Top FEMA official Bob Fenton says "we're ready for hurricane season"

FEMA says it's ready for hurricane season, though it's still racing to recover from months of shutdown disruptions, delayed grants and a depleted Disaster Relief Fund.

House Democrats to introduce bill aimed at blocking construction of Trump’s ‘triumphal arch’ – live

Don Beyer, representative from Virginia, said proposed project outside Arlington National Cemetery would ‘desecrate this hallowed space to build a monument to Donald Trump’s ego’

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President Trump is set to hold the 12th cabinet meeting of his second term at 11am EST on Wednesday.

Three Democratic state attorneys general said their deputies were turned away from a roundtable hosted by JD Vance on Tuesday, sowing confusion about what the White House has billed as a bipartisan crackdown on fraud.

Salesforce beats on earnings and revenue but full-year guidance comes in light

Salesforce has been hammered by investors on concern that artificial intelligence models and services will disrupt some traditional software products.

Jill Biden says she thought Joe Biden was having a stroke during 2024 debate

In CBS interview set to air Sunday, former first lady says she was ‘frightened’ during husband’s debate with Trump

Jill Biden said she had been “frightened” as she watched Joe Biden’s faltering performance during his 2024 presidential debate, and thought her husband might have suffered a stroke.

“I was frightened, because I had never, ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never,” the former first lady said in an interview with CBS set to air on Sunday.

Prediction markets regulation proposal by CFTC eyed by White House

The CFTC has argued it has exclusive authority to regulate the growing prediction market sector rather than state-by-state regulation.

Snowflake rockets 36% on earnings beat and plan to spend $6 billion on Amazon cloud

Snowflake is going deeper with Amazon's Web Services, and plans to use its Arm-based Graviton chips.

Trump visited soldiers at Walter Reed — but not the 14 injured in the Iran war

More than a dozen soldiers injured in Operation Epic Fury are still recovering at the military hospital.

2 dead, 9 workers "unrecovered" after Washington chemical tank implosion

The damaged tank at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. held approximately 900,000 gallons of white liquor, a chemical used in paper processing, authorities said.

YouTube taking steps to make clear when realistic videos are made by AI

YouTube said it will automatically label photorealistic content created by AI, the video platform said.

Dell wins a $9.7 billion Pentagon software deal after cozying up to Trump

The purchase comes after Dell spent considerable time courting the White House and after President Trump urged purchases of the company's computers.

Crystal Palace win Conference League after Mateta strike sinks Rayo Vallecano

After being denied their rightful place in this season’s Europa League, Crystal Palace finally have their revenge. In Oliver Glasner’s final match in charge, it was fitting that Jean-Philippe Mateta should score what turned out to be the winning goal after his January move to Milan was scuppered by a failed medical. It has been that kind of season.

Having rescued the south London club from the brink of extinction only 16 years ago, how Steve Parish must have relished this occasion. The Palace chair found himself sitting next to the Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin for the biggest night in their history and he can now start planning for the Europa League campaign that was denied to them as last year’s FA Cup winners were adjudged to have broken European football’s governing body’s rules on multiclub ownership. As for Glasner, who performed a full-length dive on the pitch before going up to collect his winners’ medal, it ends any debate over whether he is the greatest manager in Palace’s history.

Meta to start testing AI subscription services, with cheapest plan at $7.99 a month

Meta confirmed Wednesday that it will begin testing two subscription plans for its AI offerings.

Report ‘phone hack’ to police or I will do it for you, Labour chair tells Farage

Anna Turley gives Reform leader 24 hours to report Russian hacking claim in ‘public and national interest’

The Labour chair has given Nigel Farage 24 hours to report to security services the claim that his phone was hacked by Russia-linked actors or the party will do it for him.

In a letter to the Reform UK leader, Anna Turley said it was “in the public and national interest” to ensure that a suspected overseas hack of a senior politician’s phone by a hostile state was properly investigated.

Analysis: What Stephen Miller gets wrong about debt, deficits and immigration

The White House immigration hawk and deputy chief of staff is pointing the finger in the wrong direction when assigning blame for the federal budget deficit.

Jakub Mensik labels French Open heat ‘insane’ after collapsing at end of five-set win

• Mensik offered wheelchair to get back to locker room

• Novak Djokovic outlasts Royer to set up Fonseca clash

Jakub Mensik claimed it was “insane” for players to compete in such hot conditions at Roland Garros and after collapsing on court due to cramps and being escorted back to the locker room in a wheelchair at the end of his dramatic 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (11) second-round win over Mariano Navone.

“It’s insane to play in this weather and especially in front of the sun,” Mensik said. “To be there for more than four and a half hours, that’s just insane, and even with the breaks you don’t have that much time, the ballboy cannot bring you a towel during the changeover. You have just one minute, which obviously before, when you sit, it’s already just 30 seconds. So there is not that much time to cool yourself down.”

Stocks are rallying despite the Iran war and stubborn inflation. Here's why.

The S&P 500 hit a new record on Wednesday, even as soaring gas prices fuel inflation and consumer confidence sinks.

GPS data appears to contradict Brian Hooker's account of wife's disappearance

After forensic evidence appeared to contradict Brian Hooker's account of where Lynette Hooker was​ the night she disappeared, U.S. investigators are renewing their search in the Bahamas.

Nasa images show wildfire damage to island dubbed ‘Galapagos of California’

The satellite visuals reveal vast burn scars after blaze tore through rare ecosystems on Santa Rosa Island

Images from a Nasa satellite showcased the devastating scars left behind by a wildfire that consumed roughly a third of Santa Rosa Island, one of the five islands that make up Channel Islands national park off the southern California coast.

Taken on 20 May, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Modis) took the false-color image of the burn area, showing swaths of blackened land.

Biden sues Justice Department to block release of files from biographer interviews

Former President Joe Biden has sued the Justice Department seeking to block the release of files related to interviews he conducted with a biographer that later became a central part of a special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents.

Anthony Gordon to undergo medical at Barça before £69.3m move from Newcastle

• England winger flying out for medical on Thursday

• Gordon could double wages to around £300,000 a week

Anthony Gordon is due to undergo a medical in Barcelona on Thursday after the La Liga winners agreed a £69.3m transfer with Newcastle on Wednesday night. Should everything proceed to plan the England winger is set to double his wages to around £300,000 a week.

Bayern Munich had been favourites to sign the England winger and even saw a late bid rejected on Wednesday but Gordon’s heart was set on Barcelona and a new life at the Camp Nou. Accordingly a player who also interested Liverpool swiftly agreed personal terms before Newcastle and the Catalan club entered more protracted negotiations regarding the structure of the fee.

NPR's newsroom shrinks through buyouts and layoffs

At least 18 NPR journalists have accepted buyouts and another 10 have been laid off as the public media network attempts to save money and reorganize the newsroom.

Influential US skateboarder Marc Johnson dies aged 49: ‘Everything he did was art’

• Tributes pour in from across skateboarding world

• Johnson was Thrasher’s 2007 skater of the year

Marc Johnson, the influential professional skateboarder whose inventive street style and Bay Area roots helped define modern street skating, has died at the age of 49.

Johnson’s death was announced in a statement attributed to longtime friend and fellow professional skateboarder Louie Barletta and shared by Thrasher Magazine. A cause of death was not immediately disclosed.

Teenage star Sooryavanshi smashes 97 as Rajasthan advance in IPL playoffs

• Fifteen-year-old hits 12 sixes in 29-ball knock

• Jofra Archer wickets help Royals past Sunrisers

The teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smashed a staggering 12 sixes to lead Rajasthan Royals to a 47-run drubbing of Sunrisers Hyderabad in Wednesday’s Indian Premier League eliminator.

The 15-year-old Sooryavanshi, who won the regular season’s orange cap for the most runs scored (680), destroyed Hyderabad’s famed bowling with an incredible 29-ball 97, around which Rajasthan constructed an imposing 243-8 in Chandigarh.

Revealed: Mandelson vetting warned of ties to senior figures in China, Russia and Israel

Exclusive: Vetting officials also flagged £1m loan when recommending he should be denied security clearance

• Key questions: did ‘mitigations’ cover links to China and Russia?

Peter Mandelson’s associations with senior figures in China, Russia and Israel were among the concerns raised by the UK’s vetting agency when it concluded he should be denied clearance, multiple sources have told the Guardian.

Mandelson’s links to China’s minister of finance, Lan Fo’an, the sanctions-hit Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and a former Israeli military intelligence general, Tamir Hayman, were all flagged by the agency as areas of concern shortly before he took up his post as the UK’s ambassador to the US, the sources said.

More people are going hungry now than at the height of the pandemic

Food insecurity affects more families now than during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

How much money you need to earn to afford a home in 49 U.S. cities

A household earning the average income would need to spend 40% of its income to afford the typical U.S. home, according to Redfin.

After Ferrari Luce backlash, Lamborghini CEO says canceling its own EV was the right choice

Lamborghini CEO said the automaker's decision to kill its EV to focus on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles was "the right way to go" for his company.

Uefa drags its heels over action against Russia’s fake Ukrainian clubs

Imitation versions of Shakhtar Donetsk and Zorya Luhansk remain in Russian league, despite the real teams playing in Ukrainian competition

Uefa is yet to take action against the integration of clubs from illegally occupied parts of Ukraine into Russia’s football system despite being urged to do so by the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) last year.

Imitation versions of Shakhtar Donetsk and Zorya Luhansk, two of the most successful clubs in Ukraine’s Premier League, have been competing in Russia’s fourth tier since its season began in March. They have joined the Crimea-based sides Rubin Yalta and FC Sevastopol in group 1 of the regionalised Football National League 2B, meaning a quarter of the teams in their division purport to represent areas of occupied Ukraine.

Novel about ‘Disneyfication’ of nature wins climate fiction prize

Hum, Helen Phillips’ third novel, featuring a woman whose job is taken by a humanoid robot, is a terrifying look into a future where AI rules and nature is scarce

A novel featuring a protagonist whose job is taken by AI has won the Climate fiction prize.

Hum by Helen Phillips, the American writer’s third novel, is about a woman, May, who loses her job to a “hum” of the title – a humanoid robot. Struggling to find work, she becomes a guinea pig for an experimental injection that alters her face so it can’t be recognised by surveillance. When she gets paid for it, she splashes out on family passes to the Botanical Garden, the last remaining green space in her city. There, things take a turn for the worse.

Hum by Helen Phillips (Atlantic Books, £16.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

Helen Phillips will appear at Hay festival to discuss the book on Friday 30 May

‘We are not criminals’: protests erupt as hunger strike rocks New Jersey ICE jail

A day after ICE officials pepper-spray senator, tensions ramp up outside facility on fifth day of hunger and labor strike

• Chaos breaks out at New Jersey immigration detention center – in pictures

Protests against immigration enforcement at a facility where detainees are on a hunger and labor strike erupted in fresh violence on Tuesday night as federal officers sprayed chemicals and charged demonstrators outside the jail in New Jersey.

Following hours of relative quiet, a day after masked and armored Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel pepper-sprayed US senator Andy Kim, tensions ramped up again outside the Delaney Hall facility on the fifth day of the strike.

California veteran known for pro-Trump display outside his home dies after assault

Authorities have said they are still investigating motive of alleged attack on Kerry Sheron, 69, by Thomas Butler

A southern California man has died after an assault last week in front of his San Diego area home, which was well known for its extensive collection of US flags and signs supporting Donald Trump.

Authorities confirmed on Monday that Kerry Sheron, a 69-year-old US army veteran, died days after he was attacked on Wednesday outside his home in Escondido. Police have arrested Thomas Butler, a 32-year-old who media outlets have identified as a navy veteran, on multiple charges including attempted murder, elder abuse and battery.

The Guardian view on Lebanon’s suffering: the ‘ceasefire’ didn’t stop Israeli attacks. Now they’re intensifying again | Editorial

Civilians including children are among the thousands to have died in this war, yet the world is paying remarkably little attention

Lebanon was an afterthought when Israel and the US were bombing Iran, and remained one when they stopped. It still appears to be one even as Washington and Tehran speak of peace. The US has suggested that a deal is within reach, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that a return to war was unlikely, though profound differences remain evident. Tehran says that Lebanon must be part of any agreement.

Yet this week, Lebanon’s supposed ceasefire looks more threadbare than ever, with Israel intensifying its offensive as Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “crush” Hezbollah. Israeli strikes killed 31 people on Tuesday alone, and on Wednesday the military ordered the evacuation of the entire city of Tyre. Its troops have pushed out of the buffer zone that it established in the south, which far-right ministers want to annex. Israel may be intensifying attacks before the US reins it in, or in the hope of destabilising the talks. War allows Mr Netanyahu to dodge accountability at home. Domestic demands for continued attacks on Hezbollah are also growing, given the mounting threat from its drones to soldiers in Lebanon and residents of Israel’s north.

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.

Trump accuses Iran of stalling peace deal to ‘outwait’ him until US midterms

US president sends contradictory messages about ending war at cabinet meeting with call to bolster Abraham accords

Donald Trump has accused Iran of trying to stall on making a peace agreement by running down the clock before November’s US midterm elections in the hope of getting better terms.

“They thought they were going to outwait me, you know, ‘we’ll outwait him, he’s got the midterms’,” the US president told a meeting of his cabinet at the White House on Wednesday.

Trump opposes Russia or China taking Iran's highly enriched uranium

Trump also said the Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil-shipping route, is "going to be open to everybody."

Giro d’Italia: victorious Valgren shows off son’s lucky Pokémon chip as he claims stage 17

• Dane wins first Grand Tour stage after sweltering effort

• Jonas Vingegaard holds four-minute lead over Felix Gall

Denmark’s Michael Valgren chose his moment perfectly to power towards victory on the 17th stage of the Giro d’Italia, leaving himself enough room before the line to be able to pull a lucky Pokémon chip out of his pocket and show it off to the cameras. Further back, his compatriot Jonas Vingegaard continued his march to a first overall win on the Grand Tour.

Valgren took the honours in Andalo after attacking from a small group with a kilometre remaining of the undulating 202km ride from Cassano d’Adda with riders suffering from the punishing heat and also sudden downpours.

Talarico: Paxton "clipping my cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption"

Texas state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in the Lone Star State, concedes some past statements during debates over transgender policy "missed the mark."

Football Daily | To all USMNT rejects, Mauricio Pochettino hopes this email finds you well

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As a football newsletter whose entire raison d’etre is sending people emails they are desperate to receive and read, Football Daily is fully behind Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentinian has taken a leaf out of our tried-and-trusted playbook by electing to use the medium of email to let assorted soccerball players around the world know whether or not they’d been selected to play for Team USA USA USA at this summer’s Geopolitics World Cup. His method of communication has been criticised in some quarters due to its lack of a personal touch for those who have not made the cut, with some American hacks saying those left out were at least owed an explanatory phone call from the Argentinian. Defending himself, Pochettino pointed out that as a player, he wouldn’t have wanted to converse with a manager who had just cut him from an international squad because ... well, why would you bother?

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Zelenskyy pushes U.S. for more Patriot missiles, warning of Russian attacks

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the U.S. to expand deliveries of Patriot missile systems, warning that Russia is preparing a broader campaign of ballistic missile attacks.

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

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

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

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

Why is Ferrari facing such a backlash to its first electric car?

The Italian marque has broken with the past with its four-door, €550,000 Luce and traditionalists are furious

Ferrari is different from other carmakers, and so are its product launches. So revered is the company in its native Italy that among the first people to sit behind the wheel of its first electric vehicle were the country’s president and the pope.

Yet judging by the backlash from investors, some critics and – inevitably – a horde of online commenters, the company may need help from a higher power if it is to win over its traditional fanbase.

The Luce – pronounced “loo-chey”, Italian for “light” – is priced for the super-wealthy, at €550,000 (£476,000), with an electric motor for each wheel and the ability to get from zero to 100km/h in 2.5 seconds. But the design, led by the former Apple executive Jony Ive, has proven controversial. It is certainly unlike anything Ferrari has made before.

Nearly half a million Russians killed in Ukraine war, UK spy chief says

Anne Keast-Butler says Russian forces are ‘going backwards on the battlefield’ for first time since late 2022

Nearly half a million Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine since the start of Vladimir Putin’s invasion more than four years ago, according to a new estimate from the head of the British spy agency GCHQ.

Anne Keast-Butler, the chief of the electronic intelligence agency, said in her first speech in the job that Russian forces were “going backwards on the battlefield” inside Ukraine for the first time since late 2022.

‘Sexy as hell’: filthy and hilarious Heated Rivalry parody musical comes to New York

The smutty hockey show gets the Off-Broadway treatment with shirtless scenes, hilarious one-liners and a Liza Minnelli send-up

Walking into the Culture Club in West Chelsea, New York, for a performance of Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody last week, I was met by three ghosts left over from when the space was called the McKittrick hotel and it hosted the immersive spookfest, Sleep No More. The first was the phantom of clever detail: cans of Athletic IPAs for sale, a cute, non-alcoholic nod to the mega-popular series’ hockey setting. The second was of unnerving fright, as I realized there would be no booze at this singing satire. Would I be able to make it through 90 minutes of jokes about an overexposed Canadian gay sports romance, with zero quality guarantee and an even lower blood alcohol concentration? At least at the downtown premiere of the popular parody Titanique, long before it proved itself worthy of a handful of Tony nominations, you could stand up and order a bucket of White Claws.

But then the third specter materialized, the ghost of immersion and surrender, as this very funny production completely won me over. (I’ve since learned that a liquor license is forthcoming.) Heated Rivalry, for the uninitiated, is a television show adapted from a series of gay romance novels by Rachel Reid, a straight woman who unwittingly launched a thousand discussions about who gets to be horny over whom, how and when. Fans of the books petitioned for a wider release of the show produced for the Canadian streamer Crave, last November and, some six months later, its formerly unknown stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams are in easy contention for the most photographed people alive. Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody is the latest addition to New York City’s musical parody cottage industry, which has led me to a theater lobby where a woman in a branded hockey jersey is telling the stranger next to her that she’s seen the series “probably not as many times as you think, but still a lot”.

Republicans stare down inflation abyss with midterms fast approaching

Republicans are struggling to find a clear message to battle high prices as President Trump pushes for funding for a White House ballroom.

Alabama asks Supreme Court to allow congressional map found racially discriminatory

Alabama Republicans asked the Supreme Court to allow the state to use a congressional map that would give the GOP an edge in the midterm elections.

Carlo Petrini obituary

Italian activist, author and pioneer of the Slow Food movement

On 20 April 1986, Carlo Petrini was part of a group who cooked and distributed spaghetti to passers-by in Piazza di Spagna in Rome. The huge pot of pasta was their response to the opening, the previous month, of the biggest McDonald’s in the world just metres from where they stood. For Petrini and fellow members of Arcigola, a group dedicated to the pleasures of food and shared political ideals, the opening of McDonald’s in the centre of Rome represented an attack on Italian culinary identity, local biodiversity and the natural rhythms of life: the spaghetti was a declaration of resistance.

A few months laters, during a meeting over dinner at Osteria dell’Unione in Treiso, Piedmont, in north-west Italy, the group came up with the idea of ​​trying to stem the fast food invasion, whose single value was profit, with slow food, which they saw as a defensive trench. The essayist Folco Portinari, then head of the Rai TV company, wrote the text, while Petrini gathered signatures, and on 3 November 1987, a manifesto was published on the front page of Gambero Rosso, a supplement of the communist newspaper Il Manifesto.

Alabama asks Supreme Court to allow congressional map that dilutes Black vote

A three-judge panel in Birmingham, Alabama, found that the state's proposed map of House districts was 'intentionally discriminatory."

Judges block Alabama redistricting maps that would dilute Black vote in midterms

A three-judge panel found that the 2023 congressional district maps adopted by Alabama intentionally discriminated against Black voters.

Calls for Barnsley Reform councillor to resign over apparent swastika tattoo

Publicly accessible Facebook images dating back to 2018 appear to show the symbol on Andy Arnold’s arm

A newly elected Reform UK councillor in Barnsley has come under pressure to resign after photographs emerged appearing to show him with a swastika tattoo.

Andy Arnold, who was elected to Barnsley council earlier this month to represent Wombwell, can be seen with what appears to be the symbol tattooed on his arm in a series of publicly accessible Facebook images dating back to 2018.

Bondi undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer after recent diagnosis

Former Attorney General Pam Bondi is undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer, she told CBS News.

UK will get no special treatment from EU, European ministers say

There will be ‘no cherrypicking’ of policies, EU says, after Starmer says he hopes to negotiate single market for goods

The UK will get no special treatment in its future economic relationship with the EU, European ministers have said, in a further blow to Keir Starmer’s hopes of negotiating a single market for goods.

The EU’s ministers for Europe, who met on Tuesday, said they wanted deeper cooperation with the UK, but this had to be in line with fundamental principles, including no cherrypicking of EU policies, according to three diplomatic sources, who spoke about the private discussions.

Canada to order military plane fleet from Sweden in shift from US suppliers

Mark Carney announces purchase of Saab’s GlobalEye early warning aircraft to patrol Arctic territory

Canada has announced plans to buy a fleet of early warning planes from Sweden’s Saab rather than a competing option from Boeing, as the country seeks to reduce reliance on US defense firms.

Mark Carney, the prime minister, said on Wednesday that Canada would opt for Saab’s GlobalEye, which is based on Bombardier’s Global 6500 jet. Boeing’s E-7 Wedgetail plane – which has suffered from delays and cost overruns – had also been in contention.

New York and New Jersey subpoena Fifa over ‘manipulated’ World Cup ticketing

• Joint investigation run by NY and NJ attorneys general

• Subpoena seeks information on Fifa’s ticket practices

• Investigation centers on games at MetLife Stadium

The attorneys general of New York and New Jersey have launched an investigation into Fifa’s ticketing practices around the 2026 World Cup, focusing specifically on the matches due to take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The investigation, announced Wednesday by New York’s Letitia James and New Jersey’s Jennifer Davenport, centers on fans who say they were misled about the location of the seats and on claims that Fifa’s own public messaging around tickets has contributed to the inflated prices seen throughout the tournament.

WHO chief calls for DRC ceasefire to tackle Ebola outbreak

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warns of ‘catastrophic collision of disease and conflict’, as Uganda closes border with DRC

The head of the World Health Organization has called for an immediate ceasefire in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to help tackle the Ebola outbreak there, as Uganda closed its border with its neighbour in an effort to stop the spread.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on social media that the region was in the midst of a “catastrophic collision of disease and conflict with the Ebola outbreak in Ituri province outpacing the response”. Tedros said on Monday that he would travel to the DRC this week.

Forget limoncello! How Lillet became the fruity, floral drink of the summer

In 2008, only 70,000 cases of this classic French aromatised wine were sold. In 2024, that boomed to 1.3m. What accounts for its sudden enormous resurgence?

I’m a sucker for a spritz. So when I saw a sign in the French House pub in London, advertising its spring special, “Lillet spritz, £6.50”, I immediately ordered one. I wasn’t exactly transported from rainy Soho to sunny Saint-Tropez in just one sip, but the honey-scented, golden-hued bubbles did put me in a summery mood.

Since then, I’ve started seeing Lillet more often. In the UK, it is on the spritz menu at Greene King and Young’s pubs for a second summer. It is a staple in French-style restaurants such as Côte Brasserie and Café Rouge, and in Gallic bars such as Boulebar and Baranis, where punters can play petanque while they drink. Venues around the world have started to serve it too, from Wolf food market in Brussels to Bar Bridge in Sydney. Global sales are reported to have grown from 70,000 cases in 2008 to 1.3m in 2024.

Nicola Jennings on Tony Blair’s critique of Labour policy – cartoon

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Former Obama adviser reflects on the 'Battle for American Identity'

Ben Rhodes was a speechwriter and security adviser for President Obama. His book, All We Say, is a collection of 15 speeches — from Ben Franklin to Trump — about what it means to be American.

Alice Zaslavsky’s parsnip and pear soup with cheesy toast tops – recipe

Parsnip at a clip! The root veg is affordable now and, paired with pears, the retro combo works wonders in Alice Zaslavsky’s midweek soup

• Check out more Alice Zaslavsky recipes

Some vegetables are a Tuesday night no-brainer, while others feel like more of a Sunday schlep. Poor parsnip falls into the latter category, relegated to slow braises and weekend roasts.

Weather-resistant root veg such as parsnips, swedes and celeriac are affordable at this time of year but their fibrousness doesn’t yield as easily or quickly as tender, fair-weather veg.

Greetings from Cape Verde, where the sounds of samba, jazz and morna fill the air

Music is interwoven with the sounds of daily life in this West African island nation, which hosted two international music festivals in April and has been named the African Capital of Culture for 2028.

Trump ramps up attacks on Talarico after Paxton’s Texas Senate runoff win

Donald Trump moves quickly to unite Republicans behind the Texas attorney general as Democrats eye rare opening

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Republican leaders rushed to throw their weight behind Ken Paxton following his big primary victory in Texas over the four-term US senator, John Cornyn, amid anxiety within the party over his prospects in November’s general election.

Hours after the race was called, Donald Trump – who backed Paxton, despite intense concern among establishment Republicans – took to Truth Social to attack his Democratic rival in the midterm elections.

Streeting and Burnham accuse Blair of failing to confront inequality in Labour criticism

Potential leadership candidates join senior figures in saying the former PM’s essay does not address today’s challenges

• Wes Streeting: Blair wants to leave our future to the markets

Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham have criticised Tony Blair’s “striking weakness” in failing to engage with inequality, as senior party figures hit back at the former prime minister’s castigation of the Labour party.

Blair has published a lengthy critique of Labour’s time in office under Keir Starmer, arguing for the government to crack down on welfare spending, abandon restrictions on oil and gas production, and smooth relations with Donald Trump.

Extreme heat in Europe ‘a brutal reminder’ of climate crisis, UN chief says

Simon Stiell said burning fossil fuels was driving intense heatwaves as UK and France broke temperature records on consecutive days

The UN climate chief has said an extreme early heat event sweeping parts of western Europe was “a brutal reminder of the spiralling impacts of the climate crisis”, after France and the UK set new temperature records for May on two consecutive days.

Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said on Wednesday the “main culprit” was humanity’s burning of coal, oil and gas – known to be the primary driver of climate change.

Palestinians use recycling as Israel's restrictions trigger a trash crisis

Palestinians in the West Bank live amid garbage following Israeli restrictions. Two Palestinian entrepreneurs are trying to make a change.

Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s no-show at Don Jr’s Bahamas wedding: ‘Flying to an island makes him miss Epstein’

The late-night host slammed the president’s Iran bombings, ‘perfect’ health reports and reacted to RFK Jr’s snake attack

On Tuesday night, Jimmy Kimmel addressed Donald Trump Jr’s wedding, the New York Knicks making it to the NBA finals and raised an eyebrow to claims that Donald Trump’s physical went “perfectly”.

Water safety experts warn of dangers of outdoor swimming as heatwave grips UK

At least nine people have died in recent days as people have tried to cool off in Britain’s waterways

Water safety experts have warned about the dangers of outdoor swimming after a number of drownings in recent days as people try to escape soaring temperatures by cooling off in rivers, lakes, reservoirs and other bodies of water.

Emergency services have reported at least nine deaths because of water-related incidents in the past few days, seven of them young people, as Britain’s heatwave sends crowds of people to the seaside and other swimming spots.

Ai Weiwei warns of worsening censorship in the West

Ai Weiwei, who published a new book, "On Censorship," warned the West is "no longer defending very basic humanity, rationality, human rights, freedom of speech."

‘Worry no longer, I am back’ – Tony Blair’s Why I Have Always Been Right About Everything, digested by John Crace

Former PM’s essay on Labour’s self-delusion shows he is the perfect person to provide such a critique

Hi guys. And the laydeez. It’s me, Tony. You know, the best prime minister the country ever had. The man with the rictus smile, the diamond skull and dead behind the eyes. The divinity who understands everything but himself.

I know what you are thinking. It’s been far, far too long since you have last heard from me. You’ve all been lost in the political wilderness. Bereft without your spiritual leader. Worry no longer. I am back. To comfort and hold you all. To shine a light into your sad little worlds. All I’ve ever wanted is to serve. And to be loved. But I hold no bitterness for the way you all turned your backs on me. So often the fate of many a messiah.

Ribbit is the new Wordle, and I’m here to share it with you

A gentle daily puzzle is quietly becoming the most joyful part of my morning routine​ and reminds me that not every win needs to be epic

There’s been some pretty big news in the last couple of weeks in video game world: the long-running space shooter Destiny 2 is winding up after almost nine years, PlayStation appears to have decided to stop releasing its flagship single-player games on PC, and Microsoft wants us to look like we’re shouting every time we type XBOX. But the biggest news for me is that I have found my new favourite word game. I am going to be so bold as to call it the new Wordle.

Ribbit is one of the varied suite of daily games on Puzzmo, an online puzzle platform. It launched at the beginning of January, but I only recently discovered it because I have been unwell, bored, and spending too much time on my phone. Puzzmo’s daily hits include a satisfying shape-arranging game, variations on chess that make me feel extremely stupid, and pleasing word games, which are my favourites. Circuits has you making connections between the beginnings and ends of phrases (eg “stone cold > cold medicine > medicine cabinet”) as fast as you can. Bongo gives you a bunch of letter tiles and asks you to arrange them for a maximum score.

Expert explains why the world feels more lonely

Harvard economics professor Roland Fryer joins "CBS Mornings" to discuss what might be behind the world feeling lonelier.

Paxton bests Cornyn in Texas Republican Senate primary after Trump endorsement

President Donald Trump last week endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.

Two Venezuelan boys in a forest full of vultures: Silvana Trevale’s best photograph

‘I left Venezuela after someone held a gun to my head. But I returned to show what beauty it has – like these two boys coming back from a fishing trip at an amazing beach’

My parents encouraged me to leave Venezuela. The situation in the country at that time, the mid-2010s, had started to get really hard, with food and medicine shortages – and violent robberies were becoming a regular thing. A lot of people had started to leave and my parents were worried that if I stayed something bad would happen. I had already seen my mum robbed and I’d had a gun held to my head, but that was normal. I was lucky enough to be able to go to England. But when I arrived, to study at Huddersfield University, I had the feeling many immigrants have – of not belonging, questioning who I was and where I was from. I understood what I was losing, too, and it hurt.

I remain deeply connected to Venezuela and whenever I go back to visit my parents we always go to the beach. My whole family loves the ocean: it’s how I spent a lot of my childhood. I started shooting there, too, hanging out with kids, spending time with young people and seeing what they were going through, but I also felt I could give something back. The kids had so much fun during those shoots.

Federal judge had sex in chambers with high-ranking police officer, panel says

The judge sits in a district court in either Alabama, Georgia or Florida, but their name is being kept secret by a disciplinary panel.

Five villagers found alive in Laos cave as search continues for two missing

Video appears to show divers discovering group sitting on a rock surrounded by flood water

Rescuers have reached five of seven people who have been trapped for a week in a flooded, remote cave in Laos, after days spent navigating narrow, inundated passageways amid persistent rain.

Video footage shared on social media by rescue divers showed the five men crouched together on a rocky ledge in a dark cave chamber, surrounded by muddy water. “There’s no need to cry,” one of the rescue team told the men, who first entered the cave on Wednesday. Two men remain unaccounted for.

Matthew Perry's assistant to be sentenced for role in actor's ketamine death

Matthew Perry's assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, will be the fifth and final person sentenced for playing a role in the actor's 2023 ketamine death. Carter Evans reports.

Raging torrents, fighting gulls and Muslim devotion: photos of the day – Wednesday

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

Infrared camera on Lynette and Brian Hooker's boat may help with investigation

An infrared camera on Brian and Lynette Hooker's sailboat may contain key evidence in the Michigan woman's disappearance in the Bahamas. Cristian Benavides reports.

Tony Blair is strong on diagnosis, deluded on prescription: Britain’s ills can’t be fixed by him | Larry Elliott

The former PM’s essay rightly calls for a coherent economic plan, but then sets too much store by AI – and a worldview stuck in the past

Tony Blair is right. Labour has made some big and avoidable mistakes since it came to power nearly two years ago. Keir Starmer had a strategy for winning the election but lacked a coherent plan for what his government would do next. Fair cop.

Blair is also correct when he says that unless Britain tackles some long-term structural issues, it is in danger of being relegated from the “premier league of nations”. Achieving higher levels of sustainable growth is one challenge. Welfare reform is another. And as the former prime minister notes, reversing Brexit is not a solution to those problems.

Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist

Lord Howe Island got rid of its rats and mice – now its ‘wonderful’ insect life is back

Invasive vermin decimated the island’s native flora and fauna – but its unique cockroaches and beetles are thriving once again

In the summer months, Lord Howe Island’s unique stag beetle, with wing cases that appear forged from iridescent green metal, fly around the ancient tree tops looking for a mate.

“That’s really something wonderful,” said Ian Hutton, a naturalist and nature guide on the World Heritage-listed island.

World awaits news on U.S.-Iran talks as Israel launches more strikes on Hezbollah

U.S. and Iran negotiations remain unclear as Israel renewed strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Imtiaz Tyab reports.

Amazon starts selling its AI shopping technology to other retailers

Amazon said it's already signed up Kate Spade as a customer for its AI shopping technology.

Hungarian MPs vote to remain member of ICC, overturning decision made by Orbán

Since Péter Magyar’s election victory he has vowed to reverse withdrawal from court before it took effect

Lawmakers in Hungary have voted overwhelmingly for the country to remain a member of the international criminal court, reversing a decision made by the previous government of Viktor Orbán.

Wednesday’s vote came days before the country was poised to become the only EU member state not to recognise the jurisdiction of the global tribunal, which aims to prosecute those accused of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: well, hello dolly shoes! The heels that are actually comfortable

This polished, proper shoe is about more style than sexiness. But work it right and you can have a lot of fun – without the risk of falling over

It seems wild to me now that I used to wear heels – and I mean high heels – every day. To work, and then out afterwards, 12, 15 hours straight. But at the time it felt entirely normal. The discomfort was one of those daily traumas you become desensitised to, the same way that rush-hour commuters don’t think twice about spending a train ride nose-deep in a stranger’s armpit. Blisters, heel tips bitten off by gratings, the odd sprained ankle, and constant taxi rides I could ill afford were all part of everyday life.

The stiletto’s long reign of terror began losing its hold in the streetwear-obsessed 2010s, and then along came lockdown and the comfort-first revolution. This has been the decade of the loafer and the party flat. My collection of needle-thin, 4-inch-plus Manolos, Louboutins and Choos now live in a display cabinet, the gorgeous but obsolete relics of an ancien régime.

‘We’re going backwards’: Black political power under threat in Alabama after Voting Rights Act gutting

US supreme court ruling could eliminate two majority-Black districts and entrench Republican control from Congress to county school boards

Alabama has long been considered the birthplace of the voting rights movement in America.

During a peaceful voting rights demonstration in 1965, an Alabama state trooper shot and killed church deacon Jimmie Lee Jackson. In response, about 600 marchers set out from Selma, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, toward the state capitol building in Montgomery to demand the right to vote. What met them on the other side – state troopers on horseback, billy clubs, teargas and a sheriff’s posse – was broadcast that evening on national television.

Latest details on deadly chemical tank implosion in Washington state

A massive chemical tank implosion at a Washington state paper mill killed at least one person and left nine workers missing, authorities said. Jonathan Vigliotti reports.

Germany’s most wanted woman jailed after three decades evading police

Former Red Army Faction militant Daniela Klette sentenced to 13 years for armed robberies after dissolution of terrorist network

A German court has sentenced Daniela Klette, a former member of the Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof group, to 13 years in jail for armed robberies committed during three decades hiding in plain sight.

Long Germany’s most-wanted woman, Klette was the last female member of the far-left terrorist network still on the run before her arrest at her home in Berlin in February 2024.

Kinky hippos, foul-mouthed raccoons and heaps of heart: Big Mouth’s creators’ wild new animated comedy

This tale of a horny bear on a quest of sexual exploration after his partner leaves him during hibernation is certainly shocking. But can it match the sweetness of its predecessor?

In the first minute of Netflix’s animated comedy Mating Season, a bear wakes up, urinates uncontrollably across his cave, stumbles outside, sees two horny raccoons banging away, then spirals into a deep well of shame about it. At this stage, it is barely worth pointing out that Mating Season is the spiritual successor to the outrageous, witty comedy Big Mouth, so completely does it inhabit that show’s DNA.

And at this point, you will already know if the show is for you or not. Because Big Mouth, as popular as it was, polarised audiences like little else. That show was about the horrors of puberty and sexual awakening, and it was tailored with absolute precision to its target audience of hormone-battered adolescent boys. You could argue that it did this a little too precisely, because its juvenilia was so relentlessly nuclear-powered that plenty of people found themselves turned off by all the sex and farts and swearing.

How did Arsenal become a home for Black players and fans?

After two decades, long-suffering Gunners fans from across the diaspora have been rewarded with a Premier League win. So why has this sometimes beleaguered team earned such adulation?

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Hello and welcome to The Long Wave. As the resident Arsenal fan, I’m stepping in for Nesrine the week after my club lifted the Premier League trophy for the first time since 2004, prompting celebrations on a scale we rarely see, at home and across the globe.

Arsenal have a storied history with Black players, and its fanbase reflects that. A cursory look at the joy on Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze’s faces at Selhurst Park and the ensuing melee of supporters on the streets of London right through to Kampala is strong proof of that. I look at why a north London club has the love and dedication of so many in the Black diaspora – a flame that has remained lit through the good, the bad and indifferent.

Risk-taking, rigour and radicalism – Daniel Harding is an exciting prospect for Los Angeles

Also, happy 125th to the Wigmore Hall, and, the vivid soundworld of 16th-century Spain

A tale of two conductors on the west coast of America this week. Yesterday, the Los Angeles Philharmonic announced that Daniel Harding will be their next music director from 2027, which is also when Elim Chan starts her job leading the San Francisco Symphony. These are both forward-looking appointments, showing a commitment to the future of these orchestras and the art-form in California.

Mind you, San Francisco’s situation looked pretty dire until recently, after the previous incumbent Esa-Pekka Salonen’s largely unrealised dreams of putting the orchestra at the heart of cultural and technological innovation. It made sense – why not use the San Fran orchestra as a Silicon Valley of the humanities, without the corporate evil, addictive algorithms and responsibility-free tech-brocracy? Alas: Salonen was stymied by the pandemic among other things, and made clear his artistic disagreements with the board in his letter of departure.

Power Ballad review – Nick Jonas and Paul Rudd star in terrific comedy of bromance and betrayal

Irish writer-director John Carney brilliantly brings together Rudd’s washed up wedding-singer and Jonas’s insecure ex-boyband superstar

Once again, Irish writer-director John Carney delivers an aspartame rush of enjoyment with this terrific comedy of bromance and betrayal in the world of music, starring Nick Jonas (from the Jonas Brothers) as Danny Wilson, a preeningly insecure ex-boyband superstar trying to go solo and searching for a hit single, and Paul Rudd as Rick Power, a washed up wedding-singer who rashly plays Danny a catchy song he’s been working on.

Power Ballad is about making it and dreaming big, about every busker never giving up on hopes of one day being mega. But as so often with Carney, it’s about something else, usually left unacknowledged in movies about music or any sort of showbusiness: the terrible binary of success and failure. For every star there is an invisible army of losers, the sad cases who used to be the star’s home town friends or early collaborators and have a lifelong task ahead of them coming to terms with not making it. In the bitter words of Les McQueen, rhythm guitarist for failed 70s group Crème Brulee on TV’s The League of Gentlemen: “It’s a shit business …”

How to turn squishy strawberries into a classic British dessert – recipe | Waste not

Their short shelf life might count against them, but even when they’re past their best, strawberries still offer plenty of possibility

This year, I’m an ambassador for Cole & Mason, a British brand that makes some of the best pepper mills I know and for whom I’ve come up with The Art of Seasoning, a recipe series about my approach to seasoning food. It covers both the basics, including the impact of different salts and peppers, as well as innovative ways to use seasoning, such as in Eton mess and today’s posset. Strawberries have a pretty short shelf life, but even when they’re a bit squishy, they can still be turned into something delicious, be that a topping for your morning porridge or this simple, rich and seasonal dessert.

Texas primary runoff takeaways. And, DOJ mass-deletes info on Jan. 6 riot cases

The Texas primary runoffs have now concluded and major November election matchups are set. And Trump's Justice Department has deleted significant information from the Jan. 6 riot cases.

‘It’s the West Bank’: Lebanese villagers describe life inside Israel’s ‘yellow line’

Residents live in fear of nightly raids and daytime bombings from the Israeli military occupying their land

For hours, Hussein Abdel al-El and his wife, Um Alaa, did not move. They sat in the bathroom in the dark, not daring to touch their phones; the faint glow of the screen might give them away to the Israeli soldiers outside. It was 1am, the Israelis were raiding their neighbours’ house, and the septuagenarian couple did not want their door knocked on next.

In the next house over, Israeli soldiers had forced residents against the wall at gunpoint, zip-tying their hands. They searched the home and interrogated its occupants before putting a black bag over the head of a shepherd, Qassem al-Qadari, taking him to an Israeli military base across the border for further questioning.

Mortgage refinance demand drops 18% as rates hit highest level since August

Mortgage rates rose to the highest level in nine months, hitting refinance demand hardest. Homebuyers also pulled back but were still more active than last year.

Man accused of hurling rock at rare seal was assaulted, lawyer says

A witness recorded what prosecutors say was a video of Igor Lytvynchuk throwing the rock at a Hawaiian monk seal at a Maui beach.

Flying Tiger snapped up by Modella Capital amid fears for its future

UK private equity investor with reputation for hard-nosed restructuring says it is backing existing management

Flying Tiger is the latest retailer to be snapped up by Modella Capital, the British investment firm which already owns the former high street arm of WH Smith, now called TG Jones.

The Danish company, known for its cut-price homewares and craft kits, operates about 1,000 stores worldwide, including 80 in the UK, where it employs more than 1,000 people.

Backrooms review – Kane Parsons’ icily disturbing horror rewrites the genre rulebook

Debut from 20-year-old director examines memory, reality and fear after Chiwetel Ejiofor accesses an infinite series of hidden rooms that all feel creepily askew

All the lonely people … where do they all belong? YouTuber Kane Parsons makes his feature directing debut with this icily brilliant and genuinely disturbing conceptual horror film based on his web series, and scripted by Will Soodik. There is something here of J-horror, the V/H/S found footage franchise, Dan Erickson’s Severance and Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal. It’s about people walled up in their own memories, imprisoned in endlessly remembered scenes from their past, or miserably perceived versions of their present existences in which they have become caricatures of themselves, gargoyle stars of their paralysed inner world of failure. Or perhaps the action of the film is not metaphorical in this or any other sense, and the “backrooms” of the title simply exist.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve give barnstormingly good performances as Clark and Mary; it is the early 90s and Clark is a failed architect, separated from his wife, and an alcoholic who to make ends meet self-hatingly manages a drearily and eerily vast discount furniture store, called Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire. He does dumb TV ads dressed as a pirate while uneasily aware he should be a sultan to make the “Ottoman empire” pun work. He goes to see a therapist, Mary, a sad, gentle person who markets her own self-help audio tapes and is haunted by childhood memories of her abusive mother.

The World Cup of kits: who are the winners for 2026?

The World Cup is two weeks away, but the chatter around kits has been going for a while. From riffs on much-loved favourites to new entries with the potential to become future classics, here are the 10 fashion picks to become familiar with before the tournament

SpaceX-Tesla merger chatter reignites as Musk pushes rocket company toward Nasdaq

With SpaceX headed for the public markets next month, industry experts and people close to Elon Musk are speculating about a potential tie-up with Tesla.

Reform UK spending on Facebook ads surged before May elections

Party spent £252,000 in last two weeks of campaign on its main Facebook pages compared with Labour’s £276,000

• UK politics live – latest updates

Reform UK ramped up the funding and sophistication of its political Facebook ads in the final weeks of campaigning for the May elections, in a sign of the growing financial muscle of Nigel Farage’s party.

There were several days in the fortnight before the party’s breakthrough electoral performance when Reform spent more than any other party on the influential platform.

Inside the effort to save one of America's most imperiled salamanders

When a species is facing extinction, it takes an enormous human effort to stave it off. Case in point: the painstaking campaign to save the frosted flatwoods salamander.