Kanya King, founder of Mobo awards for Black British music, dies aged 57

Entrepreneur died of colon cancer, with Mobo Organisation hailing her as ‘one of the most fearless champions’ in the music industry

Kanya King, the entrepreneur and tireless champion of Black British music who founded the Mobo awards, has died aged 57 from colon cancer.

The news was announced by the Mobo Organisation, who said she died on Wednesday “after a courageous and characteristically determined battle” with her illness.

World Cup 2026 news, PFA awards shortlists, transfer latest and more: football– live

⚽️ Latest football news before a big weekend of action
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The shortlists for the Men’s and Women’s PFA players’ awards have been revealed. Arsenal’s Premier League-winning trio of Declan Rice, Gabriel and David Raya all feature while Bunny Shaw and Yui Hasegawa have both been nominated for the Women’s Player of the Year award after helping Manchester City to title glory.

Men’s Players’ Player of the Year nominations

FDA launches safety study for abortion pill mifepristone, source says

The Food and Drug Administration has launched a safety study of the abortion pill mifepristone, a senior FDA official confirmed to CBS News, a step that could pave the way for the Trump administration to restrict access to the medication.

England v New Zealand: first men’s cricket Test, day two – live

Updates from the second day of the series at Lord’s
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Good morning and welcome to day two of the first Test of the summer, the morning after the evening before, when everyone staggered over the line at twenty past seven, punch drunk and 16 wickets poorer.

It was a fast-food order of a first day, punchy innings from Harry Brook and Glenn Phillips the only ballast against the clattering of wickets between the showers. Kyle Jamieson finished with five for 62, and Ollie Robinson four for ten, including an extraordinary triple-wicket maiden in his first over back after a two-year hiatus.

Senate passes reconciliation bill to fund ICE for 3 years, without DOJ fund ban

Senate Republicans passed funding for the Department of Homeland Security's immigration enforcement agencies following a "vote-a-rama." The measure didn't ban the administration's "anti-weaponization" fund.

Senate passes $70B immigration enforcement bill without limits on Trump settlement fund

The Senate passed legislation to fund President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement agencies early Friday morning, after weeks of delays and fierce backlash to an unrelated $1.776 billion settlement fund that threatened to derail the bill.

‘They are disturbing the dead’: reconstructing the site of the forgotten first genocide of the 20th century

At least 3,000 Herero and Nama people died in a German concentration camp at Shark Island, Namibia. A new forensic exhibition in Berlin is using digital technology to unearth how colonisers scarred a landscape, and a community

Visiting the Namibian port town of Lüderitz in late 2024, I came across a small museum run by descendants of German settlers. Alongside imperial German flags and memorabilia, it displayed artefacts of the Herero tribe that had been recovered from nearby Shark Island. What went unmentioned is that, from 1905 to 1907, Shark Island was the site of a concentration camp where Herero and Nama prisoners were subjected to forced labour, starvation and systematic abuse. At least 3,000 people are estimated to have died there.

Shark Island was used as a tourist campsite when I visited. Monuments on the island honoured Adolf Lüderitz and Heinrich Vogelsang, the German merchants who helped establish the colony known as German South West Africa. Today, it is widely reported that Namibia’s white minority – less than 2% of the population – owns roughly 70% of commercial farmland.

The quiz tracked Trump's wins and losses this week. Can you win bigly?

Plus, Serena Williams, Peabo Bryson, Kalshi and United Airlines make an appearance. Have you been paying attention?

Rivals’ Rutshire – a place where modern Britain’s brutal divisions disappear in a cloud of sex | Jess Cartner-Morley

As the second series of the Jilly Cooper adaptation climaxes, we can be thankful that quality TV doesn’t always have to be bleak and stressful

For Jilly Cooper devotees – a motley band that unites me with Queen Camilla and Joanna Lumley, Ian Rankin and ex-footballer Tony Adams – it has been the best of times, and the worst of times. (No apologies for the clunky Tale of Two Cities misquote. Jilly was fond of gleefully shoehorning in the odd bit of Dickens, or Shakespeare, or Wordsworth.) The best of times, because the television adaptation of Rivals has shown the world what some of us knew all along, which is that Cooper’s stories are life-affirming and wise and hysterically funny; but the worst of times, when Cooper’s unexpected death last year cut short the late-life renaissance in which she was quite rightly revelling.

The first half of a blissful second season of Rivals comes to a climax this week (puns always intended). Six heavenly hours on the sofa, following the professional rivalries and personal dramas of a hard-drinking bunch of 1980s telly executives as they bomb along Cotswold lanes blowing Silk Cut smoke through the open windows of their Austin Metros, or pogo to Nena’s 99 Red Balloons on sticky pub carpet while knocking back tequila shots. Rivals has reminded us that good television can be fun. A golden age of television has given us some modern masterpieces, but the payoff for artistic quality has been that prestige viewing has become, for the most part, pretty bleak. Adolescence was utterly harrowing. Baby Reindeer was a pretty tough watch. Even The Bear and The Pitt are kind of stressful. Life in Rutshire has gifted us television as it used to be: a naughty, indulgent treat.

Jess Cartner-Morley is associate editor (fashion) at the Guardian

A disease of deforestation: how Ebola is linked to the smartphone in your pocket

As demand for cobalt, gold and other minerals grows, mining is accelerating deforestation in the Congo basin – and increasing the risk of deadly Ebola outbreaks

For decades after the discovery of Ebolavirus in 1976, outbreaks of the disease were relatively small and contained, affecting a few hundred people at most.

Not any more. In recent years, outbreaks of Ebola have been much larger, affecting thousands and even tens of thousands of people across multiple countries. The 2014 outbreak of Ebola in West Africa infected over 28,000 people in 10 countries on three continents. The current eruption, which began in early May and shows no signs of abating, has caused 363 confirmed cases in Democratic Republic of the Congo and has crossed into Uganda.

Sonia Shah is the author of five books including Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond, and writes the newsletter Cross Pollinations on Substack

Meet the Belmont Stakes horses running in the 2026 race

The Belmont Stakes will host a New York rematch of the top two finishing horses from the Kentucky Derby​ to wrap up horse racing's Triple Crown for 2026.

Most K-12 teachers say AI's impact on education will eclipse the internet or computers

A new NPR/Ipsos poll shows many teachers are using AI to save time, but a majority are also worried the technology is making it harder for students to learn to think for themselves.

My husband planned our 'just us' trip and it was perfect. Here's why it worked

For a smooth, rewarding and drama-free couples trip, take as much stress out of the equation as you can — and get comfortable with the fact that a fight may arise (and that's OK).

‘I almost forgot how to date’ | The Global Dating Crisis: episode 3 – video

In many countries, dating seems to be on the decline, with many young people either dating less, or finding it harder to have meaningful relationships. In 2024, one in five of South Korea's 52 million citizens were living alone. In the third episode of our series, reporter Haeryun Kang is in Seoul on a journey to find out what’s stopping people from coupling up.

Morning news brief

Senate Republicans worked overnight to try to pass ICE funding, Trump's agenda tests the limits of some lawmakers' support, John Bolton pleads guilty to mishandling classified information.

Zoh Amba: Eyes Full review – raw, rugged country rock also has real tenderness

(Matador)
Better known as a formidable free jazz saxophonist, these thrashing songs about the artist’s Tennessee childhood home share a similar genre-pushing intensity

On opening track OCD, Zoh Amba stops a twinkling, rootsy guitar melody and starts over, searching for the right way to tell the story of a boy diagnosed with “dreamin’ all the time”. Amba lands on a queasy combination of empathy and conspiracy (“said that mind needs fixin’ / gunna end up like everybody”), churned up by thrashing, violent strumming – the kind that causes blisters and wrecked strings.

These cryptic postcards from Amba’s home town of Kingsport, Tennessee describe childhood memories with fresh eyes: they left at 17 and returned only recently, now in their mid-20s. Blending gruff reality with poetic licence, Eyes Full is a rugged, experimental country rock record that feels deeply lived in, despite representing an abrupt change in sound: Amba is best known as a prodigious free jazz saxophonist.

‘Family values’ African charter condemned by rights groups as regressive and dangerous

Draft treaty claims sexual and reproductive health and rights are an existential threat to the African family

An African treaty that rejects longstanding international human rights obligations moved a step closer to becoming policy this week as governments across the continent met in Ghana.

The draft African charter on family, sovereignty and values, seen by the Guardian, asserts that African values and culture are under attack from “foreign ideologies” and urges states to withdraw from any agreements that do not align with the principles of the charter, including the 2003 Maputo protocol, which promotes gender equality and protects the reproductive and health rights of women and girls.

A Brit, a billionaire and Spencer Pratt: California’s primary upsets | Politics Weekly America

In what has become one of the most chaotic primaries in recent years, elections in California are delivering a string of upsets. Elsewhere, establishment Democrats performed well and a Trump pick failed to make the cut.

Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian’s Sam Levin about the big takeaways from the single busiest primary day of the year so far

I just inhaled 2.4bn year old oxygen in Tasmania. Now I’m part of an exhibition until I die

In Mona’s new permanent installation, visitors can breathe air so pure it ‘has not been touched by any being before you’

More than 2bn years ago, during the Paleoproterozoic era, the Earth’s atmosphere began to fill with free oxygen, enabling the rise of aerobic life and, ultimately, humans. It’s known as the Great Oxidation Event, and deep in the subterranean belly of the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Tasmania, a new artwork offers visitors the chance to inhale oxygen that’s been trapped in iron ore since then.

When French-Swiss conceptual artist Julian Charrière came up with the idea, Mona’s owner David Walsh not only said yes but created a bespoke space for it.

Gintė Preisaitė: Instruments of Forgetting and the Singing Bone review | Safi Bugel's experimental album of the month

(Felt)
From birdsong to pool balls, this Lithuanian musician – a graduate of Copenhagen’s buzzy Rhythmic Music Conservatory – mixes beguiling found sounds into left-field pop and modern classical

Copenhagen’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory has become associated with a specific gauzy, esoteric sound, which draws on, and reshapes, classical instrumentation and pop songwriting. Think ML Buch, Astrid Sonne and Erika de Casier, all of whom have graduated from the institution since 2019. Following in their footsteps is Lithuanian musician Gintė Preisaitė, who works with piano, voice and electronics to create atmospheric, unsettling ambient compositions.

Instruments of Forgetting and the Singing Bone, Preisaitė’s first solo release under her own name, draws on her background in improvisational techniques and composing for large ensembles. With additional instrumentation from a cluster of collaborators – strings, woodwind, tape – she presents eight tracks that build in intensity through her collage-like assembling of strange sounds and effects.

UK house prices fall for third successive month amid Iran war uncertainty

Unexpected monthly drop of 0.1% in May leaves price of typical home at £298,806, says lender Halifax

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UK house prices fell unexpectedly in May as rising mortgage rates fuelled by the war in Iran affected affordability and homebuyer demand.

The average price of a typical UK home fell by 0.1% in May to £298,806, the third consecutive monthly drop recorded by the lender Halifax. Analysts had been expecting a return to growth, with a consensus of a 0.1% rise forecast for May. The monthly drop followed falls of 0.1% in April and 0.5% in March.

US government criticises ‘two-tier’ UK policing after Henry Nowak murder

State department warns of ‘ideological conditioning’ in social media post offering condolences to student’s family

The US state department has criticised “two-tiered policing” in Britain in a social media post offering condolences to the family of the murder victim Henry Nowak, in a thinly veiled rebuke of the UK government.

The 18-year-old student’s murder has been claimed by some as evidence of two-tier policing in the UK – the argument that some groups of people are dealt with more harshly than others for ideological reasons.

Horrific, unregulated, and very profitable. The companies making cash from England’s children in care | George Monbiot

Councils are sending vulnerable kids to homes run by money-grabbing cowboys and private-equity vultures

Bring your suitcase, your bin liner, your dumpy bag. They’re handing out money faster than you can stuff it in a sack. All you need do is join the market in what may now be England’s most lucrative commodity. A commodity with arms and legs, hearts and brains, thoughts and feelings. Children.

Two years ago I stumbled into this issue after discovering that children in care who were being helped by a local charity I’m involved with were suddenly being whisked away, terminating the amazing progress they had been making, breaking their relationships, their sense of home, stability and security. When I began exploring why this was happening, I could scarcely believe what I was seeing: a highly lucrative trade in highly vulnerable young people. Children in “care” were being exchanged between private equity companies for £100,000 apiece. That figure is now wrong. Today they are worth far more.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

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.

Sex, austerity and mugs of vodka: how the Greek myth Iphigenia became a Welsh-language film sensation

The movie adaptation of Gary Owen’s acclaimed play Iphigenia in Splott, Effi o Blaenau, is released this month. Here, its director and crew explain why they relocated the film to a post-industrial mining town – and refused to make it in English

The one-woman play Iphigenia in Splott was first performed in 2015. Eleven years on, Gary Owen’s reworking of Greek tragedy, transplanted to working-class Splott in Cardiff, has earned its place as a modern classic. It reimagines the mythological heroine Iphigenia as Effie, a young woman filling her days drinking vodka out of a mug in her dressing gown. The play is about poverty and social inequality, closures and cuts, services scraped to the bone by austerity. Its most recent five-star Guardian review in 2022 advised: “Everyone should see this.”

One person who did was Leisa Gwenllian, a final-year drama student from north Wales. “I was on the front row with my mate,” says Gwenllian, 24, drinking mint tea in a London hotel. “I can remember thinking: wow! A Welsh woman with a strong Cardiff accent on the stage at the Lyric [in Hammersmith, London], that’s what it’s all about.” At the Oxford School of Drama, Gwenllian was mainly studying the classics alongside people with different accents and backgrounds from her own. “To see yourself on stage is really powerful.”

Week in wildlife: a lazy sea lion, baby ospreys and rare lemur quads

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Guardian readers have a lot of feelings about the Guardian’s top 100 books | First Dog on the Moon

I’d much rather scoff the 100 best puddings…

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Iraola’s dynamic football will energise Liverpool despite worry over workload | Jonathan Wilson

New manager achieved much at Bournemouth with style reminiscent of Jürgen Klopp’s counterpress

There comes a point in most discussions when all the detail and complications fall away and the issue can be crystalised into a single straightforward question. For Liverpool that became: do they have more chance of challenging for the league title next season under Arne Slot or Andoni Iraola? Put like that, the answer was clear and so Slot was replaced.

That answer may seem counterintuitive. Slot won the Premier League last year and Iraola has never so much as managed a club in Europe. There will be those who see the decision, and the widespread consensus that it was the right thing to do, as evidence of football’s impatience. Perhaps it is. Perhaps Slot next season at Anfield, in less testing circumstances, could have regained the confidence of the dressing room and reinvigorated the side. But in management that is very rare.

Cape Verde World Cup 2026 team guide

Blue Sharks are in uncharted waters, making their finals debut after a meteoric rise

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.

Chess: Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hans Niemann tie grudge match in Belgrade

The Russian world title challenger and the controversial American have personal issues but similar ratings, and drew 4-4 with a win apiece and six draws

Ian Nepomniachtchi, who won two Candidates tournaments but then lost world title matches to Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren, and Hans Niemann, whose controversial 2022 game with Carlsen is the subject of the Netflix documentary Untold: Chess Mates, tied an eight-game series in Belgrade this week with a win apiece and six draws.

Nepo won the first game and Niemann the eighth, after the Russian missed an easy opportunity to win game seven. They played two games a day at a brisk time control of one hour per player plus a 30 seconds per move increment, which Fide calls “Fast Classical”. The event was opened by Serbia’s minister of sport, Zoran Gajic, and the veteran grandmaster Ljubomir Ljubojevic made a ceremonial opening move.

Putin says Russia will bolster air defenses in response to Ukrainian drone attacks

President Vladimir Putin says Russia will strengthen its air defenses to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have reached deep inside his country and cast a cloud over his showcase economic forum in his hometown of St. Petersburg.

Alice and Steve to Proud: the seven best shows to stream this week

Nicola Walker is a furious mother who decimates her best mate’s life after he sleeps with her daughter in an excruciating wrongcom. Plus, the LGBTQ+ adoption drama that has made waves

There’s a brilliantly cringe take on intergenerational romance in this comedy starring Nicola Walker and Jemaine Clement as the titular middle-aged best friends. Their relationship is shattered when Steve accidentally falls for Alice’s 26-year-old daughter Izzy (Yali Topol Margalith). Alice and Steve (created by Sex Education writer Sophie Goodhart) rightly doesn’t shy away from the messiness of the whole scenario and instead leans into it with great relish. Alice’s fury leads to some terrible behaviour on all sides – there’s a new contender for the most excruciating TV dinner party of all time. But the story is nuanced and sympathetic, too. And the cast, Walker in particular, are sublime. Phil Harrison
Disney+, from Monday

The Children by Melissa Albert review – intriguing fairytale of creativity’s dangers

In her first novel for adults, the YA author explores the dark side of writers who fictionalise their children’s lives

Children’s writers are sometimes cruel, and often damaged. And, as AS Byatt put it crisply when talking about her 2009 novel The Children’s Book: “Writing children’s books isn’t good for the writer’s own children.” Think of Christopher Milne, raging at having been Christopher Robin; Vivian Burnett, dragging Little Lord Fauntleroy behind him; Alastair Grahame, lying down on train tracks.

This is fertile material, as Byatt recognised, for a grown-up book. The American author Melissa Albert, herself a very successful children’s writer, has made it the theme of her first adult novel. The Children’s protagonist is Guinevere Sharpe, who as a grown woman is trapped by a very public version of her childhood. Her mother, Edith, a sort of JK Rowling/Enid Blyton composite, wrote an era-defining run of children’s portal fantasies called the Ninth City series, in which Guin and her older brother Ennis appeared as the named protagonists.

Homes for sale with water views in England and Scotland – in pictures

From a London houseboat with views of the River Thames to a property by a loch in the Inner Hebrides

James Handy, known for roles in Top Gun: Maverick and Jumanji, dies at home after stabbing

Son of actor’s girlfriend arrested after 81-year-old found unconscious in his front yard in Tarzana, Los Angeles

Veteran actor James Handy has died at his home in Los Angeles after a stabbing, allegedly by his girlfriend’s son.

The 81-year-old actor was found in the front yard of his home in Tarzana, California, at 9.30am on Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles police department. He was unconscious and had multiple stab wounds to the chest.

‘Extremely intelligent’ Japanese bear that attacked four people still at large, police say

Bear believed to have unlatched and opened a locked window, and was seen turning on and drinking from a tap

Police and hunters in Fukushima, Japan were searching for an “extremely intelligent” bear which, after attacking four people, apparently evaded capture by unlocking a window from the inside. The one-metre-long bear was seen drinking from a tap and showed no reaction when struck by a tranquilliser dart.

On Wednesday, the bear was filmed on CCTV chasing and then mauling an employee in a company car park before being chased off by a quick-thinking passerby who drove their car at the animal. Unfortunately, the animal escaped by running inside the office building where it attacked another man, before taking flight again.

Take a lesson from 1776 Quebec swamp about getting bogged down in foreign wars

Conditions were against American forces facing the British at the Battle of Trois-Rivières

In August 1775, the American Continental Army invaded Canada to drive the British from Quebec. When an American force under Gen William Thompson met the British at what became known as the Battle of Trois-Rivières, or Three Rivers, in June 1776, he had the advantage of superior numbers. But conditions on the ground were against him.

There had been heavy rainfall through the spring and early summer, turning much of the area into a marsh. A local farmer, Antoine Gautier, deliberately led the Americans into swampy ground, delaying them by several hours. The force had been spotted crossing the Saint Lawrence River, ruining what was supposed to be a surprise attack. While the attackers struggled through mud and sometimes waist-deep water, British troops and ships under the governor, Sir Guy Carleton, moved to counter them.

Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for no-churn tiramisu ice-cream | The sweet spot

The magic of easy-make ice-cream combined with the comfortingly familiar flavours of the classic Italian dessert

I can be a real creature of habit when it comes to ice-cream. You could present me with the most creative flavoured scoops in the fanciest gelato shop and I will unfailingly choose mint chocolate chip, pistachio or coffee – not at the same time, of course, I still have some sense. I recently came across a tiramisu ice-cream and my interest was piqued; it’s one of my favourite desserts. Here, I’ve turned it into a no-churn version for ease and added a mascarpone layer to stay true to the original dessert.

Gunshots at 9am. Then they rounded up the children: how Chibok-style school abductions are spreading in Nigeria

Families have been left in despair after 39 pupils and seven teachers were kidnapped from classrooms in Oyo state, a part of the country previously considered relatively peaceful

Sitting on a wooden bench under the tree near her home, Aduke Balogun’s gaze is fixed on the road. Her eyes are red from crying and a lack of sleep. Last month her daughter, Kehinde Kasosara, was forcefully abducted from school and has not been seen since.

Kaosara, who is seven years old, was taken from the Baptist nursery and primary across the street from their home. The armed men, wearing military camouflage and face masks, rode into the sleepy town of Yawota in Oyo state, south-west Nigeria, on motorcycles.

A uni professor admitted using AI to write an opinion piece. Here’s what it revealed about trust in the technology

Without disclosing that work has been generated using the technology, faith in existing industries will continue to be undermined

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When a pro vice-chancellor at a university this week admitted to using AI in writing an opinion piece for a major Australian masthead, but did not disclose that use prior to publication, it highlighted the growing gap between people’s use of AI and trust in the technology.

Data from Roy Morgan this week showed 13.6m or 58% of the population older than 14 now use AI each month, with ChatGPT being the most popular, followed by Google’s Gemini and Microsoft Copilot.

More than 100,000 cockroaches worth $200,000 seized from NSW breeder in record-breaking bust

The invertebrates were likely destined for the pet trade, including as reptile food

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More than 100,000 live exotic cockroaches have been seized from a commercial breeder in New South Wales in a record-breaking bust linked to the pet trade.

Biosecurity officials seized the animals, which have a commercial value of up to $200,000, from a breeder in Bathurst in the state’s central west this week.

Andrew sublet three cottages while paying ‘peppercorn rent’ to crown estate

Report into royal property affairs reveals disgraced ex-prince generated private income from Windsor Royal Lodge

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received private income from subletting three cottages on his Windsor Royal Lodge estate while paying a “peppercorn rent” to the crown estate, a report into royal property arrangements has revealed.

The National Audit Office (NAO) review also shows that King Charles pays an “adjusted” rent from his private Duchy of Lancaster income, below open market value, for his disgraced brother’s non-working royal daughters, princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, to live in royal palaces.

Divine intervention: why Pope Leo visit could be a godsend for Pedro Sánchez

Pontiff’s resolve to highlight plight of migrants has aligned him with Spanish PM, whose inner circle and party are mired in corruption allegations

While Pope Leo XIV isn’t due to touch down in Madrid until 10.30am on Saturday, his presence in the Spanish capital is already verging on the ubiquitous.

The smiling, avuncular face of the first US pontiff greets visitors from posters, from the sides of buses, from commemorative travel cards and even from the digital screens on the metro system, where it flickers up between adverts for sun cream and banking deals.

Lizzo: Bitch review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

(Atlantic)
After scrapping an album and starting anew, Lizzo still sounds lost amid these weak genre-hopping songs. Perhaps the zeitgeist has simply left her behind

Just over a year ago, Lizzo appeared on Saturday Night Live, announcing a new album called Love in Real Life in grandstanding style. Wielding an electric guitar, clad in a Trump-baiting T-shirt that read Tariffied, she performed its title track and two other new songs, Still Bad and Don’t Make Me Love U. As with her appearance earlier the same week on a late night talkshow – during which she ran into the audience to high-five fans who were yelling “we love you Lizzo!” – it looked very much like a defiant comeback, fit to drag her out of the controversy that erupted at the end of her hugely successful 2023 world tour. Three former backing dancers and a costume designer filed lawsuits against the singer alleging harassment and discrimination: damaging claims given how Lizzo’s songs have preached a message of inclusivity, body positivity and self-confidence. Some of the allegations were dismissed by a judge but others are ongoing; Lizzo has refused to settle out of court, saying: “I’m fighting the case because I know that it’s not true.”

But the Love in Real Life single, a pivot towards rock that owed a little to Tom Petty’s American Girls – or the Strokes’ American Girls-indebted Last Nite if you prefer – failed to make the charts, a far cry from the period between 2018 and 2022 when Lizzo’s singles seemed to go multi-platinum as a matter of course. The same fate befell Still Bad, a track much more in the vein of her big hits, prompting a rethink. The album was pulled, Lizzo apparently taking control of her own destiny – “I need to do shit my way”. A mixtape that returned her more-or-less to where she started, before pop stardom came calling – punchy hip-hop, albeit tricked out with guest appearances from Doja Cat and SZA – appeared in its place: My Face Hurts from Smiling received mixed reviews and underwhelming streaming figures.

Scramble for biofuel as oil prices rise ‘could push world closer to food crisis’

Experts say increased use of crops for fuel is ‘dangerous game’ that could send food price inflation soaring

Demand for biofuels is likely to leap by nearly a third this year, which could send food price inflation soaring further and push the world closer to a global food crisis.

More countries are opting to increase biofuel use as the price of oil has jumped to nearly $100 a barrel after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran and the closure of the strait of Hormuz.

Experience: I sat under an oak tree every day for a year

After a period of burnout, I realised that nature knows what you need, and is always ready to offer it – you just have to be quiet enough to receive it

In 2022 I moved to Clevedon, near Bristol. As soon as I saw the oak tree behind my flat, I started sitting under it. It’s not in some beautiful, remote place – it’s on an urban hill surrounded by grassland – but as a solitary tree on the side of a hill, it drew my attention.

I was burned out. For 10 years, I had run a nonprofit tackling plastic pollution. We had got the government to ban plastic cutlery and polystyrene takeaway packaging, and supermarkets to ban plastic cotton buds. They were major achievements, but it was hard work and I was exhausted. I was transitioning away from activism, and only working three days a week.

Orbán’s media slop spread poison beyond Hungary. Luckily, fearless, fact-based reporting endures | Beata Balogová

Across Europe, public service journalism is a shield for democracy. But we have to decide if we want to fight for its survival

For 16 years, Viktor Orbán’s government poured millions of euros of public money into thinktanks, institutions and media outlets sympathetic to its illiberal views – not only in Hungary but beyond its borders. In Slovakia, for instance, where a sizeable Hungarian minority lives, Budapest is alleged to have sent millions of euros to favoured media organisations. Many independent newsrooms survived on only a fraction of what these outlets received.

These government-fattened channels were never truly called “media” by Hungarian colleagues, nor their content producers “journalists”. If Hungarians were asked to recall ever hearing from these outlets a piercing human story, an investigation exposing abuse of power or a facts-based analysis that brought clarity to chaos, they would search their memory in vain.

Beata Balogová is a Slovakian journalist and a member of the board of the European Press Prize

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.

‘Unpredictable and extreme’: Asia braces for El Niño

Weather models project a potentially strong El Niño this year, which could spell disaster for heatwave-hit India, drench China and hurt agriculture across south-east Asia

The UN has warned that the world must prepare for the imminent return of El Niño and the raised global temperatures and weather extremes it brings.

The powerful natural weather pattern has an 80% chance of forming before September and a 90% chance before November, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Tuesday.

Zelenskyy calls for face-to-face Ukraine war negotiations in letter to Putin

Ukrainian president proposes meeting in neutral third country as Trump says both sides have to ‘make compromises’

• ‘You can stop your war’: Zelenskyy’s open letter to Putin – in full

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has called for face-to-face negotiations in a public letter addressed directly to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

The letter, the first Zelenskyy has publicly written directly to Putin since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, was a sweeping criticism of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power.

Trump plans to attend NBA Finals in New York City

President Trump, a native New Yorker and self-described Knicks fan, said he was invited to attend a Knicks playoff game by the team's owner James Dolan, who has donated to his political campaigns.

Office Romance review – Jennifer Lopez’s romcom return is too much like hard work

Star makes for reliably charming lead in Netflix’s basic throwback, but co-star Brett Goldstein, and his co-written script, lack in fizz

Netflix has become something of a safe space for Jennifer Lopez, a one-time box office heavyweight who has now secured a more reliable at-home following on the platform. Middling action films The Mother and Atlas might have turned critics off but both drew blockbuster streaming numbers, while more recent theatrical efforts such as Marry Me and Kiss of the Spider-Woman struggled to reach earlier highs. The arrival of her latest Netflix vehicle, to-the-point romcom Office Romance, is likely to be another smartly packaged win for the star, harking back to a genre she once dominated in the 2000s with hits like Maid in Manhattan and The Wedding Planner. It’s similarly by-the-numbers, but what gives it something of an alleged unique selling point is its unusual R rating and the promise of more “raunch” than usual.

But the film is far tamer than those involved seem to think, an inconsistent mix of sugar and spice, the right tone never quite clicking into place. Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein, acting as both leading man and co-writer, tries to introduce British humour (awkward bumbling, football jokes, calling people cunt affectionately) into an American setting but it never blends together as smoothly as we want or expect from such high-gloss material. Lopez looks and acts the part, movie star charisma dialled up to 11, but the film around her is too unsure and ungainly to match.

Sheriff nominee who killed daughter's alleged abuser won't face murder charge

A judge has dismissed a murder charge against Aaron Spencer, an Arkansas sheriff nominee who was accused of killing his teenage daughter's alleged abuser in 2024.

US imposes new sanctions on Cuban president and Castro family members

US secretary of state Marco Rubio says anyone providing services to listed entities ‘is at risk of sanctions themselves’

The United States has announced fresh economic sanctions on Cuba’s president and some of his immediate family, alongside members of the Castro family, in Washington’s latest ramping up of pressure on its communist-led neighbour.

Among those targeted were the son and a grandson of former president Raúl Castro, who no longer holds an official position but remains a key figure on decisions about the future of the island.

6/4: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Trump expected to nominate Todd Blanche as permanent attorney general; Senate holds "vote-a-rama."

Australia’s best apartment designs for 2026 – in pictures

The 2026 Houses awards shortlist celebrates the country’s most ‘intelligent, dynamic and visually compelling homes’. For the apartment category, jury chair Alexa Kempton says judges looked for ‘density done well’.

‘Building is high-cost and comes with environmental consequences, and the jury observed architects rising to the challenge,’ she says, adding that designing something that will ‘last well into the future and adapt to the changing needs of the occupants is essential’

• Inside the homes of six prominent Australian architects – in pictures

Search continues for Auburn University student missing in Japan

James "Weston" Higginbotham, an Auburn University student, went missing last week in Japan after his family says he went to an area near Kyoto known for its hiking trails.

Flesh-eating New World screwworm found in Texas calf, USDA says

The USDA said the only animal affected was a 3-week-old calf in Zavala County, Texas, after larvae were identified in its umbilical area.

D-Day veteran says the U.S. is the "savior of the world" ahead of its 82-year mark

This weekend will mark 82 years since D-Day, the largest seaborne assault in history. Tony Dokoupil spoke with 107-year-old veteran Arthur Rose, who was a Navy lieutenant on that day.

Flesh-eating screwworm could drive up cost of beef if not contained

A flesh-eating parasite has returned to the U.S. for the first time in over 50 years, popping up in southwest Texas. The screwworm burrows in the flesh of cattle, in this case, a calf, and the Department of Agriculture said it is "taking immediate action" to contain it. Jason Allen has more.

I wrote about George Santos. Then he made a violent threat and lied about it

NPR reported on new federal investigations examining the former Congressman's bets on the prediction market site Kalshi. Then he threatened the NPR reporter who broke the story.

Coast Guard seizes dinghy Lynette Hooker allegedly "bounced off" in Bahamas

The eight-foot dinghy that Brian Hooker says he and his wife, Lynette Hooker,​ were aboard when she disappeared in early April was seized by U.S. Coast Guard investigators.

Coast Guard seizes small boat in Lynette Hooker search

On Thursday, the Coast Guard took custody of the dinghy Brian and Lynette Hooker were on the night of her disappearance. Cristian Benavides got an exclusive look at the ongoing investigation into the Michigan woman's Bahamas disappearance.

Family of Auburn University student missing in Japan staying in country amid search

Rescue teams searched on Thursday for a 20-year-old Auburn University student who vanished during a family vacation in Japan. Anna Coren reports from Hong Kong.

American journalist pleads for help from Iranian prison

As Iran partially lifted its nationwide internet blackout, Margaret Brennan was able to hear an American journalist's plea for help. Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh, who the U.S. says is wrongfully detained inside a notorious prison, is one of six Americans being held by Iran.

New look at United Airlines incident involving truck on New Jersey highway

Last month, a United Airlines jet hit a light pole and damaged a bakery truck as it was coming in for landing at Newark Liberty International Airport. The NTSB has been investigating and released its first preliminary report on Thursday. Tom Hanson has more.

Concerns over Trump's nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general

President Trump wants his former criminal defense lawyer to be the next U.S. attorney general, overseeing the Justice Department and serving as America's chief law enforcement officer. Todd Blanche is already the acting attorney general. Nancy Cordes has more details.

Correction officer testifies she was not the orange shape seen near Epstein's cell

A former officer at the correctional facility where Jeffrey Epstein died testified before the House Oversight Committee that she was not the orange shape seen moving up the stairs of Epstein's cell tier the night he died.

Alleged $30M fraud ring involving children's health services busted, officials say

Federal authorities have busted what they say is a $30 million fraud conspiracy involving billing for children's behavioral health services that were never provided, officials announced.

New Zealand World Cup 2026 team guide

Despite being the lowest-ranked team at the tournament, All Whites are hoping Chris Wood can help fire them to a first appearance in the knockout rounds

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.

6/4: CBS Evening News

Trump says he will nominate Todd Blanche to be "top cop;" NTSB releases new images from a Newark airport near-disaster.

Pentagon hires man who pleaded guilty in Jan. 6 riot for sensitive civilian job

A man who pleaded guilty to participating in the Jan. 6 riot as a 19-year-old — and later described the events of that day as a "disgrace" — now works for the Defense Department.

Pam Bondi claims Todd Blanche was ‘in charge’ of ‘entire release’ of Epstein files

Blanche, whom Trump plans to nominate to replace ex-attorney general, served as Bondi’s deputy at DoJ

Former attorney general Pam Bondi told lawmakers that Todd Blanche, the man Donald Trump has lined up to replace her, was “in charge” of the US Department of Justice’s controversial handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Appearing before the House oversight and reform committee, which is investigating the late financier and convicted sex offender, Bondi also said she was “not certain of the extent” that Trump knew about the crimes of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Epstein who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex-trafficking crimes, before they became public.

The May jobs report will be released Friday. Here's what to expect

The stronger-than-expected start this year for job creation could be in for a reality check.

Trump's name must come off the Kennedy Center by June 12

There's been no word yet on if the Kennedy Center plans to remain open after July 5. It was to be closed for two years for extensive repairs beginning this summer.

Sen. Wyden wants to know why Leon Black paid Epstein $170 million for tax planning

Jeffrey Epstein was paid extraordinary sums by billionaire Leon Black, and Sen. Ron Wyden wants to know why.

Doski stunner earns Iraq draw against understrength Spain in World Cup warm-up

Spain will depart from Santiago de Compostela at 10am on Friday morning bound for Chattanooga, via Nashville, but seven of the eight men who made their debuts in the final preparation game before the World Cup will not be on board with them. Nor will the seleccion be flying west with a victory after they bid adios with a 1-1 draw against Iraq at Estadio Riazor. Which may not sound very good – and it really was not very good either, a 22-minute cameo from Mikel Merino about the best thing about it – but is no cause for alarm.

Luis de la Fuente’s side will still be among the favourites in the US, Canada and Mexico and rightly so; this was not really his side, at least not recognisably so.

House Republicans seek DOJ probe of allegations raised by Epstein's assistant

Republican lawmakers asked the Justice Department to investigate allegations raised by Jeffrey Epstein's longtime assistant that she was abused by two men.

Trump says Pulte won't be permanent national intelligence director

Trump's comment came two days after he tapped Bill Pulte, who leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting DNI to replace Tulsi Gabbard.

‘I wouldn’t flinch’: Burnham on social care, markets, Brexit – and the prospect of a general election

Exclusive: Greater Manchester mayor sets out his priorities before Makerfield byelection – and what might happen after the vote

Andy Burnham has signalled he would begin transforming England’s broken social care system this year if he became prime minister, accusing Westminster of “flinching away” from tackling difficult policy problems.

The Greater Manchester mayor said politicians must be willing to take on “the weight of the system” that stood in the way of radical change, as he began to set out his prospectus for government if he won the Makerfield byelection.

Said Labour should be a broad church with more government ministers from the left of the party, but Jeremy Corbyn should not be allowed back in.

Signalled there would be no snap election if he replaced Keir Starmer, but defended himself from criticism over a shadow leadership campaign.

Defended his comments that politicians should not be “in hock” to the bond markets, and denied he was boxing himself in by sticking to Rachel Reeves’s fiscal rules.

Argued it would be a mistake to rerun the Brexit referendum but that he wanted the UK to rejoin the EU in his lifetime.

Praised Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, for “facing up” to the big issues on immigration.

Microsoft to tighten human rights measures after inquiry into Israel’s use of its tech

Announcement seeks to close a difficult chapter for the company after the Guardian revealed its platform was used in mass surveillance of Palestinians

Microsoft has said it will tighten human-rights controls when working with national security agencies after an inquiry into how the Israeli military used its cloud technology for the mass surveillance of Palestinians.

On Thursday, Microsoft announced the completion of the inquiry and a series of new measures that include changes to how the company oversees employees with security clearances issued by foreign governments.

Dow soars nearly 900 points as Wall Street bets on Iran peace deal

Despite flare-ups in Middle East violence, investors remain optimistic that the U.S. and Iran will soon end the war.

Trump says Bill Pulte won't be director of national intelligence permanently

Asked if Bill Pulte has the national security experience for the job, President Trump said he does because he's "smart."

Quantinuum closes flat in Nasdaq debut, after upsized offering

Honeywell will retain a majority stake in Quantinuum and will continue to be a strategic customer and partner following the listing.

Senate Republicans narrowly block bid to bar Trump’s $1.8bn fund to pay allies

Three GOP senators join Democrats as dispute over proposed payouts exposes party divisions

• US politics live – latest updates

Senate Republicans on Thursday narrowly scuttled an attempt by Democrats to stop Donald Trump from creating a $1.8bn fund to pay his allies, even as signs emerged that dissent over the proposal was spreading inside the US president’s own party.

Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer had proposed inserting language barring the payouts into Republican-backed legislation to fund Trump’s mass deportation campaign through the duration of his term.

The Ruiners by Ellena Savage review – a playful and subversive take on Great Expectations

In her sharp and intellectual first novel, the author finds tragic comedy in socialism, inequality and the flawed ways we connect as the world burns

In her fiction debut, The Ruiners, Ellena Savage probes the awkward realities of white privilege, social mobility and a lack of ancestral connection. At first it seems that Savage has turned away from the experimental ambition of her successful memoir, Blueberries, but the novel gradually reveals itself to be craftier and more subversive than it appears. This anti-inheritance novel is in direct, playful conversation with one of its inspirations – Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – and, while knowledge of the coming-of-age novel isn’t essential, it’s delightful to see Savage tease the themes of the original in her surreal contemporary take.

Having failed to fulfil or even define her own ambition, 29-year-old Pip drifts aimlessly through her life. She is smart, funny and vaguely unhappy. In quick succession, her estranged father dies and leaves her an inheritance of $50,000 and she falls quickly, recklessly in love with Sasha, a brooding young writer who narrates the third part of the novel. With the inheritance Pip sees the opportunity to change her situation. She quits her job – “I’ve developed a rare blood disorder, I wrote. As such, I must cut my hospitality management career short. I hereby tender my resignation, effective immediately” – and marries Sasha, and together they spend the entirety of her small fortune on a rotting house on the remote (fictional) Greek island of Fokos. In the background, a trash volcano burns relentlessly and waste pirates fight to offload their illegal garbage on to the shores. But the move does little to improve their circumstances or resolve their unhappiness.

The Ruiners by Ellena Savage is out now (Summit Books, $34.99)

Bipartisan Senate duo urges court to maintain block on DOJ fund

Sens. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, and Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, said the anti-weaponization fund violates multiple constitutional provisions.

Trump announces $700 million investment in coal industry

The money will fund new and existing coal plants, as well as an export terminal in Oakland, California.

Behind the history of "This Land is Your Land" and how it has inspired Americans

In the series "USA to Z," which celebrates 250 years of American history and culture, "CBS Mornings" shares the backstory and meaning behind the popular song "This Land is Your Land."

What are Freedom 250 and America250? Behind the 2 groups planning celebrations

A musical concert series has become a point of political contention, with performers dropping out of the series.

Sen. Bill Cassidy signs onto brief calling 'anti-weaponization' fund a 'dire threat'

Sen. Bill Cassidy joined an amicus brief calling the Justice Department "anti-weaponization" fund a "dire threat."

Sellers are pulling homes off the market at the fastest pace since 2020

Frustrated sellers are pulling their homes off the market at an increasingly high pace, as demand weakens and bidding wars wane.

Ex-Trump advisor John Bolton agrees to plead guilty to retaining classified information: MS NOW

When he was indicted, John Bolton said he was innocent and that he was being targeted because of his public opposition to President Trump.

‘They surprise me every time’: bees can use tools to solve problems, study finds

Insects join list of species capable of solving simple ‘box-and-banana’ problem that demonstrates basic intelligence

Bumblebees can use tools to solve a problem, according to experiments that demonstrate their remarkably advanced cognitive abilities.

The bees were given an adapted version of an experiment that, 100 years ago, first demonstrated chimpanzees could work out how to retrieve an out-of-reach banana by stacking boxes. Since then, various other primates, elephants and crows have joined an elite cohort of species known to be capable of this level of insight and spontaneous problem solving.

The Guardian view on Trump’s omnipresence: commanding attention like a king | Editorial

The president’s image and name are proliferating in Washington and beyond, overturning well-advised democratic taboos on glorifying sitting leaders

One of the surest signs of an authoritarian regime is the ubiquity of its leader. Mussolini’s face was plastered across fascist Italy. In North Korea, pictures of Kim Jong-un have appeared alongside those of his father and grandfather, which are present in every home and public building. The golden statue of Turkmenistan’s leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, perching on a marble cliff in the capital is one of a multitude of portrayals.

Thriving democracies spurn such displays, rightly judging it safer to laud leaders once they are out of power. The first US president, George Washington, refused to appear on currency, believing that redolent of European monarchs. The 47th has no such concerns. The administration wants a $250 bill depicting Donald Trump to commemorate the 250th anniversary of independence, though federal law does not currently allow banknotes to depict living people. His signature will soon appear on $100 bills: a first for a US president.

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.

Ben Jennings on Elon Musk’s pervasive presence – cartoon

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Dina Nayeri : Marjane Satrapi brought Iranian women like me out of hiding

The Persepolis author understood us and translated us for the world. We have lost our most eloquent spokesperson

Marjane Satrapi has died and every Iranian woman I know is in shock and mourning, while none seems confused by reports of the cause. She died “of sadness”, according to those close to her. Of course she did. Iranians often do. And Satrapi felt everything so intensely.

For my cohort (girls who began their adolescence in 1980s Iran and ended it in the west) Marjane Satrapi was a spokesperson for our trauma, our upbringing and our particular flavour of shame, repression and outspokenness. She made us legible to our western peers in our 20s and 30s, and I was sure she would do it again in middle age.

John Bolton plans to plead guilty in classified documents case, sources say

A federal grand jury indicted John Bolton, former national security adviser to President Trump, on 18 counts last year.

Hezbollah rejects Israel-Lebanon truce as Trump scrambles to end Iran war

Group calls ceasefire a ‘roadmap to annihilate part of the Lebanese people’, throwing regional peace talks into doubt

Hezbollah has rejected a US-brokered ceasefire plan agreed by the Lebanese and Israeli governments, throwing the future of a truce in Lebanon and regional peace negotiations into question.

The group’s leader, Naim Qassem, called the plan a “roadmap to annihilate part of the Lebanese people” in a statement on Thursday.

‘It’s Kimi’s to lose’: Russell refuses to feel the pressure amid F1 championship battle

• British driver ‘didn’t lose sleep’ over Canada setback

• Russell says he will not change approach in Monaco

George Russell remains confident in his world championship ambitions despite taking a serious blow with a mechanical failure at the last round in Canada. In Monaco the British driver insisted that he felt no pressure, with the Formula One title his rival and teammate Kimi Antonelli’s to lose.

Russell encountered a battery failure while leading in Montreal after taking pole position and having enjoyed a hard-fought contest for the race lead that ebbed and flowed with his teammate. With Antonelli going on to win he extended his lead in the world championship to 43 points. The 19-year-old Italian has now won four races in a row to establish a strong advantage, although 17 rounds remain including the meeting in Monaco this weekend.

As the largest World Cup ever kicks off, health officials are focused on more than Ebola

Officials are more concerned about highly contagious diseases like measles and respiratory viruses, which can spread quickly through large, fast-moving crowds.

Andreeva dismantles nervous Kostyuk amid tense backdrop of Russia-Ukraine war

• Russian teen reaches French Open final in 6-1, 6-3 win

• Kostyuk swerves pose with Andreeva in pre-match photo

Marta Kostyuk believes her breakthrough run at the French Open and her determination to speak out about Russia’s war in Ukraine ­successfully served as a reminder, to ­people who may have forgotten, about the ­horrors unfolding in her home ­country as she suffered a heavy loss to highest ranked Russian player, Mirra Andreeva, in the semi-finals.

“Yeah, for sure,” Kostyuk said. “I will never forget the ovations I received after my match [against fellow Ukrainian Elina Svitolina] in the quarter-finals. This is something I will carry with me forever. I will never believe anyone who is at the world stage of this sport saying they have zero influence or anything, because I experienced this myself.”