Released

• NBA released updated 2025-26 playoff odds for second-round series on May 3, featuring spreads and betting lines for top matchups. • Favorites like the Nuggets and Celtics show tight spreads at -3.5 and -4.0, reflecting intense competition post-first round. • These odds influence betting markets heavily, with over $500 million wagered already this postseason per league reports.

In 2022, Aneil Karia won an Academy Award for his short starring Riz Ahmed. Now, he’s skewering Reform-style parliamentary candidates with the help of Jack Lowden and an unlikely online platformSome film-makers have unrealistic expectations for their work; Aneil Karia is not one of them. “I’m not deluded enough to think that it’s going to bring down the government,” he says of his new film, Vote Gavin Lyle – but you never know, it just might. A funny, clever, superbly acted, small-but-perfectly-formed satire, Vote Gavin Lyle stars Jack Lowden as a wannabe Reform-style parliamentary candidate for the fictional middle-England constituency of Fletcham and Wold. At just 16 minutes long, it absolutely skewers the far-right mindset; not the minority-bashing, flag-hoisting street thugs, but the cannier, well-spoken Farageists who dominate the tendency’s leadership.Without wanting to give away the film’s final flourish, it’s fair to say that there’s an element of empathy, even sympathy for its central character. Karia says: “I don’t think it’s interesting or useful to look at these people – far-right politicians, councillors, prospective candidates, whoever – and just say what nasty bastards they are. I think what strikes me about them is they’re just as vulnerable and scared as the rest of us. Continue reading...

• Anthropic's Mythos AI model, which the company deemed too dangerous for public release, has reportedly been accessed by an unauthorized third party in a significant security breach. • The incident has raised global concerns about AI safety and the security protocols surrounding advanced AI systems, particularly models flagged as high-risk by their developers. • The breach underscores ongoing tensions between AI safety considerations and cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the management of cutting-edge language models.

Hayam El Gamal and five children were held for 10 months after husband allegedly threw molotov cocktails at crowdAn Egyptian family of six has been taken back into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, days after they were released from a detention facility in Texas on Thursday, according to their attorney Eric Lee.Lee said Saturday morning that Hayam El Gamal and her five children were on a private jet in Denver bound for Egypt because of a court order violation. Continue reading...

US judge orders release of a woman and her five children who were family of the 2025 Colorado fire attack suspectA woman and her five children, whose immigration detention of more than 10 months marked the longest family detention under Donald Trump’s second administration, were released on Thursday hours after a judge’s order, their lawyer said.US district judge Fred Biery of the western district of Texas ordered the family’s release. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Experts say scheme will help repair damaged marine ecosystems while sequestering large amounts of carbonMore than 15m juvenile oysters are to be released into the North Sea in one of the biggest rewilding projects in UK waters.The scheme, which will use a unique rearing process, hopes to re-establish a huge oyster bed around Orkney that experts say will create a “trophic cascade” of climate and ecological benefits. Continue reading...

EU economy commissioner says Iran war is feeding Russia’s war machine; Trump condemns massive strikes on Ukraine. What we know on day 1,513The EU expects to start releasing a new €90bn loan to Ukraine in the second quarter, the bloc’s economy chief told AFP on Thursday. The EU’s economy commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, was speaking on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings, which brought finance ministers, central bankers and other leaders to Washington. “Our support for Ukraine, also continued pressure and sanctions against aggressor Russia was very much part of the agenda,” Dombrovskis said. He warned that Moscow was “emerging as a winner from this war in Iran, because it provides windfall profits to feed Russia’s war machine”.Russia hammered civilian areas across Ukraine with drones and missiles on Thursday, killing at least 17 people and wounding more than 100 others in the worst aerial attack in weeks, Ukrainian authorities said. Nearly 700 drones and dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles were used, as Ukrainian officials said vital stocks of advanced interceptors were running low.Donald Trump on Thursday condemned a massive Russian drone and missile attack across Ukraine that ripped through apartment buildings in the capital, Kyiv. Asked by reporters at the White House for his reaction to the barrage, Trump said: “I think it’s terrible.”It is not in the interest of the US that Russia is the winner of the Iran war, the German vice chancellor, Lars Klingbeil, said on Thursday in Washington. “It’s not in our interest and it cannot be in the interest of the United States,” he said in a joint statement with the finance ministers of Ukraine and Norway on the sidelines of the IMF spring meetings. Klingbeil said the Russian economy was growing thanks to the Middle East conflict and the country was profitting from the energy situation. As the conflict in the Middle East dominated the gathering of finance officials at the IMF in Washington, the ministers of Norway, Germany and Ukraine spoke about not forgetting to support Ukraine in its defence against Russia. “All the meetings here are about the question of what’s happening with the war in Iran, and I think it’s really important we show solidarity with our friends in Ukraine,” Klingbeil said.The heads of the EU and Nato on Thursday discussed efforts to bolster Europe’s arms production, as Donald Trump threw doubt on Washington’s commitment to the transatlantic alliance. “We need to invest more, to produce more and to do both faster,” the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, posted online after meeting Nato’s chief, Mark Rutte. European nations are scrambling to bolster their militaries in the face of Russia’s war on Ukraine and pressure from Trump. Continue reading...

Annie Ramos, who came to US from Honduras as a toddler, was detained last week at husband’s base in LouisianaThe wife of a US soldier who was detained last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at her husband’s Louisiana military base was released from federal custody on Tuesday.“All I have ever wanted is to live with dignity in the country I have called home since I was a baby,” Annie Ramos said in a statement following her release. Continue reading...

Freelancer Shelly Kittleson was reportedly held by Iran-backed militia which says she must now leave countryThe US journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped from a Baghdad street corner last week, has been released, according to an Iraqi official with direct knowledge of the situation.Kittleson was freed in the afternoon, said the official, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. He did not share her current whereabouts but said that before her release, she had been held in Baghdad. Continue reading...

Episodes from William Hartnell era are from mostly lost 12-part adventure called The Daleks’ Master PlanTwo episodes of Doctor Who from the William Hartnell era, which have not been seen since 1965, have been released after being discovered in a private film collection.The two episodes, released on Friday and starring Peter Purves as the Doctor’s companion, are parts one and three of a mostly lost 12-part adventure called The Daleks’ Master Plan, written by the Dalek creator Terry Nation and broadcast as part of the third series of Doctor Who in November 1965. Continue reading...

Tania Warner is fitted with ankle monitor and released along with seven-year-old daughter Ayla Luca after being deemed not a flight riskA Canadian woman and her seven-year-old daughter, who were held for nearly three weeks in a notorious detention center by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), were released on Thursday evening after posting a bond of $9,500.Tania Warner and her daughter Ayla Luca, originally from British Columbia, are both Canadian citizens. Warner moved to the US in 2021 when she married Edward Warner, a US citizen. “Very happy to have my family home … it’s been a whirlwind day,” said Edward Warner. Continue reading...

Robert Morris, who started Gateway church, pleaded guilty in October to sexually abusing girl in the 1980sThe founder and former pastor of one of the US’s largest megachurches has been released from an Oklahoma jail six months after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s.Robert Morris, 64, who started Texas’s Gateway church and also once served as a White House spiritual adviser during Donald Trump’s first presidency, pleaded guilty in early October in Osage county district court on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child. Continue reading...

• Focus Features released 'The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist,' a new documentary from Academy Award-winning filmmakers Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell, examining humanity's most urgent challenge: artificial intelligence. • Co-directed by the filmmakers behind 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' and 'Navalny,' the documentary follows Roher's perspective as a father-to-be seeking to understand the world his child will inherit. • The film explores critical questions about AI's future impact on society, blending personal narrative with broader technological concerns in theatrical release across the United States.

Campaigners criticise frequent use of storm overflows when parts of the country were in drought for monthsRaw sewage was discharged into rivers and seas almost 300,000 times last year after the driest spring for more than 100 years and the sunniest and warmest year on record in England.Water companies released raw sewage into rivers and seas from storm overflows – designed to be used in extreme wet weather conditions – 291,492 times. This was a 35% reduction on record spills in 2024. Average discharges were 20.5 spills for each overflow, compared with 31.8 in the previous year. Continue reading...

Footage shows US musician struggling with field sobriety tests he calls ‘really hard’ before his 2024 arrest in New YorkJustin Timberlake struggled to perform field sobriety tests requiring him to walk a straight line and stand on one leg after the pop star was pulled over in New York’s Hamptons in 2024 by police officers who suspected him of driving drunk, according to video footage released on Friday.Timberlake tells officers at one point, “these are like really hard tests.” Continue reading...

Colombia-born Estefany Rodríguez, whose detention had alarmed press freedom advocates, freed on $10,000 bondThe Nashville journalist who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this month was released from a Louisiana detention center on Thursday after spending 15 days in custody.Estefany Rodríguez, who covers immigration and other topics for the outlet Nashville Noticias, was detained in Nashville on 4 March and spent a week at a county jail in Alabama before being transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana. Her lawyers said Rodríguez was detained without warrant. Continue reading...

The detention of Dylan Lopez Contreras, 20, of Venezuela, a freshman in the Bronx, sparked national outrageA New York high school student who was detained at an immigration courthouse in May last year, sparking national outrage, was released on Wednesday.Dylan Lopez Contreras, 20, of Venezuela was a freshman at Ellis Prep academy, a Bronx public school dedicated exclusively to students who have recently arrived in the US. It was the first widely known instance of a public school student being arrested by federal immigration agents. Continue reading...

• 2026 NCAA Men's March Madness First Four games occurred on March 17-18 following team selections on March 15, with first round set for March 19-20. • Regionals include Oklahoma City, Portland, Tampa, and Philadelphia for early rounds; East Regional in Washington, D.C., Final Four April 4-6 in Indianapolis. • Tournament progresses to championship on April 6 at Lucas Oil Stadium, drawing massive national attention.

Kordia was taken at a check-in at an ICE office in New Jersey and was held despite court ruling thrice for her releaseA New Jersey woman who had been arrested at a pro-Palestine protest and booked into a US immigration detention center in Texas last March has been released on bond, after a year in custody.Leqaa Kordia, 33, originally from the West Bank, was arrested in April 2024 at a protest against Israel’s war on Gaza outside of Columbia University. Nearly a year later, she was taken into custody after reporting for a check-in at a Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in New Jersey. Continue reading...