World news | The Guardian

Country with a population of just 2.5m credits investment in young athletes for its rise but this progress is under threatIt 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." Continue reading...

Premium editions of Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! cost up to $250 but some say signatures are unnaturally identicalLiza Minnelli fans who bought signed copies of her memoir are seeking refunds because they believe her signature is fake.Copies of Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! by the American 80-year-old singer were marketed around the world as hand-signed collectibles", with premium editions costing up to $250 (185). Continue reading...

Health secretary's soft-right credentials put him at a disadvantage even with reduced membership under Starmer

Since the start of the current conflict, more than 20,500 Ukrainian children have been taken by RussiaIt looks like a typical teenager's bedroom: football shirts on the wall, crumpled clothes on the floor, exercise books open on the desk. But it is a work of political art, intended to evoke the empty rooms of more than 20,500 Ukrainian children unlawfully taken to Russia.The work was on display on Monday at the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels, as delegates from 63 countries and international organisations gathered to discuss how to bring Ukraine's children home. It's essentially a way for someone to step into Ukraine without having to actually travel there," Isaac Yeung, a co-creator of the installation, said. Continue reading...

Seventeen-year-old, previously charged over alleged extremist material, now faces additional charges relating to allegedly preparing for an attack

Anti-graft agencies say Andriy Yermak suspected of participating in criminal group that laundered $10.5m in housing project, which he denies ownership inUkrainian authorities have named Volodymyr Zelenskyy's powerful former chief of staff as a suspect in a major corruption investigation, a move likely to pile pressure on the president's office at a sensitive moment in the war with Russia.Kyiv's political class was rocked by a wide-ranging probe last year that had fuelled public anger and prompted the ex-top adviser and Zelenskyy's right-hand man, Andriy Yermak, to resign. Continue reading...

Absence of big US films heralds renewed focus on international cinema that underpins festival's reputationFor decades, Cannes has occupied a unique place in the cultural imagination - not just as the world's most prestigious film festival, but as Hollywood's most glamorous overseas outpost.From Grace Kelly on the Croisette, Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman at the Pulp Fiction premiere, Julia Roberts walking barefoot up the red carpet, to Tom Cruise shutting down the Riviera with fighter jets overhead, Hollywood has made its mark on Cannes. Continue reading...

Hundreds of four-year-olds among extremely overweight' patients at 39 specialist centres since 2021More 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. Continue reading...

Marat Ganiev will instead be charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice over death of 19-year-old whose body was found in tip

Farrer byelection win casts shadow over 2026 federal budget as government signals it's alive to populist rightwing threat

Aditya Chakrabortty on the Labour leader's predicament - and if he may be the last prime minister of the two-party systemIn these highly polarised times, dunking on the prime minister - and this PM in particular - is the one thing that seems to unite people in fury, disappointment and loathing. So as he rolled his sleeves up to address the nation on Monday morning, after one of the worst election results in Labour's history, Keir Starmer had quite the job on his hands.The Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty was watching - and wincing. There are times when I watch Keir Starmer promising he's going to change," he said. He looks to me like a guy on the verge of divorce, holding flowers from the nearest petrol station and saying: 'Trust me. Honestly, it's going to be different this time. Honestly, love, stick with me.'" But why does there seem to be such antagonism towards the Labour leader - and can anyone guide the party out of the mess they have found themselves in? Continue reading...

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Eileen Wang, 58, mayor of Arcadia, agreed to plead guilty over the felony count brought by the justice departmentEileen 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. Continue reading...

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Move comes as administration seeks to boost drilling, logging, mining and grazing on taxpayer-owned landThe interior department is canceling a rule that put conservation on equal footing with development, as Donald Trump's administration eases restrictions on industries and seeks to boost drilling, logging, mining and grazing on taxpayer-owned land.The 2024 rule adopted under former president Joe Biden was meant to refocus the interior department's Bureau of Land Management, which oversees about 10% of land in the US. It allowed public property to be leased for restoration in the same way that oil companies lease land for drilling. Continue reading...

Health minister Mark Butler says six people from MC Hondius plus flight crew from charter plane to be isolated for weeks

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. Continue reading...

More than 100 figures sign open letter criticising closure, just months after MA was launchedMore 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. Continue reading...

Dip in credit card spending in April, particularly on travel, suggests Britons preparing for harder times amid Iran war falloutHouseholds cut back on their spending in April at the fastest pace in 18 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. Continue reading...

Research from UCL suggests visiting art galleries or museums, singing and painting can help improve health outcomesSinging, painting or visiting a gallery or museum helps people age more slowly, according to the latest study to link taking an active interest in art and culture with improved health.The findings are the first to show that both participating in arts activities and attending events, such as viewing an exhibition, lead to people staying biologically younger. Continue reading...

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood reported to be among those who have told the PM to consider his position.Botterill says voters she spoke to during the campaign felt the country does not work for them. She is a working-class Yorkshire woman, she says. She knows that the opportunities she has enjoyed would not be there if if had not been for the achievements of Labour government.She says Labour is one of the best vehicles for changing the lives of working people that this county has ever known. Continue reading...

In a rare public appearance, Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams warned of networks of powerful elites' using wealth and influence to silence dissenting voicesMeta 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. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Yvette Cooper and Shabana Mahmood believed to be among those telling PM to oversee orderly departure hours after he said he would fight any challenge

The Cultural Landscape Foundation seeks to block the replacement of pool's gray stone' appearanceA 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 Continue reading...

A growing number of Labour MPs are in no mood to heed calls from the PM's allies to keep faith with their leader

Exclusive: In a letter 40 lawmakers demand the FAA address allegations of mistreatment of immigrants and the urgent need for transparency'A group of 40 House Democrats have described grave concerns" over the Trump administration's secretive program of deportation flights and demanded the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) address allegations of mistreatment and inhumane conditions on ICE charter jets.In a letter shared with the Guardian and addressed to FAA administrator Bryan Bedford, the lawmakers describe the urgent need for transparency" over ICE's expanded use of commercial airliners to transfer detained immigrants and its inappropriate and dangerous" efforts to shield these flights from public scrutiny. Continue reading...

National average for gas prices has risen by well over a dollar per gallon since late February

Violence in Guerrero state has driven as many as 1,000 households from their homes, rights group saysHundreds of Indigenous families have been forced to flee their homes in the mountains of central Mexico by intense attacks from a local criminal group, including drone bombings, an Indigenous rights organisation said on Monday.A gang known as Los Ardillos has been carrying out attacks in Guerrero state for years, but they started to intensify last week. Villages were subjected to eight hours of bombings on Saturday, the National Indigenous Congress said, forcing between 800 to 1,000 families to flee to other towns. Continue reading...

Trump reportedly involved in securing visa for Zbigniew Ziobro, who is wanted in Warsaw on criminal chargesPoland has said it expects Washington to extradite a former justice minister wanted on criminal charges after reports emerged that he had fled to the US from Hungary, where the former prime minister Viktor Orban had granted him asylum.You can't hide these days. You can flee, you can delay it for a while, but eventually your options run out," Poland's foreign minister, Radosaw Sikorski, said on Monday in reference to Zbigniew Ziobro. Continue reading...

Stuart Prior, who was elected in Essex last week, allegedly celebrated the rape of Sikh woman and called Muslim people rats'A Reform UK councillor has resigned days after being elected, after he allegedly celebrated on social media the rape of a Sikh woman in the Midlands, declared white people the master race" and called Muslim people rats".Stuart Prior was elected as a councillor for Essex county council last Thursday, winning 2,404 votes, the highest total of any candidate in the ward. Continue reading...

Month was one of driest Aprils on record with rainfall 23% less than average, according to Met Office figuresOne of the driest Aprils on record for central and southern England has left river levels below normal, raising fears of drought in some areas over the summer.The latest UK hydrological survey - which tracks river and groundwater levels - suggests central and southern England and eastern Scotland will experience notably low river flows over the next three months, raising concerns about water shortages if dry weather persists. Continue reading...

Jimmy Fallon will produce show, which will begin filming over the summer, based on New York Times' hit word gameSavannah Guthrie is to present a TV game show based on the New York Times' hit word game Wordle, the newspaper announced Monday.It will be the first new onscreen venture for the host of NBC's Today show since her return in April after the disappearance two months earlier of her mother. Continue reading...

French woman taken to Paris in serious condition while American flown to Nebraska is asymptomatic, say officials

The bloc's foreign policy chief said recent remarks from the Russian leader suggested the war may be coming to an endRussian affairs reporterThe EU on Monday dismissed Vladimir Putin's suggestion that the Kremlin-friendly former German chancellor Gerhard Schroder could serve as a European mediator in peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Britain expected to be allowed to keep ban on live animal exports, sources say, in fillip for Keir Starmer

Federal lawsuit against OpenAI says alleged gunman had extensive conversations with chatbot over monthsThe family of one of two people killed in an April 2025 shooting at Florida State University (FSU) has filed a federal lawsuit against the ChatGPT creator, OpenAI, alleging that the suspected gunman carried out the attack with input and information provided to him during conversations with ChatGPT over a period of months, and specifically in the days leading up to the shooting".The lawsuit, first reported by NBC News, was filed on Sunday in Florida's northern federal district court by Vandana Joshi, the widow of Tiru Chabba. Chabba was killed alongside the university dining director, Robert Morales, in the mass shooting on 17 April 2025 that also wounded five others. Continue reading...

Kevin Gonzalez, 18-year-old who had terminal colon cancer, died shortly after reuniting with his parents in MexicoA Chicago-born teen who advocated for his parents' release from US immigration authorities' custody while fighting terminal cancer has died shortly after reuniting with them in Mexico, his family has told media outlets.The parents of 18-year-old Kevin Gonzalez had been taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in Arizona in mid-April after they crossed the US border from Mexico without permission in an attempt to see him in Chicago as his health waned. Gonzalez since then traveled to be with relatives in Mexico, and in recent days he had publicly pleaded for them to be released from ICE custody so they could be with him as he battled metastatic stage four colon cancer. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer says agitators' will be blocked from attending Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom eventSeven people hoping to attend a far-right rally in central London on Saturday have been blocked from entering the country by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood.Keir Starmer, the prime minister, promised on Monday to block far-right agitators" hoping to attend the Unite the Kingdom event on 16 May organised by Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. Continue reading...

Vice-president is accused of misusing public funds and threatening the lives of President Marcos Jr and his wifeThe Philippine vice-president, Sara Duterte, has been impeached over allegations she misused public funds, amassed unexplained wealth and threatened the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his wife, in a case that could complicate her presidential ambitions.Duterte, the daughter of the detained former president Rodrigo Duterte, was impeached by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers in the House of Representatives, which is dominated by allies of Marcos. Continue reading...

Top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas says Kremlin-friendly former German chancellor cannot be considered impartial

Levels of Pfas in northern gannet eggs in Canada fell up to 74% over 55-year period of studyLevels of some of the most dangerous Pfas compounds have dramatically fallen in Canadian seabird eggs, which the authors of a new peer-reviewed study say illustrates how regulations are effective.Researchers looked at Pfas levels in the eggs of northern gannets in the St Lawrence Seaway basin over a 55-year period. Pfas levels shot up from the 1960s through the peak of the chemicals' use in the late 1990s and early aughts, then fell. Continue reading...

Address was billed as make-or-break amid mounting speculation of a challenge. Has he done enough to hang on?

Influential IPPR proposes capping rents at whichever is lower of consumer price inflation or wage growth

Data from University of Toronto suggests Canadians are avoiding US cities during the second Trump administrationA new research tool that tracks cell phone activity has found a 42% drop in visitors from Canada to big metropolitan areas in the US that is much higher than official border-crossing data, suggesting Canadians during the second Trump administration are avoiding US cities in particular.Researchers from the University of Toronto said the tool showed a year-over-year median decline of approximately 42% in Canadian visits to US metropolitan areas - significantly higher than official border-crossing data, which showed a roughly 25% decline". Continue reading...

Senator Chris Van Hollen and other Democratic lawmakers are embracing a policy that hardly benefits the middle classSoul-searching within the Democratic party is to be expected after its loss in the 2024 election. Donald Trump's edge over Kamala Harris in voters' perceptions of economic competence (perplexing though it now appears following a year of erratic policymaking) was bound to inspire a call to rethink the party platform.Yet the second-guessing is steering the Democrats down a dangerous path to embracing a tax-cutting strategy that risks defeating the project to enable a healthier, more equitable society. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Human rights group warns of deep collusion' between criminals and officials in some parts of countryState actors are involved in disappearances in Mexico at an alarming" rate, according to a report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).The sweeping investigation, to which the Guardian was given exclusive access, presents a dire picture of the crisis of disappearances in Mexico, where more than 130,000 people have gone missing, mostly in the last 20 years since the government declared its war on drug cartels. Continue reading...

Ingram is accused of killing Sophie Quinn, her new boyfriend and her aunt in Lake Cargelligo, about 450km west of Sydney

Temperatures soar in California and Arizona, while deluge continues across Western and Northern CapeHeat is expected to intensify across western parts of the US and Mexico this week as a ridge of high pressure pushes temperatures well above the seasonal norm. Daytime highs are forecast to reach 10-15C above average in some areas.The US National Weather Service has issued heat advisories for parts of California and Arizona, with extreme heat warnings in force on Monday and Tuesday in places such as Palm Springs, where temperatures could reach 40-43C (104-110F). More broadly, temperatures are expected to climb into the high 30s celsius before the heat shifts eastwards towards the midwest later this week. Continue reading...

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Twenty-two people from MV Hondius cruise spend first day isolating in self-contained flats in Merseyside