LIRR strike to end as MTA, unions reach tentative agreement

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the MTA and LIRR unions reached "a fair deal" to end the strike after three days.

Cuba's leader says country poses "no threat" to U.S. after military drone report

The Trump administration has placed intense pressure on Cuba's communist leadership.

The story of Cuba's 1996 shootdown that could lead 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.

Massie defiant as Trump seeks to oust him in primary: "I'm going to win"

Massie said the president is worried about his preferred candidate Ed Gallrein's chances in the Kentucky race.

3 killed in shooting at Islamic Center of San Diego, police say; 2 suspects dead

Three people were killed in a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, and two suspected shooters were found dead inside a vehicle nearby, police said.

5/18: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Three people were killed in a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego; Trump says U.S. won't go forward with scheduled attack on Iran.

Tributes paid as ‘outstanding’ soldier who died in fall at Royal Windsor Horse Show is named

Ministry of Defence names soldier who fell from her horse as Lance Bombardier Ciara Sullivan, 24, part of the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery

A soldier who died after falling from her horse at the Royal Windsor Horse Show was named as Lance Bombardier Ciara Sullivan, 24 – an “exceptional jockey” with an “infectious energy”, her commanding officer said.

Sullivan, part of the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, fell at around 7pm on Friday after exiting the arena.

From sanctioned cars to beauty clinics, Russian rubles have flowed into China’s border towns since Ukraine war

Suifenhe, a small city in China’s economically depressed rust belt, is a microcosm of an evolving Chinese-Russian trading relationship

Suited and booted in a navy twinset tracksuit and colourful high-top trainers, Wang Runguo is hustling. Darting across the gleaming floors of his cavernous car showroom, the 45-year-old from one of China’s poorest provinces is closing on yet another deal. It is all in a day’s work for the man whose salary has more than doubled in the past year thanks to a well-timed pivot: from corn to cars; from China to Russia.

This time last year Wang was working for an agricultural company that grew corn and soya beans for the domestic market. Now he is a manager at Xingyun International Automobile Export, a company founded in August 2025 to cater to the booming new car export industry in Suifenhe, a small city in China’s north-east that borders Russia. “Recently, China and Russia have been moving closer together,” Wang says. “As we move closer, more and more cars are going there.”

Trump dismisses $10bn suit against IRS and creates $1.7bn ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

Democrats criticize deal as a slush fund that ‘funnels taxpayer dollars’ to president’s political allies

• Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email

The justice department announced on Monday it was creating a loosely controlled and secretive $1.776bn fund to compensate Donald Trump allies as part of an agreement in which Trump and his sons dropped a $10bn longshot lawsuit against the IRS.

The money, which critics said was essentially a slush fund, will be overseen by five commissioners – four of whom would be appointed by the attorney general and removable by Trump – who would oversee the body’s work. A fifth commissioner will be appointed “in consultation” with congressional leadership. The fund also has the power to issue “formal apologies” and will send a quarterly confidential report to the US attorney general outlining who has been paid from the fund. There is no requirement that the fund’s work be made public.

Experts locate bodies of four missing Italian divers inside Maldives cave

Spokesperson for Indian Ocean island nation says they will try to recover explorers in next couple of days

Rescuers have located the bodies of four Italian divers deep inside an underwater cave in an atoll in the Maldives, four days after they were reported missing.

Searches had resumed after being suspended following the death of a local military diver during a perilous mission to try to reach them.

Eric Church compares pillars of life to strings on a guitar in viral commencement speech

Country singer Eric Church delivered a powerful speech to new graduates of UNC Chapel Hill. Tony Dokoupil has the story.

Judge rules some evidence allegedly found in Luigi Mangione's backpack can be used in state trial

A judge on Monday ruled a 9 millimeter gun, a silencer and a red notebook allegedly found in the search of Luigi Mangione's possessions can be used as evidence in his state trial for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in September. Lilia Luciano has more.

ICE agent charged in Minnesota with assault in shooting of immigrant

Christian Castro is the second ICE agent to be charged for actions during Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration's immigration-enforcement mission.

Florida mother turns to digital couponing as grocery bill soars

With inflation hitting its highest point since 2023, Kiana Powell told CBS News, "I cannot let a deal go to waste if it's something that I am using daily."

How a mom tries to stretch the grocery budget for her family of 5 | Affordability in America

Each trip to the grocery store is becoming more expensive for Florida mother Kiana Powell. Cristian Benavides reports on how she's trying to stretch her budget.

Hegseth campaigns against Massie in Kentucky with primary a day away

Pete Hegseth hit the campaign trail Monday, an unusual move for a defense secretary, stumping in Kentucky for Ed Gallrein, a Trump-backed challenger to Republican congressman and frequent Trump critic Thomas Massie. Ed O'Keefe has more.

American doctor working in Congo tests positive for Ebola

An American medical missionary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has a confirmed case of Ebola, and is being taken to Germany for treatment.

U.S. announces Ebola-related travel restrictions amid outbreak in Congo, Uganda

The Trump administration announced it's restricting people who don't have U.S. passports from entering the country if they have been in Congo, South Sudan or Uganda amid the Ebola outbreak.

At least 6 Americans in Congo were exposed to Ebola virus, sources say

The World Health Organization this week declared the Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda a "public health emergency of international concern."

Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda declared global health emergency

At least 80 deaths have been reported in a new Ebola disease outbreak in Congo and Uganda, authorities said.

Trump’s shifting remarks on Taiwan are perfect for China to exploit

President’s remarks about Taiwan arms deals being a ‘negotiating chip’ with Beijing have been seized on by Chinese state media

It has been an unsettling few days for Taiwan’s government. When Donald Trump met Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday, many feared the unpredictable US leader could upend Washington’s longstanding support for Taipei.

But beyond a starkly worded statement from Xi stressing China’s claims over Taiwan, which it claims as part of its territory despite never having ruled it, initial signs appeared good for Taipei.

Ukraine war briefing: Chinese ship hit on way in to Odesa port, says Zelenskyy

Civilian vessels under Russian attack in Black Sea; Kyiv condemns Belarus nuclear drills as threat to Nato and global security. What we know on day 1,546

Evacuations underway as wildfire burns in California's Simi Valley

A fast-moving wildfire about 40 miles north of Los Angeles forced evacuations Monday. Matt Gutman has more.

Details: 3 adults killed, 2 suspects also dead in shooting at Islamic Center of San Diego

Police say three adults were killed when two shooters opened fire Monday at the Islamic Center of San Diego. Jonathan Vigliotti has more.

Neymar picked in Brazil squad for 2026 World Cup but João Pedro misses out

• Carlo Ancelotti praises ‘improved fitness’ of Santos player

• Vinícius Júnior, Rayan and Igor Thiago also selected

Neymar will make his fourth World Cup appearance after Brazil named him to their 26-man squad on Monday. The decision was not guaranteed as questions surrounded Neymar’s fitness since his anterior cruciate ligament tear more than two years ago.

The Brazil coach, Carlo Ancelotti, said that Neymar “has improved his fitness” after the squad announcement at a gala in Rio de Janeiro. “He will be an important player in this World Cup.”

‘Remain calm’: Japan is gripped by fears of a naphtha shortage. What is it and why are people worried?

Few had heard of the crude oil-derived chemical until recently, but shortages caused by the blockade of the strait of Hormuz have led to a spike in concern

Japan’s government is fighting to cushion the economic impact of the Middle East war, as the shortage of oil sends inflation rising, with the crisis threatening to undermine prime minister Sanae Takaichi’s wide poll lead.

Amidst it all, new polling shows that Japan has seen a surge in concern over shortages of naphtha, a crude oil product that is used to make a wide variety of products.

New York Times sues Pentagon a second time over press access policy

The New York Times sued the Defense Department Monday for the second time in recent months over media access.

Racist abuse of NHS nurses rising amid ‘normalisation’ of extreme views, RCN warns

Figures disclosed by nursing union show big rise on reported incidents which may only be ‘tip of the iceberg’

Racist abuse of NHS nurses has jumped by 86% in the last few years, which their union’s boss has blamed on the normalisation of extreme views in politics and the media.

One nurse was called a monkey by a colleague, a patient threw a hot drink at a nurse and followed up with racial abuse, and in several cases others were called the N-word, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) disclosed.

Third of university students in Great Britain think AI job losses will cause social unrest, poll finds

Tracker of attitudes towards artificial intelligence also finds almost half of the public would prefer to avoid it

One in three university students think AI will wipe out jobs so rapidly it will trigger civil unrest, according to a survey by King’s College London (KCL).

Students are among the heaviest users of AI, the poll found, with 77% using it at least a few times a month – compared with 46% of workers – and 27% using it daily or almost daily.

Rivals wanting Tottenham relegated can be ‘big motivation’, insists De Zerbi

• Spurs need a draw at Chelsea to effectively secure safety

• ‘It’s good to imagine celebrating the win in their stadium’

Roberto De Zerbi says the idea that “everyone wants Tottenham relegated” ought to motivate his players as they look to set aside the club’s dismal record against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge to get the result they need to stay up.

Spurs have won once at Stamford Bridge since 1990 but they need only a draw on Tuesday night to all but ensure they survive in the Premier League and West Ham go down.

White House adds generic drugs to direct-to-consumer TrumpRx site

Trump said he is increasing the number of products on the platform by nearly seven times, adding more than 600 generic drugs to the site.

Who could benefit from Trump's $1.7+ billion "anti-weaponization" fund?

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the creation of the fund as part of the settlement of President Trump's lawsuit against the IRS over the leaking of his tax returns.

Five people, including two suspects, killed in shooting at San Diego’s largest mosque

Teenage suspects, including one reported missing, die of self-inflicted gunshot wounds, officials say

Three people were killed in a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, California, in what authorities said was being investigated as a hate crime.

Two suspects, aged 17 and 18, were also dead from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds, officials said. The FBI said it was looking for information from the public as it investigated the shooting. The bureau had set up a tip line.

Jury hands victory to Sam Altman and OpenAI in battle with Elon Musk

OpenAI CEO and president found not liable for breaking contracts made with Musk when founding the startup

A jury ruled in favor of Sam Altman in the culmination of a long and bitter legal battle that pitted the richest person in the world against a leader of the AI boom.

The federal jury in Oakland, California, found Altman, OpenAI and its president, Greg Brockman, not liable for Elon Musk’s claims that they unjustly enriched themselves and broke a founding contract made with Musk when founding the startup.

Trump says he's 'concerned' about Ebola after American tests positive in Africa

The CDC earlier Monday said an American had tested positive for Ebola in Africa.

5/18: CBS Evening News

3 adults killed, 2 suspects also dead in shooting at Islamic Center of San Diego; evacuations underway as wildfire burns in California's Simi Valley.

Musk slams Altman trial verdict as a 'technicality,' vows to appeal

A jury in Oakland, California, ruled against Elon Musk in his dramatic court battle with Sam Altman and OpenAI.

Trump settles IRS lawsuit, sets up $1.7B fund for claims of "weaponization"

President Trump had accused the Treasury Department and IRS of unlawfully allowing a government contractor to leak his tax returns and those of his sons and company.

Why you should care about 2 power companies merging. Hint: affordability

NextEra Energy plans to acquire Dominion Energy to create the largest electricity producer in the United States.

Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie is Trump revenge tour's next target

Rep. Thomas Massie will face off on Tuesday against a Trump-backed candidate in a Republican primary in Kentucky's 4th congressional district.

Pep Guardiola expected to leave Manchester City at end of the season

• Guardiola has been manager of club for 10 years

• He is set to go with one year left on his contract

Pep Guardiola is expected to leave Manchester City after 10 trophy-filled years as manager.

The club did not confirm reports on Monday night that Guardiola’s last game as City manager will be at home to Aston Villa on Sunday, the final day of the Premier League season. But increasingly figures around the club expect an announcement before the end of the season. Guardiola’s camp has been approached for comment.

Jury unanimously dismisses Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI

California jury dismissed all charges, finding that Musk missed the three-year statute of limitations to file suit.

Kai Havertz header edges nervy Arsenal past Burnley and one step from title

It was a night when fervour and hope ran into yet more Arsenal anxiety. This was supposed to be straightforward, wasn’t it? Burnley’s relegation from the Premier League was confirmed on 22 April. They sacked their manager, Scott Parker, shortly afterwards and came here under the caretaker, Michael Jackson. They had avoided defeat only three times in their previous 10 league matches, drawing all three.

It was not straightforward. Arsenal laboured under the spectre of the mother and father of all calamities. It nagged away during a traumatic second half. Everybody knew that with the margins so tight it might take only one flash from Burnley; a bolt from the sky blue. If Arsenal do stagger over the line and win their first title since 2004, they will have done it in nerve-shredding fashion.

Trump claims planned attack on Iran postponed after Tehran makes new proposal to end war

The US president says plans for a US military strike on Iran have been paused because ‘serious negotiations are now taking place’

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Iran has made a new proposal for a deal to definitively end the war in the Middle East, officials in the region said on Monday, with Donald Trump claiming he had postponed new military strikes so talks could continue.

But while the US president has regularly used social media to threaten Tehran, and to claim that a peace deal was within reach, there has been no sign of an immediate breakthrough in the stalled negotiations to end the war.

Pay for American workers is lagging inflation — again

U.S. wage growth is lagging inflation for the first time since 2023, eroding consumers' purchasing power.

Tuesday is a big primary day. Here's what you need to know

Six states are holding primaries May 19 that could help to decide the balance of power in Congress and in key state governments.

Fast-growing southern California brush fire prompts evacuation orders

Fire reported in Simi Valley, north-west of LA, as mandatory evacuation orders issued for more than 20,000 residents

A fast-growing brush fire ignited on Monday morning in southern California, prompting evacuation orders for thousands of people and damaging at least one home.

The Sandy fire was reported just after 10am in Simi Valley, a city in Ventura county about 30 miles north-west of Los Angeles.

Trump pivots to midterms, affordability after China summit as Iran war persists

Trump, at a White House event Monday, is expected to announce an expansion of the number of discounted prescription drugs offered through TrumpRX.

CDC says American tests positive for Ebola in Africa, risk in the U.S. remains low

No cases tied to the Ebola outbreak have been confirmed in the U.S., and the overall risk to the American public and travelers remains low.

Is Kennedy heir Jack Schlossberg ready to lead?

NPR's Juana Summers speaks with Jack Schlossberg, Democratic candidate for New York's 12th Congressional District and the grandson of President John F. Kennedy.

New York Times sues Pentagon again over ‘utterly unreasonable’ press restrictions

Trump administration unveiled sweeping restrictions on press access at the US defense department last September

• Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email

The New York Times has filed a second lawsuit against the Pentagon, arguing that its recent policy requiring journalists to have official escorts when on Pentagon grounds is unconstitutional.

The Trump administration unveiled sweeping restrictions on press access at the US Department of Defense, which it calls the Department of War, last September.

This Ebola outbreak raises questions about when it all began — and the U.S. response

The sheer number of cases and deaths are a sign that the outbreak might have been smoldering before the virus was identified.

Pennsylvania woman finds 3.09-carat white diamond at Arkansas state park

A woman from Pennsylvania found a 3.09-carat white diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.

Berkshire Hathaway has revamped its portfolio — Here's how the new stocks are trading

Berkshire Hathaway took a $2.6 billion stake in Delta Airlines and increased its shares in Alphabet by 224%.

U.S. creates $1.8B 'lawfare' fund in exchange for Trump dropping $10B IRS suit

Trump sued the IRS in late January over the leak of his tax information by an IRS employee, Charles "Chaz" Littlejohn, in 2019 and 2020.

Two women allege they were raped during filming of Married at First Sight UK

Former contestants claim there was not enough protection for cast during making of Channel 4 show

Two women have alleged they were raped during the filming of Married at First Sight UK, one of Channel 4’s biggest shows, and a third alleged she was subjected to a non-consensual sex act.

The show did not do enough to protect them, the women told an edition of the BBC’s Panorama outlining their allegations.

Mbeumo handball decision was wrong, Howard Webb tells Nottingham Forest

• Matheus Cunha scored after teammate had handled

• Refereeing chief admits goal should not have stood

Howard Webb, the Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) chief refereeing officer, has admitted to Nottingham Forest that Michael Salisbury was wrong not to disallow Matheus Cunha’s goal owing to Bryan Mbeumo’s handball in Manchester United’s 3-2 win on Sunday at Old Trafford.

Salisbury’s decision was judged by Webb as being too lenient with regard to the Premier League’s approach to the handball laws. The competition does allow leeway in terms of players’ natural movements. But in Mbeumo’s case Webb felt Salisbury misjudged the incident as an unintentional handball so when Matt Donohue, the video assistant referee, asked Salisbury to review the 55th-minute incident on the pitchside monitor the decision should have been overturned.

No ‘tailor-made’ deal for UK if it wants to rejoin bloc, say former EU Brexit officials

Britain likely to face ‘warm, welcoming stance’ if it seeks re-entry but also a ‘hard-headed one’ – with no special deals

Britain would not be able to rejoin the EU on the special terms it enjoyed in the past, veterans of the Brexit negotiations have said.

The warnings came as senior Labour politicians jostling for the leadership of their party and country talk openly about wanting to return to the union at some point in the future.

‘It’s heartbreaking’: panic in eastern DRC over return of Ebola

Residents of Ituri province fear spread of disease and economic impact of outbreak six years after the last

“On public transport, in bars and at mass gatherings, everyone is talking about Ebola,” said Gloire Mumbesa, a resident of Mongbwalu, a mining town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He said cases of the disease had been reported locally and panic was engulfing the area because of the lack of a vaccine for the Bundibudyo strain. “The fear is that this disease may spread to many other areas.”

Residents of Ituri province in eastern DRC, where the World Health Organization announced an outbreak of Ebola last week, are living in growing fear of the possible continued spread of the disease and its deadly impacts, nearly six years after the last outbreak in the region ended.

Tech firms face tougher UK rules on intimate image abuse

Ofcom to update codes of practice amid rise in ‘revenge porn’ and AI-generated deepfakes targeting women and girls

Social media, messaging platforms and online forums that publish intimate image abuse – often intended to humiliate women and girls – are being instructed to follow new guidelines to stop it spreading.

Ofcom said it would change its codes of practice to force service providers to detect and quash intimate image abuse – sometimes called “revenge porn” – and crack down on AI-generated deepfakes. A wave of deepfakes emerged in January when Elon Musk’s Grok AI was widely used to create sexualised videos of women in bikinis.

For better or worse, investors are living through Trump’s stock market. Here's why

President Donald Trump has been considered the ultimate stock market president, overseeing an expansion to record highs as well as major declines.

The Guardian view on India’s Iran shock: Asia’s neoliberal era starts to fracture | Editorial

Narendra Modi’s austerity appeals reveal how war, energy insecurity and dollar pressures expose the fragility of globalisation

The Indian prime minister’s call for sacrifice last week marks a fundamental shift. He urged the country’s 1.4 billion people to consume less fuel and fertiliser, buy less gold and curb foreign travel as global energy prices surge because of the war in Iran. The message, redolent of the Covid-era restrictions, suggests something larger: a retreat from neoliberal globalisation in Asia and the return of strategic economic management. The Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi waited for key regional elections to finish before pressing for the austerity measures. He was following other Asian states such as the Philippines, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, which have made similar requests and even demands of their citizens since March.

Mr Modi made an explicit economic argument: reduce energy imports because India must conserve its foreign exchange. About 90% of India’s oil and gas needs come from abroad. When prices spike, the country faces a higher import bill in dollars, inflation and pressure for higher subsidies. Despite India’s recent economic success, it has not built sufficient productive, export or homegrown green-power capacity to reduce its vulnerability. To prevent the rupee crashing in value, India’s central bank reportedly burned through more than $40bn in reserves.

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.

Jury dismisses all claims in Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

Musk had sought to oust Altman from his leadership position over claims that he and others breached their duty to OpenAI's original nonprofit mission and unjustly enriched themselves.

NPR trims jobs in newsroom overhaul as it confronts era without public funding

NPR is offering buyouts to journalists as it overhauls its newsroom, with the threat of layoffs to follow. Two recent gifts totaling $113 million are primarily dedicated to NPR's tech infrastructure.

Fighter jets' crews eject from air show crash: "A lot of luck involved"

The Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho was locked down following the midair crash during the Gunfighter Skies Air Show.

Son of radicals, Zayd Ayers Dohrn details a childhood underground and on the run

Dohrn's parents, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, helped found the the Weather Underground. "I knew that the FBI was chasing us," he says. His memoir is Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young.

‘Disposable’ operatives for hire are a new menace for western countries

A court case in New York has highlighted how Iran is using technology to recruit agents who may not even be regime supporters

When on Friday a 32-year-old Iraqi was brought before a court in New York to be charged with planning to attack Jewish community sites in the US, a curtain was suddenly lifted on a corner of a shadowy world.

The detention of Mohammed Saad Baqer al-Saadi in Turkey last week revealed rare details of Iran’s efforts to use terrorism to sow discord among communities in Europe, the UK and the US – but also the outlines of an uncertain and threatening future.

Judge blocks evidence from Luigi Mangione backpack in UnitedHealthcare CEO murder case

Luigi Mangione was apprehended by police in a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, days after the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Fjord review - Cristian Mungiu at sea with strange child abuse drama starring Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan

Cannes film festival: The Palme laureate here makes a misstep with an odd, disquieting film that leaves too many issues unresolved

Romanian director and Palme laureate Cristian Mungiu – the winner here in 2007 with his stunning 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days – comes to Cannes with an anticlimactic, underpowered movie which it seems to me could be part of an odd phenomenon at this year’s festival, detectable also in films here by Kantemir Balagov and Ryusuke Hamaguchi: auteurs making coproduction movies outside their home turf and mother tongue with big foreign stars, perhaps as a result of creative conversations at international film festivals with admirers from all over the world – and losing focus.

Fjord is an odd film, bearing Mungiu’s signature, certainly, with enigmatic long shots and avoidance of closeups, and one very distinctive crowding of faces in a dinner-scene tableau. But the ostensible pain and trauma of its story is conveyed without the rewarding complexity that we have come to associate with him, and without revelation or mystery. Ultimately, the film does not compellingly deliver a blazing truth about its various relationships – but neither does it intriguingly withhold any such truth from us.

Sebastian Stan plays a Romanian guy called Mihai, married to a Norwegian woman called Lisbet (Renate Reinsve); they have to come to live in the beautiful, remote village of Lisbet’s birth because Mihai, a qualified software engineer, can get an IT job and there is a strong church community thereabouts which is a great attraction as Mihai and Lisbet are fundamentalist conservative Christians who are very strict. They are given a warm welcome by their (non-Christian) neighbours, who are the school’s headteacher and his wife.

The film begins on a disquieting, ambiguous moment: Mihai has clearly just delivered a punishment of some sort to their teenage daughter who is now required to give him a penitent hug. The school’s staff notice that the children have marks and bruises. They are gently but pointedly questioned and (perhaps) incriminate their parents because they are not sufficiently proficient in any language other than Romanian. Perhaps the language issue also contributes to the calamitous statement Mihai then gives to the police with no lawyer present.

With lightning speed, the children are taken into provisional care pending a hearing and criminal trial. Things are complicated by a growing concern about their neighbours’ elderly disabled father and about Mihai and Lisbet’s daughter forming a close relationship with their neighbours’ rebellious teen daughter.

There is something undoubtedly ingenious in the way Mungiu invites the audience to sympathise with the children, and side against this ice-cold patriarch – and then almost side with the patriarch against the blandly smug, supercilious officers of a system weighted against them.

Liberal prejudice against them as Christians or as Romanians arguably plays its part. But the facts of the matter do not seem to be in doubt: Mihai concedes he smacks or slaps the children occasionally – quite normal in the robust world of Romania. But don’t those bruises and marks show something worse than that? The matter is not resolved in court or in the film and then we have a strangely inert and suspense-free finale at the ferry terminal which reveals that the relationship between the teen girls Elia (Vanessa Ceban) and Noora (Henrikke Lund-Olsen) is something else the film has not sufficiently told or not told us about. Mungiu’s technique will always be interesting but this is a disappointment.

• Fjord screened at the Cannes film festival

Ryanair has plans for 'armageddon' scenario as CFO warns weaker European carriers may not survive jet fuel crunch

Ryanair said it has plans for an "armageddon situation," amid the jet fuel crisis.

Scott Hastings obituary

One of the greats of Scottish rugby who went on to have a successful broadcasting career

Scott Hastings, the most capped centre in the history of Scotland’s rugby union side, played a key role in his country’s epic 1990 grand slam victory over England at Murrayfield. Scott, whose name will be forever linked with his elder brother Gavin, was a defensive bulwark of the Scottish team and his astonishing tackle from behind that day on Rory Underwood helped secure his country’s finest ever victory.

In many ways Scott, who has died aged 61 of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and Gavin were chalk and cheese. The full-back Gavin was affable enough but quiet and earnest while Scott always had a smile on his face. He was a practical joker in his playing days, the dying era of amateurism. “In the end,” he once said, “I recognise that rugby is still all about fun.”

Greenlanders are not ‘experimental subjects’, says minister as she decries US doctor’s visit

Health minister in Nuuk condemns doctor’s presence in US delegation as ‘deeply problematic’

Greenland’s government has criticised the arrival of a US doctor in Nuuk alongside Donald Trump’s special envoy, Jeff Landry, saying that Greenlanders are not “experimental subjects”.

Joseph Griffin said he had joined the delegation as a volunteer to “assess the medical needs” of the Arctic island, which the US president has repeatedly threatened to invade.

Pressure on Mexico after two ex-officials surrender to US over alleged cartel ties

Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum denies any links between her Morena party and organized crime

Pressure is mounting on Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, after two former top officials from the country’s Sinaloa state – both members of her Morena party – gave themselves up to US authorities over alleged ties to the Sinaloa cartel.

The state’s former security minister Gerardo Mérida Sánchez crossed the border into Arizona last week and was taken into custody by US marshals, Mexico’s security ministry said. Sinaloa’s former finance minister, Enrique Díaz Vega, was taken into custody in New York.

Josh Johnson: Symphony review – a masterful HBO special from a generational comedy talent | Tyson Wray

US comedian has a remarkable ability to transform amusing, if somewhat banal, anecdotes into meticulously crafted joy and preposterousness

In terms of both quality and quantity, Josh Johnson is producing standup at a more prolific rate than any other comedian on the globe. How often would you expect a professional comedian to release an hour-long filmed and edited set consisting of 100% brand new gear? Once a year? Every two years?

For Johnson, it’s every week. Every Tuesday since 2023, the American comic and rotating host-correspondent of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show has uploaded fully fledged, highly topical routines to his YouTube channel. Filmed from his own tours and club drop-ins, many have eclipsed the 5m view mark. To call him a disruptor of the conventional comedy career path would be a heavy understatement; Johnson is playing by his own rules and the comedy cognoscenti around the world are undoubtedly watching with a keen eye.

Starbucks Korea CEO dismissed over ad evoking massacre of pro-democracy protesters

‘Tank Day’ event causes outrage with ‘malicious mockery’ of deadly crackdown during dictatorship era

The chief executive of Starbucks in South Korea has been dismissed after the company ran a promotional event using slogans that evoked a massacre of pro-democracy protesters during the country’s dictatorship era, sparking outrage and boycott calls.

The coffee chain launched a “Tank Day” campaign on 18 May for its “Tank” tumbler series. The date coincides with one of the most politically sensitive days in South Korea’s calendar, when citizens commemorate the 1980 democratisation movement in Gwangju, 167 miles (270km) south-west of Seoul.

Meta layoffs starting this week stress harsh AI reality inside Zuckerberg’s company

Meta is starting layoffs this week, with 8,000 jobs expected to be cut, as employees brace for a new era of AI.

Luís Castro eclipses famous namesake after taking Levante to verge of safety | Sid Lowe

Unheralded coach has presided over a remarkable turnaround as club navigates La Liga’s epic relegation battle

Luís Castro was 11 when he started vomiting blood. Taken to hospital and diagnosed with purpura, initially doctors told his parents there was no chance of him living and even when he was cured they said he couldn’t do any physical exercise ever again. But three lonely years later, driven by an inner strength he ascribed to a higher power, he was back on a football pitch, building a career that took him through the lower leagues in Portugal as a player and around the world as coach, winning trophies in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Brazil, until one day in December his name landed on the president’s desk at Levante: just the kind of man the Spanish club needed in their impossible fight for survival.

Oh, wait. No, that’s not right. “I had heard of another Luís Castro but not this one,” Pablo Sánchez admitted on Sunday night, “and this one turned out to be the ideal coach for our club.”

Inflation rate projected to hit 6% in the second quarter, top economic forecasters say

The recent surge in inflation is likely to get worse over the next several months, according to a survey Friday.

The Fed will have to raise interest rates in July to appease 'bond vigilantes,' Yardeni says

Sent to the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, incoming Chair Kevin Warsh instead may have to push for higher levels.

Homebuilder sentiment improves on late spring surge in demand

Builders are feeling slightly better about the housing market, as they see improved buyer traffic in a potential late spring surge.

NextEra Energy to acquire Dominion in a $67 billion utility deal

The combined company will serve about 10 million utility customers across Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The Unknown review – Léa Seydoux gets invaded in uncanny and bizarre body-swap horror

Cannes film festival: A man is terrified to wake up in Seydoux’s body in this metempsychotic mystery film about gender identity

Arthur Harari’s film is adapted from a graphic novel he wrote with his brother Lucas called The Case of David Zimmerman. It is a doomy, murky and intriguing supernatural noir mystery, hardly visible within the dark toxic cloud of its own strangeness, populated by people bearing stricken expressions of misery and fear. There are some genuinely uncanny and disquieting moments. Maybe it is a parable for the crisis of gender identity – or just identity, and everyone’s occasional experience of the profound, unreconcilable unknowability of our own bodies. There is also something of the mood of Blow-Up, or Basil Dearden’s Brit pulp chiller The Man Who Haunted Himself, or indeed David Robert Mitchell’s modern classic It Follows. But this one, sadly, is flawed by that perennial problem of how to end a story with a great premise.

Niels Schneider plays David Zimmerman, a photographer in his late 30s documenting the way in which his home town has changed over the past century – a project inherited from his photographer dad. (He has an old photo of them both seated on the pavement, apparently mimicking Chaplin and the Kid.) David is overworked, dishevelled and depressed, but is just about persuaded to go along to a raucous New Year’s Eve party where he is stunned to glimpse a woman staring at him, played by Léa Seydoux, whom he realises he photographed a few months’ previously.

The nice guy who finished first: why all of golf was glad to see Aaron Rai lift US PGA Championship

Hard work, respect and family values made Englishman a popular winner of the Wanamaker Trophy among his peers

By the time Aaron Rai was walking to the 18th tee, 71 holes into the week, 17 holes into the round of his life, three shots clear, Rory McIlroy was already in the clubhouse doing the media rounds. “Looks like he’s going to win,” McIlroy said, as he glanced at Rai on one of the TV monitors dotted around, “which is great. You won’t find one person on property who’s not happy for him.” He was right. Or at least if there was anyone out there who felt differently, he wasn’t among any of the many men Rai had just beaten to win the Wanamaker Trophy.

“There’s very few people that are nicer and kinder human beings than Aaron,” said Jon Rahm, three shots back. “He’s such a good dude,” said Xander Schauffele, five behind.

Pete Songi on Nigel Farage and Brexit – cartoon

Continue reading...

The Supreme Court avoids taking up a fight over Voting Rights Act enforcement for now

After recently weakening the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court avoided for now taking up a legal question that may severely limit enforcement of the law's remaining protections for minority voters.

John Oliver on factoring companies: ‘This industry is full of predators’

Last Week Tonight host spoke about structured settlements and the problematic industry surrounding them

John Oliver took aim at factoring companies on his HBO show and the industry that takes advantage of people with structured settlements.

On Last Week Tonight, he explained that the story grew out of “the JG fucking Wentworth ads” which have been a “pop culture staple” due to the “infuriatingly catchy” jingle that was even part of a Curb Your Enthusiasm storyline.

Du pain, de la bière, du Boursin? Why the French are now drinking more beer than wine

For the first time ever, beer has overtaken wine as the drink of choice in France. Bad news for national identity, but potentially good news in terms of alcohol consumption

Name: French beer

Age: About 11,700 years.

My rookie era: In my 30s, I went for my driver’s licence test – and failed four times

Learning to drive as an adult is humiliating because everyone knows how to drive, and frustrating because no one knows how to drive properly

Last year, at the age of 35, I decided it was time to grow up and get my driver’s licence.

I had considered it before but it had never stuck. As a teenager, I thought driving was scary and significantly less cool than sitting on the bus, listening to the same eight songs on my MP3 player. As a news reporter in my 20s, not driving was inconvenient to both me and my editors, but so was spending days off learning how to parallel park.

Judge dismisses Trump's IRS lawsuit, paving the way for a settlement

The president sued the IRS and the Treasury Department in January, demanding $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns years ago.

Belgian ex-diplomat dies before standing trial over 1961 murder of Congolese leader

Étienne Davignon, 93, was last living person targeted in investigation into assassination of DRC’s first PM, Patrice Lumumba

A 93-year-old Belgian former diplomat who became the first person to be charged in the murder of the Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba has died before he could stand trial.

The death of Étienne Davignon, an aristocrat who served as a European commissioner during a decades-long career as one of Belgium’s leading diplomats and industrialists, was confirmed by the Jacques Delors Institute thinktank, where he had served on the board.

Cuba warns US of ‘bloodbath’ if military action follows drone claims

Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, says any US strike would be catastrophic after reports of 300+ drones

Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has warned that any US military action against his country would lead to a “bloodbath” with incalculable consequences for regional peace and stability.

“Cuba does not represent a threat,” Díaz-Canel said in a post on X.

A milky protest and a UFO in London: photos of the day – Monday

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

Supreme Court tells lower courts to take new look at 2 voting rights cases

At issue in the cases was who can bring lawsuits in federal court to address potential violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

El Niño could bring "double whammy" of high tide flooding, NOAA warns

The upcoming El Niño could trigger frequent and widespread flooding in coastal areas around the United States, even when storms aren't actively taking place, scientists warn.

Tell us about your favourite family summer holiday

Share a tip on your most memorable family break in the UK and Europe – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays break

What makes the perfect family holiday? Whether you travelled with toddlers, teenagers or as part of a multi-generational group, tell us about the choice of destination and fun activities that made your trip successful, or even special. Where did you go in the UK or Europe, what did you do and what made it work?

The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in the Guardian Travel section and website.

Purple pain: backlash over Mexico City’s ‘axolotlisation’ for World Cup

Mayor’s attempt to beautify the city with murals of mascot and plum paint jobs criticised as waste of resources

The giant purple axolotl peered up at Manuel Martínez from the black bitumen of the street. It was the second such painting of the rare amphibian he had walked past that morning. In recent weeks he had seen axolotl murals pop up in neighbourhoods across Mexico City.

“It’s a waste of money,” he said. “You could use that budget for fixing potholes, traffic lights, security cameras. They’re spending on something that doesn’t benefit us at all – it’s just for tourists.”

Hope review – non-stop gonzo alien battling is top-quality entertainment

Cannes film festival: Na Hong-jin’s melee of running, chasing and shouting at the angry invaders is uproarious fun, mixing digital work with old-school spectacle

Some uproarious rock’n’roll moviemaking from Korean director Na Hong-jin, a sci-fi action thriller mixing digital work with old-school analogue entertainment values, serving up a spectacle with cheeky touches of Spielberg, Walter Hill and one other director and movie franchise that it would be unsporting to specify at this stage.

We are in the remote and sleepy retirees’ town of Hope in South Korea near the demilitarised zone (DMZ), where people already constitutionally used to the possibility of war and bloodshed, are astonished to hear of a farm animal killed and mangled – though not for food – by an unidentified beast.

‘The film humanised Russians at a time when Rambo was killing them’: how we made Letter to Brezhnev

‘All of Kirkby turned out for the premiere – many of them had been extras. And 500 people crammed into my mum’s council house for a party. It’s still talked about’

I started banging out the script for this on a typewriter in my scruffy flat in Toxteth, Liverpool, in 1981. Four years later, the film had its British premiere. My idea was for a working-class romance between a couple of girls from my native Kirkby and two Russian sailors on leave around the port of Liverpool, with a subtle political message at a time when the Thatcher premiership and the cold war were at their heights. There was a lot of anti-Russian propaganda in the press, but I was not prepared to hate a whole nation just because they had been demonised by the likes of press baron Robert Maxwell.

‘Capitalism has to become more humane’: a Stanford economist on big tech, power hoarding and democracy

Mordecai Kurz argues tech oligarchs erode democracy through monopolies – and predicts how the trend may end

The billionaires of today are unusually aggressive in their hoarding of cultural and technological influence, according to Mordecai Kurz, a Stanford economist whose research connects monopoly power with political and economic inequality. In his new book, Private Power and Democracy’s Decline, publishing 19 May, he argues the US is living through an extreme version of a pattern that has repeated itself since industrialization: technological power concentrating in the hands of a few, which is eroding democracy.

According to Kurz, technological moguls have long seen themselves as superior beings whose natural role is to shape society – so they have no problem disrupting the institution of democracy. During the first Gilded Age, in the late 19th century, as the US was enjoying its first ascent as an industrial powerhouse, wealthy industrialists like Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller “invented all kinds of theories about human evolution”, twisting the logic of social Darwinism to convince themselves that their success was a sign they had been selected by nature to influence society, Kurz explained. Now, the Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei, has suggested his technology has a mystical potential to become a transcendent good. He has also openly acknowledged it could lead to mass unemployment.

‘I had been silent for a very long time’: how a chance meeting at a burger van revived techno genius the Field

A run of immaculate albums ended in 2018 with an identity crisis and the producer becoming a kindergarten chef. Now he’s back with a blissed-out new record

When Axel Willner went to Stockholm’s Funky Chicken food truck last February, he only expected to leave with a burger. While waiting, Willner – AKA the Field, artisan of looping minimal techno masterpieces – noticed another Axel standing two places behind him. This was unlikely enough given the unpopularity of the grandpa-ish name amid 40-something Swedish men. “I was like, oh, how will they call our burgers now?” says Willner.

Unlikelier still, not least given how out of the way the spot is, the Axel was fellow Scandi club music pioneer Axel Boman, co-founder of the joyous dance label Studio Barnhus. They got chatting during the long wait. “He asked if I had any music, what am I doing, because I had been silent for a very long time,” says Willner. He left with an invitation to send Boman some tracks, which eventually resulted in a new label deal and his first record since 2018, Now You Exist.