Nusaybah Sattar and five relatives were kept off evacuation flight despite holding tickets and UK passports A British family stranded in the Middle East after being wrongly refused entry to an evacuation flight from Oman say they have received an apology from the Foreign Office, but no actual help to get home. Nusaybah Sattar, 26, from London, was in Dubai with her family to celebrate her brother-in-law’s 40th birthday when the city was hit by Iranian drones and missiles last Saturday. Continue reading...

Omission of presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, however, exposes failure of US president’s ‘theatrical’ doctrine, say experts Donald Trump will welcome the leaders of at least 10 Latin American countries to a palm-dotted golf resort in Miami on Saturday as the president continues his quest to transform the US’s standing in the region and outmuscle China. Since returning to power last year, Trump has launched a dramatic – and at times deadly – crusade to, as the Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, put it, “reclaim our back yard”. Continue reading...

In a park overlooking the city, I ran into a group of young people chatting and joking. As the bombs fall, fragments of life remain I was at work last Saturday when I heard the blast. Since that moment, the world has been turned on its head. The school called asking me to come and pick up my child. I rushed to the metro and headed north in a carriage filled with anxious people calling their loved ones to ensure their safety, melancholy etched on their faces, uncertainty metastasising from one to another as they checked the latest news on their mobiles. This is the second time within a year that Israel has decided to go for a war of choice with Iran, but I suppose that is the new normal. Israel has long enjoyed a unique position of near-total impunity when it comes to harassing Palestinians, and now the green light to aggression seems to extend to its unending wars and spreading of terror across the region. And it feels different this time. The pretence that there is some level of precision in the strikes is gone. Instead, the attacks appear indiscriminate, with targets ranging from schools to hospitals, from police stations to urban amenities – all hit with a level of might that seems aimed at demolition, total destruction, the flattening of the city. Continue reading...

Oscar favourite insists she is a ‘lover of cats’ after telling podcast about ultimatum she once gave to now-husband If Jessie Buckley fails to win the Oscar for best actress next week it will be a sign that cat lovers have got their claws out. The Irish actor is the runaway favourite for her performance in Hamnet, but in recent days has stumbled into a controversy over a stated antipathy to cats. Continue reading...

Kimi Antonelli finishes second in qualifying in Melbourne Lando Norris sixth after running over Mercedes cooling fan George Russell claimed pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, the opening race of the new Formula One season, with an ominously dominant run for Mercedes. Russell and his teammate Kimi Antonelli locked out the front row with their nearest competitor Isack Hadjar in the Red Bull almost eight-tenths of a second behind the pole time in third place. The British driver and Mercedes were in a class of their own at the front of the field but there was a disastrous opening for the four-time world champion Max Verstappen who crashed out before he had even set a timed lap. Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: Our annual recap of the must-see series spread across Apple TV, Netflix, Disney+ and more • Don’t get The Guide delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Streaming services: there’s a lot of them (with yet another, HBO Max, on the way later this month) and everyone seems to be signed up to different ones, making recommendations a challenge. Step forward the Guide’s fourth edition of A Show for Every Streamer (previous versions can be seen here, here and here), which does exactly as it describes. As is tradition, we’ve tried to avoid series that everyone has been nattering about (unlucky, Heated Rivalry), and instead spotlight less heralded, more surprising picks, starting with … Apple TV | Drops of God … a Japanese-American-French drama about warring wine experts, of course. A curious one, though it does fit in with Apple’s penchant for high-end subject matter. After a first series that saw the daughter of a deceased French wine expert face off against his Japanese mentee for ownership of his multimillion-dollar wine collection, season two – which arrived in January – sees the two team up to investigate the mysterious origins of a bottle of red from dad’s collection. Continue reading...

From ancient China and Paris’s Latin Quarter to ‘Han shot first’, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz 1 The slogan “Han shot first” protested against the re-editing of which film? 2 The boundaries of the North, East and West Ridings met at which city? 3 What is the smallest species of UK crow? 4 Which notorious Disney film was based on stories by Joel Chandler Harris? 5 Which precursor of the UN was established by the treaty of Versailles? 6 Rama IX ruled which country from 1946 to 2016? 7 Which singer and pianist was born Eunice Waymon? 8 What military force was the BAOR? What links: 9 Ancient China; California; Nagasaki; Latin Quarter of Paris; Rome? 10 Alert (possible); warning (expected); severe warning (risk to life and significant disruption)? 11 Covalent; ionic; metallic? 12 Bakelite; french fries; internal combustion engine; saxophone; standard map projection? 13 Ade Adepitan; Ian Dury; Frida Kahlo; Joni Mitchell; Itzhak Perlman; FDR? 14 Bligh’s ship; Olympus Mons location; Panthera leo; Via Lactea? 15 Isabella of France and Margaret of Anjou; Chester Burnett; Jordan Belfort? Continue reading...

Mountain hikes, river swims and centuries-old traditions appeal to the whole family on a trip to the Balkans ‘Uno, Uno, Uno No Mercy!” the six-year-old son of our hosts for the day bellows while leading my boys, 10 and 12, into his dimly lit corrugated iron home. I let out a little sigh of relief. The popular card game is a much-needed icebreaker as ominous clouds close in on the remote stan (the Albanian word for a shepherd dwelling). Despite the language barrier, much laughter and consternation soon spill out of the darkness, just as hail hammers down on the tin roof. Dogs bark, chickens cluck and sheep bleat as the thunder grows louder, and we all – our eight hosts, seven guests and one guide – shelter in the tiny kitchen, the living room-cum-bedroom (now Uno parlour), or on the veranda. It’s day two of a seven-day trip with Undiscovered Balkans, crisscrossing between Albania and Montenegro on foot and by car. Having always wanted to hike the Peaks of the Balkans trail, a 119-mile (192km) hike linking Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania, I jumped at the chance to sample this new guided itinerary. Combining some of the region’s most famous hikes with gentler excursions for kids, such as a day experiencing life as a shepherd, or visits to remote swimming spots, it seemed a novel alternative to our usual “get a map and hope for the best” approach to hiking holidays. Continue reading...

Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes ​Submit a question Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World. Continue reading...

My sexuality had to be hidden from my friends, my parents, not to mention the authorities. Then I found freedom at house parties and one song that sums up me finally being able to be myself I was raised in Tehran, under the Ayatollah’s sharia law and daily watch of Basij – the “morality police”. My parents fell in love with the Islamic Revolution when I was a baby and welcomed life under its strict religious rules. The Ayatollah’s face stared down from the walls at home, a daily reminder of what was expected and what was forbidden. This included being gay, but by my teenage years I knew I was different from my peers, and began hiding my sexuality from my parents and the world outside. The other side of life under the regime was that there was little room for celebration: happy events, even religious ones, came with inherent guilt while frivolous outside influences, including western music, were considered dangerous. And so I was in my mid-20s before I went to my first real party: an underground gathering that would become my gateway to a hidden, gay Tehran. Continue reading...

Bank criticised for tone of spending summaries, with one user complaining to ombudsman over ‘humiliating’ use of data When does lighthearted banter become inappropriate and humiliating? The digital bank Monzo has been accused of overstepping the mark by using the data it holds to tell one customer with a past eating disorder that she eats a lot of fast food, spends “more than most” on Just Eat takeaways, and had banished her life goals thanks to her spending choices. Continue reading...

This sophisticated, character-driven sitcom from the creators of Scrubs and Ted Lasso is very funny. And it’s proof that all that drama hasn’t blunted Carrell’s comic edge Here’s a funny thing. When comically gifted actors go “straight”, taking on dramatic roles with zero laughs, the world falls over its feet to give them flowers. You might not realise it from looking at every single acting award ever handed out but comedy is much harder than drama. Both share techniques and aim at truth. But with comedy, rhythm and originality are crucial, and the spotlight is merciless. (Fart noise.) From Robin Williams to Jim Carrey, Hugh Laurie to Daniel Kaluuya, when an actor gets more admiration keeping the hahas in, they often don’t go back. Which brings me to Rooster, a show that, along with last year’s Four Seasons, marks Steve Carell’s return to TV comedy. Since leaving The Office, Carell has spent 13 years fictionally fathering drug addicts, being an abusive wrestler-philanthropist, and getting fired from his job as a news anchor for sexual misconduct. (That was on The Morning Show, not Anchorman.) Incredible projects, obviously. But don’t they sometimes have the hint of homework? Continue reading...

The lowdown on journey times, season ticket costs and average house prices in places you should know about In pictures: homes for sale in new commuter hotspots in England The commuter belt is being redrawn. During Covid, in the hope that remote working would stick, buyers broke free from conventions and transformed the housing map. A race for space – and to the coast and rural areas – were the stories of the pandemic. As the call back to the office intensified, this trend unwound and homebuyers began targeting the more traditional commuter zones once again. Unfortunately, the homebuying landscape is very different to five years ago and some of those locations are unaffordable. Continue reading...

How are we to account for things that lie outside ordinary language? A woman’s emotions are precisely observed in a novel that brilliantly captures what it means to be human In each of her previous novels and story collections, the Irish author Mary Costello has revealed the inner vastness hidden within even the quietest lives. Her latest book, A Beautiful Loan, goes further, with a faithful, poetic exploration of the multitudes we contain and what it means to be human. From the outset, in the novel’s prologue, Anna tells us she is determined to account for herself and her life. But we are to expect no ordinary narrative, concerned only with “actual events”, “evidence-based” or relying on “historical data”. No, Anna is interested in the “climate of the psyche” and “the vibrations of the soul”. Can it be that the very things we cannot quantify or rationalise are what make life meaningful? Continue reading...

One week on from the first strikes, we look at why the war started, what the cost has been and what may come next The US-Israeli war on Iran, now into its seventh day, has set the Middle East alight, threatening millions of people’s lives and livelihoods as the violence spreads in widening arc stretching from central Asia to the edge of Europe. The joint operation, named “Epic Fury” by the US and “Roaring Lion” by Israel, has been sold as a high-impact show of intimidating power, but its impact so far beyond the chaos and bloodshed is unclear. What is certain is that predictions that this type of war would destabilise the region have indeed rapidly materialised. Continue reading...

Dancing dogs and golden oldies are awarded at the annual canine bonanza. Plus: heartbreaking moments in The Walsh Sisters. Here’s what to watch this evening 2.30pm, Channel 4 Continue reading...

A classic fried tofu stir-fry that’s bang-full of flavour My funny, curious, panda-loving daughter, Arya, is turning nine this week. So I wanted to write a recipe to celebrate her and some of her favourite things to eat. Arya adores the chewiness of udon, the bounciness of tofu, the sweet, sour saltiness of sweet soy and tamarind, the crunch of cabbage and she’d put chilli (in any form) over her breakfast cereal if she could (although it’s optional in this recipe). Happy birthday, Arya. Continue reading...

The plot rumour led to the former cabinet minister’s arrest, but while BVI officials avoid comment, residents wonder why anyone believed it Is it really plausible that Peter Mandelson could have hatched a daring plot to escape to the British Virgin Islands? In the capital of Road Town for the last week or so, the question has been on many minds. And even if the UK’s Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, came away with that possibility in mind from a recent visit, very few of them are convinced. “It seemed strange to me,” said one bemused local official who had met Hoyle at a function a few days earlier, “that if you were going to flee, it would be to a British territory. From a logical point of view, you’re still more or less in the UK. It’s like fleeing to Southampton.” Continue reading...

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I have to show him all the jobs that I have either left undone or tried to do and made worse My wife is out when Mark the builder is scheduled to come by to see what needs doing, so I have to show him myself. This, I know, will amount to a humiliating private tour of all the home repairs I have either left undone, or tried to do and made worse. It’s been two years since I last did this, so the tour will be extensive. Just before 11am the bell rings. It is a cold morning, but Mark, as usual, is wearing shorts. We start in the back garden. “Here is where I tried to cut back the ivy and install two trellis sections,” I say, “but instead I pulled half the garden wall down.” Continue reading...

He’s television’s most daring documentary-maker, known for asking questions others wouldn’t. But Theroux doesn’t seem to like it when the tables are turned On the pavement outside the Netflix office, I stand in the rain, confused. Was that interview a little off? Louis Theroux seemed not to like my questions, which were typical interview questions, related to him and his big glossy Netflix debut, Inside the Manosphere. He seemed, I don’t know, prickly? A bit testy? I’m prone to rumination, so perhaps I am overthinking. Because Louis Theroux is a good guy, right? He skewers the bad guys. And yet here I am, baffled. The only thing to do is sit in a cafe and replay the tape. Theroux is solicitous, lightly ironic in tone. “Louis,” he says. “How do you do?” I am fine. Looking forward to our chat, as you may imagine. Theroux, 55, might be north London dad in appearance – specs, grey T-shirt, black jeans, sneakers – but he’s the grandmaster of both the immersive documentary and interview form. The son of American writer Paul Theroux (a nepo baby before they existed), he has built a 30‑year career in television, much of it at the BBC, making a virtue of being a socially awkward verbivore, hyper‑curious, super-funny. Continue reading...

Harry, 24, an ecologist, meets Freya, 24, a theatre-maker and cook What were you hoping for? Some tasty food, and a nice evening with good company to block out the Sunday scaries. Continue reading...

Prof Tim Lang says country produces far less food than it needs to feed population and is particularly vulnerable The British government should be stockpiling food, according to a leading expert on food policy, as it is not prepared for climate shocks or wars that could cause the population to starve. Prof Tim Lang of City St George’s, University of London said the UK produced far less food than it needed to feed itself, and as a small island that relied on a few large companies to feed its giant population, it was particularly vulnerable to shocks. Continue reading...

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

The Israeli PM’s war on its nemesis is playing well domestically. But real safety for Israelis requires another leader altogether Aluf Benn is the editor-in-chief of Haaretz When Yitzhak Rabin became the prime minister of Israel in 1992, he debated which regional power would be the Jewish state’s stronger enemy – the Islamic Republic of Iran, or Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Baghdad had the stronger military, but Rabin decided that Tehran posed the larger threat with its combination of Islamist ideology, regional proxies and nuclear ambitions. Rabin’s response to the looming Iranian threat was negotiating land-for-peace deals with Israel’s immediate neighbours – the Palestinians, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon – following the example of the pre-existing peace with Egypt. He argued that a ring of normalisation would strengthen Israeli security and counter the rise of radical Islam, and believed there was an urgency to conclude the peace process before Iran, following the Israeli example, acquired the bomb and became a regional hegemon. Rabin predicted in early 1993 that within a decade, Tehran’s rulers could cross the nuclear threshold. Aluf Benn is the editor-in-chief of Haaretz Continue reading...