Amazon stock dips even as earnings beat expectations with strong cloud growth

Amazon reported its first-quarter results after the market close on Wednesday.

Live Updates: King Charles and Queen Camilla in NYC

As part of his four-day trip to the U.S. to commemorate America's 250th birthday, King Charles III is taking part in a series of events in New York City.

Meta stock drops as capex, user growth numbers come in below Wall Street estimates

Meta beat on revenue, but showed disappointing user numbers and its capital expenditures were below estimates.

Atlético Madrid v Arsenal: Champions League semi-final, first leg – live

⚽️ Champions League updates from 8pm BST kick-off
⚽️ Football Daily | The Knowledge | Follow us on Bluesky

An entirely straightforward question for Arsenal fans

Premier League or Champions League? And why?

Chipotle posts surprise same-store sales growth in early sign chain could be breaking its slump

Chipotle shares have plummeted 35% over the last year.

Microsoft beats on top and bottom lines with 40% Azure growth

Microsoft's Azure growth did better than Wall Street had predicted, and corporate adoption of the Copilot artificial intelligence assistant is picking up.

Meta’s Reality Labs lost over $4 billion in first quarter

In Meta's first-quarter earnings report, the company said Reality Labs recorded an operating loss of over $4 billion while bringing in $402 million in sales.

Ford raises 2026 guidance as $1.3 billion tariff refund assists in offsetting higher costs

Aside from earnings and any changes to the automaker's 2026 guidance, investors will be monitoring effects from the Iran war, tariffs and the pullback in EVs.

Jerome Powell says he’ll stay on Fed board after central bank keeps interest rates unchanged in defiance of Trump

Chair had said he’d leave after inquiry into building renovations but now says there are ‘remaining steps in the process’ he’s watching

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The US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, is staying on the central bank’s rate-setting board after his term as chair ends in May, a contentious move that signals continued uncertainty at the Fed.

Powell made the announcement after the Fed board left interest rates unchanged for the third time this year on Wednesday, despite Donald Trump’s continued demands for interest rate cuts.

Powell to stay on Federal Reserve board as policy makers hold rates steady

Fed chief Jerome Powell said he will remain as a governor on the central bank's board after his term as chair ends on May 15.

Pete Hegseth denies Iran war is a ‘quagmire’ as cost to US hits estimated $25bn

As defense secretary testified before the House, Trump posted AI-generated image of himself with a weapon and the caption: ‘NO MORE MR. NICE GUY’

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Pete Hegseth denied that the US-Israel war on Iran, which the Pentagon estimates has cost the US at least $25bn, is “a quagmire” and claimed critics of the operation posed a greater threat to the US than Iran itself.

Hegseth came under pressure to set out Washington’s strategy for the conflict as heappeared before the House armed services committee on Wednesday for a marathon hearing alongside Gen Dan Caine, chair of the joint chiefs of staff. The US defense secretary asked lawmakers to approve a $1.5tn budget in military spending – and then described some of them as “the biggest challenge” to the war effort.

Trump and Putin discuss Iran war and float temporary Ukraine ceasefire in call

Russian president welcomed decision to extend Iran ceasefire in what US president said was a ‘very good conversation’

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump discussed the war in Iran and floated a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine in a phone call on Wednesday.

In the call, which lasted more than 90 minutes, the Russian president said Moscow viewed the prospect of a US ground operation in Iran as dangerous, while welcoming Trump’s decision to extend a ceasefire in the region, according to Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser.

The Iran war now has a price tag ($25 billion), but still no end date

The Pentagon estimates the war has cost $25 billion over the past two months. In congressional testimony, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not say when the war might end.

Dinner on a gold plate, then a snub: an uneven US welcome for King Charles III

Zohran Mamdani said he would not meet UK monarch privately, noting Indian diamond claimed by crown in 1849

In a way, it must be tough being king. One day, you’re lauded by the US president, applauded by Congress and served spring-herbed ravioli and parmesan emulsion on a golden plate.

The next, you’re essentially snubbed by the mayor of New York City, who makes it clear that a) he does not want to meet you, and b) you should return a diamond that your ancestors took from a 10-year-old Indian boy.

DOJ seeks pretrial detention of shooting suspect Cole Allen, shares new photos

Cole Allen was charged Monday in federal court with three counts, including attempting to assassinate the president. The other two charges involved the use and transport of firearms.

Trump says it's 'great' that UAE pulled out of OPEC

The UAE has faced repeated missile and drone attacks by Iran, a fellow OPEC member, as it responds to the U.S.-Israeli war.

OpenAI’s subtle drift from Microsoft has become an aggressive move toward Amazon

While OpenAI and Microsoft remain partners, the AI company has been rapidly pushing into Amazon's world.

Jerome Powell says he will continue to serve as a Fed governor, calls Trump criticism 'unprecedented'

Powell addressed the question of whether he will stay on as a Board of Governors member after his term as chair ends.

Fed holds rates steady but with highest level of dissent since 1992

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday released its latest decision on interest rates.

US supreme court ‘demolishes’ Voting Rights Act, gutting provision that prevented racial discrimination

Justices rule in landmark decision Louisiana must redraw congressional map, largely killing major civil rights law

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The US supreme court has ruled that Louisiana will have to redraw its congressional map, in a landmark decision that effectively guts a major section of the Voting Rights Act.

In a 6-3 decision along partisan lines, the court rendered ineffective section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the last remaining powerful provision of the 1965 civil rights law that prevents racial discrimination in voting. Section 2 has long been used to ensure minority voters are treated fairly in redistricting.

Hegseth defends Iran war's mission, costs in first testimony since conflict began

Democratic lawmakers grilled Hegseth about the Iran war in a hearing about the Pentagon's budget.

Florida lawmakers pass a voting map that could help Republicans flip four House seats

The map drawn by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis boosts President Trump's effort to reshape voting before the midterm elections. The GOP likely holds a slight edge over Democrats in redistricting now.

Brent oil tops $118 after Trump says he will blockade Iran until it agrees to a nuclear deal

The latest move higher comes amid reports that the U.S. will look to extend its blockade of Iranian ports.

Comey will challenge Trump seashells threat indictment as vindictive prosecution, lawyer says

Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted twice since President Donald Trump regained office. The first case was dismissed by a judge.

Video shows middle school students take control of bus after driver has medical emergency

Middle school students in Missouri jumped into action after their bus driver suffered a medical emergency while driving on a four-lane highway. Tom Hanson reports.

James Comey surrenders to authorities after indictment over seashell post

Indictment claims ex-FBI director’s social media post last year of shells arranged into ‘86 47’ was threat against Trump

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James Comey made a brief appearance in court on Wednesday after the justice department indicted him over a social media post in a renewed bid to prosecute one of Donald Trump’s longtime political adversaries.

The former FBI director was indicted in North Carolina on Tuesday over a photograph he posted last year of seashells arranged in the numbers “86 47” – a message the justice department says amounts to a threat against Trump, the 47th US president.

A train ride, selfie and more: What DOJ says happened before press gala shooting

Cole Allen allegedly started planning the attack at the White House Correspondents' Dinner three weeks ago, a new court document filed by prosecutors says.

Musk laments being a ‘fool’ for funding OpenAI on day two of court testimony

Lawyers for Musk, the world’s richest person, sought to paint him as a tech pioneer who wanted to aid humanity

After a dramatic first day of opening statements and testimony from Elon Musk in his case against Sam Altman and OpenAI, the trial continues on Wednesday with a cross examination of the Tesla CEO. Musk began his second day of testimony by repeating the accusation that Altman “stole a charity” and would endanger humanity with AI multiple times. OpenAI’s defense attorneys will have the chance to press the world’s richest man on his allegations.

Peripheral to the legal showdown, the court was packed on Wednesday with a mix of media and eager young men who lined up before dawn to get a glimpse – and a picture – of Musk. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers at one point threatened that if observers did not stop taking photos and videos, a violation of the court’s rules, she would shut down an overflow room for watching the proceedings.

Shaun Murphy hits top form to end Zhao Xintong’s title defence

• ‘Curse of the Crucible’ strikes as Murphy prevails 13-10

• Mark Allen into semis after ‘unforgivable’ Hawkins error

Shaun Murphy stormed into the world championship semi‑finals in Sheffield as the defending ­champion, Zhao ­Xintong, became the 21st player to fall victim to the so-called “Crucible curse”.

Murphy’s 13-10 triumph means Zhao joins the list of first-time ­winners who have failed to return the following year and successfully defend their crown.

Here's what changed in the new Fed statement

This is a comparison of Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee statement with the one issued after the Fed's previous policymaking meeting in March.

Chelsea forward Mykhailo Mudryk appeals to Cas against reported four-year ban

• Ukrainian has not played since November 2024

• Cas confirms appeal by Mudryk against the FA

The Chelsea forward Mykhailo Mudryk has appealed to the court of arbitration for sport after he received a reported four-year playing ban from the Football Association for the use of a banned substance.

Mudryk has not played a competitive match since November 2024 after he failed a drug test while on international duty with Ukraine and began a provisional suspension. Under the terms of any four-year ban he would not be eligible for selection again until December 2028, but if an appeal to Cas were successful then the 25-year-old could possibly return next year.

The Guardian view on the UAE quitting Opec: whatever importers pay, the price of fossil fuels is too high | Editorial

The world must accelerate the shift to renewables, regardless of the economic effects of Abu Dhabi’s decision

Opec appears to be the latest casualty of the Iran war. On Tuesday, the United Arab Emirates announced that it was leaving the oil cartel after 60 years. The loss of a critical member is a blow to the group and its de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, in the midst of the biggest supply crisis in history.

This is a geopolitical decision, not merely an economic one. The UAE has built itself into an increasingly interventionist and unilaterally minded power, not only challenging Riyadh’s dominance but undermining its more cautious approach to regional affairs. The rift has become increasingly public and bitter – with Saudi Arabia bombing what it called a UAE-linked arms shipment in Yemen in December. Abu Dhabi, as the main target of Iranian strikes among the Gulf countries, is also enraged by what it sees as a feeble regional response to the current conflict, and has been privately pushing for counterattacks.

Analysis: Dinner shooting brings reminders of past era of political violence

For historians, the 1960s and 1970s provide particularly eerie parallels to the present. Both eras were marked by bitter political divides and the unsettling feeling that America's social fabric was being ripped apart.

Comey appears in court after his indictment for allegedly threatening Trump

Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted Tuesday for allegedly making threats against President Trump.

Ukraine asks Israel to seize vessel it claims is carrying grain stolen by Russia

Accusation vessel contains grain looted from Russian-occupied territories triggers diplomatic spat between both nations

Ukraine has asked Israel to seize a vessel it claims is carrying grain looted from Russian-occupied territories, triggering a rare diplomatic spat between the two countries.

The dispute spilt into public view this week when president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that “another vessel” carrying grain “stolen by Russia” had arrived at a port in Israel and was preparing to unload.

Mortgage rates surge to nearly four-week high as Iran headlines impact markets

Negative headlines on the Iran war pushed bond yields higher, and mortgage rates followed.

Grosjean draws ire for complaint about ‘stink’ of bird he killed in Indy 500 testing

• French driver struck animal while driving at 230 mph

• Peta says 40-year-old failed to show compassion for death

French racing driver Romain Grosjean has angered animal rights group Peta for “flippant” comments after hitting a bird while testing for next month’s Indianapolis 500.

The driver, who survived a fireball crash during the 2020 Formula One Bahrain GP, described the bird strike at around 230 mph in graphic terms this week.

Liverpool expect Salah to return from injury before end of his farewell season

• Fears that Salah had played last game for Reds have eased

• Injury sustained against Palace found to be minor

Mohamed Salah is expected to play again for Liverpool before the end of his farewell season after being diagnosed with a minor muscle injury.

Salah was substituted in the 59th minute of Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday with a hamstring problem. The 33-year-old’s reaction at the time – applauding all four sides of Anfield before heading straight down the tunnel – raised concerns that he was facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines and might have played his final game for the club.

House advances FISA extension ahead of Thursday deadline

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is set to expire in two days.

Feds have rejected 15% of businesses' tariff refund claims

But after some early hiccups, the U.S. government's hub for businesses seeking tariff refunds is running smoothly, an expert says.

In court, Elon Musk accuses OpenAI of trying to 'have your cake and eat it, too'

In his second day on the stand in the trial he launched against OpenAI, Elon Musk said the AI start-up he'd helped found had strayed from its charitable mission.

Family of ailing Iranian Nobel laureate say keeping her in jail is a death sentence

Narges Mohammadi denied medical leave from prison in spite of sharp decline in health and drastic weight loss, say lawyers

The family of the jailed Iranian Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi say they fear for her life after a sharp deterioration in her health, suspected heart attack and drop in body weight of almost 20kg (44lb).

The 54-year-old human rights activist, who was awarded the 2023 Nobel peace prize while in prison, had been released for health reasons in 2024. She was re-arrested in December 2025 during the memorial service of a fellow human rights activist and is being held in Zanjan central prison, in north-west Iran.

Tupac Shakur’s family files wrongful death lawsuit against suspect

Suit is part of effort to hold suspect and any still unknown perpetrators accountable, says rapper’s stepbrother

The stepbrother of Tupac Shakur has filed a lawsuit against the man set to go on trial for the rapper’s 1996 killing. The suit is part of an effort to hold the alleged killer and any still unknown perpetrators accountable, Maurice Shakur says.

“Many individuals who were involved have long since passed away, while others have been hard to identify,” the suit states. “Yet, one thing is certain: there remain individuals who were involved in Tupac’s murder who, for 30 years, have not been held accountable for their crimes.”

From a brooch to the queen's iPod: A history of gifts between U.S. and U.K.

King Charles surprised President Trump with the bell from the HMS Trump, a World War II-era British submarine, during this week's visit.

Pig sex! Pulling teeth! Boar on the Floor! TV’s all-time most uncomfortable scenes

From Peep Show to Half Man, some of the best television can be the hardest to watch. Get ready to look through your fingers at these supremely squirm-inducing scenes

It’s not exactly how anyone imagines their first time. Richard Gadd’s Baby Reindeer follow-up, bruising BBC drama Half Man, is full of disturbing scenes but none more so than in the opening episode, when teen delinquent Ruben orchestrates his younger step-sibling Niall losing his virginity.

It makes for one of those TV moments where it’s physically impossible to sit comfortably on your sofa. But what are the all-time most unsettling? From bad rapping to DIY dentistry, here’s our selection of 15 scenes that made us wince, squirm and watch through our fingers …

Police treating stabbing of two men in Golders Green as terrorism

Assailant was reportedly hunting for anyone ‘visibly Jewish’ in suspected antisemitic attack in north London

Police are treating the stabbing of two men in Golders Green, north London, as terrorism, with the suspect described as having been hunting for anyone “visibly Jewish” to attack.

The stabbings, which happened just after 11am on Wednesday, follow a series of arson attacks on Jewish targets in London since March, including two previous incidents in Golders Green.

Supreme Court hears arguments over deportation shield for Syrians, Haitians

The Supreme Court heard arguments over the Trump administration's attempt to rescind Temporary Protected Status for 6,000 Syrian and 350,000 Haitian immigrants.

Hegseth faces questions on overall Iran war strategy

The war with Iran is now in its ninth week, and Congress is concerned about the reduction of global munition stockpiles and the ability to restock them.

US supreme court sides with anti-abortion centers in New Jersey case

Justices in unanimous decision revive federal suit brought by anti-abortion ‘crisis pregnancy centers’ in the state

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The US supreme court sided on Wednesday with the operator of Christian faith-based anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers” in New Jersey that is trying to impede a state investigation into whether the facilities engage in deceptive practices.

The justices, in a unanimous decision, revived a federal lawsuit brought by First Choice Women’s Resource Centers challenging a 2023 subpoena from the state attorney general seeking information on the organization’s donors and doctors. A lower court had thrown out the lawsuit.

Has King Charles salvaged special relationship with Trump? - The Latest

It was a historic day for King Charles, the first British monarch to address a joint session of Congress in 35 years, before enjoying a lavish dinner at the White House.

There were jokes, subtle digs and the supposedly apolitical monarch even appealed to Donald Trump on Nato and Ukraine – but how did the US president react?

Helen Pidd speaks to the Guardian columnist and host of Politics Weekly America, Jonathan Freedland

Jannik Sinner ends hopes of fast-rising teenager Rafael Jodar at Madrid Open

• World No 1 halts Jodar’s run 6-2, 7-6 (0) in quarter-finals

• Anastasia Potapova beats Karolina Pliskova in three sets

Jannik Sinner ended the inspired run of teen home favourite Rafael Jodar with a 6-2, 7-6 (0) victory at the Madrid Open on Wednesday to complete his set of semi-finals reached at all nine Masters 1000 tournaments.

The 19-year-old Jodar has taken the tour by storm this clay season, winning a maiden ATP title in Marrakesh, and making the semi-finals in Barcelona and the quarter-finals in Madrid before he was stopped by the world No 1 at the Caja Mágica.

New Orleans program does free house calls for new mothers. It’s saving many from going over a postpartum ‘cliff’

Family Connects New Orleans provides crucial postpartum support to mothers through home-based nurse visits

About three months ago, Amber Leduff, gave birth to her daughter, Autumn, at New Orleans’ Touro hospital. The room was hectic after the delivery, with nurses and doctors bustling in and out. In the chaos, Leduff, who is 30, only half-registered the representatives from Family Connects New Orleans, taking paperwork from them and moving on.

But when her doctor encouraged her to enroll in the program, which provides up to three in-home visits to parents of newborns up to 12 weeks old, Leduff took it seriously.

A WWII-era gift, historic speech and more highlights from King Charles' visit

Photos show some of the highlights as King Charles III and Queen Camilla with President Trump and first lady Melania Trump during an official state visit to Washington, D.C.

FEMA's disaster relief fund hits red zone ahead of hurricane season

FEMA's disaster relief fund has dropped below $3 billion, triggering Imminent Needs Funding, which means the agency must limit spending to only the most urgent, life-saving needs amid the partial government shutdown.

Wellness culture is trying to sell you products your vagina doesn’t need

There isn’t enough research about the vaginal microbiome. But that doesn’t mean you need ‘feminine probiotics’ that companies are pushing

Wellness culture is coming for your vagina. On Instagram, in the vitamin aisle, and even on the subway, the billion-dollar “feminine probiotic” industry promises healthier, better-smelling, infection-free genitalia.

The proliferation of vaginal probiotic supplements and suppository capsules is driven, in part, by frustration: there are few effective treatments for conditions related to the vaginal microbiome.

Supreme Court weakens Voting Rights Act, voiding Louisiana congressional map

The Supreme Court rule 6-3 in a decision that has implications for the scope of the landmark Voting Rights Act.

How Trump's EPA head has transformed the agency — and sided with polluters

New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert says EPA chief Lee Zeldin has rescinded regulations, cut or eliminated departments and terminated the jobs of many scientists. Trump calls Zeldin "our secret weapon."

I can’t stop pilfering from other people’s plates – but don’t even think about grabbing my chips | Adrian Chiles

Breakfast, lunch, dinner: there’s no meal I can’t spoil with my desire to get more than my fair share. And it’s been this way ever since I was a kid

I have identified my worst character trait. In such a crowded field, this has been no easy task. This one wins out because it’s two equally unappealing traits rolled into one. They both concern food, or rather eating. Number one: I cannot stop coveting what others have on their plates. Number two: I cannot bear to give anyone anything off my own plate. The hypocrisy is as unattractive as a half-eaten pot of yoghurt covered in mould.

A Russian study into whether “moral transgression might enhance gustatory pleasure” has concluded that it does. French fries were fed to participants in a number of ways, one of which saw one person eating another person’s chips. Deliciously, these (identical) chips were considered by the thieves to be altogether nicer. It would also be nice if I could cite this as the logic behind my desire to pilfer from the plates of others, but for me it’s not always about the taste, or hunger. I just want it for the sake of wanting it, like a dog looks at you longingly when you’re eating even if you’re eating something the dog wouldn’t want.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 review – a sequel? For spring? Groundbreaking

The fashion and magazine industries have had a makeover but this glossy knock-off reunites the old team – and recycles the old plot – with style

Twenty years have gone by; the fashion and publishing worlds have changed but Satan’s clothing and accessory choices are pretty much what they were. It’s time for a sprightly and amiable sequel to the adored mid-00s Manhattan romcom that followed the adventures of would-be serious writer and saucer-eyed ingenue Andrea “Andy” Sachs, played by Anne Hathaway. Straight out of college in one of the flyover states, she fluked a job at iconic New York fashion magazine Runway, edited by the terrifying and amusingly surnamed Miranda Priestly, played of course by Meryl Streep. Miranda doesn’t look a day older in the sequel, and nor does Nigel, played by Stanley Tucci, still in post as her loyal, worldly, privately melancholy second-in-command.

This follow-up is fun, though let down by Andy’s bafflingly dreary and chemistry-free romance with a dull Australian real estate magnate (a tepid role for Patrick Brammall from TV’s Colin from Accounts). Miranda’s latest submissive prince-consort boyfriend is played by Kenneth Branagh, bizarrely the lead violinist in a string quartet. The film also gives us a lot of star-fan cameos – this is usually a bad sign, but managed well enough here. Not the big cameo though, not the one they were surely chasing, the white whale of cameos: Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor on whom Priestly is modelled.

Attempts to rescue Timmy the stranded whale ‘inadvisable’, experts say

Month-long mission to save animal in Baltic sea off Germany has attracted national frenzy

• Timmy the whale rescue attempt begins off coast of Germany – in pictures

Attempts to rescue a young humpback whale stranded in shallow waters off the Baltic coast in Germany have been criticised by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) as “inadvisable”.

The 10 metre-long whale, variously nicknamed Timmy or Hope, swam on to a sandbank more than a month ago and its health deteriorated as it repeatedly became stranded. Hopes were raised on Tuesday when divers helped the mammal on to a flooded barge. By Wednesday, the barge, pulled by a tug boat, had reached Danish waters as it headed towards the North Sea.

A bathroom for every passenger! Welcome to future of air travel – if you’ve got £13,000 to spare

You already get extra legroom and all sorts of goodies if you travel first class. Soon you won’t even have to queue for the toilet

Name: The aeroplane en suite

Age: Coming soon.

Erling Haaland feels the heat in Norway for ‘tragic’ World Cup beer commercial

• Campaigners hit out at striker’s role in ‘Let It Pour’ video

• ‘He is a great hero for many young people’

Erling Haaland’s collaboration with a leading American beer brand has caused a backlash in his native Norway, where alcohol advertising is banned.

World Cup sponsors Budweiser’s hiring of the Manchester City and Norway striker to help launch its “Let It Pour” promotional video together with the former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has led to criticism from campaigning groups, who described Haaland’s commercial deal in the buildup to this summer’s tournament as “tragic”.

Thousands of US hockey fans sing Canadian anthem amid tensions between neighbor countries

Fans in Buffalo, only a few miles from Ontario, filled the silence when a microphone cut out at the start of a match

The Electric City. Nickel City. Queen City. City of No Illusions.

Buffalo, New York, has accrued many nicknames over the years but, in an age of growing tensions between two traditional allies, one among them has taken on extra resonance: the City of Good Neighbors.

Here's everything to expect when the Fed issues its latest interest rate decision Wednesday

In what could be Jerome Powell's final meeting as Fed chair, he and his fellow policymakers are likely to continue their cautious approach.

Gordon Brown says he queried Andrew’s ‘unacceptable costs’ as trade envoy

Brown calls for police to look into former prince’s use of public funds and says he had colleague raise issue in 2008

Gordon Brown has revealed he ordered that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor be questioned about incurring “unacceptable costs” as a trade envoy in 2008, as he called for the police to widen their inquiry to include the use of public funds.

The former prime minister said he asked a colleague from the business department to question Mountbatten-Windsor about his travel expenses.

Football’s greatest games: from Messi’s magnificence to the mighty Magyars

PSG 5-4 Bayern, arguably the wildest match in Champions League history, has sparked a debate about football’s finest dramas – here are six to savour

It’s hard not to start with the most recent World Cup final, which for entertainment is surely the finest in the tournament’s 96-year history. Two protagonists, each the heartbeat of their sides, stole the show: Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé, the former scoring twice and dictating play after he singlehandedly dragged Argentina to the final. Mbappé netted a hat-trick (including two inside 95 seconds) to haul France back into the game. A word, too, for the magnificent Ángel Di María and Emi Martínez, who made a save for the ages in extra time to deny Randal Kolo Muani and a stop in the penalty shootout against Kingsley Coman. But this will forever be known as Messi’s World Cup, and the moment where he finally stepped out of Diego Maradona’s shadow in the hearts of all Argentinians.

'8647' got James Comey indicted. What exactly does it mean?

A grand jury charged Comey with threatening Trump's life through his since-deleted 2025 post of seashells forming "8647." Trump is the 47th president, and the term "86" has a few possible meanings.

Yum Brands earnings top estimates, fueled by Taco Bell's 8% same-store sales growth

Taco Bell's same-store sales increased 8% in the quarter, fueling the company's outperformance.

Cole Allen took selfie before Trump assassination attempt at WHCA dinner, prosecutors say

Federal prosecutors' detention memo shows guns and knives Allen was allegedly carrying as he tried to enter the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

EU farmers and hauliers to get up to €50,000 to cover extra costs of Iran war

Fishing companies can also access subsidies in loosening of state aid rules to cover fuel and fertiliser price rises

The EU is to subsidise up to 70% of the extra cost of fuel and fertilisers caused by the Iran war for farmers, fishing businesses and road hauliers as part of a package of emergency measures.

Individual companies can claim up to €50,000 each between now and the end of the year with minimum paperwork, a measure the EU hopes will remove what it sees as an existential threat to hauliers and farmers.

Crewe religious group raided by police investigating allegations of serious sexual offences

About 500 officers deployed as part of operation at headquarters of Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light

Police have raided the headquarters of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light following an investigation into allegations of serious sexual offences, modern slavery and forced marriage.

About 500 officers drawn from across the north-west of England were on the ground on Wednesday morning. Police confirmed nine people had been arrested in relation to the investigation and were being held in custody.

Jimmy Kimmel on the Trump administration: ‘They’ve hit peak ridiculous’

Late-night hosts discussed Trump joking about his death and seeking to make taxpayers pay for his $400m ballroom

Late-night hosts roasted King Charles’s state visit and Donald Trump trying to push the cost of his $400m gilded ballroom on to taxpayers.

Blobs of fat and the smell of rotting garbage: at an idyllic Sydney beach, a 25-tonne sperm whale slowly disintegrates

Authorities are yet to decide how they will move the body of the massive creature, which is attracting humans, eagles – and plenty of sharks

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Thin strips of flesh hang down like rotten tinsel, swaying in the wind. Glistening fluid trickles on to the stone where insects buzz. On the windward side, the odour is masked by the salty air. But step downwind, and you enter a sickly, sour-sweet blend of garbage and rotting fish. A passing couple pull their T-shirts tight over their noses.

On a rock shelf at the southern end of Era beach, the estimated 25-tonne body of a sperm whale rests like a melted candle. Looking down at the rock pools, floating chunks of white fat bob in the water.

I’m addicted to checking my phone. Could a blocking device stop me?

Physical phone blocking devices, powered by NFC wireless technology, are becoming a popular solution for doomscrolling. Brigid Delaney puts one to the test

Wake up, 100 messages from group chat overnight about something – what? another assassination attempt; a village destroyed in Lebanon; the football result in England; the weather in Iran being manipulated; the pesticides causing lung and bowel cancer, so everyone who eats salads is now at risk of cancer; meditate for 20 minutes, then fire up x.com, a place I thought I’d never want to revisit, with its carnival barkers and supplement salesman, and have you seen the Lego thing calling Trump a paedo?, you gotta see the Lego thing, and this is before my first coffee, yet x.com is the coffee and the tea, whatever Elon has done to the For You algorithm is evil genius, it’s like the global collective id, nasty and funny and addictive and compelling – like gawking at a car crash, like soaking in a hot bubble bath of anger, and memes, and geopolitical dramas, and Trump, Trump, Trump – soaking in Trump, and then, For Me (just as Elon promised).

So begins the circuit around my phone, that goes all day and night, around the tiny screen with its icons (when a born-again Christian once told me he had favourite icons, for a long time I thought he meant apps, not pictures of the Virgin Mary). I started to feel like I was in Canberra, on one of those enormous roundabouts, rotating between the icons – not Joseph, not Jesus, but X and WhatsApp and TikTok and even LinkedIn for Christ sakes – round and round from one app to the next, just checking, checking in case something is happening. I watched tiny videos and maybe, occasionally, got distracted by the novel I am meant to be writing, which is due on 31 July. But the novel is boring, just a static Word doc on a screen, it’s not giving; it’s taking hard work. So I spend six minutes with my novel, and then it’s time to go back to my phone, to circle the roundabout visiting all my icons again, like a demented Stations of the Cross, because I can’t focus, I just can’t focus on work right now when there is so much good scrolling to do …

TSA PreCheck offers discount to younger travelers. Here's what to know.

TSA is trying to encourage young travelers to enroll in its PreCheck program before summer travel kicks off.

Sticking with same players for Women’s T20 World Cup leaves England in a twist | Raf Nicholson

Conservative selection policy reinforces perception that some are undroppable, no matter how bad the results

Insanity, they say, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. England’s head coach, Charlotte Edwards, is perfectly sane, but on Tuesday she announced a squad for the home T20 World Cup that starts on 12 June almost exactly the same as the one that surrendered the Ashes, by a score of 16-0, 15 months ago. The optics are dreadful.

For anyone who has followed England closely over the past year, the conservatism of Edwards and her selection panel comes as no surprise. Last summer, the main selection news was that Kate Cross – who did not play in the Ashes due to injury – was discarded. Edwards awarded one new cap, to Em Arlott, who was also the only new face in the squad Edwards took to India in October.

Former Attorney General Bondi to testify about Epstein on May 29 before House panel

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subpoenaed former Attorney General Pam Bondi in March.

Mystery ‘El Money’ figure offered to pay men to set fire to property linked to Starmer, court hears

Three defendants deny plotting arson attack on two homes and a car connected to prime minister in London last year

A series of arson attacks on property linked to Keir Starmer was masterminded by a Russian-speaking contact using the pseudonym “El Money”, a court has heard.

Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Petro Pochynok, 35, both from Ukraine, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, a Romanian national, sat with their heads bent towards interpreters as Duncan Atkinson KC, prosecuting, opened the trial over the arson attacks that took place in May last year.

Senate Banking Committee advances Kevin Warsh's nomination for Fed chair

Senators voted along partisan lines, with Republicans backing Warsh's nomination to lead the Fed and Democrats on the panel opposing him.

United Arab Emirates announces it's leaving OPEC

The UAE says it will leave OPEC, amid tensions with Saudi Arabia and the chaos of the Iran war.

Britain to create joint naval force with nine European countries as ‘complement’ to Nato

Royal Navy chief says unified naval force will deter future Russian threats from the ‘open sea border’ to the north

Britain has agreed to create a unified naval force with nine European countries to deter future Russian threats from the “open sea border” to the north, the head of the Royal Navy has announced.

Gen Sir Gwyn Jenkins said that despite the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, where the strait of Hormuz remains closed after the US-Israeli war in Iran, “Russia remains the gravest threat to our security”.

Bondi to testify in House panel's Epstein probe as Democrats threaten contempt

The deposition was announced moments after Democrats said they filed a civil contempt resolution against Bondi.

Supreme Court calls Louisiana's House map an 'unconstitutional racial gerrymander'

The court kept Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act intact, but the decision all but guts a landmark law that came out of the Civil Rights Movement and protected the collective voting power of racial minorities when political maps are redrawn.

As Supreme Court weighs Trump's immigration policy, senior citizens join the fight

As the Supreme Court weighs the Trump administration's termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians, seniors are advocating for protections for their immigrant caregivers.

Greetings from Syria, where a postwar olive harvest offers a long-lost taste of home

In the warm sun, gathering handfuls of hard olives promised a taste of home that residents of a village in the Homs countryside had been missing for nearly 14 years of civil war.

How a company likened to a sex cult is lobbying Trump for pardons

OneTaste, a company in San Francisco that prosecutors likened to a sex cult, has embarked on a campaign to court allies of President Trump as it seeks pardons for its two convicted leaders, CBS News has learned.

‘We were stubborn teenagers. We didn’t want to be famous’: the inside story of Arctic Monkeys’ frenzied early years

In this extract from a new book on Sheffield’s musical history, Monkeys drummer Matt Helders and the cream of the city’s indie scene look back on the febrile mid-00s – from brilliant tunes to ‘brainless violence’

In 2005, enough of a storm seemed to be brewing in northern British indie music that NME tried to coin a new genre to encompass it all: New Yorkshire. “Forget LA, New York or London,” the feature read. “New Yorkshire is the best new band scene in Britain.” The magazine lumped together a bunch of disparate bands such as Sheffield’s Arctic Monkeys, the Long Blondes, Milburn, Harrisons and Bromheads Jacket, along with a Leeds and Wakefield bunch comprised of Kaiser Chiefs, the Cribs, Black Wire, the Research, ¡Forward, Russia!, the Ivories and the Sunshine Underground.

The New Yorkshire tag, though, had overlooked a fairly noticeable split in Sheffield at the time between the artier indie bands, often students, and the more traditional local indie outfits.

Starbucks raises full-year outlook as turnaround takes hold — despite higher gas prices

Starbucks' global same-store sales, which only includes cafes open at least a year, increased 6.2%, fueled by more visits to its locations.

U.S. airlines are hiking fares — and travelers keep booking

Executives say travelers keep booking despite big jumps in airfare as they seek to cover the cost of fuel.

South Africa deports Mugabe’s son for unrelated offences after employee shot at family home

Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe also fined after pleading guilty to immigration and firearms-related offences

Two months after an employee was shot in the back at the Mugabe family home in a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg, a South African court has fined and ordered the deportation of Robert Mugabe’s youngest son over two unrelated charges.

Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, 28, and his cousin Tobias Mugabe Matonhodze, 33, were initially both charged with attempted murder after the incident on 19 February.

The Trump team is quietly eliminating U.S. support for birth control abroad

Congress has allocated more than $500 million for family planning work internationally. The Trump administration hasn't spent it — and the consequences are already being felt.

What makes good ‘game feel’? These three titles have pinned it down perfectly

Pragmata, Saros and Vampire Crawler bring together aesthetics, responsiveness and creative opportunities in joyous ways that can’t be defined, only experienced

Game feel is one of the most elusive concepts in the glossary of interactive entertainment, at once perfectly clear and difficult to define. Obviously, it refers to what a game feels like to play, but where does that feeling come from? How does it manifest? Or consider it from a different angle. When the chef Samin Nosrat started her career at the renowned Chez Panisse in California, she began to understand that what diners really responded to in their food were four key factors – salt, fat, acid and heat – and how these elements interacted. This idea formed the basis of her bestselling cookbook. It perhaps also inspired a video game audio director to once compare game feel to eating a potato chip: the salt and fat are part of it but so are the crunch and the sensation of the chip dissolving in your mouth (pdf). Game feel is a combination of elements – the responsiveness of the controls, the intuitiveness of the action, the aesthetics of the world and the creative opportunities they engender – all coming together in the right quantities.

I’m thinking about this a lot right now, because three games released in the last few days illustrate the idea of good game feel beautifully. The first is Pragmata, Capcom’s sci-fi action adventure in which you explore an abandoned colony base with the help of a child-like android, who lets you hack robotic enemies, lowering their defences before you blast them to pieces. The hacking mini-game takes place on a grid with nodes that add power-ups to your hack attack. As you progress, you add new types of nodes, as well as new weapons, and the interplay between these elements is complex, multifaceted and fun. This takes place in a linear world filled with hidden areas, so exploration is guided but discovery is possible. You run, jump and glide – it all feels seamless. It is joyous simply to be there.

Giving and misgivings: opera managers must choose their poison

Opera needs big money: opera chiefs need big donors. New York’s Metropolitan Opera has just lost a $200m investment, but should it have accepted it in the first place?

Opera’s stories of power aren’t only played out on stage. The mechanics of producing opera involve vast amounts of people, from set builders to wig-makers to chorus and orchestra, and even vaster amounts of money. An opera company needs huge reservoirs of cash: whether from governments, companies donating for tax benefits, or private individuals whose motivations may be entirely driven by sheer love of the form, or they might not. The Royal Opera House named a hall after the American investment banker Alberto Vilar who promised the company £10m, before being convicted and imprisoned for fraud in 2010, while the Sackler family’s millions sponsored swathes of culture across the US and UK – but the source of this wealth gave the world an opioid epidemic.

So pity the poor opera house manager, trying to deal with an essentially insoluble situation: choose your donors, choose your poison. And pity especially Peter Gelb, who has been running the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the world’s biggest opera house, for the past two decades. Gelb faces in extremis the same hard economic truth that all opera houses, classical music institutions and performing groups face. Unlike so many parts of the economy, the services they provide have not become – and cannot become – more efficient. It’s what is known as Baumol’s cost disease, a term coined by the economist William J Baumol in the 1960s. One of the examples he used to illustrate the “disease” was a string quartet. It took four players in 1800 – and still, today, takes four musicians. How stupidly inefficient! It’s the same story, only exponentially less efficient and more expensive, for putting on an opera. Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, one of the Met’s recent blockbuster productions, still needs an army of stage managers as well as orchestral musicians, it still requires gigantic sets and a stellar cast just as it did in 1865, all to fill the Met’s 4,000-seat auditorium.

Mystery Palestinian flag continues to fly high over Dublin as removal deemed too risky

No one has claimed responsibility for flag, which appeared on 120-metre Spire in September

What goes up must come down – unless it’s a Palestinian flag at the top of Dublin’s tallest monument that no one knows how to remove.

The flag appeared on the 120-metre Spire on O’Connell Street last September and for seven months it has defied every proposed measure to take it down. Who installed it and how remains a mystery.

The missing Ukrainian reporter, the Russian prison – and a vital lesson learned about journalism in a dangerous age | Laurent Richard

To do our job, investigative journalists are learning to work across borders. This isn’t just about the truth, it’s about staying alive

• Laurent Richard is a journalist and the director of the Forbidden Stories consortium

In February 2025, the body of journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was finally returned to Ukraine after months of uncertainty. She was one of 757 Ukrainian casualties handed over by Russian authorities as part of an exchange of prisoners and the dead.

Roshchyna had disappeared in the summer of 2023 while reporting from the Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine. When her body was examined, parts were missing: her eyeballs, her brain, her larynx – possibly removed to conceal the signs of how she died. Preliminary forensics suggest “numerous signs of torture”, according to the Ukrainian prosecutor.

Laurent Richard is a journalist and the director of the Forbidden Stories consortium

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‘It will never cover what’s authentic’: African music industry weighs up AI risks and rewards

Delegates at event in Cape Verde highlight opportunities from tech while stressing AI is no replacement for talent

Last July, the Nigerian singer-songwriter Fave found herself caught up in a viral moment: an unauthorised version of a track by her featuring an AI choir had been released, quickly becoming an internet sensation. To get ahead of the situation, she recorded her own remix that integrated the AI-assisted song and added it to her discography.

“In my view, [that] was smart and very business aware,” Oyinkansola Fawehinmi, a Lagos-based entertainment lawyer, observed a few months later. “She essentially reclaimed the ‘AI version’ and released it as her own official expression.”

FCC orders early review of ABC broadcast licenses after latest Trump-Kimmel clash

The FCC has ordered an early review of the broadcast licenses for eight local stations owned by ABC. The move comes after President Trump and first lady Melania Trump demanded ABC fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. Ed O'Keefe reports.

An Attenborough exhibition and a whale rescue: photos of the day – Wednesday

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

Ex-senior adviser at NIAID indicted over COVID-19 records

Dr. David Morens worked as a senior adviser to NIAID's Office of the Director from 2006 through 2022.

Supreme Court to weigh Trump's bid to end deportation shield for Haitians, Syrians

Today, the Supreme Court is set to consider the Department of Homeland Security's effort to terminate TPS both for Syria and Haiti.