The franchise’s last remaining connection to the original trilogy has appeared in a number of recent spinoffs. What’s next, now the 73-year-old actor says he has hung up his lightsaber for good?

Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker has been Star Wars’ ultimate backup plan for at least half a decade. The original trilogy has faded into the distance, and the movies set in that galaxy far, far away have become so poor in recent years that we’d all rather watch Andor. But there was always the option of plugging in Hamill – a sort of human Star Wars USB stick, primed to conjure up 1970s vibes as required. Not quite getting your fill of Force nostalgia? Here’s Luke tutoring Baby Yoda in The Book of Boba Fett. And here he is again, whinging about past mistakes in The Last Jedi. It may not quite have been Binary Sunset, or Yoda lifting the X-wing on Dagobah. But for a few shimmering, quite-possibly-digitally-retouched moments, it felt like we were back in the real Star Wars again.

Back in 2023, I wrote about the weird emotional whiplash of falling for digi-Luke: the plasticky but strangely compelling CGI version of the Jedi master who turned up in those Disney+ TV shows like a hologram from a smoother-skinned age. At the time, Hamill had sounded lukewarm on returning to Star Wars, but left just enough ambiguity to keep the dream alive.

Trump tells CNN Musk ‘has a problem’ and that he does not plan to speak to the Tesla CEO for a while

• Trump says Musk has ‘lost his mind’ and dismisses peace offering

Tesla shares rose on Friday as investors took some comfort from White House aides scheduling a call with CEO Elon Musk to broker peace after a public feud with President Donald Trump, reports Reuters.

The electric carmaker’s shares were up about 5% in Frankfurt on Friday, having closed down 14.3% on Thursday in New York, losing about $150bn in market value.

“It’s unlikely that Trump will end subsidies and contracts with Tesla. Those are obviously threats that are unlikely to come into fruition,” Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index told Reuters. “I don’t expect this to blow out into anything more serious than a war of words for a couple of days.”

From spending review to China audit to assisted dying vote, June’s events have potential to lift or darken Labour mood

As Keir Starmer approaches his first anniversary in Downing Street, there will be several things he wishes he had done differently. But before he can contemplate that July milestone, he faces a busy month strewn with political bear traps.

June has proven a difficult time for successive prime ministers: Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak all had to contend with deeply unhappy parliamentary parties reeling from heavy local and European election losses.

Arsenic was historically mixed with copper to create a vivid green for book covers, which can irritate modern day readers

A new tool to quickly identify books that are poisonous to humans has been developed by the University of St Andrews.

Historically, publishers used arsenic mixed with copper to achieve a vivid emerald green colour for book covers. While the risk to the public is “low”, handling arsenic-containing books regularly can lead to health issues including irritation of the eyes, nose and throat along with more serious side-effects. The toxic pigment in the book bindings can flake off, meaning small pieces can easily be inhaled.

Late-night hosts discuss the social media war of words between Donald Trump and former friend Elon Musk

Late-night hosts relished the dramatic fallout between Donald Trump and his erstwhile friend and ally Elon Musk.

Director and star of the Vegas-set mafia drama spoke to an audience as part of this year’s Tribeca film festival, looking back at their 1995 hit and its timeless themes

For this year’s Tribeca film festival, the annual New York salute to moviemaking featured a special screening of Casino, the Martin Scorsese-directed drama starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Sharon Stone, timed to its 30th anniversary. But even though the splashy epic premiered in this same city back in November 1995, its themes of power, money, greed and ego are echoing in the modern ethos louder than ever.

“You can go back to the ancient Greek tragedies,” said Scorsese, speaking alongside De Niro and moderated by standup comedian W Kamau Bell on stage at the Beacon Theater before the screening. “It’s a basic story of hubris and pride, with the pride taking us all down.”

Our writers highlight the films they find endlessly rewatchable, including Notting Hill and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

“Feelgood” movies are often thought of as big-hearted romantic comedies, comforting classics, or childhood favourites that still hold up decades later. In our series, My feelgood movie, Guardian writers reflect on their go-to flick, and explain why their pick is endlessly rewatchable.

This list will be updated weekly with further picks.

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is available on Hoopla and Kanopy in the US or to rent digitally or on Amazon Prime and Paramount+ in the UK

The IMO faces calls to suspend Israel, while escaping Gaza and the West Bank to attend this year’s event in Australia seems a distant dream for Palestinian hopefuls

For six Palestinian teenagers, it could be a “life-changing opportunity”.

The youngsters have been selected for the International Mathematics Olympiad, to be held on Australia’s Sunshine Coast in July, but it is unclear whether they will be able to leave Gaza and the West Bank to take part.

Trawulwuy artist Nathan Maynard’s installation intends to educate on Tasmania’s violent past – but will the lesson be lost

• Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

In the dimly-lit basement of a former furniture store in Hobart CBD, 480 embalmed sheep’s heads in specimen jars are arranged on industrial shelving units: 24 racks, each four shelves high and with five jars per shelf, in a neat grid. The fastidiousness of the presentation sits at odds with the inherent violence of the material; so do the expressions on most of the sheep’s faces, which range from serene to uncanny smiles.

As if to dispel any false sense of quietude, the room’s lighting periodically switches to nightmarish red.

Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

From acknowledging big emotions to finding ways to make climate action fun, it’s important to start where your kids are

• Change by Degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint

• Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.com

Although it’s unfair, it’s young people (and the generations to come) who will have to deal with fallout from the climate crisis. So how do you talk to young people about living sustainably and raise knowledgeable kids who care about the future of the planet?

Here are some tips for engaging the next generation on the environment meaningfully.

French government braces for legal challenges to new tactics, involving extra police, boats and drones

British taxpayers will be expected to contribute more money to stop irregular migration as the French government prepares to halt small boats carrying asylum seekers even if they are already at sea.

It is understood there will be extra costs associated with the scheme to tackle boats within 300 metres of the shore – including paying for police, boats and drones – which the UK will be asked to share with France.

The policy is alienating, counterproductive and racist – and it isn’t the flex that Trump thinks it is

• Trump’s new travel ban: the countries chosen and how it differs from the last one

I’m not much for horror movies, but I have just read that the film Black Phone 2 “will creep into cinemas” in October and that, compared to the original, it’s supposed to be a “more violent, scarier, more graphic” film. I’ll pass on the movie, but that description seems pretty apt to what living under this Trump administration feels like: a gratuitously more violent sequel to a ghoulish original.

Consider the Muslim ban. Back in late 2015, candidate Donald Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on”. He signed the first version of the Muslim ban on 27 January 2017, and protests erupted at airports across the nation at the revival of a national policy, similar to the Chinese Exclusion Act, that bars entry of whole swaths of people based on our national prejudices. It took the Trump administration three attempts at crafting this policy before the supreme court tragically greenlit it.

Ahead of Refugee Week, we round up entertaining stories, poems and nonfiction to help children of all ages learn about refugees and gain understanding

Want your kids to have a better understanding of people seeking sanctuary? Ahead of Refugee Week this month the team behind A Day of Welcome, being celebrated in more than 550 schools across the UK on 13 June, have put together this reading list for children, along with the National Centre for Writing and the Unesco Cities of Literature network. These brilliant and entertaining books help to encourage conversation and understanding of refugees.

***

Video footage shows animal charging past cars, with police later saying it was no longer at large

Pedestrians in Birmingham were left questioning whether the statue guarding the Bullring shopping centre had come to life when a live bull was spotted running loose on the city’s streets.

Video footage shared online on Friday morning showed a large black bull with white horns charging around streets in east Birmingham. The bull could be seen galloping past cars on a road near a roundabout and running along pedestrianised streets.

• Djokovic has nowhere to hide against relentless Sinner

• Queen’s to offer equal prize money by 2029 | Mail Daniel

Musetti 1-1 Alcaraz* How can you be sponsored by Nike and turn up in beige and cream? Someone needs to ave a word wiv someone. Up 15-0, Alcaraz plays the shot he missed on break point, a spiteful forehand down the line, but at 40-15 a hopeful and, dare I say it, lazy drop, gives Musetti a sniff. For all the good it does him: a backhand falls long and the champ looks good. Of course he does.

Musetti 1-0 Alcaraz (*denotes server) A netted forehand gives Alcaraz 0-15, then a long backhand restores parity and a good point for each players takes us to 30-all; already Musetti is under pressure. And when Alcaraz wallops a forehand from the backhand corner to the Italian’s backhand corner – exactly the kind of shot we talked about earlier – he can’t control his response and must now face break point. Alcaraz quickly manipulates the rally to open a passing lane down the line … only to hit the net, a let-off for Musetti. And from there, he closes out a highly necessary hold.

Today foreign journalists stand on the ‘hill of shame’ overlooking Gaza, reliant on Palestinians for news

Watching the TV coverage of the conflict in Gaza with increasing dismay this week, my mind went back to the banks of the Suez canal in October 1973. I was filming the surrender of the entire Egyptian third army with a team from the BBC, without significant censorship or hindrance. The Israeli commander, Gen Avraham Adan, paused in whatever he was doing to give us an update.

Crossing the canal on the Israeli pontoon bridge in a bright yellow Hertz car (not a wise choice of colour) we were even helped when we had to repair a tyre that had been punctured by the shrapnel that littered the battlefield.

An average of two couples meet on every plane trip. What are the odds of a single man like me finding love in a hopeless place (Melbourne airport)?

When John Nachlinger and Rafael Gavarrete accidentally collided with each other at the airport in Houston, Texas, “it was like a Hallmark Christmas movie,” Nachlinger, 44, says. He was travelling from New York to a funeral, while 27-year-old Gavarrete was returning home to Honduras – and despite only speaking for a few minutes, they exchanged numbers and kept in touch. Over the next year, they met up around once a month, taking turns to travel between New York and Honduras. In November 2022, they got married, and moved together to Princeton, New Jersey.

Air travel has long carried a certain mystique. From the pioneering days of aviation to the glamour of the jet age, it has captivated imaginations with its promise of adventure, freedom and possibility. Perhaps that’s why pop culture casts airports as sites of grand romantic gestures. From When Harry Met Sally to Love Actually, they are often backdrops for unexpected meet-cutes and last-dash attempts for lovers to express their feelings.

The Channel Islands were dubbed ‘the witch-hunting capital of Atlantic Europe’. Just talking to a cat could get you hanged, strangled or burned. We go behind the scenes of an outdoor dance triple-bill at an ancient burial site

Mont Orgueil is a medieval castle perched on the eastern coast of Jersey with beautiful views out over the shimmering sea. On a good day, you might even catch a glimpse of France. But the view won’t have been much consolation to those who were imprisoned here – locked up for a year and a day back in the 16th and 17th centuries – because they were accused of witchcraft. Such was the hunger for trying witches here that historian William Monter has called the Channel Islands “the witch-hunting capital of Atlantic Europe”.

Jersey’s witchy history first caught the imagination of Carolyn Rose Ramsay when she worked as a tour guide on the island. A Canadian native and former dancer for major ballet companies in Europe and the Americas, Ramsay soaked up local myths such as the “witch ledge”, built on the side of chimneys so that anyone on a passing broomstick would rest there rather than come down your chimney. She visited Rocqueberg Point, known as Witches’ Rock, where you can supposedly see the footprints of dancing sorceresses. But then she came across the grimmer real-life history of the trials.

King of the Hill actor’s husband claimed killing was due to his sexual orientation, which police initially dismissed

Investigators are looking into whether the sexual orientation of King of the Hill voice actor Jonathan Joss played a role in his shooting death in Texas, authorities said on Thursday, walking back a previous statement about the potential motive.

Joss’s husband has claimed the person who killed the actor yelled “violent homophobic slurs” before opening fire outside his home in San Antonio on Sunday night. A day after the shooting, San Antonio police issued a statement saying they had found “no evidence whatsoever to indicate that Mr Joss’ murder was related to his sexual orientation”.

Survey shows correlation between use of Chinese-owned platform and approval of unification with China

Taiwanese people who spend large amounts of time on TikTok are more likely to agree with some pro-China narratives, a survey has suggested.

The study, conducted by the Taiwan-based DoubleThink Lab, surveyed people across Taiwan in March, asking a series of questions about politics and democracy in Taiwan and China, and their views on unification of the two sides.

The Oscar nominated actor gives a powerhouse performance as a woman pushed to the edge but the punishing film around her does a disservice

Tyler Perry is not beating the allegations. For decades, the content-creating studio chief has been roundly criticized for making the traumatization of Black women a persistent theme in his work. In Straw, his latest exercise in misogynoir for Netflix, he pulls out all the stops to break the camel’s back.

The guinea pig for this cultural stress test is Janiyah (Taraji P Henson), an apex Perry caricature who is past the point of exhaustion. Her loud, hot and dumpy apartment isn’t all that keeps her in perennial discomfort. There’s also a precocious young daughter (Gabrielle E Jackson) with nagging medical issues, and that eviction notice on the dining table. She can’t make ends meet despite working three jobs, and her cashier’s position at the local food desert grocery store is especially thankless. When an angry customer spikes a bottle of fizzy drink at Janiyah’s feet, her boss orders her to stand down from her busy checkout lane to clean up the mess. When Janiyah unwittingly cuts off an undercover cop in traffic after begging off the register to run a quick errand, he throws his ice coffee drink at her car and threatens to “find a legal way to blow your brains out”.

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

Ousmane Dembélé, Luis Enrique and João Neves took PSG to new heights but they were not the only stars in the league

By Get French Football News

Ousmane Dembélé has been a man on a mission in 2025. “I had a challenge with my friends. There is something to win from it: Patek and Rolex watches,” he joked after he scored the winner in the Trophée des Champions in January. The more goals, the more watches was the bet made. But his 25 goals in 2025 have earned him more than expensive wrist pieces.

Scottish Labour leader accuses SNP of misinformation in its campaign and attacks Reform’s ‘dirty’ tactics

Scottish Labour’s surprise byelection win proves “the SNP’s balloon has burst”, a jubilant Anas Sarwar has said, after the popular local candidate, Davy Russell, defied predictions to beat the incumbent Scottish National party and fight off Reform UK’s “racist” campaigning in the central Scotland seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.

The Scottish Labour leader told a victory rally in Hamilton town centre on Friday morning that his party had proved everyone wrong following speculation that Reform UK might push it into third place, as the rightwing populist party gained ground in Scotland for the first time.

Census finds just 56.7% in world’s biggest Catholic country follow Roman church as evangelical numbers rise

Home to the world’s largest Catholic population, Brazil has once again witnessed a decline in the faith’s following, according to new figures released by the country’s national statistics institute (IBGE).

Thirty years ago, Catholics made up 82.9% of Brazil’s population but now account for just over half, 56.7%, according to the 2022 census – whose results on religion were only released on Friday.

A little-known provision would open thousands of nearby acres to a foreign mining company, risking acid drainage

The story is co-published with Public Domain, an investigative newsroom that covers public lands, wildlife and government

A little-known provision of Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” would open thousands of acres of public lands at the edge of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters wilderness to a foreign-owned mining company.

May’s jobs report was dragged down by loss of 22,000 federal workers’ jobs as Doge cut positions

The US economy added 139,000 jobs in May, a slowdown compared with recent months as American businesses cope with uncertainty around Donald Trump’s continuing trade war.

After signs of a strong labor market in April – which was largely seen as resiliency against teetering trade policy from the White House – May saw a drop in new jobs added to the labor market, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2%, unchanged from last month.

Experts announce findings on immunotherapy, a breast cancer breakthrough and the value of exercise

Doctors, scientists and researchers shared new findings on ways to tackle cancer at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, the world’s largest cancer conference.

The event in Chicago, attended by about 44,000 health professionals, featured more than 200 sessions on this year’s theme, Driving Knowledge to Action: Building a Better Future. Here is a roundup of the key studies.

Tory leader says she has not seen Trump’s banned list but she does not rule out similar system for Britain

Donald Trump-style blanket travel bans on foreign citizens could be “viable” in the UK, Kemi Badenoch has said after giving a speech about law and immigration.

The Conservative party leader said she had not seen Trump’s list of banned countries but said: “I think there are scenarios where that is viable.”

Much of the country has little access to local news, with public media filling the void – and serving as a lifeline

When Hurricane Helene walloped North Carolina last fall, residents were hit by a second threat at the same time: the dire need for accurate information.

The loss of electric power amid the widespread flooding meant that people – especially those in isolated areas – were deprived of basic news. They needed to know about everything from road closures to the whereabouts of their family and friends to sources of drinkable water.

Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture

From being attacked for gentrifying New York to gen Z calling her toxic, Sarah Jessica Parker’s most famous role isn’t shy of controversy. As Carrie Bradshaw returns, she talks about being an antihero – and the death of fashion

Carrie Bradshaw was undoubtedly not intended as a hate figure when Sex and the City first aired. But in recent years, a curious cultural shift has occurred: newer fans have started to see Carrie, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, as the most toxic thing about the horny, headline-grabbing show. An entire website, Carrie Bradshaw Is the Worst, was devoted to explaining why Carrie sucked. (The most common complaints: she cheated on nice guy Aidan; talked about herself too much.) One viral essay posited that Carrie was TV’s first female antihero. Parker, 60 and still synonymous with pop culture’s most iconic single gal, has grown to love the term.

“I prefer that to any other description of her, because it allows her to be as male as the men have been. I love The Sopranos so much, and I look at all the times [Tony] was unlawful, and we loved him. Carrie has an affair and everybody falls apart,” says Parker ruefully. “An antihero, to me, is somebody that’s not behaving in conventional ways, and she hasn’t ever.” She pauses. “Am I crazy?” Another pause. “A lot of people love her too, though!”

Three-quarters of cases are in unvaccinated children, and this week saw the first fatality: a premature baby

• Measles outbreak: how contagious is it and what are the symptoms?

Outside the emergency room of the St Thomas Elgin general hospital, about 200km (125 miles) south-west of Toronto, a large sign with bright yellow block letters issues an urgent warning: “NO MEASLES VAX & FEVER COUGH RASH – STOP – DO NOT ENTER!”

To see such an imperative in the 21st century might have been previously unimaginable for Canada, which in 1998 achieved “elimination status” for measles, meaning the virus is no longer circulating regularly.

Working with a theatre company for women affected by criminal justice has given the actor a passion for stories that fall between society’s cracks. Now she is swapping Broadway for a powerful account of Britain’s broken prison system

Each morning before filming Lollipop, Posy Sterling took a giant bucket outside, filled it with ice and climbed in. Never mind that it was November or that her call time was at 5am; the actor would take daily dips in the freezing water in the dark. In Lollipop, Sterling plays a headstrong mother who has recently been released from prison and is fighting to win back her kids. The role is heavy, but the ice baths meant she started the days feeling light. “I just found it euphoric,” she says. Tickled, her driver started bringing her more ice as part of her ritual.

Today, Sterling, 32, is similarly full of beans, buzzing from two coffees and fresh from six weeks in New York. “I haven’t slept,” she says brightly. The actor has been quietly building her profile since Screen International named her one of 2023’s Stars of Tomorrow, with performances in the Saoirse Ronan addiction drama The Outrun and Benedict Andrews’s buzzy take on The Cherry Orchard at the Donmar Warehouse in London, which has just finished a run off Broadway. We’re meeting in an office in north London, where Sterling is excited to talk about her first leading role in a film.

Nate Hochman, staffer for Eric Schmitt, also peddled far-right conspiracy theories as experts decry rise in extremism

A staffer for Missouri Republican senator Eric Schmitt was previously fired from Ron DeSantis’s unsuccessful presidential campaign after making a video containing neo-Nazi imagery, and later peddled far-right conspiracy theories in a Marco Rubio-linked thinktank.

Nate Hochman’s job in the hard-right senator’s office, along with earlier Trump appointments to executive agencies, suggest to some experts there are few barriers to far-right activists making a career in Republican party politics.

A rum-based freezer cocktail for a slice of island life

This one is for summer, and for any time you’re in the mood for something a little trashy. Lean into it. You’re going to take white rum and coconut rum, and infuse them with lime zest. Then you’re going to add coconut water. Are you feeling tropical yet? Throw in some orange bitters, because why not? Then pop that sucker in the freezer (you’ll need a 750ml resealable bottle) and grab a lounge chair by the pool. That’s the vibe.

This is an edited extract from Freezer Cocktails: 75 Cocktails That Are Ready When You Are, by JM Hirsch, published this week by Hamlyn at £14.99. To order a copy for £13.49, go to guardianbookshop.com

Vasyl Malyuk, who hailed giving Russia a ‘slap in the face’, has scored a series high-profile successes as head of SBU

It was unsurprising to those who know Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), that his statement announcing the success of Operation Spiderweb had a certain physicality to it.

The audacious drone attacks on distant bases hosting Russia’s strategic bombers was “a serious slap in the face to Russia’s power”, said Malyuk, 42, a sometime boxer and weightlifter. “Our strikes will continue as long as Russia terrorises Ukrainians with missiles and Shahed drones.”

Have you been following the football, rugby league, cricket, horse racing, cycling, tennis, Formula One and boxing?

Determined to dodge every pigeonhole, the band’s forthcoming mixtape veers from lulling acoustic to nightmarish noise, free jazz to prog post-rock

From London
Recommended if you like King Krule, This Heat, Wu-Lu
Up next Debut mixtape, Lightning Hit the Trees, out 11 July

Parade’s recent debut single offered music that was very hard to put your finger on, not least because its two tracks sounded absolutely nothing like each other. The first, Picking Flowers felt like the work of a female singer-songwriter who had dispensed with verses and choruses and was backed by a band on the verge of falling apart: woodwind, keyboards and guitar clashing, drums fading in and out of the mix, everything soaked in dub-influenced echo. Then it seemed to turn into a completely different song midway through. The second, Que?, offered a male rap-adjacent vocal over a chaotic sprawl of distorted guitar and drums before collapsing into noisy abstraction then stopping dead.

Southernmost: Sonnets by Leo Boix; An Interesting Detail by Kimberly Campanello; Autobiography of Death by Kim Hyesoon; Goonie by Michael Mullen; The Age of Olive Trees by Haia Mohammed

Southernmost: Sonnets by Leo Boix (Chatto & Windus, £12.99)
Boix’s second collection is a kind of gay Catholic Latin bildungsroman, beginning with daily life in Buenos Aires as “Mother / sits next to me. Father stares opposite. A red snail / comes out of my mouth.” Queer angst abounds as the speaker moves to England, looking for romantic connection. Boix smooths copious, rarely stalling amounts of lived experience and research into taut, melodic poems that are thick with place: “Humboldt and Bonpland at the Chimbrazo Base / and behind them the highest mountain of Ecuador / rising up, all covered in snow like a tall dessert ice.” The “hidden thread that binds” this book together is the dominant feeling of connection and love for one’s land and others.

An Interesting Detail by Kimberly Campanello (Bloomsbury, £10.99)
“Details aren’t automatically interesting,” writes Sarah Manguso in her book of aphorisms, 300 Arguments. Campanello’s sentences are comparable to Sarah Manguso’s: fierce, breathless, seducing the ear by rhythmic propulsion and monosyllabic control, and all while teetering on the blurred boundary between short story and prose poem: “It’s no surprise that at Thanksgiving we wish we had never happened upon the world.” She meditates on power, the environment, writing, and questions the supposedly redemptive power of chronic pain: “I continue to await / the perspective this feeling / ought to bring.” The opening gambit reveals a poet disenchanted with – or perhaps no longer satisfied by – poems situated in the stratosphere, amid “church” or “cathedral bells” ringing, nor in the dark, indescribable mystery that is “beneath the sea”. Campanello’s poetics are startlingly inventive, even as she admits “books don’t know what’s inside their covers, or they don’t care”. This is a work to care about.