5/31: Sunday Morning

Hosted by Jane Pauley. Featured: Marilyn Monroe at 100; former first lady Jill Biden; children detained at the ICE facility in Dilley, Texas; living "books" at The Human Library; pickleball superstar Anna Leigh Waters; and the Undercroft beneath the Lincoln Memorial opens to the public.

Pence on Trump's weaponization fund: "My hope is the administration will drop it"

Former Vice President Mike Pence said on Sunday that he hopes the administration will drop its new "anti-weaponization fund" that has sparked pushback on Capitol Hill among Republicans.

4th U.S. strike this week on alleged drug boat kills 3 people

More than 200 people have been killed in the monthslong campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific.

Israel seizes strategic castle in deepest incursion into Lebanon in 26 years

Experts say capture is largely symbolic, but it complicates efforts to extend ceasefire between US and Iran

Israeli troops have captured a clifftop castle as they made their deepest incursion into Lebanon in more than 26 years, further shattering a nominal US-brokered ceasefire and complicating efforts to extend the separate truce between the Washington and Tehran.

After days of intense fighting and airstrikes in nearby villages, the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said the military had captured Beaufort Castle, also known as Qalaat al-Shaqif, which it had used as a base during its previous occupation of southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000.

Man, 27, arrested after PSNI officer hit by stolen police vehicle

Attempted murder investigation launched after police officer struck by vehicle in Downpatrick

Police have launched an attempted murder investigation after an officer was hit by a stolen police vehicle in Northern Ireland.

The officer, who fired his gun during the incident at 4.45am on Sunday, had been chasing a suspect on foot after another vehicle had earlier failed to stop for police in the Fountain Street area in Downpatrick, County Down.

French police arrest 780 after violent clashes as PSG fans celebrate Champions League win

Interior minister says 57 officers injured as rioters set fires and vandalise shops in about 15 cities

French police have detained 780 people involved in violent clashes in Paris and other French cities that erupted on Saturday night after Paris Saint-Germain defeated Arsenal to win the Champions League title.

The interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said 57 officers were wounded, with most suffering minor injuries, as football fans set off fires and vandalised shops. One small group even tried to storm a Paris police station.

The Guardian view on the splinternet: where China led, Iran and others are eagerly following | Editorial

Authoritarian states are increasingly shutting off or throttling access to the internet, creating separate spheres in a realm built on connection

China boasts of having the world’s largest population of internet users: 1.125 billion by the end of 2025, according to official figures. But as one joke has it, the Great Firewall – blocking not only politically sensitive material but also global tech firms such as Google and Meta – has produced what looks more like the world’s largest intranet.

Beijing is not an anomaly, but a pioneer. Its extraordinary investment in the apparatus of “cyber sovereignty” – others would call it censorship and repression – is guiding other authoritarian countries. A realm defined by connection is fragmenting not just from commercial greed and filter bubbles but due to state fiat, birthing the splinternet.

U.S. and Iran still without deal to end war after Trump says he's not in a 'hurry'

Trump threatened further military action if negotiations break down and the U.S. does not receive the concessions from Iran it desires.

Manchester City thrash Brighton to seal Women’s FA Cup and historic Double

A ruthless Manchester City won the Women’s FA Cup for a fourth time and completed the Double as they eventually coasted to a 4-0 win over Brighton, as Khadija Shaw celebrated signing her new contract with a Wembley goal.

Shaw and her City teammates provided Brighton with a harsh lesson on the importance of taking your chances in a final, with Albion having looked the stronger side for large parts of the game but having lacked the clinical edge in the final third that the league champions demonstrated after riding out some pressure.

Trump’s interior secretary dismisses calls to identify donors for ‘nonpartisan’ concert series

Doug Burgum complains some musicians ‘segmented their audiences’ after artists back out of 250th anniversary event

The Trump administration’s interior secretary, Doug Burgum, complained on Sunday that some musicians “seem to have segmented their audiences” after artists bailed on participating in a concert series planned for the 250th anniversary of the US’s independence.

In the interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Burgum also dismissed calls to publicly identified who had made donations for the concert series – and maintained it was a “nonpartisan” event despite Donald Trump referring to it as a rally.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (May 31)

A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the Emmy-winning program, hosted by Jane Pauley.

Former Barclays CEO Jes Staley agrees to July 23 interview about Jeffrey Epstein by Oversight panel

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is scheduled to be interviewed about his relationship to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in June.

WHO calls for community cooperation to contain Ebola outbreak in DRC

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus makes appeal after protests against protocols for handling victims’ bodies in Ituri province

Containing the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo requires community cooperation and is “everybody’s business”, the World Health Organization has said.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the organisation’s director general, made the plea on Sunday during a visit to eastern Congo where some residents have protested against stringent medical protocols for handling victims’ bodies.

Arsenal put Champions League anguish to one side with open-top bus parade

• Hundreds of thousands of fans line streets in London

• Gabriel pays tribute to supporters after final agony

Gabriel Magalhães admitted Arsenal’s Champions League penalty shootout defeat was “painful”, but the Gunners quickly put the disappointment to one side as fans descended on north London to attend an open-top bus parade.

Gabriel missed the crucial spot-kick against Paris Saint-Germain as the French champions retained their crown following a 1-1 draw in Budapest. Yet Arsenal still had plenty to celebrate as they embarked on a parade through their local streets to celebrate the Premier League title success they secured earlier this month.

US strike on alleged drug boat kills three in eastern Pacific

Attack comes after Friday’s strike that killed three men as well, pushing death toll to more than 200 since last year

The US military said on Saturday it had carried out a strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific killing three men, the second strike in as many days.

Officials with the US Southern Command said in a post on X that intelligence had confirmed that the vessel was transiting along “narco-trafficking” routes in the eastern Pacific and engaged in “narco-trafficking” operations.

U.S. strike on alleged drug boat kills 3 in Pacific Ocean, in fourth attack this week

The U.S. military said it carried out another strike on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the Pacific Ocean, killing three in the fourth attack this week and putting the total death toll at 205.

Liverpool to hold talks with Iraola and seek swift appointment of head coach

• Club want to name Slot’s successor before World Cup

• Stuttgart’s Hoeness and Lens’s Sage to be sounded out

Liverpool will hold formal talks with Andoni Iraola over their managerial vacancy this week and hope to install Arne Slot’s successor before the World Cup begins.

Liverpool are planning to move quickly in their search for a new head coach and intend to speak to their preferred candidates at the earliest opportunity. Contact has been made with Iraola’s camp and formal talks are expected over the coming days. The club are also likely to sound out Stuttgart’s Sebastian Hoeness and Pierre Sage, of Lens, but the former Bournemouth head coach, who was brought to the south coast by Liverpool’s sporting director, Richard Hughes, is the frontrunner to replace Slot.

‘In a crowd, it feels good when we do bad to our enemies’: how anger becomes contagious

Usually, individuals don’t want to be angry. In a group, however, negative emotions can rile the tribe. On the streets of London, Ed Coper felt it first hand

Back before 9/11 and the wars it precipitated, the big global focus for protest was globalisation itself. Things came to a head in Seattle in November 1999 when 50,000 protesters crashed the World Trade Organization’s party. The ensuing “Battle of Seattle”, as it came to be known, brought unprecedented attention to the growing disquiet over the inequalities of unregulated free market excesses. That’s how, a few months later, I found myself smack bang in the middle of the next big anti-neoliberal flashpoint, the “MayDay 2K” protests in London.

My experience of protest throughout high school had been pretty tame, more likely to take the form of defiance than demonstration. Socks down, shirt untucked – take that, sir! But then again times were good, even for a ratbag. I didn’t have many grievances. At least, none that could be solved by collective protest against powerful institutions that weren’t my parents.

Beast review – down-and-out MMA fighter film is predictable but still lands punches

Directed by Tyler Atkins and co-written by Russell Crowe, this Australian feature follows a familiar playbook – but you’ll find yourself surprisingly invested

Ah, yes: the promising fighter who could’ve been a contender, could’ve been a champion. But then life intervened: bad decisions were made, promises broken, the wrong paths taken. But what if the past came knocking on his door? What if our long-in-the-tooth hero could have another crack, set things right, get in the ring one more time?

To say that Tyler Atkins’ Australian martial arts drama Beast plucks moves from a well-worn playbook is putting it lightly. This is one of those genre films in which nothing surprises in broad terms; it’s the small pivots and deviations that matter. Given the ring of familiarity surrounding everything, I was surprised to find myself as invested in the film as I was, particularly because so many chest-thumping sports movies are already out there, many of which I find about as intellectually engaging as the back of a bag of protein powder.

Envy used to prickle me constantly. But Buddhism teaches us that if someone feels joy, we too can feel it | Jackie Bailey

If I wish myself happiness, then I might gradually become more positively disposed to the happiness of others

It can be hard to be nice. When I was a kid, envy would prickle me as I walked past big houses, wondering what it would be like to have my own bedroom. Nowadays I feel a similar torsion in my conscience when I hear that an author friend has secured a multi-book contract. I’m happy for them but there is a part of me that wants what they have.

The Buddha taught that there are “four immeasurables”. They are known as such because, when attained, they are limitless. They are the qualities of compassion, loving kindness, equanimity and empathetic joy: mudita.

Jackie Bailey is an award-winning author whose nonfiction book about spirituality, The Outrageous Good Fortune of Living (HarperCollins), will be released in 2026. Jackie works as a funeral celebrant and pastoral care practitioner, supporting people to navigate death and dying.

Turkey World Cup 2026 team guide

Vincenzo Montella has created harmony in the squad to mould one of the country’s strongest teams ever around a generational talent in Arda Guler

This article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 11 June.

Nicola Sturgeon: I feel as if I’m serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit

Former Scottish first minister says she will not apologise for actions of her ex-husband found guilty of embezzlement

Nicola Sturgeon has said she feels as if she is serving a sentence for a crime she did not commit, as she denied ever “consciously” seeing the motor home bought by her estranged husband with money embezzled from the Scottish National party.

Scotland’s former first minister said the luxury camper was parked “round the side” of her mother-in-law’s house and had been recorded in the party’s accounts as “motor vehicles” so its purchase had not rung alarm bells.

Nature: Cactus blooms in Arizona

We leave you this Sunday morning with cactus in bloom at the McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona. Videographer: Scot Miller.

5/31: Face The Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy provides an update on his country's war with Russia. Sen. Chris Wright, Former Vice President Mike Pence and World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain also join.

Jill Biden on life in, and after, the White House

The former first lady discusses her new memoir, "View from the East Wing," and talks about Joe Biden's legacy, his health, the challenges he faced as president, and the demolition of the White House's East Wing by President Trump to erect a ballroom.

Extended interview: Former first lady Jill Biden

In her first interview since her husband left the White House, Dr. Jill Biden talks with Rita Braver about her years in the White House, and her new memoir, "View from the East Wing."

Jill Biden on life in, and after, the White House

In her new memoir, "View from the East Wing," former first lady Jill Biden discusses her four years in the White House. She sits down with correspondent Rita Braver to talk about the legacy of her husband's presidency, as well as the challenges that Joe Biden faced, from the January 6 insurrection by Trump supporters aimed at overturning his 2020 election victory, to a 2024 debate performance that led to Biden ending his reelection bid. She also discusses her husband's prostate cancer diagnosis; his pardon of son Hunter Biden; and the demolition of the White House's East Wing by President Trump to erect a ballroom.

The Thunder are dethroned, shameless and wildly unpopular. They’re still a great basketball team

The reigning champions were beaten in an epic series by the San Antonio Spurs. There’s no reason to believe they won’t challenge for years to come though

Throughout the Western Conference finals, the San Antonio Spurs hoped that Victor Wembanyama could work enough magic while he was on the court to make up for the Oklahoma City Thunder annihilating them while he was off of it. Late in Game 7 on Saturday night, the Thunder must have been licking their chops. Wembanyama picked up his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter. The Spurs led by six at the next break in play, a lead that could disappear in minutes with Wembanyama’s backup, Luke Kornet, on the floor. But there was no choice – Wembanyama checked out rather than risk fouling out.

Immediately, Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein picked off a pass and bolted down the floor to lay the ball in. That would have cut the Spurs’ lead to four, but more importantly may well have set into motion a trend we had seen throughout the series: When Wembanyama sits, the Thunder feast.

The army doctor who came back from Gaza and is leading a New Jersey congressional race

Frontrunner Adam Hamawy has gone from political nobody to endorsements from Bernie Sanders, AOC and Ilhan Omar

Knocking on strangers’ doors on a warm May afternoon in Trenton, New Jersey, Adam Hamawy did not seem fazed when more than a few went unanswered.

It’s his first time running for office, but this is an area where he has experience. After returning from a medical mission in Gaza in 2024, Hamawy went to Washington to describe the crisis – which he viewed as a US-funded genocide – to lawmakers, only to encounter “too many doors that were closed, that didn’t even want to listen”.

Death of Congolese man renews scrutiny of race relations in Ireland

Yves Sakila died after being restrained by security guards ‘in broad daylight’

Irish authorities have agreed to a second postmortem on the body of a Congolese man who died after being restrained by shop security guards on a Dublin street, prompting an outcry and comparisons to the death of George Floyd.

A forensic pathologist from England is to conduct an independent postmortem this week on Yves Sakila, 35, an alleged shoplifter who was pursued and pinned to the ground in the city centre on 15 May. The police force, An Garda Síochána, is investigating.

Retired Atlanta principal returns to his school, as a handyman

Last September, David White retired after 33 years in education, the last 15 as principal of the Burgess-Peterson Academy in Atlanta. But retirement didn't sit well with him, and so he applied for a position at his old school, one further down the ladder than his last one. Steve Hartman reports on someone for whom no job – like cleaning gutters – is too small.

Children "held like criminals" inside ICE detention center

More than 6,300 children under 18 – almost all with no criminal record – have been detained by federal immigration authorities during President Trump's second term, with nearly half held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas.

Children "held like criminals" inside ICE detention center

More than 6,300 children under 18 – some as young as two months old, and almost all with no criminal record – have been arrested by federal immigration authorities during President Trump's second term. Nearly half have been detained by ICE at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center outside San Antonio. "Sunday Morning" correspondent Jim Axelrod talks with a family that was held at Dilley for almost four months; and with Rep. Joaquin Castro, who is calling for Dilley to be shut down due to inhumane conditions, charges the Trump administration denies.

Pickleball superstar Anna Leigh Waters

Professional pickleball is America's fastest-growing sport, and its biggest star is Anna Leigh Waters. Correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti talks with the 19-year-old, whom many call the greatest pickleball player of all time.

Israel seizes medieval castle as it expands major offensive in southern Lebanon

Israel has captured the 12th-century Beaufort castle that overlooks southern Lebanon and northern Israel. The move suggests Israel is planning an extended military presence in Lebanon.

Book excerpt: "View From the East Wing" by Jill Biden

The former first lady writes of her four years in the White House, her advocacy, and the challenges facing the Biden presidency, from the COVID pandemic and the January 6 insurrection, to the president's health.

Unveiling the history beneath the Lincoln Memorial

Beneath the Lincoln Memorial is one of Washington's best-kept secrets: the Undercroft, a soaring 50,000-square-foot foundation built to keep the landmark from sinking into D.C.'s swampy ground. Now home to a museum, the public is being invited to visit underground.

Unveiling the history beneath the Lincoln Memorial

For more than a century, one of Washington's best-kept secrets lay beneath the Lincoln Memorial: the Undercroft, a soaring 50,000-square-foot foundation built to keep the landmark from sinking into D.C.'s swampy ground. Beginning in June, the public will be able to visit the space, now with a museum tracing the memorial's history, from its construction to its role as a powerful stage for the civil rights movement. Correspondent Faith Salie goes underground.

Arsenal fans, a Pride parade and poppies: photos of the weekend

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

Our tech overlords are planning for conscious AI to conquer the cosmos. What could go wrong? | Eduardo Porter

A new belief set is uniting some of the wealthiest men in the world around a ‘transhuman’ future – actual humanity be damned

Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, took to the Internet a few years ago to propose that homo sapiens would be the first species “to design our own descendants”. In his best case scenario, the “merge” between humans and artificial intelligence occurs at some point over the next 50 years. The alternative, where we remain simply human and the machines follow their own path, is more ominous. “If two different species both want the same thing and only one can have it – in this case, to be the dominant species on the planet and beyond – they are going to have conflict,” he wrote.

More recently, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who at one point last year was granted the power to reconfigure the US federal government, argued on his social media platform, X, that “it increasingly appears that humanity is a biological bootloader for digital superintelligence” – our role in the history of the cosmos reduced to that of the low level code that boots up a computer before you can run sophisticated programs on it.

Women don’t need menopause tea and meno-friendly nighties. They need doctors to take them seriously | Emma Beddington

Serious health conditions are being misdiagnosed and pregnancies are missed while the internet swells with terrible advice and meno-products. Enough!

Ladies! Are you tired all the time, sweaty and hot, or headachy? Do you have a range of the vague complaints (laziness, hysteria, dissolute habits, general languishing) that would have seen you committed to a 19th-century asylum? Are you lacking in joie de vivre? Maybe you’re perimenopausal!

Or maybe you’re not: being tired, hot and over everything are also symptoms of simply being alive in spring 2026. That’s not what the internet wants you to believe, though: last week, experts issued a warning about the deluge of perimenopause and menopause misinformation online and the risks that can pose to women, including unwanted pregnancies and a failure to seek a diagnosis for serious health conditions.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

If an alien landed and asked you: ‘What is music?’ what would you play for them?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

If an alien landed and asked you: “What is this thing you call music?” what would you play for them? And why? Heather, Kent

Post your answers (and new questions) below or send them to [email protected]. A selection will be published next Sunday.

Due to a production error, a new Notes & Queries question was not published on 24 May.

Experimental pill promises new hope for deadly pancreatic cancer

A novel pill helped people with advanced pancreatic cancer live longer, researchers reported Sunday, raising hopes of long-needed better treatments for one of the deadliest types of cancer.

Israel is extending its footprint through war. For some, it's part of a greater plan

On the fringes of Israel's far right, some activists and political leaders dream of a Greater Israel, extending the country's area of control into neighboring countries.

The biggest permanent desert lake threatens with rising waters and hungry crocs

Kenya's Lake Turkana is the world's largest permanent desert lake. Its waters have long sustained hundreds of thousands. Now the lake is facing multiple threats — and threatening those who rely on it.

Claude Lemieux’s brain donated to CTE research after NHL star’s death at age of 60

• CTE is caused by repeated blows to the head

• Family choose to donate brain for research

Claude Lemieux’s brain is being donated to the Boston University CTE Center to research the long-term effects of repetitive brain injuries, his family said Saturday in a statement released by daughter Claudia Lemieux Bishop.

Lemieux died by suicide at age 60 on Thursday, according to authorities, after earlier in the week serving as the Montreal Canadiens’ torchbearer before a playoff game. He played nearly 1,500 NHL games with six teams from 1983 to 2009 and was known for his hard-hitting style and ability to perform in big games while winning the Stanley Cup four times.

In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and the domestic violence helpline is 0808 2000 247. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is 1800 737 732.

How to make the perfect papas arrugadas – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …

These compulsively snacky salt-crusted spuds are a Canary Islands favourite – and an unusual but excellent way to cook our own early-summer crop

If you’ve ever visited the Canary Islands, you’ll be familiar with papas arrugadas – often translated, somewhat unappetisingly, as “wrinkly potatoes” – which pop up on every menu there. And not, generally, as a side dish, but as a standalone snack to be enjoyed with drinks. I do love a place that takes the spud seriously, and perhaps it’s not that much of a surprise, given that the first potatoes to reach Europe passed through the Canaries on their way from Peru, which, along with the similarity between the rocky soils of the Andes and the islands, probably accounts for the long history of cultivation.

Though many unusual early varieties are still grown for local sale, the Canaries imports both seed and fresh potatoes from the UK (king edward and arran banner have become quinegua and arambana). Once upon a time, ships would leave the islands laden with winter tomatoes for the British market, and return full of tubers. For this recipe, however, you’ll need new season potatoes with thin, delicate skins, and small enough to cook whole. Cooked in salty water until the salt crystals cling to them like frost, they’re served with a fiery dipping sauce that reflects the strong Portuguese and African influences on Canarian cuisine: an unusual but excellent way to celebrate our own early-summer crop.

Could Trump’s Iran ‘excursion’ be a bigger global turning point than Vietnam?

The far shorter Middle East war has rapidly revealed the strategic weakness of US firepower in an interconnected world

In a 1965 speech justifying the war in Vietnam, Lyndon B Johnson argued that the goal was to ensure “every country can shape its own destiny” since only in such a world could the US secure its own freedom. However, he also admitted “such were infirmities of man that force must often precede reason, and the waste of war, the works of peace”.

It was the kind of elegant justification of the country’s moral mission to which successive US presidential speechwriters have turned at times of war.

Daily pill can double survival time for world’s deadliest cancer, trial shows

Experts hail daraxonrasib as ‘gamechanger’ for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer

A daily pill can double survival time in patients with the world’s deadliest cancer, according to the results of a clinical trial that experts are saying is a “gamechanger” and one of the biggest breakthroughs in decades.

Currently, there are few treatments for pancreatic cancer, and most do little or nothing to help. For decades, scientists have worked relentlessly trying to find clever solutions for a form of cancer that is often found late. More than half of patients are only diagnosed after it has spread.

Iga Swiatek has an unhappy birthday after falling to Kostyuk at French Open

• No 3 seed goes down 7-5, 6-1 to Ukrainian 15th seed

• Pole becomes latest big-name Roland Garros casualty

For such a large proportion of Iga Swiatek’s career, Court Philippe-Chatrier at Roland Garros has been her fortress. No matter the résumé of the opponent in front of her, the significance of the occasion or even how badly she might have been feeling on court, she always found a way through. By the time she won her fourth French Open title in five years – her third in succession – the Pole seemed invincible on this court.

It has been only two years since the six-time grand slam champion last tasted success in Paris, yet on a mercifully cool Sunday afternoon, it felt as if that version of Swiatek was from an alternate universe as she put together the most difficult performance of her career in Paris. She suffered a miserable 7-5, 6-1 defeat on her 25th birthday to the 15th seed, Marta Kostyuk, ending her run in the fourth round.

Colombia goes to polls in election pitting outgoing leader’s ally against pro-Trump candidates

Ballots are being cast in the first round of the South American nation’s presidential elections

Colombians are casting ballots in the first round of the South American nation’s presidential election, choosing between candidates with radically diverging visions for the future of peace in a country haunted by decades of armed conflict.

The vote on Sunday, seen as a referendum on outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s policies, comes 10 years after Colombia signed a historic peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

Maggie O’Farrell: ‘Fiction comes from what you don’t know’

From a young age, the author was told that one of her ancestors had drawn some of the first maps of Ireland. Then she found a photograph, and embarked on a journey to discover his story

Every family has its myths. In mine, we were told that one of our antecedents had worked on the first maps of Ireland. As a child, I used to picture a solitary person in unspecified period dress – a tailcoat, perhaps some kind of cravat – striding pensively about fields and mountains, pen in hand. On summer holidays, I would stare out of the window of our red car as Donegal or Galway rolled by and wonder that such a task could be achieved. How did one man set about drawing a map of a whole country, of these towns and strands and trees and rivers?

All myths comprise a great deal of fanciful embroidery through which runs the distinct thread of truth: time and retelling will always refract reality. This mapper preyed on my mind. I thought about him, always, when I travelled around Ireland. I thought about him in my final year of school, when my geography exam required me to analyse a square of an unknown map. I wanted, as I often do, to know more, about his life, his work, who he had been and how he had mapped.

After my mum died, I couldn’t face tackling the clothes she left behind. But wearing them has helped me celebrate the woman she was

Sorting, wearing and even reworking some of Mum’s wardrobe has given me a way to keep her close

Only my mum would insist on buying a designer swimsuit on her deathbed. She had always found emotional solace in clothes, but shopping for herself had become futile by that point. She was, after all, lying in a cancer hospital having been told there was no further treatment available for her relentless myeloma; she had exhausted all available options in the 11 years since her diagnosis. But my 37th birthday was coming up and there was no way terminal blood cancer was going to stop Rhona from buying me a present. She loved showering her family with gifts. I would reprimand her for spoiling us. “I can’t spend it when I’m dead, can I?” she used to respond.

Of course, there was only one thing I truly wanted that birthday, but I was being forced to come to terms with that being a deluded fantasy. Despite my protestations that I needed nothing, my mum insisted: “Something nice for your holidays, perhaps?”

Anti-Muslim hate and antisemitism are twin crises. We must confront them together | Binairfer Nowrojee

The two hatreds have rarely been seen as related dangers. But they overlap even as Muslim and Jewish communities are pitted against each other

The shooting at a mosque and school in San Diego has forced Muslim Americans to ask themselves painful questions. After the killing of three people in an armed attack last week, they now wonder if other places of worship will be targeted next, whether they can still send children to school and trust that they will return home unharmed, and whether they can still safely walk the streets as people identifiable by their faith.

These are also questions that Jewish communities are reckoning with, most recently after the stabbings in London’s Golders Green neighborhood. Over the past three years, against the backdrop of wars in the Middle East, antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate have flared across the west, with each rising to record levels. But these two hatreds have rarely been seen as related dangers, let alone confronted as a common threat to societies.

Democrats and Republicans think control of Congress runs through Iowa

Iowa is no stranger to political attention in presidential elections, but surprisingly competitive midterm contests highlight the state's importance for both parties as it holds its primary Tuesday.

The Guide #244: From Chinese microdramas to an Arctic comedy – what the world is watching

In the newsletter: Our global writers share the shows captivating local audiences, from Côte d’Ivoire’s hottest soap to the next best thing out of Canada since Heated Rivalry

• Don’t get The Guide delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

It’s high time for another of our occasional glances at what the world is watching; the TV popular on the beats covered by some of the Guardian’s many global correspondents. Last time we asked our reporters in Brazil, Jamaica, Japan, Nigeria and Poland, and heard about everything from telenovelas to Caribbean breakfast TV. This time we’ve commissioned a different set of correspondents to tell us about what’s driving the watercooler conversation in the countries they currently call home. Read on for Chinese microdramas, a worthy follow-up to Heated Rivalry and the show that has the hair salons of Côte d’Ivoire abuzz.

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Disaster of Brexit is a warning against simple solutions to hard problems | Richard Partington

Alan Milburn says youth unemployment has no quick fixes – an idea with an important lesson for those thinking about how to rejoin the EU

Mainstream politicians are rarely direct. It is part of the reason why their populist counterparts thrive: they say it like it is. No nonsense. Let’s get things done. But last week Alan Milburn had a frank rebuttal: “Everybody goes for the bloody easy solution, don’t they? You can’t just go for the easy solution, OK? There are no easy solutions, guys. None. They’re all hard.”

Speaking at the launch of his review into Britain’s youth worklessness crisis, the former Labour cabinet minister was arguing that one tax U-turn could not fix a problem decades in the making.

10 Korean dishes to savour now – from fried chicken to kimchi dumplings and stuffed pancakes

The cuisine is booming in the UK, with more places than ever to try bibimbap, bulgogi or tteokbokki. Here’s what to eat – and where to find it

From sizzling bowls of comforting bibimbap to crispy, hot, sweet pancakes, Korean food is exploding in popularity in the UK. Demand is rising for the country’s bold and punchy flavours, which feature soy sauce, sesame oil, the tangy, fermented kick of kimchi, raw napa cabbage and gochujang, a sweet and spicy chilli paste that elevates dips and gives an umami boost to sauces.

Last year, Waitrose reported that sales of gochujang had increased by 71% since 2024. Jamie Oliver uses it to flavour his chicken burgers while Nigella Lawson adds it to her pasta sauce. In March, Korean fried chicken was named one of Just Eat’s top 10 takeaways of 2026, while there were long queues this month at Jung, a Korean food festival in London.

‘This is a tragedy’: swimming snakes open new front in battle with Balearic lizards

The insatiable horseshoe whip snake has become an existential threat to the Ibiza wall lizard

Irrefutable proof of what Spanish researchers and wildlife experts had long suspected, and long feared, finally presented itself in the form of a grainy video that was shot on a minuscule island in the Balearics in April 2024.

Ribboning its way through the turquoise waters that separate the east coast of Ibiza from the islet of Santa Eulària 450 metres away, came a pale and solitary horseshoe whip snake in search of new territory and fresh sustenance.

Bus driver in deadly Virginia crash charged with involuntary manslaughter

Jing S. Dong of Staten Island, New York, was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, with additional charges pending, Virginia State Police said.

White House says Trump is in "excellent health" in results from physical

President Trump's physician said in a letter released Friday that the president is in "excellent health," following a physical earlier this week at Walter Reed National Military Hospital.

Sky ends controversial news joint venture in United Arab Emirates

Sky News Arabia to retain name in brand licensing deal after criticism of its coverage of atrocities in Sudan

Sky is exiting its TV news joint venture with the United Arab Emirates, Sky News Arabia, which has been criticised for its coverage of the war in Sudan, with accusations of genocide denial.

Sky and its partner IMI – the investment vehicle controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the vice-president of the UAE and owner of Manchester City – have announced a new commercial deal in which the UK-based broadcaster will relinquish all strategic and operational ownership of the 24-hour Arabic language news and current affairs service.

This is how we do it: ‘I was looking for a one-night stand. Now we’re married with two babies’

It started as a hook-up, but before long they were parents. Now Sofia and León are finding new ways to be intimate

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

It just felt easy, like I’d already known him for a long time. I told León I loved him after two weeks

The right is desperate for a solution to falling birthrates. Who’s going to tell them that the answer is immigration? | John Harris

Reform and Maga are correct that ageing populations are storing up huge social problems, but our prosperity still rests on the hard work of migrants

A growing mountain of reports highlights one of the US’s most fascinating features: the fact that people in red states seem to breed far more than those in the blue ones, and are being newly encouraged to do so by high-profile figures who are desperate for a Maga baby boom. The vice-president, JD Vance, and his wife are expecting their fourth child, and Vance says he wants “more babies in America” – and, presumably, fewer of the people he derided as “childless cat ladies”. Elon Musk is reckoned to be a father of 14, and his views on reproduction reflect his contribution to the Trumpist procreation drive: “If people don’t have more children, civilisation is going to crumble,” he said in 2021. “Mark my words.”

In Europe, Italy’s far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, says she will somehow tackle a mixture of unprecedentedly low birthrates and ageing population known as the “demographic winter”. Before he was sent packing by voters, the infamous Viktor Orbán was on much the same page: “We need Hungarian children,” he said in 2019, announcing a lifelong exemption from income tax for women with four or more of them.

John Harris is a Guardian columnist

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‘It’s a great healer’: why being outdoors in nature means so much to us

Many of those who love spending time in Britain’s green places say it is awe-inspiring, calming and therapeutic

As a recent study revealed almost half of UK adults now spend less than three hours a week in natural settings such as gardens, parks, fields or woods, we asked readers to tell us about what being outside means to them.

The replies – heartfelt and passionate – came flooding in, with some admitting they just did not have the words to say how important it is.

These AI models are free, private, and will never say 'no'

Open-weight AI models with advanced capabilities and no safeguards are becoming much more accessible. While they can be useful, AI safety experts have concerns.

T.V. reality stars throw their hats into the ring for political office

Reality shows are an escape with characters who can be larger than life. But some stars use the experience of fame as a stepping stone toward another challenge: running for political office.

San Antonio Spurs win the West, beating Oklahoma City Thunder to head to NBA Finals

The San Antonio Spurs celebrated after beating the odds and defeating the defending champions Oklahoma City Thunder, to advance to the NBA Finals

‘I don’t listen to indie music any more’: Ed O’Brien’s honest playlist

The Radiohead guitarist once serenaded a girl with the Smiths and thinks George Michael was a genius. But what is his favourite football song?

The first single I bought
Ally’s Tartan Army, the 1978 Scottish World Cup song, because England hadn’t qualified. I loved that Scottish team – Alan Rough, Martin Buchan, Gordon McQueen, Kenny Dalglish – and the 10-year-old me got completely swept up in World Cup fever.

The first song I fell in love with
When I was 17, I fell in love with a girl called Mary, who was this huge Smiths fan. I bought Hatful of Hollow so I could serenade her with William, It Was Really Nothing. I don’t think she adored me quite as much as she adored the Smiths.

‘It’ll be like Barbenheimer’: UK gripped by new wave of Beatlemania in lead-up to four biopics

Fab Four are still making waves 60 years on – and upcoming Sam Mendes films are expected to turn the hype up to 11

If anyone needed a reminder of the enduring cultural clout of the Beatles, the past few weeks have provided a glut. Firstly, there’s the small matter of The Boys of Dungeon Lane, Paul McCartney’s 20th solo album, billed as “an adventurous and limber take on guitar music” by the Guardian.

When England announced their World Cup squad, the soundtrack was Come Together, played alongside a film of fashionable young people in New York and a clip of a young, puckish John Lennon. The same week Stephen Colbert was played off from his final episode of the Late Show by a Paul McCartney rendition of Hello Goodbye.

Hybrid training: is this the secret to getting fitter and stronger?

Whether it’s Hyrox or CrossFit, some of this century’s biggest exercise trends have one thing in common: combining cardio with strength training. Here’s how to do it

Tough Mudder. CrossFit. Hyrox. Some of this century’s biggest fitness trends have one thing in common: they require feats of both strength and endurance. People used to pick a side: either you used weights and resistance machines to build your muscles or you did cardio for the sake of your heart and lungs. Now everyone wants to be a “hybrid athlete”. So is this the best way to get fit – and where do you start if you’re a complete beginner?

‘I was five seconds from death’: Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, on owning Shakhtar and resisting Russia

In a rare interview the businessman discusses football, his ownership of the Azovstal steelworks and why he is optimistic about the future

It is the morning after Russia’s heaviest aerial raid on Kyiv in several months. At least 25 people have been killed and, as always, those emerging from a sleepless night are the lucky ones. Rinat Akhmetov meets the Guardian at the end of a paved driveway half an hour from the city centre. Shakhtar Donetsk’s owner rarely gives interviews and his whereabouts have been a subject of conjecture during the war.

But he is here in Ukraine, speaking to mark the 90th birthday of a club whose tribulations over the past dozen years have been unmatched. It is also 30 years since Akhmetov, the richest person in Ukraine and arguably eastern Europe’s most influential businessman, became president of Shakhtar. The club has been a labour of love, the straightforward face of a career whose complexities beyond football have been widely documented. Akhmetov’s influence spreads across the country and beyond, most visibly in the form of places such as Azovstal, the iron and steelworks that became symbolic of a nation’s resilience in 2022.

TV bailiff accused of murder sobs, "I live with it every day"

Renard Spivey was found not guilty of his wife's murder, but he says he still can't sleep at night.

TV bailiff accused in wife's shooting death: "I didn't pull the trigger"

Renard Spivey says he was trying to protect himself when he says his wife Patricia confronted him at gunpoint in their Houston home.

From bikinis to cat bowls: how museum gift stores became the place to shop

Curated edits mean people are treating museums as stand-alone shopping destinations rather than simply exit points

First it came for bookshops. Then your favourite coffee shop. Now there is a new frontier when it comes to upping your merch game: museums.

Instead of art print postcards and coffee table books, you are now more likely to find everything from slogan T-shirts to coffee mugs when you “exit through the gift shop”, as museums look to merch-maxx in order to boost revenue

Recruiter who was allowed to buy back his insolvent firm falls behind on payments after offering staff Vegas trip

Premier Group Recruitment went into administration with debts of £2.9m – including £647,000 owed to HMRC

A recruitment executive – who was allowed to buy back the assets of his bust company in instalments despite it accumulating almost £3m of debt – has fallen behind on promised payments after pledging to send staff on an all-expenses paid trip to Las Vegas.

The development is the latest case to raise questions about the practice of “phoenixism”, accounting’s controversial art of liquidating companies to allow directors to rise from the ashes with a new entity, free of debts.

Japan defence minister rebuffs claims of ‘new militarism’ levelled by China

Shinjiro Koizumi says Japan valued as a ‘peace-loving’ nation while China expands military capabilities ‘without sufficient transparency’

Japan’s defence minister took a veiled swipe at China on Sunday, pledging to keep strengthening the military despite Beijing’s criticism of Tokyo’s increasingly muscular security stance.

Under the prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, Japan has quickened its pivot to a more proactive defence policy, further shaking off – with US encouragement – its pacifist outlook in place since the end of the second world war.

I feel a lot of affection for a friend at work – could I be in love? | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

Would you want this to become sexual? If the answer is yes, then think about what might be holding you back

I don’t know whether I am in love with my friend or not. We hang out a lot, because we work together in the same university. My feelings developed over many months and it took us a long time to fit with each other as we do now. I don’t find him perfect; I sometimes don’t like his behaviour, especially when we are with other people. However, I want to be with him a lot: I imagine going on holiday with him and doing things together.

We do have physical contact sometimes – just things like touching arms. I appreciate that and have deep affection for him. So I wonder if this could be love or if I am mistaking great friendship with love just because he is a guy. I do not know whether he is a friend, almost like a brother, or more than that.

When will the EU punch its weight in a perilous world? That’s the question countries eager to join should be asking | Simon Tisdall

Twin threats from east and west have clearly made the bloc more appealing – but its rule-bound institutions need urgent attention

Giant butter mountains, wine lakes and an apocryphal EU ban on bendy bananas formed the mythological backdrop to Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum debacle. Yet while many Vote Leave claims were exaggerated, inaccurate or blatantly untrue, the EU’s capacity for laying itself open to ridicule is undiminished 10 years on. Take the strange case of the whingeing EU commissioners, annoyed that their officially provided electric vehicles cannot manage the time-consuming 280-mile journey between Brussels and Strasbourg without stopping to recharge.

This important issue, first reported by Politico, raises vital questions. Do these highly paid bureaucrats really need chauffeur-driven “company cars”? Surely they could catch a train, or fly, or cycle. EV use is mandatory for road trips. The vehicles are supplied in line with the EU’s Green Deal emissions-cutting policy, which commissioners might be expected to support, not carp about. So why is the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, allowed a petrol engine? The biggest question of all is why make these tedious Brussels-Strasbourg journeys in the first place?

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Trump suggests canceling all musical performances at the Great American State Fair

Freedom 250, the organization behind the event, said Saturday that President Trump will kick off the event on June 24 in an opening ceremony.

Search underway for 4 Alabama inmates who escaped correctional center

The escaped inmates were being held on various charges, including murder and first-degree robbery.

Immigrant detainees sue over 'horrific' conditions at Texas ICE facility

Immigrant detainees accuse the federal government of 'inhumane' abuse and treatment at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas.

The household battery revolution that could change energy bills … and the world

Australia is pioneering a revolution in home renewables and battery use, proving what is possible with the right policies

The timing was rich with symbolism. As intense heatwaves pummelled Europe and Asia, and oil markets around the world leapt and sputtered, the two big chimneys of one of Australia’s largest power stations were being demolished. Meanwhile, the Australian energy minister was holding a media conference to hail a fall of up to 10% in the benchmark electricity price in parts of the country.

Quietly, and with surprisingly little fanfare from the rest of the world, Australia is pioneering a revolution in home renewables and battery use, proving what is possible with the right policies. The country was already one of the global leaders in domestic solar power, with panels on one in three homes. It also remains, however, a major contributor to the climate crisis through its vast fossil fuel exports. But it is batteries that are giving Australia a new burst of speed.

Bodies of all 9 missing workers recovered after tank implosion at paper mill

The tank ruptured Tuesday at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility in Longview, a city located along the southern Washington border with Oregon, killing 11 people.

DOJ seeks Judge Eleanor Ross recusal in Georgia election case, citing reports she was disciplined

The DOJ is suing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger over his refusal to give the department election records.

Creaking Cristiano Ronaldo’s presence at World Cup is more a curse than a blessing | Jonathan Wilson

Veterans such as Messi and Modric are much in evidence at the finals, but an obsession with celebrity may undermine Portugal

It turns out that 2022 wasn’t Lionel Messi’s last dance after all. He will turn 39 during the World Cup, but despite concerns over the “muscular overload” that led to him limping out of Inter Miami’s 6-4 win over Philadelphia Union on Sunday, he remains the figure on whom Argentinian hopes rely.

Messi won’t be the only veteran in Canada, the US and Mexico: Cristiano Ronaldo, aged 41, will also be there – inevitably, given how his career and Messi’s seem inextricably bound. So will Luka Modric and Edin Dzeko, plus the goalkeepers Manuel Neuer, Craig Gordon, Guillermo Ochoa and Vozinha, all of whom are 40. And there is one 39-year-old other than Messi: the Japan defender Yuto Nagatomo.

Platner's wife told campaign about sexually explicit texts he sent other women

The wife of Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner told his campaign in 2025 about sexual messages he had sent to other women.

Hunger strike at New Jersey ICE facility enters ninth day as protesters face off with Trump supporters

A Newark detention center has been at the forefront of anti-ICE protests – and now counterprotests

Protests continued on Saturday in front of the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, as a hunger and labor strike inside reached its ninth day, with detained immigrants demanding improved conditions and medical care.

On Saturday morning, a small group of rightwing counterprotesters in Trump hats began demonstrating outside the facility waving signs and chanting slogans in support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The protesters supporting the detained immigrants and the counterprotesters supporting ICE yelled at each other across barricades set up by state police.

The moment I knew: Out of the blue, he said he’d never wanted children but would have a baby with me

Carmen Pavlovic had always wished to become a mother but a family wasn’t on the cards for Pete. Then one night in Beijing, he made his ‘outlandish statement’

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

In 2003 I was in my early 30s, working for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s company The Really Useful Group in Sydney. I don’t remember who introduced Pete and me but I’d seen several shows he’d designed and really liked his work. We immediately got on and I invited him to drop past my office to show me his portfolio.

A few weeks later he did. It was a balmy evening and after I’d looked over his work we decided to grab a beer and sit on the office stairs, where we chatted for ages. Between meeting him and him stopping by I’d unexpectedly taken a job in London, but I was genuinely interested in putting him forward for some projects so we agreed to stay in touch.

Pantries can be time machines. An expired tin of lychees moved house with us – twice

As a child, I didn’t understand the ancient food decaying in my grandmother’s cupboard. Now I’m beginning to

“This oregano is best before 1985!” my sister cries, adding it to the pile on the laminate bench. It’s Hervey Bay circa 1991. My family is staying in Gran’s retirement villa, my sisters and I on camp stretchers in the garage. A single pedestal fan brings short bursts of breeze, rotating relief from the December heat.

The town is not yet on the backpacker circuit. There aren’t any cafes, shops or streaming services, and there are only so many games of Scrabble we can take.

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Raheem Sterling made to feel ‘worthless’, says close source amid player’s arrest

Former England and Chelsea star arrested on M3 on Thursday under suspicion of driving while unfit through drugs

Raheem Sterling has been made to feel “disposable” after a decade at the top of football, a source close to the former England star has said, after his arrest on suspicion of driving “whilst unfit through drugs”.

The source said the former Man City and Chelsea winger, who is now playing for Feyenoord in the Netherlands, had been suffering from “immeasurable” psychological strain after an “extremely tough couple of years”.

‘Bigger and better than ever’: how Durham Pride beat Reform’s funding axe with help from the miners

Solidarity between LGBTQ+ people and unions has saved an event denied ‘a single penny’ of council money

As the annual Pride parade weaved its way through Durham, the rainbow flags, trans rights placards and sequined cowboy hats filled the medieval city’s cobbled streets with a huge splash of colour.

But this year, the rainbow flags were almost matched in number by trade union banners, as miners, postal workers, and train drivers swelled the parade’s ranks in solidarity, making it the biggest in Durham Pride’s history.

LA’s glitzy new sports hub set for World Cup and Olympics – will local residents share in the boom?

With three top stadiums, Inglewood is remaking itself as a host of world-class events – and while some locals love the transformation, others feel left behind

Melisa Arnold’s morning walks around the neighborhood are orchestrated by the staccato beat of jackhammers and the roar of airplanes pointed to and from Los Angeles international airport. This is Inglewood, she says, and its soundscape.

After retiring from her human resources and payroll job last year, Arnold, 66, walks for miles around the city she has called home since 1985. Her route takes her past the sports and entertainment hub, which includes the remodeled Kia Forum and the new Intuit Dome. She walks by SoFi Stadium, which will soon host World Cup games. Next year, the Super Bowl is scheduled to return. And in 2028, Olympic events will arrive.

Tokens or humans? The new corporate trade-off

AI is costing far more than companies expected, forcing CFOs into a new trade-off between tokens and humans and posing a risk the market hasn't priced in.

Hegseth tones down warnings about China in visit to region

Last year, Hegseth called China a "threat" to Taiwan and said an attack might be "imminent."

Why $1bn in Balkans energy contracts are going to an obscure company connected to Donald Trump

Guardian investigation shows how US presidency blurs line between policy and enrichment of American ruling family and those around it

On a graffitied Sarajevo backstreet, a path leads past an overgrown patch of garden to a white door. Beyond is the registered office of a company that is on the brink of winning contracts worth more than $1bn.

AAFS Infrastructure and Energy is close to securing a concession to build and operate a pipeline across the Balkans to allow fossil gas shipped from the US to replace supplies that come from Russia. “This could be the most important infrastructure project ever in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” says one of the country’s top officials, who, like others, asks to remain anonymous to discuss sensitive negotiations.

Analysis: An end to the Iran war may be just the beginning of a new era of U.S. inequality

Stocks have boomed while consumers have paid the costs of high energy prices.

Meta has struggled at selling anything other than ads. Will AI be different?

Meta is making a major push to expand its business beyond online advertising, but past efforts show that success is far from guaranteed.

Bound by blood: new film highlights Jamaica’s outlawed obeah belief system

Stew Peas focuses on obeah, an enduring African magic practice in Jamaica banned by colonisers in the 1700s

A new movie from award-winning Jamaican film-maker Sosiessia Nixon shines a spotlight on Jamaica’s enduring west African-based magic and spiritual healing tradition known as obeah.

Nixon’s tense, feature-length suspense, Stew Peas, tells of the story of Jamaican detective Tessa, who is obsessed with an old murder case.

Every month, my explosive rage would send shockwaves through my family. Then I got a diagnosis that changed everything

Mothers with PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder) explain how it has affected their relationship with their families

Laura Daly was six the first time she suspected something was wrong with her mum, Wendy. Furious at locking herself out of the house, Wendy reversed and rammed the car into their garage door once, twice, then three times, as Laura cowered silently in the back, her head flopping forwards with each smash. On the seventh smash, the garage door contorted just enough for Laura to squeeze under, get into the house and fetch the keys.

“It was like I was watching myself,” Wendy Barker, 56, says of this moment now. “Nothing would’ve stopped me.”