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Bank of England expected to leave interest rates on hold as Middle East conflict pushes up oil price – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as Switzerland and Philippines cut interest rates

Newsflash: We have a third interest rate cut this morning!

Norway’s central bank has surprised analysts by cutting its policy rate by a quarter of one percentage point, to 4.25%. The rate had been set at 4.5% since December 2023.

“Inflation has declined since the monetary policy meeting in March, and the inflation outlook for the coming year indicates lower inflation than previously expected.

A cautious normalisation of the policy rate will pave the way for inflation to return to target without restricting the economy more than necessary.”

“The uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook is now greater than normal. If the economy takes a different path than currently envisaged, the policy rate path may be adjusted. But our objectives stand firm. We will finish the job and ensure that inflation is brought all the way back to 2 percent.”

The Monetary Board also noted indications of a deceleration in global economic activity, driven primarily by uncertainty over US trade policy and the conflict in the Middle East. This would lead to slower growth in the Philippines.

A rise in oil prices, electricity rate adjustments, and higher rice tariffs, would add to inflationary pressures.

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© Photograph: Carlos Jasso/Reuters

© Photograph: Carlos Jasso/Reuters

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Putin says he would only meet Zelenskyy in ‘final phase’ of talks – Europe live

Putin’s comments come as fighting continues and Ukraine says Russia avoiding peace talks

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has just posted a video of his visit to the site of the Russian “vile attack” earlier this week, which killed 23 civilians.

This strike is a reminder to the world that Russia spurns a ceasefire and chooses to kill.

I am grateful to all our partners who understand that Ukraine must grow stronger every single day. I thank everyone who is ready to exert pressure on Moscow in a way that makes them feel the true cost of this war.

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© Photograph: Libkos/Getty Images

© Photograph: Libkos/Getty Images

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Shell boss warns of ‘huge impact on trade’ if Israel-Iran conflict escalates

Blockage of strait of Hormuz, through which about 25% of world’s oil passes, could shock energy market, says Wael Sawan

Business live – latest updates

An escalation in the Middle East conflict could have a “huge impact on global trade”, the boss of the oil company Shell has warned, as Donald Trump suggested the US could enter the air war between Israel and Iran.

Shell, one of the biggest traders of oil and natural gas in the world, said it had contingency plans in case the conflict disrupted flows from the region. There is a risk that a blockage in the strait of Hormuz could shock the energy market.

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© Photograph: Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters

© Photograph: Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters

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‘He’s moving at a truly alarming speed’: Trump propels US into authoritarianism

A senator handcuffed, people snatched in public, military deployed – Trump’s slide towards autocracy has come quicker than critics feared

It reads like a checklist of milestones on the road to autocracy.

A succession of opposition politicians, including Alex Padilla, a US senator, are handcuffed and arrested by heavy-handed law enforcement for little more than questioning authority or voicing dissent.

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© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images

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The anti-Trump camp was in disarray. How has No Kings managed to unite it? | Emma Brockes

A new slogan has offered a non-partisan rallying point – and last weekend, protests overshadowed the president’s weird military parade

Two months ago, around the US, mass demonstrations against Donald Trump were organised in what felt like the beginning of the great unfreezing of the popular movement. Since the inauguration in January there have been plenty of ad-hoc anti-Trump protests, but compared to the huge numbers that turned out in 2017 – half a million at the Women’s March in Washington DC alone – the response has been muted. What was the point? The threat was so large, and the failure of the first movement apparently so great, that Americans have been suffering from what appeared to be a case of embarrassed paralysis: a sense, at once sheepish and depressed, that pink hats weren’t moving the needle on this one.

It looks as if that thinking has changed. On Saturday, in a follow-up to the protests in April, more than 2,000 coordinated marches took place in the US, organised by multiple groups under the umbrella No Kings Day and attended by numbers that at a glance seem startling. While in the capital on Saturday, Trump oversaw his weird, sparsely attended Kim Jong-un style military parade, an estimated 5 million people country-wide took to the streets to protest peacefully against him, including an estimated 80,000 in Philadelphia, 75,000 in Chicago, 50,000 in New York, 20,000 in Phoenix, and 7,000 in Honolulu. More heartening still were the numbers from deep red states, such as the 2,000 odd protesters who gathered in Mobile, Alabama, and a reported 4,000 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist

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© Photograph: Ringo Chiu/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ringo Chiu/AFP/Getty Images

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Football transfer rumours: will Gyökeres force a move to Arsenal or Manchester United?

Today’s rumours prefer baking

Viktor Gyökeres may or may not have spat the dummy out after reportedly refusing to hold clear-the-air talks with Sporting over his desire to move. Arsenal and Manchester United have been linked with the Sweden international but the Portuguese side want a wheelbarrow full of cash for his services, which is putting off potential suitors. Gyökeres wants the club to lower their demands but if the striker does not get what he wants, then he could go on strike to really show his employer who is boss.

In a further blow to Arsenal, the Athletic Club winger Nico Williams has told anyone who will listen that he only wants to join Barcelona this summer. It is now up to Barça to look down the back of the sofa for the cash to pay for him. If the Spain international does head from the Basque Country to Catalonia, it will end any chance of Marcus Rashford joining the Spanish champions. Rashford might need to turn to Italy where Napoli, Milan and Como are interested in helping him escape from Manchester United.

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© Photograph: Alexandre de Sousa/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Alexandre de Sousa/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

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You be the judge: should my colleague stop bringing cakes into the office?

Amina says the constant influx of baked goods is too much. Ruby says she’s just trying to bring joy to the workplace. You decide who should bake off

Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

I’m not saying we should have no cakes ever, I just think we should stop assuming cake is always welcome

Bringing cakes in shows we care and adds a little joy to the office. I’m not force-feeding anyone

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© Illustration: Igor Bastidas/The Guardian

© Illustration: Igor Bastidas/The Guardian

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Hail the Prince: Shubman Gill’s India captaincy a prophecy fulfilled but Test doubts remain

After a run of greats at the helm, the tourists’ early promotion of their new leader is an intriguing choice to steady a listing ship

Shubman Gill was a pretty laid-back character when he played for Glamorgan three summers ago. So laid back, in fact, that early on during his time there he parked the brand new Volvo the club had arranged for him and apparently left the keys in the ignition. Sure enough, after training, he returned to find it had been pinched.

Cue panic in the finance department at Sophia Gardens, calls to the insurers and the like. But at least his new teammates had material for some lighthearted mickey-taking. Gill, just turned 23 but already an India star on the rise, had arrived for three September rounds of the County Championship in 2022. Saying hello with 92 on debut in Cardiff, and goodbye with 119 at Hove, it sounds like he fitted in well.

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© Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

© Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

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India illegally deporting Muslim citizens at gunpoint to Bangladesh, say rights groups

There are fears the crackdown against ‘outsiders’ is driving widespread persecution as expelled Indians are returned by Bangladesh border guards

The Indian government has been accused of illegally deporting Indian Muslims to Bangladesh, prompting fears of an escalating campaign of persecution.

Thousands of people, largely Muslims suspected of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, have been rounded up by police across India in recent weeks, according to human rights groups, with many of them deprived of due legal process and sent over the border to neighbouring Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

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© Photograph: Kazi Sharowar Hussain/Supplied

© Photograph: Kazi Sharowar Hussain/Supplied

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Expect to see Premier League teams going longer more often next season

Playing out from the back works for top teams but sides at the bottom are giving away too many chances

By Opta Analyst

Long-ball football has, for better or worse, been on the decline for years. Football was once a kick-and-run game, shaped by long balls and the thinking that getting the ball close to the opposition’s goal as quickly as possible increased the chances of scoring, well, more quickly.

That was swiftly disproved and left further and further in the rear-view mirror as the game sped off into the Premier League era and further still in the Pep Guardiola-inspired 2010s. As the technical standard of players increased, the ball was kept on the floor more and more. The laws of the game have even been changed to allow teams to play passes so short from goal-kicks that they do not even leave the penalty area.

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© Illustration: Opta

© Illustration: Opta

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‘He just told me lies to have sex with a teenage girl’: Natalie Fleet MP on grooming, statutory rape and fighting back

At 15, she began seeing an older man and conceived her beloved daughter. It was years before she properly understood it as abuse. Now she is working tirelessly in parliament for other survivors

Natalie Fleet is nervous about this interview. Her assistant has warned me and Fleet tells me several times, before and during. “I just feel sick,” she says. “I don’t know if it’s because it’s about me or because of the subject. It just doesn’t seem to get any easier.”

The subject is rape – specifically Fleet’s experience of being groomed by an older man when she was 15, becoming pregnant and having the baby. That daughter, “the love of her life”, is now 24. Since entering parliament last summer as the Labour MP for Bolsover, Fleet has spoken a good deal about rape, her life story and the lack of support for mothers whose children were conceived this way – and each time it upsets her. “My husband said: ‘I don’t want you to be the “rapey MP”,’ and I don’t want that either,” says Fleet. “But it’s such a massive void in our national conversation. If nobody’s talking about it, then people won’t report it or understand it, perpetrators won’t be prosecuted or convicted. And shame really does need to switch sides. That can only happen if we start telling each other that it’s not our fault.”

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© Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

© Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

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How to Lose Your Mother by Molly Jong-Fast review – Erica Jong’s daughter on the worst year of her life

In this frank, exposing memoir, Jong-Fast reflects on her dysfunctional upbringing as her family falls apart

In 2023, Molly Jong-Fast had the year from hell. Her husband, Matt, discovered he had pancreatic cancer; her father-in-law, aunt and stepfather all died; and her then 81-year-old mother, the novelist and poet Erica Jong, was diagnosed with dementia. “My mother is just a body now,” she states in How to Lose Your Mother. “Erica Jong the person has left the planet.”

That year also marked the 50th anniversary of Fear of Flying, Jong’s autobiographical novel. Hailed as a landmark of feminist literature, it made a star of its author, selling more than 20m copies and leading to appearances on The Tonight Show and the cover of Newsweek. The book coined the phrase “the zipless fuck” to describe casual sex. “Now think about being the offspring of the person who wrote that sentence. And pour one out for me,” writes Jong-Fast.

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© Photograph: Barbara Alper/Getty Images

© Photograph: Barbara Alper/Getty Images

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Garmin Forerunner 970 review: the new benchmark for running watches

Premium sports tracker adds built-in torch, smartwatch and accuracy upgrades, plus useful new training tools, but costs far more than rivals

Garmin’s new top running watch, the Forerunner 970, has very big shoes to fill as it attempts to replace one of the best training and race companions available. Can a built-in torch, a software revamp and voice control really make a difference?

The new top-of-the-line Forerunner takes the body of the outgoing Forerunner 965 and squeezes in a much brighter display, useful new running analytics and more of the advanced tech from Garmin’s flagship adventure watch the Fenix 8.

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© Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

© Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

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A local’s guide to the best eats in Turin

Birthplace of vermouth, grissini and espresso, the north Italian city is a fitting host for the annual World’s 50 Best Restaurants ceremony on 19 June. But you don’t need to have deep pockets to enjoy its great food scene

Many renowned dining destinations have hosted the annual “food Oscars” – the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. This year is the first time the honour goes to Italy, with Turin, capital of Piedmont, holding the ceremony on 19 June. Although Emilia-Romagna is usually regarded as the country’s food capital, Piedmont has a proud gastronomic tradition, with white truffles, rice, chocolate, pastas and cheeses, not to mention wines such as barolo and barbaresco.

Greener than most Italian cities, Turin, the former capital of Savoy and briefly capital of Italy, also has elegant piazzas, royal palaces, possibly Europe’s biggest outdoor market and the wide Po River for strolling, cycling and kayaking. It is where vermouth (see below), grissini breadsticks and espresso coffee were invented.

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© Photograph: PR IMAGE

© Photograph: PR IMAGE

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What Israel’s new war means for Gaza – podcast

As the world’s attention moves to Iran, what are Israeli forces doing in Gaza? Emma Graham-Harrison reports

Israel faced growing international pressure earlier this month as hundreds of starving people in Gaza were killed as they tried to reach aid distribution sites. Since Israel launched its attacks on Iran on Friday, however, that diplomatic outcry has largely disappeared.

The Guardian’s chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, tells Nosheen Iqbal that the killings in Gaza have by no means stopped and that many aid experts believe the current food distribution system, based around an opaque organisation called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been doomed from the start.

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© Photograph: Jehad Alshrafi/AP

© Photograph: Jehad Alshrafi/AP

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Israel-Iran conflict live: hospital in southern Israel ‘extensively damaged’ by Iran missile strike

Netanyahu says ‘terrorist tyrants’ carried out attack on Soroka hospital; Israel attacks Arak heavy water reactor, Iranian state media reports

The leader of Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service has said that a directive had been issued to reduce the number of people on the floor that was hit at Soroko hospital in Beersheba, according to the Haaretz newspaper.

He added that there had been no hazardous materials incident at the hospital and that for now Magen David Adom was transferring patients to other hospitals in southern Israel instead of Soroka.

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© Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters

© Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters

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Rachel Roddy’s recipe for mini babas al rum | A kitchen in Rome

Oozy, boozy miniature cakes to enjoy with a kick of caffeine

Someone I know and admire very much, and who seems in excellent health at between 82 and 89 years old, has an espresso and a mini baba al rum every day at about three o’clock – except Sundays, when he has ice-cream. Every now and then, I join him and we then walk for a bit (there is nothing like a caffeine-baba spring in your step), and congratulate each other for not smoking while both wishing that we had a cigarette.

In Poland, the word “baba” can refer to a variety of baked goods, and one in particular is made with rye flour and sweet wine. Baba al rum came about thanks to the greediness of twice king of Poland Stanislaus Leszczyński, who, exiled in Lorraine, thought his kougelhopf too dry, so asked for it to be soaked in rum. This inspired his pastry chef to perfect the dish and, in turn, subsequently inspired other pastry chefs, like baba dominoes. It is a project, though, and remember to chill the eggs.

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© Photograph: Rachel Roddy/The Guardian

© Photograph: Rachel Roddy/The Guardian

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UK air pollution killing more than 500 people a week, doctors say

Royal College of Physicians also says poor air quality costs country more than £500m a week

Air pollution in the UK is costing more than £500m a week in ill health, NHS care and productivity losses, with 99% of the population breathing in “toxic air”, doctors have said.

Dirty air is killing more than 500 people a week, with health harm to almost every organ of the body caused by air pollution, even at low concentrations, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) said.

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© Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

© Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

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Easy regime change in Tehran is a nice idea. But look to history: it’s a near-impossible one | Martin Kettle

No one doubts the malignity of the Iranian government, but if we forget the tragedies of interventions past, we’ll make the same mistakes

On the eve of the 1991 Gulf war, a TV reporter asked the US commander Norman Schwarzkopf if he would topple Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. Stormin’ Norman replied with a memorable succinctness: “Easy say. Hard do.”

Schwarzkopf knew what he was talking about. The general was a lifelong student of the Middle East region – he spent some of his childhood years in Tehran – and of military history. Indeed his successful ground-war strategy for Saddam’s defeat in Kuwait was consciously modelled on the flanking tactics used to such devastating effect by the Carthaginian commander Hannibal to defeat the Romans at Cannae in 216BC.

Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist

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© Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

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Is this an artist – or a coffee pot? The great William Kentridge reveals the strange secret to a great self-portrait

The South African artist has exhibited everywhere, bagging awards in art and theatre, while his work sells for millions. So why did he find becoming an artist so unnatural? Ahead of a major British show, he reveals all

You only have to glance at William Kentridge’s family tree to realise why he is such an outsider. His maternal grandmother, Irene Geffen, was South Africa’s first female barrister while his mother, Felicia Geffen, became an anti-apartheid lawyer. Then there’s his father, Sydney Kentridge, the indomitable QC who represented Nelson Mandela in the 1960s and fought for justice for Steve Biko in the 70s. Studying law would have been the obvious path. “Public speaking, thinking on my feet, were natural and easy skills,” said Kentridge back in 1998. “Being an artist was a very unnatural and hard thing for me to do.”

That’s quite a statement. Because in the three decades since, Kentridge has conquered the international art world with the oomph and verve of an emerging twentysomething. He has exhibited in most major museums and biennales, and his work now fetches millions. Along the way, he has collected 10 honorary doctorates, numerous grand prizes in art and theatre, and a spot on the Time 100 list of influential people. Now, fresh from celebrating his 70th birthday in April, he has two solo exhibitions under way, two group shows, four touring operas, a touring feature-length film and a nine-part film series, Self-Portrait As a Coffee-Pot, streaming globally on Mubi “with an accompanying 836-page book”. It’s almost as if he was, indeed, a natural.

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© Photograph: Image courtesy of Kentridge Studio, Photo: Stella Olivier.

© Photograph: Image courtesy of Kentridge Studio, Photo: Stella Olivier.

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‘Own less, have more’: French app rents out underused household items

Poppins connects people who have things they use rarely with those who want to buy or rent them

Do you need a kitchen mixer, a drill, a tent or a raclette machine? Perhaps you have a bread machine, an ice-cream maker or a toastie maker in the cupboard gathering dust?

If the answer to either question is “yes”, Lucie Basch has a solution. The French entrepreneur and pioneer of a hugely successful anti-food waste app is now turning her attention to a different problem: the simultaneous underuse and overconsumption of everyday household objects.

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© Photograph: Benjamin Laurent

© Photograph: Benjamin Laurent

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Poison in the water: the town with the world’s worst case of forever chemicals contamination

When a small Swedish town discovered their drinking water contained extremely high levels of Pfas, they had no idea what it would mean for their health and their children’s future

If Agneta Bruno closes her eyes, the soapy smell takes her back to childhood. Cycling home to the barracks where she lived with her father, an air force major, she would whiz through patches of snowy-white foam near the entrance of the base. The foam resembled the bubbles you get in the bathtub, just thicker. “I had to lift my feet up to avoid getting wet,” Bruno told me.

Aqueous film-forming foam (Afff) is a miracle of firefighting: it’s highly effective in putting out flammable liquid fires, such as those caused by jet fuel spills. Chemicals in the foam create a stable blanket over liquid fuel, trapping the flammable vapours and extinguishing the fire. At the air force base in Bruno’s home town of Kallinge in Sweden, firefighters were trained to douse flames using the foam. New recruits came every few weeks, so the training sessions were pretty constant. Afterwards, the foam would soak away into the sandy soil and disappear.

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© Photograph: Josefine Stenersen

© Photograph: Josefine Stenersen

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Rampaging raccoons: how the American mammals took over a German city – and are heading across Europe

Many in Kassel have embraced the animal but the EU classes it as an invasive species and ecologists are divided about what to do next

In Kassel, everyone has a story about raccoons. Some struggle with a family of them that moved into their roof and simply will not leave. Others recount how a picnic in the park turned into an ambush as gangs of the black and white animals, known in Germany as Waschbären, raided the food. Almost everyone seems to have a neighbour who feeds them, to the annoyance of the entire street.

“We are the raccoon city. They are everywhere,” says Lars, a Kassel resident, as he tends his allotment by Karlsaue park in the fading light.

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© Photograph: David Hup

© Photograph: David Hup

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Europe must stand without the US – but the latest war in the Middle East shows it has no idea how | Nathalie Tocci

If Europe was not so in hock to Washington, it would sanction Israel over Gaza and condemn its unilateral attack on Iran

The rupture in the transatlantic relationship has left European leaders struggling to know how to think, let alone act, with any autonomy. Europe most urgently needs a mind of its own on the Middle East.

Tragically, EU governments were just beginning to turn the page after a year and a half of complicity with the Israeli government’s war crimes in Gaza. Donald Trump’s obscene plans for a Gaza “riviera” and “humanitarian” initiatives that breach humanitarian principles were creating distance with the US, and European governments were starting to craft their own course.

Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnist

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© Photograph: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images

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A Spree change: from Berlin to Oslo, Europe’s urban swimmers take the plunge

Parts of the Seine are opening to bathers and Berliners are pushing authorities to permit river dips, while other hotspots continue to delight city dwellers

The last time there was full-scale river swimming in Berlin’s city centre, before access was outlawed a century ago, there were probably fewer inflatable unicorns and fluorescent pool noodles.

But this week, a “Dip-Dip-Hurrah” demonstration to push for the lifting of the roaring 20s-era ban saw about 300 people, many with colourful swimming caps and assorted flotation devices, bob down the Spree river as the golden-hour sun bathed the old Prussian monuments of the historic Mitte district in a warm light.

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© Photograph: Christian Jungeblodt/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christian Jungeblodt/The Guardian

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UK sickle cell patients ‘get worse care than sufferers of similar disorders’

Study commissioned by NHS finds that sickle cell disease care lags behind that for conditions such as cystic fibrosis

People living with sickle cell disease face substandard care as its treatment significantly lags behind advances relating to other genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis, a report has found.

The study, commissioned by the NHS Race and Health Observatory and carried out by researchers at Imperial College London, analysed various measures of care for sickle cell disease between 2010 and 2024, including clinical trials, approved drugs and reviews of existing studies.

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© Photograph: Cultura Creative Ltd/Alamy

© Photograph: Cultura Creative Ltd/Alamy

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The Waterfront review – this Dawson’s Creek for grownups is perfect summer nonsense

Twists come thick and fast, there’s tons of plot and action is set in a water-based community. The creator of the 90s megahit’s new show is an opportunity to wallow in nostalgia – albeit with added drug running

Do you miss Dawson’s Creek now that you’re all grown up? Kevin Williamson sees you. And he has reinvented his late-90s/early-00s tale of a close knit community round a watery area for an adult market. Not adult-adult, you understand – we’re talking drug-running and crumbling family empire rather than sauce – but the main ingredients of his first TV hit are all here. Namely, masses of plot and some lightly sketched characters to keep it moving swiftly enough that nobody has time to stop and say “Hang on, fellas – I simply don’t believe a word of this!” Those of us who sat through several young women choosing Dawson over Pacey are only here for the second part of the phrase “credible drama”.

The Buckleys and their fleet have long dominated the small fishing town of Havenport, North Carolina. They are rich and troubled. More so the latter as they become less of the former because business is getting tougher and mighty patriarch Harlan (Holt McCallany, charismatic, humourless) took his hand off the tiller to have two heart attacks and left his inadequate son Cane (Jake Weary, uncharismatic, humourless) to run things for a bit. Cane decided the best way to do this was to start shifting illegal narcotics for wodges of cash and an unseen gangster called Owen. Alas, we open with a set of Cane’s smuggling crewmen being offed by a gang of armed men, and Owen’s $10m shipment going missing. Cane asks his cousin Lynette (Bethany DeZelle), at whatever the nautical equivalent of the DVLA, North Carolinian office is, to amend some paperwork to say that he sold the murder boat three months ago. I am sure this is a foolproof cover and that nothing will escalate.

The Waterfront is on Netflix now.

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© Photograph: Netflix

© Photograph: Netflix

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Trump caution on Iran strike linked to doubts over ‘bunker buster’ bomb, officials say

Exclusive: The likelihood of a successful US strike on the Iranian nuclear facility buried deep underground at Fordow is a topic of deep contention, defense officials say

Donald Trump has suggested to defense officials it would make sense for the US to launch strikes against Iran only if the so-called “bunker buster” bomb was guaranteed to destroy the critical uranium enrichment facility at Fordow, according to people familiar with the deliberations.

Trump was told that dropping the GBU-57s, a 13.6-tonne (30,000lb) bomb would effectively eliminate Fordow but he does not appear to be fully convinced, the people said, and has held off authorizing strikes as he also awaits the possibility that the threat of US involvement would lead Iran to talks.

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© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

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An implosion, a collapse or a transition: what would regime change in Iran look like?

Some western leaders have welcomed the idea of the toppling of Iran’s supreme leader, but no planning has been made for the aftermath if it happens

At the G7 in Canada, differences within Europe about the wisdom of regime change in Iran could not have been more stark.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, warned against toppling a government “when you have no idea what comes next”. Insisting that he had no time for the Iranian government, Macron argued that it was for the people of Iran to choose their rulers.

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© Photograph: Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran/Getty Images

© Photograph: Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran/Getty Images

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Bear necessity: lid stuck around US animal’s neck removed after two years

Michigan wildlife experts surprised by the bear’s ability to eat and sleep despite the uncomfortable accessory

Michigan wildlife experts finally were able to trap a black bear and remove a large lid that was stuck around his neck – after two years.

“It’s pretty incredible that the bear survived and was able to feed itself,” Cody Norton, a state bear specialist, said Wednesday. “The neck was scarred and missing hair, but the bear was in much better condition than we expected it to be.”

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© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

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Cambodia bans fruit imports and soap operas from Thailand as border dispute sours

The border dispute has led to a surge in nationalist sentiment and tit-for-tat actions by both governments

Cambodia has banned imports of fruit and vegetables from Thailand, the latest escalation in a series of retaliatory actions sparked by a long-running border dispute between the South-east Asian neighbours.

Tensions flared in May when troops briefly exchanged fire at a contested area of the border, killing a Cambodian soldier.

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© Photograph: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA

© Photograph: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA

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British, German and French foreign ministers plan meeting with Iranian counterpart

The meeting in Geneva would be the first face-to-face diplomatic communication with Iran since Israel’s attack

The foreign ministers of the UK, France and Germany are planning to meet the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, in what could represent a potential diplomatic breakthrough after five days of Israeli bombing.

The meeting is due to take place in Geneva on Friday but final confirmation from Tehran is still pending; if confirmed it would represent the first face-to-face diplomatic meeting since Benjamin Netanyahu launched Israel’s attack on Iran’s military and nuclear sites.

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© Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AP

© Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AP

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Only two years left of world’s carbon budget to meet 1.5C target, scientists warn

Breaching threshold would ramp up catastrophic weather events, further increasing human suffering

The planet’s remaining carbon budget to meet the international target of 1.5C has just two years left at the current rate of emissions, scientists have warned, showing how deep into the climate crisis the world has fallen.

Breaching the target would ramp up the extreme weather already devastating communities around the world. It would also require carbon dioxide to be sucked from the atmosphere in future to restore the stable climate in which the whole of civilisation developed over the past 10,000 years.

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© Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

© Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

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Scottish government faces legal action over failure to implement biological sex ruling

Campaign group accuses Holyrood of ‘intolerable’ delays to new policies required after landmark case

The Scottish government has been given a deadline to implement the UK supreme court’s ruling on biological sex across all public bodies or face further legal challenges.

Sex Matters, the UK-wide gender-critical campaign group, has threatened legal action in 14 days if ministers continue “intolerable” delays to new policies and guidance required by April’s landmark ruling that the legal definition of a woman in the Equality Act 2010 does not include transgender women who hold gender recognition certificates.

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© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

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Lakers to be sold to Dodgers owner at $10bn valuation, per reports

  • Buss family sells team after 45-year tenure

  • New owner Mark Walter also owns WNBA’s Sparks

The Buss family is entering an agreement to sell a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers at a $10bn valuation, ESPN reported on Wednesday, marking the end of an era for one of the NBA’s most influential families.

Mark Walter, the CEO and chair of holding company TWG Global, is set to take the majority ownership under the agreement, ESPN’s NBA insider Shams Charania said in a post on X. Walter was already a minority owner in the Lakers and is also primary owner and chair of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, and the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA.

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© Photograph: Harry How/Getty Images

© Photograph: Harry How/Getty Images

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Alexander-Arnold feels heat on Real Madrid debut as Al-Hilal make Club World Cup point

  • Gp H: Real Madrid 1-1 Al-Hilal (G García 34; Neves 41pen)

  • Federico Valverde’s 92nd-minute penalty saved

Xabi Alonso said in the buildup he was going to “ignite” his players at this Club World Cup, that Real Madrid were ready to rock’n’roll. In the event this was something more downbeat in Miami, 90 minutes of pub-rock, at times even a meandering shoe-gaze as a well-drilled Al-Hilal kept the new-era Madrid at arm’s length.

Madrid had a chance to win it at the death, but Federico Valverde missed a dubiously awarded 92nd-minute penalty. A 1-1 draw felt fair at the end of a Group H opener that flickered but never caught fire.

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© Photograph: Megan Briggs/Getty Images

© Photograph: Megan Briggs/Getty Images

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New US visa rules will force foreign students to unlock social media profiles

Diplomats to look for ‘indications of hostility towards citizens, culture or founding principles of United States’

Foreign students will be required to unlock their social media profiles to allow US diplomats to review their online activity before receiving educational and exchange visas, the state department has announced. Those who fail to do so will be suspected of hiding that activity from US officials.

The new guidance, unveiled by the state department on Wednesday, directs US diplomats to conduct an online presence review to look for “any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States”.

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© Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

© Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

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Trump asks Juventus squad for views on transgender players during awkward White House visit

  • Team are in Washington DC for Club World Cup

  • President asks if women could make Juve team

Juventus players and staff were involved in an awkward encounter at the White House on Wednesday when Donald Trump attempted to get them to enter into a debate on transgender women in sport.

The Italian football giants are in the US for the Club World Cup, and defeated Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates 5-0 at Washington DC’s Audi Field hours after a selection of players, coaches and executives had been with Trump.

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© Photograph: Ken Cedeno/EPA

© Photograph: Ken Cedeno/EPA

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The Guardian view on Israel, the US and Iran: you can’t bomb your way out of nuclear proliferation | Editorial

The age of disarmament is over. But military action only increases the dangers instead of ending the threat

Eighty years after the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and 40 years after the US and Soviet Union pledged to reduce their arsenals, the threat of nuclear war has resurged with a vengeance. The age of disarmament is over, a prominent thinktank warned this week: “We see a clear trend of growing nuclear arsenals, sharpened nuclear rhetoric and the abandonment of arms control agreements,” said Hans M Kristensen of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The world’s nine nuclear-armed states have amassed the equivalent of 145,000 Hiroshima bombs. Israel’s illegal attack upon Iran is purportedly a last-ditch attempt to prevent it joining this club – as Israel did long ago, though does not admit it. While Tehran possesses the capacity to develop a nuclear weapon if it chose to, US intelligence believes it has not made that decision – and would still need up to three years to build and deploy one. Israel does not appear to be striking Iran because US nuclear diplomacy has failed, but because it fears it might succeed. Many of its targets are unrelated to the nuclear programme, and some even to Iran’s military. Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly invoked regime change: more honestly, regime collapse.

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

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© Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters

© Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters

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