Adm Sir Ben Key has been asked to ‘step back’ as first sea lord, after MoD said he had departed for ‘private reasons’

The head of the Royal Navy has been suspended pending an investigation.

Adm Sir Ben Key has been asked to “step back” as first sea lord, sources at the MoD confirmed on Friday.

Actors contribute to the poet and singer’s anthology exploring ceremony, loss and worship

Actors Channing Tatum and Pedro Pascal have written poems for a new anthology curated by Canadian musician and poet Mustafa that also includes contributions by the writers George Saunders, Max Porter and Hanif Abdurraqib.

The book, titled Nour, explores themes of ceremony, loss and worship. “You told me God wasn’t real/ as we sat in the water in the dark that night/ I couldn’t see your eyes but I could feel the anger/ in the water”, opens Tatum’s poem, extracted below along with Pascal’s.

A call-up from Andy Farrell for the young flanker crowns a remarkable breakthrough year with club and country

These are good times at Franklin’s Gardens. Five days after the squad celebrated one of the great victories against Leinster, four of them were picked by the British & Irish Lions. The atmosphere around the old ground has been electric ever since. And while you would expect the quartet, Fin Smith, Henry Pollock, Tommy Freeman, and Alex Mitchell, to be overjoyed, what’s more telling is how happy everyone else at the club seems to be on their behalf. The video of the team celebrating the news has already gone viral, and it turns out that on the night after the squad announcement, Fraser Dingwall had them all around to his house for a celebration dinner.

Dingwall, of course, had an outside shot at making the Lions squad himself, but swallowed whatever disappointment he felt after being left out and opened a couple of bottles of champagne for the occasion.

Fans protested against the leveraged takeover but were offered little support and the toxicity has had a lasting impact

The first time the Glazer family visited Old Trafford, in June 2005, they paid a visit to the megastore. Outside, hundreds of furious Manchester United fans turned up with banners and placards, shouted slogans such as “Die Glazer die”, and a few clashed with police. Inside, the Glazers were doing a spot of – and here we must stretch the word to its broadest possible definition – shopping.

For Joel, Avram and Bryan had no intention of doing anything quite as undignified as parting with their own cash. Instead they swarmed the aisles, scooped up armfuls of replica shirts and merchandise, which shop staff dutifully ran through the tills and bagged up. When the time came to leave, the Glazers simply took the bags and left. This was, after all, all their own property, theirs to take and use as they pleased. And as a metaphor for how they intended to run Manchester United over the next 20 years, it is about as good as any.

Carla Hayden, first woman and first African American to hold post, dismissed in terse email on Thursday night

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Donald Trump abruptly fired the librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, on Thursday as the White House continues to purge the federal government of those perceived to oppose the Republican US president and his agenda.

Hayden was notified in an email late on Thursday from the White House’s presidential personnel office, according to an email obtained by the Associated Press. Confirmed by the Senate to the job in 2016, Hayden was the first woman and the first African American to be librarian of Congress.

Many saw the beloved tree that Adam Carruthers and Daniel Graham cut down as a part of north-east England’s DNA

“It was just a tree,” said a mystified Adam Carruthers, one of the two men who illegally cut down the tree at Sycamore Gap in the early hours of a stormy night nearly two years ago. “It was almost as if someone had been murdered.”

Carruthers was right about the reaction to the felling. Many likened its loss to that of a good friend or relative. Its destruction prompted feelings of sadness, grief and then blind fury. Some people wept.

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And another one – Peter with some rhyming words before kick-off:

Sunderland have a manager named Le Bris and a player called Le Fee? Shall I open a Pinot Gris? Pair it with a Brie? Bon appétit!

Smug Leeds fan here, re-living the 24 play-offs we had to go through and still lost. Seems to me this is a foregone conclusion. The Black Cats are coming into it with lead boots, heads full of “what might haves” and nervous eyes over their shoulders, whereas Frank’s boys are on a roll, they have momentum and the eye of the tiger gleaming, their prey in clear view. Can Coventry spring a surprise, and then another one and become the new Luton? It’s a funny old game, football …

I really love the difference between Le Bris and Lampard – it is so fascinating. One had a modest playing career before working his way through the coaching ranks at Lorient, while the other is a much-decorated former England international who has had management experience at Derby, Chelsea and Everton. I am, of course, a Sky Blue for life so hoping the bigger name gets the job done today.

Exclusive: The intervention to marginalize Ricky Buria is aimed at insulating the Pentagon from any more missteps

Exasperated by the turmoil that has dogged Pete Hegseth’s office in recent weeks, the White House will block the US defense secretary’s choice of chief of staff and select a candidate of its own, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Hegseth had suggested giving the chief of staff position to Marine Col Ricky Buria after the first person in the role, Joe Kasper, left last month in the wake of a contentious leak investigation that brought the ouster of three other senior aides.

Officials float idea of compact of free association (Cofa), used by US to keep close ties with Pacific Island nations

US officials are discussing a plan to pull Greenland into America’s sphere of influence using a type of agreement that the United States has used to keep close ties with several Pacific Island nations, according to two US officials and another person familiar with the discussions.

Under the plan being considered, the Trump administration would propose to Greenland’s leaders that the island enter into a so-called compact of free association, or Cofa, with the United States.

Judge says detainment of Rümeysa Öztürk, who was arrested for political speech, ‘raises very significant due process concerns’

• US politics live – latest updates

A federal judge in Vermont on Friday morning ordered the release on bail of a Tufts University student arrested in March for her political speech and now held in Louisiana in what she and her lawyers argue is a breach of her constitutional rights.

The judge had ordered Rümeysa Öztürk’s return to Vermont, where she was briefly held after being grabbed on the street by masked immigration agents near Boston, for hearings. But the judge decided not to wait for her physical transportation and she appeared remotely from Louisiana at the hearing in Burlington on Friday.

Pope Leo XIV is elected, Israeli airstrikes continue in Gaza, the Kashmir crisis and Lady Gaga in Rio: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

• Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing

Two addresses in north-west London searched after three other Iranians detained in same investigation last Saturday

A 31-year-old Iranian man has been arrested in north-west London under the National Security Act 2023 as part of a counter-terrorism policing investigation in which three other Iranian men were detained, the Metropolitan police have said.

The man was detained on Friday morning and searches were carried out at two addresses in the area.

• US set to host in 2031, the UK in 2035
• Fifa approves strategy for Afghan women’s football

The Women’s World Cup will expand to 48 teams from the 2031 tournament onwards after the proposal was approved by the Fifa council on Friday.

The UK is set to host the event in 2035 and that tournament will now involve 12 groups of four teams and more than 100 matches, with the format mirroring the newly expanded men’s World Cup. It is understood Fifa took this decision after consulting the continental confederations and believe expansion of its most important tournament befits the rapid growth of the women’s game.

Simon Clarke says ‘pipeline of future voters is dead’ as party figures warn Kemi Badenoch her job as leader is in danger

The Conservative party is fighting to justify its existence amid concerns that its pipeline of future voters is “completely dead”, a former cabinet minister and leading thinktank director has said.

Simon Clarke, an ally of Boris Johnson who backed Kemi Badenoch for the leadership last year, was among a string of former Tory ministers and serving MPs to tell the Guardian she faced removal by her party if she did not turn its fortunes around by next year’s local elections.

Prog rockers score seventh No 1 album with recording of Italian gig, extending their chart run following final studio album The Endless River in 2014

A recording of Pink Floyd’s eerie and evocative 1972 gig in the ruins of Pompeii, entitled Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII, has become the band’s seventh UK chart-topping album.

The album captures the gig that was documented by director Adrian Maben for one of rock’s most arresting concert films, which has been restored to 4K quality and rereleased in cinemas, including in Imax format. A recording of the gig was previously included as part of a larger Pink Floyd box set, but this is the first standalone version, featuring a new sound mix helmed by prog rock musician Steven Wilson.

Vince Vaughn plays a grieving son who decides to open an Italian eaterie with grandmothers in the kitchen in a simple but charming crowd-pleaser

There’s a great deal of warmth both in and out of the kitchen in Netflix’s remarkably charming new food comedy Nonnas, a simple yet satisfying fact-based crowd-pleaser landing just in time for Mother’s Day across many countries in the world. It’ll make for an easy post-lunch choice for families gathering this weekend, providing the sort of mechanically proficient pleasures that used to be far more common back in the 80s or 90s. The platform has tried, and mostly failed, to resurrect the kind of endlessly played, easily rewatchable cable movie favourite and while this still might not be quite as fondly remembered in the decades to come, it’s a better simulation than most.

To those with less of an Italian component to their family, a nonna is a grandmother, the stereotype of which spends a great deal of time in the kitchen, preparing food with equal parts garlic and love. For Joe (Vince Vaughn, in reliable been-around-the-block mode), the death of both his nonna and then his mother has left him feeling unmoored, questioning what to do with himself and his life going forward. We’ve seen a great deal of stories based around sons and their fathers but it’s uncommon to explore what a mother means to a man in the same serious way, a strangely untapped relationship on screen. For Joe, the loss has led to a pervading chill and his unlikely solution is to use the money from her life insurance to open a restaurant in Staten Island.

President Claudia Sheinbaum says lawsuit has been filed after US lawmakers voted on name change

Mexico has sued Google for changing the Gulf of Mexico’s name to “Gulf of America” for Google Maps users in the United States, Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, said on Friday.

“The lawsuit has already been filed,” Sheinbaum said at her morning news conference, without saying where and when it was submitted.

• ECB has reached out to BCCI after IPL halted
• PSL also suspended with UAE unwilling to step in as host

The England and Wales Cricket Board is open to hosting the remainder of the Indian Premier League in September after escalating cross-border tension between India and Pakistan prompted the suspension of the world’s most lucrative Twenty20 tournament on Friday.

In a chaotic 24 hours matches in both the IPL and the Pakistan Super League were cancelled or abandoned, schedules torn up and foreign players told to start packing and book flights home. The Pakistan Cricket Board announced that the last eight fixtures of its tournament were being relocated to the United Arab Emirates, only for the Emirates Cricket Board apparently to reconsider its decision to host because it was “wary of being perceived as an ally of the PCB”, leading to that tournament also being suspended.

This week’s trade deal is a boost for Keir Starmer. But a lasting win will only come by joining forces with other nations to resist the US president’s entire destructive agenda

Donald Trump wanted Thursday, like every day, to be all about him. He thought the news cycle would be dominated by his sealing of the first US trade deal since he blew a hole in the world economy with the dynamite of tariffs. He gathered his vice-president and several cabinet members in the Oval Office to announce the new agreement – with the UK, as it happens – only for the gaze of the world to be diverted. All eyes were on Rome, where Trump was upstaged by one of the few global players who can outdo him when it comes to putting on a show.

Don’t think Trump is not simultaneously wondering how he can use that whole white-smoke thing – perhaps to signal his winning of a constitutionally prohibited third term in 2028 – and worrying that Leo XIV is a serious rival for the commodity he craves more than any other: attention. There now lives an American with more global followers than he has, and it happened in an instant.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

• Danish rider holds off Van Aert in bunch sprint to line
• Mikel Landa abandons race after crash late in stage

Denmark’s former world champion Mads Pedersen edged out Wout van Aert in a bunch sprint to win the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia in Tirana, but Mikel Landa was forced to abandon the race after a crash five kilometres from the finish.

Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was positioned perfectly by his teammates for the climax in the Albanian capital and held off Belgium’s Van Aert to become the first rider this year – and the first Dane – to wear the overall leader’s pink jersey. Venezuela’s Orluis Aular (Movistar) was third across the line.

Kaja Sokola says disgraced movie mogul forced her to touch his genitals in Manhattan apartment when she was 16

A former model has told a New York court that the disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her when she was 16, calling it the most “horrifying thing I ever experienced”.

Kaja Sokola told jurors at Weinstein’s retrial that he put his hand inside her underwear and made her touch his genitals at his Manhattan apartment in 2002 when she was 16.

Lander probe of Kosmos 482, launched in 1972, is expected to re-enter the atmosphere some time between 9 and 10 May

Part of a Soviet spacecraft is expected to crash back down to Earth this weekend, with experts still unsure of where it will land.

Kosmos 482 was launched in March 1972 on a Soyuz rocket a few days after the Venera 8 atmospheric probe, and was thought to have a similar purpose. Intended to reach Venus, it failed to escape low Earth orbit and instead broke into four pieces.

The first pontiff from the United States can be a powerful countervailing voice in the Trump era, and help protect Francis’s legacy

Twelve years ago, in the words of the late Pope Francis, the Catholic church went “to the ends of the Earth” in its search for a new pontiff. On Thursday, after surprisingly brisk discussions, the most geographically diverse conclave in history went to the heart of a superpower to find his successor.

The election of the first American pope is a remarkable moment. In part the cardinals’ choice of the Chicago-born Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, can be seen as a robust progressive response to the signs of the times. While senior Catholic figures around Donald Trump prosecute an insular Maga agenda, the new pope is as at home in Latin America, having spent two decades working in one of the poorest regions of Peru. Previous posts on a social media account under his name suggest he shared Francis’s withering views on the Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies.

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The US president’s proposed levies will badly hit the UK industry just as it is recovering from a series of blows

Barbieland, the Emerald City and a galaxy far, far away were all built – at least in part – at film studios just outside London. Now the UK film industry has come crashing down to earth with Donald Trump’s threat to impose 100% tariffs on all movies “produced in foreign lands”. “Hollywood is being destroyed,” Mr Trump announced, like an action hero on a mission. “Other nations have stolen our movie industry.” In the UK the news was met with warnings that the British film sector would be “wiped out” by such a “knock-out blow”. Brian Cox, the Succession star, called the proposed tariffs “an absolute disaster”. Roll the opening credits.

Mr Trump has a point. New instalments of Marvel’s Avengers and Spider-Man are filming around London this summer. No wonder the president wants “MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” The UK’s generous tax incentives, skills base and state-of-the-art facilities have helped make it “the Hollywood of Europe”. Now it is under threat. Without these blockbusters, Britain would be left with more than a superhero deficit.

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• ‘Exorbitant’ Europa League final travel costs hitting home
• Fans ‘exploited by airlines, hotels and Airbnb owners’

Supporters hoping to travel to the all-English Europa League final in Bilbao could end up paying thousands of pounds for the privilege. There are ways to drive that cost down, however, especially for those willing to spend two days on a ferry.

After Tottenham and ­Manchester United confirmed their places at the San Mamés on 21 May via their respective semi-final second leg ­victories over Bodø/Glimt and Athletic ­Bilbao on Thursday, eyes immediately turned to the prospect of attending a game both Ange Postecoglou and Ruben Amorim described as ­“massive”. Uefa has allocated 15,000 tickets to each club, with a further 11,000 tickets on general sale, out of a total capacity of 49,000. Tickets reserved for official allocations start at €40 (£34), the same price as last year, but general admission has risen in price, with the most ­expensive ­Category 1 ticket costing €240 (£203), up from €150 last year.

• Jack Draper wins 6-1, 6-4 in Italian Open second round
• Emma Raducanu sees off late replacement Jil Teichmann

One of the most important attributes for a top tennis player to have is a bad memory. In such an intense sport where another significant event is always around the corner, being consistent means not dwelling on successes or failures, always focusing on the next task.

Five days after finishing as runner-up at the Madrid Open, this was the challenge before Jack Draper in Rome. He handled his opening match extremely well, holding off a spirited comeback from Italy’s Luciano Darderi in an intense two-set tussle to reach the third round of the Italian Open with a 6-1, 6-4 win.

• American looking to increase stake beyond 80%
• NY Jets owner Woody Johnson also in frame to buy club

John Textor is attempting an audacious takeover of Crystal Palace but faces competition from the New York Jets owner, Woody Johnson, as the battle for control at Selhurst Park heats up before the club’s appearance in the FA Cup final next Saturday.

It is understood that Textor, who failed in his bid to buy Everton last year, has held talks with his fellow American shareholders David Blitzer and Josh Harris about buying their shares in Palace, which constitute about 36% of the club. That would take Textor’s stake to more than 80% and mean he would be able to complete a full takeover – a situation that could threaten the future of the long-serving chairman, Steve Parish.

The Labour veteran looked an awkward choice for the court of Trump, but now the president is holding his hand and complimenting his beautiful accent

Peter Mandelson, with his elegant suits, smooth patter and high-end lifestyle, has always had a dark secret: an interest in the minutiae of trade deals, left over from his period as EU trade commissioner, a period when he could bore for Europe on the virtues of the Mercosur trade deal. Alongside his networking skills, and political antennae, it was his knowledge of trade that possibly persuaded Keir Starmer to take the political risk of appointing him ambassador to Washington.

A pro-European social democrat with a full record of insulting remarks about Donald Trump’s racism, Lord Mandelson might not have been the obvious man to open previously closed doors in the US administration.

Eleanor the Great, The Chronology of Water and Urchin are all in the festival’s prestigious Un Certain Regard sidebar. A first step to being the next Clint Eastwood?

First-time directors with films premiering at Cannes next week would be forgiven for feeling nervous. But three of the directors who are unveiling their debut features in France are less likely than their peers to be quaking as they approach the red carpet.

Actors Scarlett Johansson, Kristen Stewart and Harris Dickinson are all among the film-makers with movies screening in Cannes’ prestigious sidebar Un Certain Regard over the next 10 days.

Maro Itoje has listened to Martin Johnson and Sam Warburton as he prepares his ‘tough men’ for Australia

Do you know what really stuck out as Maro Itoje sat chatting in the O₂ Arena after the British & Irish Lions squad announcement? His biceps. This year’s Lions jersey is tight enough on the shoulders and sufficiently short on the arms to make their already well-muscled captain look like Popeye on steroids. Say what you like about the Lions squad but they have chosen a strong leader.

It has worked for them in the past. Who can forget the pipe‑smoking Willie John McBride and his classic response – “Do you think there will be many of them?” – when an angry hotel manager in South Africa threatened to call the police to arrest a number of 1974 Lions who had been enthusiastically “rearranging” the furniture. Legend also has it that Ian McGeechan picked the hulking Martin Johnson as his skipper in 1997 partly because of the intimidating effect he might have on the Springboks – and the referee – when he entered their changing room.

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Robert Fico and Aleksandar Vučić accept Vladimir Putin’s invitation to attend Victory Day celebrations

Despite warnings from European Union officials, Slovakia’s Moscow-friendly prime minister, Robert Fico, shook hands with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin before becoming the only EU leader to attend Russia’s 9 May parade of military forces waging war on Ukraine.

The Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, whose country aspires to join the 27-nation union, also accepted the Russian president’s invitation to attend the annual Victory Day celebrations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in the second world war.

Explosions heard in Indian Kashmir as witnesses say attacks are heavier than those reported on Thursday

Pakistan has been accused of launching a fresh wave of drone strikes against India on Friday night, with projectiles reported over the states of Indian-administered Kashmir and Punjab.

Projectiles and flashes were seen in the night sky above Jammu, ten blasts were heard near the airport in the Srinagar, and explosions were heard in other areas of Indian Kashmir. The bright flash of intercepted drones were seen over the Punjab city of Amritsar. Witnesses said the drone strikes were heavier than those that took place on Thursday night.

Judge accepted request from Combs’s attorneys due to concerns that jurors might drop out over the weekend

The final phase of jury selection for the racketeering and sex-trafficking trial of the hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been postponed to Monday.

In a ruling on Friday morning, Judge Arun Subramanian, who is presiding over the case in New York, decided that jury selection will now wrap up on Monday morning due to concerns that jurors might drop out over the weekend if the panel was finalized on Friday as originally planned.

Exclusive: Act found to be failing as hostile immigration policies deter trafficking victims from seeking help

Modern slavery victims are choosing to stay with their exploiters rather than access government support designed to protect them for fear of immigration enforcement, research has found.

The independent anti-slavery commissioner, Eleanor Lyons, said the system was “deeply broken”.

Research found chimpanzees drum with non-random rhythms that suggest building blocks of music may predate humans by millions of years

They might not produce Gershwin hits, but chimpanzees have got rhythm, researchers have found in a study they say sheds light on the evolutionary origins of music.

Scientists have previously found chimpanzees drum on the buttress roots of trees to send information to each other, with each individual having their own signature style.

• Leverkusen agree to cut contract set to run until 2026
• Alonso led club to unbeaten Bundesliga title last season

Xabi Alonso will leave Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the Bundesliga season, with the expectation he will take on the imminently vacant seat at Real Madrid.

“We can let you know that this week the club and I, we have agreed that these two games are going to be my last two games as a Bayern Leverkusen coach,” Alonso told a Friday press conference. “We have been talking during this week that is always about the moment and now is the right moment to announce it.”

Jury hears from sole surviving guest as well as medical staff and Erin Patterson’s children in second week of mushroom murders trial

Ian Wilkinson sat in the witness box, a crucifix within an ichthys pinned over his heart, and told the supreme court about four people he shared lunch with on 29 July 2023.

Three of those people are dead, and the other is accused of killing them.

Moscow stages largest Victory Day parade since start of Ukraine war with Putin using celebrations to justify invasion

Russian troops fighting in Ukraine have marched together with Chinese forces on Moscow’s Red Square to mark the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat, in a Victory Day celebration marked by greater spectacle than in recent years.

After several scaled-back Victory Days – with reduced military displays and few foreign guests – Vladimir Putin on Friday addressed the largest parade since his 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “The Soviet Union took upon itself the most ferocious, merciless blows of the enemy,” the Russian president said of the victory over Nazi Germany, before turning to his invasion of Ukraine.