California parole board says 77-year-old – the state’s longest-serving female inmate – poses little risk of reoffending
A California prisons panel has recommended that Patricia Krenwinkel, serving a life sentence for her role in the 1969 Los Angeles killing spree by followers of cult leader Charles Manson, be released on parole.
The state Board of Parole Hearings found that Krenwinkel, 77 – the longest-serving female inmate in California prisons – posed little risk of reoffending based on her age and a spotless behaviour record while incarcerated, according to the CBS News affiliate in San Diego, KFMP-TV.
Almost 25 years after an experiment was ditched to caution rather than arrest those carrying small amounts of the drug, a rethink is on the cards – but the British government remains cautious
The last time London dabbled in decriminalising cannabis, it brought one part of the capital to a brief but giddy high. In 2001, an enterprising Scotland Yard borough commander empowered his officers in Lambeth to caution rather than arrest those carrying small amounts of the drug for personal use – freeing them, according to the scheme’s proponents, to concentrate on more serious crimes.
The softly-softly approach was controversial in some political and policing quarters, but wildly popular in the borough – and some of its results were dramatic. Over six months, more than 2,500 hours of police officers’ time were saved on processing cannabis arrests, while arrests for dealing class A drugs rose by almost a fifth.
My wife wants me to cut the grass right away. I hate having my working day interrupted, even when I’m not actually doing any work
I am sitting in my office shed, marvelling that an email from a car hire company I last used six years ago feels entitled to employ the subject line DROP EVERYTHING.
“It’s hard to imagine,” I say, “how a 20% reduction in rental rates for the month of June could be sufficient cause for anyone to suddenly abandon their present business, be it knee surgery, adoption proceedings or, in this specific case, Wordle.”
Young, progressive and relatable, the former prime minister of New Zealand tried to do politics differently. But six years into power, she dramatically resigned. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian’s editor-in-chief, she explains why
In 2022, a few months before she quit as prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern was standing at the sink in the toilets in Auckland airport, washing her hands, when a woman came up to her and leaned in. She was so close that Ardern could feel the heat from her skin. “I just wanted to say thank you,” the woman said. “Thanks for ruining the country.” She turned and left, leaving Ardern “standing there as if I were a high-schooler who’d just been razed”.
The incident was deeply shocking. Ardern had been re-elected in a historic landslide two years before. She enjoyed conversation and debate; she liked being the kind of leader who wasn’t sealed off from the rest of the population. But this, says Ardern, “felt like something new. It was the tenor of the woman’s voice, the way she’d stood so close, the way her seething, nonspecific rage felt not only unpredictable but incongruous to the situation … What was happening?”
The sweetness of roast vegetables and raisins contrasts with balsamic, pine nuts and capers in a vibrant dish that you’ll want to eat on repeat
Being in the business of recipe writing means I am always seeking the new, always moving on and rarely resting on a single dish. Until summer starts knocking, that is. The sun makes me want to slow down, and I find myself wanting a variation of vegetables agrodolce on repeat. Agrodolce is Italian for sour (agro) and sweet (dolce), which in my kitchen translates to a pile of meltingly soft vegetables, all slick with olive oil, sweet with onions, and cut with vinegar and capers. Often, this takes the form of my husband Hugh’s oven-baked caponata, but I also love the comfort of squash and the liquorice sweetness of the cooked fennel here.
Politicians reviled environmental minister Marina Silva in the senate this week, but new legislation is fuelling the fire
Political bullying is rarely as brutal as it was in Brazil this week when the environment minister Marina Silva was ambushed in a senate meeting. Her thuggish tormentors – all white male politicians on the infrastructure committee – took turns to publicly belittle the 67-year-old black woman, who has done more than anyone to protect the natural wealth of the country – the Amazon rainforest, Pantanal wetlands, Cerrado savannah and other biomes – from rapacious abuse.
One by one, they lined up to attack her for these globally important efforts. Decorum gave way to name-calling and sneering: “Know your place,” roared the committee head, Marcos Rogério, a Bolsonarist who cut Silva’s microphone as she tried to respond. The leader of the centre-rightPSDB, Plínio Valério, told her she did not deserve respect as a minister. The Amazonas senator Omar Aziz – from the Centrão party and a supporter of president Lula – talked over her repeatedly.
Silva, 30, who works in theatre, meets Megan, 30, an artist manager
What were you hoping for?
To meet the mother of my future five daughters: Raven, Phoenix, Ocean, River and Amethyst. Failing that, a dating horror story to regale friends with at parties.
When I was young, Britain felt like the apex of global civilisation. But as power migrates to autocracies, our belief in democracy seems complacent
A few months ago, I travelled with my six-year-old daughter to Hong Kong. As we made our way out of the airport and boarded a train, we shared a brief moment that gave me pause to reflect on how different her conception of the world will be from the one I grew up with. We sat down on immaculate seats, surrounded by LED screens. She looked around and said: “Wow Daddy, we don’t have trains like this back in London.”
As the week wore on, and she pointed out other things that she had never seen back home, her comment about the high-speed train took on a broader resonance. Used to Britain’s strained and crumbling public transport, my little girl had identified how economic power has migrated to a different model of capitalism over the past generation.
Polls show close-run contest after first round in which one rural municipality was decided by a single voter
Poles will cast their votes on Sunday in the closest presidential runoff since the fall of communism, in an election that pits two different visions of the nation against each other.
In Poland’s previous election in 2020, the conservative populist incumbent Andrzej Duda narrowly won the second-round vote against the pro-Europe mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, by 51% to 49%.
This time it could be even closer. Polls show the difference between Trzaskowski and the nationalist rightwing historian Karol Nawrocki, who is backed by the Law and Justice party (PiS), which ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023, to be within the margin of error.
Scientists drill for ice cores containing information on preindustrial pollutants, but they are in a race against time
Howling wind relentlessly shakes the white tent, pitched among mounds of snow at a height of 4,100m (13,450ft) on the Corbassière, an Alpine glacier situated on the northern slopes of Switzerland’s Grand Combin massif.
Inside are scientists from Venice’s Ca’ Foscari University and the institute of polar science at Italy’s national research council (CNR).
Examples from six countries include segregated housing for Roma and holding centres for asylum seekers
Hundreds of millions in European Union funds have been used in projects that violate the rights of marginalised communities, a report alleges, citing initiatives such as segregated housing for Roma, residential institutions for children with disabilities and holding centres for asylum seekers.
The report, based on information compiled by eight NGOs from across Europe, looks at 63 projects in six countries. Together these projects are believed to have received more than €1bn in funding from the European Union, laying bare a seemingly “low understanding” of fundamental rights across the bloc, according to one of the authors of the EU-funded report.
Speaking at the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore, the US defence secretary outlined a range of new joint projects in the region
The US secretary of defence has called on Asian countries to boost their military spending to increase regional deterrence against China, which was “rehearsing for the real deal” when it comes to taking over Taiwan.
Pete Hegseth, addressing the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore on Saturday, reiterated pledges to increase the US presence in the Indo-Pacific and outlined a range of new joint projects, including expanding access to military ship and plane repair, including in Australia.
President tells Pennsylvania rally tariffs will aid workers but questions raised over nature of Nippon Steel investment
Donald Trump announced on Friday he was doubling foreign tariffs on steel imports to 50%, as the president celebrated a “blockbuster” agreement for Japan-based Nippon Steel to invest in US Steel during a rally in Pennsylvania.
Surrounded by men in orange hardhats at a US Steel plant in West Mifflin, Trump unveiled the new levies, declaring that the dramatic rate increase would “even further secure the steel industry in the United States”.
A collection of century-old shimmering dresses, embellished headwear and elegant evening gowns come together for an antique runway show, at Randwick Racecourse.
It has been 100 years since the Exposition Internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, held in Paris, introduced the world to art deco style. Although Inger Sheil, a museum curator and the MC for Sydney Fair’s runway show, says the term art deco ‘was applied retroactively’, and started being used in the 1960s
President hasn’t committed to Ukraine attending Monday’s meeting with Russia in Istanbul, saying Moscow first has to provide its proposals. What we know on day 1,193
Ukraine has said it does not expect any results from talks with Russia in Turkey, unless Moscow provides its peace terms in advance, accusing the Kremlin of doing “everything” it can to sabotage the potential meeting. Moscow said it was sending a team of negotiators to Istanbul for a second round of talks on Monday but Kyiv has yet to confirm if it will attend. “For over a week now, the Russians have been unable to present the so-called memorandum,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X on Friday, referring to a document Russia says it has prepared outlining its conditions for peace. “For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared,” the Ukrainian president added. “Unfortunately, Russia is doing everything it can to ensure that the next potential meeting brings no results.” Russia says it will provide the memorandum at the talks in person on Monday. But Ukraine suspects it will contain its maximalist demands that Kyiv has already rejected.
Zelenskyy said he and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, discussed on Friday the conditions under which Ukraine would participate in the Istanbul meeting proposed by Russia. “There must be a ceasefire to move further toward peace. The killing of people must stop,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. While he didn’t commit to Ukraine’s attendance, he said that in their call he and Erdogan discussed the possibility of organising a four-way meeting with the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the US. Erdogan said it was important that Russia and Ukraine sent strong delegations to Istanbul, adding that a leaders’ meeting could contribute to the peace process, the Turkish presidency said.
A leading US senator warned Moscow it would be “hit hard” by new US sanctions. Republican Lindsey Graham said on a visit to Kyiv that the US Senate was expected to move ahead with a bill on sanctions against Russia next week. Graham, who met Zelenskyy in the Ukrainian capital, told a news briefing he had talked with Trump before his trip and the US president expected concrete actions now from Moscow. Graham accused the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, of trying to drag out the peace process and said he doubted the Istanbul meeting would amount to more than a “Russian charade”.
Trump, meanwhile, said on Friday that both Putin and Zelenskyy were stubborn and that he had been surprised and disappointed by Russian bombing in Ukraine while he was trying to arrange a ceasefire.
Pro-Kremlin websites are ramping up a disinformation campaign targeting Ukrainian refugees in Poland, using AI-generated content to stoke resentment ahead of Sunday’s presidential election, experts warned. Russia-aligned accounts have “inflamed negative sentiment towards Ukrainians”, calling them “pigs” and accusing them of planning armed attacks, the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue said in a report on Friday. Ukraine ally Poland hosts about a million Ukrainian refugees – mostly women and children – and immigration has been a key issue for voters.
Ukraine has jailed a 21-year-old man for 15 years on allegations he guided missile attacks for Russia. The SBU security service said on Friday that on the orders of a Russian special services officer, the man travelled around the Ukrainian capital and its outskirts secretly photographing the locations of Ukrainian troops. It said the Kyiv resident, who was not identified by name, was also preparing attacks in the city on behalf of Russia and was caught red-handed while “spying” near a military facility.
A new National Gallery of Australia show draws on Heinz Berggruen’s collection to celebrate the spread of modernism around the world, despite the Nazis’ best efforts
When Heinz Berggruen left Germany for America in 1936, he was not allowed more than 10 marks in his pocket. As a young journalist in Berlin, Berggruen had been forced to publish under the pseudonym “h.b.” in order to hide his Jewish heritage and evade the Nazi party’s antisemitism.
In the decades that would follow, he became an art dealer, regularly rubbing shoulders with the most important artists of the 20th century, and amassing one of the most impressive private collections of modern art ever to exist. On the day he left Berlin for Berkeley, however, such a future would have seemed impossible.
The inquest into Joel Cauchi’s murderous rampage raked over CCTV footage and systemic weaknesses with ‘careful objectivity’ – but on the final morning, the courtroom was a space for raw emotion
Elizabeth Young has had her daughter’s Chinese name, Meh Yuk, tattooed onto her left arm.
“Beautiful Jade, the name her grandparents gave her,” the heartbroken mother told the New South Wales coroner’s court on Thursday, sitting close by her dog, Teddy, in the witness box.
President says director Kim Sajet has been fired but experts suggest president does not have legal grounds to do so
Donald Trump says he is firing the first female director of the National Portrait Gallery, which contained a caption that referenced the attack on the US Capitol that his supporters carried out in early 2021.
The president announced the termination on Friday in a post on his social media platform that accused Sajet – born in Nigeria, raised in Australia and a citizen of the Netherlands – of being “a strong supporter” of diversity initiatives that his administration opposes as well as “highly partisan”. He cited no evidence for either claim.
MoD document expected to highlight dangers posed by Russia and China, and shortfall in UK troop numbers
Britain is facing “a new era of threat” with drones, artificial intelligence and other technologies changing the nature of warfare more fundamentally than at any other point in history, the government’s strategic defence review is expected to conclude on Monday.
The 130-page document written by three advisers to the prime minister, Keir Starmer, will warn of the “immediate and pressing” danger posed by Russia and is expected to try to draw heavily on lessons learned from the war in Ukraine.
Champions League final features opposing tactical approaches and two radically different ownership models
In 2021, Oaktree Capital quietly rebranded its “Distressed Debt” division as the “Opportunistic Credit” platform. For decades the LA-based investment fund had specialised in picking up what is known in the trade as distressed assets, a strategy it described as looking for “good companies with bad balance sheets”.
So let’s say your company is screwed. You’re deep in debt, severely short of cash, perhaps even at risk of bankruptcy or default. In sweep Oaktree. They have a mosey around, shake down some creditors, restructure your cost base, perhaps offer you a high‑interest loan to stop the bleeding. Once they’ve got you battle-lean they find you a buyer, you sell up, and they take a fat cut. Four years ago, as they cast an eye over the Covid-emaciated carcass of Inter, this was exactly the strategy they had in mind.
The series has given up trying to squeeze its characters into the modern age and is content to just be. Fans of the original will sink into it as if it is made of marshmallows and air
It all fell into place for me around the shoe montage. Roughly halfway through the third season of And Just Like That, there is an on-screen procession of footwear, strident and unapologetically far too long. Carrie has been accused by her downstairs neighbour of walking too loudly on the floor above his bed. A parade of sandals, boots and mules strut back and forth across a polished and expensive wooden floor. I watched this march of the stilettos and began to suspect that the storyline had been retrofitted to the idea of simply showing off the shoes. And I realised that, even if that is the case, I don’t mind at all, because And Just Like That has found its feet.
It took a while for it to get there, but finally, the Sex and the City spin-off feels comfortable in its own skin. If the first two seasons were fondly received but sometimes excruciating exercises in attempting to squeeze its characters into the modern age, then this feels like a loosening of the belt. The leads are no longer trying to be anything other than themselves: absurdly rich New Yorkers in their 50s, troubled mostly by the burdens of making sure they spend enough time with their friends. Life’s primary emotional entanglements – love, work, family – are present, sure, but they hum away lightly, like ambient noise, any sharp corners dulled by vast riches.
Doctor whose discovery helped create mifepristone was ‘guided by his commitment to progress made possible by science’
French scientist Étienne-Émile Baulieu, the inventor of the abortion pill, has died at the age of 98 at his home in Paris.
The doctor and researcher, who achieved worldwide renown for his work that led to the pill, had an eventful life that included fighting in the French resistance and becoming friends with artists such as Andy Warhol.
The actor, who won two Emmy awards, was best known for being one of longest-serving cast members on the hit series
Loretta Swit, who won two Emmy awards for playing Major Margaret Houlihan, the demanding head nurse of a behind-the-lines surgical unit during the Korean war on the pioneering hit TV series M*A*S*H, has died. She was 87.
Publicist Harlan Boll says Swit died on Friday at her home in New York City, likely from natural causes.
In Charlotte Edwards’s first press conference as England head coach, she was pretty clear about her priorities: “I think we’ve got to look at our ODI game. I think that’s probably an area that we’ve underperformed in for a while.” Perhaps nobody epitomised that more than Amy Jones, who in 12 years of international cricket – including 97 ODIs – had never scored a century.
On Friday at Derby, with Edwards grinning away on the dressing room balcony, Jones punched through the off side for the boundary which finally broke that duck. They say the years are short, while the days are long: the five overs which Jones spent in the nervous 90s felt almost as long as the 12 years which preceded them.
Club World Cup looms after powerbrokers from both governing bodies mingle in Munich for Europe’s biggest club game
In regal Odeonsplatz, the finishing touches are being applied to a fan zone that will accommodate Inter’s travelling fans under an azure sky. It will surely be full to capacity given about 40,000 Nerazzurri are expected to arrive in time for Saturday’s Champions League final, even if under half that number will officially make it into Allianz Arena for the match itself. This is not only an appointment with history for their opponents, Paris Saint-Germain; Inter have blended silk with street-fighting qualities to stand on the verge of their first European title since 2010.
Gianni Infantino is unlikely to be among the melee but the Fifa president’s sympathies are well documented. He will be quietly rooting for Inter from the VIP seats and perhaps it will be an opportune moment for some bridge building. There is a constituency of Inter fans in Uefa’s higher echelons, after all, and football’s biggest governing bodies could certainly do with discovering a few acres of common ground.
Imane Khelif must undergo what World Boxing describes as “mandatory sex testing” if she wishes to compete in any women’s event organised or sanctioned by the governing body.
Khelif won gold in the women’s 66kg category at last summer’s Olympic Games, having been cleared to compete despite being disqualified from the 2023 world championships organised by the International Boxing Association for allegedly failing to meet eligibility criteria.
Organizer points to president’s anti-diversity push as companies join Adidas and Clorox in withdrawing support
In another blow to one of the largest celebrations of LGTBQ+ people in North America, PrideToronto has unexpectedly lost two more major corporate sponsors, just weeks before the festival in a setback the festival’s organizer says is direct result of Donald Trump’s campaign to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the US.
Google and Home Depot both announced their plans to abandon the festival in the form of one-line emails, said Kojo Modeste, the executive director of the Canadian event.
Mission to deliver help is ‘one of most obstructed aid operations in recent history’, humanitarian agency says
Gaza is “the hungriest place on Earth”, according to the UN, which has warned that the Palestinian territory’s entire population is at risk of famine.
Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the territory was “the only defined area – a country or defined territory within a country – where you have the entire population at risk of famine. One hundred per cent of the population at risk of famine,” he said on Friday.
Concerns raised that hefty award to politician over Spotlight episode could lead to less hard-hitting journalism
For more than half a century, Spotlight has roved a beam over Northern Ireland, illuminating dark and overlooked topics. But now the flagship BBC documentary series is itself in the glare of scrutiny.
Gerry Adams’ victory in a libel case on Friday dealt a heavy blow to Spotlight and the BBC and raises questions over the programme and the impact of the case on journalism in the UK and Ireland.
CEO of Europe’s largest industrial group says he has been in direct talks with Donald Trump’s administration
Volkswagen, Europe’s largest industrial group, has said it will make a “massive” investment in the US. The group, which includes Porsche, revealed it has been in direct talks with Donald Trump’s administration as it faces damaging tariffs.
Oliver Blume, who heads the group, said the talks were “constructive” and “fair”, in an interview that suggests the company, whose market capital is £44bn, is not willing to leave tariff negotiations to Brussels alone.
Wall Street is increasingly betting that Trump will blink first in the tariffs stand-off
Trump Always Chickens Out – or Taco for short. Investors like narratives to explain the financial world, and they appear to have seized on this one: whenever Donald Trump faces a market backlash, he will back down.
It would be fair to say the US president did not take kindly to the suggestion that he was being a “chicken” when asked by a reporter at the White House about the term that is gaining traction on Wall Street.
Luis Enrique’s remoulded side aim to ‘finish the job’ against Italian experience in Saturday’s Champions League final
A Bavarian beauty contest brings a quandary as old as time. Will fortune favour the youthful swagger and daring of Paris Saint-Germain or the refined cunning of an experienced Inter, whose legs simply refuse to tighten up? The Champions League final is guaranteed to throw up a relatively fresh winner through a clash of styles and approaches that tantalises more than any that this occasion has staged in the past decade.
It is hard not to be compelled by Luis Enrique’s remoulded PSG side, even if reservations about their Qatari ownership and utter dominance of Ligue 1 will colour perceptions. Their calibration away from the narcissism of modern-day galacticos, in favour of a fearless younger cast who understand the value of hard work, has in fact had the effect of creating new stars.
Joe Biden on Friday spoke out in public for the first time since being diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer earlier this month to say he was optimistic about his prognosis and also to urge Americans to defend US democracy.
“All the folks are very optimistic … The expectation is we are going to be able to beat this,” he said of the cancer, at an event in Delaware.
The Liverpool parade collision, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, the anniversary of the death of George Floyd and the women’s Champions League final: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing
Sprat fishing has disrupted the food chain and diverted humpback, minke and fin whales as well as dolphins
A whale-watching company has abandoned tours off Ireland’s southern Atlantic coast and declared the waters an empty, lifeless sea.
Colin Barnes, who ran Cork Whale Watch, announced he was closing the company because overfishing of sprat has disrupted the marine food chain and diverted humpback, minke and fin whales as well as dolphins.
Rules intended to close gap between the best drivers
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri is fastest in second practice
All the talk in Spain this week has been about the potential impact of the FIA’s clampdown on the flexing of front wings and the governing body’s hope this might close up the pecking order on the grid. Certainly those chasing the dominant McLaren were optimistic that might be the case.
The technical regulation was imposed as teams look to push the boundaries of the rules, with a flex in the wing under load affording the maximum downforce in corners. In order to maintain a level playing field, the wings must now pass a deflection test measuring the leeway of their flex. This has been reduced from 15mm to 10mm.
Frenchman breaks clear to claim victory on brutal ride
Simon Yates still in third spot in general classification
Nicolas Prodhomme claimed the first Grand Tour stage win of his career when he rode solo to victory on stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia on Friday, while Mexico’s pink jersey holder, Isaac del Toro, came second to extend his overall lead.
On their penultimate day in the mountains, the riders faced a brutal 166km ride from Biella to Champoluc with five classified climbs and a total elevation gain of nearly 5,000m. Prodhomme, from the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team, broke free on the fourth climb to take the lead and eventually the victory to become the first Frenchman to win a Giro stage this year.
French president espouses shared principles and cooperation on security and trade to counteract superpowers
European and Asian countries should form a “positive new alliance” based on shared principles, security, defence and trade, away from the battling superpowers of the US and China, Emmanuel Macron has said.
Addressing the Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore on Friday, the French president said the division between the US and China was the biggest threat in the world right now, but he also warned of the threat from Russia and North Korea. He said it was crucial that allied nations act together to maintain credibility against aggressors.
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