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

Not sure where to begin or want to simplify your current regimen? Our expert demystifies the marketing with her step-by-step skincare guide • The best anti-ageing creams and serums Skincare has never been so overwhelming, as we’re bombarded with ads for complicated-sounding products and TikTok routines that promise dramatic results in just days. I get it. Despite having been a beauty journalist for more than 15 years, even I haven’t been able to escape the noise; I’ve stood in front of a bathroom cabinet full of half-used serums, wondering why my skin was left feeling worse, not better. Somewhere along the way, we were sold the idea that more steps, more products and more intensity equals better skin. But it rarely does, and what works best, ultimately, is consistency – which is boring (sorry) but effective. Continue reading...

NASUWT says full entitlement should be increased to 26 weeks and paternity pay also improved Full maternity pay for teachers across the UK should be increased to 26 weeks to help stem the exodus of women in their 30s from classrooms, a union leader has said. Matt Wrack, the general secretary of the NASUWT teachers’ union, said it was a “national scandal” that so many teachers who quit said inadequate maternity support was one of the reasons. Continue reading...

A criticism of Superman stories is the guy’s near invincibility. And while a new trailer sees Kara tearing about like a cosmic gunslinger, there are hints her powers are at risk If James Gunn’s aim with last year’s Superman was to give us a Man of Steel who stood out from those who came before him on the big screen, he nailed it. Even those who didn’t quite warm to this sunnier, weirder but more human incarnation could at least admire the way the film vaulted clear of almost every previous iteration. Delivering Kara Zor-El ought to be an easier job, for it is possible to argue that there has never been a definitive version of Supergirl on any screen, big or small. Yet it is starting to look as if the newly formed DC Universe is once again ready to push outwards rather than merely backwards. This week saw the release of a new trailer, in which Milly Alcock’s Kara tears through alien bars, starships and off-world landscapes with the swagger of a cosmic gunslinger. But perhaps more intriguing were comments from director Craig Gillespie in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, which saw the film-maker open up about the story’s nine-world structure and the unusually heavy amount of planet-hopping involved. Continue reading...

Fourteen-, 16- and 18-year-olds arrested on suspicion of murder after incident near Woolwich Dockyard station Police have launched a murder investigation after a 14-year-old boy was fatally shot in Woolwich, south-east London. Three teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of murder. Officers received reports of a shooting on Lord Warwick Street, Woolwich, at about 3.40pm on Thursday, the Metropolitan police said. Continue reading...

Dorfman theatre, London Comedy infuses Winsome Pinnock’s disarming but ebullient drama about two Black academics who are given the job of authenticating the diaries of an enslaver You don’t imagine many laughs in a story about enslavement legacies and erased Black histories. But comedy infuses Winsome Pinnock’s ebullient drama about two Black academics who are given the job of authenticating a cache of 18th-century diaries written by an enslaver. Fen (short for Fenella, played by Sylvestra Le Touzel), is a direct descendant of Henry Harford, now managing his illustrious country estate, and it is she who finds the diaries that catalogued life on his Jamaican farm run by enslaved people. She gives Abi (Rakie Ayola) and Marva (Cherrelle Skeete) full rein of the diaries, so that they can authenticate them for posterity. Harford showed every sign of having been an abolitionist, she says in mitigation, although Abi and Marva’s investigations turn up disturbing evidence of his brutality in Jamaica. Continue reading...

As his pioneering album Endtroducig turns 30 and he reissues his Mo’Wax singles, the producer is in a retrospective mood and ready to take your questions It’s almost 30 years since DJ Shadow released his era-defining debut album, Endtroducing….., and as is the way of the nostalgia industry, it had a lavish 25th-anniversary reissue five years ago, remastered at Abbey Road studios. It was such a success that Shadow has decided to repeat the process and clean up his “pre-album and non-album” catalogue. In May comes The Mo’Wax Singles 1993-1997, a box set featuring eight 12ins with all the Californian producer’s singles for James Lavelle’s label, plus alternative mixes and brand new art. Dusty DAT tapes were dug out and original master mixes excavated. “This box wasn’t made for the casual listener, it was made with the hardcore fan in mind,” Shadow said in a statement. “I’ve always felt, if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right, and every step of the process was made with this philosophy firmly in mind.” Continue reading...

Body that funds Alan Turing Institute says it should offer better strategy and more value for money The UK’s leading AI research institute has been told to make “significant” changes by its main source of taxpayer funding. The warning comes after the Guardian revealed the board of the Alan Turing Institute was reminded of its legal duties last month by the charity watchdog after a whistleblower complaint. Continue reading...

BBC Philharmonic/CBSO Chorus/Storgårds (Chandos) Conductor John Storgårds pairs Shostakovich’s radical youthful 2nd symphony with the more assured 5th, in performances that emphasise clarity over drama The latest in the Shostakovich series from the BBC Philharmonic and conductor John Storgårds pairs one of the most familiar symphonies with one of the least. The Symphony No 2 was commissioned as a piece of propaganda marking the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution; in the context of the composer’s later works it feels like a curiosity, except for what it tells us about the 21-year-old Shostakovich’s glee in experimentation. It begins with several minutes of foggy strings sliding up and down in an intangible, almost pitchless way – more sound effect than music – then builds up in a perpetual motion melee, before a klaxon introduces a celebratory chorus happily singing “October, the Commune and Lenin”. It’s brightly sung here by the CBSO Chorus, exclamation marks everywhere. The Symphony No 5, written a decade later, could be by a different composer. Storgårds doesn’t quite find the depth of darkness that some do in the first movement, but there’s power in the way he warms the sound when the harmonies turn towards the light, and the third movement has a compelling feeling of stillness. The finale is full of small increases in tempo, tautly done, that wind up the tension – not a flashy performance, but effective nonetheless. Continue reading...

Decisions on the White House ballroom, public media and journalists’ access to the Pentagon are heartening. But restoring our institutions is up to us In another one of those strange and unprecedented moments of the Trump years, the president of the United States showed up at the supreme court the other day. No other presidents have done so, probably because they – to varying degrees – respected the separation of power among the three branches of US government. But Trump has not shown himself to share in that basic principle. Continue reading...

Research for TUC analyses link between job quality and economic inactivity, as UK youth unemployment rises Young people in the UK are more likely to leave their job for health reasons and become economically inactive when they work in insecure, low-paid sectors, a study has found. Research carried out for the Trades Union Congress by the consultancy Timewise charts a connection between the jobs young people are most likely to do – in hospitality, retail and care, for example – and the proportion of people leaving work because of ill health. Continue reading...

Irish Baroque Orchestra and Choir/Whelan (Linn) Conductor Peter Whelan leads a finely judged and agile period-instrument performance with only 13 singers. Every year, the Irish Baroque Orchestra and their conductor Peter Whelan bring Messiah back to Dublin, the city of its 1742 premiere. Their recording of Handel’s oratorio – the first on period instruments by an Irish ensemble – attempts to recreate the version heard at its first performance at the Fishamble Street music hall, a hot-ticket event at which such a crush was anticipated that the ladies in the audience were requested to forgo hoops in their skirts and the gentlemen to leave their swords at home. One of the attractions was the scandal-hit contralto and actor Susannah Cibber, who sang several arias including some more often sung today by other voice types: on the recording, gratifyingly, we get to hear a substantial share for Helen Charlston, her voice firm, slightly metallic and unflaggingly expressive. Also included is a less familiar duet-and-chorus version of How Beautiful Are the Feet, written for two of the countertenors from the Dublin cathedral choirs. Here and elsewhere Alexander Chance is in buoyant voice – he also gets the two arias Handel adapted later for his star castrato in London. Hilary Cronin’s sweet-sounding soprano stands out among the solo voices. Continue reading...

Royal Festival Hall, London This thrilling and idiosyncratic concert moved from Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos to Rachmaninov, Ravel and Schumann Remember the poem by Jenny Joseph, warning that when she is old, “I shall wear purple / With a red hat which doesn’t go”? There was a hint of the same gentle anarchy in this remarkable performance by Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich and her Korean sometime mentee Dong Hyek Lim. The advertised first half of piano duets including Schubert’s Fantasia in F minor D940 was scrapped in favour of Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major K448 and Ravel’s two-piano arrangement of La Valse – only for the Schubert Fantasia to reappear in the second half as a monumental, 20-minute encore following Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances in its two-piano original version. Between works, the two pianists meandered around the stage, chatting and occasionally bowing – Argerich leaning on Lim’s arm but driving nonetheless. There were onstage negotiations about whether or not to swap pianos after the first work. There were furious looks shot at page-turners caught on the back foot. Every movement started before the audience had settled. Continue reading...

Italy have missed three consecutive World Cups Gattuso: ‘It has been an honour to lead national team’ Italy have parted company with their head coach, Gennaro Gattuso, the country’s football federation (FIGC) said on Friday, after the national team’s failure to qualify for the World Cup. Italy lost Tuesday’s playoff final against Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties in Zenica and the four-time champions have now missed out on three consecutive World Cups. Continue reading...

Poland’s leading figurative artist de-faces Trump, feminist art rebels squat in East Sussex, and the UK’s street art is captured – all in your weekly dispatch Wilhelm Sasnal: family/history The domestic meets the political in these unsettling new paintings of family life and global current affairs (including some greyed-out visions of the Oval Office) by Poland’s leading figurative artist. • Sadie Coles HQ, London, until 23 May Continue reading...

Ticket bought in Bexley expires after 180-day claim period, despite extensive search for holder For many people in south-east London, the thought of winning the lottery and becoming an overnight millionaire would be a wonderful dream. For one person, however, that dream is now a nightmare after missing the deadline to claim a jackpot of more than £10m. National lottery players have 180 days to claim their winnings, but are entitled to nothing after the deadline has passed. Despite an “extensive search”, the national lottery said no valid claim had been made for a jackpot worth £10.6m for a Lotto ticket bought in Bexley on 4 October last year. Continue reading...

Havana calls releases a Holy Week humanitarian gesture as Russian tanker is allowed to reach oil-starved island Cuba has announced plans to pardon 2,010 prisoners as a “humanitarian” gesture during Holy Week, amid heightened US pressure on the government in Havana. The announcement on Thursday came days after Donald Trump eased a de facto oil blockade of Cuba by allowing a Russian tanker to deliver crude oil to the nation. Continue reading...

Vibrant seagrass meadows once flourished around the UK but most have been destroyed. Now, communities and scientists are working to restore them “There’s not many jobs where you get to be a sea gardener,” says Dr Oliver Thomas, senior science officer at Project Seagrass. He’s looking for flashes of eel grass that have survived the winter in the wide golden sand of Penrhyn beach on Ynys Môn (Anglesey), in north Wales. But growing a meadow in the sea is not an easy job. Vast swathes of the gorgeous underwater swards, vital nurseries for fish such as cod, have been wiped out around the UK in the past century. Up to 92% have been lost. Restoring them – and their water-cleaning, carbon-storing, coast-protecting benefits – is a colossal challenge. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Group of MPs and animal charities call for end to practice after Scotland and Wales vote to phase it out Keir Starmer is coming under pressure from backbench Labour MPs to ban the “cruel” practice of greyhound racing. The Welsh and Scottish governments voted last month to phase out the practice. Animal welfare groups say thousands of dogs in the UK have died in recent years owing to racing in the “inherently dangerous” sport. Continue reading...

Centre wonders if he will play another Test but remains positive as his club side meet Saracens in Champions Cup There have been some small but significant changes at Bath’s stately home training base at Farleigh House this week. Black flags, to complement their bespoke Champions Cup kit, flutter in the spring breeze and up in reception is the precise number of days and matches left this season should the club keep winning. “Choose Greatness” reads another motivational sign ahead of their last-16 encounter with Saracens. One particular player, though, needs no extra impetus. One moment Max Ojomoh was accepting the man of the match award after a fine display for England against Argentina in late November, the next he was losing his Six Nations squad place. Even if he hadn’t turned up for this interview wearing a tight black bandana on his head, the 25-year-old would still look and sound like a man on a mission. Continue reading...

In these turbulent times, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui has never been more vital, and returns to the stage starring the Sherlock star and with music by the alt-rockers. But, they say, they don’t just want to preach to the choir When the former Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi defected to the Reform party, he described the UK as diseased. “Our wonderful country is sick,” he said. “Britain needs Nigel Farage.” At a far-right rally last year, Elon Musk told supporters: “Violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die.” These sentiments are expressed, almost verbatim, in Bertolt Brecht’s exacting 1941 satire about the rise of Hitler, who frequently referred to Germany as diseased, in danger and  in urgent need of protection. In rehearsals for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s upcoming production of Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, the cast have been exploring the uncanny parallels between the blackly comic melodrama and current events in Britain and across the Atlantic. “It’s the same rhetoric,” says Mark Gatiss, who stars as Arturo Ui. “You just give it 80 years. The second world war generation has died out, so it’s fertile ground again. The same bullshit works. It’s really frightening.” Continue reading...

TV’s most outrageous family is back – and for the Breaking Bad icon, it’s a great excuse to let rip ... and get naked again. The stars talk skivvies, chugging raw meat and being stung in the crotch by 60,000 honey bees The intro to the new Malcolm in the Middle is quite the thing. Kids punch police officers. Santa Claus gets kicked in the face. A barrel full of faeces detonates inside a family car. This recap of previous episodes is so full of gross-out comedy and family fights that a grandma grabs her teenage grandson and crushes his testicles until he squeals. “And,” intones a voiceover at its end, “someone actually asked for more of this.” Did they? It’s been 20 years since the Emmy-winning sitcom about an outrageous working-class US family with the titular child genius went off air. It’s a show whose fans remember it fondly for never dipping in quality throughout its seven seasons. But were they really clamouring for more? Continue reading...

Feel like too much low-quality screen time is making you … dumber? From focusing on your environment to ‘washing’ your brain, experts share tips on how to sharpen up and keep your mind fighting fit Plus: how rotten is your brain? Take our quiz to find out Ever had one of those days when you get nothing done but still somehow feel exhausted? Of course you have: brain rot, the Oxford word of the year for 2024, isn’t yet in any medical dictionaries, but it’s probably best understood as the decline in cognitive abilities that comes from endless exposure to easily digestible information. And, thanks to the ubiquity of short‑form video and social media, it’s almost certainly on the rise. “When we’re engaging with this sort of media, our brains are both underworked – because the information is easy to understand – and overworked because there is so much information to absorb,” says Dr Wendy Ross, a senior lecturer in psychology at London Metropolitan University. “That’s why you end up tired even if you’re just scrolling on your couch.” Want to throw the process into reverse and recover your attention? Here’s how. Continue reading...

For this year’s Formula Student competition, the UK’s most prestigious university team are designing the fastest race car possible At the Oxford Brookes Headington campus, more than 100 students are busy building the fastest, best designed race car possible for this year’s Formula Student competition. Oxford Brookes Racing (OBR) is the UK’s most prestigious Formula Student team. They’ve won more design awards than any UK university, and frequently occupy the international race’s top spots. Continue reading...

Rosenior: ‘It’s disappointing for Enzo to speak that way’ ‘You have to protect this club and culture’ Chelsea have dropped their vice-captain Enzo Fernández for Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final against Port Vale and the following league game after he appeared to flirt with Real Madrid over a potential move during the international break. The midfielder, who has been linked with Real, offered his thoughts on the Spanish capital while on international duty with Argentina. He said: “I’d like to live in Madrid. It’s a beautiful city, reminds me of Buenos Aires.” Continue reading...