Russia says there are reasons to be ‘cautiously optimistic’ and said there is an understanding talks are needed between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump
Brussels correspondent
The EU executive could play a role in joint purchase of missiles, drones and other military equipment, according to a draft document on the future of European defence.
The UK is hoping to shape a new global axis in favour of climate action along with China and a host of developing countries, to offset the impact of Donald Trump’s abandonment of green policies and his sharp veer towards climate-hostile countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Ed Miliband, the UK’s energy and net zero secretary, arrived in Beijing on Friday for three days of talks with top Chinese officials, including discussions on green technology supply chains, coal and the critical minerals needed for clean energy. The UK’s green economy is growing three times faster than the rest of the economy, but access to components and materials will be crucial for that to continue.
The kingdom’s capital is a world heritage site – and it has now honoured its once-biggest industry with a ‘pearling path’ wending through two miles of architectural delights. But did its car parks really have to be so lavish?
Think of contemporary architecture in the Gulf and you might think of gilded towers rising from the desert, eye-popping “iconic” museums, and artificial islands carved into ever more fanciful shapes. But, sandwiched between the petrodollar glitz of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, there is an enclave that has been quietly bucking the trend.
In Bahrain’s old capital of Muharraq, a place of winding low-rise streets studded with markets and minarets, a project has been under way over the last two decades that goes against the usual penchant for brash bling. It takes the form of a two-mile (3.2km) route that meanders through the densely packed city, linking new public squares and cultural venues, combining careful conservation with daring contemporary interventions. the Pearling Path shows how the treatment of a Unesco world heritage site doesn’t have to mean choosing between preserving a place in aspic, or resorting to Disneyfied pastiche.
And unlike Mullins’s Al Boum Photo, who came up short as a 9-4 shot when attempting a third straight win in 2021, it is very hard to see Galopin Des Champs being beaten.
With the sole exception of his stumble three years ago, Galopin Des Champs has scarcely made a mistake in any of his previous starts at the festival, but the real secret to his dominance, the special power that sets him apart not only from the current crop of chasers but all but a handful of the greats of the past, is the raw finishing power that kicks in as he closes out a race.
(Interscope) It’s back to the dancefloor as the US superstar doubles down on what she does best – albeit with one eye on Madonna, Charli xcx, Taylor Swift and more…
Pop stars spend their careers impaled on the horns of a perennial dilemma: whether to reinvent themselves and show range, or stick to core value variations. With Mayhem, her sixth solo album, her 10th overall, Lady Gaga has dumped the former strategy, which was stuttering of late, for an emphatic reiteration of the latter.
Mayhem marks a wholesale return to dancefloor freakiness, complete with self-quotes (Abracadabra) and a hard-edged electronic takedown of fame (Perfect Celebrity) that would not have been misplaced on her debut album, 2008’s The Fame.
Experts say legislation will prevent vulnerable people from accessing justice in latest government-backed crackdown
Human rights groups in Peru have voiced alarm over a controversial anti-NGO law that prevents civil society organisations from taking legal action against the state for human rights abuses – a move that activists say will prevent the vulnerable from accessing justice.
Peru’s deeply unpopular congress added a harsher amendment to an existing bill which was fast-tracked through the chamber with 81 votes in favour, 16 against and four abstentions on Wednesday.
Scott Anthony Gastal, who at age 11 had testified in court in the 1980s that his priest had raped him, was beaten to death
The clergy abuse survivor who effectively ignited the US Catholic church’s reckoning with clerical molestation when – at age 11 – he testified in the 1980s that his priest had raped him was recently beaten to death in south-west Louisiana.
Scott Anthony Gastal, whose later life was marked by legal struggles after enduring child sexual abuse at the hands of notorious clergy predator Gilbert Gauthe, was 50.
While potatoes are cheap to buy, growing unusual varieties is a joy – and delicious too
As a rule, I discourage small-space gardeners from growing potatoes as they need a fair amount of room and are cheap to buy. Nonetheless, they’re a classic grow-your-own crop: satisfying to cultivate, a pleasure to harvest and delicious – especially if you choose a variety you might not see in a supermarket, such as the heirloom variety Sharpe’s Express (pictured above).
Potatoes are divided into different groups based on how long it takes them to produce crops. The most coveted – and expensive – are the “first earlies”, or new potatoes, which can be planted now and into April, to be ready in June and into July. Those that follow are called “second earlies” and go into the ground a couple of weeks later, to be dug up in August. The earlies are delectable when freshly harvested; they can’t be stored for long and have the added bonus of (hopefully!) hitting your plate before blight threatens.
It was a welcome to Florida that Andrew Tate was not expecting, far less the warm embrace he believed he was entitled to.
The controversial influencer, an accused rapist and human trafficker, walked straight into a state criminal investigation after descending the steps of the private aircraft that flew him and his brother Tristan from Romania last month, inducing a fit of apoplexy in Tate that appears to be still raging two weeks on.
The biggest ever fatberg found in Western Australia has been pulled from a sewer, weighing in at 30,000kg.
Fatbergs are made up of material that cannot dissolve in water – such as oil, grease and wet wipes flushed down sinks and toilets – which then pile up and stick together.
The work of making change is difficult. Most of it is boring, unsexy and, at best, modestly incremental from day to day
Donald Trump is attempting to dismantle American constitutional democracy before our eyes. For the past six weeks, many of us have been telling ourselves we have to do something about this before it’s too late. And yet many people who feel this way – no matter how outraged they are or how genuinely worried they are about our country’s future – are doing very little but handwringing and doomscrolling.
Elected leaders in the Democratic party are mostly failing to provide inspiration for people who are alarmed about the president’s actions. The protest paddles they held up at Trump’s speech before a joint session of Congress underscored the fact that they’re flailing more than they’re leading. Meanwhile, for most of us, the chance to vote again is almost two years away.
Mayor of city ‘with steel in its veins’ says ‘There’s a lot of tension … a lot of worry’ as 25% export levy kicks in
The sprawling ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel plant in Hamilton, Ontario has in recent months become a site of pilgrimage for Canadian political leaders.
Dressed in pristine orange coveralls and hard hats, prime ministers and provincial premiers gaze at coiled sheets of steel with the stern grimaces and keen interest of generals reviewing a military parade.
Four days after she arrived I thought: this is it. I bought an engagement ring
The first time I saw Rachel was on Bumble. We matched, but then both ended up taking a break from dating apps. So when we reconnected on Tinder a few months later, in February 2020, it felt like fate.
She exuded confidence and had bright blue eyes – I was into her straight away. We chatted for a couple of weeks in the early days of Covid, and when it became clear it wasn’t going away, we made a plan for a date, eager to meet in person before any restrictions were implemented.
Europa League reaction, England squad news and more
Get in touch: you can mail Barry with your thoughts
Thomas Tuchel’s England squad: There are a few conspicuous absentees from Tuchel’s maiden England squad, with the names Ollie Watkins, Jack Grealish, Nick Pope, Ethan Nwaneri, Adam Wharton, Morgan Gibbs-White, Conor Gallagher, Harry Maguire and Jarrad Brantwaithe leaping to mind.
It’s worth noting that Watkins came off at half-time during Villa’s win over Club Brugge on Wednesday night and his injury almost certainly accounts for his absence. Tuchel will be explaining himself when he faces the press at 11am (GMT) but in the meantime, feel free to get in touch with your thoughts on his squad via email.
Senate working to avert partial government shutdown before midnight deadline
Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen rejected on Friday president Donald Trump’s latest remarks about annexing Greenland, saying the Danish autonomous island could not be taken over by another country.
“If you look at the Nato treaty, the UN charter or international law, Greenland is not open to annexation,” he told reporters, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
(Big Crown Records) Fuzzy, hypnotic beats, soulful saz-funk and emotive balladry mark Yıldırım’s powerfully imaginative new music, produced by Leon Michels
Since the 1960s, Turkish groups have honed a distinct blend of Anatolian folk and psychedelia. Early pioneers Moğollar and Erkin Koray electrified the lute-like saz, while newer acts such as Baba Zula and Altın Gün have added synths, dub echo and heavy fuzz to the mix. German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım has meanwhile taken a downtempo approach since her 2019 debut album Kar Yağar, singing soaring vocals over hazy reverb to produce soulful saz-funk.
Yıldırım’s third album with her band Grup Şimşek is their first working with analogue soul producer Leon Michels (who produced pop singer Clairo’s acclaimed latest) and the resulting 11 tracks luxuriate in warm acoustics, tape hiss and earthy basslines. Opener Çiçek Açıyor sets the tone with Yıldırım’s powerful falsetto ascending beautifully over a driving, mid-tempo groove of fuzzing bass and softly piping Mellotron keys, while Cool Hand and Direne Direne pick up the pace, highlighting the tight interplay between drummer Helen Wells and bassist Graham Mushnik, who evoke classic 60s soul rhythm sections such as the Funk Brothers as they anchor Yıldırım’s high-register melodies.
The PM sounds like Elon Musk when promising to fight the ‘blockers’, but his government’s plans will weaken the link between peoples and politics
Every new prime minister has an Elon Musk moment. A sudden attack of frustration leads to a burst of machismo, a chainsaw response. The system stinks. Slash the bureaucrats. Smash the machine.
Elon Musk’s Tesla has warned that Donald Trump’s trade war could expose the electric carmaker to retaliatory tariffs that would also affect other automotive manufacturers in the US.
In an unsigned letter to Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, Tesla said it “supports fair trade” but that the US administration should ensure it did not “inadvertently harm US companies”.
The billionaire foreshadows cuts to Medicare and social security – despite Trump’s campaign pledges
The Trump administration is setting records and shattering norms in many ways, including in its almost daily policy flip-flops and rhetorical missteps. The latest started on Monday, when Elon Musk torched Trumpism by trumpeting the need to make cuts in federal entitlement programs.
He did not clearly say whether or how those cuts would affect Medicaid, Medicare and social security benefits. But he was clear that those programs will be on his target list.
An investigation into the DRC’s use of hundreds of hired Romanian fighters reveals how a disorganised operation with untrained recruits became a deadly ‘circus’
In January, after the two-year siege of the Congolese city of Goma ended with victory for the M23 rebels and Rwandan troops, an ill-assorted group of nearly 300 white mercenaries were lined up to have their humiliating defeat televised.
“You must not joke with us,” barked Willy Ngoma, the M23’s military spokesperson, at one man he’d ordered to sit on the ground with his hands clasped behind his head.
Grand prix fans thronged into the heaving Albert Park with renewed zeal, abuzz at the prospects of local hero and title contender Oscar Piastri
As Formula One prepares to open a season the sport hopes will be a spectacular battle royale, it surely could not ask for a finer venue than Melbourne’s Albert Park to see things off in a suitably splendid fashion.
The true form for the year ahead has yet to be discerned from the opening day of practice in Australia. But with the cars fizzing with intent round the glorious circuit in the parkland in the heart of the city, it was a pleasure to welcome Australia back as the opening race of the season for the first time since the Covid pandemic brought proceedings to a desultory close here on the Friday before the race in 2020.
Mapping out what you are going to wear each day saves you time and gives you peace of mind
I’m sure ayahuasca is probably really great, but have you ever experienced the absolute rush you get when you have prepped a whole week’s worth of outfits in advance? No? Oh, then you haven’t lived. The thrill of it. The next-level smugness. The whole 10 minutes extra in bed every morning. The self-belief that comes from knowing you have nailed a killer look for the meeting you are dreading on Wednesday afternoon. This is what invincibility feels like, my friends.
I’m not saying spontaneity is overrated, not exactly. Just that it has its place. And flicking through clothes hangers on a dark Monday morning when your phone is popping with work emails is not that place. There has always been a lifestyle trend for prepping meals, and it is rapidly advancing into fashion. Batch cooking is in vogue. TikTok is now full of uncannily wholesome looking influencers (possibly AI-generated: “Siri, make a perfect human being”) holding Tupperware boxes filled with colourful diced vegetables, as if proudly carrying a Fendi baguette bag. Meal planning for the week has a whole heap of advantages. It works out cheaper, you make healthier choices than you would in the moment, and it makes life simpler at the end of a busy day.
‘It’s not nice to hear certain things,’ says United captain
Fernandes responds after co-owner’s critical interviews
Bruno Fernandes has aimed a barb at Sir Jim Ratcliffe by stating no player wants to be told they are “not good enough or overpaid”, as Manchester United’s co-owner said this week regarding some of Ruben Amorim’s squad.
The captain was speaking after his hat-trick in Thursday’s Europa League last-16 second leg 4-1 win over Real Sociedad that sealed United’s passage to a quarter-final against Lyon.
Diggs’ harrowing music is a world away from his Hollywood films and a Tony-winning run in Hamilton. But his band’s world-building – setting resource wars in imagined cyberpunk clubs – is no less dramatic
As a child, Daveed Diggs and his schoolfriend William Hutson drew pictures inspired by the space-age album covers of funk legends Parliament, filled with gleaming UFOs and eccentric interplanetary travellers. Diggs would grow up to become an actor, winning a Tony award as the first person to play the roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton. He’s since voiced Sebastian the crab in The Little Mermaid’s live-action remake and appeared in Nickel Boys, which was nominated twice at this year’s Oscars. But away from Hollywood and Broadway, he’s still dreaming up fantastical sci-fi worlds with Hutson – now through one of the most imaginative, harrowing projects in underground rap.
Along with Hutson’s college roommate Jonathan Snipes – who had a similar childhood experience, inspired by the otherworldly paintings adorning classical albums – the friends formed Clipping in Los Angeles in 2010. Over Hutson and Snipes’s production, Diggs weaves blood-soaked horror stories about racial violence or fables of enslaved people in outer space. On their new album Dead Channel Sky, he raps with mechanical precision over warped rave music, creating a noirish cyberpunk world of hackers, clubgoers, future-soldiers and digital avatars.
Pearlescent skin has been on trend for a while – now there are products specifically designed to give you that glow
Glazed skin – very hydrated skin that looks smooth, shiny, glowy and glassy – has been hugely popular since 2022, and all manner of products like facial oils, clear lip glosses and even Vaseline have been used to achieve the look temporarily. But now we’re seeing products come through that have been developed and marketed specifically to give a glazed appearance.
Hailey Bieber’s Rhode brand is really very good across the board, but her most viral product, Glazing Milk (£32) – a beautiful, ceramide-rich skincare essence designed to be sandwiched between cleansed skin and serum – went stratospheric after she appeared in a TikTok video mixing it with her Dior foundation to give the latter a lighter, glassy finish.
The president’s attacks on diversity and immigration have already affected many artists and will affect many more in the coming months
One of the most pernicious effects of a bully’s intimidation is making victims afraid of being true to themselves, because it’s the essential and authentic parts of them that incite the bully’s contempt.
Terminate diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, positions, and programs in the federal government; terminate equity-related grants and contracts; and repeal prior executive orders designed to ensure equal opportunity in the workplace, including a decades-old executive order from the Johnson Administration ... ”
A fascinating, exciting history of how the agency smuggled subversive books across the iron curtain
In, I think, November 1978, I got a call from a rather grand British journalist who’d heard that I was about to go to Moscow. “A Russian friend of mine would dearly like the latest volume of Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago. I don’t suppose you’d smuggle it in for him?” I did, of course, disguising it rather feebly by wrapping it in the dust jacket of the most boring book I owned: Lebanon, A Country in Transition. A customs official at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport flicked through it briefly, but even though the text was in Russian he didn’t spot what it was about. Two nights later, near the entrance to Gorky Park, I handed over the book to a shifty character who seemed to be a supplier of forbidden goods to the dissident community. He gave me a small 18th-century icon in exchange for it.
It’s only now, all these years later, that I’ve realised I was almost certainly a rather naive mule for a CIA scheme to smuggle subversive books through the iron curtain. According to Charlie English’s vibrant, beautifully researched and exciting The CIA Book Club, the Polish intellectual and political activist Adam Michnik read The Gulag Archipelagoin prison; someone had managed to get a copy to him even there, courtesy of a CIA operation codenamed QRHELPFUL. Solzhenitsyn was far from being the only author whose works the CIA smuggled. George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm were probably the most popular among the dissidents the books were intended for, but a wide range of other authors including Adam Mickiewicz, Albert Camus, Nadezhda Mandelstam and even Agatha Christie also featured on the QRHELPFUL book list.
The UK economy contracted by 0.1% in January, dealing a blow to Rachel Reeves before the spring statement later this month.
In a surprise to City economists, who expected 0.1% growth in January, the Office for National Statistics data showed the services sector failed to offset a decline in the industrial sector and maintain growth from the previous month.
A quirky whodunnit set in the White House starring Uzo Aduba, plus Dennis Quaid and Annaleigh Ashford head up a very meta true-crime show – and The Simpsons send up the White Lotus
Wickedness in the White House? Who would believe it! This series from Shondaland is a quirky whodunnit about a mysterious death at the heart of US power. Uzo Aduba stars as Cordelia Cupp, a brilliant, eccentric detective who is charged with unpicking the details. As the body of the building’s chief usher is discovered, a state dinner is in full swing. Soon, Cupp (a keen birder whose binoculars come in handy for professional reasons too) brings searching questions and inconvenient truths to the occasion. It’s a gently comic genre piece; essentially a country house murder mystery with West Wing bells on. And it’s great fun, largely thanks to Aduba’s wry central performance.
Netflix, from Thursday 20 March
I will be the first UK energy secretary since 2017 to visit. It is negligence towards today’s and future generations not to engage China on this critical topic
The climate crisis is an existential threat to our way of life in Britain. Extreme weather is already changing the lives of people and communities across the country, from thousands of acres of farmland being submerged due to storms such as Bert and Darragh to record numbers of heat-related deaths in recent summers.
The only way to respond to this challenge is with decisive action at home and abroad. Domestically, this government’s clean-energy superpower mission is about investing in homegrown clean energy so we can free the UK from dependence on fossil fuel markets while seizing the immense opportunities for jobs and growth.
Photographer Mahé Elipe has been taking pictures of women across Mexico since 2018 as part of her project Sembrando Luchas (Those Who Sow the Seeds of Struggle), which aims to highlight the lives and challenges of women young and old. She says: ‘The need to delve deeper arises from the desire to account for the commitment of Mexican women in all social struggles, those that generate an impact and become a source of inspiration for all others’
From best in bloom on the Lizard Peninsula to perky puffins in the Hebrides, our tipsters revel in the return of spring
Late spring is the best time to see the cliffs in colour as the bluebells, thrift and gorse battle it out for best in bloom on the Lizard in Cornwall. Walking the couple of easy miles along the coast between Kynance and Lizard Point will offer you a variety of exceptional, eye-catching and, in some cases, rare plants including Erica vagans, a variety of heath only found on the Lizard peninsula. Wildlife thrives here and in late spring your walk is likely to feature the soundtrack of Cornish choughs overhead. You may even see an adder or catch a glimpse of seals “bottling” (bobbing) in the Atlantic, enjoying the Cornish spring sunshine. Layla Astley
As Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams prepare to come home after their unexpected nine-month ISS stay, here is what they may experience
Gravity may seem like a drag, but spending long periods of time without its grounding force can wreak havoc on your body. On Friday, Nasa and SpaceX will launch the space agency’s Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station to retrieve astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams, after what was meant to be an eight-day stay turned into nine months.
While it is not the most time a human has spent as an extraterrestrial – Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub hold the record, with 374 days – most long space missions are a maximum of six months.
Apple TV+’s mesmerising, funny tale of low-level criminals stealing drugs while posing as DEA agents is fast, furious – and stars Brian Tyree Henry on heartbreakingly wonderful form
Contrary to popular belief, a man’s reach should ideally not exceed his grasp. All hell tends to break loose if it does. Never more so, it turns out, than if a pair of low-level criminals find a semi-lucrative groove posing as DEA agents to fake-bust other small-time drug dealers and relieve them of their cash without real police ever getting involved.
Such is the hustle of Ray Driscoll (Atlanta’s Brian Tyree Henry) and Manny Carvalho (Narcos’ Wagner Moura): best friends since they met as young men in prison, addicts at different stages of recovery, and now partners in crime moving through the minor crack dens of Philadelphia. The opening set piece is so funny (“Did you just pause the game?” Ray asks incredulously as the armed pair burst into a dealer’s house screaming at the computer-playing addicts to get down on the floor) that for a while the vibe is very much “What if Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s ‘Pontiac Bandit’ Doug Judy took things up a notch from stealing cars?”, with a light dusting of Pulp Fiction as the duo riff before, during and after the action on the power of an authoritative voice, Manny’s relationship, and the necessity of researching a job.
Myles Lewis-Skelly could return to an old role, Wolves are still in danger and United’s strikers are running out of time
Premier League safety is all that matters to David Moyes and an eight-game unbeaten run – Everton’s best sequence since going nine matches without defeat under Ronald Koeman in 2016-17 – has almost accomplished a task that looked much more onerous when he returned in January. Publicly, the Everton manager maintains the job is not done and that no contract issues will be resolved until the club’s top-flight status is mathematically confirmed. Privately, and beneath the more relaxed demeanour that he has brought back with him to Goodison Park, there may also be a fierce ambition to finish above two clubs who deemed him surplus to requirements. Everton can go three points clear of one, West Ham, and leapfrog another, Manchester United, with victory over Graham Potter’s visitors on Saturday. With Liverpool, Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and Chelsea to come after an impending two-week break, Moyes could do with a more clinical display from Everton to step closer to his aims. Andy Hunter
Outstanding jockey of era ‘saddened and embarrassed’
Rider: ‘Consequences will affect me for many years’
Frankie Dettori, one of the most successful and popular racing figures of recent decades, said in a statement on Thursday that he is “saddened and embarrassed” at being forced to file for bankruptcy having failed to resolve a dispute over unpaid tax with HMRC.
Dettori was revealed to be in dispute with HMRC over a scheme to reduce his income tax payments in December 2024, when an injunction to prevent him being named was lifted following an application by HMRC and media organisations.
We want to know more about your health and wellness budgets – whether it goes to skincare or therapy
Taking care of oneself can be expensive and time consuming. According to the Global Wellness Institute, Americans spend over $6,000 per person a year on wellness – the “largest wellness economy by far”. The UK is the fifth biggest wellness economy globally, with a per capita average annual wellness spending of $3,342.
Wellness means different things for different people. For some, it may include nutritious groceries, fitness classes and treatment for chronic pain. For others, it may be a comprehensive health insurance plan, skincare products, therapy and a subscription to a meditation app.
Insiders say UK national security adviser avoids limelight, but it found the ‘calm operator’ this week
In the topsy-turvy world in which Keir Starmer and his aides operate, the US putting the onus on Russia to agree to a truce with Ukraine marked a significant victory.
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