Middle East crisis live: Iran could enrich uranium to weapons grade if attacked, senior lawmaker warns

Ebrahim Rezaei says in social media post that the country could enrich its stocks of uranium to 90% and will review such a move in parliament

Iran has expanded its definition of the strait of Hormuz into a “vast operational area” far wider than before the war, according to a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy in comments likely to anger the US.

The strait is no longer viewed as a narrow stretch around a handful of islands but instead has been greatly enlarged in scope and military significance, according to Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political director of the IRGC Navy, the state-affiliated Fars news agency reported this morning.

Gunman opens fire on Memorial Drive in Cambridge; 2 in critical condition

A gunman who opened fire at cars on Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Monday afternoon was shot by a responding State Police trooper and a civilian.

Three-day ceasefire ends with fresh wave of Russian attacks on Ukraine – Europe live

At least one person killed as Moscow launches drone strikes on energy facilities and apartments

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany must “pull itself together” or risk being left behind in a rapidly changing world, in a speech to trade unionists on Tuesday that sparked jeers, whistles and boos, Reuters reported.

After a year in office, Merz’s popularity has sunk and his government has become embroiled in disputes over how far and how fast to reform Europe’s largest economy to revive growth and tackle ballooning healthcare and pension costs.

“Germany must therefore pull itself together. Germany must tackle the structural problems that we have been putting off for many years, problems that have consequently grown steadily larger. You know it, we all know it.“

EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's ‘addictive design’ targeting kids on social media

"We are investigating platforms that allow children to go down "rabbit holes" of harmful content," EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday.

David Squires on … Arsenal, West Ham and a Royal Rumble for the ages

Our cartoonist on the Premier League title potentially being decided by a lengthy VAR check after grappling

• Buy this cartoon here | His favourites from 2025

• And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

Bryson DeChambeau could give up golf for YouTube in his athletic prime. Is he right?

The two-time major champion has mused about life as a full-time streamer. But sport should be more than just a platform to grow an athlete’s brand

Golf: a feeder sport for aspiring YouTubers? When Bryson DeChambeau, faced with the expiry of his LIV Golf contract at the end of this year and the implosion, possibly even sooner, of the now Saudi-less LIV Golf, mused last week that he might give up life on tour to focus on his YouTube channel, most professional golf watchers scoffed. This was just a bluff, a move to gain leverage as DeChambeau, like every other LIV player, contemplates an uncertain future and negotiates the fraught path back to the PGA Tour.

“I think, from my perspective, I’d love to grow my YouTube channel three times, maybe even more,” DeChambeau said. “I’d love to do a bunch of dubbing in different languages, giving the world more reason to watch YouTube. And then I’d love to play tournaments that want me.”

Nobu review – story of obsession and loss that lies behind the luxury sushi empire

This affectionate portrait of chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa finds surprising emotional depth beneath the glossy surface of the Nobu brand – with a cameo from Robert De Niro

In Japan, the sushi bar where the chef chops fish for the clientele is a kind of stage. In which case all the world’s a sushi bar for Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, whose deluxe Nobu chain has taken root in dozens of cities across the globe. Matt Tyrnauer’s chirpy documentary charts the rise of this affable but restless pioneer, motivated since the start of his career to break out of insular Japan and shake up its cuisine. Signature dishes like his iconic black cod with miso – made with Alaskan sablefish – or Peruvian-influenced yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno veer well off the sushi-restaurant template. But don’t call it fusion, Tyrnauer’s film says early on; it’s still Japanese food, just open to foreign ingredients and techniques.

After a rocky start in life, in which a young Matsuhisa was placed on probation after reckless driving, he got “lost in sushi”. After stints in Peru and Alaska, it was setting up Matsuhisa restaurant on Los Angeles’ La Cienega Boulevard that made his name, introducing a sense of the unexpected and the lavish to the burgeoning western yen for sushi. Robert De Niro was one convert, making an offer to set up a New York branch that Matsuhisa refused; it was something he felt he wasn’t ready for. Several years on, they finally partnered to set up the first of the eponymous eateries. One of De Niro’s acquaintances questioned how Matsuhisa could be a master if he just had to chop raw fish. “Nobu wouldn’t like to hear you say that,” was the actor’s testy reply.

I gave up coffee and acquired a Pro Plus habit – now I have the energy of a 15-year-old | Zoe Williams

With my usual espressos off the menu, I was looking at a future of sluggishness and headaches. Then I embraced an alternative caffeine delivery system

For reasons purely related to vanity, I’ve had to give up coffee. It’s not for ever, unless it takes me for ever to get my teeth whitened, so I’m not minded to wean myself off caffeine entirely. But it’s not for a short enough time that I can simply stop whining and weather the low-level headache, the mental sluggishness and the frankly unbearable taste of water.

No problem, I thought: I will survive on energy drinks. What’s embarrassing about that? What could possibly be shameful about going into a Tesco, picking up a black and neon green can of Monster Energy, its name in a satanic font, at 8.05am? What could conceivably make anyone give me the fish eye, that I’m setting off the age-verification flashing light, and a dude is having to come over and attest that I am indeed over 16? All of that social opprobrium was before I’d even opened an energy drink and had to taste it.

Keir Starmer tells cabinet he is not resigning amid growing pressure to stand down – UK politics live

PM tells crunch cabinet meeting a leadership challenge has not been triggered and he wants to ‘get on with governing’

• Minister resigns from Starmer government with call for PM to quit

• Labour MP in seat eyed by Burnham allies says she will not stand aside

Here are some pictures from No 10 this morning.

Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the PM, is now being interviewed on the Today programme. Nick Robinson, the presenter, is asking him if he knows whether Keir Starmer has decided how to respond to the pressure on him to resign. Jones is avoiding the question, as he did on Sky News earlier. (See 7.43am.)

The Nancy Guthrie investigation could hang on a strand of DNA

A strand of DNA. An eerie doorbell video. The investigation into Nancy Guthrie's disappearance reaches 100th day with no sign of a breakthrough.

Amazon accelerates delivery race with 30-minute dropoffs in dozens of U.S. cities

Amazon has been gradually speeding up its delivery windows, after getting customers hooked on two-day and next-day shipping.

What's at stake for trade, Taiwan and Iran in Trump's high-risk summit with China's Xi

China experts expect Trump and Xi may announce trade deals or other agreements, such as a Chinese purchase of U.S. agricultural products or Boeing aircraft.

Southampton launch internal review into Middlesbrough spying allegations

• Saints ‘request time to complete process thoroughly’

• Playoff semi-final second leg at St Mary’s on Tuesday

Southampton have confirmed they have launched an internal review into allegations that one of their analysts spied on a Middlesbrough training session. Southampton, who host Boro in their playoff semi-final second leg on Tuesday, have asked for “the full context to be established before conclusions are drawn” after the English Football League charged the club with misconduct on the eve of their first-leg draw.

An independent disciplinary commission will determine any punishment, with potential sanctions ranging from a fine to expulsion from the playoffs. Boro, who believe they caught a member of Southampton’s backroom staff on their premises last Thursday, 48 hours before the first leg that finished 0-0, are adamant Saints should not receive a financial penalty in the event they are found guilty.

World Cup 2026: is it possible to walk to MetLife Stadium from New York City? – video

Now that the usually $13 train ticket has been hiked up to $105 for the World Cup, a lot of fans have been wondering whether it's possible to walk to MetLife Stadium from New York City.

To find out, we sent the intrepid Mark McPartland on a scenic hike to New Jersey to see if America’s pedestrian infrastructure is up to the task.

What he found was a challenging but occasionally scenic 4.5 hour walk that ended with blocked off pedestrian routes that would stop even the most adventurous European hiker from getting to the stadium during the World Cup

• Fifa World Cup matches face heightened terror risk in US amid Iran conflict

• The $13bn World Cup: how the numbers stack up on Fifa’s 2026 balance sheet

U.S. ambassador to Israel says Israel sent Iron Dome batteries, personnel to UAE

Israel sent Iron Dome anti-missile batteries and personnel to operate them to the United Arab Emirates to defend the country during the Iran war, the U.S. ambassador to the country said Tuesday.

‘Unprecedented’ global effort gives new name to polycystic ovary syndrome – and new hope to millions of women

Decades-long campaign powered by patient perspectives results in switch from PCOS – a name that caused confusion and undue suffering – to PMOS

• What is PCOS, what are the symptoms and treatment, and why is it being renamed PMOS?
• ‘I still want to scream’: the loneliness and confusion of living with PMOS

After more than a decade of global consultation, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) – a condition that affects one in eight women – has been renamed.

The hormonal disorder, estimated to impact 170 million women worldwide, will now be known as polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS).

Paying in sweat! How Debbie Allen went from stardom in Fame to conquer Hollywood

She played the world’s coolest dance teacher and has had big success as an actor, director and choreographer, winning a Golden Globe, Emmys and an Olivier. Now, she is back on Broadway. She discusses Trump, the Kennedy Center and where the US goes next

Debbie Allen once found herself judging the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City alongside a charismatic property developer named Donald Trump. He had just bought an 86-metre superyacht named Nabila and rebranded it the Trump Princess. Eager to flaunt his prize, he invited Allen, a dancer, choreographer, actor and director, and her sister, the actor Phylicia Rashad, aboard for a private tour.

The opulence of the vessel was astonishing, Allen recalls: there was a bathroom carved from lapis lazuli, a fully equipped nightclub and fine paintings hanging on the walls. “It was incredible. I remember him telling me: ‘Debbie, you can have a party on this.’ I said: ‘If I do it, honey, it’s going to be all Black people.’”

‘Six lanes of tarmac and vehicles doing 70mph’: can ‘green bridges’ help animals cross the UK’s motorways in safety?

Cockrow Bridge in Surrey will open in the coming weeks to provide wildlife, including lizards and insects, with the ability to move between fragmented habitats

When James Herd moved near to Wisley Common 17 years ago, the heathland nature reserve was teeming with wildlife. “I’d take the dog around the common in spring and summer, and every few hundred metres I’d hear the rustle of a lizard in the undergrowth – and I’d see adders,” he says.

But over the past decade, the Surrey Wildlife Trust’s director of reserves management, who oversees the internationally important habitat, has seen that wildlife become depleted.

As Trump goes to China, what do Americans say about tariffs, Iran and world standing?

Most Americans see China as one of the United States' biggest rivals or adversaries, but largely as an economic threat, according to a new Chicago Council/NPR/Ipsos poll.

The clipping economy: How short-form video 'clippers' are overrunning the internet

Short-form clips of long interviews and shows are taking over the internet. But behind the sea of social media clips are marketplaces offering freelance clippers money per view.

Morning news brief

Trump's relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping will be tested in upcoming visit, Labor Department releases latest cost-of-living report, experts say hantavirus isn't a risk to public at large.

Stephen Colbert and late night hosts strike again as his show nears finale

Stephen Colbert invited his "best television friends," fellow late night hosts John Oliver, Seth Meyers and the two Jimmies— Kimmel and Fallon— to join him, as his final show on CBS is set for May 21.

Chaos in Philippines as Duterte ally wanted by ICC takes refuge in senate to avoid arrest

Former police chief Ronald dela Rosa spends night at senate office after another Duterte ally offers protective custody

The unusual pursuit was captured on CCTV cameras inside the Philippine senate. Ronald dela Rosa, a longtime ally of the former president Rodrigo Duterte, raced along the hallways of the upper house complex, stumbling on the staircase, as he fled government agents.

“They want to forcibly bring me to The Hague, to surrender me there,” Dela Rosa said later on a Facebook livestream, pleading for public support.

Starmer’s on the brink and who knows what will happen next: hope for the best, Britain, and prep for the worst | Frances Ryan

As senior cabinet ministers move against the PM, his words of defiance seem moot. I’m planning ahead – which is more than he has ever done

A news report last week described how growing instability means millions of Britons are building up a stash of cash, tinned food and torches at home. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always thought there is no better litmus test of how things are going for a country than whether the populace is stockpiling emergency rations.

Watching Keir Starmer stubbornly cling on to his leadership as members of his cabinet and MPs move against him, it seems only a matter of time before the PM himself is prepping. With the end moving closer, you half expect Starmer to barricade himself in Downing Street with a jumbo pack of baked beans and a carton of cigarettes.

Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist

Internal displacements caused by violence or conflict at record high in 2025

The 32.3m surpasses those caused by disasters for the first time, as 82.2m people displaced in total around world

The number of internal displacements triggered by conflict or violence around the world reached a record high in 2025, surpassing the number of disaster-driven internal displacements for the first time.

A report published by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) shows that by the end of 2025 there were 32.3m conflict-driven internal displacements. That is 60% higher than those recorded the previous year, and – for the first time since data collection began in 2008 – above displacements driven by natural disasters, which reached 29.9m in 2025.

Ciao UFO review – Hong Kong tear-jerker is less ET than time-hopping chronicle of housing estate kids

In 1985, four working-class characters are bonded for ever by a strange sighting in this sentimental saga that tracks their lives into adulthood

Directed by Patrick Leung, this affecting saga from Hong Kong is a bit tricksy to get to grips with because it keeps hopping back and forth between an assortment of time frames. It tracks a set of characters as children in the mid-1980s, played by one group of young actors, and then later in the 1990s and early 00s when an adult cast takes over. But as it spirals in towards its surprising and dramatic conclusion, everything falls into place and the last 10 minutes is properly tear-jerking – even if it’s unabashedly sentimental, like a classic melodrama.

The key incident foretold in the title happens around halfway through, although it’s no spoiler to know it’s coming. In 1985, a quartet of kids growing up on a working-class Hong Kong housing estate – boys Kin (Matthew Wong Cheuk-yin) and Heem (Chui Ka-him), and girl Hoyi (Lam Seung-yu) and her kid brother (Shawn Heung Sung-yu), for ever called Little Brother – see a UFO in the sky one night. The experience bonds them for ever, even if each kid grows up to pursue goals one wouldn’t expect based on what they’re like as tots. Sailor’s son Kin (played by Chui Tien-you as an adult) pursues wealth in the stock market as it booms in the aftermath of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China, itself an understandably big deal in the story. Heem (a very engaging Wong You-nam) had leukaemia as a child, and lives constantly in the short term under the shadow of illness. Hoyi, who everyone describes as a pudgy little girl, grows up to be a slim-hipped beauty (Charlene Choi Cheuk-yin) – this is considered a great achievement along with becoming an accountant and planning to marry a dullard named Austin (Joey Cho Yiu Leung) who has his life all planned out.

High and Low by Amanda Craig review – will Britain boil over?

A north London cafe is under siege in a state-of-the-nation satire that brings together the haves and have-nots

Britain, muses trainee barrister Xan, was getting “hotter, crueller and angrier”. Amanda Craig’s 10th novel watches as it boils over. Her setting is Prospect Park, a fictional north London suburb caught between gentrification and decline, on the 12th day of Christmas. Outside a hotel housing asylum seekers, protesters and counter-protesters have gathered. In a flat nearby, a man has been stabbed, and thugs go from shop to shop, searching for the teenage boy they think did it.

Locals look on anxiously. Jade from the beauty parlour and Daisy from the health food shop brave the central street to warn others of trouble. In the kebab shop, Mehmet locks up his doner meat and sharpens his knives. Places with shutters close them.

Gaborone gold rush: how Botswana rose to the top of men’s sprinting

Country with a population of just 2.5m credits investment in young athletes for its rise but this progress is under threat

It was a fairytale ending to the World Athletics Relays in Gaborone. In the final strait, Collen Kebinatshipi surged past South Africa’s Zakithi Nene to win the men’s 4x400m relay for Botswana. The home crowd, a sea of light blue, went wild.

“It means so many things to us,” Letsile Tebogo, 22, the reigning 200m Olympic champion, who ran the second leg, told reporters afterwards. “Not just the team … but for the people that always cheer for us behind the TV. Now they had that experience to see first-hand how much effort, how much pressure, how much we give for them.”

Multiple Olympic and world champion cyclist Katie Archibald retires to become nurse

• Endurance specialist won Olympic gold in Rio and Tokyo

• ‘I don’t know where I’ll get these feelings again’

Katie Archibald, the Scottish track cyclist who won gold medals at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics, has announced her retirement with immediate effect.

The decision means the 32-year-old, who also won multiple world, European and Commonwealth titles, will not compete in July’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Trump heads to China to spread the gospel of American tech while emulating Xi Jinping on AI

Tim Cook and Elon Musk, among other tech CEOS, will accompany the US president on a trip to China

Donald Trump is heading to China this week. If his guest list is any clue, he wants to discuss technology with Xi Jinping, though perhaps after the war in Iran.

On Monday, news broke that outgoing Apple CEO, Tim Cook, as well as SpaceX and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, would join the US president. Other guests from the tech sphere include Meta’s recently appointed president, Dina Powell McCormick; Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of computer memory maker Micron; Chuck Robbins, CEO of longtime telecom giant Cisco; and Cristiano Amon, CEO of semiconductor maker Qualcomm, according to a White House official.

Too many of us were traumatised by sport at school – but it’s never too late to change | Cath Bishop

A recent study showed millions are put off by early experiences of physical education. But sport can bring camaraderie and joy

There is a disconnect between the proliferation of reports recommending we should be more active and actual levels of activity, that are scarcely budging. Sports councils, health bodies, charities and thinktanks are piling up the evidence that sport and physical activity help us live healthier, happier lives, improve academic attainment at school and productivity at work, connect our communities and help prevent crime and reoffending. Why can’t we turn this into reality?

Reports often call for better coordination, including the recent House of Commons inquiry Game On: Community and School Sport. But sport and physical activity remains poorly linked among schools, sports clubs, community organisations, parks and playgrounds. In an era of superintelligence and rockets flying around the moon, surely we could do better?

UK households cut back spending at fastest rate in 16 months, Barclays says

Dip in credit card spending in April, particularly on travel, suggests Britons preparing for harder times amid Iran war fallout

Households cut back on their spending in April at the fastest pace in 16 months, as the conflict in the Middle East provoked fears of another cost of living crisis, a report from one of the UK’s biggest banks has suggested.

Barclays, which processes nearly 40% of the UK’s credit and debit card transactions, said its data showed there had been a 0.1% fall in card spending last month compared with a year earlier. This was the first year-on-year fall since November 2024.

The connoisseur of the crumhorn, the showman of the shawm: the brilliance of early music pioneer David Munrow

Six decades ago, Munrow’s passionate and persuasive advocacy for early music opened audience’s eyes and ears – and took the rackett on to primetime TV. Fifty years after his early death, we look back at an inspirational and influential musician

In March 1968, a 25-year-old musician strode on to the stage of London’s Wigmore Hall with a collection of unusual instruments. He proceeded to entertain the audience with tongue-in-cheek descriptions of a shawm, a crumhorn and a rackett – the first time they’d ever been seen, let alone heard, on the Wigmore stage – and he played them with breathtaking virtuosity. That concert, the London debut of the Early Music Consort, was greeted with delight, which set the pattern of things to come. With all the bravura of the 1960s, David Munrow erupted into the world of early music and transformed what had been a minority interest into popular listening.

His flame burned brightly, but briefly: in May 1976 he took his own life at the age of 33. But his impact lives on in the music he rediscovered and popularised, and the innovative ways in which he presented and performed it. The Dufay Collective’s William Lyons has said that his own “programming ethos was very much influenced by that of Munrow: variety and information”. Recently, Skip Sempé, the director of Capriccio Stravagante, wrote that “Munrow … inspired all those who, however unconsciously, followed him with great professional and commercial success. To this day, I feel that every early musician in the UK owes their career to him.”

Israeli lawmakers set up tribunal, allow for death penalty for October 2023 attackers

The measure passed 93-0 in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament, reflecting widespread support for punishing those found responsible for what was the deadliest attack in Israel's history.

Here are three ways to keep Reform out of No 10 – and one of them starts with you | Daniel Trilling

Nigel Farage’s ascent to power is not inevitable, and his party’s success in the May elections will expose its major weaknesses

There is no sugarcoating the fact that on the basis of last week’s elections, Reform UK is now the largest party in British politics, if only by vote share. It is still a long way from ever winning power at Westminster, but we don’t need to look far to see whether a Reform government would try to make good on its various threats – because Reform is our local version of an international wave of populist rightwing nationalism.

This loosely connected movement has declared its hostility to the checks and balances that prevent democracy from becoming a tyranny of the majority, or even of those with only a plurality of support. It can be chaotic and destructive, like Nigel Farage’s beloved Donald Trump, or slow and grinding like the recently departed Hungarian government of Viktor Orbán. But we can make a reasonable guess as to what life under a Reform government might look like – and I suspect it’s something that neither you nor I would welcome.

Close encounters: the new wave of women photographers – in pictures

From Black debutantes to Bolivian matriarchs, this year’s Saltzman-Leibovitz prize shows the diverse subjects being tackled by the next generation of female storytellers

Will Starmer’s old Labour tribute strategy rescue him from the abyss? Probably not, but there’s a logic to it | Gaby Hinsliff

Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman offer experience and political craft, but to reap the benefits, the PM himself will have to change

There comes a time, in the dying days of a relationship, when you start to become irritated merely by the sound of your partner’s breathing. It’s not kind, and it’s not necessarily rational, but it is what it is. Nothing they can do is going to fix it, and nothing they say makes it better – even if they suddenly start promising to do all the things you’ve been begging them to do for years. It all just seems too little, too late. And that is roughly where the parliamentary Labour party now finds itself with Keir Starmer.

His response to the bloodbath of last week’s local elections, in which he brought back Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman as advisers while promising something bigger and bolder than the creeping caution of the 2024 manifesto, was a promise to change aimed squarely at the MPs threatening to oust him and yet somehow it seems only to have deepened the frustration. Most would love nothing better than to get closer to Europe, as he promised; many have been screaming for months that, as he acknowledged, people are crying out for change to come faster. And the back-to-the-future appointments of two more New Labour veterans, to a team already groaning with survivors from the more successful 1997 to 2010 Labour governments, at least shows an understanding of where the plumbing is blocked.

Lamb with peas and broad beans, caponata and vignarola: Conor Gadd’s recipes for Italian-style spring vegetables

Buttermilk-marinated lamb with fresh peas and broad beans, a classic Sicilian aubergine dish, and a vegetable-stuffed Roman spring stew

Spring is arguably the most exciting time for a chef, or cook. The long – really long – winter has come to an end and, as the shadows shorten, the list of ingredients lengthens: peas, broad beans, wild garlic, spring lamb … It is where nature comes into her own, because, as if by design, all of its bounty goes together in the most wonderful, natural and understated way.

Behind Big Oil’s first-quarter beat: The quiet rise of trading desks

Europe's oil supermajors highlighted trading contributions as they reported stronger-than-expected profits through the first three months of the year.

Country diary: No Mow May is back on track – and the results are wonderful | Jennifer Jones

Hunt’s Cross, Liverpool: A survey of the roadside verge turns up 21 species including cuckoo flower and yarrow. But not everyone likes it

The impact was visceral. For days last spring I watched an army of confederates, with their uniforms of fiery gold bands and anthracite hoops, advancing up the road. They were cinnabar moth caterpillars, gathered on their host plant, common ragwort. And thanks to Liverpool city council’s observance of No Mow May, there were plenty of both in the roadside verge near my home.

But days before the month ended, the mowing team arrived, like pilgrims breaking their Lenten fast early. The ragworts and their parties of travellers were churned up and spat out. I was desolate.

‘I couldn’t breathe’: the sinister spread of France’s killer seaweed

After a series of deaths on the beaches of Brittany, one bereaved family set out to prove the foul-smelling bloom was to blame

When her phone rang at around 5pm on 8 September 2016, Rosy Auffray was still at work. It was one of her daughters, distressed, calling to tell her that their father, Jean-René, had not come back from his daily run. Only the family dog had returned, alone and exhausted. Rosy rushed back home.

When she arrived, Rosy noticed that the dog was behaving bizarrely: she refused to walk, then collapsed under a bush. Her fur stank of rotten eggs, of overflowing sewers. Rosy knew where that smell came from: the mudflats roughly three miles from the family home in Brittany, where seaweed had been accumulating and putrefying. The soggy, decomposing seaweed stretched for miles along the shore, sometimes as much as five feet thick, killing other plants and suffocating fish and small birds.

‘It’s like a trans-Barbie world!’: the Indian festival where transgender women can celebrate without fear

The annual gathering at Koovagam is rooted in an ancient poem. Five trans attendees talk about what the event means to them in light of a controversial change to the country’s gender recognition law

The summer air is thick with dust, sweat and the scent of jasmine. In Koovagam, in southern Tamil Nadu, more than 100,000 people have gathered for one of India’s most distinctive festivals. Transgender women from across India, arrive in bright silk saris and gold temple jewellery, their hair oiled and braided with flowers.

For nearly 18 days, the little town swells into a city of devotion, culminating in rituals that blur the boundaries between myth and reality.

The Koovagam festival pageant winner displays her rings

More than 6,000 children treated at obesity clinics in England, figures show

Hundreds of four-year-olds among ‘extremely overweight’ patients at 39 specialist centres since 2021

More than 6,000 children living with obesity, including hundreds as young as four, have required treatment at specialist NHS weight-loss clinics, new figures reveal.

NHS England data, published for the first time, underlines the scale of the growing childhood obesity crisis.

Dua Lipa alleges Samsung uses copyrighted image of her to sell TVs

Pop singer accuses electronics manufacturer Samsung of using a copyrighted image of her face to sell TVs.

Macron seeks allies and a foreign policy less tied to France’s colonial past at Africa summit

French president reaches out to new allies after setbacks in relations with his country’s former colonies in west Africa

A French-African summit held every few years since 1973 is taking place in a non-francophone country for the first time on Tuesday as Emmanuel Macron tries to rebuild France’s role on the continent after setbacks in its former colonies.

More than 30 heads of state and government are meeting in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, for this year’s iteration of the summit. Named Africa Forward, it is being seen by analysts as an attempt by France to court new allies.

Mayor of California city resigns over charges of being a foreign agent of China

Eileen Wang, 58, mayor of Arcadia, agreed to plead guilty over the felony count brought by the justice department

Eileen Wang, the mayor of a southern California city, resigned suddenly on Monday after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced she had been charged with acting as an illegal foreign agent of China.

Wang, 58, agreed to plead guilty to the felony count and could face a sentence of 10 years in prison.

Supreme Court clears path for Alabama to redraw congressional map

The Supreme Court set aside lower court decisions that had blocked the state from using a congressional map drawn by Republicans in 2023 that contained one majority-Black district.

Americans from hantavirus-hit ship arrive in U.S., including 1 who tested positive

An American on the repatriation flight began showing symptoms of hantavirus and another "tested mildly PCR positive for the Andes virus," the Department of Health and Human Services says.

Why Americans from the hantavirus-stricken ship were taken to Omaha

Most of the Americans who were on a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak were taken to specialized facilities at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Americans enter quarantine after returning from hantavirus cruise ship

The 18 Americans who were aboard a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship have returned to the U.S. and are now in quarantine. One remains in the biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center after testing positive. Ian Lee has more.

Trump says he aims to suspend gas tax "for a period of time"

President Trump made the comments in a phone interview with CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes.

Trump proposes gas tax holiday, but savings may be limited

Suspending the federal gas tax would have a modest impact on fuel prices, while also requiring congressional approval.

School principal who was shot tackling gunman: "It was just instinct"

Kirk Moore, an Oklahoma high school principal, took a bullet tackling a gunman in his school's lobby. He told CBS News what he did was "just instinct" and said he didn't even realize he'd been shot at first. Matt Gutman has more.

GM cutting hundreds of salaried IT workers as it trims costs, evaluates needs

General Motors is laying off hundreds of salaried employees in its information technology operations.

Netanyahu discusses China's support for Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett about the situation in Iran. Ahead of President Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Netanyahu said he "didn't like" that China supported Iran's war efforts.

Trump wants to suspend gas tax amid high prices due to war with Iran

President Trump told CBS News' Nancy Cordes that he wants to temporarily lift the federal gas tax as prices continue to rise amid the ongoing war with Iran. Mr. Trump also said the latest response from Iran to end the war was "a bad proposal ... done by people that have no clue as to the danger they're in."

NIH director on hantavirus risk

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health and acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spoke with "CBS Evening News" anchor Tony Dokoupil about what risks hantavirus poses to the U.S. public.

6 found dead in shipping container at rail yard near Texas border

Police confirmed that there were six people dead, five men and one woman.

Texas sheriff says 7th body could be tied to shipping container deaths

The body of a seventh person was located Monday nearly 150 miles north of a Union Pacific rail yard in Laredo, where six bodies were discovered on Sunday afternoon.

The big questions hanging over the Trump-Xi meeting in China

Taiwan, tariffs and the strait of Hormuz are on the meeting’s agenda for Beijing – but will the US president be forced to ask for help in ending his war with Iran?

On 20 February, a White House official confirmed that US president Donald Trump would be travelling to Beijing the following month to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Top of the agenda: the US-China trade war.

One week later, Trump approved joint strikes with Israel against Iran, starting a new war in the Middle East. Its ramifications have spread far beyond the region and caused alarm in Beijing. The presidential summit was postponed.

Birmingham City University urged not to axe Black studies MA

More than 100 figures sign open letter criticising closure, just months after MA was launched

More than 100 academics, writers and activists from around the world have signed an open letter condemning plans to close an MA in Black studies and global justice at Birmingham City University (BCU), just months after it was first launched.

The move follows the controversial closure of BCU’s undergraduate course in Black studies in 2024, and has prompted warnings that Black studies are being erased from UK higher education.

5/11: CBS Evening News

Americans enter quarantine after returning from hantavirus cruise ship; President Trump aims to suspend gas tax amid high prices due to war with Iran.

De Zerbi’s impact at Spurs is undeniable but team’s fragile self-destruction remains | Jonathan Wilson

Mathys Tel’s stupid penalty concession underlines being Spursy is just who Spurs are to leave them still within sight of West Ham

You’re 1-0 up with 20 minutes to go. You’re about to win your first home league game in 156 days. You’re well on top and playing your best football in 18 months. If you can just see it through you’ll be four points clear of the relegation zone with two games to go, crisis all but averted. And then your left-winger attempts an overhead in the corner of your own box and kicks an opponent in the head nearly eight feet off the ground. It may have been the highest altitude penalty awarded in the Premier League this season; it was certainly the stupidest. Never underestimate the Spursiness of this Spurs.

The gap to West Ham is two points. Spurs must go to Chelsea three days after the FA Cup final then face Everton at home. West Ham have Newcastle away and Leeds at home. But perhaps the most important aspect is the sense that the momentum has shifted. The pendulum that had seemingly been swinging decisively towards Tottenham has slowed; it could easily swing back again.

‘A consistent pattern of lying’: Musk v OpenAI trial exposes what insiders think of Sam Altman

The trial has exposed even more details about OpenAI’s fractious corporate past than previously documented

OpenAI, despite its name, is usually extremely secretive about its operations. It promotes a carefully crafted image to the world. Over the course of Elon Musk’s case against the startup and its CEO Sam Altman, however, the artificial intelligence firm has been forced to publicly contend with some of the messiest parts of its rise to power in public.

The Musk v OpenAI trial, which on Monday entered its third week, has featured a who’s who of Silicon Valley testifying about OpenAI’s past and its CEO’s contentious leadership. Musk’s attorneys have used former executives, private text messages, diary entries and internal email exchanges to portray Altman as untrustworthy. Altman, who denies Musk’s allegations, will take the stand in the coming days. OpenAI has likewise issued denials.

Consuming fruit and a cup of coffee a day can halve risk of unhealthy cell ageing, study suggests

Eating diet rich in polyphenols can lower likelihood of shorter DNA endings linked to age-related diseases

Eating fruit and drinking a cup of coffee a day could halve the risk of cells ageing unhealthily, research suggests.

Foods rich in polyphenols such as berries, apples, coffee, cocoa and tea are known to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, but a new study has found they are also associated with a lower risk of short telomeres, the “ends” or caps of DNA that, when shorter, increase the risk of cell death and unhealthy ageing.

Sarah Wynn-Williams and Virginia Giuffre jointly win freedom to publish prize at British book awards

In a rare public appearance, Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams warned of ‘networks of powerful elites’ using wealth and influence to silence dissenting voices

Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams and the late Virginia Giuffre have jointly won the Freedom to Publish prize at this year’s British book awards, marking the first time the award has been shared.

Wynn-Williams, a former Facebook executive, was recognised for Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism, her bestselling memoir about her years inside Meta, formerly Facebook. The book makes allegations about the company’s internal culture and practices, including its approach to political influence, China and the wellbeing of teenagers. Meta has disputed the claims.

Acting CDC director says hantavirus is "very different than COVID," defends agency's response

Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya talks to "CBS Evening News" anchor Tony Dokoupil about the U.S. response to the deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, saying the disease is "very different than COVID. And we should treat it differently than COVID."

5/11: The Takeout with Major Garrett

President Trump says ceasefire with Iran "on life support"; Americans exposed to hantavirus return to quarantine in the U.S.

Virginia Democrats ask Supreme Court to reinstate blocked congressional map

Virginia Democrats asked the Supreme Court to restore its congressional map that aimed to give Democrats an edge in the midterms, days after it was blocked​ by the state's highest court.

Redistricting war isn't over, Democrats say as Jeffries calls a meeting this week

Democrats are vowing to fight on after being dealt a series of blows in the partisan fight to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms.

April home sales disappoint as higher mortgage rates weigh on buyers

Home sales barely moved in April, as mortgage rates shot higher the month before and uncertainty over the war with Iran weighed on consumers.

Supreme Court continues to temporarily maintain mail access to abortion pill

Justice Samuel Alito extended an administrative stay that maintained access to mifepristone through the mail.

Former Tesla CFO Deepak Ahuja joins EV battery recycler Redwood Materials

Before joining Redwood Materials, Ahuja served as chief financial and business officer at the drone delivery startup Zipline for about three years.

White House ballroom funds hang over GOP push to fund ICE

The Senate is returning to Washington to resume work on funding immigration agencies with a package that includes $1 billion for the renovation of the White House East Wing.

Lawsuit seeks to halt Trump's makeover of Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool

The Cultural Landscape Foundation seeks to block the replacement of pool’s ‘gray stone’ appearance

A historic preservation group on Monday filed a lawsuit seeking to halt Donald Trump’s ongoing renovation to the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool, the latest in a string of court challenges to efforts to remake Washington DC landmarks from the US president and former real estate developer.

The lawsuit, filed by the Cultural Landscape Foundation, alleged the renovation violates the National Historic Preservation Act, a law passed by Congress in 1996 that outlines procedures for changes to historic properties.

Guardian staff contributed

I've tested all AeroPress coffee makers – here’s the good, bad and ugly

The AeroPress lineup has big hits and wild misses. I reviewed all of them: the Original, Clear, Go, Go Plus, Premium, XLs and brand-new Steel

• The best instant coffees: we tested 24 US varieties from powders to pastes

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In 2005, Alan Alder had already made a name for himself as the inventor of the Aerobie, an aerodynamically improved flying ring. For his next project, the engineer ended up creating a similarly ingenious coffee maker: the AeroPress, which looks like a big needle-less syringe that pushes a cup of brewed coffee down through a filter and directly into a mug.

More than 20 years later, the AeroPress remains a cult classic because it is so easy to use, so easy to clean and the coffee it makes is the perfect middle ground between drip’s reliability and French press’s richness. You can also enjoy something stiffer and vaguely espresso-like, or even brew iced coffee.

Most budget-friendly:
The Original

Why hantavirus is not like COVID, according to infectious disease experts

Infectious disease experts have sought to reassure people that the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak poses very low risks to the wider public.

Brent oil tops $104 after Trump says ceasefire with Iran is on 'life support'

Oil prices jumped on Monday after Israel warned that the conflict with Iran was still ongoing.

Trump, congressional Republicans float suspending federal gas tax amid Iran war

Voters are souring on Trump's economy ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, and high gas prices are only adding to consumer discontent.

EU announces sanctions against violent Israel settlers

Bloc breaks its lengthy deadlock on the issue but falls short of imposing full-scale trade sanctions

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The EU has agreed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, ending a years-long deadlock over the issue but still taking only a “baby step” according to one MEP.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said on Monday: “Violence and extremism carry consequences.”

The Guardian view on Labour’s rebellion: Starmer faces a crisis of legitimacy | Editorial

After disastrous elections, Labour MPs voice public doubts over whether the prime minister can politically survive at all

The clock is ticking on Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership of the Labour party. He had begun Monday morning with a speech designed to save his premiership after it was routed in local and devolved elections last week. In it he attempted a political synthesis by occupying Reform’s terrain of national pride without the xenophobia, adopting the left’s language of industrial revival without class antagonism and repositioning Labour as culturally pro-European without reopening the Brexit settlement. It did not succeed. By the afternoon, scores of MPs from across the party had publicly demanded that the prime minister leave office in an “orderly transition”. As the hours passed, the rhetoric crossed an important threshold: from criticism of strategy to questioning Sir Keir’s legitimacy as leader.

Labour MPs increasingly say that voters do not trust, or believe, Sir Keir. Nor do they see the change the Labour government promised to deliver. Backbenchers are clearly saying the prime minister’s leadership is the issue. The instinctively loyal MP Catherine McKinnell put it in stark terms. The message from voters, she said, was clear: “The Labour government has to change, or we will change the Labour government.”

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

The Guardian view on World Cup ticket prices: $33,000? You’re having a laugh … | Editorial

Fifa’s embrace of dynamic pricing and resale markets has led to sky-high costs and a speculative free-for-all, betraying the spirit of the beautiful game

In What Money Can’t Buy, his 2012 critique of a world where everything is for sale, Michael Sandel laments what he calls “the skyboxification of American life”. Price gouging and profiteering, Mr Sandel notes, can exclude millions from communal experiences that should unite people, rather than divide them according to the size of their wallets. That is “not good for democracy, nor is it a satisfying way to live”.

Ahead of the men’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico next month, millions of football fans would readily agree with the Harvard philosopher. Gianni Infantino, the president of the sport’s global governing body, Fifa, has predicted that this summer’s tournament will be the “greatest and most inclusive … ever”. But the lead-up has been overshadowed by a ticketing strategy that is almost surreally indifferent to the battered traditions of “the people’s game”.

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.

Years after sex abuse scandal, a young gymnast says "it happened again"

Sean Gardner, a gymnastics coach who trained elite young girls, will be in federal court in Mississippi on Monday facing 12 felony counts of sexual exploitation of children.

Why is Putin now talking about the war in Ukraine ‘coming to an end’?

Drone strikes, mounting casualties and a distracted US president means a slow-motion victory is in doubt

Vladimir Putin suggested that the war in Ukraine may be “coming to an end” on Saturday – comments that raise the question of why the Russian president might want a possible end to the war now, given how the fighting is evolving.

Flight of the Conchords’ US reunion brings needed joy: ‘Grateful you accepted people from outside your country’

The New Zealand duo’s first performances in eight years showcase their signature wit and understated charm

When Robots, Flight of the Conchords’ song about an android uprising told from the robots’ perspective, came out in 2008, it seemed like pure comedy. Now the story feels all too real, and the lyrics have been updated accordingly.

“Humans invented artificial intelligence, and then they had us doing really stupid shit with it,” Jemaine Clement, in the role of a frustrated robot, explained over a beat at Los Angeles’s Greek Theater on Saturday night. “They gave us all the knowledge, deep learning, gave us the power to solve complex, scientific mathematical equations,” his bandmate Brett McKenzie added. “Then just asked us questions like, ‘How do you cook an egg?’”

Trump approves plan to fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary

Marty Makary has served as Food and Drug Administration commissioner since March 2025.

Number of police officers killed in line of duty decreased in 2025 compared to 2024

Though the number of police officers killed in the line of duty has dropped, non-fatal assaults against them have been rising since 2021, according to new data released Monday by the FBI.

John Oliver on Trump’s use of supreme court shadow dockets: ‘his go-to method to get his way’

The host makes a case for court reform as the US president bypasses traditional legal processes for emergency rulings

On Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, John Oliver took an extended look into Donald Trump’s influence on the supreme court.

This comes in the wake of the highest US court giving their nod to multiple presidential executive orders, effectively giving a head start to Trump’s agenda even as cases are still working their way through the court system.

‘A little boring after two weeks’: what awaits MV Hondius passengers quarantined for hantavirus?

People evacuated from cruise ship to Arrowe Park hospital, Wirral, should enjoy some consolations, says man sent there during Covid pandemic

For the MV Hondius passengers quarantined at Arrowe Park hospital on the Wirral, it is likely to be a period of some anxiety.

But there will be some consolations as they await the all-clear to return to their normal lives, says a veteran of the Covid-19 quarantine at the same site – such as jigsaws, gourmet ready-meals, and even a concierge service.

Hantavirus cases spark brief surge in pharma and biotech stocks — here’s why trading is so volatile

The outbreak of Hantavirus on a cruise ship has led to biotech and pharmaceutical stocks surging on reports of firms developing vaccines.

Coast Guard seizes sailboat in Lynette Hooker's disappearance probe, sources say

The sailboat used by Brian and Lynette Hooker​ in their travels around the Bahamas — named "Soulmate" — has been seized by U.S. Coast Guard investigators.

You’re right to feel suspicious: Wordle is the TV spinoff the world does not need

The game already feels like a relic – so I suspect the TV gameshow will be very annoying indeed. But perhaps this is what newspapers need to stay afloat

Anyone who has watched television knows that late-night talkshow hosts have a habit of pulling entertainment formats from the barest of inspirations. James Corden got Carpool Karaoke from the act of singing songs in the car. Jimmy Fallon got Lip Sync Battle from the act of mouthing along to songs in the mirror. And now Fallon has struck again. He’s making a Wordle gameshow. It’s based on Wordle, that puzzle you used to do while sitting on the toilet.

Fallon’s production company, Electric Hot Dog, has acquired the rights to Wordle and will turn it into a show where teams compete to solve puzzles for cash. The show will film in Manchester, England, this summer and debut on NBC next year.

Beta Mums: they’re messy, chaotic and nowhere near Instagram

The days of helicopter parenting, where raising a child was seen as a competitive sport, may now be over thanks to the looming threat of AI. It could be good news for everyone involved

Name: Beta Mum.

Age: 25-45.

Cole Allen pleads not guilty to trying to assassinate Trump

Allen is accused of trying to kill Trump, transporting firearms interstate, discharging a firearm during an act of violence and assaulting law enforcement.

Very difficult and extremely cool: how to start doing pull-ups

Long considered an important milestone in one’s fitness journey, pull-ups build upper body strength and look impressive in the gym

The pull-up has long been seen as an important fitness metric. From 1966 to 2013, public middle and high school students in the US were required to do pull-ups as part of the presidential fitness test (an evaluation Donald Trump has considered reinstating). US Marine Corps members were long required to perform pull-ups as part of their regular physical fitness test, and prospective UK Royal Marines must complete a minimum of three to four pull-ups before they are eligible to join.

There is no definitive data on how many adults can perform a proper pull-up, but two things are clear: they are very difficult and look extremely cool.

Lat pulldowns.

Bent-over dumbbell rows.

Single-arm dumbbell rows.

Wide upright rows.

Shoulder shrugs.

Hansi Flick turned Barcelona into a family – and runaway La Liga champions | Sid Lowe

After learning of his father’s death on the morning of the clásico, the manager watched his players respond with devotion that underlined the culture he has built

Early on Sunday morning Hansi Flick got a call from his mum telling him that his father had died overnight. Hansi Sr was 82 and he had been ill for some time. The day that Barcelona were going to win the league again, the first clásico back at Camp Nou, had just begun and their coach was not sure what to do, yet he also knew. “I [thought]: ‘should I hide it or should I speak with my team, because for me it is like a family?’,” he said. “I said ‘OK, I want to get the information to my players, and what they did is unbelievable. I will never forget this moment.”

None of them would. Barcelona’s players had arrived at the Torre Melina hotel on the Diagonal at midday, where the man many of them consider a father told them about his. Now it was close to midnight and together they celebrated a title that was his too. For the first time in 94 years, the clásico had decided La Liga, if decided is really the word when it was done a while ago. Barcelona’s superiority in the 2-0 victory that finally ended it was incontestable as it had been virtually all season, Real Madrid’s players withdrawing swiftly, relieved that at least it was over now and leaving the stadium to them, the first round of fireworks exploding into the sky and a sardana forming in the centre circle.

The Federal Reserve is quickly running out of reasons to cut interest rates

Friday's jobs report provided evidence that the central bank's larger concern is a cost of living that is getting increasingly hard to bear.

Principal who tackled gunman says he didn't initially know he was shot

Kirk Moore, the principal at Pauls Valley High School in Oklahoma, exclusively told CBS News how he acted on "just instinct" when tackling a school shooter.

A job that changed me: At 14 I was a basketball musician. If someone missed a shot, I’d drop in a ‘du-ba-dum’

A big shot earned a triumphant snare drum roll with a resolving crash. My timing was often slightly late, occasionally wildly inappropriate

Music came to me very early on. I’m told that as a baby I would fall asleep to opera – arias would stop me crying. By age six I was enrolled at the local conservatory of music in Athens, learning classical guitar and moving, quite seriously, through music theory and the fundamentals. By my teens, I was in a band with friends, covering everything from Avril Lavigne to Muse, aiming for precision over hours of rehearsal. My music practice was very disciplined and far removed from anything resembling “entertainment”.

Sport, on the other hand, barely registered for me.

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Michael Pennington was an actor of astonishing range, a wise writer and witty company

Over his kaleidoscopic career, the great Shakespearean was a stalwart of the RSC, co-founded a ‘rock’n’roll’ theatre company and excelled at Chekhov and Pinter

Michael Pennington was what Richard II – a part he played with great distinction – called a “well-graced actor”. He had a resonant voice, a handsome countenance, a security and ease on stage. But looking back over his career, on his death at the age of 82, I am struck by its astonishing variety.

He co-founded, with Michael Bogdanov, the English Shakespeare Company. He toured the world with one-man shows on Shakespeare and Chekhov. He directed here and abroad and wrote 10 books full of practical wisdom. On top of all that, he was witty and delightful company.