Discussion aleans more towards infiltration than attacka says anonymous Iranian official as US says Israel has carried out military operation

• Full report: Israel has carried out airstrikes on Iran, US officials say
• What we know so far about Israelas strike on Iran
• Whatas in Isfahan? The city home to Iranian nuclear facilities

Itas 7:24am in Tehran and 6:54 In Tel Aviv. Letas get a reminder of what we know so far:

US officials have confirmed that Israel has carried out military operations against Iran but did not describe those operations.

The Israeli military has told news agencies including Agence France-Presse and Associated Press: aWe donat have a comment at this time.a

Iranas state media reported explosions in the central province of Isfahan Friday

Air defence systems over several Iranian cities were activated, state media reported, after the countryas official broadcaster said explosions were heard near the city of Isfahan.

Iranas Fars news agency reported athree explosionsa were heard near the Shekari army airbase in the north-west of Isfahan province, while Iranas space agency spokesperson Hossein Dalirian said aseverala drones had been asuccessfully shot downa.

Nuclear facilities in Isfahan were reported to be acompletely securea, Iranas Tasnim news agency reported, citing areliable sourcesa.

Flights were suspended across swathes of Iran on Friday. aIranas air defence has been activated in the skies of several provinces of the country,a Tehranas official IRNA news agency said.

Mehr news agency reported that aflights to Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz, and airports in the west, northwest and southwest have been suspended.a

Flight-tracking software showed commercial flights avoiding western Iran, including Isfahan, and skirting Tehran to the north and east.

There was no immediate comment from Dubaias Emirates airline, which was operating several of the planes.

Blasts were also reported in southern Syria, according to a local activist group. aThere were strikes on a Syrian army radar position,a said Rayan Maarouf, who runs the Suwayda24 anti-government website that covers news from Sweida province in the south, reports AFP.

Oil prices surged more than three per cent in early Asian trade on Friday after the reports of explosions.

Iranian state media reports that drones have been shot down over Isfahan province in attack on Friday and that the nuclear site there is acompletely safea

• Middle East crisis: live updates
• What we know so far about Israelas strike on Iran
• Whatas in Isfahan? The city home to Iranian nuclear facilities

US officials have confirmed that Israel has carried out airstrikes against Iran as explosions were reported in the sky over the cities of Isfahan and Tabriz, while the Iranian government sought to play down the scale of the attack.

Officials in Washington said Israeli forces were carrying out military operations against Iran but did not describe the character or scale of those operations. Iranian state media said that drones had been shot down over Isfahan province in the early hours, and showed live shots of morning traffic in Isfahan city after sunrise to show that the situation was calm.

US officials have confirmed that Israel carried out a military operation against Iran, while state media reports air defences are active near the city of Isfahan

• Follow live for latest updates

US officials have confirmed that Israel has carried out military operations against Iran. The officials said Israel warned the Biden administration earlier on Thursday that a strike was coming in the next 24 to 48 hours. According to CNN, the Israelis assured their US counterparts that Iranas nuclear facilities would not be targeted.

Iranian state media reported that air defence batteries had been activated after reports of explosions near a major airbase close to the city of Isfahan. The Iranian government appeared to play down the scale of the attack, with a senior commander in Iranas army saying there was no damage in Isfahan, according to state TV.

Isfahan is home to sites associated with Iranas nuclear program, including its underground Natanz enrichment site. State television described all sites in the area as afully safea and the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), confirmed there was no damage to any nuclear sites.

The airbase close to Isfahan has long been home to Iranas fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcats a purchased before the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Airports in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan were closed and flights have been cleared from the western half of Iran, flight tracking website FlightRadar24 reported. Local warnings to aviators suggested the airspace may have been closed. At 8am local time some airports lifted restrictions, local media in Iran reported. Although UAE based FlyDubai cancelled all flight to Iranas capital on Friday.

Tensions across the region remain high after Iran launched hundreds of drones as well as cruise missiles towards Israel on Saturday, in the Islamic Republicas first ever direct attack on the Jewish state, in response to the 1 April strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in the Syrian capital, Damascus, which killed a senior figure in Iranas Islamic Revolutionary Guards and eight other officers.

On Thursday, Iranas foreign minister told CNN that if Israel chooses to retaliate, Tehranas response would be immediate. aIf the Israeli regime commits the great error once again our response will be decisive, definitive and regretful for them,a Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said.

Prospective jurors were grilled on myriad facets of their life, with one raising concerns her identity had been discovered

Donald Trump is set to appear in court for the fourth day of his hush-money trial on Friday after 12 jurors were selected on Thursday.

The jury selection process had been complicated because of the polarizing and high-profile defendant. Prospective juror had been grilled on their political leanings, their social media posts and many other facets of their lives.

Bridget Thorne, a Republican elected in Fulton county in 2022, has spread election fraud lies and accused county employees of crimes

A Fulton county commissioner in Georgia has been operating a private Telegram channel for years, propagating debunked claims about the 2020 election, and spreading accusations of crimes by county employees, including Ruby Freeman, an election worker defamed by Rudy Giuliani in the wake of Donald Trumpas 2020 loss.

Bridget Thorne, a Republican representing the relatively conservative cities of Fulton county north of Atlanta, indirectly identifies herself as the creator and administrator of the Fulton County Elections channel on Telegram, a mobile messaging platform, in multiple posts to its page. The channel uses the official logo of the Fulton county board of registration and elections.

First phase in worldas largest democratic exercise begins, with 969 million people eligible to vote over six-week period

Voting has begun in Indiaas mammoth general election, as Narendra Modias Bharatiya Janata party hopes to increase its parliamentary majority amid allegations that the countryas democracy has been undermined since it came to power 10 years ago.

Indiaas elections are the largest democratic exercise in the world, with more than 969 million voters, amounting to more than 10% of the worldas population. The voting began at 8am on Friday, when polling opened at 102 constituencies across the country, and will continue over the next six weeks, in seven phases, until 1 June. All the results will be counted and declared on 4 June.

Presidentas suggestion that his aUncle Bosiea was eaten by cannibals harms US efforts to build Pacific ties, say local experts

Joe Bidenas suggestion that his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea during world war two has been met with a mixture of bemusement and criticism in the country.

Biden spoke about his uncle, 2nd Lt Ambrose J Finnegan Jr, while campaigning in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, describing how aUncle Bosiea had flown single engine planes as reconnaissance flights during the war. Biden said he agot shot down in New Guineaa, adding athey never found the body because there used to be a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea.a

Students set up encampments to demand Columbia divest from Israel while those at USC gathered in support of Asna Tabassum

Tensions on Columbia Universityas campus continued to rise on Thursday as the New York police department began breaking up student protests over Israelas war on Gaza, at the direction of the schoolas president, and arrests were made.

Hundreds of students pitched tents and began camping out in the center of the famous central campus from early morning on Wednesday in protest, demanding a ceasefire and for the university to financially divest from Israel, prompting Columbiaas president, Minouche Shafik, to issue a stark warning.

Polandas national prosecutor says man was preparing to share security details of airport used by Ukrainian president

A Polish man has been arrested on allegations that he aided a plot by Russian intelligence services to assassinate the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to Polish and Ukrainian prosecutors.

The office of Polandas national prosecutor said in a statement that the man, identified only as Pawel K, was accused of being prepared to pass airport security information to Russian agents and that he was arrested in Poland on Wednesday.

Paperwork filed shows the royal has informed British authorities that he has moved and is now ausually residenta in the United States

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has formally confirmed he is now a US resident.

The acknowledgment is said to underscore the princeas increasing estrangement from Britain, after he and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, walked away from royal duties four years ago.

Siblings appear on stage with president at campaign event in Philadelphia and offer full-throated support of White House run

Prominent members of the Kennedy political dynasty delivered a full-throated endorsement of Joe Bidenas re-election campaign on Thursday, a pointed message that was in equal measure a stinging repudiation of their relative Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is making an independent run for the White House.

Kerry Kennedy, one of six siblings of the controversial candidate on stage at a Biden campaign event in Philadelphia, called the US president amy heroa as she celebrated a litany of his achievements she said would have pleased her father, the late former US attorney general Robert F Kennedy and late uncle and president John F Kennedy.

Critics condemn areckless and cruela expulsions and say deportees likely to be targeted by armed gangs who control much of country

More than 70 Haitians expelled from the United States have been flown back to Haiti on the first deportation flight since heavily armed gangs launched a bloody insurrection which has paralysed the capital and forced the prime minister from office.

The flight, which landed in the port city of Cap-HaA-tien early on Thursday, was described as ainhumanea by human rights activists who warned that deportees would likely be targeted by the criminal factions who control most of the country.

Press Awards recognise cross-platform Cotton Capital series, and there are wins for several Guardian reporters

The Guardian has won a diversity award at the prestigious Press Awards after its exposA(c) on its foundersa links to transatlantic slavery, while one of its reporters took home the award for news reporter of the year.

Judges at the Press Awards called the Guardianas cross-platform Cotton Capital series, encompassing news articles, long-form essays, podcasts, video, a magazine, a 15-part newsletter and social media content, a abreathtakingly honest mea culpaa.

Seven men and five women have been chosen to sit on the jury in the ex-presidentas hush-money trial. Hereas what we know

The difficult process of selecting a jury in the case against Donald Trump neared its conclusion on Thursday, with a jury of 12 people empaneled for the first criminal trial of a former president in US history.

The jury is made up of seven men and five women who live in different parts of Manhattan, including the Upper East Side, Harlem, Hellas Kitchen and the West Village. They come from a range of personal backgrounds and employment histories. Several jurors said they had no strong opinions on Trump, and a few said that they do not closely follow the news. The exact racial makeup of the jury, and the ages of the jurors, is unclear.

Elizabeth Hanna says she was fired by the American Diabetes Association after refusing to approve recipes heaped with the additive made by a major donor

Elizabeth Hanna had a simple job: help people with diabetes figure out what to eat. Anyone with common sense knows this should probably not entail foods that might increase peopleas risk of getting diabetes. But thatas not necessarily the thinking at the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the worldas leading diabetes research and patient advocacy group, which also receives millions of dollars from sponsors in the pharmaceutical, food and agricultural industries.

According to a lawsuit Hanna recently filed against the ADA, the organization a which endorses recipes and food plans on its website and on the websites of apartnera food brands a tried to get her to greenlight recipes that she believed flew in the face of the ADAas mission. These included recipes like a acucumber and onion salada made with a third of a cup of Splenda granulated artificial sweetener, aautumnal sheet-pan veggiesa with a quarter cup of Splenda monk fruit sweetener and a acranberry almond spinach salada with a quarter cup of Splenda monkfruit sweetener.

Neil Barsky, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and investment manager, is the founder of The Marshall Project

From green beans to kale, here are some foods considered to be healthy yet which test poorly for pesticides

Pesticides pose a serious risk in conventionally grown versions of the produce shown below, according to a new analysis by Consumer Reports. Hereas why these fruits and vegetables are so problematic, plus how to safely fit them into your diet or make smart substitutions.

Read more from this pesticide investigation:

We found unhealthy pesticide levels in 20% of US produce a hereas what you need to know

Can you wash pesticides off your food? A guide to eating fewer toxic chemicals

Kale, watermelon and even some organic foods pose high pesticide risk, analysis finds

Whatas safe to eat? Here is the pesticide risk level for each fruit and vegetable

This story was amended on 18 April 2024 to correct the name of the illustrator, whose name is Israel Vargas.

(Republic)
Subtly detailed album splits the difference between 1989as glossy pop-rock and Midnightsa understatement a and lets her ex Matty Healy have it in no uncertain terms

• Breakups, fantasies and her most cutting lyrics: inside Tayloras Swiftas The Tortured Poets Department

The two cliches used to describe the new release by a major star are that itas long-awaited and eagerly anticipated. You could hardly describe Taylor Swiftas 11th studio album as long-awaited a itas barely 18 months since her last album, Midnights, a blink of an eye in the release schedule of a pop superstar. Sheas also put out another three hours of music in the interim, in the shape of bonus track-packed re-recordings of 2010as Speak Now and 2014as 1989. But The Tortured Poets Department is certainly eagerly anticipated. The torrential nature of Swiftas output is one reason behind her current position as not just popas biggest star, but a figure who dominates pop culture to such a preposterous degree you struggle for a historical comparison: we live in a world where her endorsement of a candidate is considered a potentially deciding factor in the US presidential elections and where the prime minister of Singapore is embroiled in a row with his Thai counterpart over exclusivity rights to the south-east Asian leg of Swiftas Eras tour.

Among the countless other factors in her rise to omnipresence a her keen understanding of todayas altered media landscape and a desire for collective experience in a music world obsessed with individualised experiences a is, of course, her music, which can dim in comparison to the media noise. Thatas a shame, because, as The Tortured Poets Department underlines, Swift is an authentically skilled songwriter: melodically gifted, thoughtful, witty and willing to take risks in a risk-averse era for pop.

Two big Wembley meetings await in the Cup, while a desperation derby looks to be in store at Goodison Park

There was a distinct end-of-season vibe at the Gtech Community Stadium following Brentfordas recent win over Sheffield United, with Thomas Frank and his players performing what amounted to a lap of honour as they took plaudits from fans relieved that the spectre of relegation had finally been banished from their small corner of west London. Of course only time will tell if the Bees become the first Premier League team to decamp to the metaphorical beach this season and this weekendas match against Luton at Kenilworth Road will provide a fair indication. Ravaged by injury with up to 11 players likely to be unavailable, Luton were on a hiding to nothing in their game against Manchester City but still emerged from the rout with their heads held high having restricted the champions to a one-goal lead until their capitulation after the hour mark. It is increasingly difficult to compliment Rob Edwardsa side without sounding condescending, but if it transpires that the Brentford side that turns up in Bedfordshire has mentally tapped out, the Premier Leagueas most dashing manager, his players and their fans are unlikely to have any complaints whatsoever. Barry Glendenning

Luton v Brentford, Premier League, Saturday 3pm (all times BST)

Sheffield United v Burnley, Premier League, Saturday 3pm

Manchester City v Chelsea, FA Cup semi-final, Saturday 5.15pm

Thereas some low-stakes pleasure to be had in the first half of the gory new film from the team behind Ready or Not and Scream but things fall apart disastrously

Last yearas handsome gothic horror The Last Voyage of the Demeter and bombastic Nic Cage comedy Renfield allowed Universal the opportunity to present known IP as something fresh, at least on the surface, stories involving Dracula but told in ways we hadnat seen before. They represented a nifty marketing strategy for a back catalogue of classic monster movies but both worked better as loglines than finished films a Dracula on a boat, Dracula as a bad boss a and audiences proved as uninterested as critics, the stench of old property distracting from the promise of something new.

As the studio preps a new take on The Wolf Man with next yearas Christopher Abbott-led Wolfman and Robert Eggersa remake of the Dracula-inspired Nosferatu, here comes Abigail, a poppy reimagining of the little-remembered 1936 horror Draculaas Daughter. In the contemporary take, sheas a ballerina (Matildaas Alisha Weir) who gets kidnapped by a group of unaware criminals, hired to keep her locked in a grand old house for 24 hours while ransom money is obtained. But early on, recovering addict and single mother Joey (Melissa Barrera) figures out that something is up and starts to realise that the scared little girl in their care might not be so scared after all.

Therapist Lindsay Gibsonas 2015 book has sold over a million copies and its message has soared on social media. What does it mean?

In an ideal world, adults would be more mature than their kids. They would be better at handling stress, resolving conflicts with others, or talking about their feelings. In the opening chapter of the book Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, therapist Lindsay Gibson presents an unsettling alternative.

aWhat if,a she wrote, asome sensitive children come into the world and within a few years are more emotionally mature than their parents, who have been around for decades?a

Mina confronts Tom, but little sister Layla would rather keep the peace. You decide whoas right in this sister act?

Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

Confronting Tomas toxic attitudes is good practice for my sister and will boost her confidence

Mina wants to make a stand, but after a row, itas me who has to deal with the aftershocks at home

Late-night hosts discuss Donald Trumpas day off from court and his Truth Social rant about Jimmy Kimmelas performance at the Oscars five weeks ago

Late-night hosts talked Donald Trumpas Truth Social rant about Jimmy Kimmel and his day off from the criminal hush-money trial in New York.

From Leonardo da Vinci to the engineers of Bell Aerosystems, some of our finest minds have devoted themselves to finding a better form of travel. Still, anyone can have an off day a|

Thereas an innocent optimism to transport visionaries. They really thought they could change the world! They absolutely couldnat! But all respect to them for trying: someone got lucky with the wheel once, didnat they?

Being a transport visionary must have been more interesting back before technological progress and grotesque wealth allowed billionaires to adisrupta the boring A-to-B-ness of conventional travel and blast a car into space, just because. Imagine conceiving of human flight back when your only model was birds and some gossip about a guy called Icarus. Or looking at a horse and thinking: aHmmm, thatas fast, muscular and terrifying; I wonder if I could compel it to take me somewhere, somehow?a

The Latin music legend a back, at 66, with her first salsa album a answers your questions on her star collaborations, screen chemistry, and what she and Stevie Wonder still canat agree on

When did you first know you were a drummer? axolotly
I still donat know if Iam a adrummera! Sometimes people mean percussion a like congas and timbales a and sometimes they mean drum set, which wasnat a thing for me until I played with George Duke in the mid-70s. My dad [Pete Escovedo, a well-known Mexican American jazz percussionist] played and practised at the house every day. Iad have heard him while I was in my motheras womb. I couldnat reach his percussion instruments so my mum would put the pots and pans on the floor and Iad bang along on those. I played with a local band when I was 15 and I learned a lot from Billy Cobham, and would play his drums for a minute, but sitting in with George Duke for one song was enough to start me playing drums.

Was there anything that stopped you progressing as a female musical artist and have these problems lessened today? Whovian79
Growing up in Oakland, California there were a lot of jam sessions in the streets and parks. A lot of young women would bring shakers, djembes and such. Once I knew I could play, Iad go to concerts and ask if I could sit in. Lots of times they said no so Iad go to the other side of the stage and get someone to say yes. Once I left home and started flying to Los Angeles to play with other artists I did experience male chauvinism a aYouare a girl. Girls donat play drumsa a until word of mouth was that Sheila Escovedo can play. Now there are more female drummers and percussionists all over the world. I message them on social media and just say: aHey, Iam a fan.a Thereas so many that I reach out to on a daily basis.

In a congressional hearing, Republicans used specious charges of rampant antisemitism to advance an illiberal agenda on campuses

As Jewish faculty at Columbia University, we watched with alarm as our president, Minouche Shafik, appeared before the House education and workforce committee on Wednesday to answer questions about antisemitism on our campus. While we are deeply concerned about antisemitism, we are also disturbed by the ways the hearing a like those in December, and surely those to follow a used specious charges of rampant antisemitism to advance an illiberal agenda.

We were shocked that President Shafik capitulated to its mendacious premises and failed to stand up for fundamental academic principles of honest intellectual inquiry and free expression. Most galling was the absence of any acknowledgment of the relentless devastation in Gaza: the urgent reason for the student protests that the committee caricatures and condemns as antisemitic.

Alisa Solomon is a writer, professor of journalism, and the director of the arts and culture concentration at the Columbia Journalism School. Marianne Hirsch is the William Peterfield Trent professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University and professor in the Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Sarah Haley is associate professor of history at Columbia University. Helen Benedict is a novelist and professor at Columbia Journalism School.

I fear we are forgetting lessons from that terrible history

I donat usually talk about my great-uncle Walter. Gen Walter Warlimont, as my grandfatheras brother was formally known, was head of the national defence department in the high command of the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of Nazi Germany. Only two people were between him and the FA1/4hrer in the chain of command. Walter worked so closely with Hitler that the failed assassination attempt in July 1944 injured his arm. The orders he signed during wartime a about who to shoot to kill, about how to treat prisoners a meant he had hundreds of thousands of lives on his conscience.

Not that Uncle Walter was the only one in the family who facilitated the Third Reich and the Holocaust. My paternal grandparents were very proud to have been among the very earliest members of Hitleras party. My maternal grandfather a Walteras brother a was the head of a factory in Vienna that made the guidance systems for the V2 rocket, a factory that was staffed by Russian and Ukrainian slave labourers.

Hopes of a ceasefire have ebbed, concerns about an assault on Rafah endure, and aid remains wholly insufficient

The Middle East is aon the precipicea and aone miscalculation, one miscommunication, one mistake, could lead to the unthinkable,a the UN secretary-general, AntA3nio Guterres, warned on Thursday. Israel has vowed to retaliate to Iranas weekend barrage of missiles and drones a itself a response to Israelas killing of two generals at an Iranian diplomatic facility in Damascus. It is hard to have confidence in eitheras ability to calibrate their actions when both have misjudged already.

Yet the spectre of full-scale regional conflict, and the many deaths that could result, must not draw attention away from the almost 34,000 Palestinians already killed in Gaza, according to its health authorities, and the many more who will soon die without an immediate ceasefire and massive increase in aid in what Mr Guterres called a ahumanitarian hellscapea.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

How Uri Berliner went about his complaint made it clear he was not interested in constructive criticism, but a viral moment

• Get Margaret Sullivanas latest columns delivered straight to your inbox

It took only days from Uri Berlineras publishing his fiery essay about his employer, NPR, to his suspension, to his resignation in a blaze of bad-faith glory.

aYou knew the martyrdom was coming,a was how journalist Issac Bailey put it.

Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist

My lifestyle is so attuned to that of my pets I sometimes feel our identities are fused

One of my dogs, Olive, turned five years old this week and, while every minute for her holds unfettered joy, love and promise, the birthday was burnished with a little melancholy for me.

Five!

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Swift's 11th studio LP, 'The Tortured Poets Department,' released at midnight Eastern time, follows a busy period in the 34-year-old's personal and professional spheres.

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Dickey Betts, a founding member and guitarist for the Allman Brothers Band, died Thursday of cancer and COPD, his family announced. The musician was 80.

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Taylor Swift's new album, 'The Tortured Poets Department,' arrives this week. Here's what we know so far, from track names to collaborators.

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The Times spoke with the frontman of Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer about his upcoming birthday show and creative process, how he manages it all, where he sees himself at 60, and more.