On the social internet, our fascination with analyzing the hidden messages in our culture has been flattened into one word. By Dan Brooks
We Don’t Really Know How A.I. Works. That’s a Problem.
For us to trust it on certain subjects, researchers in the growing field of interpretability might need to learn how to open the black box of its brain.
President Trump said the officials would arrive Monday evening in Pakistan, which has been mediating negotiations. The Strait of Hormuz remained largely closed on Sunday.
As Democrats try to find a way back to power in Washington, some see tax cuts as a quick and easy way to address affordability. The wonks are freaking out.
The military said it would tighten its grip on the waterway until the U.S. ended its blockade of Iranian ports, adding to the uncertainty over the strait.
Separate from the regular Iranian Navy, with boats that often go more than 115 miles per hour, it’s what a retired U.S. official calls a “disruptive force.”
Think what you will about Donald Trump; no one can deny his flair. Take, for example, a segment of his State of the Union speech earlier this year. “I’m inviting every legislator to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle,” Trump said. “If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”
President Trump is confronting a crisis that is not bending to his narrative of a “pretty reasonable” new regime in Iran and all-but-assured U.S. victory.
At the end of 2025, Patrick Wintour wrote a compelling essay for Guardian Weekly in which he described an interregnum in global history, where the rules-based order had been eroded and great powers once again jostled for control and influence.
This week’s edition sees Patrick return to a key aspect of that theme, the deteriorating global standing of the United States after a period of high-stakes brinkmanship with Iran. Donald Trump’s aborted threat that Iranian civilisation would “die … never to be brought back” unless it ceded to his demands exposed the limits of his apocalyptic foreign policy. It also pointed to the wider decline of American influence in a world where the US appears untrustworthy and strategically isolated.
Spotlight | Hungary’s new dawn After 16 years, Viktor Orbán’s populist grip on the country’s politics is over. But will his successor Péter Magyar be much different? Ashifa Kassam and Flora Garamvolgyi report amid jubilant scenes in Budapest
Science | The man who was bitten by snakes 200 times – on purpose Tim Friede put his “ass on the line” to help stop snakebite deaths – whose numbers appear to be rising amid the climate crisis. Oliver Milman met him
Feature | The brutal reality of life as a foreign student in the UK Universities in Britain rely on overseas applicants paying full fees, which has given rise to some unscrupulous recruiters and left many hopefuls and their families deep in debt. Samira Shackle investigates
Opinion | Netanyahu-ism has achieved nothing for Israelis It is the voting public in Israel that will settle their PM’s fate later this year. But, argues Jonathan Freedland, all they have heard are promises of “total victory” that prove to be hollow
Culture | Jim Jarmusch, the darling of indie cinema The 73-year-old has been at the cutting edge of US independent movies since the 1980s. As Father Mother Sister Brother opens in the UK, he tells Amy Raphael about grief, greed and “doing crazy shit” with Steve Coogan
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