White House Energy Secretary Chris Wright called President Donald Trump a “creative negotiator” when asked about his threats to “knock out every single” power plant and bridge in Iran.

As peace talks between the United States and Iran appear to be at a stalemate amid a tenuous ceasefire agreement and continued jockeying over control of the Strait of Hormuz, the president demanded Iran accept America’s terms or face his full wrath in a Sunday morning Truth Social post.

“NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!” Trump declared, calling the US’s diplomatic offer “very fair and reasonable.”

Asked if the president’s intimidation tactics could “complicate” negotiations with Iran during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” just hours later, Wright said he had full confidence in Trump.

“The president is using every way he can to get leverage over the regime and bring this conflict to an end,” he told host Shannon Bream. “He’s a creative negotiator, he uses pressure in different ways.”

“He uses uncertainty in different ways and I think as you’ve seen in the last 16 months, generally it leads to good results,” the cabinet member went on. “I don’t think we’ll see any surprises here.”

Wright envisioned reaching a “nice end to this conflict,” which he said would rescue Iran’s regional neighbors from “constant terror” and also guarantee a free “flow of goods” through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Imagine a nuclear armed Iran, not far away from that reality,” he said. “This is going to put an end to it.”

Wright stuck by his support for Trump’s strategy in a separate Sunday interview on CNN, where host Jake Tapper asked the secretary if he was worried strikes on civilian infrastructure could “constitute a war crime.”

“The president is looking for maximum leverage,” he said, later adding, “No, I’m not worried about that.”

Earlier this month, Trump triggered international panic with a near-identical ultimatum, telling Iran to “open the fuckin’ Strait” of Hormuz within two days or find themselves “living in hell” via Truth Social.

After upping the ante with a post warning “a whole civilization will die tonight” just hours before his 8pm April 7 deadline, a two-week ceasefire was announced.

I am pretty fussy about cookies. I like them to have that bakery-level softness while maintaining a satisfyingly crisp exterior; I want thick, gooey cookies, ideally eaten warm with melted chocolate and sea flakes.

There are, of course, steps you can take to ensure these features. Resting cookie dough overnight helps to prevent the biscuits from spreading in the oven, which I find leaves them too thin.

And adding some inverted sugars, like golden or maple syrup, alongside granulated kinds goes a long way to keeping them sumptuously soft.

Personally, I swear by the New York Times’ recipe, though I replace about 10g of the brown sugar with maple syrup.

I’ve been making a batch on the weekend, freezing the dough, and baking one in the oven nightly for the past couple of weeks. But recently, partly because baking takes so long and partly because I hated using that much energy on a single biscuit, I switched appliances.

The results were gooier, crisper, faster, and easier to make; I haven’t gone back since.

Though I was happy with the results from my oven, I found that the air fryer left a much crisper top layer on the brownies with a truly gooey underneath. It makes them a little like a very good brownie.

When I bake them in the oven, meanwhile, they often end up getting a little caught and chewy on the ends. My oven probably heats up too slowly, which would explain the thin, lacy edges, where sugar melts into a slightly too hard layer, and the heat doesn’t blast the fat quickly enough to prevent spreading.

Not so with the air fryer, which cooks the cookie much faster (I put a frozen cookie in at 150°C for about 11 minutes, vs the oven’s 20 minutes plus preheating time).

And because air circulates in a much smaller area in my air fryer than it does in the oven, I feel it makes the craggy parts of my cookie crunchier and more golden while still maintaining a fudgy middle.

Perhaps it’s no wonder that baking legend Jane’s Patisserie likes the trick, too.

I wouldn’t go that far. I’m in a specific situation here: I cook one or two cookies at a time, and I much prefer warm cookies to cooled ones. I also make taller cookies, and I think a thinner one could run a little too crisp quite quickly.

If you’re less interested in gooeiness and/or are cooking a lot of cookies at once, an oven will almost certainly be your best bet. I would not, for instance, use this for a bake sale.

But I probably would lob a huge scoop of cookie dough into my air fryer for something like a movie night dessert or a post-dinner cookie cake for friends (just be sure to carefully line your basket with baking paper: this is mandatory, of course, no matter what size cookie you’re making).

And I have stuck to the appliance every night since I first tried it. It’s faster, easier to clean, makes it much easier to check the doneness of your cookies, and makes mine taller, gooier, crisper, and more delicious.

It may have been one of the worst-kept secrets in pop, but Madonna still definitely managed to make a big impression when she made an unannounced guest appearance during Sabrina Carpenter’s Coachella set.

On Friday night, Sabrina headlined the second week of the US music festival, whizzing through her biggest hits in an elaborate show that really pulled out all the stops.

Towards the end of her set, the Grammy winner performed a rendition of fan-favourite track Juno, teasing fans with the line: “Wanna try out some freaky positions? Have you ever tried this one?”

At that moment, the stage went dark, with Madonna entering the stage as her signature hit Vogue played, after which she and Sabrina gave their new duet – thought to be taken from the Hung Up singer’s upcoming album Confessions II – its debut.

Madonna being Madonna, she wasn’t going to let the moment pass without some unscheduled chaos, launching into a slightly meandering speech that included her giving the crowd an Astrology lesson (including pointing out that Sabrina is a “stubborn” Taurus), giving an impromptu blast of her criminally underrated single Get Together and pointing out she was wearing much of the same outfit she first wore on the Coachella stage almost 20 years ago to the day.

She and Sabrina then ended the moment with a performance of Like A Prayer, after which Madonna disappeared under the stage, declaring: “You guys didn’t know this but she’s a magician. She’s going to make me disappear!”

Immediately after the performance, Madonna released the opening song from Confessions II, I Feel So Free, to streaming services, after first teasing it last week.

Confessions II will serve as a spiritual sequel to Madonna’s hit album Confessions On A Dance Floor, featuring production from her frequent collaborator Stuart Price.

As well as being her first studio album since 2019’s Madame X, it is her 15th studio album overall, and is scheduled for release on 3 July.

Chances are you’ve heard of “gentle parenting,” a method of raising children which avoids taking an overly authoritarian or possessive approach.

It involves approaching each other’s emotions and problems with empathy and curiosity, as a team.

“Gentle partnering is not about one person agreeing all the time or being submissive, it is about recognising our individuality,” said Rogers.

“It is not about power and control but being part of a team and a united front… Having differences of opinion can strengthen a relationship; it is how these differences are communicated to each other that is the key.”

Toxavidi described the approach as one which centres “open communication, emotional regulation, dealing with conflict and feeling loved and supported”.

It aims to “eliminate power and control [and set]… clear and consistent boundaries, which is another essential element that needs to be present and cultivated within healthy relationships.”

Try using “I” statements, try listening to their concerns rather than trying ot immediately fix them, accept your differences with respect, and accept each other’s individuality, Rogers told us.

Apologise, genuinely, when needed, recognise and own your feelings, and show affection regularly.

“All it involves is truly hearing and seeing your partner respectfully communicating your needs and feelings, but also considering and validating your partner’s needs and feelings, even if you do not agree. It is being firm, fair, respectful and maintaining your boundaries.”

Toxavidi said, “When partners can see their differences as opportunities for growth rather than as sources of conflict and disagreement and their different emotional tantrums around different relational issues with compassion and understanding, then a deeper bond and authentic connection can be built.”

Like Rogers, she said it’s important to focus on active listening, “acknowledging and validating someone’s behaviours or efforts,” setting boundaries that can “foster self-respect, safety and open communication,” and extending empathy.

“When someone is actively listening to their partner in order to understand where they are coming from with a deep curiosity of what is all about the other person opposite of them, and listens in order to respond and not to react from an ego place, creates a safe space for the other where defensive behaviour is eliminated and open expression and true intimacy and connection can take place,” she ended.