‘Peace in Europe no longer default situation’, warns Czech president Petr Pavel – Europe live

European state officials are meeting in Prague to discuss the state of the transatlantic alliance at a global security conference

Just as Pavel was speaking in Prague, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy was pursuing escalation of the conflict between the two countries.

It’s quite a claim given (checks notes) Russia’s continued and relentless invasion of Ukraine for years.

“Ukraine has demonstrated not only determination and heroism, but also unbelievable capacity to adjust, to innovate, to change.

It is something that we in Europe have lost through many regulatory measures that are necessary in peacetime, but of course in conflict you have to be … flexible and achieve the results in shortest possible time. …

Lyme disease cases in England rise by more than 20% in a year

Scientists developing vaccines and anti-tick treatments amid growing concern over spread of disease

Cases of Lyme disease have risen more than 20% in England in the past year, public health experts have revealed, as pharmaceutical companies work to create new vaccines and drugs to tackle the tick-borne illness.

According to data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), published as part of its One Health vector-borne disease surveillance report, there were 1,168 laboratory-confirmed cases of Lyme disease in 2025, up from 959 in 2024 – an increase of 22%. However, the figure is similar to that recorded in 2023, when there were 1,151 confirmed cases.

‘I knew everyone here’: the tower block with 164 boarded-up homes – and a few residents who just won’t leave

Lund Point in east London was once ‘a beautiful community’, according to Tee Fabikun, who has lived there since 1997. Now just four flats are occupied. Why are Fabikun and her friends hanging on? And what happened to the long-promised redevelopment?

Tee Fabikun is sitting in an armchair in her cosy, homely flat, surrounded by her things – papers and letters, family photos, a few Nigerian handicrafts, a forest of houseplants by the window. She is telling me about her neighbours here on the fifth floor of Lund Point, a tower block on the Carpenters estate in Stratford, east London. Next door there’s “a grumpy old man”; well, she thought he was a grumpy old man, but then she saw him in the lift with his granddaughter and he was sweet with her, so maybe he’s not so bad. “There’s always two sides.”

In the next flat along is a young couple who met in the building, maybe in that lift. She was living on a higher floor, but moved down and in with him when they got married, and rented out her place. Then there’s a Bangladeshi family who only speak a little English. Fabikun’s first contact with them was when their daughter knocked on the door holding out an exercise book and just said “homework”; after that Fabikun would often help with her studies. And so on. And it’s not just her immediate neighbours on the fifth floor that Tee knows; she knows pretty much everyone in the 21-storey block.

From Lord of the Rings to Dua Lipa: Stephen Colbert’s 10 greatest Late Show moments

As the much-loved Late Show host says his final goodnight, a look back at his finest and funniest moments

‘He had a unique ability to be human’: late-night TV says goodbye to Stephen Colbert

This week marks the end of two distinctive eras of network television, as CBS’s The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will air its final episode. The show was created in 1993 by David Letterman after his controversial exit from NBC, and he held the reins for 22 years before retiring and turning the show over to Colbert, who had risen to prominence on Comedy Central as a member of The Daily Show, and then later host of his own political talkshow, The Colbert Report.

Colbert’s run on the Late Show would last 11 years. Last July, CBS shocked everyone by announcing the show’s cancellation, with the final episode to air on 21 May. Although executives claimed the decision was purely financial – even with Late Show holding the best ratings for any late-night talkshow for nine years running – many saw it as a political gesture towards Donald Trump ahead of an $8bn merger between CBS’s parent company, Paramount, and Skydance.

Haaland’s Norway to Ronaldo’s swansong: Who are the most likely first-time World Cup winners?

Eight nations have won the World Cup. An expanded field and a grueling schedule means a new champion could emerge from the pack this summer

When Fifa expanded the field for the 2026 World Cup to 48 teams, the sales pitch included giving more nations a chance at glory. In reality, the favorites are nearly always former champions.

To date, only eight nations have won the men’s World Cup. And yet, few of the former champions arrive at this summer’s tournament in their finest form. Spain are a justifiably popular pick as the reigning European champions have plenty of world-class talent. Argentina will hope to defend their title from 2022 after following it up with the Copa América in 2024. France, who top our power rankings, have reached the last two finals, and Kylian Mbappé claims this squad is the best he has been a part of.

TSA's new 'Gold+' program looks to increase private security screening at airports

The agency calls the program an update to the Screening Partnership Program, in which 20 U.S. airports currently use private security screeners rather than federal workers.

These are retirees' 5 biggest financial fears

Retirees say inflation, health care costs and market volatility are threatening their financial security.

Wes Streeting calls for equal tax on income and capital gains in Labour leadership pitch

MP says current system is unfair and his idea would result in a ‘wealth tax that works’

• UK politics live – latest updates

The former health secretary Wes Streeting has set out plans for a “wealth tax that works”, by equalising tax on assets and income.

Streeting said the current system – in which capital gains tax is generally much lower than income tax – was not fair and penalised work.

Morning news brief

Republicans work to pass reconciliation bill but ballroom money may get left out, Trump says Gulf allies persuaded him not to resume attacks on Iran, U.S. indicts Cuba's former President Raúl Castro.

Rachel Reeves tells foul-mouthed Reform UK heckler good manners matter

Chancellor wins support from Conservative Mel Stride, while Nigel Farage says he would ‘like to buy man a pint’

• UK politics live – latest updates

Rachel Reeves surprised onlookers when she gave a stern rebuke to a foul-mouthed heckler who shouted at her from his van as she conducted a broadcast interview.

However, the chancellor has won support from unlikely sources, with Conservative politicians backing her response.

EasyJet summer holiday bookings down on last year amid Iran war uncertainty

Budget airline, which took £25m hit on jet fuel in March, says passengers are waiting later to book trips

• Business live – latest updates

The budget airline easyJet has said its summer holiday bookings are lagging behind last year as the Iran war weights on consumer confidence and has left passengers waiting later to book trips.

The carrier said it had to spend an unexpected extra £25m on jet fuel in March after the start of the US and Israel’s war on Iran.

‘It was much more gritty than the US scene’: UK skateboarding in the 80s and 90s – in pictures

Flying from roofs or grinding on car spoilers, the skaters at the spectacular birth of a UK subculture are captured in Neil Macdonald’s book Elsewhere

Hen review – plucky chicken beats the odds in weirdly uplifting survival story

In a feat of cinematic mystery and skill György Pálfi coaxes a tour de force from his poultry cast in this parable of animal and human interrelations

Hungarian film director György Pálfi has long been a one-off talent: a surrealist-formalist of sorts who is equally comfortable making a romantic film comprised of hundreds of clips from other movies (Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen), a sick-puppy black comedy about a taxidermist who adores cats (Taxidermia), and a near-silent, portrait of sinister village life in which one character has permanent hiccups (Hukkle). By comparison, his latest, Hen is practically mainstream. That is really saying something given it’s a film whose main character is a black-brown hen (played by about eight poultry thespians and not CGI) who quizzically observes a world where humans treat each other like, well, animals. Comparisons have inevitably been made to a couple of recent features with animal protagonists, such as Andrea Arnold’s Cow and Jerzy Skolimowski’s donkey-centric EO, but Hen is lighter and more amusing, if one can say that of a film that features an extended subplot about human trafficking with deadly consequences.

How Pálfi manages to pull this off is a cinematic mystery, but it probably has to do with his light tonal touch and his ability to truly empathise with his avian heroine without resorting to anthropomorphic sentimentalism. This hen acts much like a real chicken in that she combines shrewd survival instincts and utter gormlessness to a winning degree. For example, after surviving the Greek battery farm where she hatches (a wee black speck in a sea of yellow chicks), she manages to escape the clutches of a trucker who plans to make dinner out of her. Just when you think she has found safety, a fox (amazingly well trained, and also not CGI as far as I can tell) starts stalking her, chasing her into a busy road where the chicken literally crosses the road with the blithe idiocy that makes chickens so adorable. The fox isn’t so lucky. Incidentally, the film does have a disclaimer at the end averring that no animals were harmed during the making of the movie, which is a relief.

Iran reviews U.S. peace proposal as Trump says he’s willing to wait 'a few days'

It comes after President Donald Trump said he was prepared to wait a few more days to "get the right answers" from Tehran.

Louis Vuitton revives Keith Haring collaboration at lavish New York show

Nicolas Ghesquière’s latest collection pairs uptown elegance with downtown pop culture and street style

The allure of travelling in style helped make Louis Vuitton the biggest luxury house in the world, and no expense was spared for a trip to New York to showcase Nicolas Ghesquière’s latest collection.

The first model stepped on to the catwalk carrying a 100-year-old Louis Vuitton suitcase on which the artist Keith Haring had doodled several of his signature grooving stick figures in 1984. Prised from the Vuitton archives, the case heralded a collaboration with Haring’s estate that will include the classic LV Speedy handbag reissued with the artist’s dancing babies and barking dogs.

Detroit-bound flight diverted over passenger from Congo amid Ebola restrictions

An Air France flight from Paris to Detroit was forced to divert to Montreal due to U.S. flight restrictions linked to the Ebola outbreak.

Enhanced Games explained: sport’s most controversial event unpacked

Why are the Enhanced Games, taking place in Las Vegas this weekend, so contentious, and how have governing bodies have responded to the event?

‘People say there are no words, but there are thousands’: Liz Lawrence on making a new kind of grief album after her sister’s death

When her sibling died in an accident the singer-songwriter sought comfort in music. But after finding that the most celebrated records about loss were angry, loud and male, she set about creating something very different

In the months after her sister’s death, singer-songwriter Liz Lawrence couldn’t even listen to music, let alone play it. “I was very much, ‘That’s in the past and I don’t know what’s going to be asked of me now,’” she says. “I didn’t think about my work. I wasn’t interested. I didn’t have any appetite for it.” After slowly gravitating back to music via female vocalists such as Lisa O’Neill, Adrianne Lenker and Joanna Newsom, and as the time afforded to grieving was squeezed out by a life still ongoing, Lawrence realised she needed songs that allowed her to return to that “space of contemplation, reflection and sadness”.

She quickly searched out a Reddit thread of the best grief albums of all time, only to find a lengthy list of very specific rock and metal records chiefly made by men. “I was just looking for open and frank sadness,” she says, as opposed to the anger broiling within the suggested albums. That plain-speaking despair permeates Lawrence’s beautiful fifth album, Vespers, an unvarnished tribute to elder sister Jessie, who died suddenly in 2024 following an accident while on holiday with her partner and two small children in Ireland.

You be the judge: should my husband stop telling me how to mop the floor?

Martin is happy to vacuum and cook but says Deidre’s mopping technique just spreads germs. You decide whose argument doesn’t scrub up

• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

What gets to me is that whenever I get the mop out, instead of helping, Martin criticises me

Officers who defended Capitol from rioters sue to block payouts from fund

Two police officers who helped defend the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot are suing to block anyone from receiving payouts from a new settlement fund.

Ex-prosecutor charged with sending to herself report on Trump classified probe

The former prosecutor faces federal charges over allegations that she sent a report on Jack Smith's investigation into President Trump's hoarding of classified documents to her personal email account.

Stephen Sondheim by Daniel Okrent review – a superb biography of the musical master

Packed with gossip and incident, this book is also a fascinating study in the gestation of genius

Among the many great pleasures of Daniel Okrent’s new biography of Stephen Sondheim – a book perfectly weighted between the gossipy and erudite – is its rendering of the milieu beyond its immediate subject. You come for the biography and stay for the world of mid-20th-century New York, in which Leonard Bernstein says terrible things about Sweeney Todd (“disgusting”), Sondheim says terrible things about Barbra Streisand (“doesn’t have one sincere moment left inside her”), and Arthur Laurents says terrible things about everyone. In the early 2000s, during a particularly poisonous exchange of letters between Laurents and Sondheim, the latter told his old collaborator, “you’re just good enough to know you’re mediocre”.

The entire book is sheer delight and Okrent, formerly an editor at the New York Times and a baseball fanatic who effectively invented the modern fantasy baseball league, does a terrific job of telling Sondheim’s life story alongside shrewd analysis of his body of work. We meet Sondheim’s mother, known as Foxy, whom the writer and composer made an elaborate play of hating his entire life and who Okrent brings to life in order to get behind that particular performance.

Weird Britain: 10 glorious oddities to visit and marvel at

Eccentric public art, strange ruins, eerie landscapes, follies … Britain has a rich store of curiosities. An enthusiast selects 10 of the quirkiest finds from his new book

One thing unites the British more than anything else. It stands there in plain sight but is rarely spoken about. We may try to hide it; we may not admit it to ourselves; but under the surface, deep down, in the nicest possible way, we are all a little odd. Not in a sinister way, just eccentric, weird, unpredictable and downright wonderful. As a nation we have an artistic and creative zest and boffin-like inventiveness. In fields of innovation, we led the tech world with some of our brave and crazy inventions. Even our landscapes are damn weird, with some of the oldest, most mysterious and diverse geological oddities in Europe, and plentiful legends too. I spent years exploring the enchanting strangeness of Britain, discovering follies, eccentric public art, strange buildings, mysterious ruins and eerie landscapes for my Weird Guide, which features about 300 of these curiosities. Here are some of my favourites.

Dublin gangland figure brings extremist views to Irish mainstream on campaign trail

Gerry ‘the monk’ Hutch has won fans in north Dublin byelection campaign with anti-immigrant rhetoric

Elaine Roe, 61, a cafe worker, has no doubt what is the most important issue in this week’s byelection for Dublin’s north inner city. “The government is wrecking our country, they’re bringing in rapists and murderers and kidnappers. It’s a shame. I might vote Hutch, he seems a normal person.”

That would be Gerry “the monk” Hutch, a prominent gangland figure who is running as an independent in an election that is far from normal. The 63-year-old – who was jailed for robbery convictions in his youth – is a celebrity candidate in a contest for a parliamentary seat that has been dominated by xenophobia and immigration.

Diabolic review – Mormon-country horror takes ayahuasca down to the creepy cellar

Underground doors and regression therapy – it sounds like a can’t miss for the genre, but the knockout blow is never delivered

Though it features few recognisable faces, this Australian-shot, US-set indie horror displays a core competency that gets it some of the way to where it’s heading – only to collapse in the final reels into the usual hacky manoeuvres. Ten years after fleeing a fundamentalist branch of the Latter-day Saints, snub-nosed artist heroine Elise (Elizabeth Cullen) has started shunning the attentions of boyfriend Adam (John Kim), instead obsessively digging holes in the couple’s back garden and trashing the living room in the middle of the night. Could it have something to do with the grimy cellar door she feels compelled to paint, or the traumatic baptism we witness in a pre-title sequence? What are the chances?

For somewhere between half and two-thirds of its running time, we’re watching a diagnostic case study: Elise and close pals return to Mormon country – more specifically, the in-no-way ironically named hamlet of Haventon – to undergo a regression therapy involving an ayahuasca variant; this will strike anyone as ill-advised even before an actual cellar door is uncovered outside and everybody starts throwing up. (Cue the especially dreadful line: “She must have torn internally.”) Thereafter, flashbacks reveal what’s been suppressed or concealed: the younger Elise’s growing closeness to the bishop’s daughter Clara (Luca Sardelis) would seem to indicate our girl isn’t possessed, merely bisexual.

Tentacles, pointy teeth and the T-rex of the sea: the Natural History Museum on beasts that once ruled the oceans

A new exhibition, Jurassic Oceans, showcases the fearsome creatures that lurked below the surface – and offers a stark warning about the impact of warming waters on marine ecosystems today

Deep in the bowels of the Natural History Museum, Kate Whittington is standing in front of the skeleton of a 23ft plesiosaur, one of prehistoric Earth’s most fearsome marine reptiles, explaining how it would eat us for dinner, were it still around today.

“Its long neck allowed its head to get a head start on its body,” says the museum’s exhibition and interpretation manager. “So it could sneak up on prey and grab it [with its mouth] before its body and flippers created a disturbance in the water.”

Have no doubt: the campaign to sack Misan Harriman is part of an assault on black figures in public life | Afua Hirsch

The move against the boss of London’s Southbank Centre sends a forbidding message about who is and isn’t seen as fit to lead in UK culture

I met Tommy Robinson once. It was 10 years ago exactly, during one of his many failed attempts to mainstream Islamophobia in British politics with a new “movement” called Pegida – a copycat of Germany’s far-right Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West.

There was little memorable about this “launch”, which as a social affairs editor for Sky News I was sent to cover, only to discover a pitiful gathering of a few blokes at a pub near Luton. The thing that does stand out in my memory is what Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, said to me. “It’s the Muslims that are a problem,” he said. “But you’re all right. You speak English. You’re like us.”

Thursday news quiz: Eurovision winners, Tesla swimmers and Strictly zingers

Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?

Welcome to the Thursday news quiz, where once again, thanks to our winsome illustration by Anaïs Mims, you are being challenged by the swan of knowledge. Will you give the impression of serenely gliding through 15 questions on topical news, general knowledge and pop culture? Or will it charge out of the lake at you and break your arm? There are no prizes, but let us know how you got on in the comments. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 248

Toxic chemicals in pet flea treatments harming wildlife, UK study warns

Flea treatment chemicals fipronil and imidacloprid also implicated in lower cognitive scores in children with autism

Toxic chemicals found in pet flea treatment are devastating wildlife in rivers, parks and special conservation areas and the government should take urgent action to limit their use, according to a study.

Chemicals that are banned for use as pesticides but still used in liquid flea treatments are causing potentially irreversible harm to aquatic life as well as decimating birds and pollinators, according to the study published on Thursday.

‘Give every item a long life’: Vinted boss on how the site is moving beyond fashion

Having shaken up UK clothes retail, the secondhand marketplace is pushing into phones and cameras – and even books

Once the preserve of jumble sales and charity shops, “preloved” fashion and homewares are now leading style and shopping trends in the UK. After the rapid growth of online retail, Britain is now witnessing “the normalisation of secondhand”, according to Adam Jay, the chief executive of Vinted’s main marketplace arm – a key driver of the trend in recent years.

The UK is at the forefront of an international revolution, jostling for position with France to be Vinted’s biggest market, and is also one of its fastest growing markets, as the online marketplace moves beyond just selling clothes and into everything from smartphones and books to rugs.

Daycare owner charged with fraud tried to flee U.S. after closing center, prosecutors say

New fraud charges were unsealed Wednesday against a Minnesota daycare owner who federal prosecutors allege tried to flee the country just two days after shutting the center down.

AI will help make a Nobel prize-winning discovery within a year, says Anthropic co-founder

Jack Clark describes ‘vertiginous sense of progress’ and ‘profound changes’ to society alongside risks of technology

An AI system will work with humans to make a Nobel prize-winning discovery within 12 months and tradespeople will be helped by bipedal robots in two years, according to the co-founder of Anthropic.

Jack Clark described a “vertiginous sense of progress” in the technology and made a series of predictions, including that companies run solely by AIs would be generating millions of dollars in revenue within 18 months, and that by the end of 2028, AI systems would be able to design their own successors.

‘The devil’s child’: the rise and fall of the only female yakuza

Mako Nishimura fought her way into the Japanese underworld, but drug addiction and the slow demise of organised crime gangs almost destroyed her

In almost 40 years, Mako Nishimura never lost a fight. She told me this as if it were as obvious as night following day. Nishimura is 5ft-nothing and slight of build. She is also probably the only woman ever to have been a full-fledged yakuza, a member of Japan’s feared and rule-bound criminal underworld. She must have defeated many male gangsters. How, I asked her, did she do it? “First the legs,” she said, hands clasped, maintaining the calm demeanour of a village priest. “You cut him down with a club or a plank of wood.” Then you get to work.

Nishimura’s relaxed attitude to violence – you suspect, speaking to her, that it’s a little more than that – is what first caught the attention of yakuza members in 1986, when she was a 19-year-old runaway and former juvenile-prison inmate living in Gifu, a city near Nagoya. One night that year, Nishimura received a phone call. A pregnant friend named Aya was in trouble. Nishimura grabbed a baseball bat, ran down the street and found Aya surrounded by five men. When one of them kicked Aya in the belly, Nishimura yelled for her friend to run, then went for the attackers with her bat.

How often should you go to the toilet? How can you get the better of wind? Experts’ tips for a healthier gut

The more we learn about the gut, the more we realise how central it is to health. Here are 16 ways to look after it, from making sure we get enough fibre to not taking phones to the loo

“Our gut is a complex machine,” says Dr Ajay Verma, a consultant gastroenterologist at Kettering general hospital in Northamptonshire. “It is constantly providing us with the nutrition we need, initially to grow and develop, and then for us to survive, thrive and repair from injury and illness.” How can we keep it functioning well? Put simply: “Make sure what you put into it is balanced, and that you clear out its waste products adequately,” says Verma.

Can a name change transform PCOS outcomes for women? – podcast

After more than a decade of global consultation, polycystic ovary syndrome – which affects as many as one in eight women – has been renamed. The condition is caused by high levels of androgens, which can lead to symptoms such as excess hair, weight gain and irregular periods. To understand why campaigners wanted it renamed, and what its new name – polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) – could mean for patients, Madeleine Finlay hears from the Guardian’s science correspondent, Nicola Davis, and Rachel, a campaigner from the charity Verity

‘Unprecedented’ global effort leads to renaming of polycystic ovary syndrome – and fresh hope for millions of women

Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod

Sánchez is loved everywhere – but not so much in Spain, say Andalusia’s voters. Can he pull off another comeback? | María Ramírez

In a hyper-partisan atmosphere the PM’s party was defeated in Spain’s most populous region – and with a general election in 2027, time is short to turn things round

Lately, I often meet people outside Spain who praise the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez. In Britain, Italy or the US, friends, acquaintances or random people who learn I am Spanish offer admiring words about his positions on Gaza and Iran. It’s understandable.

Sánchez spoke out against Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump earlier and more forcefully than most European leaders did, with a powerful message on international law. And the Spanish leader has been one of the clearest and most effective advocates for immigration in one of the fastest-growing countries in the west.

María Ramírez is a journalist and deputy managing editor of elDiario.es, a news outlet in Spain

While rightwing Australia scapegoats immigrants, the country directly benefits from our skills and labour | Zoya Patel

The idea that Australia is being mobbed by selfish foreigners is both entirely untrue and impossible

I’m an immigrant. If you subscribe to the common rhetoric in mainstream news, and coming out of the mouths of rightwing politicians, my very existence here in Australia is in direct opposition to the success of “ordinary” (meaning white) Australians.

Angus Taylor’s budget reply speech last week reinforced the widely held belief that Australia is being swarmed by immigrants, coming to take the jobs, housing and culture of white Australians who automatically are prescribed a right to be here, as if they didn’t arrive by boat or plane at some point, too.

UN backs historic climate crisis ruling, despite US attempts to stop resolution

The US, Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia – some of the highest oil-producing nations and major greenhouse gas emitters – opposed the measure

The UN has voted 141-8 to adopt a resolution backing a world court opinion that countries have a legal obligation to address climate change, with the US – which is the world’s biggest historical emitter – among the small group opposing it.

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said Wednesday’s general assembly vote, in which 28 countries abstained, underscored that governments are responsible for protecting citizens from the “escalating climate crisis”.

SpaceX files for IPO as rocket company preps for market debut

Elon Musk's SpaceX is moving ahead with plans to go public in what some expect will be the biggest IPO ever.

Trump claims he will speak to Taiwan’s president, departing from decades-long diplomatic norms

US and Taiwanese presidents have not spoken directly since Washington shifted diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979

Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would speak to Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te, an unprecedented move for a US leader that could roil US relations with China.

“I’ll speak to him,” the US president told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before boarding Air Force One when asked about Lai. “I speak to everybody … We’ll work on that, the Taiwan problem.”

DOJ veterans fear probe into ex-CIA director is being stacked with Trump loyalists

Former CIA Director John Brennan is the subject of two criminal probes being led by the Miami-area U.S. Attorney's Office.

Papua New Guinea warns against fishing in New Ireland after mystery deaths of marine life

Initial testing found evidence of metals in water samples, months after province’s residents began reporting unusual numbers of dead fish washing ashore

Papua New Guinea’s government has warned communities not to fish from parts of the New Ireland coastline as preliminary tests show evidence of metals in some water samples, after months of residents reporting dead marine life in the area.

On 7 May the fisheries minister, Jelta Wong, said initial testing conducted by an independent company detected various metals in water samples taken from affected areas around Kafkaf village and Larairu lagoon in New Ireland, an island in eastern PNG.

DHS to tighten Ebola-related flight restrictions for some foreign travelers

The Department of Homeland Security is set to implement new entry restrictions beginning Thursday for foreign travelers coming to the U.S. from countries at the center of the latest Ebola outbreak.

5/20: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Breaking down Tuesday's primaries as another Republican who broke with Trump falters; U.S. indicts Raúl Castro.

The Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks warn us we must be better prepared if we are to prevent the next pandemic | Helen Clark

Surveillance that misses a haemorrhagic fever or fails to consider endemic risks at a departure port will be blind to something far more dangerous

• Vaccine to tackle Ebola outbreak will take six to nine months, WHO says

Two rare disease outbreaks within two weeks – Andes hantavirus and Bundibugyo Ebola – have caused deaths and triggered costly international responses. Together they expose a gap not in our ability to respond, but in our willingness to anticipate, prevent and use precaution.

The hantavirus outbreak on a cruise expedition in the south Atlantic played out slowly. Three weeks passed between the death of one passenger on 11 April and the linkage to hantavirus on 2 May. In that time, passengers onboard the MV Hondius continued their itinerary, having been advised that the man had probably died of natural causes. They toured remote islands and ate together at the same tables. More than 30 passengers disembarked at St Helena and flew in different directions.

"Patriotic Kenny": The Navy vet who donated mobility scooters to other veterans (2022)

"Patriotic Kenny," the social media star known for spreading positivity and raising money for veterans, has died at 84. Kenny Jary joined Steve Hartman on Nov. 11, 2022, to discuss his mission.

‘If she didn’t have us, she would be toast’: a New Zealand mother’s fight to free her daughter from ICE detention

Everlee Wihongi was detained at Los Angeles airport on 10 April after she had returned to US from a family trip

There have been numerous disturbing moments during New Zealander Everlee Wihongi’s ongoing detention in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but there is one that stands out, her mother says.

When detainees are transferred between facilities they are required to remove their assigned uniforms and put on the clothes they wore the day they were detained, Betty Wihongi, tells the Guardian from Wisconsin, her home of nearly 30 years.

Trump envoy says it’s time for US to ‘put its footprint back on Greenland’, during visit to Arctic territory

Jeff Landry’s visit has proved controversial, with the territory’s PM saying there was no sign ‘anything has changed’ in the US position

The US special envoy to Greenland has said it’s time for Washington “to put its footprint back” on the Arctic island, as he wound up his first visit to the island since his appointment in December 2025.

Donald Trump has repeatedly argued that the US needs to control Greenland – a Danish autonomous territory – because of national security concerns, claiming that if it does not, the island risks falling into the hands of China or Russia.

Relentless wind-fueled wildfires burn across Southern California

A series of relentless wildfires fueled by powerful winds and dry conditions impacted communities across Southern California for a third consecutive day on Wednesday. Matt Gutman reports from the fire zone near Simi Valley, north of Los Angeles, and Rob Marciano has the forecast.

High gas prices drive Georgia man to create a "mini car," costing about $3 to fill up

In response to high gas prices, 30-year-old Mali Hightower, a handyman near Atlanta, said he created a "mini car" that costs about $3 to fill up. Tony Dokoupil has the story.

Vanessa Trump announces breast cancer diagnosis

Vanessa Trump, 48, was married to Donald Trump Jr. for 12 years. They share five children together.

U.S. intel community analyzing how Cuba might respond to military action

These kinds of intelligence forecasts attempt not only to show the immediate consequences of an American action, but the chain of reactions that may follow.

Vanessa Trump announces breast cancer diagnosis

Vanessa Trump announced on Instagram that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is working with her doctors on a treatment plan.

TikTok star accused of plotting to murder former boy band singer amid custody battle

A social media influencer and her father are accused of plotting to kill her famous singer ex, amid a bitter years-long custody dispute, court documents show. Jonathan Vigliotti is following the case.

Hybrid car explodes, catches fire in New York City

A car near Wall Street in New York City burst into flames on Tuesday night. Tom Hanson has an update from lower Manhattan.

Israeli security minister stirs diplomatic outrage with flotilla activist abuse video

Far-right figure Itamar Ben-Gvir shares footage of himself taunting bound international detainees

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has sparked a diplomatic crisis by publishing footage of Israeli security forces abusing international activists who were detained as they tried to sail to Gaza with aid.

Three activists were taken to hospital as result of Israeli violence, lawyers representing the group said. They were subsequently discharged. Dozens of others have suspected broken ribs, resulting in breathing problems.

Trump flexes political muscle in Republican primary races

President Trump's favored candidates won their primaries on Tuesday night and his Republican critics did not. But the president's approval ratings continue to slip, now just six months out from the midterm elections. Weijia Jiang reports.

Justice Department indicts Raúl Castro as Trump threatens a "friendly takeover" of Cuba

President Trump said that the U.S. is "freeing up Cuba" after the Justice Department indicted its former leader, Raúl Castro, on charges including murder. Margaret Brennan has the details.

Sinkhole opens near LaGuardia runway ahead of Memorial Day weekend

A record 45 million Americans are preparing to travel over Memorial Day weekend. Kris Van Cleave reports on dramatic incidents creating headaches for people at airports and on the rails ahead of the travel weekend.

Congress is best chance to stop Trump 'lawfare' fund, attorneys say

The Department of Justice has set up a $1.8 billion fund that will purportedly compensate victims of prosecutorial overreach under the Biden administration.

Voters across parties believe UK net migration is rising despite sharp drop

Study, published as latest migration figures are released, shows incorrect perceptions driving immigration debate

People mistakenly believe net migration is rising in Britain despite figures dropping to their lowest level in years, a leading thinktank has found.

New research from British Future, published ahead of latest government figures on migration, has revealed a chasm between reality and public perception of net migration, with a substantial portion of the public believing it has increased, despite figures showing a sharp fall.

‘We are not going to stop’: Emery urges Aston Villa to set sights on Europe’s elite

• Manager relishes ‘challenge’ of Champions League return

• Emi Martínez reveals he played game with broken finger

For Aston Villa, the Europa League must only be the beginning, Unai Emery insisted after winning the trophy for a fifth time. Beating Freiburg 3-0 on Wednesday evening brought Villa’s first major piece silverware since the League Cup in 1996, but Emery is determined this should not be the summit of their achievements. He again rejected the tag of “king of the Europa League”, preferring to focus on “now” and, by implication, the future.

“Next year we will play in Champions League and this is the challenge,” the Aston Villa manager said. “The best teams in the world are there and it will challenge us a lot. The Premier League is the most difficult league in the world. To be fighting top seven, top five, top four is something very difficult. Hopefully we can be close with teams like City and Arsenal.

SpaceX reveals plan for $1.75tn stock market debut that could make Musk a trillionaire

Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite operations company, with extensive contracts with US, to go public next month

SpaceX unveiled its plans to list publicly on the US stock market Wednesday, disclosing its investor prospectus and revealing details about its financials for the first time. Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite operations company will go public on the Nasdaq exchange at a valuation of about $1.75tn under the symbol SPCX, likely on 12 June. It is seeking up to $80bn in investment.

The company, which is the world’s most prominent rocket maker and which has extensive contracts with the US government, confidentially filed for an IPO last month. The filing allowed for a period of regulatory review before the details became public.

US indicts former Cuban president Raúl Castro as it seeks to oust regime

Charges filed in Miami against 94-year-old for allegedly shooting down exiles’ planes in 1996

The United States issued a federal criminal indictment against Raúl Castro, Cuba’s former president, and five others on Wednesday in a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign to oust the country’s six-decades-old communist regime.

The 94-year-old political figurehead was charged in Miami, Florida, with conspiracy to kill US nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destruction of aircraft.

GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy takes digs at Trump, urging renewed unity in politics

Cassidy, who lost his reelection bid last week, called for leaders who are "steady, not erratic" and "thoughtful, not impulsive."

Intuit plans to cut workforce by about 17% as tax software maker reckons with slowing growth

Intuit's stock has been hammered this year as investors worry that generative artificial intelligence models could threaten software companies.

5/20: CBS Evening News

Sinkhole opens near LaGuardia runway ahead of Memorial Day weekend; Relentless wind-fueled wildfires burn across Southern California.

The Man I Love review – Rami Malek needs a lighter touch in Ira Sachs’ 80s Aids drama

Cannes film festival: Sachs’ film about an HIV-positive actor in the homophobic Reagan-era 80s is well-intended, but Malek’s mannered performance is hard to love

This film from writer-director Ira Sachs gives us premium-strength, undiluted Rami Malek – but I have to say that his overripe performance and self-conscious mannerisms here are perhaps even more oppressively insistent for being conveyed relatively quietly in spoken dialogue. And not quietly at all in the singing scenes. Malek is a performer whose style is as distinctive as those of John Malkovich or Jeff Goldblum. But it works best with a light touch in the direction and material. Things never really come together here.

The Man I Love is a film about gay culture in 1980s New York, at the height of the reactionary homophobia of Reagan’s America, with HIV-positive men coming to terms with their condition and with the callous bigotry of the political zeitgeist. In one hospital scene, we see the authorities’ icily unsympathetic attitude. Malek plays Jimmy George, a much admired and charismatic actor and performance artist in New York who has just emerged from a three-week stay in hospital after a life-threatening HIV-related crisis. Now he is starring in a new stage piece based on André Brassard’s 1974 film Once Upon a Time in the East, playing the stormy and defiant Hélène, who sings with a band.

Bezos defends billionaires, hypes AI, talks taxes and praises Trump in CNBC interview

Jeff Bezos rejected accusations that Amazon's decision to release a documentary on first lady Melania Trump was an effort to curry favor with the president.

‘We will not go back to Jim Crow’: thousand of Mississippians rally for voting rights

Demonstration, held at historic location where the ‘Mississippi Plan’ was enacted, comes as southern states race to dilute Black voting power

Thousands of Mississippians, along with allies from other southern states, gathered at the state’s War Memorial Building auditorium on Wednesday in support of voting rights. It was the latest in a series of actions protesting the supreme court’s recent decision gutting the provision of the Voting Rights Act preventing racial discrimination, and held on a site integral to the state’s history of Black disenfranchisement.

Section 2 “stopped states, counties, cities, from passing redistricting maps that discriminate against Black voters and it led to the biggest growth of Black political power since Reconstruction”, said Amir Badat, the southern states director at the voting rights group Fair Fight Action.

Byron Allen on "Comics Unleashed" as it moves to new time slot on CBS

Comedian and media mogul Byron Allen brings "Comics Unleashed" to CBS's late night slot, replacing "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert."

Jan. 6 police officers sue Trump to block $1.8B 'lawfare' fund

The Department of Justice agreed to create the fund to settle a $10 billion lawsuit by President Trump over the leak of his tax records by an IRS employee.

Alice Capsey finds swagger to give England T20 series lead against New Zealand

• 1st T20i: England, 140-3, bt New Zealand, 136-7, by 7wkts

• Capsey finishes unbeaten on 74 with 16 balls remaining

England got off to a winning start in their T20 series against New Zealand at Derby, after Alice Capsey struck an unbeaten 74 from 51 balls – her highest score for England and her first T20i half-century since July 2024.

Capsey has generally batted at No 3 for England but was promoted to open in place of Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who is missing this series because of the imminent birth of her first child. Capsey made full use of the extra time, smoking three sixes and seven fours as England chased down their 137-run target with seven wickets and 16 balls to spare.

Highest gas prices in years expected to continue rising this summer

U.S. motorists are likely to face even hotter gas prices as the summer driving season kicks off, according to a new analysis.

Bolivia rocked by protests as US warns of ‘coup d’état’

Clashes between demonstrators and police in La Paz have entered second week, shaking centre-right president

Protests blocking roads across Bolivia and turning the centre of the capital, La Paz, into a battleground between demonstrators and police have entered a second week.

It is the most turbulent moment of the centre-right president Rodrigo Paz Pereira’s mere six months in office since he ended nearly two decades of rule by the leftwing Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas).

Tennessee man jailed over Charlie Kirk post wins $835,000 settlement

Larry Bushart was jailed for 37 days over a Facebook post after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk

Tennessee officials will pay $835,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who was jailed for more than a month over a Facebook post he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

While many people across the US lost their jobs over social media comments about Kirk’s death, Larry Bushart’s case stood out as a rare instance in which such online speech led to criminal prosecution. The 61-year-old retired police officer spent 37 days behind bars before authorities dropped the felony charge against him in October.

Zuckerberg's Meta layoffs memo: 'Success isn't a given' in the AI era

Meta on Wednesday commenced its latest round of layoffs, which affect about 10% of the company's workforce or roughly 8,000 jobs.

Aaron Rodgers says 2026 will be his final NFL season: ‘This is it’

• Four-time MVP agreed to one-year deal with Steelers

• Rodgers is reuniting with ex-Packers coach McCarthy

Aaron Rodgers has said that the 2026 season will be the final one of his NFL career.

“Yes. This is it,” the Steelers quarterback told reporters in Pittsburgh on Wednesday when asked if the upcoming campaign would be his last.

DOJ charges ex-prosecutor with stealing Trump documents case report prepared by Jack Smith

Carmen Mercedes Lineberger allegedy emailed herself a copy of Volume II of special counsel Jack Smith's report on Trump's criminal case.

Canada faces calls for investigation into death of woman after plasma donation

International student Rodiyat Alabede, 22, died due to a ‘perfect storm’ of lax safety protocols, advocates say

Patient advocates in Canada have called for a new investigation into the death of a young woman who was donating blood plasma, describing a “perfect storm” of lax safety protocols and poorly trained staff and warning of “systemic issues” at plasma donation sites across the country.

Rodiyat Alabede, an international student at the University of Winnipeg, died of cardiac arrest shortly after a plasma donation in October 2025 at a facility operated by the Spanish healthcare company Grifols. An initial investigation by Health Canada found no links between the plasma donation and her death.

Ram unveils lineup of Hemi V-8 engine-powered 'muscle trucks' despite high gas prices

Stellantis plans to launch a new lineup of what it's calling "muscle trucks" for its Ram brand despite elevated U.S. gas prices due to the war in Iran.

San Francisco turns to AI to save whales from ship strikes as deaths soar

Climate change is pushing starving grey whales to San Francisco Bay, where ship strikes led to 40% of 21 deaths

Ferries, cargo ships and tankers cut through choppy waters in the San Francisco Bay on Tuesday as a whale surfaced nearby, its spout barely visible against the white caps. Until now, whales could easily go unnoticed by mariners, but an AI-powered detection network launched this week is designed to track them day and night.

The system, called WhaleSpotter, scans the bay around the clock for whale blows and heat signatures up to 2 nautical miles away, alerting mariners to slow down or reroute when whales are nearby.

Wendy's taps former Potbelly CEO to lead struggling burger chain

Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management is seeking funding to take Wendy's private, according to a Financial Times report.

Teen attackers in mosque shooting were wallowing in nihilistic hate

"These subjects did not discriminate in who they hated," said Mark Remily, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Diego Field Office.

Summer travelers face "vacation inflation" as airfare, gas prices rise

Gas prices, airfares, accommodations and other vacation essentials are more expensive this year compared to last year.

Guardiola leaves Manchester City as one of the game’s greats – and someone who knows its dark heart | Barney Ronay

While there is no denying the magnitude of his achievements, his legacy is also tied up in politics, propaganda and hard power

Well, that’s that then. Put out more flags. Mount the iconic Jedi‑style woollen cardigan in the club museum. He really does seem to be done this time.

In the absence of formal denials, it now seems highly likely the scheduled final year of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City contract will be spent trawling the high-concept food ateliers of the Iberian peninsula, debating spatial architecture with a Slovenian Cluedo grandmaster over hummingbird martinis, and generally recharging after a decade of unceasing devotion to victory.

Trump's face doesn't belong on U.S. passport, senators tell Rubio

The State Department announced a special edition U.S. passport that will feature President Donald Trump's likeness.

The Guardian view on Britain and Europe: a changing world demands new terms of debate | Editorial

The world has changed dramatically since the Brexit referendum and politics needs to catch up

The spectacle of a prime minister clinging to power while his party grows increasingly desperate for a replacement is painfully familiar from the end of the last Tory government. British politics feels trapped in a loop. This condition is not wholly a result of Brexit, but the failure of that project is a significant part of it. None of the benefits promised in the referendum by the leave campaign have materialised. It is all downside, but political discussion of any significant rewriting of the terms of departure is taboo. Sir Keir Starmer’s “reset” of European relations is mostly tinkering at the margins.

Meanwhile, the strategic calculus has changed entirely since 2016. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine exposed European complacency about continental defence and energy security. Donald Trump’s aggressive contempt for old allies makes it clear that they cannot depend on the US for protection.

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

The Guardian view on tackling Ebola: pathogens aren’t the only things that kill | Editorial

Conflict and aid cuts are hampering the fight against an outbreak of the deadly virus centred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has faced the deadly threat of Ebola 16 times since the virus was discovered there in 1976, with a 2018-20 outbreak killing almost 2,300 people. On Sunday, the World Health Organization declared the 17th outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern. So far, 139 suspected deaths and almost 600 suspected cases of the haemorrhagic fever virus have been identified, nearly all in the DRC’s north-eastern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, with two cases in Uganda of people who had travelled from the DRC.

There is also anxiety about neighbouring South Sudan. The WHO fears the disease has been spreading for a couple of months and, given the highly mobile population, warns that it could take months more to bring it under control. While it judges the risk of global spread to be low, it thinks the regional risk is high.

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

Cheap AI could derail OpenAI and Anthropic's IPOs

Chinese AI labs are matching American frontier capability at a fraction of the cost.

Meghan Markle’s anniversary candle: who wouldn’t want to pay $64 to celebrate someone else’s marriage?

It smells like sunshine, blue skies and love and laughter, apparently. And it’s all in aid of her and Harry’s eight years together

Name: Anniversary candle.

Appearance: A “modern and elegant” candle, “housed in a beautiful ceramic vessel”.

‘If you keep looking we will kill you’: death stalks those searching for Mexico’s disappeared

Organised crime groups are targeting some of the only people looking for victims of the country’s cartel wars – their relatives

Beneath the cooling towers of Mazatlán’s power plant, in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, a dozen women pick through the marshland, looking for the upturned soil – and the scent – that betrays the location of a buried body.

They are part of Hearts United for One Cause, one of hundreds of collectives scattered across Mexico looking for the members’ missing relatives. But these searchers have been marked out by another layer of tragedy: one of them was murdered in February, and another disappeared in October.

The story of Cuba's 1996 shootdown that led to Raúl Castro's indictment

Thirty years ago, a Cuban fighter jet shot down two civilian planes operated by Florida-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue, an incident that inflamed U.S.-Cuba relations.

Another Trump victory: Republican Rep. Thomas Massie loses Kentucky primary

President Donald Trump had targeted Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., for opposing GOP priorities.

I didn’t think it was possible to love Kylie Minogue any more – her new Netflix series changed that | Emma Brockes

After the glut of brand-building shows from other celebrities, the Kylie documentary is radical for simply allowing the star to come across as human

Kylie, the new three-part documentary that launched on Netflix on Wednesday and has been making me verklempt ever since, is great in every way it’s possible for TV to be. But on the basis of the first two and a half episodes, a couple of things jump out: Kylie’s almost superhuman ability to stay cheerful in the face of intense provocation, and the extraordinary rudeness she had to tolerate from interviewers back in the day.

Here’s Michael Parkinson in 2004, grinning like an alligator and asking her a question considered totally fine at the time: “What about children? You’re 35 now, leaving it a bit late aren’t you?” And a few years later, Cat Deeley, asking roughly the same question, albeit slightly more diplomatically, right after Kylie had emerged from chemotherapy for breast cancer. Nice work, guys!

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist

January 6 officers sue Trump over $1.8bn fund, alleging ‘presidential corruption’

Retired Capitol police officer and DC officer allege Trump’s $1.8bn fund unlawfully rewards January 6 rioters and allies

• US politics live – latest updates

Two police officers who clashed with rioters at the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection in 2021 have sued Donald Trump over plans to create a $1.776bn “anti-weaponization” fund.

The fund, which critics have argued is essentially a slush fund, is set to compensate allies of the US president who he claims were victims of prosecutorial overreach.

Giro d’Italia: Narváez storms past Mas for third win as Eulálio keeps pink jersey

• Ecuadorean collects stage victory No 3 of this edition

• Favourite Vingegaard stays 27 seconds behind leader

Ecuador’s Jhonatan Narváez edged out the Spaniard Enric Mas at the end of Wednesday’s stage 11 to win his third stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia as Afonso Eulálio retained the leader’s pink jersey.

Narváez (UAE Team Emirates XRG) and Mas (Movistar) were left to battle for the win after leaving the breakaway group on the final climb and Mas made the first move, only for the Ecuadorian to overtake him before the line. The Italian Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana) won the race for third place at the end of the entertaining 195km ride from Porcari to Chiavari.

Jeff Bezos calls Amazon’s $40m Melania film ‘a good business decision’

The Amazon founder has denied any personal involvement in the film, which failed to recoup its budget on release

Jeff Bezos has defended Amazon’s controversial Melania documentary as “a good business decision” while denying any personal involvement.

The Amazon founder and executive chairman was asked about the film during an interview on CNBC this week. The film, which followed the first lady in the period before Donald Trump’s second inauguration, was purchased by the company for $40m with Melania herself making a reported $28m. Amazon also spent about $35m on marketing.

2 officers in Jan. 6 riot sue to block DOJ "anti-weaponization" fund

The $1.776 billion fund, which is part of the agreement to settle Trump's lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Dept., is to be used to compensate those who claim that the government weaponized the legal system against them.

Immunotherapy could be used to treat depression, early trial suggests

UK scientists find tocilizumab, used for rheumatoid arthritis, may help antidepressant-resistant patients

Immunotherapy could be used to treat depression among patients who have not responded to conventional antidepressants, according to the results of an early clinical trial.

Researchers at the University of Bristol investigated whether tocilizumab, an anti-inflammatory drug commonly used for immune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, could improve symptoms of difficult-to-treat depression.