My singing voice is rarely tested, except for the occasional Happy Birthday. But a music festival choir singalong changed everything

When I was 16 I eagerly auditioned for our high school musical, singing a verse and the chorus from the Irene Cara song Flashdance … What a Feeling. Instead of taking the music teacher’s advice and picking something suitable for my voice, I chose this song because I secretly wanted to be just a dancer with a welding mask – just like the star of the film.

Preparations were intense. I spent hours rehearsing at home, nailing down the lyrics and watching the same scene over and over on my treasured VHS copy of Flashdance. I would have attempted some of the dance moves too but it was clear to everyone that was never going to be to my advantage.

Is the US president exploiting popular resentment towards elite colleges to achieve his political goals? Ed Pilkington reports

Harvard University filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday on the grounds that a recent $2bn (£1.5bn) funding freeze was unlawful. It is the most significant act of resistance taken by a US college in response to Trump’s crackdown on higher education.

Ed Pilkington, chief reporter for Guardian US, explains to Michael Safi that capitulating to Trump’s demands would have severely undermined Harvard’s reputation, and that the administration was targeting it for being a bastion of liberal thought.

Belfast rappers criticised by US conservatives and Sharon Osbourne for the pro-Palestine and anti-Israel content of their set

Irish-language rap group Kneecap have responded to criticism of statements they made about Israel during their Coachella performance on the weekend, saying that statements are “not aggressive” in comparison to Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

During their second set at the Coachella music festival in California on 18 April, the rap group, known for their political performances and support of Palestine, led the crowd in chants of “free, free Palestine”. Messages displayed on the stage’s screens during their set read: “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people” and “It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes.” Another read: “Fuck Israel. Free Palestine.”

Moises Sandoval Mendoza receives lethal injection in Huntsville for death of 20-year-old Rachelle O’Neil Tolleson

A Texas man convicted of fatally strangling and stabbing a young mother more than 20 years ago was executed on Wednesday evening.

Moises Sandoval Mendoza received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville and was pronounced dead at 6.40pm, authorities said. He was condemned for the March 2004 killing of 20-year-old Rachelle O’Neil Tolleson.

Government is ‘setting up conversations’ as companies arrive in London for clean energy summit

The UK is to woo global green investors, including those scared away from the US by the actions of Donald Trump, by offering cash and infrastructure improvements to encourage companies to set up manufacturing plants and supply chains.

The government will bring forward £300m for offshore windfarms, an area in which the UK retains a lead, and has invited banks and major international companies to a 60-country summit in London this week.

Campaigns that have sprung up to energise Australia’s 650,000 voting-age Muslims say the ramifications will extend well beyond 3 May

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In elections gone by, Az Fahmi volunteered for Labor’s home affairs minister, Tony Burke, in her electorate of Watson in Sydney’s south-west. Now she wants change.

“Enough is enough. We’re sick of being taken for granted. We’re sick of being ignored,” says the campaign volunteer, who works in communications.

The millennial musician and comedian on the clips that melt her brain, from Christian rap to 2012-core esoterica and an epic televised free-jazz fail

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I’m a millennial musician who was there at the buttcrack of dawn of MySpace and YouTube, so girl, I’VE BEEN THERE FROM THE BEGINNING. Did my personal MySpace page have a nauseating Lisa-Frank-on-acid aesthetic with a mouse cursor that transformed into a unicorn spewing glitter when it moved? Absolutely. Did I have a Xanga page with cringe poetry that detailed things I wanted to do to Keanu Reeves while Such Great Heights played on a loop in the background? Of course my basic ass did.

I think my internet sense of humour is rooted mainly in a deep, sincere love for bad music, which is any music that gives me a manic grin and makes me whisper to myself, “What the fuck … ” I need to know how these works of art got greenlit. I need to know why there are 17 lead vocal tracks on the Cadillac song (see below). I need to know if Nick Jonas practised AT ALL before going on stage at the CMAs. I need to know if the Christian music influencers know they are using a blaccent, or if they know a single Black person. Either way, the results are a gift to us all. Or a gift to me, anyway.

More than 150 people were injured as they jumped from buildings after a strong earthquake struck Istanbul on Wednesday. Another quake, of magnitude 4.9, occurred 10 minutes later, with the epicentre off the coast of Büyükçekmece in the Sea of Marmara. Some businesses closed for the day after a wave of aftershocks rattled shoppers

The 86 concerts this summer will include anniversary celebrations of Shostakovich, Ravel and Boulez, a Traitors-themed Prom presented by Claudia Winkleman – and a record number of female conductors

The BBC today announce its eight-week Proms season featuring 86 concerts in London, Bradford, Belfast, Bristol and Gateshead. A record number of female conductors will be at the podium – 15 – and the Last Night will be the first to feature an all-female lineup of conductor and soloists: Elim Chan will conduct, with trumpeter Alison Balsom and soprano Louise Alder, plus the evening will feature two world premieres, by 34-year-old French composer Camille Pepin, and Rachel Portman, who was the first woman to win an Oscar for best original score, both making their Proms debuts.

Also making her Proms debut will be Claudia Winkleman, who, fully cloaked, will present a Traitors Prom featuring a mix of symphonic pop and classical music exploring timeless themes of intrigue, treachery and betrayal. Suzy Klein, the head of arts and classical music TV at the BBC, promised that the concert would evoke all the drama of the Highland castle where the hugely popular reality TV show takes place. There won’t be gameplay or interaction, she added, but “it is going to be shaped and curated as a dramatic evening. There’s so much music featured in the series that we wanted to take some of that and say to people, ‘Welcome to the world of classical music, you’re already listening to it and loving it without realising it!’” Winkleman will be joined by the BBC Scottish Symphony and the BBC Singers, with other guests and the full programme to be announced. Will season three fan favourite Linda Rands, a retired opera singer, be taking part? Potentially, said Klein.

Raymond McCourt, 59, was reported missing from HMP Castle Huntly in Dundee at 5.30pm on Tuesday

Police have launched a manhunt after a convicted murderer escaped from an open prison in Scotland.

Raymond McCourt, 59, was reported missing from HMP Castle Huntly in Dundee at 5.30pm on Tuesday.

• Jovic double gives Milan 3-0 win over rivals
• Real keep their title hopes alive with victory

Milan ruined Inter’s push for a treble and advanced to the Coppa Italia final with a 3-0 derby win courtesy of two goals from Luka Jovic.

Inter pressed forward early on and Federico Dimarco struck the crossbar in the 23rd minute. But Jovic put Milan ahead 13 minutes later with a powerful header and then doubled the advantage from close range shortly after the break. Tijjani Reijnders added another for Milan in the 85th minute by finishing off an excellent team move, giving them a 4-1 aggregate triumph over two legs.

Liverpool’s coronation as Premier League champions will have to wait a few more days, although it’s only a matter of when, not if. In a match that could have represented a microcosm of their domestic season, Arsenal appeared to be heading towards a narrow victory against a dogged Crystal Palace side. Eberechi Eze’s brilliant volley had cancelled out Jakub Kiwior’s early opener but Leandro Trossard then restored the Gunners’ lead.

However, an uncharacteristic mistake from William Saliba allowed Jean-Philippe Mateta, on as a substitute, to equalise with seven minutes to play and secure a deserved point for Palace, who will now head to Wembley for their FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa on Saturday brimming with confidence.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has past convictions for supporting terrorism, attended fundraiser at Trump’s resort

Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was set to address a meeting at Yale University, a day after being honored at a lavish dinner at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Ben-Gvir, who has past convictions for supporting terrorism and was considered persona non grata under the Biden administration, attended a fundraising event at the Florida resort on Tuesday, where he told attendees about harsh new measures implemented against Palestinian prisoners.

For the first time, prosecutors identified Kaja Sokola and detailed her account of what unfolded with movie producer

Harvey Weinstein’s #MeToo retrial opened on Wednesday, giving a new jury a fresh look at familiar rape and sexual assault allegations – plus a newly added claim.

For the first time, prosecutors publicly identified Kaja Sokola, a former model, and detailed her account of what unfolded between her and the Oscar-winning movie producer in the early 2000s. He is criminally charged with forcing oral sex on her in 2006, but she also accused him in a civil lawsuit of groping her against her will four years earlier, when she was 16.

Most skimpy bars have signs that say ‘no photos of the girls’ – but photographer M Ellen Burns earned the women’s trust to capture what their life is really like

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Not long after M Ellen Burns arrived in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, the state’s borders closed to the rest of Australia and the world for the first time in history. The photographer had been on a road trip from the Blue Mountains to visit her partner’s parents in WA when Covid-19 first began to spread; now she was well and truly stuck. She found work shooting for the town’s tourist board, but a chance meeting with a local barmaid introduced her to the other jewels in Kalgoorlie’s crown: skimpy bars.

Burns photographed several skimpies at work between 2021 and 2023 with their full consent

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Tensions rise between nuclear-armed neighbours who have fought three wars over territory as Delhi vows to respond

The brutal militant attack that killed 26 people in one of Kashmir’s most scenic spots has shattered the region’s relative calm, turning a popular tourist destination into a scene of horror – and raising fears of a fresh conflict between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.

Soon after the attack in which gunmen emerged from dense pine woods and opened fire on families picnicking and riding ponies, India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, vowed a “loud and clear response”.

US president attacks Ukrainian counterpart for complaining Kyiv is unwilling to cede Crimea to Russia

Donald Trump has accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of jeopardising what he claimed was an imminent peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, as he gave the clearest hint yet that the US would be willing to formally recognise Russia’s seizure of Crimea as part of any agreement.

The US president claimed a deal to end the war – largely negotiated between Washington and Moscow – was close, while the vice-president, JD Vance, said the agreement would include a proposal to freeze the conflict roughly along the current frontlines.

Gustavo Petro hits back after Álvaro Leyva accused him of going awol during official visit to France

A prominent Colombian politician and former minister has accused the country’s president, Gustavo Petro, of being a drug addict who allegedly went awol during an official visit to France.

In a damning letter to the South American leader, the former foreign minister Álvaro Leyva painted a dire picture of his one-time boss and ally, later publishing the text on his official X account.

Fossil teeth show species of protemnodon that roamed Australia between 5m and 40,000 years ago lived and died near Queensland caves

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Despite their immense size, species of prehistoric giant kangaroos from a site in Queensland were probably homebodies with a surprisingly small range compared with other kangaroos, according to new Australian research.

Protemnodon, which lived on the Australian continent between 5m and 40,000 years ago, was significantly larger than its modern relatives. Some species weighed up to 170kg, making them more than twice as heavy as the largest red kangaroo.

The Holdovers breakout and Oscar nominee will head the cast of Tony, which will follow the food world legend in 1976

The Holdovers breakout Dominic Sessa has signed on to play Anthony Bourdain in a new biopic.

The casting had been initially rumoured last year, but the 22-year-old has now made it official, with the Oscar nominee Antonio Banderas also joining in a role that is being kept under wraps.

Israel launches wave of airstrikes as Arab negotiators make new ceasefire proposal

At least 25 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza, including 11 in the bombing of a school turned shelter, the strip’s civil defence agency said, as Israel’s war against Hamas in the besieged Palestinian territory grinds on despite a new ceasefire proposal from Arab mediators.

Intense Israeli bombings hit several areas of Gaza on Wednesday, killing 11 in a school sheltering displaced people in al-Tuffah, a neighbourhood of Gaza City. The strike ignited a huge fire that claimed most of the casualties, said a civil defence spokesperson, Mahmoud Bassal.

Washington, like Moscow, prefers bilateral talks to a wider diplomatic process. Kyiv and other European governments are rightly alarmed

There could hardly be clearer evidence than Donald Trump’s latest attack on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the US administration’s last-minute snub of London peace talks, that what matters to him is not Ukrainian sovereignty and safety, nor the transatlantic alliance, but a deal with Vladimir Putin. The US president says an agreement is close, with leaks suggesting that Washington would recognise annexed Crimea as Russian with Moscow giving little if anything in return. For Mr Trump, it is Ukraine’s president who is harming negotiations by saying he will not recognise Russia’s control.

Mr Putin is passionate about maximising Russian interests, attentive to every detail, skilled in negotiations, and believes that time is on his side. Mr Trump does not care about the outcome as long as he can claim he has ended the war, has little interest in the detail and has a habit of handing over the prize at the start of the process.

Ban comes week after 16 members were arrested, accused of threatening national security

Jordan has said it is shutting down the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and banning membership of the Islamist political group.

The ban came a week after Jordan said it had arrested 16 members of the Muslim Brotherhood accused of threatening national security by training militants, making explosives and plotting to strike targets in Jordan with rockets and drones.

Palestinian green-card holder was arrested by US immigration authorities in Vermont on 14 April

Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian green-card holder and student at Columbia University who was detained by the Trump administration on 14 April, will have a hearing next week on his request for release on bail, a federal judge decided on Wednesday.

Judge Geoffrey W Crawford extended a temporary restraining order issued by a separate judge last week to keep Mahdawi in Vermont. Immigration authorities have sent other foreign students arrested for their pro-Palestinian views to detention centers in Louisiana and Texas, jurisdictions typically overseen by more conservative judges.

Illinois senator, 80, plans to leave office in 2027 at end of term, so voters will elect his replacement in midterms

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Dick Durbin, the second-highest ranking Democrat in the US Senate, announced he will not seek re-election in 2026, bringing an end to a Senate career that spans nearly three decades.

The 80-year-old Illinois senator, who has served since 1996, posted on social media that he plans to leave office in 2027 when his term expires – meaning there will be an open primary for his replacement in the midterms.

What do you think being ‘prettier’ will bring you? Belonging? Self-assurance? Relief? Perhaps there are other ways to reach those goals

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Hi Ugly,

My brother and I have big teeth with gaps. He recently found out he could get them “done” in an affordable way, and now I am doing it, too. There is nothing wrong with my teeth or smile – it’s just gappy, and I think I will look somewhat prettier with the new chompers.

My father had plastic surgery. Now he wants me and my mother to get work done

How should I be styling my pubic hair?

How do I deal with imperfection?

I want to ignore beauty culture. But I’ll never get anywhere if I don’t look a certain way

Researchers left at US climate agency say drastic cuts could leave air ‘not breathable’ and water ‘not drinkable’

The Trump administration has shunted one of the US federal government’s top scientific agencies onto a “non-science trajectory”, workers warn, that threatens to derail decades of research and leave the US with “air that’s not breathable and water that’s not drinkable”.

Workers and scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) are warning of the drastic impacts of cuts at the agency on science, research, and efforts to protect natural resources.

The cookbook author makes eating greens a breeze with frozen veg for the time-poor, speedy yoghurt flatbread and a mixture of cheese you might already have in the fridge

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Did you know Popeye the Sailor Man was a wellness influencer?

When the US needed a Depression-era population, depleted of iron and coin, to eat meat-free, they turned to everyone’s favourite monochrome superhero.

Trump administration pushes back within hours of judge’s castigation as court battle with executive branch intensifies

The federal court that has found itself in a pitched battle with the executive branch over the summary removal of Salvadorian Kilmar Ábrego García despite a previous order against deportation has now accused the Trump administration of “bad faith” in the case – but received fresh pushback within hours.

US district judge Paula Xinis had given the Trump administration until 6pm ET on Wednesday to provide details to support its claims that it does not have to comply with orders to return the man to the US, where he was living and working in Baltimore, because of special privilege.

Pro-natalists aren’t actually interested in making motherhood easier by offering things like affordable childcare. So what is their aim?

Malcolm and Simone Collins, the pro-natalist couple who are reportedly consulting the Donald Trump administration on how to encourage American women to have more babies, are something of a deliberate heel: they often seem to be attempting to provoke the ire of their audience. The couple espouse the pro-natalism that is sweeping the political right with an explicit eugenicist tilt (self-styled “elites”, the Collins scan their IVF-generated embryos before their pregnancies, in an effort to select for features like high IQ). They dress in the severe black outfits of German modernists, with an emphasis on the “German” part, and wear large, unusually shaped eyeglasses; Simone has also taken to wearing large bonnets that make her look like Mother Goose, or, in their less subtle versions, like an extra on The Handmaid’s Tale.” The pair met on Reddit.

The founders of a pro-birth organization, the Collinses’ assert that there is a crisis of declining birth rates in America. (In reality, the slight dip in America’s birth rate in recent years is almost entirely due to the decline of teen pregnancies.) They aim to fix this in part by breeding as many of their own children as possible: they currently have four, blameless innocents they have cruelly burdened with names like “Industry Americus” and “Torsten Savage”. But they seem to be more adept at siring media profiles of themselves, of which there have been many. The couple insist upon their own genetic superiority, like a breeding-obsessed Boris and Natasha. They aim to advance a future of more babies and – by their own terms – better ones: what Simone calls “genetically selected humans”. They must be doing it on purpose: no one could become so off-putting by accident.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist.

About 89% of the public want their governments to do more to tackle the climate crisis – but don’t know they’re the majority

• The Guardian is joining forces with dozens of newsrooms around the world to launch the 89% Project – and highlight the fact that the vast majority of the world’s population wants climate action. Read more

A superpower in the fight against global heating is hiding in plain sight. It turns out that the overwhelming majority of people in the world – between 80% and 89%, according to a growing number of peer-reviewed scientific studies – want their governments to take stronger climate action.

As co-founders of a non-profit that studies news coverage of climate change, those findings surprised even us. And they are a sharp rebuttal to the Trump administration’s efforts to attack anyone who does care about the climate crisis.

Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope are the co-founders of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now

Airplane manufacturer says it is lobbying Donald Trump over ‘unfortunate’ decision to impose tariffs

Boeing will try to divert as many as 50 planes ordered by Chinese airlines to customers elsewhere after steep tariffs prompted by Donald Trump’s trade war.

The US manufacturer said it was confident it could find other buyers for the planes, but said it was lobbying Trump personally to resolve an “unfortunate situation”.

• Augusta winner returns in Zurich Classic of New Orleans
• McIlroy and Shane Lowry are the defending champions

Rory McIlroy has admitted to being taken aback by the scale of reaction to his Masters triumph. Two US presidents – Donald Trump and Barack Obama – plus huge names from worlds outside sport have contacted the Northern Irishman since he completed the career grand slam at Augusta National. Amid moving scenes at Augusta, McIlroy’s outpouring of emotion reverberated way beyond golf. The achievement meant “everything and more” to McIlroy. It struck chords elsewhere.

McIlroy, who beat Justin Rose in a playoff to win the Green Jacket, returns to action at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which starts on Thursday. The Northern Irishman was in bed with a fever on Monday, and was still slightly jaded when he addressed the media at TPC Louisiana on Wednesday.

Pope’s simple open casket lies on main altar of St Peter’s Basilica as mourners say: ‘It’s a privilege to be here’

Thousands of people queued for hours under the hot spring sun in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday to pay their final respects to Pope Francis, whose simple wooden coffin has been placed on the main altar of the 16th-century basilica, where he will lie in state until Friday evening.

The pope, the head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, died at his home in Casa Santa Marta on Monday aged 88 after a stroke and subsequent heart failure. He had been recovering from double pneumonia, which had kept him in hospital for five weeks.

• Ghana winger is on Saudi side’s radar
• Contract contains release clause active for set period

West Ham have accepted that selling Mohammed Kudus may be the best way to boost their transfer budget. The Ghana winger, whose contract contains a release clause that becomes active for a set period this summer, is attracting interest from Al-Nassr of the Saudi Pro League.

Kudus impressed after joining West Ham from Ajax in the summer of 2023 but he has struggled to have the same impact in his second season. The 24-year-old has not scored for the club since December and there is a view within the London Stadium that losing him would not be a disaster.

• Patrick McClean is brother of Ireland winger James
• Police attacked with petrol bombs at parade in Derry

The Northern Irish football club Glentoran are investigating footage that is said to show one of their players attending a dissident republic rally in Derry.

The images allegedly show their defender Patrick McClean among a crowd at an Easter Monday parade which has been linked to the New IRA.

François Bayrou faces questions over what he knew about school at centre of allegations of decades of abuse

The daughter of the French prime minister, François Bayrou, has said she was brutally beaten at a private Catholic school at the centre of a growing sexual abuse scandal that has shocked France.

Hélène Perlant, 53, told Paris Match that a senior priest at Notre-Dame de Bétharram beat her in front of her peers during a summer camp in the 1980s, when she was 14, but said she had never told Bayrou.

People flee to open spaces after 6.2-magnitude quake hits near Istanbul but there are no early reports of major damage

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit below the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul, prompting widespread panic and scores of injuries in the Turkish city, although there were no immediate reports of serious damage.

More than 150 people were hospitalised with injuries sustained while trying to jump from buildings, said the governor’s office in Istanbul, a city that is considered at high risk of a major quake.

Leftwing party says €6.6m order for bullets from Israeli firm breaches coalition government agreements

The leftwing junior partners in Spain’s socialist-led coalition government have called on the interior ministry to cancel a €6.6m (£5.7m) order for millions of bullets from an Israeli company, claiming the deal breaches coalition agreements and undermines efforts to hold Israel to account over its actions in Gaza.

Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has been one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, questioning whether it is following international humanitarian law and calling the number of Palestinian deaths “truly unbearable”.