Visit comes after US-Cuba relations deteriorated significantly, and as the island nation declared it had absolutely no fuel' because of US blockadeCIA director John Ratcliffe met Cuban officials in Havana on Thursday as a way to improve dialogue between the US and the communist-run island, the Cuban government said.The meeting took place in a context marked by the complexity of bilateral relations, with the aim of contributing to the political dialogue between both nations", a statement said. Continue reading...

We know that Mark Carney wants to sort of embrace Europe,' says competition director Martin GreenCanada is welcome to join Eurovision if it wishes, its director has said, months after the country revealed it wanted to explore" joining the song contest in its federal budget.Eurovision director Martin Green told the BBC on Wednesday that Canada hadn't yet applied, but would be welcome to. Continue reading...

Charity says calls to its Childline service about online sexual abuse and exploitation have risen 36% in a yearChildren reported a rise in online blackmail attempts involving sexual images in the UK last year, according to a leading charity.The NSPCC said contacts with its Childline service relating to online sexual abuse and exploitation rose by 36% last year, driven by an increase in cases related to online blackmail. Continue reading...

Export's performances scandalised Austria in the 1960s, but are now recognised for exposing the objectification of the female bodyValie Export, the Austrian performance artist and film-maker who inverted the male gaze in ways that were provocative, shocking and often outrageously fun, has died aged 85.The artist's own foundation announced on Thursday evening that Export died in Vienna earlier the same day, three days before her 86th birthday. Continue reading...

Health officials say close contacts being offered antibiotics as a precaution after cases discovered in ReadingA young person has died and two others are being treated after an outbreak of meningitis in Berkshire, health officials have said.It follows a major outbreak in Kent, linked to a Canterbury nightclub, that killed two people and left more than a dozen needing hospital treatment in March. Continue reading...

Media law experts cast doubt on viability of a defamation lawsuit promised by Netanyahu over Nicholas Kristof essayIsrael's prime minister, Benjamin Nethanyahu, and foreign minister, Gideon Sa'ar, have threatened to sue the New York Times for defamation over the publication of an essay by Nicholas Kristof detailing allegations that Palestinian women, men and children have been raped and sexually abused in Israeli military detention.Following the publication by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times of one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press, which also received the backing of the newspaper, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar have instructed the initiation of a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times," Israel's ministry of foreign affairs wrote in a social media post on Thursday. Continue reading...

Revelation seen as serious blow to candidacy of Flavio Bolsonaro, Brazil's leading rightwing presidential hopefulFlavio Bolsonaro, Brazil's leading rightwing presidential hopeful, has been caught on tape asking a banker accused of corruption for $26.8m (20m) to fund a film about his father, the former president Jair Bolsonaro.The leaked voice memos and text messages were published on Wednesday by the Intercept Brasil, and later acknowledged by Flavio Bolsonaro, a far-right senator who is tied in polls with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ahead of October's election. Continue reading...

There was wind, there was fire, there was Goodrem's remarkable upper-range - resulting in a refreshingly self-assured offering from Australia

Council of Europe members plan to change interpretation of rights laws to make it easier to deport peopleKeir Starmer's government has been accused of trying to water down legal protections for torture victims as ministers from 46 countries including the UK prepare to make it easier to deport refused asylum seekers and foreign criminals.Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, is expected to agree a political declaration" on Friday with other members of the Council of Europe, which oversees the European convention on human rights (ECHR). Continue reading...

Greater Manchester mayor would need to win Makerfield seat before launching campaign for Labour leadershipAndy Burnham now has a potential route back to parliament and a chance to become Labour's next leader after an MP said he would trigger a byelection by standing down from his seat.The move ended days of speculation about whether Burnham could secure a possible path back into Westminster and underlined the increasingly precarious nature of Keir Starmer's premiership. Continue reading...

Andy Burnham has announced he will attempt to return to Westminster after the Labour MP Josh Simons said he will vacate his Makerfield seat in order for Burnham to run in a byelection. It follows a day of breaking news in which the health secretary, Wes Streeting, resigned, saying he has lost confidence in the prime minister, and Angela Rayner announced she had been cleared by the HMRC. Where does this leave Keir Starmer, the leadership of the Labour party, and the country? Continue reading...

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NHS experts and MPs say he told a good story' as health secretary while kicking the difficult cans down the road

Now former health secretary and Manchester mayor could be about to make an unlikely deal to oust Keir StarmerWho said the Labour party needs a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism ... It needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates"?Until Thursday morning, almost everyone would have attributed those words to Andy Burnham, the mayor or Greater Manchester. But those were the closing paragraphs of the former health secretary Wes Streeting's resignation letter, a cadence so similar to Burnham's own that it cannot be accidental. Continue reading...

Standards watchdog investigating money from crypto billionaire which Reform UK leader now says was reward' for Brexit

Singer-songwriter, and former husband of Candi Staton, was blind from birth and had further hits including Slip Away and Back Door SantaClarence Carter, the US soul singer who had numerous hits including the transatlantic 1970 smash Patches, has died aged 90.His management company confirmed his death to the Guardian, saying he died on Wednesday following complications with pneumonia. Continue reading...

Island breathes sigh of relief as fears recede that US could jettison longstanding support

Veteran broadcaster accuses channel of clear violations' of Ofcom's due impartiality rules

Exhibition of Melsonby hoard in York challenges ideas about life in northern Britain 2,000 years agoIron age objects that tell a dramatic story of female power and which dispel the myth that northern Britain was a left-behind backwater have gone on display for the first time.The objects exhibited in York are from the Melsonby hoard, the largest trove of iron age metalwork ever found in the UK, which experts say could alter our understanding of life in Britain 2,000 years ago. Continue reading...

William Majcher was accused of helping Chinese police coerce a Vancouver-area real estate investor, accused of fraud, to return to ChinaA retired police officer Canada accused of being an agent for China has been acquitted of national security charges after prosecutors failed to prove he acted illegally.William Majcher, who served in the RCMP's financial crime unit, was charged in 2023 over allegations he had breached Canada's Security of Information Act by helping Chinese police coerce a Vancouver-area real estate investor, accused of fraud, to return to China. Continue reading...

Prof Abbas Rajabifard of the University of Melbourne says he was listed as a co-author of research with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator in recent peace talks, without his knowledge

Jim Chalmers' budget tips the scales in favour of younger and less well-off households - but it's middle-class gen X that are turning to the rightwing party

Outgoing health secretary declares Labour's plan for the NHS is working' as hospitals hit key targetHospitals in England have hit a key target for improving the time it takes patients to get treatment, which prompted Wes Streeting to declare that Labour's plan for the NHS is working" before departing as health secretary.Streeting had told the NHS to ensure that hospitals treated at least 65% of patients within 18 weeks by the end of March. New NHS England figures published on Thursday showed that hospitals did so, treating 65.3% of people on the NHS waiting list within that timeframe in March. Continue reading...

Streeting, who is on the party's right, had long been rumoured to be gathering support for tilt at leadership

Doctor in Brandenburg state allegedly committed the crimes, including child rape, between 2013 and 2025German prosecutors have charged a paediatrician with 130 counts of sexual abuse, including the rape of children, most of them in his care, in a case that has caused shock and prompted clinics to step up safeguards.The 46-year-old doctor, whose name has not been released, has been in custody since November after a mother suspected her child had been assaulted and notified authorities. The doctor worked in clinics in Brandenburg state, surrounding Berlin. Continue reading...

King Charles unveils government agenda for the next year as PM faces leadership threat from within LabourKeir Starmer attempted to reassert his authority over his restive party on Wednesday, announcing his plans for the next parliamentary session even as speculation grew that he would be challenged for his job as soon as Thursday.Starmer announced his second king's speech as prime minister, promising a package of measures with bills to abolish NHS England, overhaul the provision of special educational needs teaching, limit trials by jury, introduce digital ID and end the leasehold system in England and Wales. Continue reading...

With Mexico under pressure from Trump to tackle drug trafficking groups, analysts say it's the most tense situation since the 1980s'Relations between Mexico and the United States are being pushed to breaking point amid accusations by Washington that Mexican officials have been in bed for years" with drug traffickers, and reports of CIA agents freely operating south of the border.There are many who are betting on the defeat and failure of the Mexican government," said Claudia Sheinbaum tersely on Wednesday, when asked about the allegations at a news conference. "We want a good relationship with the United States government. What are our limits? The defence of sovereignty and respect for the Mexican people and their dignity." Continue reading...

Medicare has already paused hospice and home healthcare agency signups as potential fraud is investigated

In interview with Stateside with Kai and Carter, Abrams says Republicans have raised the stakes beyond party linesFormer Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has slammed Republican-led states' efforts to redraw their congressional maps to favor their party as evil incarnate".In an interview with the Guardian's new podcast, Stateside with Kai and Carter, Abrams argued that what she said amounted to intentional cheating" to suppress racial minority voting power must be fought in the courts and on the ballot. Continue reading...

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Wes Streeting is expected to launch a leadership challenge against Keir Starmer as soon as Thursday. News of the health secretary's plans came during the king's speech, derailing what was supposed to be another chance for the prime minister to reset the political agenda. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian's head of national news, Archie Bland Continue reading...

Watchdog to examine whether Reform UK leader should have declared sum he received before entering parliamentNigel Farage is facing a formal investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog over a 5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.The Reform UK leader received the money weeks before announcing he would stand as a candidate in the 2024 general election. Continue reading...

After drawing delighted crowds since first sighted in Orkney the young male has swum 400 miles across the North SeaA peripatetic walrus who became a local celebrity as he toured the north-east coast of Scotland has now been spotted in Norway, bringing to an end his Celtic sojourn.The young male was christened Magnus after he after first hauled his estimated 2.5-metre frame out of the sea on to Stronsay pier in Orkney on 16 April. Continue reading...

Strikes killed at least six people as Moscow and Kyiv trade long-range attacks after brief ceasefire

Captain of French football team expressed concerns about far-right National Rally party gaining powerThe French football captain, Kylian Mbappe, has angered Marine Le Pen's far-right party after expressing concerns about it winning next year's presidential election.Mbappe, 27, who grew up in Paris's northern suburbs in a family with Algerian and Cameroonian heritage, told Vanity Fair this week: I know what it means and what consequences it can have for my country when people like them come to power." Continue reading...

Queenslander under pressure after YouTube interview where he said he was not ruling it out' but I don't have the facts yet'

Opposition leader Angus Taylor and shadow treasurer Tim Wilson say future Coalition government would reinstate generous rules for property investors

From supermarkets to corner shops, live facial recognition could be coming to retailers near you. Jessica Murray on the AI systems increasingly used by the police and storesLive facial recognition is being hailed as a powerful new frontier in the fight against crime, not only by police but by private companies too. Retailers from supermarkets to corner shops hope it will help them fight back against shoplifting.But the Guardian's social affairs correspondent, Jessica Murray, points out that it will also expand surveillance into more and more public spaces. And the technology doesn't always get it right. Continue reading...

Pete Hegseth and other officials appear before House to face grilling on Iran war expenditure and military operationsIran 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. Continue reading...

Party held out prospect of act while in opposition but plan did not make it into election manifestoMinisters should bring forward a new clean air act that would ban wood burning, clear diesel vehicles from the roads and force councils to cut pollution, a group of more than 60 charities have urged before the king's speech on Wednesday.Labour held out the prospect of a clean air act while in opposition in 2023, but this was dropped from the final election manifesto, and the government has made no move to reinstate it. Continue reading...

Research on weight limits of elevators made in UK and Europe 1972-2004 raises concerns over safety and equityLifts are no longer big enough to fit the UK's larger citizens, according to researchers.A study of maximum capacity in elevators in the UK and mainland Europe found lifts have not kept up with increasing obesity levels, raising concerns about safety and equity. Continue reading...

Republican leader acknowledges likely consequences' for resisting US president's demands to redraw map

Comedian will host the 99th Oscars in 2027 after viewership dipped this year despite rise in social media engagementConan O'Brien's era as Oscars host is becoming a trilogy. The Emmy-winning comedian will be back to host the 99th Academy awards in 2027, leaders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science said on Tuesday.O'Brien hosted the last two Oscar ceremonies to positive reviews. Earlier this year, in his opening monologue, he said he was honored to be the last human host of the Academy Awards ... Next year it's going to be a Waymo in a tux." Continue reading...

Planned legislation includes housing, immigration and energy measures, and comes amid awkwardness with the palace over Charles's roleKeir Starmer will attempt to regain the political initiative on Wednesday as his government announces a package of 35 bills for the next parliamentary session, covering everything from housing to immigration.The embattled prime minister will release details of dozens of bills that he intends to pass over the next 12 months, even as his own MPs line up to demand his resignation.Additional reporting by Caroline Davies Continue reading...

Christian Schmidt says the multi-ethnic nation may fall apart thanks to pressure from the US and RussiaThe UN high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina has warned about the possible destruction of the multi-ethnic state after he was forced to resign in a policy clash with the US, seemingly complicated by the commercial interests of a firm linked to Donald Trump Jr that is seeking to make investments in the region.The German Christian Democrat politician Christian Schmidt spoke at a scheduled meeting with the UN security council in New York on Tuesday, where he warned about the fragility of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has made clear he believes his post should be maintained, saying he will stay on until his successor is appointed. Continue reading...

Hack of online learning system caused chaos for students and faculty last week, delaying some final examsThe company that operates the online learning system Canvas said it struck a deal with hackers to delete the data they pilfered in a cyberattack that created chaos for students, many of them in the middle of finals.Instructure, the parent company of Canvas, said in an online post that it reached an agreement with the unauthorized actor involved in this incident". Continue reading...

Tensions are running high in Westminster as Keir Starmer tells his cabinet he is not going anywhere. But with several ministers quitting the government and more than 80 MPs calling for him to go, how much longer has the prime minister got?Lucy Hough speaks to political editor Pippa Crerar Continue reading...

Juliette Binoche joins 600 leading figures to warn against a fascist takeover of the collective imagination'More than 600 cinema figures have said the growing influence of the far right on French cinema production risks turning into a fascist takeover of the collective imagination".In an open letter published in the newspaper Liberation to coincide with the opening of the Cannes film festival, they said the billionaire Vincent Bollore's dominant position in French film production and distribution threatened the independence of the industry. Continue reading...

Workers told to be realistic about outcome of union talks as corporation aims to make savings with job cutsBBC staff have been told their bosses will forgo a pay rise this year but fear the freeze will lead to a meagre increase for the rank and file, who have been urged to be realistic about the outcome of union negotiations.Employees have been told that the corporation's executive committee - its 12 highest-paid bosses including the director general, who were paid almost 5m in total last year - will have their pay frozen this year amid a 600m cost-cutting drive. Continue reading...

The Crystal Palace, Arsenal and England striker says his life story - now in development with the rapper's Merky Films - has hard-hitting moments, but in the end I want it to give people hope and joy'Stormzy has announced he is to produce a biopic of former Arsenal, Crystal Palace and England striker Ian Wright.Wright, who successfully transitioned to TV punditry after a distinguished playing career that included becoming Arsenal's highest ever goalscorer, before he was overtaken by Thierry Henry, said he wanted the film to give people hope and joy". Continue reading...