Black women nourish community

From DC to Florida, dinner clubs are helping Black women slow down, connect and build lasting sisterhood

Dimmed lights and the honey-like vocals of R&B singers greeted guests at Sost, a restaurant in Washington DC, in late December. Though they entered as strangers, the 11 Black women attendees hugged each other before taking their seats. The ambiance was intimate and soulful, with a sparse table setting in a private room that boasted deep red walls. Crystle Johnson, the founder of Kinory, a dining community for Black women, led the group in a moment of silent meditation.

As an icebreaker, everyone shared who they were without talking about their profession. They laughed at each other’s responses over bowls of jollof rice and chicken, a black eyed peas salad and sweet potato fritters. Johnson posed questions that she pulled from a deck of cards during the three courses. One of the cards read: “What’s something you’ve had to unlearn – a belief, habit, or fear – to live more freely?”

Published: March 31, 2026, 3:02 pm

Trump is flailing in Iran. Every word he says adds to the muddle | Ted Widmer

A wartime leader’s words are critically important. But Trump, contradicting himself and denying reality, is no Churchill

During a White House ceremony on 9 April 1963, then president John F Kennedy bestowed honorary citizenship on former prime minister Winston Churchill, remembering how effectively Churchill inspired millions with his words during the second world war. As Kennedy put it, Churchill “mobilized the English language and sent it into battle”.

The same cannot be said of Kennedy’s successor Donald Trump. Their names may be awkwardly conjoined atop the shuttered Kennedy Center, but the comparison ends there. Kennedy, like Churchill, spoke effectively, with great attention to the facts, particularly during the Cuban missile crisis, when the world’s leaders hung on every phrase and participle spoken by the leader of the free world.

Published: March 31, 2026, 11:00 am

‘Death hunted him since he was a kid’: how Lamar Odom survived to become a villain in his own tale

A new documentary charts the tragic events that led to the former NBA star overdosing in a Nevada brothel – and what came next

There’s a version of the Lamar Odom story that ends in a Nevada brothel. It’s not hard to imagine the grand finale – the TMZ bulletin relating his fatal drug overdose, followed by emotional tributes to what was lost: a radical basketball prodigy of the New York tradition, a two-time NBA champion with the Kobe Bryant Lakers, a glittering career that spanned coasts and eras before caving under the weight of addiction. A cautionary tale of incandescent fame, with Odom’s celebrity wife Khloé Kardashian cast as a man-eater to eclipse her more notorious older sister, would have been the epilogue cemented in a thousand think pieces.

But by living to tell the tale, Odom has instead become the latest fallen star to prove a core truism of Western mythmaking: heroes who don’t die young are doomed to live long enough to become the villain in their own tale.

Published: March 31, 2026, 12:11 pm

‘Get your own oil’: Trump launches tirade against Europe for not joining Iran war

Many countries in Europe have called the conflict illegal, with some blocking Israeli and US planes from moving weapons through their airspace

Donald Trump has launched a tirade against European countries that refused to join his war against Iran, calling out the United Kingdom and France, as transatlantic relations sour from the spiralling conflict that has wreaked havoc on the global economy.

On his Truth Social website, the US president told governments worried about fuel prices to “go get your own oil” by force from the Gulf, comments that sent oil prices soaring even higher.

Published: March 31, 2026, 5:06 pm

Israel vows to occupy large parts of southern Lebanon to expand buffer zone

Plans would prevent the return of hundreds of thousands of residents

• Middle East crisis live – latest updates

Israel said on Tuesday that it will occupy wide swathes of south Lebanon and destroy the homes along the border to prevent the return of some 600,000 residents, prompting concerns of long-term forced displacement.

Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said that it will occupy the area under the Litani River, some 19 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border, as part of its so-called buffer zone inside southern Lebanon when fighting with Hezbollah ends.

Published: March 31, 2026, 4:10 pm

US average fuel price passes $4 a gallon for first time in four years amid Iran war

National average hit $4.02, according to AAA data, capping an extraordinary rise from $2.98 just a month ago

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Average US fuel prices have exceeded $4 a gallon for the first time in four years, piling pressure on drivers as Donald Trump’s war on Iran continues to boost oil markets.

The nationwide average climbed to almost $4.02 on Tuesday, according to AAA data, capping an extraordinary rise from $2.98 just a month ago. The fuel price last reached this high in August 2022.

Published: March 31, 2026, 1:23 pm

‘Discriminatory’ Israeli death penalty law would be war crime, says UN rights chief

Volker Türk says bill, which applies to Palestinians convicted of terror charges but not Jewish extremists, ‘must be promptly repealed’

A new Israeli law which would sanction the execution of Palestinians convicted on terror charges for deadly attacks, but not Jewish extremists accused of similar crimes, would constitute a war crime if enacted, according to one of the UN’s most senior human rights officials.

Speaking amid mounting international condemnation of the bill, the UN’s high commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, described the law as “patently inconsistent with Israel’s international law obligations, including in relation to the right to life,” adding it “raises serious concerns about due process violations, is deeply discriminatory, and must be promptly repealed”.

Published: March 31, 2026, 5:15 pm

TMZ tracks US lawmakers vacationing amid the partial government shutdown

Tabloid outlet has covered Republicans and Democrats relaxing at places like Disney World as shutdown drags on

When US federal workers were missing paychecks and the partial government shutdown entered its seventh week, Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, was doing what any responsible lawmaker would do: riding Space Mountain and carrying a bubble wand at Disney World in Florida.

Naturally, TMZ had photos of the vacationing senator on its homepage a few days later.

Published: March 31, 2026, 5:06 pm

Charlie Kirk bullet analysis finds no conclusive link to rifle found near scene

Tyler Robinson’s defense team may try to use analysis to clear him of blame, as prosecutors aim to show there’s enough evidence to proceed with trial

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An analysis from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive (ATF) could not conclusively connect a bullet fragment recovered during Charlie Kirk’s autopsy to the rifle found near the scene of the rightwing political activist’s killing – and the FBI is running additional tests, lawyers for Kirk’s accused murderer said in recent court filings.

In the court filings, Tyler Robinson’s defense team also asked for a delay to a preliminary hearing scheduled in May, saying they need time to review the bullet analysis as well as an enormous amount of other material that could contribute to the suspect’s defense.

Published: March 31, 2026, 12:36 pm

US supreme court rules against Colorado ban on ‘conversion therapy’

Court in 8-1 decision sides with Christian counselor who argues law banning the practice violates first amendment

The US supreme court on Tuesday ruled against a law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ children in Colorado, one of about two dozen states that ban the discredited practice.

An 8-1 high court majority sided with a Christian counselor who argued the law banning “conversion therapy” violates the first amendment. The justices agreed that the law raises free speech concerns and sent it back to a lower court to decide if it meets a legal standard that few laws pass.

Published: March 31, 2026, 2:35 pm

Plans for gaudy Trump presidential library in Miami spark ridicule

Video posted on social media depicts a rendering of the proposed 50-storey gargantuan structure decked in gold

In a city of respected art deco buildings, ridicule is being heaped on the latest structure proposed for Miami’s skyline: the Donald J Trump presidential library, unveiled in ambitious plans posted to social media on Monday night.

A 1 minute 40 second video tour of the proposed gargantuan structure revealed it will be decked, almost inevitably, in Trump’s trademark gold, including a giant statue of him, and will feature Air Force One, the $400m Boeing “flying palace” gifted to him by Qatar, in its cavernous lobby.

Published: March 31, 2026, 3:39 pm

Tiger Woods says looking at his phone led to Florida rollover crash

• Deputies cite signs of impairment in affidavit

• Hydrocodone pills found in pocket after arrest

Tiger Woods told authorities he was looking down at his phone and changing the radio station before his rollover crash last week in Florida, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The 50-year-old golf star was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence on Friday afternoon after his Land Rover clipped a truck and rolled on to its side near his home on Jupiter Island.

Published: March 31, 2026, 2:54 pm

Human remains found on California beach in 2022 identified as missing man

DNA testing confirmed bones found on Salmon Creek beach belonged to Walter Karl Kinney, a man last seen in 1999

Human remains discovered in the summer of 2022 on a beach in California recently were identified as those of a former banker who disappeared in 1999.

The DNA Doe Project (DDP) on Thursday announced that bones found on Salmon Creek state beach in northern California in June 2022 – by a family searching for seashells – belonged to 59-year-old Walter Karl Kinney, a former banker who lived in nearby Santa Rosa.

Published: March 31, 2026, 4:18 pm

The New York Times drops freelance journalist who used AI to write book review

Writer and author Alex Preston said he “made a serious mistake” after a reader spotted similarities between his review and one that appeared in the Guardian

The New York Times has cut ties with a freelance journalist after discovering he used artificial intelligence to help write a book review that echoed elements of a review of the same book in the Guardian.

It came after a New York Times reader flagged similarities between the paper’s January review of Watching Over Her by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, written by author and journalist Alex Preston, and an August review of the same book written by Christobel Kent in the Guardian.

Published: March 31, 2026, 2:45 pm

Bosnia and Herzegovina v Italy: World Cup playoff – live

⚽️ Updates from this 7.45pm BST KO at the Bilino Polje Stadium
⚽️ Tonight’s live scores | Email Scott

Bosnia and Herzegovina coach Sergej Barbarez makes one change to the side that started in Cardiff, replacing Benjamin Tahirović with Ivan Bašić in midfield. Sead Kolašinac, an injury concern after picking up a knock, starts in defence. Former Manchester City striker Edin Džeko, 40, leads their attack.

Italy boss Gennaro Gattuso names exactly the same starting XI. He’ll be keeping his fingers crossed that Sandro Tonali, who will set the tone in midfield, can last the full 90.

Published: March 31, 2026, 6:03 pm

‘This feels fragile’: how a satellite-smashing chain reaction could spiral out of control

Today, the space around Earth can no longer be considered empty. More than 30,000 objects are in orbit, and that figure is rising exponentially

Some reports suggest that by the end of this decade there could more than 60,000 active satellites in space. Launch by launch, what began with a handful of scientific and military spacecraft has accelerated into a constant flow of objects, publicly and privately owned, placed into different orbital lanes, each serving a variety of purposes.

There is now a diverse collection of satellites spinning around the globe, ​including communication​ and weather ​satellites​, navigation satellites and Earth observation technology that takes images of the surface.

Published: March 31, 2026, 10:15 am

Death penalty for Palestinians approved in Israel | The Latest

Israel’s parliament has passed a law imposing the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of fatal attacks – a measure sharply criticised as discriminatory by European countries and human rights groups. After the law passed, the Knesset erupted into cheers and the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, brandished a bottle in celebration. The law has been decried as 'an act of institutionalised discrimination and racist violence against Palestinians' by Israel’s leading rights group. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s deputy head of international news, Devika Bhat

Published: March 31, 2026, 5:37 pm

Landmark losses for Meta and YouTube as big tech misses point

Zuckerberg company sought to insist social media addiction is not real – jurors found it liable regardless

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, US tech editor for the Guardian. I’m hoping futilely for warm spring weather in New York City, but while it’s still cold, I’m sitting inside and reading The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. Published in 2010 and a finalist for the Pulitzer prize, the book is a fascinating record of our anxieties about technology at a time when the iPhone was just three years old and Facebook was just six. Google Chrome had debuted two years prior, and I think I was using Mozilla Firefox as my main browser. Stay tuned for a fuller analysis once I finish, but my early impression is that Carr’s observations have stood the test of time.

This week in tech, we’re discussing one major topic: two landmark cases against Meta and YouTube over social media addiction. Whether social media is clinically addictive or not, the liability for it has been determined.

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

The Guardian view on social media in the dock: tech bros move fast – society is trying to catch up

How Meta’s victim-blaming failed to sway jurors in landmark social media addiction trial | Technology

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

Keep under-fives’ screen time to no more than an hour a day, UK advice says

Wikipedia bans AI-generated content in its online encyclopedia

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

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

Published: March 31, 2026, 3:58 pm

The jobs AI can’t do – and the young adults doing them

For many young people entering the workforce, the stigma of hands-on jobs is fading. There a competitive appeal – and they all require human expertise

Gib and Michelle Mouser are proud of their son’s career – just not in the way they once imagined.

Only 23 years old, Cale Mouser already earns well over six figures, and he’ll end up making substantially more. He is an acknowledged expert in a highly specialized field who spends hours in deep thought solving hard problems. He uses a computer, but he’s not stuck behind it.

Published: March 31, 2026, 4:13 pm

The reckoning over Cesar Chavez signals the perils of building a movement around a single leader

The conflation of Chavez’s image with the fight for farm worker rights is partly because most books on the movement have been written by white people

In the wake of explosive allegations that the famed labor leader Cesar Chavez sexually abused women and girls from the 1960s to the 1980s, rebukes from elected officials have invoked one phrase more than others: that the farm worker movement “was more than one man”.

But Chavez, who organized farm workers and fought for Latino civil rights, has often eclipsed the movement he galvanized. Dozens of public spaces bear his name, and a federal commemorative holiday was created to celebrate his birthday on 31 March. As legislators in California, Texas and Arizona began painting over murals and renaming the streets, schools and a state holiday dedicated to the late union organizer, Latino leaders and historians are grappling with Chavez’s tarnished legacy and the perils of building a cause around a single person.

Published: March 31, 2026, 1:07 pm

Dan Hurley’s ‘head-butt’ showed Black coaches aren’t given the same grace as white coaches

An incident at the end of the Duke-UConn game reminded Black people of something we already know: we’re treated differently in America

The UConn-Duke game on Sunday night was one for the ages. A last-second game winner from freshman Braylon Mullins took down the top-seeded Blue Devils, who at one point had led by 19 points. It is a moment that will be replayed over and over for years to come.

However, something strange happened after Mullins’s shot. UConn’s head coach Dan Hurley approached referee Roger Ayers and touched foreheads with the official while glaring into his eyes. It wasn’t quite the “head-butt” some called it on social media but it was an eye-catching scene. For his part, Ayers told ESPN the incident was “absolutely nothing” but it wouldn’t have been unusual for Hurley to be given a technical foul, which would have given Duke free throws and a chance to win the game with 0.4 seconds left.

Published: March 31, 2026, 4:22 pm

Love on the Spectrum proves that we still crave wholesome reality TV

A new season of Netflix’s dating show about neurodivergent singletons is a welcome antidote to grim reality TV headlines

Logan is a big fan of Hannah Montana and Spongebob Squarepants. He loves model trains and watches videos of them crashing, because that way he knows that no one was hurt. His favourite dessert is cheesecake. These are touchingly pure interests from a 25-year-old man who lives in the hedonistic capital of Las Vegas. “I describe myself as trying to be well-groomed, very patient, not lazy and always punctual,” he says. “Classy, fancy, romantic – wait, romantic? Is that the word?”

Logan is one of the new participants on Netflix’s Love on the Spectrum, a series that follows a group of neurodivergent young people as they search for a romantic connection, which returns this week for its fourth season. Unlike other dating shows, such as Love Is Blind and Love Island, the stars of this show don’t seem to be motivated by fame and the promise of a Boohoo discount code in their name. In fact, Love on the Spectrum is the antidote to the reality TV of today, which often revolves around controversy and conflict. Watching these young people and their families navigate their search for love isn’t merely wholesome, it makes for life-affirming TV.

Published: March 31, 2026, 10:00 am

Jon Stewart on Trump: less war leader, more ‘grandpa who’s lost his filter’

Late-night hosts discuss Trump’s refusal to focus on the war while the country suffers, and the No Kings protests

Late-night hosts checked in on Donald Trump’s costly “improv” war in Iran, which he cannot seem to focus on for more than one minute.

Published: March 31, 2026, 3:37 pm

MacBook Neo review: the budget Apple laptop powered by an iPhone chip

Snappy performance, high-quality screen, best-in-class keyboard and trackpad show cheaper can still be great

Apple’s brand new entry-level laptop is powered by the chip from an iPhone and offers more than just the essential MacBook experience for a great price, putting the PC industry on notice.

The MacBook Neo is the first of its kind from Apple. A 13in laptop that runs on an A18 Pro chip and brings the starting price for a brand new MacBook down to £599 (€699/$599/A$899) – £500 or the equivalent less than the MacBook Air.

Published: March 31, 2026, 6:00 am

The Save Act must be defeated. But it’s just one step in the fight to protect American voting | Austin Sarat

As the US midterms approach, Americans must take action to shield democracy from Donald Trump’s assault

Donald Trump is going all out to pressure the Senate to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which he insists on calling the Save America Act. On 8 March, he posted on Truth Social: “It supersedes everything else. MUST GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE. I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed … MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. & PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP: NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY - ILLNESS, DISABILITY, TRAVEL … ”

The New York Times reports that the president “has called the measure his ‘No. 1 priority,’ saying it would ‘guarantee the midterms’ for his party.” He has even asked Senate Republicans to use their majority to end the filibuster and pass the bill.

Published: March 31, 2026, 1:00 pm

We live among statues of lone heroes. But change comes through collective action | Rebecca Solnit

As Cesar Chavez Day becomes Farmworkers Day, we must remember that the hero is the movement

The way we commemorate history is often – too often – by celebrating an individual with a statue, a place name, a holiday. While some have been torn down – statues of Gen Robert E Lee have given way in some parts of the US to statues of Harriet Tubman – Republicans are trying to reverse the shift in statuary. To that end, the Trump administration recently plunked down a Columbus statue on the White House grounds, a replica of one thrown into the harbor in Baltimore in 2020 as the Black Lives Matter protests addressed racism and colonialism.

Still, maybe the age of individual heroes is fading. This year, Jon Wiener, a retired history professor and current Nation magazine editor, nominated Minneapolis for the Nobel peace prize for its residents’ valor and solidarity in opposing ICE and defending their neighbors. The magazine’s editors wrote: “Through countless acts of courage and solidarity, the people of Minneapolis have challenged the culture of fear, hate, and brutality that has gripped the United States and too many other countries. Their nonviolent resistance has captured the imagination of the nation and the world.” The Nobel is a longshot, but the Twin Cities – both Minneapolis and St Paul – got the John F Kennedy Profile in Courage award “for risking their lives to protect their neighbors and immigrant community members ... with extraordinary courage and resolve”.

Published: March 31, 2026, 10:00 am

Including online games in social media bans is unworkable, unnecessary and would harm young people

As calls for restrictions on under-16s’ online activities gather pace, some are urging curbs on online gaming. The idea is a mess from top to bottom

Last week, Meta and YouTube were found liable for creating intentionally addictive products that affected the wellbeing of young social media users. The ruling has supercharged an already growing movement from governments and regulators to restrict or ban social media use for under-16s, as has been done in Australia, to protect children from potential harm.

But there is another way that about 85% of kids and teens congregate online – and that is through video games. It has been suggested that curbs on online gaming should be considered alongside social media restrictions in future legislation. There is some precedent: in 2021, China restricted young people’s online gaming time to one hour a day on weekends and holidays. But I have a lot of questions about how such curbs would work, and whether they should be attempted.

Published: March 31, 2026, 2:50 pm

Petrol more than $4 a gallon? Don’t blame JD Vance! | Arwa Mahdawi

The US vice-president still dreams of succeeding Trump in 2028. No wonder he’s desperate to distance himself from the price rises caused by the war with Iran

Bombing little kids in the Middle East? Whatever. Immigration agents killing US civilians in the street and terrorising local communities? Meh. The Epstein files still not being released in full? Annoying, but there’s probably an explanation. Gas prices blowing past $4 a gallon (80p a litre) because of the war on Iran? An outrage!

There are a lot of things that Maga can forgive the dear leader for, but high fuel prices? In a country addicted to cheap energy, that’s a red line. A month into the reckless and unconscionable war on Iran, Donald Trump’s popularity is sinking. According to a national poll by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the president’s approval rating has fallen to 33%, the lowest during his second term. His base is still behind him, but if gas prices keep rising, along with the cost of everything else, even it could turn.

The assault on freedom with Mehdi Hasan and Arwa Mahdawi
On Monday 8 June, join Mehdi Hasan and Arwa Mahdawi to discuss the current seismic changes in geopolitics, the alarming rise of populism and nationalism, and its global implications. Live in London and livestreamed worldwide. Book tickets here or at guardian.live

Published: March 31, 2026, 11:50 am

Injectable peptides are touted online as a ‘glow up potion’. Here’s why experts warn against unapproved use | Antiviral

Claims of benefits have been amplified by the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr. How does the evidence actually stack up?

• Read more in the Antiviral series

Influencers are telling their audiences that injectable peptides are the “glow up potion” they need for everything from clearing up hormonal acne, thickening hair, relieving back pain and even treating chronic UTIs.

These peptides, intended for research purposes (as some influencers do point out) and not approved for human use, are being increasingly sold through unregulated online channels.

Published: March 31, 2026, 2:00 pm

Viktor Orbán has the support of both Russia and the US. Here’s why that doesn’t seem to be doing him any good | Péter Krekó

In Hungary, the Iran war is exposing tensions. On April 12, voters may decide that Orban’s geopolitical contortions are a liability

On 3 March, Viktor Orbán held a phone conversation with Vladimir Putin. According to official Hungarian reporting, the discussion focused on “energy issues” and other routine matters. What followed was anything but routine. Within days, the Hungarian foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, had flown to Moscow, and returned with two freed prisoners of war, dual citizens of Ukraine and Hungary.

Hungary is not part of the military conflict in Ukraine, but the message was unmistakable. With his PoW diplomacy, Putin was not only signalling goodwill towards Hungary, he was effectively endorsing Orbán’s re-election on 12 April.

Péter Krekó is a political scientist, behavioural scientist, and director of the independent thinktank the Political Capital Institute in Budapest

Published: March 31, 2026, 4:00 am

Tottenham confirm Roberto De Zerbi as head coach on five-year contract

• Italian aiming to ‘excite and inspire’ supporters

• No break clause in the event that Spurs are relegated

Tottenham have confirmed the appointment of Roberto De Zerbi as their new head coach. The London club have given him a five-year contract but all eyes are on the remainder of this season as he has been charged with keeping them in the Premier League. Spurs are one point and one place above the relegation zone with seven matches to play – the next of which is at Sunderland on Sunday week. There is no break clause in De Zerbi’s deal in the event that Spurs go down.

“I am delighted to be joining this fantastic football club, which is one of the biggest and most prestigious in the world,” the Italian said. “In all my discussions with the club’s leadership, their ambition for the future has been clear – to build a team capable of reaching great achievements and to do that playing a style of football that excites and inspires our supporters. I am here because I believe in that ambition.”

Published: March 31, 2026, 3:51 pm

Sinner and Sabalenka’s Sunshine Doubles turn up heat on chasing pack

While Jannik Sinner’s duopoly with Carlos Alcaraz looks unbreakable, Aryna Sabalenka is dominating despite a more competitive women’s top 10

“No, I think it’s all an individual sport,” Jannik Sinner says, chuckling quietly, as he reflects on another triumphant fortnight at the Miami Open after his efficient win over Jiri Lehecka. Sinner had been asked whether he was aware that his win meant the maintenance of one of the defining records of this new era of men’s tennis: since the Madrid Open in April 2024, every tournament with Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz present has been won by either player. The duopoly continues.

Unsurprisingly, Sinner was far more focused on what the victory meant to him. By following his Indian Wells triumph with a title in Miami, he secured one of the greatest achievements of his career in the Sunshine Double. He has now won three consecutive Masters 1000 titles and 34 consecutive sets at this level. This was an immense feat, further underlining his enduring dominance over all challengers aside from his great rival, Carlos Alcaraz.

Published: March 31, 2026, 7:00 am

Women’s Final Four on repeat as UConn, UCLA, Texas and South Carolina fight for title

• Champions UConn face South Carolina on Friday

• Bruins will take on Longhorns in other semi-final

The women’s Final Four is on repeat. No 1 seeds UConn, UCLA, Texas and South Carolina are in the Final Four for the second straight season, just the second time the same teams have reached the sport’s final weekend in consecutive years.

Only the matchups and location will be different this time. Reigning national champion UConn will face South Carolina on Friday in Phoenix after playing UCLA last season. The Bruins will take on the Longhorns.

“I don’t think people understand how hard it is to do it,” Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. “I think it bodes well for all of us, but there’s four or five more teams right there nipping at your heels.”

Just not this season – or last. The only other time the same four teams reached consecutive Final Fours was when UConn, Tennessee, Stanford and Georgia did so from 1995-96.

Everyone will be trying to stop the Huskies in this one. UConn have been the standard in women’s college basketball under coach Geno Auriemma. The Huskies have won 12 national championships, played in 25 Final Fours – a record 14 straight from 2008-22 – and have won 1,288 games in 41 seasons under Auriemma.

Published: March 31, 2026, 11:06 am

Infantino says Iran ‘will be at the World Cup’ despite war with United States

• Fifa president made comments at Iran-Costa Rica game

• Infantino says Iran will play games in the US as scheduled

• Iran scheduled to open World Cup in LA on 15 June

The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, told AFP on Tuesday that Iran “will be at the World Cup” and will play their group matches in the United States as scheduled, despite the Middle East war.

“Iran will be at the World Cup,” Infantino said at half-time of Iran’s friendly against Costa Rica in Turkey. “That’s why we’re here. We’re delighted because they’re a very, very strong team, I’m very happy.”

Published: March 31, 2026, 3:11 pm

Don Garber hits back at Egypt executive who warned Salah against MLS move

• Ibrahim Hassan claimed league is ‘out of the spotlight’

• MLS commissioner says Hassan ‘should watch Messi’

In an interview with the Guardian, MLS commissioner Don Garber suggested that the Egyptian soccer executive who urged Mohamed Salah to avoid the league should watch Lionel Messi starring for Inter Miami.

Garber’s comments come after Egypt’s national team director, Ibrahim Hassan, said Salah should stay in Europe when he leaves Liverpool as MLS is “too far out of the spotlight”. Hassan later added that if Salah “does not receive offers from Europe, then a move to the Saudi league would be a good option”.

Published: March 31, 2026, 8:00 am

LA 2028 Olympic organizers say 1m tickets will be available for $28

• Aaround 5% of tickets will cost more than $1,000

• Tickets for general public to go on sale on 9 April

Tickets for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games will go on sale to the general public on 9 April, organizers said on Monday, as LA28 also moved to reassure fans over ticket security by naming a group of verified resale platforms.

A presale for residents in qualifying areas of Los Angeles and Oklahoma City, which will host softball and canoe slalom events, will begin on 2 April.

Published: March 30, 2026, 9:02 pm

Supreme court hearing Mississippi death penalty case over alleged racial jury bias

Doug Evans, a former prosecutor, removed nearly all Black jurors in Terry Pitchford’s 2006 trial, raising legal questions

The supreme court is hearing arguments on Tuesday about racial bias in jury selection in a death penalty case stemming from Mississippi.

Doug Evans, a now-retired prosecutor, removed all but one Black person from a jury that convicted Terry Pitchford of capital murder in 2006. The judge, Joseph Loper, allowed the juror strikes and Mississippi’s supreme court upheld the conviction.

Published: March 31, 2026, 2:48 pm

‘God squad’ waives endangered species law to allow US drilling in Gulf of Mexico

Critics say exemption for fossil fuels exploits White House’s ‘self-made gas crisis’, and could doom the rare Rice’s whale

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A US government panel on Tuesday exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a move which critics say could doom a rare whale species and harm other marine life.

The Endangered Species Committee – which had not convened in more than three decades – voted to approve the request for the ESA exemption at the request of the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.

Published: March 31, 2026, 3:26 pm

ICE agents will screen attenders of Marine Corps graduation ceremonies

Families fear undocumented relatives could be turned away or detained at recruit celebrations in South Carolina

Federal immigration agents will be stationed at Marine Corps graduation events this week, the service has announced, raising fears that undocumented relatives celebrating their loved ones’ achievements will be seized and deported.

The service is presenting the unusual move as a security enhancement for family events over the next few days at the Parris Island Marine Corps recruiting depot in South Carolina.

Published: March 31, 2026, 1:53 pm

Merz criticised after calling for Syrians in Germany to ‘go back’ home

The German chancellor has drawn condemnation from NGOs and members of his own government

Friedrich Merz has drawn condemnation from NGOs and members of his own government after he called for the vast majority of Syrians living in Germany to “go back to their homeland.”

The German chancellor, who was elected last year after promising a tough line on immigration in a bid to beat the far right, made the remarks during a visit to Berlin on Monday by the interim Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Published: March 31, 2026, 5:24 pm

US megachurch pastor released from jail after pleading guilty to child sex abuse

Robert Morris, who started Gateway church, pleaded guilty in October to sexually abusing girl in the 1980s

The founder and former pastor of one of the US’s largest megachurches has been released from an Oklahoma jail six months after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s.

Robert Morris, 64, who started Texas’s Gateway church and also once served as a White House spiritual adviser during Donald Trump’s first presidency, pleaded guilty in early October in Osage county district court on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child.

Published: March 31, 2026, 2:58 pm

Russia slowly trying to splinter its internet from rest of world, analysts say

Telegram is increasingly blocked and mobile internet users face blackouts in effort likened to Iranian shutdowns

Russia is in the midst of a vast, slow-moving effort to splinter its internet from the rest of the world, say activists and experts, with steep consequences for millions of people who are gradually being cut off.

Unlike Iran’s internet shutdowns earlier this year, Russia’s shutdown is a piecemeal and opaque effort. It is defined by escalating mobile internet blackouts across cities and provinces, growing restrictions on certain kinds of traffic, and new blocks on Telegram, a messaging app essential to communication and daily life for most Russians.

Published: March 31, 2026, 11:54 am

Texas student shoots teacher at high school before killing himself

No other injuries were reported after the attack at a small Bulverde campus, where classes were cancelled

A 15-year-old student shot a teacher at a Texas high school and then fatally shot himself on Monday, according to authorities, who were still investigating what led to the early morning attack.

No other injuries were reported at Hill Country college preparatory high school in Bulverde, a small but growing city near San Antonio.

Published: March 31, 2026, 1:45 pm

Founder of ‘orgasmic meditation’ company gets nine years in prison in forced labor conspiracy

Nicole Daedone, co-founder of OneTaste Inc, also ordered to forfeit $12m, and seven victims were awarded restitution

The leader of a sex-focused women’s wellness company that promoted “orgasmic meditation” was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for a scheme that a judge said exploited vulnerable women and coerced them into performing sex acts with the company’s clients and investors.

Nicole Daedone, co-founder of OneTaste Inc, was also ordered to forfeit $12m, and seven victims were awarded roughly $890,000 in restitution, federal prosecutors said.

Published: March 31, 2026, 12:19 pm

‘Our little savior’: partly blind New Mexico dog hailed for warding off bear

‘Bear slayer’ Honey injured during confrontation to protect family and animals from ursine home invader

A half-blind, 12-year-old New Mexico dog is being called “bear slayer” after she fended off an ursine intruder at her family’s home, protecting dozens of chickens and other animals but only narrowly surviving the violent encounter.

As told by her caretakers, the story of Honey demonstrates the extreme loyalty of dogs to their owners.

Published: March 31, 2026, 9:00 am

Deepwater discoveries: scientists find more than 110 new fish and invertebrate species in the Coral Sea

Brittlestars, sea anemones and a catshark among new-to-science species collected during expedition off the Queensland coast

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Marine scientists have discovered more than 110 new fish and invertebrate species in the Coral Sea – a figure they believe could exceed 200 as more are identified.

The species were found in waters between 200 metres and 3km deep in the Coral Sea marine park, Australia’s largest marine protected area, which spans nearly 1m sq km to the east of the Great Barrier Reef.

Published: March 31, 2026, 1:01 pm

Trump’s Iran war and drilling push show ‘dangerous volatility’ of fossil fuel era

Critics say president is locking into 20th-century energy systems even as his ‘bet’ on oil and gas ‘isn’t going so well’

By attacking Iran and threatening to seize its oil while taking extraordinary measures to block clean energy back in the US, Donald Trump has inadvertently highlighted the dangerous volatility of the fossil fuel era, critics say.

The US and Israel’s bombardment of Iran and southern Lebanon has caused a humanitarian and environmental toll, with threats of further escalation set to add to these casualties as well as add more planet-heating emissions and destroy drinking water supplies.

Published: March 31, 2026, 12:00 pm

‘Something out of the ordinary’: why are Japan’s oysters dying en masse?

A death rate of up to 90%, attributed to warming seas, is threatening the trade in Hiroshima prefecture, which produces most of the country’s farmed oysters

The Kure oyster festival is doing a brisk trade in beer and grilled meat on sticks. But the longest queues are in front of the oyster stalls, where chefs shuffle piles of mottled shellfish across griddles, waiting for their hinges to ease and reveal their fleshy interiors.

Nobuyuki Miyaoka, who is attending the festival with his son, daughter-in-law and their young children, likes his oysters steamed with sake and served with a few drops of tangy ponzu sauce. “The local oysters were fine until this year,” he says. “They used to be a lot bigger … look how small they are.”

Chefs prepare oysters at the Kure oyster festival. This year, local businesses and consumers say the shellfish have been scarce and smaller than usual

Published: March 31, 2026, 10:00 am

Vanuatu Indigenous leaders raise concerns over plans to build resort for cruise tourists

Exclusive: Environmental impact assessments are ‘incomplete’, say leaders, and private beach club could harm fragile ecosystems

Indigenous community leaders in Vanuatu have raised concerns over plans by the cruise operator Royal Caribbean to build a private beach club on the island of Lelepa, arguing environmental impact assessments by the company are “incomplete” and “misleading”.

The community leaders outlined the issues in a letter sent to Royal Caribbean on 26 February, which has been seen by the Guardian. The leaders also said the development could harm fragile ecosystems and a nearby Unesco world heritage site.

Published: March 31, 2026, 12:40 am

Army investigates after two helicopters hovered by Kid Rock’s pool as he saluted

Two AH-64 Apache helicopters on training run maneuvered near hillside home of Trump-supporting musician

The army has launched an administrative review after two AH-64 Apache helicopters on a training run hovered near the hillside home of Kid Rock as the outspoken supporter of Donald Trump saluted their crews.

Kid Rock posted two videos on social media on Saturday. Each shows a helicopter hovering alongside his swimming pool while the entertainer claps, salutes and raises his fist in the air. The Nashville skyline can be seen in the background.

Published: March 30, 2026, 9:29 pm

If OpenAI is to float on the stock market this year, it needs to start turning a profit

The poster child of the AI boom, valued at $850bn, needs to show strategic discipline after ‘casting its net too wide’

If OpenAI is going to float this year, it has to get serious about its business model. The wow factor around the US company – the poster child of an AI industry boom that has stoked fears of a stock market bubble – has been long established, but when will the profits come? The party can’t go on for ever.

The developer of ChatGPT is one of the biggest startups in the world and is now valued at $850bn (£645bn). Meanwhile, it is reportedly spending $600bn on infrastructure (the amount it invests in datacentres and chips to power its AI models) by 2030. At least this is a reduction on an initial estimate of $1.4tn.

Published: March 31, 2026, 7:00 am

Ron DeSantis signs bill renaming Palm Beach airport after Donald Trump

If approved, move is latest in series of buildings, warships, institutions, programs and currency named after president

He has buildings, institutions, government programs, warships and currency with his name on it, and now Donald Trump is getting an airport that bears his name even as he looks forward to a towering Trump presidential library in Miami.

Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, signed a bill on Monday directing the Palm Beach international airport to be renamed to the President Donald J Trump international airport.

Published: March 31, 2026, 1:26 am

New York councilmember and Hochul governor aide investigated for bribery

Prosecutors investigate whether Farah Louis and Debbie Louis accepted bribes to help migrant shelter provider

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether a New York City councilmember and her sister, an aide to governor Kathy Hochul, accepted bribes or kickbacks in connection with the appropriation of city funds to a migrant shelter provider, according to a copy of a search warrant obtained by the Associated Press.

The warrant, signed on 19 March, seeks evidence of possible criminal violations involving councilmember Farah Louis, a Brooklyn Democrat, and Debbie Louis, who serves as Hochul’s assistant secretary of New York City intergovernmental affairs.

Published: March 30, 2026, 11:40 pm

Nigel Farage’s biggest problem? Donald Trump

Nearly a quarter of voters cite Reform leader’s support for US president as main reason against voting for his party

By day 31 of the war in the Middle East, Nigel Farage had become somewhat less vocal about the closeness of his relationship with Donald Trump.

“Trying to read what’s really in the minds of people in the White House right at the moment is a mug’s game,” said the MP, as he unveiled his party’s latest “pledge” to cut the cost of living on Tuesday.

Published: March 31, 2026, 5:26 pm

UK sends more troops to Gulf amid Trump jibes over British military role

John Healey says extra deployment is defensive response to ‘expanding threat’ from Iran

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The UK is sending more military support to the Gulf, taking the total deployment to 1,000 troops, amid more jibes from Donald Trump about Britain’s refusal to get involved in offensive operations against Iran.

Speaking from Qatar where he met UK troops, the defence secretary, John Healey, said the extra deployment was in response to an “expanding threat” from Iran.

Published: March 31, 2026, 4:24 pm

Italy denies use of Sicily airbase to US planes carrying weapons for Iran war

Defence ministry says US failed to request authorisation in time for parliament to give approval as required by international treaty

Italy has denied the use of an airbase in Sicily to US military planes carrying weapons for the war in Iran after the US did not follow the required authorisation procedure.

A source at the Italian defence ministry confirmed a report in Corriere della Sera that “some US bombers” had been due to land at Sigonella – one of seven US navy bases in Italy – before heading to the Middle East, but that use of the base had been denied because the US sought authorisation to land only while the aircraft were already en route to Sicily.

Published: March 31, 2026, 1:17 pm

‘There’s no safe place here’: Kuwaiti tanker hit by Iranian drone attack in Dubai port

Dozens of other vessels leave area after drone strike causes fire onboard tanker owned by Kuwait’s state oil company

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• How could US forcibly reopen strait of Hormuz and what are the risks?

When Iran attacked a fully loaded crude oil tanker anchored at Dubai port on Monday night, damaging the vessel’s hull, hundreds of seafarers stranded on tankers anchored nearby were close enough to watch as the vessel burned.

Thousands more were able to listen to radio messages sent from the tanker to port authorities, as the latest strike on a merchant vessel during the US-Israel war on Iran reignited fears for the civilian maritime workers trapped in a war zone.

Published: March 31, 2026, 2:56 pm

Fainting in front of Michael Jackson and feuding with Monica: inside Brandy’s jaw-dropping memoir

The R&B singer’s must-read autobiography candidly describes a life of heady highs and horrific lows

Despite a 30-year-plus discography and a slew of undeniable classics (Sittin’ Up in My Room, The Boy Is Mine, modern R&B blueprint What About Us?) and deep cuts feted by the likes of Solange, Kehlani and Normani, there’s a sense that Brandy, the fan-anointed Vocal Bible, is still underrated. Her vividly told and occasionally harrowing memoir, Phases, co-written alongside Gerrick Kennedy and out on Tuesday, goes some way to explaining why that might be.

As well as detailing her formative years in Mississippi and later California, where she learned her trade singing in church choirs and at youth groups, and later her meteoric rise as a teenage superstar, Phases paints a picture of a young woman whose insecurities were often exposed and abused by others. It also spotlights issues around duty of care in the music industry; in 1999, while nursing an addiction to diet pills, and juggling her role on the hit teen sitcom Moesha with a relentless recording and touring schedule, Brandy suffered a nervous breakdown at the age of just 20.

Published: March 31, 2026, 11:00 am

‘Money! Glamour! Yachts! But not for me!’ Adrian Searle relives 30 glorious years as our chief art critic

He has faced off a fighter jet, ridden a motorised bed and even been a Beano character. As he steps down, the mighty Guardian critic delivers his insights, confesses his crimes and relives his highs

After writing about art at the Guardian for 30 years, I have been asked by my editor to reflect on what I have learned. I am not sure I’m capable of doing that. What I can do is write about what I have seen. Even when you are an eyewitness, things get murky very quickly, and critics are among the most unreliable of narrators.

An unknown woman at a table writes a letter we can’t see, while her maid reacts to something beyond the painted window. We can’t see what she’s smiling at either. How is it that Vermeer’s 1670-71 Woman Writing a Letter, With Her Maid, makes me feel somehow privy to its intimacies when almost everything that matters is withheld? You have to make it up. The stories come barging in, something you can’t quite imagine happening in such an ordered world.

Published: March 31, 2026, 3:13 pm

From the phone to the plex: why TV shows are turning into movies

A successful cinema release for the new Peaky Blinders movie provided marketing opportunities that could lead to a reverse in the stream-first model

In its first three days on Netflix, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man movie racked up more than 25m views – miles ahead of the competition that week. No matter that it had also had a cinema run in the UK, after a grand red carpet premiere at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall on 2 March.

Banijay Entertainment, one of the production companies behind the film, has also launched the official Peaky Blinders shop, an online store selling branded merchandise. Such hoopla highlights how streaming platforms, led by Netflix, are increasingly reversing the traditional content pipeline from the cinema to streaming.

Published: March 31, 2026, 12:28 pm

Ghost Killer review – fantastic karate chopping and gunslinging in in supernatural action-comedy

Top notch choreography features heavily in tale of a student who is inhabited by an assassin’s spirit determined to wreak revenge

On her way home from a bad day at work and a disappointing drinks date with a sleazy social media influencer (Hidenobu Abera), college student and part-time waitress Fumika (Akari Takaishi) finds a bullet casing on a stairway. She unthinkingly picks it up, not realising that her own suppressed rage and need for vengeance will instantly connect her through this object to the ghost of Kudo (Masanori Mimoto), a recently murdered hired assassin with his own load of unresolved emotional issues. Luckily, supernatural happenstance in this action-comedy charmer from Japan will help both of them to grow as people, or in Kudo’s case an ex-person. It turns out that Kudo can inhabit Fumika’s body at will and effectively use her as a karate-chopping, gun-slinging martial arts meat puppet in order to right wrongs, fight bad guys and eventually help him avenge his own murder. Fun!

Star Takaishi and director Kensuke Sonomura have collaborated before on the successful franchise Baby Assassins (wherein Takaishi plays a professional contract killer who poses as a normie, basically the inverse of her character here). Sonomura was the action director for three Baby Assassins features, which might explain that this, his third gig as a main director, feels more weighted towards scenes that showcase fisticuffs and fancy fight choreography rather than character development and emotional nuance. But that’s fine because Takaishi has charisma to burn and an impressive range; she’s equally convincing as a hapless student screaming in shock at the destruction being wrought around her as she is as a dead-eyed killer when Kudo inhabits her body. Meanwhile, Mimoto, a Japanese action film stalwart, is compellingly soulful as a murderer experiencing flickers of conscience rather late in life who hopes he might be a good influence not just on Fumika but also his former protege Kagehara (Mario Kuroba).

Published: March 31, 2026, 8:00 am

‘Nostalgic glint of adventure’: why The Beach is my feelgood movie

The latest in our series of writers paying tribute to their comfort films is a journey back to 2000 when Danny Boyle transported us to paradise

I can’t listen to Porcelain by Moby without picturing a secluded beach and reminiscing about roads less traveled. Somewhere halfway through Danny Boyle’s sun-drenched film The Beach, there’s one scene that captures a sense of awe at life’s extraordinary moments, something I think we need to feel more of. In a world where holidays (or even life itself) are often neatly packaged in all-inclusive, predictable deals, The Beach stands out for showing the opposite. It’s not about tourism – it’s about living, wildly.

Led by a dapper young Leonardo DiCaprio, fresh from the success of Titanic and accompanied by a truly stellar soundtrack I still listen to on long bus journeys, The Beach starts as an adventure into the unfamiliar. A restless Richard (DiCaprio) ditches the daily grind in search of something more, and drifts through Thailand on a relentless quest for a feeling he can’t quite name.

Published: March 30, 2026, 9:00 am

Night Stage review – public sex enthusiasm the key to extravagant and subversive erotic thriller

In this fantasy drama from Brazil, a gay actor and a closeted politician discover a mutual passion for the same fetish

Here is an erotic thriller from Brazil that finally suspends realism and plausibility to keep its eroticism in play right up to the startling final moments; there is an unexpected strain of the bizarre and soap-operatic.

Matias (Gabriel Faryas) is a handsome young actor in a stage company specialising in dance and physical theatre. Jealous of his friend and fellow cast member, Fabio (Henrique Barreira), who has landed a role in a big new TV show, Matias sneakily tries to get an audition as well.

Published: March 30, 2026, 8:00 am

‘It was an exorcism’: how heartbreak, queer rebirth and finding love over Only Connect shaped Wendy Eisenberg’s stunning new album

The guitarist made their name on dazzlingly knotty musicianship and collaboration with the likes of Bill Orcutt. So their new album is their most surprising: a startlingly beautiful reflection of love and self-acceptance

It’s 30 December 2023. Wendy Eisenberg is walking and cannot stop. At an all-night rave in Bushwick featuring Detroit house legend Theo Parrish the previous night, they became paralysed by anxiety, returned home, “threw up a lot” and then set off with no destination in mind. “I walked for that entire day,” Eisenberg says by video call from their Brooklyn home. “I couldn’t stop moving my legs. I felt like I needed to reauthor myself, and this was how I was going to do it.”

While out on their fevered walk, Eisenberg ran into an old friend. “She told me: ‘You seem like you’re having a kind of exorcism.’ Then she added: ‘Maybe just play some guitar?’” Thus diagnosed, Eisenberg went home immediately and began writing the music that became their sublime new self-titled album. “I remember reading how Cat Power wrote Moon Pix in 10 hours, in a dream state,” says Eisenberg. Many of these songs were written in a similar state, across three or four months after that “strange, mystical moment”.

Published: March 31, 2026, 1:00 pm

The twilight zone: Nocturnes, from piano to perfume and Russia to Richter

The 19th-century composer John Field was the first to name his gentle and delicate piano pieces ‘nocturnes’. The word – and the genre of ‘sleep music’ it presaged – is ubiquitous today

One of the most familiar topics of our time is the trouble many of us have in winding down at the end of the day. Insomnia is rife: crossing the threshold between day and night has become a challenge for many of us. Music is often recommended as a way to help us relax, and there are countless sleep music playlists on streaming sites to lull us into unconsciousness and bear us towards morning on a current of soothing sounds. Max Richter’s Sleep, “an eight-hour lullaby”, a set of musical episodes that mirror what’s happening in our brains during the various phases of sleep, is, 11 years after its release, currently No 2 in the official classical artist albums chart. It’s been performed all over the world, with audience members provided with camp beds, blankets and pillows and gently serenaded through the night by live musicians playing Richter’s meditative score.

Musing over photos of slumbering audiences, I started to wonder about the history of music being used as an aid to sleep. The lullaby must be as old as humanity, but lullabies are essentially vocal. Their words often work against the grain of the music, sometimes conjuring up some very non-soothing images: “When the bough breaks, the baby will fall / Down will come cradle, baby and all.” Lullabies are a strange hybrid, musically comforting yet often expressing a vein of underlying anguish. Sleep music, on the other hand, tends to be purely instrumental. The absence of a voice makes it more abstract; without words, the meaning of the music remains open and listeners are free to connect however their imagination suggests.

Published: March 31, 2026, 9:00 am

The nightmarish sounds of Squid Game composer Jung Jae-il: ‘Having no identity very much defines my identity’

Korean composer behind Netflix’s most-watched series on the calculated imperfection in his scores

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If you were among the 265 million viewers who made Squid Game Netflix’s most-watched series so far, you were likely left mentally and aurally scarred by first season’s end, traumatised by the discordant whistle of a child’s recorder; the sheer banality of a primary school music room reimagined as a herald of human carnage.

That sound was the work of composer Jung Jae-il, whose career has been defined by this sort of strange and unsettling contradiction; he is a master in the art of subverting all that is musically familiar – recasting the naive, the genteel and the elegant into the chilling harbingers of horror.

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Published: March 30, 2026, 2:00 pm

‘Hope, insight and burning humanity’: 2026 International Booker prize shortlist announced

The six finalists include Marie NDiaye and Yáng Shuāng-zǐ alongside Daniel Kehlmann’s second nomination for the £50,000 prize

Daniel Kehlmann, Marie NDiaye and Yáng Shuāng-zǐ are among the six authors shortlisted for the 2026 International Booker prize, as the award marks its 10th anniversary.

The annual prize celebrates the best works of fiction translated into English, and awards £50,000 to one author-translator pair, to be split equally.

Published: March 31, 2026, 1:00 pm

A Rebel and a Traitor by Rory Carroll review – the extraordinary story of Roger Casement

A journalist tells the improbable tale of a British diplomat who worked to free Ireland – and paid the ultimate price

Roger Casement had a life that defies categorisation: an imperial administrator who exposed imperial atrocities; a one-time diplomat for the United Kingdom who enlisted German help in Ireland’s fight for freedom; a closeted gay man who left detailed records of his sexual adventures; a knight of the realm convicted of conspiring against the crown.

TE Lawrence (“of Arabia”), himself no stranger to the hypocrisy of British imperialism and the difficulties of illegal sexuality, called Casement a “broken archangel”. Rory Carroll, the Guardian’s Ireland correspondent, retains some of that poetry in this deeply researched and fascinating account of Casement’s role in the creation of the Irish state.

Published: March 31, 2026, 8:00 am

Transcription by Ben Lerner review – a stunning exploration of technology and storytelling

Ranging from quantum mechanics to eating disorders to the nature of fiction, this is a breathtaking interrogation of family, connection and memory

Transcription ends with an epilogue. It’s a letter, or at least an extract from a letter, written by Leopold Blaschka, a 19th-century Bohemia-born artist who, with his son Rudolf, crafted intricate and breathtakingly realistic models of flowers, plants and sea creatures made out of glass. So astounding was their technique, so uncanny, that sceptics assumed they must be using secret devices. “It is not so,” he insisted. “We have the touch. My son Rudolf has more than I have because he is my son and the touch increases in every generation.” Until this point, Blaschka hasn’t been referenced by name even once. But here, in coda form, is the essence of Transcription, a novel about touch, devices and familial inheritances that is itself intricate, uncanny, sometimes breathtakingly realistic.

It begins with a middle-aged American narrator travelling to Providence, Rhode Island, home to Brown University, where Ben Lerner studied poetry and political theory as an undergraduate. He is there to conduct a magazine interview with a polymathic German intellectual named Thomas. No ordinary assignment: Thomas was his mentor at college, the father of his friend Max, and now, at the age of 90, this conversation is expected to be his last will and testament. At the hotel, bathos strikes – the narrator drops his smartphone in a sink; it’s unusable and he’s too embarrassed to confess. Thomas soon gets into his conversational stride, but his rich sentences go unrecorded.

Published: March 31, 2026, 6:00 am

Monsters in the Archives by Caroline Bicks review – the writing secrets of Stephen King

A deep dive into the horror novelist’s archives reveals pedantry, penny-pinching, and a total redraft of Carrie

When Caroline Bicks first met Stephen King she was worried. As a teenager she had scared herself silly with his books – Carrie and The Shining were the two that crept under her skin and refused to budge – but now she found herself in the odd position of being Stephen E King professor at the University of Maine. King had endowed the chair at his alma mater in 2016 for the study of literature, and Dr Bicks was a Harvard-trained Shakespeare specialist. What, beyond a name, would they really have in common?

At the time of her appointment, Bicks’s employers had told her not to initiate contact with the famous author in any way. But four years into the job she got a phone call from “Steve” who turned out to be a teddy bear: “I couldn’t believe it. The man responsible for terrifying generations of readers – including me – was so … nice.” Not quite a meet-cute, but promising.

Published: March 30, 2026, 6:00 am

Dog Day Afternoon review – Broadway take on heist can’t match Pacino’s punch

August Wilson Theatre, New York
A splashy new production inspired by the real-life 1970s bank robbery stars Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach

The story of Dog Day Afternoon is so familiar that it’s almost a surprise to find out that the movie wasn’t based on a beloved play or novel. But no, the 1975 film was inspired by a real incident in 1972 (and accompanying Life magazine article), when a pair of robbers attempted to hold up a bank in Brooklyn, only to find that much of the expected cash had already been picked up by an armored car. The standoff turned into a hostage situation – and, adding to the headline-grabbing nature of the crime, one of the robbers was supposedly seeking money to pay for his lover’s gender-affirming surgery. The film version starring Al Pacino evidently departed far enough from reality (including mostly changed names) to win the Academy Award for best original screenplay of 1975, and has endured as a classic for half a century. Its combination of timelessness and prescience and capturing a specific moment in New York City history makes it seem like ideal material to transition to the Broadway stage.

But the new stage version of Dog Day Afternoon runs up against the unintended speed bump of hindsight. Details that in the film felt like canny, offhand snapshots of the 1970s now come across as self-conscious in Stephen Adly Guirgis’s production, and even cutesy as the play attempts to re-create famous scenes from the movie with greater retrospective context (to say nothing of eye-rolling additional historical color, like having characters mention that this dirty movie called Deep Throat is now playing at a theater near them). At times, it’s hard not to think of Wes Anderson’s film Rushmore, in which the precocious Max Fischer Players put on a theatrical version of Pacino’s similarly true-life thriller Serpico.

Dog Day Afternoon is at the August Wilson Theatre in New York until 12 July

Published: March 31, 2026, 9:00 am

James McAvoy: ‘I’ve been “that Scottish person”, reduced to a noise that comes out of my mouth’

He went from a Glasgow council estate to Hollywood fame. Now, in his directorial debut, the X-Men star is challenging stereotypes about his homeland via the remarkable tale of a real-life hip-hop hoax

It’s the final night of the Glasgow film festival and James McAvoy is a wee bit out of breath. His directorial debut, California Schemin’, is playing across all three screens at the Glasgow Film Theatre in the city centre, taking the festival’s prestige closing slot.

Usually, a big name would say a few words of introduction in the main cinema then bask in the glory. Not McAvoy. Getting in among it still comes naturally 25 years after he left this city to pursue a career that has blazed from his award-winning Cyrano de Bergerac in the West End of London to playing Professor X, the founder of the X-Men, in the blockbuster Hollywood franchise.

Published: March 31, 2026, 4:00 am

Jewish Leadership Council condemn Wireless festival for booking Kanye West to headline

Ye, who has called himself a Nazi, released a song called Heil Hitler and sold T-shirts bearing swastikas, is confirmed to play three nights at the London festival

The Jewish Leadership Council has condemned Wireless festival for booking Kanye West, also known as Ye, to headline all three nights of the forthcoming north London event in the wake of heightened attacks on the UK Jewish community, calling the organisers “deeply irresponsible”.

The rapper has a history of antisemitic behaviour, including releasing a song called Heil Hitler, calling himself a Nazi, associating with the white supremacist commentator Nick Fuentes (including at a 2022 dinner with Donald Trump), making numerous other anti-Jewish racist statements and selling T-shirts bearing swastikas.

Published: March 31, 2026, 2:48 pm

‘A place where music fills the air’: Bangkok to host Eurovision’s first Asia song contest

Spin-off launched with 10 nations, as original event remains mired in protests and boycotts over Israel’s involvement

Eurovision is seeking to expand into the Asian market by hosting a version of its song contest in Bangkok this year, just as the original annual event is being buffeted by discord and boycotts on the eve of its 70th anniversary edition.

The grand final of the inaugural Eurovision song contest Asia will take place in Thailand’s capital on Saturday 14 November, the Switzerland-based organisation announced on Tuesday. Broadcasters from 10 countries have confirmed their participation.

Published: March 31, 2026, 12:33 pm

Houseplant hacks: is putting a penny in the soil a copper boost or an old wives’ tale?

Even old pennies corrode too slowly to be useful. You’d be better off saving them up and buying proper plant feed

The problem
If a plant looks a bit yellow or drooping, someone might suggest putting a penny in the pot. The idea is that the copper will leach into the soil, liven up the plant and maybe even ward off fungi. It is one of those tips that refuses to die, passed on like family folklore.

The hack
The promise is simple: pop a coin in the compost and let chemistry do the work. Supposedly, the copper acts as a mini-fertiliser and a mild fungicide.

Published: March 31, 2026, 9:00 am

Don’t stop at Duolingo, set realistic goals, balance skills: how to start learning a new language

Language experts say you should learn in the right order and shift to a growth mindset

If there’s one thing guaranteed to make a pop-culture character look cool and sophisticated, it’s being multilingual. Think James Bond, Yasmin from Industry or Scrooge McDuck.

Learning a new language not only makes you look cool – it also allows you to familiarize yourself with another culture, connect with new people and enjoy a wider variety of art and media. And it’s good for your brain. Studies have shown that learning a new language is associated with improved concentration, stronger communication skills, a more powerful memory and greater creativity.

Published: March 30, 2026, 4:00 pm

Is it true that … you can never eat too much fibre?

Fibremaxxing is everywhere, and most of us should eat more roughage, but your gut won’t thank you for overloading

Fibre has replaced protein as TikTok health influencers’ macronutrient du jour, with “fibremaxxers” urging followers to pack as much roughage into their diets as possible. But is the sky really the limit?

“In theory,” says Dr Emily Leeming, a dietitian at King’s College London and the author of Fibre Power (out in May): our ancestors may have eaten up to 100g of fibre a day, but that’s far beyond what most modern guts can tolerate.

Published: March 30, 2026, 7:00 am

‘He can say he went to the gym’: people are pumping themselves with fat from corpses to perk up their pecs, boobs and butts

‘Zombie filler’, or using cadaver tissue that’s been sterilized and branded as Alloclae, is the latest cosmetic surgery rage. Is it safe?

The residential block at 655 Park Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side is so storied it has its own Wikipedia entry. It has housed luminaries from bestselling romance author Danielle Steel to esteemed yachtsmen and the 20th-century heir William Kissam Vanderbilt II. A more recent resident, on the ground floor, is Alpha Male Plastic Surgery, a clinic offering a broad menu of elective procedures catering to the needs of the modern man.

On a coffee table in the waiting room, fanned-out brochures tout facelifts, non-surgical penile implants, and Tesamorelin – an FDA-approved peptide injection targeting stubborn visceral belly fat. Flatscreen monitors mounted behind the front desk shuffle through ads for a “Full Male Model Makeover”, proprietary procedures like BodyBanking® and the 360 TorsoTuck®, and for the gym rat who habitually skips leg day, even “Amazing New Calves”.

Published: March 30, 2026, 11:00 am

US federal student loan borrowers: Have you had your loan forgiven? We’d like to hear from you

How will this affect your life? What plans will you make now in light of the loan forgiveness?

The US Department of Education (DOE) has been informing about 164,000 federal student loan borrowers whether they are eligible for automatic student loan forgiveness.

Those eligible must have attended one of more than 150 colleges that have been accused of misconduct.

Published: March 31, 2026, 4:14 pm

I took off my headphones – and noticed a stranger in peril

Slumped on the pavement, she wasn’t breathing – and I wouldn’t have realised if I’d been listening to music as usual. Time to stop blotting out the world …

For years I walked the streets of London wearing noise-cancelling headphones, absorbed in playlists, politics podcasts or long voice notes from friends, and a million miles away from wherever I was. One damp January evening last year, I was walking home from my parents’ house, headphones dead in my bag, when I noticed a small figure slumped on the pavement with her eyes closed. I might not have noticed her had I been in my own world, fixated on what was playing in my ears.

I asked for her name. “Can you hear me?” I tried several times, my voice tightening. She didn’t respond, and worse, she didn’t seem to be breathing. My mind raced back to the one first aid class I took in school, but drawing a blank and worried that I might get it wrong, I dialled 999 and frantically tried to figure out if I could feel her pulse.

Published: March 30, 2026, 10:00 am

The pet I’ll never forget: Merlin the therapy sheep

When Merlin came to live with me, his only job was to clear the weeds from my fields. But his calm, affectionate nature has made him a vital part of my therapy practice

Merlin the sheep came to me by chance four years ago. A friend of mine had a lamb she was bottle-feeding, but she couldn’t look after it any more so she asked me if I could take care of it. I live in Moortown, Leeds, and rent about three hectares (seven acres) of land in Eccup, a small village nearby, where I’ve kept horses for about 13 years. I needed some help clearing the weeds that the horses wouldn’t eat and sheep seemed like the best solution because they’ll eat anything – so I said yes.

The lamb was called Bambi and when I came to collect her, my friend offered me another lamb, Merlin. Shortly after, Bambi died and it was just Merlin left. It wasn’t long until he started to show his special powers.

Published: March 30, 2026, 6:00 am

Zoning in on Marolles, Brussels: ‘A friendly, cosmopolitan village where everyone is welcome’

Beyond the Belgian capital’s more obvious sights lies a thriving district known for its classic Belgian cuisine, alternative art scene and gigantic flea market

The Brusseleir dialect that’s still spoken in much of the Marolles dates back to the middle ages, a symbol of the independence of this proudly working-class neighbourhood in central Brussels. Located between the Palace of Justice and Halle Gate, it’s always been an inclusive refuge for immigrants from Europe and north Africa. The must-see Brussels tourist attractions of the Grand-Place central square and Mannekin-Pis statue are within walking distance, but the Marolles offers a very different experience: fashion, antiques and bric-a-brac shopping; alternative creative centres and provocative graffiti; characteristic estaminets (hybrid pub, cafe, bistros) specialising in hearty local dishes; and artisan breweries.

Published: March 30, 2026, 6:00 am

‘The more they come down on us, the more we come together’: 14 No Kings protesters on where to go from here

Saturday’s protests drew millions of people across the US and around the world. The Guardian spoke with some of them to see why they were there and what’s next

• So you went to a No Kings protest. Now what?

Saturday saw the greatest number of protests in US history, when more than 8 million people at 3,300 No Kings events took to the streets to oppose the policies of Donald Trump.

In the past few months, the Trump administration has sent more than 3,000 federal immigration agents into Minnesota’s Twin Cities, causing fear and havoc that was only furthered when agents killed two residents. Trump has also launched strikes on Venezuela and waged a war in Iran that has so far cost the US about $30bn to $40bn. That is on top of the US continuing to fund Israel’s war in Gaza; the ongoing immigration raids in other US cities, towns and rural regions; and the threats to trans rights, voting rights and more.

Published: March 30, 2026, 9:55 pm

Do you live in a World Cup host city? We’d love to hear your stories

If you live in one of the 16 cities in Mexico, Canada and the US that will host games this summer, we would be delighted to hear from you

It’s not long now. In just two months’ time the planet will turn its attention to the Estadio Azteca – the only stadium that has hosted two World Cup finals – for the first match of the 2026 edition. The game between Mexico and South Africa on 11 June will kick off the biggest World Cup in history: 48 teams playing 104 matches over 39 days in 16 host cities. If you live in one of those cities, we want to hear from you.

This will be a diverse tournament, with a different feel and vibe across the various countries and venues. The atmosphere in Vancouver will not be the same as in Miami or Guadalajara. Kansas City will offer something different from Toronto and Mexico City. With that in mind, we want to know what the mood is like in your home city before the tournament begins.

Published: March 30, 2026, 11:00 am

A Holy Week procession, white pelicans and apricot blossoms: photos of the day – Tuesday

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

Published: March 31, 2026, 1:37 pm