How Queen Victoria’s personal life nearly brought down the monarchy. Plus, pugil-sticks at the ready as the Gladiators semi finals begin. Here’s what to watch this evening 9.15pm, Channel 5 “Even Queen Victoria’s own children start to call him mother’s lover.” A juicy history documentary that investigates the sovereign’s much rumoured romance with her servant John Brown. Experts including archaeologist Raksha Dave and Dr Amy Boyington share everything they know about the scandal that could have seen the end of the monarchy. Hollie Richardson Continue reading...

️ Qualifying in Shanghai starts 3pm local/6pm AEDT/7am GMT ️ Russell wins first F1 sprint race of season | Mail Joey What were the other major takeaways from our season-opening race in Melbourne? Well, you won’t be surprised to learn that the (increasingly furious) debate surrounding the new regulations governing the sport played a big role, with Lando Norris declaring the state of affairs “sucks” and Leclerc saying that “This is like the mushroom in Mario Kart.” Continue reading...

Projectile was fired toward the sea off North Korea’s east coast, the South Korean military said, days after Seoul and Washington launched major military drills North Korea fired a projectile towards the sea on Saturday, South Korea and Japan said, with Tokyo saying it may have been a ballistic missile, while the US and South Korea conducted military drills. The projectile was fired toward the sea off North Korea’s east coast, the South Korean military said in a brief message to reporters. It gave no further details. Japan’s coast guard said the projectile appeared to have fallen into the sea. Continue reading...

A smashed window here, a provocative sticker there. In an age when protest feels increasingly meaningless, it’s no wonder that acts of petty symbolism are on the rise First comes the hummus: studded with chickpeas, anointed with a little reservoir of olive oil, greedily smeared up with hunks of pitta bread and messy fingers. Then the tabbouleh, then some homemade falafels, and then the lentil soup, and already the senses are overloaded, plates and bowls spilling off the edge of the table. But there shall be no reprieve, for the mains are coming. Maqluba for the meat-eaters – traditional Palestinian upside-down chicken and rice, decorated with lightly browned cauliflower florets, topped with razor-fine almonds. Stuffed aubergine and courgette for the veggies. Before you ask: yes, there will be dessert, and it’s baklava and homemade chocolate. Home time, and slowly you winch yourself upright, stagger sideways towards the door and vow never to do something so gluttonous and decadent ever again. Continue reading...

A stellar delight from Steve Carell, as he helps his daughter navigate marital difficulties, while the Cabaret star and Hollywood legend opens up about the price of fame and childhood trauma. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews Continue reading...

Firing Peter Mandelson, convening with Marco Rubio – then handling the fallout of conflict in the Middle East… it’s been a busy time for the secretary of state, and our writer has had a ringside seat Before Yvette Cooper joins me in a plush side room at the Foreign Office, an aide comes in and draws the heavy curtains. Outside is Horse Guards Parade. I can see a strip of Downing Street, a patch of the No 10 garden, daffodils in bloom. I say that it’s a shame to block the light on such a beautiful spring afternoon. The aide coughs, embarrassed, and explains that it’s actually for security. So that people can’t see in? Continue reading...

Robin, 68, a retired property manager, meets Jacquie, 69, a retired secretary What were you hoping for? To meet someone with a nice personality and similar interests. Continue reading...

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

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Exclusive: Guardian investigation finds data from flagship medical research leaked dozens of times Confidential health data has been exposed online on dozens of occasions, a Guardian investigation can reveal, raising questions about the safeguarding of patient records by one of the UK’s flagship medical research projects. UK Biobank, which holds the medical records of 500,000 British volunteers, is one of the world’s most comprehensive stores of health information and is credited with driving breakthroughs in cancer, dementia and diabetes research. But scientists approved to access Biobank’s sensitive data appear to have sometimes been cavalier about its security. Continue reading...

Treasury minister Spencer Livermore trails new strategy as chancellor pins hopes on benefits of AI amid global uncertainty The NHS and Ministry of Defence will be urged to buy British tech, as the government pins its hopes on the benefits of artificial intelligence to kickstart growth in the face of the Iran crisis, Treasury minister Spencer Livermore has said. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will restate her economic strategy in a high profile lecture on Tuesday, just as rocketing oil prices have raised fears of higher inflation and weaker growth. Continue reading...

Datacentre investment boom is one of the biggest infrastructure gambles of this era, and Britain may be uniquely exposed Stargate was to be the world’s biggest AI investment: a $500bn infrastructure project to “secure American leadership in AI”. Never shy of hyperbole, its key backer, the ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, promised “massive economic benefit for the entire world” with facilities to help people “use AI to elevate humanity”. Now, OpenAI appears to be dropping out of a part of the deal – the expansion of a flagship datacentre stretching across a swathe of land in Abilene, Texas, which has become one of the most visible manifestations of a frenzy of investment in the chips and power plants required to build and run AI. There has been a breakdown in negotiations over project financing, as well as the timeline of when the expanded capacity might come online. Continue reading...

Every night I wake up to find the dog staring at me, but tonight a terrifying noise disturbs us all … In the middle of the night I feel the warm breath of a creature stirring my hair. It’s too dark to see anything, but I know from experience that the dog is standing by the bed, chin resting on the mattress next to my head, gently exhaling into my face. The point is this: to wake me up without waking my wife. Continue reading...

Glen Powell indulges in some murder most profitable, and the influential rap collective arrive in the UK complete with a clutch of peerless classics How to Make a Killing Out now Loosely inspired by the much-loved Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets, here is a dark comedy that sees Glen Powell play an upwardly mobile schemer who isn’t afraid to murder his way to his inheritance. Directed by John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal). Reminders of Him Out now Maika Monroe (It Follows) stars as a woman who goes to prison following a car accident in which her boyfriend (Rudy Pankow) is killed. On release, she finds herself drawn to a handsome local bar owner (Tyriq Withers). Romance based on the bestselling Colleen Hoover novel. Everybody to Kenmure Street Out now When the Home Office sent vehicles to Glasgow’s Kenmure Street to potentially deport some residents, everyone from the activist known as Van Man to a local imam to various schoolchildren spontaneously blocked the street. This documentary, winner of a special jury award at Sundance, tells the story of eight extraordinary hours in UK protest history. A Pale View of Hills Out now Etsuko, a Japanese woman living in the UK, explores her memories of summer in 1950s Nagasaki, alongside an attempt to reckon with the more recent suicide of her daughter. Adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s debut novel, starring Suzu Hirose, Fumi Nikaido and Yō Yoshida, and written and directed by Kei Ishikawa. Catherine Bray Continue reading...

Refusal to kowtow to US president has won public backing – and left Badenoch and Farage playing catch-up It is not often that Keir Starmer’s allies believe he has Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch on the run – but on Iran, they think he is on the right side of history and public opinion. “It could be the making of him,” said Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee, who was first out of the blocks to say she thought Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran were illegal. “You’ve not had a British prime minister say no to an American president since Vietnam. This is a big deal.” Continue reading...

Exclusive: Lough Neagh, which supplies drinking water for 40% of NI, contains genes resistant to last-resort antibiotics Genes capable of creating antibiotic-resistant superbugs have been detected in the UK’s largest lake, which supplies drinking water to about 40% of Northern Ireland. Testing of water from Lough Neagh, which has a surface area 26 times bigger than Windermere, found genes resistant to a wide range of antibiotics, including carbapenems – drugs reserved for life-threatening infections when all other treatments have failed. Continue reading...

She wasn’t a great one for dispensing wisdom. Instead, she fought for me whenever I most needed it Mum was a brilliant non-giver of advice. Now Dad, he had his pearls. “If you do something, do it with a good heart.” It sounded platitudinous to me, but he had a point. And then there was his favourite: “If you think something bad about someone, say it up there [pointing to his head] but not out loud.” Dad was a good man, but that infuriated me. Mum played a bigger part in my life. She often had to fight like crazy for me – to keep me in school when I’d told the dinner lady to fuck off at the age of five (no, I don’t know where it came from); to take on the doctors who labelled me a malingerer when I had encephalitis; to allow me back into mainstream education after I’d had three years off, and finally to persuade the University of Leeds to let me in after I’d messed up my A-levels. Continue reading...

This yawnsome homespun six-parter from the creator of Yellowstone aims to teach the womenfolk a lesson by dropping them into untamed, plain-talkin’ Montana. It’s full of terrible jokes and cloying aphorisms Preston Clyburn (Kurt Russell) is laughing at trout. “Hah-hah,” says the rugged retiree, up to his buttocks in river as a Yellowstone cutthroat sploshes obligingly into his net. “I’m keepin’ it, and you’re cookin’ it,” he barks at his younger brother, Paul, who would rather Preston release the hapless vertebrate back into the wild but nevertheless respects his sibling’s need to connect with his inner Cro-Magnon (“the love of fishin’ goes back to early man …”). Paul is played by Matthew Fox, who was once in Lost but is now marooned in a drama that requires him to say things like: “I make a memory a day, brother … sometimes more.” Despite this, Paul, too, is laughing. “Heh,” he says, as he and Preston splash and frolic in their matching utility slacks. “Heheheh.” Continue reading...

A National Rally victory in France’s second city in municipal elections that start on Sunday would be hailed by the party as a step towards taking the presidency next year Nathalie, a market trader in her 40s, had woken early to prepare a pan of paella rice. She was spooning it into tubs at a market in southern Marseille last week when a crowd of far-right canvassers approached, promising cleaner and safer streets if she voted for them in the local elections. “Our cash tin was stolen right here at Christmas time,” Nathalie said. “I’ve had a bag stolen too. It tends to happen at the end of the day, around 7pm. I worry for the elderly grandmas. I had a necklace ripped off me in the city centre once.” Continue reading...

Iran’s is trying to create wedges between Gulf states and the US, but Trump is very comfortable on the ‘escalatory ladder’ In its current phase, the Israeli-US war against Iran and its proxies has become a proving ground for two competing concepts of military escalation, each of which threatens to become a trap. On one side, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have failed thus far in their ill-defined and shifting strategic aims. Despite killing Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and other key leaders in the opening salvo of the campaign, the clerical regime remains and Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium is unsecured. Airstrikes are intensifying and hitting a greater number of targets. Continue reading...

Cern researchers are testing traps capable of moving antimatter, which explodes into energy as soon as it comes into contact with regular matter When the truck pulls away from the building at Cern, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva, all eyes will be on its precious cargo, a one-tonne device containing some of the most exotic material on Earth. The 20-minute test run around the campus, pencilled in for later this month, will mark the world’s first attempt to transport antimatter, a substance so delicate that when it meets normal matter, both are consumed in a burst of pure energy. Continue reading...

Mercedes driver beats Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in Shanghai Sprint Lewis Hamilton third after tense opening to Formula One race George Russell won the opening sprint race of the new Formula One season at the Chinese Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver ultimately took a strong win from pole position but only after a fierce to and fro with Lewis Hamilton during the opening phase of the race. Charles Leclerc took second for Ferrari, with Hamilton in third, with the victory for Russell further cementing his position as favourite for the world championship and confirming that Mercedes will be remarkably hard to beat this season. Continue reading...

Trump also threatens to hit island’s oil infrastructure if Tehran does not allow passage for ships via Strait of Hormuz How have you been affected by the latest Middle East events? The Israeli military has issued an evacuation warning for a designated industrial area in Tabriz, in northwestern Iran, saying it will “conduct operations in this area in the coming hours”. The warning, issued on social media, tells citizens to “immediately evacuate”. Here is the Guardian’s latest report on the crisis across the Middle East Continue reading...

Zelenskyy says urgent need for anti-aircraft missiles, which are used in the Gulf to counter Iranian missiles and drones. What we know on day 1,480 It is understandable the world’s attention has shifted to the Middle East, but the situation is “not good for Ukraine”, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Paris. “There is nothing good for Ukraine in the war in the Middle East. ... It’s understandable that the attention of the world [is] moving to [the] Middle East. It’s not good for us,” the Ukrainian president said during a speech to students at the Sciences Po university on Friday. Kyiv is worried the war in the Middle East is drawing international attention away from the conflict in Ukraine – particularly from its urgent need for anti-aircraft missiles, which are used in large numbers in the Gulf to counter Iranian missiles and drones. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the son of Iran’s last shah that Iran must not cooperate with Russia, as the pair met in Paris on Friday. The Ukrainian president posted on X: “Ukraine truly wants to see a free Iran that will not cooperate with Russia or destabilize the Middle East, Europe, and the world.” Reza Pahlavi lives in exile in the United States and has offered himself as a transitional leader for Iran should the Islamic republic fall. Zelenskyy said: “I am grateful to the Crown Prince for his clear assurances of support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” adding that their teams would “remain in communication”. Zelensky said it was “crucial that the Iranian regime gains nothing” from the conflict and that the Iranian people have the right to “determine their own fate”. The US had sought a postponement of the latest round of three-sided talks on a settlement to Ukraine’s four-year-old conflict with Russia, Zelenskyy was quoted as saying on Friday. The comments, quoted by various Ukrainian media outlets at the end of the France visit,claimed the US side said its negotiators were not permitted to leave the US in view of circumstances in the Middle East. He said Russia had not wanted to hold the talks in the US and had proposed alternative sites in Switzerland or Turkey. The US is temporarily easing some of its sanctions on Russian oil, reflecting global worries about sharply higher oil prices due to supply shortages stemming from the Iran war. The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said on X the country would lift sanctions on Russian oil that is already aboard tankers for 30 days. That means customers in other countries can buy it without worrying about sanctions punishment. The move, intended to soothe jittery markets over the disruption of Middle Eastern oil and gas supplies, underlines how the Iran war has boosted Moscow’s ability to profit from its energy exports, a pillar of the Kremlin’s budget as it presses its invasion of Ukraine. The Trump administration earlier had granted a 30-day reprieve to refineries in India. Russian shelling killed one person and wounded six in southeastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, the regional governor said on Friday. Oleksander Ganzha, the head of the region’s military administration, said on Telegram that Russian forces attacked two sites in the region. Further southeast, the governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, Ivan Fedorov, said that four people were injured in a Russian attack near the region’s main town, also called Zaporizhzhia. Just over the Russian border in the Belgorod region, the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said one resident died in a Ukrainian strike on a village just inside the border. Russia has named the US-based great-granddaughter of a Soviet leader a “foreign agent”, a term with connotations of spying that Moscow applies to people it views as engaged in anti-Russian activity. Nina Khrushcheva, 62, is a professor at The New School university in New York and has continued to make research trips to Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Her ancestor, Nikita Khrushchev, led the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, when he was ousted by fellow members of the ruling politburo. Contacted by Reuters, Khrushcheva said she was not surprised to be added to Russia’s “foreign agent” list, which, as of Friday, contains 1,164 names, including politicians, journalists, artists, NGOs and media organisations. “It would have been sloppy on their part not to do this sooner or later,” she said, adding that it was too early to say what the practical impact would be. Continue reading...

Sprawling compound, including mock-up banks and police offices, uncovered by Thai military during border clashes It is as if you have walked into a branch of one of Vietnam’s banks. A row of customer service desks, divided by plastic screens, with landline phones, promotional leaflets and staff business cards. A seated waiting area and a private meeting room. All of it features the OCB bank’s logo, or its trademark green colour. This is not a genuine bank branch, however. It’s one of various “mock up” rooms inside a sprawling compound on the Thai-Cambodian border, where criminal groups are accused of using elaborate and industrial-scale fraud schemes to trick victims into handing over money. Continue reading...