The week has been dominated by last Friday’s attacks in Moscow and the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, while Guardian exclusives on Tory donor Frank Hester and London’s men-only Garrick Club have continued to reverberate. There’s more on Moscow and Baltimore in our stories of the week, below, but first I wanted to draw your attention to two features that were among our most-read pieces in this busy week of news.

One was by Phil Daoust, a features editor in our UK team who, after decades of indulgence, decided in his 50s to get fit. Not just a bit fit, but extremely fit – as you’ll see from Alicia Canter’s portrait of an impressively bendy Phil in the piece. Phil, who runs 30-40 km every week, is keen to live to 100 and the story of his physical transformation kicked off his new column, Fit for ever. In it, he’ll be recounting his quest to get healthier and extend his life expectancy. And making the rest of us feel just a bit guilty at the same time, no doubt.

Another big hit with readers was a staggering piece by Annie Kelly for our How we survive series. Annie interviewed Antonio Salazar-Hobson (pictured above) who, at the age of four, was kidnapped from his family home in Arizona and then sex-trafficked and abused for years before being reunited with his family 24 years later. In the meantime, inspired by a meeting with Cesar Chavez, Salazar-Hobson found the strength to study, go to college and become one of the United States’ most successful labour rights attorneys. It’s a devastating story, but one suffused with hope.
These two pieces both came from some of our regular features series, which always find fascinating stories to tell. In the personal and specific, they find wider truths. One of my favourites is Euro visions, which shares great ideas for living from continental Europe with the world. This week, Emine Saner looked at how Estonia has become an educational powerhouse on par with Japan and South Korea. Another that’s beloved by readers is A new start after 60, which finds great stories of later-in-life pivots. Who couldn’t be charmed by drummer Barbara McInnis discovering her inner John Bonham at the age of 90?

Thank you for reading and see you next week.

Thursday marked a year since the Guardian’s owner, the Scott Trust, apologised for the findings of independent research that uncovered links between the newspaper’s founder, his backers and transatlantic slavery. We subsequently embarked on a decade-long Legacies of Enslavement programme of restorative justice and responded journalistically with our Cotton Capital series. This week we published a long read by Harvard historian Vincent Brown about Tacky, the leader of a slave rebellion in Jamaica, and how a campaign to make him a national hero raises questions about the best way to commemorate a common history. Meanwhile Ella Sinclair took issue with those who exaggerate Britain’s role in the ending of slavery.

We reported extensively on the catastrophic collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge. Dharna Noor captured the shocked response from the city and a visual guide helped explain how the disaster happened.

The fallout from Friday’s night’s grim Islamic State attack on the Crocus concert hall in Moscow was forensically covered by our team of Russia and terrorism experts. Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer heard harrowing accounts from eyewitnesses, and analysed Vladimir Putin’s bogus efforts to link Ukraine to the attack.

This week the UN security council voted to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the first time since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Julian Borger, Lorenzo Tondo and Patrick Wintour covered the news and what it means. But with the Israeli assault on Gaza continuing, Jason Burke, Aseel Moussa and Malak A Tantesh looked at the dire and dangerous conditions in one of the areas designated a “humanitarian zone” by the Israeli military.

Guardian Australia launched a special five-part podcast series called Who Screwed Millennials?, in which Full Story co-host Jane Lee, social media reporter Matilda Boseley and series producer Miles Herbert investigate how rising house prices, a decade of wage stagnation and ballooning student debt left millennials the first generation to be worse off than their parents.

Maternity wards are miraculous places – but, across England, many are in crisis, leaving some parents who should be experiencing the happiest days of their lives instead going through the very worst. Sirin Kale’s investigation told the devastating story of the short life of Norah Bassett and the failings it revealed in the English health system.

More than 4m hours’ worth of raw sewage discharges were poured into England’s rivers and seas last year, a 129% increase on the previous 12 months. Environment reporters Sandra Laville and Helena Horton were the first to report this disgusting fact and our interactive team’s Alex Clark responded with a smart interactive which allows you, if you live in England, to see just how dirty your local river is.

For years Shazia Mirza was the only Muslim woman on the UK comedy circuit. She wrote about how she has finally found strength in numbers with an all-female Muslim comedy supergroup who play alcohol-free halal gigs.

Nick Cave, one of the great songwriters of the age, has lost two of his children in the past nine years. He spoke in detail to Simon Hattenstone about how he has coped and about how leaning into art – particularly a shocking, deeply personal, ceramics project – has helped him deal with his grief.

It was a magical night in the Polish city of Wrocław on Tuesday as Ukraine’s men’s football team – still playing in exile – beat Iceland to qualify for the summer’s European Championships and for a further chance to bring cheer to a nation battered by war. “These players – and thousands of fans – recognised that something more was at stake,” wrote Jonathan Liew.

Cook this | Yotam Ottolenghi’s Easter recipes

If you’re celebrating Easter this weekend, Yotam Ottolenghi is your man for spicing things up just the right amount. Here, he gives his twist on traditional roast lamb, featuring a marmalade glaze and fennel as well as a brilliant fennel and red pepper bake as an alternative.

Listen to this | The assisted dying debate: Paola’s story – Today in Focus

In a profoundly moving interview Rob Booth spoke to Paola Marra, who ended her life at Dignitas, an assisted dying centre in Switzerland, last week. Rob spoke to Paola several times during the last few days of her life about her decision, and the impact of travelling to Zurich alone.

Watch this | Buried

The remote island of St Helena, a British overseas territory, is best known for Napoleon’s tomb – its biggest tourist attraction. However, while overseeing the construction of a long-awaited airport, Annina van Neel (above left) learned that the remains of thousands of formerly enslaved Africans had been uncovered, unearthing one of the most significant traces of the transatlantic slave trade in the world. A new Guardian Documentary, Buried, looks at the debate among the islanders on how to create an appropriate memorial.

Come to this | An evening with Pet Shop Boys

Join pop geniuses Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe in conversation with the Guardian’s Alexis Petridis. In-person tickets have now sold out but you can still join online from wherever you are in the world and submit your questions in real-time for Tennant and Lowe, as they look back on a remarkable 40-year career in music.

Monday 22 April, London and livestreamed

The Guardian’s crosswords and Wordiply are here to keep you entertained throughout the weekend.