Norris beat teammate by eight-hundredths of a second
Max Verstappen third, George Russell fourth
Lando Norris claimed pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, the opening race of the 2025 Formula One season with an immense lap for McLaren in Melbourne.
In what was an enormously tight fight he beat his teammate Oscar Piastri into second by just eight-hundredths of a second. As had been anticipated, the McLaren was the class of the field, comfortably quicker than Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in third and George Russell’s Mercedes in fourth.
Our continent must be prepared to defend itself, by combining the best of its two most influential traditions
Should we all be Gaullists now? In the language of France’s most important European partner, the answer is “Jein!” (a German word combining ja for yes and nein for no). Yes, Emmanuel Macron has been right to warn us ever since he became France’s president in 2017 that, discerning a long-term trend of US disengagement, Europe should be ready to defend itself. Now, confronted with Donald Trump, a rogue US president putting in question an 80-year-old American commitment to the defence of Europe against Russia, lifelong Euro-Atlanticists like me must acknowledge that we need not just a Europe with more hard power – something for which I have always argued – but also the real possibility of European “strategic autonomy”. Oui,Monsieur le Président, you were right.
Yet en mȇme temps (at the same time),to deploy Macron’s signature trope, we should answer “Non”. For De Gaulle, a great man of his time, believed that defence should be the exclusive province of the nation state; that the emerging European Community should be a Europe of states (a disunited version of the European Union to which today’s hard-right populist nationalist parties dream of returning); that Britain should be excluded from the European project (hence his famous “Non!”to British membership in that emerging community); and that Europe should be constructed as a counterweight to the US, having close relations with Russia and China.
Timothy Garton Ash is a historian, political writer and Guardian columnist
Andrew Sheridan is one of a number of chefs who say complaints and threats have severed the trust between restaurants and customers
Restaurant owners are abandoning the age-old “customer is always right” maxim because too many diners try to get freebies through threats, making malicious complaints and underhand tricks.
Anti-corruption rally is culmination of months of protest shaking grip of autocratic president
Tens of thousands of people from across Serbia are expected to join an anti-corruption rally in Belgrade, in what is seen as a culmination of months of protest that have shaken the grip of the country’s autocratic president, Aleksandar Vučić.
Tensions are running high, as the president’s supporters have begun setting up camp in a park in front of the presidential palace. Earlier this week, Vučić warned that security officers would use force against people at the rally, planned for Saturday.
Marina Hyde on 1,000 grotesque memes of JD Vance – they’re all more likable than the real thing. The actor Michael Sheen grew up poor, got rich, then lost everything backing the 2019 Homeless World Cup. Now he’s giving away more of his money to help 900 total strangers. When John Harris first started noticing that his baby had some unusual quirks, he wasn’t too worried. Then came an autism diagnosis – and a fear of the future. Could a shared passion for music give James a way to shine?
From 15-23 March, Lake Burley Griffin and the surrounding natural scenery is filled with colour as hot air balloons of all shapes and sizes take to the sky. Spectators young and old gathered around John Dunmore Lang Place in Parkes at the crack of dawn on Saturday for the magical experience
Cambridge scientist behind VR platform says it could help those put off by high cost of speech anxiety treatment
A free online platform that allows speakers to practise in front of thousands of virtual spectators has been released to help with the anxiety many feel when presenting to an audience.
Dr Chris Macdonald, the founder of the Immersive Technology Lab at Cambridge University and who created the online platform, said the approach was an attempt to reduce the lengthy waits or high costs people often face when seeking help.
Only Haas’ Ollie Bearman logged fewer laps than Lawson across practice, the Brit crashing out in FP1, missing out on getting out onto the track by 120 seconds in FP2 after frantic efforts to fix his car, and then just registering a couple of laps in P3 until he spun out and beached his car.
A total of 13 laps completed. Well… 13 and a half, if we’re being generous.
US secretary of state accuses Ebrahim Rasool of being a ‘race-baiting politician who hates America’ and Donald Trump
The United States is in effect expelling South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, with secretary of state Marco Rubio accusing the envoy of hating the country and President Donald Trump.
“South Africa’s ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country,” Rubio posted on X on Friday.
Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva beat defending champion Iga Swiatek 7-6, 1-6, 6-3 to reach the Indian Wells final for the first time as she sets her sights on back-to-back WTA 1000 titles.
After a tight first set, the 17-year-old Andreeva was flawless in the tiebreak, leaning over and letting out a roar when she enticed a forehand error from Swiatek on set point.
Democrats dismayed after some help Republicans avert government shutdown; Trump vents about prosecutions while taking DoJ victory lap – key US politics stories from Friday at a glance
The US Senate averted a government shutdown just hours before a Friday night deadline after 10 Senate Democrats joined nearly all Republicans to clear a key hurdle that advanced the six-month stopgap bill.
The vote deeply dismayed Democratic activists and House Democrats who had urged their Senate counterparts to block the bill, which they fear would embolden Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s overhaul of the US government.
The success of Shit You Should Care About has been down to Lucy Blakiston’s focus on social media at a time where news avoidance is growing
Lucy Blakiston, the 27-year-old founder of a thriving global media company, loves being underestimated. And swearing.
“I wear on purpose the girliest, pinkest, most colourful outfit to an event of tech-Bros,” she tells the Guardian from her home in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington.
Most people in Brisbane were battening down the hatches ahead of the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Alfred. For a few, though, it was one of the most exciting natural events of their lives.
Over the course of the weekend and into Monday, throngs of birdwatchers lined the shores of Bramble Bay in the bayside suburbs of Shorncliffe, Sandgate and Redcliffe, telescopes and cameras at the ready.
Falcon 9 rocket takes off on journey to replace duo who have been at International Space Station since June
The replacements for two Nasa astronauts who have been stuck at the International Space Station for nine months launched on Friday evening, paving the way for the pair’s long-awaited return.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 7.03pm ET (11.03pm GMT) in Florida carrying the four astronauts who will take over from Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been stuck on the orbital lab since June.
A US hunting influencer who caused outrage in Australia after grabbing a baby wombat from its mother says she is sorry for the incident but was only trying to ensure its safety by removing it from a road.
Sam Jones left the country on Friday morning after the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said immigration authorities were checking if she had breached the conditions of her visa.
UK PM to host virtual meeting of ‘coalition of the willing’ nations who have agreed to help enforce peace
Keir Starmer has warned that Vladimir Putin cannot be allowed to “play games” with the possibility of a ceasefire in Ukraine, as he prepared to present proposals for a peace deal to a coalition of about 25 world leaders.
The UK prime minister will host a meeting on Saturday of the “coalition of the willing”, a group of nations that have agreed to help keep the peace in Ukraine. He will seek to pile pressure on the Russian president to “finally come to the table” and “stop the barbaric attacks on Ukraine” after Kyiv agreed this week to an immediate 30-day ceasefire.
Family of Monica Cameroni De Adams, 65, files $50m damages claim as lawyer accuses city of ‘burying her alive’
An unhoused woman living out of her van in San Diego was towed away by authorities, who did not realize she was inside the car until she was discovered dead in the vehicle a month later, according to a legal claim and autopsy records made public this week.
Monica Cameroni De Adams, 65, was inside her parked Honda minivan at about 1am on 5 November 2023 when a driver crashed into her vehicle and another parked car, lawyers for her children outlined in a wrongful death claim against the southern California city.
Taking over the justice department headquarters for what amounted to a political event, Donald Trump railed against the criminal cases he defeated by virtue of returning to the presidency in an extraordinary victory lap the department has perhaps never before seen.
The event was billed as a policy address for the administration to tout its focus on combating illegal immigration and drug trafficking, but the majority of the president’s freewheeling remarks focused instead on his personal grievances with the department.
Liverpool captain watched his daughter star in the school play before taking centre stage in the Carabao Cup final
Virgil van Dijk’s attention was not on football on Thursday night or checking on the state of contract negotiations. Instead he was watching a school production of Fantastic Mr Fox. His daughter Jadi, like her father on the pitch, had a starring role: she was Mrs Fox, while Wataru Endo’s son was a rat. It was the perfect antidote to going out of the Champions League on Tuesday to Paris Saint-Germain and waiting for Sunday’sCarabao Cup final against Newcastle.
“I’m also a normal father, husband, man, and I like to do normal things,” Van Dijk says. “And when you’ve been seen as normal as well, and it’s difficult, but going to school is a nice thing. Some of the kids are looking up, thinking: ‘What are you doing here?’ The most important thing in life is my kids and my wife’s life. These things are definitely important, but they fully understand as well when it’s time to fully focus on the task ahead.”
Mikel Arteta has defended Ben White’s “brave” decision to make himself unavailable for England under Gareth Southgate and revealed the 27-year-old had been “struggling” with the national team.
The Arsenal defender has not played for his country since leaving England’s squad at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar for personal reasons after a rumoured falling-out with the then assistant Steve Holland, but is back in the frame after talks with Thomas Tuchel. The new England manager confirmed White “would love to be back in the squad” despite not being picked for the World Cup qualifiers against Latvia and Albania as he returns from a long spell out after knee surgery in November.
‘I feel that it is not just a given,’ says manager
German attended 25 matches featuring England players
Thomas Tuchel will not sing the national anthem before his opening matches in charge of England and will do so only when he senses he has earned the privilege.
The manager, who named his first squad on Friday for the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia at Wembley, is aware of the controversy that ensnared his predecessor, Lee Carsley, who held the role on an interim basis for the autumn internationals. Carsley, born in England and of Irish heritage, chose not to sing the anthem.
Pep Guardiola has responded sarcastically to Fabio Capello’s claim that he is arrogant, has “ruined Italian football” and has made the sport boring. The former England coach offered his view of Guardiola to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo this week. On Friday Manchester City’s manager was asked whether he listened to someone of the Italian’s stature in the game.
“I listen to everything that people say about me. Everything. So be careful. I am controlling you,” he said as a joke. “It’s not the first time that Mr Fabio Capello said that. I’m not good enough to win Italian football. Italian football is much, much more important than the way you do it. A big hug from Fabio. A big hug.”
Former Spice Girl watches Wonderwall finish well clear of her and husband Christian’s horse at famous jumps meeting
Girl power took on Britpop at Cheltenham on Friday but a horse owned by Geri Horner proved no match for Wonderwall in the Hunters’ Chase, better known in racing as “the amateurs’ Gold Cup”.
The former Spice Girl added a touch of glamour to the final day, and in the paddock beforehand she admitted she was looking forward to seeing Lift Me Up, named after her 1999 No 1, be come her first runner at the festival. “I’m very excited,” she said. “It’s amazing. I’m very excited.”
Sprawling storm system to affect vast swath of territory from Canada to Texas with tornadoes threatening in south
The National Weather Service has predicted extreme weather across a vast swath of the US encompassing more than 100 million people, with powerful winds gusts up to 80mph (130km/h) being forecast from the border with Canada to Texas.
A sprawling storm system crossing the US on Friday overturned semitrucks on highways and fanned wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma, where officials called for evacuations in at least one town. Tornado threats loomed for the Mississippi valley into the night and the deep south on Saturday.
Former agency leaders, including two Republicans, say rollbacks by Lee Zeldin could cause ‘severe harms’
Three former Environmental Protection Agency leaders sounded an alarm on Friday, saying rollbacks proposed by the EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, endanger the lives of millions of Americans and abandon the agency’s dual mission to protect the environment and human health.
Zeldin said on Wednesday he planned to roll back 31 key environmental rules on everything from clean air to clean water and climate change. The former EPA administrator Gina McCarthy called Zeldin’s announcement “the most disastrous day in EPA history”.
A handful of Senate Democrats on Friday helped pave the way to approve a Republican-drafted bill that would fund the government and avert a shutdown ahead of the midnight deadline.
In a 62-38 vote, 10 Senate Democrats joined nearly all Republicans to break the filibuster and move the seven-month funding bill to a final vote. As part of a deal to secure the Democratic votes, the parties agreed to allow a series of amendments on the measure.
Swedish company’s valuation jumped 24% in 2024 as ‘buy now, pay later’ market is projected to top $160bn by 2032
The Swedish fintech firm Klarna disclosed on Friday that its revenue jumped 24% in 2024 as the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) pioneer made public its filing for a much-anticipated US stock market listing.
The company, which reshaped online shopping through its short-term financing model, drew investor attention as its valuation soared from $5.5bn to $46.5bn in just two years, fueled by three funding rounds between mid-2020 and 2021.
Vladimir Motin was in charge of the Solong when it hit a tanker off East Yorkshire coast, leaving one man dead
The master of the container ship the Solong, which crashed into another vessel in the North Sea, has been charged with gross negligence manslaughter.
Vladimir Motin, 59, a Russian national, was in charge of the ship when it collided with a tanker carrying jet fuel on Monday about 12 miles (19km) off the East Yorkshire coast, leaving one man dead.
Arizona senator had also clashed with billionaire over the latter’s ‘traitor’ jibe after Kelly posted about his Ukraine visit
The Arizona Democratic senator Mark Kelly announced he was ditching his Tesla car, because of brand owner Elon Musk’s role in slashing federal budgets and staffing and attendant threats to social benefits programs.
“Every time I get in this car in the last 60 days or so, it reminds me of just how much damage Elon Musk and Donald Trump is doing to our country,” Kelly said, in video posted to X, the social media platform owned by Musk.
A tournament that has produced tries galore reaches its glorious climax on Super Saturday with England and Ireland hot on the heels of favourites France
The best Six Nations campaigns tick two crucial boxes. The first is a consistent sense of jeopardy from start to finish and the second is a level of entertainment that elevates the tournament into the mainstream consciousness. When both occur simultaneously, as they have done this year, the championship’s final round ranks among the most gripping days in modern team sport.
This particular “Super Saturday” certainly has all the necessary spicy ingredients, starting with the prospect of France’s second title since 2010 if they can beat Scotland in Paris. A bonus-point win for England over Wales in Cardiff, though, could yet be enough to sneak the trophy in the event of a breathless Scotland win. Which, from a Scottish perspective, looms as the ultimate catch-22 scenario.
Syed, convicted of 1999 murder and jailed for life, maintains innocence in long-running case of legal twists and turns
A Maryland judge has formally sentenced Adnan Syed to the time he has already served in prison, appearing to finally bring to a close a long-running case with numerous legal twists and turns that received worldwide attention from the true-crime podcast Serial.
Judge Jennifer Schiffer had already decided that Syed would remain free in a recent written ruling, even though his conviction in the murder of his ex-girlfriend in 1999 when they were in high school still stands.
Shaken by rail protests, Kyriakos Mitsotakis brings in new transport minister while tacking right on migration
The Greek prime minister has appointed a former far-right student activist to the helm of the migration ministry as part of a broad reshuffle aimed at “resetting” his government amid public outrage over its handling of a deadly 2023 train crash.
In an attempt to stem declining approval ratings, Kyriakos Mitsotakis placed the self-described nationalist, Makis Voridis, in the sensitive post while selecting a number of younger officials to key portfolios including the transport ministry.
PM has been urged to ‘get a grip’ on messaging after railing against the ‘flabby’ state and the civil service’s ‘tepid bath’
Keir Starmer has been warned against adopting the language of Elon Musk after railing against “blockers and checkers” and the “flabby” civil service this week.
Gus O’Donnell, the former cabinet secretary, was one of those urging the prime minister to “get a grip” on his messaging, telling the Institute for Government podcast: “My God, he has mishandled the communications on this terribly.”
Pass rusher signed record deal to stay in Cleveland
Team have underperformed during Garrett’s tenure
Myles Garrett has sacked 31 different quarterbacks during his eight-year NFL career. On Friday, the four-time All-Pro edge rusher had to stand in his own pocket and take the pressure of fielding questions about his decision to sign an extension with the Cleveland Browns instead of trying to follow through on his trade request.
“I think I had some frustration. And you know, I feel like that helped us grow and have conversations that were difficult, but needed to be had,” Garrett said. “I think the fans will see that my heart is in the right place. It has never been about money. It’s always been about winning. That’s where my frustration lies.”
Garrett’s four-year contract extension has an average salary of $40m and makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
The deal ended a month-long saga that began during Super Bowl week when the 2023 AP Defensive Player of the Year asked for a trade, saying he wanted to win a Super Bowl. The Browns were firm, however, that they would not entertain offers from other teams.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs pleaded not guilty on Friday to a new indictment, which added accusations that the hip-hop mogul forced employees to work long hours and threatened to punish those who did not assist in his two-decade sex trafficking scheme.
Combs, 55, entered his plea to the new indictment before the US district judge Arun Subramanian at a hearing in Manhattan federal court. A trial remains scheduled for 5 May.
Northern Irishman two off lead after improved driving
Tommy Fleetwood in contention with second-round 66
It looks as if the world’s best golfers should have enjoyed this while it lasted. If forecasted gusts of up to 30mph land at Sawgrass on Saturday, this Players Championship will descend into a war of attrition. Day four carries a 70% chance of storms. The PGA Tour’s marquee event could be about to get grisly.
There was a time in the dim and distant past when Rory McIlroy shied away from playing in poor conditions. How things have changed. The Northern Irishman now relishes the battle. McIlroy’s second round of 68 placed him just two off the lead, held by Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia.
Russian airstrikes in Donetsk, protests in Buenos Aires, floods in Brisbane and International Women’s Day: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing
A spokesperson offered no evidence for the claim after 26 people were killed on a train that was hijacked in Balochistan province on Tuesday
Pakistan’s military has accused neighbouring India of sponsoring militant groups in the south-west of the country as survivors recounted their ordeal from an unprecedented attack that killed 26 passengers on a hijacked train.
The scope of the attack in Balochistan province underscores the struggles that Pakistan faces to rein in militant groups.
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