Men’s faces are under scrutiny as never before, with more opting for cosmetic procedures than ever. What is behind this sudden and significant shift?

The images are familiar: square-jawed white men, faces set hard, barking the language of strength and command. Over the past week, as the United States has pressed its military campaign in the Middle East, the face of defense secretary Pete Hegseth has appeared on screen after screen delivering the rhetoric of the warrior-patriarch. It is a face already known for other performances: posing in the gym alongside Robert F Kennedy Jr for the Department of War YouTube channel; lecturing the military about “fat generals”; hosting a weekend show on Fox News.

But here, borrowing the glory of the troops, Hegseth presented the general’s mask – the jutting jaw, the unflinching gaze – albeit without, some critics would suggest, the military experience or strategic judgment it usually signifies. Donald Trump, too, has offered his own version of the strongman face; the commanding presence, white and unyielding, though recently people have been rather more distracted by the new rash on his neck.

Conspiracy claims have erupted over the star’s appearance. These days, I can’t blame people for endless skepticism

Last week, my ex-wife texted me. She usually does that when my son falls off his skateboard or learns a new expletive to say on the playground. This time was different. “Have you seen Jim Carrey?” she asked, apropos of nothing we had discussed previously. It was as if she was asking me if I’d seen her misplaced keys.

“No, I have not seen Jim Carrey. Have you looked under the couch?” I replied.

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

Tourism in Mexico is at an all-time high, with foreign visitors lured by the country’s rich culture and low costs. The Guardian visits Oaxaca, a state synonymous with indigenous culture, where tourism has grown 77% since the pandemic and once private family rituals such as the Day of the Dead are now big international parties. But with this opportunity comes a growing backlash across the country, as local people struggle with a cost of living crisis that is exacerbated by the tourism industry’s exponential growth

From grappling at corners to VAR, the endless list of complaints reflects a wider sense of dislocation from ‘the product’

A terrible boredom stalks the land. Across the nation’s television studios and podcast armchairs, wearied men grizzle accursedly with forked tongues into branded microphones: entombed by a game they despise and yet are paid so generously to discuss. Out there in the wild digital beyond, the sickness festers still deeper. The game has gone, they type into a little white box. This is not the football I once loved, click send. The beautiful game is broken, pleads the Telegraph. They think it’s all over, and perhaps it always was.

Arne Slot is no longer enjoying himself, and presumably a good proportion of the Liverpool fans at Molineux on Tuesday night know exactly how he feels. John Terry is no longer enjoying himself. Yaya Touré is “disappointed”. Ruud Gullit is so disgusted he has decided to stop watching. Chris Sutton thinks Arsenal will be the ugliest winners in Premier League history. Mark Goldbridge is bored out of his mind, albeit nowhere near as bored as you would presumably need to be to watch a Mark Goldbridge livestream.

With many lacking official documentation or unable to speak Ukrainian, the families of men killed in action are struggling to get the compensation they are owed

As a father of four, Viktor Ilchak was not supposed to serve in the army. Ukraine does not mobilise men who have three or more children. His wife and children cried and begged him not to go to war. But he had made up his mind. “A typical Capricorn, so stubborn,” says his wife, Sveta.

It was 2015, the war in Donbas was growing in intensity. “I heard someone on TV complaining that Roma aren’t defending their homeland. This pissed me off, and so I volunteered,” says Ilchak. In the territorial recruitment centre in Uzhhorod the Ukrainian soldiers were surprised, but they had to take him.

When Nato helped overthrow Gaddafi in 2011, there were hopes of a new beginning. More than a decade later, a former CIA asset runs the country – and Libya has become yet another lesson in the unintended consequences of foreign intervention

In July 2025, four of Europe’s most senior officials landed in eastern Libya for an urgent meeting. Italy’s interior minister had watched migrant arrivals surge during the previous six months. Greece’s migration chief was reeling after 2,000 people reached Crete in a single week. Malta’s home minister feared his island was next. And the EU’s migration commissioner was scrambling to rescue an agreement worth many hundreds of millions that was visibly failing to stop the boats.

Libya is a place where crises converge. Its 1,100-mile coastline, the longest Mediterranean coastline in Africa, has become the main departure point for migrants heading north. Since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011, the country has been torn apart by successive civil wars. Russia, Turkey, Egypt and the UAE arm rival factions, and the contest no longer stops at Libya’s borders. From military bases in the south, Russia and the UAE funnel weapons and fighters into Sudan’s civil war, which has driven hundreds of thousands more refugees north towards Libya’s coast.

Evacuation order issued for all of the southern suburbs with up to 700,000 people thought to be affected

• Tell us: how have you been affected by the latest events in the Middle East?

Iran says it has targeted Kurdish groups in Iraq and warned “separatist groups” against action in the widening war.

Tehran said on Thursday it had hit Iraq-based Kurdish groups “opposed to the revolution”, as reports said the US was looking to arm Kurdish militias to infiltrate Iran.

We will not tolerate them in any way.

Keir Starmer describes Middle East evacuation operation as one of the biggest of its kind

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The first charter flight taking British nationals back to the UK from the Middle East has taken off as the prime minister described the ongoing evacuation operation as one of the biggest of its kind.

Keir Starmer announced that the delayed plane from Oman, which was originally scheduled to leave at 7pm on Wednesday, had taken off minutes before he addressed a Downing Street press conference.

The Guardian asked US readers about the military action in Iran – their responses were largely disapproving

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As hundreds of civilians and some US service members have been killed in the aftermath of the 28 February strike against Iran by the United States and Israel, the Guardian asked readers in the US what their thoughts are on the latest military action in Iran.

Their responses were largely disapproving, with some acknowledging that the Iranian regime needed to be toppled, even with a high cost.

Experts say government’s shutdown means civilians are not seeing evacuation warnings before bombs hit

• Middle East crisis – live updates

As US and Israeli bombs continue to rain down on Iran, civilians are enduring the bombardment in the dark – cut off from comprehensive information about where strikes have happened, which medical facilities are affected and where new rounds of bombings are about to occur.

As state media broadcasts limited or contradictory information about airstrikes, and evacuation orders from the attacking countries remain invisible to most civilians, the internet shutdown risks worsening the human toll of the war, human rights groups say.