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.

High prices keeping Americans from buying new cars

For decades, buying a new car was a milestone. Now, for a lot of Americans, it's starting to look more like a luxury. Carter Evans reports.

Meteor explodes above New England, rattling homes from Boston to Rhode Island

A meteor traveling at 75,000 mph exploded above the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border Saturday. Shanelle Kaul reports.

Jamie Lee Curtis announces death of actor sister Kelly aged 69: ‘My first friend and lifelong confidant’

Star says her older sister, an actor and film-maker, died ‘in her home, in nature, at peace’

Jamie Lee Curtis has announced the death of her sister, the actor Kelly Curtis, at the age of 69, describing her as “talented” and “jaw droppingly beautiful”.

Jamie Lee said her sister had died “in her home, in nature, at peace” on Saturday, having had roles in films including Trading Places (1983), in which the pair both appeared, Magic Sticks (1987) and The Devil’s Daughter (1991). No cause of death was given.

Trump slams judges, artists who pulled out of "Freedom 250" events in social media posts

Between golf outings this weekend President Trump fired off a social media broadside, attacking a judge who ruled his name be pulled off the Kennedy Center and another who ordered a stop to the aboveground White House ballroom construction. He also targeted musical acts who have pulled out of "Freedom 250" celebrations. Olivia Gazis reports.

Teenager Rafael Jódar comes from two sets down to set up Zverev quarter-final

• 19-year-old beats Pablo Carreño Busta 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2

• João Fonseca beats Casper Ruud in four sets

This year’s French Open has been defined in many ways by the weather, an unprecedented week of searing heat wreaking havoc on and off the court. That trend came to an end in an instant on Sunday morning as the cool, damp conditions took over in Paris.

Rain or shine, the rise of Rafael Jódar endures. The 19-year-old took another major step forward as he put together a monumental comeback, recovering from two sets down for the first time to defeat his veteran Spanish compatriot Pablo Carreño Busta 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 and reach the quarter-finals.

Child killed in house fire in south-west Melbourne home

Crews extinguished blaze before finding a child who died in Werribee home, Victoria police said

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A child has died and a man has been left seriously injured after an early morning house fire in Melbourne’s south-west.

Emergency services were called to Newbury Street in Werribee just after midnight on Monday.

KSI announces his departure from YouTube collective Sidemen

Influencer and Britain’s Got Talent judge had made football, comedy and challenge videos with group since 2013

KSI, the social media influencer and Britain’s Got Talent judge, has announced he is leaving the YouTube collective Sidemen.

The 32-year-old, whose real name is Olajide Olatunji, has made football, comedy and challenge videos with the group since 2013.

Christian Pulisic shines as US kick off World Cup preparations with 3-2 win over Senegal

• Pulisic scores and assists in first half to break rotten run

• Sergiño Dest opens scoring just seven minutes in

• US final tune-up comes v Germany on 6 June in Chicago

The dry spell is over.

Christian Pulisic broke a nearly six-month period without a goal on Sunday, assisting on the US opener and scoring a lovely goal himself not long afterward to lead the US to a 3-2 victory against Senegal in Charlotte, North Carolina.

New bill targets domestic abusers and overhauls right to buy in England

Social housing landlords to be able to evict perpetrators, while right-to-buy tenancy requirements to rise

Social housing landlords will be able to evict domestic abuse perpetrators under a new bill, which will also increase the length of tenancy required before residents qualify for the right-to-buy scheme from three to 10 years in England.

The government said the bill, which will be debated in the House of Lords on Monday, would fix “the long-term decline in social housing” and offer new protections for social tenants who were subjected to domestic abuse.

How aid cuts are hampering the frontline response to the Ebola crisis

Aid workers in Uganda are watching the Ebola crisis unfold in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. They're doing what they can to prepare for an uptick in cases, but foreign aid cuts aren't helping.

The terrifying day the U.S.-Iran war reached a sleepy Sri Lankan town

A deadly strike during the first days of the Iran war hit far away in the Indian Ocean, jolting a quiet seaside town and showing how far the conflict's reach extends.

Trump floats MAGA rally instead of concert after musicians drop out of Freedom 250

Several artists, including country singer Martina McBride, have withdrawn from the Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C.

Tip Toe review – David Morrissey is magnificent in Russell T Davies’s brutal new drama

Refugees, homophobia, gay rights, even Trump, are all covered in this opener, which occasionally leans towards agitprop. But with excellent performances, and RTD’s storytelling brilliance, things really build from here

We open on an ordinary suburban street. A teenage boy is gazing out of a window. A woman – his mother? – is screaming. A man – his father? – is standing in the garden gazing unfocused at whatever lies beyond. The camera draws back to reveal a scene so shocking it hardly computes. Then we flashback to 10 days earlier to begin to understand how they, and the other figures in the scene, got here.

So, with characteristic bravura, begins Russell T Davies’s new drama, Tip Toe. The man in the garden is Clive (David Morrissey), an electrician with two sons – 16-year-old college student George (Jackson Connor) and 25-year-old Saul (Joseph Evans), who helps him in the business when there is enough work to go around – and enduring an unhappy marriage to Marie (Pooky Quesnel).

United Airlines flight to Spain pulls U-turn, apparently over Bluetooth device name

The flight to Palma de Mallorca diverted back to Newark late on Saturday. Air traffic audio and social media posts indicate an onboard Bluetooth device raised security concerns.

United flight to Spain turns back midair after possible security threat

Security came to inspect aircraft in Newark after report of Bluetooth device with a ‘certain four-letter word’

A United Airlines plane bound for Spain from Newark Liberty international airport turned around mid-flight on Saturday due to a possible security threat.

That came one day after another United Airlines flight bound for Minneapolis from Chicago was diverted to Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday because an unruly passenger evidently tried to breach the cockpit.

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.

Family visitation partly restored at New Jersey ICE facility after week of protests

Visits were canceled after detainees began hunger strike, which prompted heated protests outside detention center

Family visitation at the Delaney Hall immigration detention center is being restored to at least part of the facility, New Jersey’s governor and US homeland security officials confirmed on Sunday morning, after a week during which heated demonstrations at the site were met with aggressive policing tactics.

Meanwhile, families of detained immigrants grappled with conflicting information about exactly whom among them would get visitation after the announcement from governor Mikie Sherrill and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). And local officials by Sunday had also indefinitely imposed an overnight curfew beginning at 9pm for a blocked-off area including Delaney Hall.

PSG provide perfect illusion with a model of beauty in soft-power project | Barney Ronay

Re-enthroned Champions League-winning club should have always been this good but Qatar’s propaganda project is finally listening to an elite manager

Paris est mythique. There was nothing understated, no obvious shades of faux humilité about the headline in L’Équipe after Paris Saint-Germain had been re-enthroned as Champions League winners on Saturday night. Mythical. Storied. Ultimate. Yeah. But are they, though?

In fairness it would be disappointingly un-Parisian not to consider your champion team the champions of all champions in the moment of victory. Give the people what they want. Play the hits. Nobody needs a polite Parisian waiter. Nobody wants to see an unstylish Parisian estate agent who has taken absolutely no care of his hair, or a Parisian bistro that doesn’t think it’s the VIP boarding lounge for the last arc leaving planet Earth. Hmm. Maybe there’s somewhere else more dismissive around the corner.

Virat Kohli hits winning runs as Royal Challengers Bengaluru retain IPL title

• Final: Royal Challengers Bengaluru, 161-5, beat Gujarat Titans, 155-8, by 5 wkts

• Former India captain scores 75no off 42 balls

Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 75 and inspired bowling led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to their second straight Indian Premier League title with a five-wicket win over Gujarat Titans on Sunday.

Bengaluru restricted Gujarat to 155 for eight, a total they chased down with 12 balls to spare after Kohli reached his fifth half-century of the season in a lopsided final in Ahmedabad.

Zelenskyy says "more pressure" is needed to get Putin to negotiate peace deal

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that he hopes "we are on the way" to a U.S. drone deal

Suspect accused of killing 3 elderly men in Hawaii charged with murder

The suspect accused of killing three elderly men in a rural part of Hawaii's Big Island has been charged with murder, among a number of other offenses, police said Sunday.

Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," May 31, 2026

On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and former Vice President Mike Pence join Margaret Brennan.

Cory Booker has ‘concerns’ with Graham Platner’s Senate bid after leaked texts

US senator says Platner, whose wife says he sent sexually explicit messages to other women, has ‘questions to answer’

A high-profile Democrat has expressed concerns with party candidate Graham Platner’s Maine US Senate campaign amid revelations that Platner reportedly sent a number of sexually explicit messages to other women while married.

“Yes, I have concerns,” Cory Booker, the US senator from New Jersey, said Sunday on ABC’s This Week when host Jonathan Karl when asked about the Platner revelations. “That guy has questions to answer – and that’s what campaigns are for.”

Mandelson files show no mitigation of security concerns over US appointment

Exclusive: Papers to be published on Monday cast doubt on assurances provided by senior Whitehall officials

• Embarrassing WhatsApps, but no vetting report: what will be in the new release of Mandelson files?

A trove of government documents about Peter Mandelson contains no record of any measures taken to mitigate serious security concerns over his appointment as Washington ambassador, the Guardian has learned.

Multiple sources who have seen or been briefed on the files, which will be published on Monday, say there is no detail about any steps put in place to deal with flags raised about his associations with senior figures in foreign states.

Vingegaard seals Giro d’Italia and is eighth cyclist to complete Grand Tour set

• Dane wins by five minutes and 22 seconds

• ‘Winning all three is very special for me’

Jonas Vingegaard completed his Giro d’Italia triumph, securing the first part of a coveted Grand Tour double in a procession finale around Rome won by the home hero Jonathan Milan. Vingegaard rolled into the Italian capital needing just to complete the flat final stage to claim overall victory and the triple crown of road cycling’s three-week showpieces.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider is now the eighth man to win the Giro, Tour de France and Vuelta a España, joining Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Vincenzo Nibali in reaching one of the sport’s hardest goals. His attentions now turn to the Tour in July and a showdown with Tadej Pogacar, road cycling’s biggest star and his key rival for the Grande Boucle.

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.

Meta legal action forces Facebook whistleblower to sit in silence at Hay festival

Sarah Wynn-Williams did not speak during event after lawyers warned of possible sanctions from tech firm

Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams was forced to sit in silence on stage at an event at Hay festival, after lawyers advised her not to speak because of ongoing legal action brought by Meta.

Wynn-Williams, whose bestselling memoir, Careless People, details her years working at Facebook, was due to appear in conversation with the investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr and academic Tim Wu.

Ella Baron on the UK’s youth unemployment crisis – cartoon

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

Experts say capture is largely symbolic, but it complicates efforts to extend the 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 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.

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

Was it ever in doubt that Khadija Shaw would grab the headlines? Never. A ruthless Manchester City side 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, with Shaw celebrating signing her new contract with a Wembley goal that exemplified her value to the club.

The peerless 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 lacking the clinical edge in the final third that the league champions would demonstrate after riding out some pressure.

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 have embraced everyone’: trophy parade a celebration of a community

Watching the Premier League trophy pass by was a moment of joy for a generation that has often not had much to celebrate

When the Arsenal bus turned off Blackstock Road towards Newington Green, the heaving crowd was ready. It was only a brief moment, and one more than partially obscured by a drift of red smoke, but as the Premier League champions came past nobody was about to miss their shot. The phones were out, the zoom was pinched and the moment was captured. Then everyone darted off again.

If it was to catch the bus at another point on its odyssey around Islington, to go home, or just rejoin a picnic wasn’t entirely clear. This was not a celebration confined to the official route of the parade. Nor, even, strictly to celebrating Arsenal’s on-field success. It was more than that, and a lot more; a celebration of a community local and global, of an identity that has been forged in adversity and endless mockery, and a moment of joy for a generation that has often not had much to celebrate, full stop.

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 a head coach

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

• Stuttgart’s Hoeness and Lens’ 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.

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.

‘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.

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.

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.

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.

Roller skates! Pointe shoes! Parachutes! A mythic dance takes flight again at a Brooklyn rink

Artist Robert Rauschenberg was known for his painting-sculpture hybrids – and a 1963 dance piece called Pelican that was almost lost to time

Visual artists and dancers have long taken cues from each other. Pablo Picasso constructed sets and designed costumes for the Ballet Russes in Paris. The Bauhaus painter Oskar Schlemmer’s Triadisches Ballett – first staged in 1920s Stuttgart, Germany – is considered a prototype of performance art. Andy Warhol pumped helium into mylar pillows for the backdrop of Merce Cunningham’s RainForest dance, a piece depicting Cunningham’s childhood home of the Pacific north-west.

But only one artist danced on roller skates.

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.

‘It’s never enough’: young Americans struggle to build financial independence as cost of living spikes

A difficult job market and rising costs are making it harder for young adults to enter adulthood

Young people are already facing the worst entry-level job market since the start of the pandemic and significant economic instability.

But overall economic conditions are making it more challenging for those just entering adulthood. More than eight in 10 young adults rate the economy as “bad” or “terrible”, according to a recent survey conducted with more than 1,000 18- to 34-year-olds around the US by Generation Lab, a research firm studying young people. While young adulthood is known as a time for establishing independence and responsibility, many are attempting to do so amid cuts to social safety net programs and the ever-increasing costs of basic needs like gas and groceries.

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).

Are ‘mind children’ the future of reproduction?

Forget dirty nappies. In Silicon Valley, there’s increasing chatter about virtual offspring

A few months ago, an AI researcher from Europe attended a dinner party in Silicon Valley. During one of the many courses, the host addressed his guests, all of whom worked in AI. The researcher paraphrased his message like this: “Isn’t it amazing that we are the last generation of humans who will need to think about procreating biologically? We were lucky enough to be born at a time where we can simply upload our consciousnesses instead.”

“I didn’t see that coming,” the researcher told me. “I was just enjoying my fish.”

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

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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.

‘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.

‘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.

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?

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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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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.