After series of delays, US space agency hopes to carry out first crewed flyby of the moon in more than half a century Nasa has begun returning its towering SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft to its Florida launch pad ahead of a planned flyby of the moon, after completing necessary repairs. Artemis engineers began the manoeuvre, which can take up to 12 hours, at 8pm local time. The US space agency will then begin the final preparations before its next launch window opens on 1 April. Continue reading...

⚽ Football updates heading into a busy weekend ⚽ Ten things to look out for | Mail Xaymaca Manchester United duo Kobbie Mainoo and Harry Maguire seem set for England call ups. Recalls today would mark the first time a Manchester United player has been involved in the England setup since September 2024. Hello and welcome to another football live blog! Yesterday English teams managed to redeem themselves in Europe slightly, with Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace progressing to the next round of the Europa League and Conference League respectively. This all bodes well for the national team. The England squad will be announced at 11am. Stick with me for updates and feel free to ">send me a message with your thoughts. Continue reading...

Interim president announces changes after firing defence minister, who was close to Maduro, the leader ousted by US Venezuela’s interim president has said she has replaced all her senior military commanders, the latest in a flurry of changes since the US ousted Nicolás Maduro. Delcy Rodríguez announced the changes in a social media post a day after firing the long-serving defence minister, who had been close to Maduro, and replacing him with a former intelligence chief. Continue reading...

As the war between Iran, the US, and Israel escalates, another battle is playing out on the streets of London where the Iranian diaspora is divided over the future of their homeland. Some condemn the strikes on Iran as imperial overreach; others see them as a chance to end decades of authoritarian and theocratic rule. Over the last two weeks, The Guardian has filmed with protestors from both communities, capturing their anger and their hopes as Iran’s fate hangs in the balance. Continue reading...

O’Sullivan snookered Ryan Day at start of first frame Seven-time world champion won 5-0 to reach semi-finals Ronnie O’Sullivan has made the highest break in professional snooker by hitting a 153 at the World Open in China. The 50-year-old achieved the feat after leaving Ryan Day in a snooker at the start of the opening frame of their quarter-final and the Welshman’s failed attempt to get out of it handed O’Sullivan a free ball. Continue reading...

VAT tax on fuels will reportedly drop from 21% to 10%, as Ursula von der Leyen suggests EU may move to help states with rising energy costs Spain is set to put forward a number of emergency tax cuts this morning to counter the economic impact of the Iran war. The measures – set to be presented at a press conference 11am local time – are expected to include lowering VAT tax on fuels to 10% from 21%, according to early media reports, alongside other changes, including to the hydrocarbon and electricity duties, intended to help with growing energy prices. Continue reading...

Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar-winning counterculture caper with Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn is breathless fun, while Jacob Elordi and Daisy Edgar-Jones star in a 50s-set drama about passion and identity Paul Thomas Anderson finally gets his Oscar – and with one of his most riotously enjoyable films. His take on Thomas Pynchon novel Vineland ejects the author’s trademark impenetrability and gives us a larger-than-life action caper with political undertones. Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio), part of a US left-wing revolutionary group betrayed by his own lover, lives off-grid with teen daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti). That is until white supremacist Col Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn) comes searching for Willa – who may be his child – and she and Bob are forced on the run. Also in the mix are Benicio del Toro’s martial arts teacher/migrant activist, two assassins and a bunch of radical nuns. Breathless fun. Thursday, 10.30am, 10.20pm, Sky Cinema Premiere/HBO Max Continue reading...

(Albert’s Favourites) The multi-instrumentalist puts his magical spin on traditional Glamorgan tunes, fusing the past, present and future in a momentous third album The traditional music of south Wales has rarely sounded as cosmic as it does in the hands of Huw Marc Bennett. The producer and multi-instrumentalist’s third album, Heol Las (Blue Street) takes traditional tunes from Glamorgan – known for its production of coal and steel, as well as its hills and rugged coastline – and submerges them in languid arrangements, touched by global influences and woozy doses of surf rock and sitar. As Bennett’s album drifts from the industrial valleys to the Gower peninsula, it thrums with a fitting beauty and energy, Carol Haf (Summer Carol) opens proceedings with pastoral fingerpicking, before a drumbeat breaks the tune into a guitar solo like a meditative raga. Cân y Saer Maen (Stonemason’s Song) builds up a similar heavy magic in the interplay of fuzzy organ, acoustic and electric guitars. When a doomy bass note drops, Seth Bye’s fiddles add contrapuntal layers and the heady air thickens. Continue reading...

Data comes amid increasing fears that Iran war could send British government’s plans off course Business live – latest updates Britain’s public finances showed a higher than expected monthly deficit of £14.3bn last month, official figures showed on Friday, amid growing fears the Iran conflict could blow the government’s plans off course. The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed public sector net borrowing – the difference between spending and income – had widened £2.2bn year on year in February, and was higher than the £8.5bn City economists had forecast. Continue reading...

From directing The Lego Movie to becoming a single entity, Phil Lord and Chris Miller have had quite the ascent. Now, sending one of the globe’s best actors to his cosmic doom in Project Hail Mary, they’re aiming for the stars When Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were starting out in Hollywood – long before they became a popcorn-flick industry unto themselves with The Lego Movie, the Jump Street films, the Spider-Verse franchise and their latest, Project Hail Mary – the duo found themselves summoned before a panel at the formidable Directors Guild of America (DGA). Lord and Miller wanted to be credited, as they would be for the rest of their career, as co-directors, and that was something the DGA – which, as Miller puts it, prefers “one set of hands on the steering wheel” – was uneasy about. In order to get approval, the pair would have to plead their case to some very famous peers. “It was like a Senate hearing,” says Miller, his eyes widening at the memory. “Steven Spielberg and Jon Favreau and all these people asking questions like: ‘All right, but what happens if one of you gets sick? What are you gonna do?’ It was … interesting.” Continue reading...

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

This is not Britain’s war, it’s Trump’s and Netanyahu’s. The prime minister should be wary of becoming ensnared like Blair was with Iraq Is this the turning point? A deranged US president and an Israeli prime minister facing prosecution are seeking to entice the armies of the world into the stupidest war of the 21st century. Israel’s strike this week on Iran’s South Pars gas field was clearly meant to provoke an Iranian retaliation so massive as to ensure a ferocious response from Donald Trump. Thus escalation beckons. This is how small wars become big. There is only one way of calling a halt. It is for Trump and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to stop bombing Iran. Yet both leaders clearly see themselves as trapped. Trump, having already claimed to have won the war, now feels lonely. Though he has amassed the largest aggressive force of modern times, he pleads with his one-time allies to come and give him moral support. But Trump started this war. He must face the wound to his pride that may go with stopping it. He must then complete the harder task of getting Israel also to stop. Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news Britain’s government borrowed more than expected last month, new data shows. The difference between total public sector spending and income widened by £2.2bn year-on-year in February, to £14.3bn. “Borrowing was higher than the same month last year and was the second-highest February figure on record. While receipts were up on last year, that was outweighed by a rise in spending, including the later timing of some debt interest payments. “However, across the first eleven months of this financial year as a whole, borrowing was down, as receipts increased by more than spending.” Continue reading...

The teenager defeated the tournament favourite, Gawain Maroroa Jones, in the final round to secure victory by half a point Freddy Waldhausen Gordon, a 15-year-old from George Heriot’s school, Edinburgh, came through with a stunning burst to capture the annual British Rapidplay championship in Peterborough with a score of 9.5/11, defeating the top seeded GM, Gawain Maroroa Jones, in the final round in a must-win game by a checkmating attack where White’s queen and both rooks all invaded Black’s rear rank. Maroroa Jones was in trouble early in the decisive game, soon had to concede rook for knight, and a second loss of the exchange followed at move 32. At the end, 39 Rxg7+ and 40 Qg8 mate could only be delayed by Black giving up his queen. Continue reading...

From Max Dowman to Kimi Antonelli, Sky Brown and Luke Littler, peak performance can be attained ever earlier thanks to support and science Des Ryan lives on the west coast of Ireland and gets over to watch Arsenal only about three times a season. It was pure fluke that the director of sports and physical wellbeing at the University of Galway was at the Emirates Stadium last weekend, when Max Dowman became the youngest ever scorer in the Premier League. Only a few years ago he was looking after Dowman in the under-12s. “If you’re an academy specialist, then seeing the young people get their debuts, that’s your trophy,” says Ryan, who headed the Arsenal academy’s athletic development for nine years. He knows well that while Dowman’s abilities are uniquely precocious, his situation isn’t. Marli Salmon became Arsenal’s youngest defender when he made his senior debut at 16 in December, while Brando Bailey-Joseph replaced Gabriel Martinelli on the wing in a Champions League match in January, aged 17. As Ryan notes: “These older teenagers are playing adult sport, and excelling at it.” Continue reading...

Exclusive: Richard Hermer, who is Jewish, says Tory leader and shadow minister seem ‘to only have an issue with Muslim events’ Richard Hermer, the attorney general, has challenged Kemi Badenoch to say whether she would object to Jewish prayer in public, after the Conservative leader backed one of her shadow ministers who said an Islamic prayer event was intimidating and un-British. Hermer, one of the UK’s most prominent Jewish politicians, said Badenoch’s decision to support the views of Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, put her on a par with Reform UK and Tommy Robinson, the far-right activist. Continue reading...

Unseasonably warm and even dangerous temperatures this week were up to 30F above average for the time of year The record-breaking heatwave scorching the US west this week would have been “virtually impossible” if not for the climate crisis, a team of scientists has determined. Millions of Americans from the Pacific coast to the Rockies baked under unseasonably warm and even dangerous temperatures this week, with temperatures up to 30F (17C) above average for the time of year. Continue reading...

Strong showing for Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s LFI party will suggest its electoral base is firm despite recent controversy Farouk stood at his doorstep on a row of redbrick terrace houses in the northern French town of Roubaix – once the glory of the textile industry before decades of factory closures and unemployment made it the poorest town in mainland France. “It feels like there’s a lot of darkness in the world and we just want to let in a little light,” said the 73-year-old former market shoe trader and father of seven, before Sunday’s local elections. Continue reading...

From a deconsecrated London cemetery to a Cumbrian seal colony, our readers select wonderful ‘havens for both human and non-human visitors’ • Tell us about your trips to France – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher I always take friends on an afternoon walk when they visit Bristol, to experience the swift changes in scenery: starting at the tobacco warehouses of Cumberland Basin before ascending from the muddy banks of the River Avon up into Leigh Woods, a national nature reserve. As well as possible animal sightings like peregrine falcons and roe deer, the woods are an important site for whitebeam trees, with several species only growing here. It’s easy to spend a full afternoon crisscrossing the trails before walking over Brunel’s famous suspension bridge for a well-deserved coffee at the Primrose Café in Clifton village. Tor Hands Continue reading...

This careful analysis of so-called ‘great replacement theory’ offers a lens through which to view our broken politics Informationsüberflutung? Weltschmerz? I’ve been searching and I don’t think even the Germans have a word that fully captures just how overwhelming the news cycle is right now. The zone has been well and truly flooded; just as you start trying to process one shocking event, something new hits the headlines. Chain of Ideas, a new book by professor Ibram X Kendi, doesn’t provide a one-world encapsulation of our modern woes. But, in a meticulously researched 500 pages, it lays out an essential framework for parsing current events. Continue reading...

Sharon Graham tells party to ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ after ‘shameful’ handling of Birmingham bin strike Labour will be “decimated” in the upcoming local elections and should “hang their heads in shame” over the handling of the Birmingham bin strike, Unite’s general secretary has said. In a speech to refuse workers near a waste depot in Tyseley on Thursday, Sharon Graham said working people were moving away from Labour in droves and called on the party to “wake up and smell the coffee”. Continue reading...

A neat cuff can elevate an outfit in seconds – but it takes more than a quick fold to get it right Trousers – they’re not rocket science. But there are plenty of ways to mess them up, or to elevate them above their primary role of covering legs. A classic styling trick has emerged recently: the turn-up. Harry Styles had them for his pinstripe trews at the Brits, actor Chase Infiniti turned her trousers up at Paris fashion week and hefty turn-ups feature on baggy blue and ecru jeans and olive-green track trousers in JW Anderson’s latest collection for Uniqlo. Turn-ups are the bread and butter of preppy labels such as J Crew-adjacent brand Alex Mill. Head to the website of this New York label and turned-up jeans paired with purple loafers and pink socks, or with letterbox-red ballet flats and yolk-yellow socks, will wash over you like salt spray. At John Lewis, meanwhile, turn-ups run the gamut from pencil-thin to the depth of an Oxford English Dictionary. Continue reading...

From a real get-away-from-it-all isolated ‘off-grid’ cottage by the sea to a 42nd-floor three-bedroom flat in a London tower block Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: with US-Israeli strikes hitting oil refineries, military bases and nuclear facilities, monitors are warning that the conflict will have devastating effects • Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here If the first casualty of war is the truth, the environment can’t come far behind. The black rain that fell across Tehran two weekends ago was perhaps the most symbolic symptom of a litany of environmental devastation being wrought on Iran by the US-Israeli war machine since the start of the month. As I reported last week, we already know the conflict will have major long-term environmental repercussions. Revealed: the world’s worst mega-leaks of methane driving global heating ‘Drinking from a fetid pond’: superbug-creating genes found in UK’s largest lake Butterflies crossing oceans, moths navigating by the stars: unravelling the mysteries of insect migrations We need to be honest about Iran – and how our rampant greed for oil is causing mayhem | George Monbiot ‘Very damaging’: how the Iran war is hitting energy-intensive industries Democrats urge windfall tax as big oil set to make billions from Iran war Continue reading...

British viewers can at last dive into the smash-hit US medical drama led by ER’s Noah Wyle, while Riz Ahmed is a struggling actor on the cusp of landing the role of a lifetime – becoming the next James Bond The anticipation around The Pitt has been feverish. And finally, as HBO Max launches, British viewers can dive in, with season one available to binge. But does it live up to the hype? Absolutely. On the face of it, The Pitt is a standard medical drama whose real-time format suggests ER meets 24. But the show’s energy makes it irresistible. As Noah Wyle’s laconic doctor Michael Robinavitch begins a shift, he and his team encounter everything from an elderly man whose children refuse to let him die peacefully to a kid who has swallowed cannabis gummies. Longer story arcs (including lingering Covid trauma) loom in the background but the moment-by-moment action grips instantly and never lets up. HBO Max, from Thursday 26 March Continue reading...