8 children killed in mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana

The gunman, who is also dead, shot 10 people in total, according to police. All eight who died were children from 3 to 11 years old, police said.

American Airlines falls 3% premarket after dismissing United megamerger

American Airlines stock fell after it dismissed talk of a potential merger with United, citing antitrust concerns and potential harm to competition.

Middle East crisis live: ceasefire under pressure as Iran says it has no plans for talks after US seizes ship

Donald Trump said on Sunday that US marines had taken custody of a vessel that tried to get past the American blockade on Iranian ports

• Tehran has ‘no plans to participate’ in new talks, state media reports, as it accuses US of violating ceasefire

The US has just released some more footage of the encounter with the Iranian flagged vessel, the M/V Touska.

In a post on X, US Central Command said US Marines had departed the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli by helicopter and rappelled onto the Iranian-flagged vessel.

Kremlin ‘impressed’ with Bulgarian election winner Radev’s call for pragmatic dialogue with Moscow – Europe live

Eurosceptic – heading a left-leaning, pro-Russia coalition – to take power following eighth election in five years

The European Commission has offered a brief update after this weekend’s early talks with the incoming Magyar government in Hungary.

The commission’s deputy chief spokesperson, Olof Gill, told reporters that the meetings were “extremely constructive and positive in tone.”

“The point here is that we are engaging with the incoming Hungarian government to move forward on a range of issues that for too long have been blocked.”

Starmer expected to lead Labour into next election, says minister, but warns there are ‘no certainties’ amid Mandelson scandal – UK politics live

Douglas Alexander defends PM ahead of Commons showdown over Mandelson scandal

• Judgment day for PM over Mandelson scandal

David Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary who was foreign secretary when Peter Mandelson was made ambassador to the US, has said that he was never told that Mandelson failed the security vetting interview. Mandelson’s was only technically approved because Olly Robbins, the head of Foreign Office, exercised his discretion to ignore the recommendation from the people doing the vetting.

Lammy gave his account of this in an interview with Pippa Crerar.

The problem ultimately is caused by the prime minister choosing an ambassador with a known integrity problem. Everybody understood that about Peter Mandelson, if you look at his past record.

I’m not criticising his abilities, but as the talisman for New Labour, he had a very dodgy series of relationships. We won’t go into that. So there should have been, the prime minister should have thought through before announcing the appointment how he was going to manage that aspect of choosing Mandelson.

Japan tsunami alert issued following powerful earthquake off northern coast – follow latest

People in affected areas urged to evacuate as quake registering 7.5 magnitude occurred off the coast of Sanriku

Here are some photos from Japan this morning, in the wake of the powerful earthquake:

Japan’s meteorological agency said earthquakes of a “similar scale” could continue for as long as a week, according to the Kyodo news agency.

How can you tell if your boss has a big ego? Their email habits are a definite tell | Emma Beddington

Only those in unassailable positions of power would ditch capital letters – or reply to colleagues with a thumbs up emoji

i recently learned that, in february, jack dorsey – formerly of twitter, now of block – wrote a 600-word email announcing a mass layoff (4,000 employees) all in, you guessed it, lowercase.

This was the jumping-off point for an investigation into the tech broligarchy’s “new language of power” by journalist Zak Jason for Business Insider. Jason conducted his own no-caps experiment, recklessly deploying lowercase in messages to his boss, colleagues, fellow parents and “every outreach to sources for this story – biz etiquette experts, comms gurus, & sam altman”. He agonised less and responded quicker, he concluded, but lost clarity.

The pet I’ll never forget: Benny the cat, who climbed into my shopping bag – then shared my baths

I found Benny and his brother, Buster, when they were three months old. I was besotted with them both, but it was Benny, with his quirky ways and loving nature, who really stole my heart

I suppose you could say I got Benny from the shops. In 2006, he and his brother ambushed me outside a supermarket in Bahrain. They were trying to climb into the bags of shopping I was carrying to get at the food they could smell. Immediately smitten, I took them in.

It was the start of a 16-year relationship that saw Benny and Buster accompany me to Kenya, Qatar, back to Bahrain, then finally to Manchester. I used to say they had seen more countries than most people. I was an advertising creative director and followed the work where I could get it. It was an interesting but lonely life and my new pals, who were about three months old, immediately made a difference. I was besotted with them, but it was Benny, with his endearing quirks, who really stole my heart.

The Trial review – searing record of Argentina’s courtroom reckoning with its brutal ‘dirty war’

Footage from the 1985 Trial of the Juntas is expertly edited into a documentary providing unforgettable witness to the repression that ‘disappeared’ thousands

From 1974 to 1983, the Argentine military junta waged a “dirty war” against its own citizens under the pretext of national security. Tens of thousands of people from all social strata were marked down as subversives, and “disappeared” – murdered at the hands of the state. Composed entirely of courtroom footage from the landmark 1985 Trial of the Juntas, where nine military officials including dictator-in-chief Jorge Rafael Videla were prosecuted for their crimes, Ulises de la Orden’s searing documentary makes for a profound work of preservation and remembrance.

Culled from 530 hours of archive recordings, the film is divided into 18 chapters, each titled after a moving phrase taken from the testimonies. These headings distil the barbarism of the military’s genocidal tactics. Delivered in a judicial setting, harrowing stories told by former detainees and victims’ relatives lay bare the methodology of state-sponsored violence, as well as the collective trauma shared across generations. Confronted with the anger and the pain of the witnesses, the defence responds with feeble arguments professing patriotism, which are met with jeers and disgust from the spectators. The extraordinarily precise editing maintains the bubbling tension between multiple vantage points, groups with clashing ideas of justice.

House GOP touts record fundraising haul in first three months of 2026

The National Republican Congressional Committee, House Republicans' campaign arm, is touting a record-breaking fundraising haul to start the 2026 midterm cycle, the committee chairman told CBS News.

Weather tracker: temperatures in Spain and Brazil well above late April norm

Seville could see 34C this week and parts of Brazil could hit high 30s, while storms forecast in southern Africa

Over the course of this week, temperatures in Spain are expected to soar well above the seasonal average. Daytime temperatures could reach about 30C in Madrid on Tuesday, 10C above the norm, while Seville may experience 34C, about 9C above its late April average. An area of low pressure situated out in the Atlantic will allow for a south-westerly flow, introducing warm air from north Africa. In addition to this heat, a notable dust plume is expected to travel northwards from the Sahara, covering the skies above Iberia and south-western France, which may lead to some particularly orange or red skies at sunrise and sunset.

In Brazil, high temperatures are forecast for the states of São Paulo, Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul and Santa Catarina over the next few days, eventually spreading into Minas Gerais. Here, daytime maximum temperatures are expected to reach the high 30s celsius later in the week, about 5-10C above the seasonal average.

‘We wasted a lot of lives’: CIA spymaster’s caution over past Iran intervention resurfaces from beyond the grave

A documentary about Peter Sichel – the ‘Jewish James Bond’ who died in 2025 – includes striking mea culpas about the cost and efficacy of US involvement in the Middle East

In New York social circles, he was known as the “Jewish James Bond”: a refugee from Nazi Germany whose gratitude to his American hosts was such that he volunteered to join the US army and became the CIA’s first station chief in Berlin as a mere twentysomething, filing early warnings about Soviet activity that have been credited with ringing in the Cold War.

Like 007, Peter Sichel also appreciated a fine tipple, and after leaving the US foreign intelligence service it was he who briefly turned a sweet German white, Blue Nun, into one of the best-selling wines in the world.

Beyond the UK and US manosphere lies a deeper, darker global problem

In this week’s newsletter: the rise of misogyny around the world; the Sudan war enters its fourth year; and a key vote on slave trade reparations

I finally got round to watching Louis Theroux’s Inside the Manosphere documentary. It was uncomfortable viewing, not just for the obvious reason that watching men revel in degrading women and manipulating young men is disturbing, but because I couldn’t shake the feeling that our cultural obsession with a handful of high-profile US and British influencers is a distraction from the deeper, darker global problem.

HStikkytokky, Myron Gaines and co are the visible, “glamorous” figureheads of misogyny. Brash and offensive, they make good telly – and there is nothing wrong with that if it provokes public debate and conversations with teenagers. But behind that flashiness, in the murky depths of the internet, lies a world of abuse, threats and sexualisation of women and girls that gets little, if any, media coverage.

Soaring rents and a four-hour commute: the misery of the Lagos housing crisis

‘I’ve not had proper food for days’: migrant workers leave India’s cities as Iran war fuel crisis deepens

‘We fear the epidemic will return’: Senegal’s harsh anti-gay law puts decades of HIV progress in jeopardy

Sluts, simps and body shaming: the rise of Africa’s manosphere

Injured and abandoned: hundreds of Gaza amputees left stranded in Egypt

‘It started with a tipoff’: how a Guardian investigation exposed child sex trafficking on Facebook and Instagram

Don’t look at who voted to call the slave trade ‘the gravest crime’, look at who didn’t | Kenneth Mohammed

In the Rohingya refugee camps, we really want you to keep the gas running | Ajas Khan

And the election winner is … the candidate who can afford Africa’s soaring nomination fees

‘That crazy old man should leave Cuba alone’: farmers bear the brunt of Trump’s pressure campaign

‘If they pollute our rivers, what will become of us?’: the town divided between hope and fear in Brazil’s Amazon oil rush

Hunger, bribery and ruin: Darfur after three years of Sudan’s civil war

‘All we can do now is pray they continue’: Maasai welcome the first rains but know that drought is far from over

Burning wood for power worse for climate than gas equivalent, report finds

Research casts doubt on plans by UK government to offer subsidies for carbon capture attached to the power source

Burning wood for power generation can be worse for the climate than burning gas, even when the resulting carbon dioxide emissions are captured and stored, new research has shown.

The findings cast doubt on plans by several governments, including the UK, to offer subsidies or other financial support for carbon capture attached to wood-burning power.

The hill I will die on: Put that bucket list in the bin | Rose Rouse

As I age, there are loads of things I want to do, but none are the kinds of bland, commodified ‘adventures’ that these lists imply

No, I don’t want to smoke a cigar in Havana. I don’t want to go hot-air ballooning in the Serengeti, nor skydive naked from a microlight plane in Costa Rica. I don’t have a bucket list. And I wish people would stop asking me if I do.

I’m 73 and the co-founder of a social enterprise, Advantages of Age, that challenges the media narrative around ageing. Recently I appeared on a podcast to discuss it. Of course, the host asked me what is on my bucket list. I was horrified. Strangely, for once, I didn’t offer a raft of invectives: I simply said I didn’t have one. But here’s what I really think: the bucket list has blandified adventure. And that is a sin in my book.

Rose Rouse is the editor and co-founder of Advantages of Age, a social enterprise challenging media stereotypes around ageing

Myanmar military regime widens sanitary towel ban, claiming rebels use them for first aid

Activists say clamp down on period products to target insurgents is gender-based violence and violates rights

Myanmar’s military regime is expanding its ban on the distribution of period products, claiming they are being used to treat wounded resistance fighters, according to local activists.

The south-east Asian country has been locked in civil war since 2021, when the military usurped the democratic government and launched a violent crackdown on dissidents. Artillery fire, the burning of townships and arbitrary arrests have become common in the years since then.

Got wearable data? Your doctor can help you connect the dots

The American Academy of Neurology issued guidance on using wearable data devices, like smart watches or Oura rings, to track key health metrics that can help flag serious conditions.

Spanish speakers learn strategies to pass English-only driving test in Florida

A new English-only driving test rule in Florida is fueling a surge in strategy lessons for Spanish speakers where they learn to figure out the questions without having to take English language courses.

China calls for ‘concerted’ industry efforts to tackle excess solar production

China is the undisputed global leader in solar energy, making more than 80% of the world's solar panel components.

French prosecutors summon Elon Musk over alleged child abuse images on X

Owner of X summoned along with former CEO Linda Yaccarino over investigation by cybercrime unit

• Business live – latest updates

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Elon Musk has been summoned to Paris, where investigators are looking into allegations of misconduct related to the social media platform X, including the spread of child sexual abuse material and deepfake content.

The world’s richest man and Linda Yaccarino – the former chief executive of X – were on Monday summoned for “voluntary interviews”, while other employees of the platform were scheduled to be heard as witnesses throughout this week, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

Morning news brief

Trump announces planned Iran war peace talks, Tehran signals it may boycott negotiations amid ongoing U.S. naval pressure, businesses can now apply for Trump tariff refunds.

Israeli army investigates soldier seen striking Jesus statue in Lebanon

IDF says sledgehammer photo circulating online is authentic and is being viewed with ‘great severity’

The Israeli army has said it is investigating a soldier who was seen apparently striking a statue of Jesus with a sledgehammer in southern Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces said they had determined that an image circulating on social media showing the incident was authentic. The image appears to show an Israeli soldier using a sledgehammer to strike the head of a statue of a crucified Jesus that had fallen off a cross.

Rebel Wilson accused in court of trying to paint actor as ‘money grabbing opportunist’ as defamation trial begins

Wilson denies allegations made by Charlotte MacInnes, who she claims told her about uncomfortable situation with producer

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Rebel Wilson has been accused in court of hiring a private investigator and having false information published online in order to paint another actor as a “money grabbing opportunist” who withdrew a sexual harassment allegation for financial gain.

But lawyers for Wilson insist that the harassment complaint was only withdrawn when Charlotte MacInnes – the star of her film, The Deb – decided to support the woman who had allegedly harassed her.

The Illuminated Man by Christopher Priest and Nina Allan review – an unconventional portrait of JG Ballard

The biographer’s terminal illness and death is woven into this original and moving account of Ballard and his work

The writer JG Ballard, who died in 2009, is a tantalising subject for a biographer. His extraordinary childhood in prewar Shanghai, his family’s subsequent internment in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, and the death of his wife, Mary, at the age of 34, were formative events in the creation of his unique vision. The vivid and sometimes shocking images he witnessed in his early life would resurface repeatedly in his fiction.

Yet he always resisted approaches from those keen to tell his story, and at the end of his life produced a curiously flat memoir, Miracles of Life. The author of this new biography, Christopher Priest, apparently admired that work, while recognising that it represented “a carefully curated account … of a messier reality”. As he points out, it revealed nothing that was not already known. An unauthorised biography by John Baxter appeared two years after Ballard’s death, which, though it has been criticised by Ballard’s family for inaccuracies, remains a useful introduction to the life and work of one of the most interesting writers of the postwar period.

Fuel eating microbes, chemicals and fire: the race to discover new ways to contain Arctic oil spills

As the rising number of vessels in the icy waters increases the risk of environmental disaster, scientists are scrambling to find potential solutions

Last winter, inside the subarctic Churchill Marine Observatory in Canada, scientists embarked on an experiment they hoped would result in a gamechanging remedy for polluted Arctic waters. They released 130 litres of diesel into an ice-covered pool filled with raw seawater pumped in from Hudson Bay and added oil-eating microbes. The technique had been used successfully during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the scientists wanted to see if they could break down oil in colder waters.

The microbes were sluggish in response and the population showed little change after the first three weeks, says Eric Collins, a microbiologist at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, who led the project. But that did not last. “When we went back eight weeks later, we saw that there was a big change,” Collins says. “One particular bacterium grew to a very high abundance in the tanks and it was clear that it was feeding on the oil.” But two months is too long to wait should an oil spill occur. Time is of the essence.

Woman who won legal case over greenhouse emissions awarded top environmental prize

Sarah Finch is among six recipients of the Goldman Environmental prize, awarded to honour grassroots activists around the world

The woman whose campaigning set a legal precedent in the UK that stopped thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions has been awarded one of the world’s most prestigious environmental prizes alongside five other women from around the globe.

A supreme court ruling in a case brought by Sarah Finch has been cited in decisions against new oil concessions in the North Sea, the UK’s first new deep coalmine for 30 years and even plans for new large-scale factory farms.

Iroro Tanshi, a Nigerian conservation ecologist who launched a successful, community-led campaign to protect endangered bats from human induced wildfires;

Borim Kim, a South Korean activist who won the continent’s first successful youth-led climate litigation, finding her government’s climate policy to be in violation of the rights of future generations;

Alannah Acaq Hurley, a leader of the Yup’ik Indigenous people led a campaign that stopped what would have been the continent’s largest open-pit mine, in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region;

Yuvelis Morales Blanco, a youth activist who mobilised others in her Afro-descendant community in Puerto Wilches against two drilling projects, preventing the introduction of commercial fracking into Colombia;

Theonila Roka Matbob, of Papua New Guinea, whose campaign forced Rio Tinto, the world’s second-largest mining company, to sign an agreement to address devastation caused by its Panguna mine.

‘Got. Got. Need!’ The boyhood autographs that remind me of Coventry’s Premier League heydays

From Dion Dublin to Eric Cantona, the signatures I collected with my dad in the 1990s record a time when the Sky Blues seemed almost invincible

John Barnes: got. David Beckham: got. Ruud Gullit: got. Andrei Kanchelskis: got. Matthew Le Tissier: got. Alan Shearer: got.

Looking back through the football autographs I collected as a teenager in the early 1990s feels delightful and discomfiting. The Merlin sticker albums, Pro Set cards and Shoot annuals chronicle a youth spent travelling the country with my dad, watching Coventry City take on the great and the good of the top flight at the dawn of the Premier League. We would hunt for the visiting teams at local hotels before each game, aiming to bag a handful of signatures when the players went for their mid-morning walk, then sneak around the back of Highfield Road after the match – darting past security, through the executive suites, to the players’ exit – where we would complete our haul as the players boarded the team buses.

England Women are dominating rugby in a way few have done in any sport | Sarah Rendell

The way a weakened side flattened Scotland brings to mind the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s and Pep Guardiola’s peak Manchester City

Is this England side the most dominant sporting team to have existed? That is the question many are now asking after watching the Red Roses demolish Scotland 84-7 in the Women’s Six Nations, despite having a thoroughly depleted squad, to extend their winning run to 35 games across all competitions.

There will be some who will argue the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s, who won six NBA titles in the decade, or Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who won four Premier League titles in a row, or the New York Yankees with their run of trophies in the late 1990s take the mantle. But it is difficult to disagree with John Mitchell who said pre-tournament the team are building a dynasty after already building a legacy with their World Cup win last year.

Grimes joining LinkedIn is artwashing at its most brazen. I should know – I released my new film on there

The networking platform – social media’s answer to boomer grandparents – is rapidly becoming an AI slop dystopia. Which made it the perfect place for my Nvidia-inspired fairytale

When electronic musician Grimes – AKA Claire Boucher – took to X last year to claim she was “only gonna be releasing music on LinkedIn from now on”, it seemed like yet another provocation from an often eccentric artist. But the ex-partner of Elon Musk may have followed through on her promise. Last month, a profile purporting to be the 38-year-old appeared on the world’s least gratifying social networking platform. Its only post so far promotes an appearance at Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference – Nvidia being the most valuable company in the world and the engine behind just about all AI applications.

Pivoting to LinkedIn might seem a depressing thing for an artist to resort to: a bit like moving in with your boomer grandparents. And it is. I should know because, in one of the more counterintuitive brags I’ve made in my two-decade career as an artist, I did it first.

A humanoid robot sprints past the human half-marathon world record in Beijing race

The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, running faster than the human world record in a show of China's technological leaps.

Son of Nobody by Yann Martel review – Life of Pi author discovers a long-lost poem from Troy

An epic poem about the Trojan war is merged with the domestic heartbreak of the scholar who discovers it in this ambitious, structurally problematic novel

In Yann Martel’s fifth novel, a Canadian classicist, Harlow Donne, has been offered a year’s fellowship at Oxford University. His wife, Gail, has a full-time managerial job, and they have a seven-year-old daughter, Helen. Who will pour out her breakfast cereal and pick her up from school while Harlow is away? He and Gail quarrel. He leaves for England, and as she sees him off Gail whispers in his ear: “Don’t come back.”

So far, so everyday: but once Harlow gets to Oxford, the narrative shifts its form and becomes odder and more interesting. His prescribed task is to help sift through and translate a hoard of ancient papyri from Oxyrhynchus, in upper Egypt. It’s tedious work. Soon, though, Harlow is piecing together from words or half-words on wisps of desiccated reeds what he believes to be a long-lost epic poem. It relates the story of the Trojan war, but not, as Homer tells it, from the viewpoint of princely warriors and gods. The protagonist is a common soldier, a “son of nobody” named Psoas.

The Scapegoat by Lucy Hughes-Hallett (HarperCollins Publishers, £12.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

Son of Nobody by Yann Martel is published by Canongate (£20). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

A new start after 60: my father died when I was a child – and I followed him to Antarctica

Amanda Barry’s dad had always wanted to return to the continent, where he worked in 1948, but died before he had the chance. She fulfilled his ambition, and felt closer to him than ever

Amanda Barry was rummaging for something in her mother’s loft when she came across her father’s trunk. Delving beneath the old blankets, she uncovered a trove of photographs, letters and journals that would set her on his trail, all the way to the Antarctic.

Barry’s father, George, had died suddenly after a heart attack when she was nine. Her mother had kept alive the sense of him; his pipes and cigarettes were still in a drawer of the sideboard. Like her four older siblings, Barry owned a photograph, taken at Port Lockroy in Antarctica, where in 1948 he was base leader. “He always wanted to go back,” she says. “I remember thinking, ‘Well, Dad, I’m going to go. For you and for me.’”

Where to find Scotland’s best seafood. Clue: these places are just metres from the water

The Highlands and Islands are rightly lauded for their superb seafood – but these days it’s not reserved for fine dining and can be found at the simplest waterside shacks and inns

The best oysters of my life arrive on a polystyrene tray, eaten elbow-to-elbow with strangers at a table littered with empty shells and damp paper napkins. We huddle beneath a tarpaulin, sheltering from the fine spray of rain rattling on the roof, the wind whipping around the hulking CalMac ferry moored metres away, and the beady-eyed scavenging gulls.

“Have you tried this? You have to,” says a woman who has driven from Glasgow just to eat here, pressing a rollmop herring into my hand. I take a bite, the thick skin giving way to sweet and salty flesh, juices running down my chin. Elegant dining this is not, but all the better for it. This is Oban Seafood Hut, tucked beside the ferry terminal for boats heading into the Sound of Mull. Diners shuffle around a shared table, listening for order numbers, with plates piled high with langoustines, crab and oysters. It’s cash only. In the back room, a team of women butter thick slices of soft white bread for crab sandwiches, wrapping them in clingfilm without ceremony, to be sold within minutes.

U.K police investigating if attacks in London are the work of Iranian proxies

U.K. police said Sunday they are investigating whether a string of arson attacks on Jewish sites in London are the work of Iranian proxies, the latest of which caused minor damage on Saturday night.

My toddler threw a toy pig at an artwork – and inspired this guide for small kids in galleries

For the first instalment of Young at art – a new series on the delights and dangers of introducing small children to art – Chloë Ashby weighs up whether it’s worth the effort

It all began at the Royal Academy. I was trying – and mostly failing – to look at epic, inventive paintings by Kerry James Marshall. My toddler was trying – and mostly failing – to career around the gallery spaces without colliding with anybody’s legs. As he hurled his toy pig, bowling ball-style, beneath one of the low, string barriers installed to keep a safe distance between us and the canvases, it got me thinking: are small children and art compatible? Was it selfish of me to have chosen the RA over, say, the Young V&A? What could I do to make gallery-going a happy and stress-free experience for us both?

These are just a few of the questions I hope to answer over the course of this series, which will explore the delights and dangers (just imagine if one of piggy’s trotters had pierced a KJM) of introducing knee-height people to art. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be visiting galleries, museums, immersive exhibitions and sculpture parks with my toddler – some aimed at him, others … well, aimed at me. Along the way I’ll share my thoughts, his reactions, key strategies and notes on buggy access, child-friendly menus, entrance fees and changing facilities.

Fish suppers: fritters, fried and poached – Nathan Outlaw’s haddock recipes

Haddock three ways: grilled with braised leeks in a warm mayo sauce; poached and served in roast mushroom rarebit; and smoked haddock fritters with cheese sauce

Haddock is a fish that deserves a bit more love. It’s a member of the cod family that, like cod itself, is one of those unfortunate fish that’s been in such high demand that it’s been overfished for decades. That said, the fisheries in the Nordic region are notably well managed, so fish from there is a really good option. Haddock grows quickly, too, so hopefully in future we’ll see an increase in the catch, so long as quotas are obeyed and the industry works hard on the way it’s fished.

Quarter of a million people could lose job by middle of 2027 as UK ‘flirts with recession’, analysis says

Twin reports from top accounting firms underline scale of economic threat as Iran war shatters business confidence

A quarter of a million people could lose their jobs by the middle of next year as Britain “flirts with recession”, analysis suggests, after business confidence was shattered by the US-Israel war on Iran.

As the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, summoned bank chiefs for talks aimed at containing the fallout, twin reports from top accounting firms underlined the scale of the economic threat facing the UK.

Handcuffs, dog bites and avian warfare: how personal grudges sullied Alfred Hitchcock’s reputation

The director liked to create tension on-set to draw out stronger performances. But have stories about his psychological tricks been inflated in the retelling?

In 1978, shortly after publishing The Art of Alfred Hitchcock, biographer Donald Spoto met the director one last time. At one point, Hitchcock appeared to fall asleep mid-conversation, signalling the end of his involvement with the author. On another occasion, Spoto recalled being bitten by Hitchcock’s West Highland terrier, Sarah, leaving a bruise on his hand. When Hitchcock admonished the dog, Spoto noted it was the first time in four years the director had addressed him by name.

These accounts have surfaced in an unearthed transcript of a previously forgotten interview between Spoto and the actor Tippi Hedren in 1980, six months after Hitchcock’s death. But they also suggest something else: an uneasy relationship from the outset, shaped by misreading, distrust and a degree of personal grievance.

‘The Moon and The Zoo’: Simon Armitage poem celebrates 200 years of ZSL

Zoological Society of London commissions poet laureate for animation to mark its 200th anniversary

Over its two centuries, acclaimed writers and artists have found inspiration at London zoo, from Edwin Landseer’s Trafalgar Square lions, to AA Milne’s naming “Winnie” after resident bear Winnipeg, and Sylvia Plath’s poem Zoo Keeper’s Wife.

Plath’s husband, Ted Hughes, who would become poet laureate, worked at the zoo briefly as a dish washer, an experience said to have helped fuel his inspiration for The Thought-Fox.

Arrests fuel fears among Madagascar’s gen Z protesters that new regime no better than one they overthrew

Jubilation is turning to disenchantment as young activists arrested after protest calling for election date to be set

The arrest of several protesters in Madagascar has increased fears among young people that the military regime that took power last year after huge Gen Z demonstrations will be no better than the government it overthrew.

Four Gen Z activists, Herizo Andriamanantena, Miora Rakotomalala, Dina Randrianarisoa and Nomena Ratsihorimanana, were arrested on 12 April, one of their lawyers said, two days after taking part in a protest calling for an election date to be set.

England left with ‘toilet deserts’ as public facilities decline by 14% in a decade

Report says lack of provision is harmful to health and damaging for high streets

The number of public toilets in England has fallen by 14% in a decade, harming public health and creating vast swathes of lavatory “deserts” and unpleasant environments, a report says.

The analysis by the Royal Society for Public Health found a “significant shortfall” in provision, with 15,481 people for each public toilet in England. That contrasts sharply with Scotland, where there are 8,500 people for each toilet, and Wales, with 6,748.

‘Every time I write, I doubt myself’: Michael Rosen at 80 on deep grief, self-belief and chocolate cake

The children’s author answers questions from readers, friends and writers on losing his son Eddie, surviving Covid, who he’d invite to his perfect birthday dinner and where he goes for inspiration

Whether you know him from reading his classic picture book We’re Going on A Bear Hunt as a child, from his viral YouTube videos or his tireless support for children’s literacy and the NHS, Michael Rosen has been a household name in the UK for decades. As he turns 80, we gave his peers and Guardian readers the opportunity to put to him the questions they’ve always wanted to ask.

Which do you prefer, asking or answering questions? Roger McGough, poet
Probably asking. I always worry if I’m answering questions I’m being boring. It feels quite exciting if you ask questions. And, as Roger knows, the moment you pick up a pen and start to write, you’re actually asking questions. You’re saying: “What’s the next word? What’s the next phrase? Why am I writing in this shape? Why am I writing in this tone of voice?”

4/19/2026: Iran's HEU; One Mother's Story; Wild Concerto

First, U.S. eyes Iran's highly enriched uranium. Then, Rachel Goldberg-Polin | 60 Minutes Interview. And, turning recordings of animals into music.

Strike on alleged drug boat kills 3 in Caribbean Sea, U.S. military says

The U.S. military said it launched another strike on a boat accused of ferrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea.

4/19: CBS Weekend News

Eight kids killed in Louisiana shooting; U.S.-Iran ceasefire on shaky ground.

Fire destroys 1,000 ‘stilt’ homes in Malaysia’s Sabah, displacing thousands

Blaze struck a ‘water village’ that is home to some of Malaysia’s poorest residents

A huge fire destroyed about 1,000 makeshift homes, many of them built on stilts over water, and displaced thousands of people in a coastal village in Malaysia’s Sabah state on Sunday, authorities said.

The blaze broke out early on Sunday morning in a “water village” in Sandakan district in Sabah’s northeast, where some of Malaysia’s poorest residents, including indigenous and stateless communities, live in closely packed, wooden stilt houses.

Kanye West’s European tour in doubt as more concerts cancelled in Poland and Switzerland

FC Basel and Polish stadium stop US rapper’s upcoming shows, after similar cancellations in France and UK over antisemitic comments

Kanye West’s upcoming concerts in Poland and Switzerland have been cancelled, as a growing number of European countries have stopped or postponed the US rapper’s performances amid a furore over his past antisemitic comments.

Swiss football club FC Basel, which is responsible for concerts and events that take place at its St Jakob-Park ground, told Reuters on Saturday that after reviewing a request for West to perform there in June, it decided against it.

A day with a baby squirrel foster mom

Retired California teaching assistant Angel Barba has been a baby squirrel foster mom for the last seven years. Italy Hod reports.

LensCulture portrait awards 2026 – in pictures

Winning and shortlisted works move seamlessly between documentary and invention. Across these images, tender couples hold each other close, people reclaim their identities from the burden of colonial memories and the harsh realities of the war in Ukraine come sharply into focus

• Australian photographer wins at world photography awards with ‘barefoot volcanologist’ image

The struggles of first-time homebuyers

First-time homebuyers make up just 21% of the market, and they face record-high prices, high interest rates and stiff competition from baby boomers. Carter Evans reports.

Latest news on Iran as ceasefire nears end

Charlie D'Agata, Olivia Rinaldi and Lana Zak report on the current state of Iran war, what we know about peace talks and how the conflict is spiking fuel prices here at home.

Farmers facing harsh fuel prices as Iran war disrupts oil shipments

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that gas prices pumped up by the war may not drop below $3 per gallon until next year. Nearly two months into the war, a gallon of regular averages $4.05 and diesel prices average $5.61 a gallon. Lana Zak spoke with farmers in Iowa about how they're dealing with those costs.

White House says Vance will lead more talks with Iran

The White House says Vice President JD Vance will lead talks with Iran in Pakistan, but questions remain about who from the Iranian side is authorized to make a deal or if they will even attend. Olivia Rinaldi has more.

Trump says U.S. seized Iranian vessel, Iran closes Strait of Hormuz, ceasefire winding down

The fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is set to expire this week, with both countries accusing the other of violations over the weekend. More American troops are on their way to the region. Charlie D'Agata reports.

5 wounded in shooting near University of Iowa, including 3 students

Officers from the Iowa City Police Department heard gunfire while responding to a report of a large fight, the department said.

5 hurt in shooting near University of Iowa

Five people were injured Sunday in a shooting near the University of Iowa's campus in Iowa City. No arrests have been made yet.

Details on Louisiana shooting that killed 8 children

Eight kids ranging in age from 1 to 14 were killed Sunday morning in a Shreveport, Louisiana, mass shooting. Jason Allen reports.

Ukraine war briefing: Europe needs homegrown missile defence in a year – Zelenskyy

Ukrainian president discusses Patriot alternative with other countries; Bulgarian election may be new headache for Kyiv. What we know on day 1,517

Europe must have its own defence system against ballistic missiles and Ukraine is holding talks with several countries to create one, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday. Ukraine relies heavily on scant supplies of the Patriot system, produced by the US, to shoot down Russian missiles, which are often fired at Ukraine’s electricity generation and transmission systems. “I believe, and my idea is, that we should have a European anti-ballistic missile defence system. We are in talks with several countries and are working in this direction,” Zelenskyy told the national TV channel, Marathon. “We need to build our own anti-ballistic missile defence system within a year.”

Fire Point, maker of Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missile, told Reuters this month that it was in talks with European companies to launch a new air defence system by next year, creating a low-cost alternative to the Patriot which is in increasingly short supply amid extensive deployment in the Gulf because of Donald Trump’s war against Iran. Europe’s only anti-ballistic system, the Italo-French SAMP/T, is produced in relatively small numbers.

A “massive” night-time drone strike on Chernihiv in northern Ukraine killed a 16-year-old boy and wounded four others, the head of the city’s military administration said on Sunday. Russian drones also attacked the southern city of Kherson on Sunday, local officials reported. A man died of his wounds after a drone hit a van driving through the city centre, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the regional administration. A second man was hospitalised with blast injuries, regional authorities said.

Ukraine hit the Atlant Aero drone factory in the city of Taganrog, the Ukrainian military general staff reported. The site lies about 55km (35 miles) east of Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine in south-western Russia. According to the military, the strike started a fire at the factory, which designs and produces strike and reconnaissance drones, as well as components for more powerful UAVs that can carry guided bombs weighing up to 250kg.

Ukraine’s navy said it carried out the Atlant Aero attack using domestically manufactured Neptune cruise missiles. Russian officials in Taganrog confirmed an attack on “commercial enterprises” as well as a vocational school and multiple cars.

Russia launched 236 drones into Ukrainian territory overnight into Sunday, Ukraine’s air force reported. Of those, 203 drones were shot down while 32 hit targets in 18 separate locations, it said. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces shot down 274 Ukrainian drones during the night, as well as guided aerial bombs and a Neptune cruise missile. The ministry did not say how many struck targets.

The centre-left coalition of Rumen Radev is expected to win Bulgaria’s parliamentary election, though without an outright majority, after polls closed on Sunday. Radev is seen by critics as pro-Russian and Eurosceptic. If he is able to form a government, this could pose another headache for the European Union in its support of Ukraine’s defence.

Though Radev has denounced the Russian invasion, he has opposed military aid to Ukraine and has favoured reopening talks with Russia as a way out of the conflict. It comes after Hungarian voters ousted Viktor Orbán, who cultivated close ties with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and obstructed European help for Ukraine.

Ukraine’s interior minister said on Sunday that two police officers had been suspended after a video circulated online showed them fleeing the scene of the shooting in Kyiv in which six people were killed. “Shameful, unworthy behaviour. This is a disgrace for the entire system. They have been suspended, and an investigation into this is underway,” said Igor Klymenko, the government minister. Zelenskyy, added that “there will be a full review of the patrol officers’ actions”.

Ukraine’s police chief, Ivan Vygivsky, told reporters that the suspect had served in the Ukrainian armed forces before retiring in 2005 and then lived in Russia until 2017. “We checked his social media pages … His views there are negative. You can’t say he had a pro-Ukrainian stance, it was, let’s say, somewhat in the other direction,” Vygivsky said.

‘We’re Catholic first’: Sunday mass attendees weigh in on Trump’s feud with Pope Leo

Catholics around Atlanta share mixed feelings on faith and politics as Trump engages in rhetorical war with pope

Alex Sullivan tended to his five children on the lawn after a traditional Latin mass at the Catholic Church of Saint Monica in Duluth, Georgia, and contemplated his faith in the light of God and the shadow of Donald Trump.

Sullivan, a self-described conservative who once staffed a libertarian state representative at the Georgia capitol, described his faith as almost medieval.

Mass shooting rampage in Louisiana leaves eight children dead and others wounded

Shreveport police say suspect Shamar Elkins, who was fatally shot, killed seven of his children and injured their mother in a ‘domestic violence incident’

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At least eight children were killed, and two adults were wounded in a mass shooting in the Louisiana city of Shreveport, in what police called a “domestic violence incident”.

Chris Bordelon, the Shreveport police department spokesperson, said on Sunday evening that the suspect, Shamar Elkins, killed seven of his own children and wounded their mother, as well as killing another child.

Fitzpatrick hits ‘out of this world’ shot to defeat Scheffler in RBC Heritage playoff

• English player wins at first playoff hole with birdie

• Fitzpatrick claims second PGA Tour victory of year

England’s Matt Fitzpatrick beat the world No 1, Scottie Scheffler, in a playoff to win the RBC Heritage for the second time.

Fitzpatrick took a three-shot into the final round at Hilton Head and still held that advantage standing on the 15th tee. But playing partner Scheffler produced birdies at 15 and 16 and Fitzpatrick’s duffed chip on 18 cost him a bogey, sending him into a playoff that he looked second favourite to win.

‘Drinks and a burger’ fuel Mark Allen’s Crucible comeback win over Zhang

• Allen rallies from 5-3 down to win 10-6 in first round

• Hawkins, Williams and Xiao Guodong also advance

Mark Allen revealed how “bad food” and a few drinks fuelled his surge into the second round of the World Snooker Championship after he swallowed up a two-frame overnight deficit to crush Zhang Anda 10-6 at the Crucible.

The 40-year-old was so disillusioned with his display on Saturday, when he failed to rustle up a break over 50, that he set about drowning his sorrows in Sheffield. Allen then returned on Sunday to rifle three centuries in a six-frame streak and advance to the second round.

Communities launch cleanup after severe weather and tornadoes churn across Midwest

At least 66 tornado reports were submitted across multiple states on Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

‘This feeling sucks’: $381m Mets, with second-highest payroll in MLB, lose 11th game in a row

• New York had 1-0 lead in ninth before losing 2-1

• Mets swept for a third series in a row

The New York Mets are finding that money doesn’t necessarily bring happiness. The second-most expensive team in MLB – with a payroll of $381m – lost their 11th game in a row on Sunday as they were swept for a third straight series, this time by the Chicago Cubs.

“Eleven losses, that’s a lot, whether it’s in April or at any point in the season,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game. “Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. We’ve got to find a way.”

European football: Bayern Munich win 35th league title by surging past Stuttgart

• Bayern bounce back from early concession to win 4-2

• PSG’s title hopes hit after 2-1 home defeat by Lyon

Bayern Munich secured their 35th German league title by beating Stuttgart 4-2 to open up an unassailable lead with four games to play. Sunday’s result sent Bayern 15 points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund.

The Bavarian side, who face Bayer Leverkusen in the German Cup semi-final next week before taking on Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on 28 April, were a goal down before scoring four times to quickly turn the game around.

AI startup Cursor in talks to raise $2 billion funding round at valuation of over $50 billion

Artificial intelligence startup Cursor in talks to raise a $2 billion fundraising round at an over $50 billion valuation, which does not include the investment.

Canada's leader describes ties to U.S. as "weaknesses that we must correct"

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney​ said in a video address​ released Sunday that Canada's strong economic ties to the United States were once a strength but are now a weakness that must be corrected.

Nico O’Reilly’s fearless quality exposes collapsing Arsenal’s title credentials | Barney Ronay

Deep lying creator is an excellent Manchester City story and confirmed why he is England’s best left-back

It’s not over, not over, not over yet. Although, let’s be honest, it kind of is over. Isn’t it, don’t you think, at the end of a day when Manchester City and Arsenal dished up the one thing nobody was expecting at the Etihad Stadium, a thrillingly open game of attacking football?

There were three images at the final whistle that seemed to capture the essence of City’s 2-1 win here, and not just in terms of the game, but the balance of energy, feeling, vibes.

FBI Director Kash Patel vows to sue The Atlantic over alcohol abuse claims

Kash Patel recently made headlines for chugging a beer after Team USA won the gold medal in ice hockey in the 2026 Olympic Games.

Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," April 19, 2026

On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz and former Attorney General Eric Holder join Margaret Brennan.

4/19: Sunday Morning

Hosted by Jane Pauley. Featured: The purge of immigration judges; seeking accountability in trucking accidents; Don Cheadle and Ayo Edebiri on Broadway; portraitist Michael Shane Neal; the legacy of woodworker George Nakashima; an operatic car salesman; and Earth Day stories of advances in sustainability.

Republican senator criticizes Trump’s ‘holy war’ with Pope Leo

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a long supporter of Trump, says president’s feud with the pope is a ‘distraction’

A Republican lawmaker has condemned what he refers to as Donald Trump’s “holy war” against Pope Leo XIV.

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a long supporter of Trump and the ultraconservative Maga movement, condemned the president’s attacks on the pope during a Fox News interview on Saturday.

Mike Waltz says U.S. is "never going to take an approach of trust" with Iran

U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz said Sunday that the U.S. is "never going to take an approach of trust" with Iran as U.S. officials are set to head to Islamabad for a second round of talks this week.

Intemperate Trump brings chaos and confusion to Iran talks

US president’s unreliable style sows diplomatic confusion but leaves Tehran clear on strategic value of strait of Hormuz

Donald Trump’s decision to send US officials to Islamabad for further talks on Monday with Iran just 24 hours after Iran once again closed the strait of Hormuz will signal to Tehran that the strategic waterway remains a bargaining asset beyond parallel.

It will also confirm in Iran’s eyes that the US president’s chaotic approach to diplomacy doubles the need for Tehran to act calmly and strategically – two competencies it believes he totally lacks.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (April 19)

A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the Emmy-winning program, hosted by Jane Pauley.

Ella Baron on Keir Starmer and the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal – cartoon

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The Guardian view on Japan’s cherry blossom: when spring slips out of time | Editorial

A 1,200-year dataset shows the ‘peak bloom’ is arriving earlier. Global heating is unsettling nature’s rhythms – and their cultural meaning

A picture posted on social media last April by Prof Yasuyuki Aono of a spreadsheet, with its blank row for 2026, carries a quiet poignancy. Prof Aono died before he got to fill in this year’s entry for when the cherry blossom fully bloomed in Kyoto. The academic had spent decades reconstructing dates of flowering that go back to the ninth century. His work illuminated how a botanical event long associated with the Japanese idea of mono no aware – a sadness at the passing of things – is shifting because of the climate crisis.

The “peak bloom” now occurs around two weeks earlier than in previous centuries. In the 1820s full bloom arrived in mid-April. In 2023 the full-flowering date was 25 March. An earlier blooming indicates warmer springs – and Prof Aono’s data provides a warning signal that Japan’s “sakura front” comes sooner each year.

1 dead after small plane crashes into Florida yard

One person was killed after a Cessna plane crashed into the yard of a home near Tampa, Florida, on Sunday morning.

4/19: Face The Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz joins as President Trump says negotiators are headed to Pakistan for a peace deal with Iran. Plus. Former White House adviser on energy security Amos Hochstein and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder join.

Tom Gauld on the librarians who take children – cartoon

Cleanup underway in Midwest after tornadoes leave path of damage, destruction

Communities across the Midwest were starting the cleanup process Saturday after multiple tornadoes touched down and severe weather struck areas from the Great Lakes to Texas.

Nature: Prairie chickens in South Dakota

We leave you this Sunday morning with prairie chickens and sharp tail grouse near Ft. Pierre, South Dakota. Videographer: Kevin Kjergaard.

Using the ocean to power data centers

The renewable energy company Panthalassa says it has a solution to the proliferation of AI data centers, which consume massive amounts of energy and are the cause of increased carbon pollution: sea-based data centers, powered by wave energy.

Breeding a better bread

Over the past century, the cultivation and processing of wheat has led to strains of grain that are less nutritious, less flavorful, and more vulnerable to climate change. The researchers at Breadlab, at Washington State University, are trying to breed varieties of whole grains that are better for farmers, consumers – and taste buds. David Pogue reports.

‘It’s sacred to us’: register of Bounty mutineer’s descendants returns to South Pacific

Pitcairn Register details lives of ‘extraordinarily resilient’ Tahitian women enslaved during notorious mutiny

It is a book that records the 19th-century descendants of some of the most notorious troublemakers in naval history: the sailors responsible for the mutiny on the Bounty.

Now, the Pitcairn Register – a handwritten volume that registered the births, marriages and deaths of the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the mutineers and the Tahitian women they enslaved – is finally returning home to the South Pacific.

Gas prices may not drop below $3 a gallon until next year: Energy Secretary Wright

Gas prices are more than $4 per gallon on average in the U.S. right now, a massive spike from just months ago.

Former judges speak out on Trump admin's immigration court purges

Following President Trump's promise of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, more than 200 immigration judges have been fired, forced out or retired, and are being replaced by what are advertised as "deportation judges."

1,000 animal-rights activists try to storm Wisconsin beagle breeding facility

The Dane County Sheriff's office said a "significant" number of people were arrested at the Ridglan Farms facility, which has accused of constant abuse, specifically towards beagles. The facility denies the accusations.

Are you a woman who makes life easier for everyone else? Beware – you could endanger your health | Emma Beddington

A new claim is doing the rounds online: that women who are too nice risk getting an autoimmune disease. And while aspects of this message are clearly dubious, there’s a reason it is resonating

Women, a warning from Instagram: “You really need to be a bitch or you’re going to develop an autoimmune disease. It’s that simple.” Versions of this scientifically dubious statement have caught the imagination of a corner of the internet, getting algorithmically nudged my way multiple times (a TikTok to this effect has 40,000 likes; a Threads post 26,000). Sometimes, it’s set to music; sometimes, it’s the basis for earnest discussion of cortisol and inflammation. Sometimes, it’s evangelical. One woman claims that, “Being a bitch healed my autoimmune disease,” adding: “Being the ‘love and light’ spiritual girlie is probably the reason why you feel depressed and you have IBS.” A Substack evokes the need to break the “good girl contract”, talking about those for whom “setting boundaries, getting ferocious about protecting their own bodies, minds, souls … sometimes allowed the nervous system to settle enough that the body’s natural self-healing mechanisms could kick in and heal”.

As a woman with an autoimmune condition (alopecia), this resonates on a woo-woo level: my hair fell out when I was trying and failing to reconcile incompatible demands; to make everyone happy. It’s also, I recognise, deeply silly. For a start, “women” – yes, all of us – needing to do something, or be a certain way, is a wild generalisation. It’s also definitively not “that simple”, and I would hate to upset a whole community of intellectually rigorous immunologists. I imagine them rhythmically banging their heads against their keyboards, muttering about there being no peer-reviewed cohort studies interrogating the relationship between “being the love and light spiritual girlie”, or putting too many exclamation markers and conciliatory qualifiers in emails, and autoimmune disease.

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.

‘How much have we missed?’: book tunes in to overlooked world of female birdsong

Authors set out to correct under-representation of female sounds – and found some surprising revelations

When we hear the beautiful call of a bird from a high bough, we’re told it’s likely to be a male – singing for territory, or belting out tunes to woo a female. But as the annual dawn chorus reaches a crescendo this spring, a new guidebook is urging us to think again – and turn our ears to the hidden world of female birdsong.

The songs, sounds and sights of female birds have historically been overlooked in field guides and sound archives. In 2016, just 0.01% of the bird sounds in the global Xeno-Canto sound library were labelled female. Another sound archive was just 0.03% female, according to a 2018 study.

SiIicon Valley's AI agent hiccups: Wasted tokens and 'chaotic' systems

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC's Jim Cramer in March that AI agents are "definitely the next ChatGPT."

Bittersweet emotions as Lebanese return south to scenes of destruction

Determined to see their homes, displaced residents use shaky ceasefire to journey to their villages – but the mood turns sombre when they arrive

Mohammed Ashour was on the road at 5am, speeding towards his hometown of Shaqra. The Lebanese army, the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah had all told residents of south Lebanon not to return, that it was still dangerous despite a ceasefire. But the 60-year-old had been displaced for 44 days – he had counted each day – and he would not wait another hour before seeing his home.

At 3pm, Ashour was still on the road. The normally two-hour drive turned into 10, as the line of cars returning south stretched for miles down the Lebanese coastal highway. The Lebanese army had worked through the night to repair the Qasmiyeh Bridge into Tyre, bombed by Israel hours before the ceasefire, and cars were inching over the ad-hoc crossing one by one.

“They told me my house was destroyed. But I wanted to come and see it for myself,” said Ashour, still in his car. He had left his family in Beirut, wanting to shield them from the destruction that awaited them in their village.

Israel had a bad week in Europe. Does it herald a wider shift in EU relations?

With Orbán gone and Meloni distancing herself, EU sanctions on trade and settlers are looking more likely

It was a bad week for Israel in Europe: the country lost its staunchest regional ally when Viktor Orbán was toppled from power in Hungary, and Italy suspended a key defence pact.

The shifts are likely to pave the way for long-delayed sanctions against violent settlers in the occupied West Bank, and add to broader pressure for the EU to reconsider its relationship with Israel over its wars in Gaza and the wider region.

Lesbians are reclaiming Madonna as we await her new album, Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II | Tiff Bakker

The singer is not only a hero for gay men. For a young lesbian like me in the 1990s, she was an object of desire and an inspiration

Recently, when Madonna deleted every post from her Instagram profile, it was as if a gay flare had been fired around the world.

Cue a flurry of texts from gay male friends, with one declaring that this “purging of the Sistine Chapel” meant the release of Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II was imminent, 20 years after her original disco masterpiece, because Madonna had pulled the same stunt on Instagram in 2023 before announcing our gay Christmas: the Celebration tour.

Tiff Bakker is a New York-based writer who specialises in arts and culture

‘After all the horrible things we’ve been through,’ he said to me, ‘if I die of cancer, it will make a bad story’: Siri Hustvedt on losing Paul Auster

First there was the double tragedy that tore the family apart – then came a deadly diagnosis. The writer reflects on life after the death of her novelist husband

I am alive. My husband, Paul Auster, is dead. He died on 30 April 2024, at 6.58pm here in the Brooklyn house where I am now writing these words. He was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer in January 2023. But before that, in early November 2022, Paul had a CT scan in the emergency room at Mount Sinai West hospital. The radiologist spotted a mass in his right lung and noted it might be cancer.

We all die, but only some of us know our lives could end soon. Although I had often thought about what it would mean to live without Paul, I began to imagine it more often. I imagined walking around the house alone. I imagined grieving. If your father dies, I said to our daughter, Sophie, I will lose my every day.

Rat poison found in baby food jar in Austria after product recall

Police say poison detected in jar of HiPP carrots and potatoes as maker says items may have been tampered with

Rat poison has been found in a jar of HiPP baby food, police in Austria have said, after a recall of the product from more than 1,000 Spar supermarkets in the country over safety fears.

Police in Burgenland said in a statement that a sample from one of the 190g (7oz) jars of carrots and potatoes baby food reported by a customer had tested positive for rat poison.

‘Women want to experience pleasure’: how the female gaze caught the attention of film, TV and fiction

From passionate romantasy novels to premium television dramas, culture is bringing the agency, desires and interior lives of women to the fore. It’s proving good for business, but is this a permanent revolution?

Do you voraciously read the pages of steamy romantasy bestsellers by Sarah J Maas or Rebecca Yarros? Or flood your group chat with breathless recaps of the latest goings-on in TV series such as Heated Rivalry or Bridgerton? Or even immerse yourself in the divisive and challenging cinematic worlds of Emerald Fennell? If so, you surely can’t have failed to notice that in pop culture, the female gaze – storytelling that highlights the meandering, textured, sublimely messy inner worlds and wants of women – is enjoying an explosion.

On TV, you can see it everywhere, in the interior lives and desires taken up by Big Little Lies, Sirens or Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington’s Little Fires Everywhere. Romantasy harbours it in the shape of powerful maidens and sex in fae (fairy) realms, while Fennell’s Wuthering Heights and Promising Young Woman are marketed with the promise of converting women’s experiences into dark beauty on the big screen.

JD Vance could yet save his political skin. But it will mean turning on Trump – and soon | Simon Tisdall

The vice-president has endured his most humiliating – and damaging – week as his boss’s fall guy. How much more can Maga’s great hope take?

For a would-be president, JD Vance has an unfortunate habit of getting into fights he cannot win. Three losing battles in the past week – with Iranian negotiators, Hungarian voters and Pope Leo – brought censure, humiliation and mockery raining down on his head. None were of Vance’s choosing. All were fought vicariously on Donald Trump’s behalf.

The vice-president is paying a high price for sycophantic loyalty to his boss. His poll ratings are plunging. His Maga succession hopes falter. He suffers by association – although his own inflammatory statements and misjudgments often make matters worse. Yet amid growing doubts about Trump’s mental health and fitness to govern, Vance remains the White House’s next-in-line.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

‘I will never give up’: Ben Roberts-Smith denies war crime allegations in first public statement since his arrest

The Victoria Cross recipient faces five charges of war crime murder over allegations he killed unarmed civilians during his service with the Australian SAS in Afghanistan

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Alleged war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith says he has “never run from a fight in my life” as he denied war crime murder charges relating to the shooting deaths of five unarmed civilians.

In his first public comments since being arrested on 7 April, Roberts-Smith spoke to the media from the Gold Coast, where he has been bailed ahead of a possible trial.

‘I was fighting two wars’: Ukraine’s soldiers confront their addiction struggles

Troops frequently use substances to help cope with untreated PTSD and anxiety, producing a negative spiral

Seven years clean, Oleksandr believed he had left addiction behind. Then, a year into fighting Russia, the Ukrainian soldier was prescribed painkillers for a shoulder injury. Under the strain of war, he relapsed and quickly began using stronger illicit opioids.

“From that moment, I was fighting two wars – one inside myself and one with Russia,” he said, speaking at a rehabilitation facility in Kyiv.

Oleksandr relapsed into addiction after treatment for a shoulder injury sustained during fighting.