The director Sean Baker probably didn’t predict this outcome  while he was filming Anora, his latest small-budget indie project, in the snowy Brooklyn neighborhood of Brighton Beach—that a couple years later, he’d be accepting Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It was one of five prizes that his spiky indie dramedy collected on Hollywood’s biggest night. After a drawn-out awards season in which the biggest contenders seemed often in flux, Anora dominated at a fun if elongated Oscars ceremony.

As soon as Conan O’Brien strode onto the Oscars stage Sunday night, he looked like he belonged there. He was self-deprecating, telling the crowd to sit down before he continued, even though no one was standing. He found Demi Moore in the audience and greeted her with a grin; he had just played a pre-recorded clip of himself emerging out of her back as a nod to her work in the Best Picture-nominated body horror film The Substance.

The moment that Shane Gillis walked onto Saturday Night Live’s stage last night for his second hosting gig, he seemed to know the audience was not on his side.
Gillis arrived with history. In 2019, he was hired as a featured cast member but promptly fired after it came to light that he had used racist and homophobic slurs in his podcast. Instead of becoming a footnote in SNL history, Gillis transformed into a successful stand-up with a Netflix deal and a Bud Light ad campaign.

Hours after his election victory last Sunday, Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), said on national television that he would try to “achieve independence from the U.S.A. I never thought I would have to say something like this on a television program,” Merz continued, but “it is clear that the Americans … are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.”
American security guarantees have protected the Federal Republic of Germany since 1945.

Late Friday night the Trump administration, as part of its push to modernize the government with software, laid off roughly 90 people from the General Services Administration—all federal technologists whose role was to modernize the government with software. Employees on the 18F team, a group formed in the Obama-era to build and improve software for other agencies, were notified around midnight that their roles are being eliminated, according to several former 18F workers I spoke with.

One of the stranger moments among many in yesterday’s White House presser turned grudge match with Volodymyr Zelensky was a query about the Ukrainian president’s outfit. He was in town to sign a deal that would give the United States a big stake in his country’s rare-earth minerals and, hopefully, some newfound motivation to help fend off Russia’s aggression.

Editor’s Note: Washington Week With The Atlantic is a partnership between NewsHour Productions, WETA, and The Atlantic airing every Friday on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings, watch full episodes here, or listen to the weekly podcast here.
The fallout from the meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky has been swift and intense. Panelists on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined to discuss what’s next for the war in Ukraine.

This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.
Consider the egg. What does it look like? What does it taste like? Where does it come from? Maybe you’re thinking tautologically: An egg is egg-shaped, tastes eggy, and comes from egg-laying hens. They make for great breakfasts and cost more than they used to at the grocery store.

One recent morning on Chicago’s southwest side, the manager of a Mexican grocery store began the day posted at the front door, rehearsing the phrase “I wish to exercise my right to remain silent” in English in case immigration agents showed up asking about employees.
At a Mexican restaurant, the owner stashed newly laminated private signs under the host stand, ready to slap on the walls of the kitchen and a back dining room where workers could hide if agents arrived without a proper warrant.