French president says deterrent needs to be ‘strengthened’ in recognition of new challenges
A Cypriot government spokesperson has just confirmed that two unmanned drones headed to RAF Akrotiri were intercepted before reaching the base.
“Two unmanned aerial vehicles that were moving towards the direction of the British Bases at Akrotiri were confronted in time,” Konstantinos Letymbiotis said.
After an unmanned drone struck the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus overnight – and two more drones heading toward the base were struck down on Monday – Greece will send two frigates and two F-16 fighter jets to Cyprus “to contribute to its defence against the threats it faces,” said Greek defence minister Nikos Dendias, who will also travel to Cyprus tomorrow.
For the latest on Europe’s response to US-Israel war on Iran, follow The Guardian’s live coverage here.
Gulf states, encouraged by Donald Trump, are on the verge of ending their neutrality in the war against Iran in reprisal for Tehran’s repeated “reckless and indiscriminate attacks” on their territory and infrastructure.
The calls, led by the United Arab Emirates from inside the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council, are for the Arab states to act in self-defence against Iran, but it would be a huge step for Gulf leaders in effect to side with Israel in a war that will determine the future shape of the Middle East, probably to the advantage of Israel.
Sketch featured parodies of JK Rowling, Bill Cosby and Mel Gibson saying controversial remarks were due to TS
Saturday Night Live is under fire for a sketch that poked fun at the Bafta N-word incident, with a leading Tourette syndrome (TS) charity calling it “horrific.”
Filmed in the style of an informational public service announcement, the segment featured SNL cast members as public figures explaining that their controversial comments were because of TS. The sketch was cut for time on Saturday night’s NBC show but was uploaded to YouTube shortly after.
Officials in Texas are continuing to investigate a weekend mass shooting at an Austin bar by a man wearing a “Property of Allah” hoodie as an act of potential terrorism, as fears rise over the possibility of further attacks following US airstrikes on Iran.
Police shot and killed Ndiaga Diagne, 53, a Senegalese national and naturalized US citizen, early on Sunday after he reportedly opened fire at the downtown bar popular with university students. Two people were killed, and another 14 wounded, some of them seriously.
Millions of people aged 50 to 64 are out of work – sidelined by sickness, care duties or ageism. If Labour can’t convince them they’re a priority, Farage will step in
Penny Lancaster was 50 when she retrained as a special constable. Wrangling Saturday night drunks and shoplifters might seem an odd fit for the ex-model and wife of Sir Rod Stewart; she got the idea after making a Channel 4 show in which she temporarily swapped jobs with a police officer. But to Lancaster, who has previously disclosed that she was sexually assaulted as a teenager by a senior figure in the fashion industry, it makes perfect sense: she has said her weekly shifts with City of London police are a way of dealing with things that happened to her as a younger woman, where “the suspects never got found, justice was never had”.
Buried memories have a habit of resurfacing in middle age. But with them sometimes comes a fierce urge to be useful: to make changes in your working life while there’s still time, look out for other people’s kids now your own are nearly grown and pass on life lessons you didn’t realise at the time were valuable. On a policing podcast recently, Lancaster talked about drawing on her experience as a mother of teenagers to talk down a suicidal 19-year-old who approached her on a bridge. Not everything in policing, she pointed out, is about chasing bad guys down the street. Steadiness, patience and emotional maturity matter too.
Hat-trick against Villarreal, his first at 18 years and 230 days, made him the youngest Barça player to score a league one
Mounir Nasraoui and Sheila Ebana watched their little boy make history while everyone else watched too, which takes getting used to but is the way it is now and forever. A moment before the second half began on Saturday, Hansi Flick came to an agreement with Lamine Yamal, or tried to. The teenager had scored twice – both superb, the second absurd – to put them 2-0 up against Villarreal and the coach had an idea. If we score the third, we’ll take you off, Flick said; if I score the third, we will, Lamine Yamal replied. Twenty minutes later both happened together and that, he laughed after, was “perfect”, so up went the board with his number on and up went 44,256 people too, applauding as he went.
Back home, following the game on TV and broadcasting to the world, so did his dad. Lamine Yamal slapped hands with Roony Bardghji, delegate Carlos Naval and Flick, but his eyes were turned towards the stands, looking for his mum. He settled into the bench for a while, saw Robert Lewandowski add another to complete a 4-1 victory and then, when the final whistle sounded, headed back out, collected the match ball from Naval and went to find her. “This is yours,” he said, cameras catching another conversation. “I’m going to take it inside and get everyone to sign it, then bring it to you.” Sheila hugged him hard, kissed her “handsome boy”, and waited for him to return so they could go for dinner.
Hydrolysis uses alkaline and water to break down body in a few hours and is part of demand for more sustainable funerals
Scotland has become the first part of the UK to legalise hydrolysis, an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation or burial, reflecting increasing demand for more sustainable funeral arrangements.
Also known as water cremation or aquamation, the process is already available in many parts of the world, and regulations approved by the Scottish parliament on Monday mark the most significant change to funeral law since cremation was introduced in 1902.
The rapid rollout of datacenters across the US is creating a divide between municipal governments and residents
Wilmington, Ohio, resident Quintin Koger Kidd was so concerned last June with his local public officials’ alleged misdoings – open meeting violations and other discrepancies – that he filed a complaint in court to have the mayor and city council members removed from their posts.
When Koger Kidd later heard that the city supported plans by Amazon Web Services to build a $4bn datacenter on 500 acres (200 hectares) south of town, he was aghast. Amazon has sought a tax abatement that would see its datacenter exempt from paying property taxes for 30 years in exchange for the funding of local schools and infrastructure projects.
“Un bon match,” said Gary O’Neil as he walked into the press room, large mug in hand, after Strasbourg’s entertaining 1-1 draw with Lens. You can’t say the Englishman hasn’t embraced the move to Alsacesince being named Liam Rosenior’s successor at the start of January; all that was missing was the minuscule espresso to complete the Londoner turned cultured European vibe.
His drink would have gone cold by the end of his 28-minute post-match press conference, which he delivered with a Cheshire cat grin that sometimes broke into a slight blush. There were even a few phrases in French. “I have another lesson on Monday. Hopefully, I’ll bring some more French next week,” he joked on his way out of the door, giving a shoutout to his teacher, Ella.
Spain has denied the US permission to use jointly operated military bases on its territory to attack Iran as Madrid stepped up its criticism of the “unjustified and dangerous military intervention”.
Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has explicitly condemned the US and Israel’s “unilateral military action” against Iran, warning that it is contributing to “a more hostile and uncertain international order”. The rebukes have been reinforced by his government’s refusal to allow the US to use bases in Rota and Morón for the continuing strikes against Iran.
‘I’m grateful to Taylor Swift, and others who have covered it, for introducing it to a new generation. Three billion streams on Spotify is astonishing!’
I was going through a divorce and living in a hotel in West Hollywood when my manager said Warner Brothers were seeking songs for the movie City of Angels. They already had U2, Peter Gabriel and Alanis Morissette, so I thought getting a track on there would draw attention to us. Warners showed me the film and it was like Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire. They wanted a song for the scene where the angel – played by Nicolas Cage – decides to become human to be with the woman he loves. That’s the Meg Ryan role. I thought: “What would I say to her if I were him?”
Gregory Caulier has attempted to quash rumours that Mask actor was replaced by a heavily made-up impersonator for his appearance picking up an honorary award in Paris
The organiser of the César awards has sought to debunk reports that a lookalike stood in for Jim Carrey at last week’s ceremony.
In a statement sent to Variety on Monday, Gregory Caulier, general delegate of the Césars, said the controversy was a “non-issue” and testified to Carrey’s investment in the event, which had been in the planning since last summer.
While speaking today, Pete Hegseth acknowledged the fourth US service member killed in Iran’s counterattacks.
“War is hell and always will be,” he said. “Our grateful nation honors the four Americans we have lost thus far and those injured – the absolute best of America.”
Over in New Delhi, India and Canada have agreed deals covering critical minerals and uranium supply.
The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after talks between India’s prime minister NarendraModi and Canada’s MarkCarney.
“Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust, and positivity.”
“This is not merely the renewal of a relationship. It is the expansion of a valued partnership with new ambition, focus, and foresight, a partnership between two confident countries charting our own course for the future.”
The narrow shipping route on Iran’s southern border carries one fifth of global seaborne crude oil, one fifth of LNG shipments and one third of the most widely used fertiliser
Donald Trump’s attempt to overthrow the Iranian government by force could trigger a new wave of cost-of-living pressures that embattled governments and central banks around the world will struggle to deal with.
The US-Israel attack on the Middle Eastern country at the weekend is the latest in a long series of global economic shocks.
Labor is being pushed to introduce tough new national rules for protecting threatened species exposed to disasters including bushfires and floods, with the former Treasury boss Ken Henry among advocates warning that risks to wildlife could reach a point of no return.
Months after a major rewrite of environment laws passed parliament, a consortium of animal protection and campaign groups want the Albanese government to standardise rescue, treatment and rehabilitation processes and help fund organisations working to protect species including endangered koalas in the May federal budget.
Presented as part of the Adelaide festival 2026 program, South Australian artist Alex Frayne explores the fractured psyche of modern America through photography. Shot almost entirely on analogue film over three years and across nine states, Frayne’s lens focuses on the fringes of the west, deep south and Bible belt
When my friend Bea took up pole dancing she enthusiastically tried to convert everyone she knew to it – a common trope, I’d later find out. As a childhood gymnast and dancefloor enthusiast, I was scouted as a potential recruit, so along with my sister, in 2023 we joined her for a class.
The class was packed and the studio felt overly commercialised. The friction of the metal pole against my skin was straight-up painful and spinning around made me so dizzy I had to sit down to reorientate myself several times.
‘It is something we need to work on and talk about’
Jurriën Timber says Arsenal’s players can feel the anxiety of the Emirates Stadium crowd and must find a way to handle it as they chase a first Premier League title since 2004.
The defender gestured for calm in the stands after 63 minutes of Sunday’s game against Chelsea with the score at 1-1; he would score what proved to be the winner three minutes later. The fans’ nerves did not ease – even after the Chelsea winger Pedro Neto was sent off in the 70th minute – and Timber felt them particularly strongly in the closing stages.
Since 2016, the cosy, inclusive, non-heteronormative escapism of the beloved farming sim has inspired a community of devoted fans, and helped it shift 50m units
When farming sim Stardew Valley first came out back in 2016, most of us saw it as a modest indie hit, offering charm, wit and a beautiful little world. Ten years later, this tiny indie has sold nearly 50m copies. If you haven’t played it yourself, you’ve probably seen someone playing it on the train (or, in the case of one of my musical theatre castmates, in the dressing room between scenes). As we discussed on the Tech Weekly podcast shortly after its launch, this calming game about tending crops and animals and relationships with neighbours rejuvenated the entire farming/life sim genre. To this day, I still get press releases promising that some upcoming cosy game or another is the next Stardew Valley.
While developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone now has a small team to help with periodic updates, the original game – his first – was all his own work, from the distinctive pixel art and animations to the soundtrack that has since toured the world in concert. Unable to get a job after university, he’d started his own project inspired by the Harvest Moon series (now called Story of Seasons). One notable addition was the inclusion of queer romance options. The ability to pursue a romantic relationship with other townsfolk is a key part of the game’s popularity – as demonstrated by the thousands who tuned in to a video from Barone revealing the identities of two new marriage candidates – and the fact that all potential spouses are available to the player character regardless of gender has helped the game garner a dedicated queer fanbase.
Actor has ‘no hard feeling’ towards Tourette activist John Davidson, but says BBC’s failure to edit out slurs kept her awake at night and brought tears to her eyes
Sinners star Wunmi Mosaku, winner of the best supporting actress Bafta, said that the N-word incident at the Baftas “tainted” her celebration and “kept [her] awake at night”.
Mosaku was speaking in Los Angeles on Sunday at the Actor awards (formerly the Screen Actors Guild awards), where Sinners won best cast, and said: “It was incredibly painful to have that celebration kind of really tainted for me.”
17th-century Dutch master’s Vision of Zacharias in the Temple to go on display this week
It hung unrecognised on the wall of a private home for decades but now a 17th-century painting has been revealed as a Rembrandt, taking its potential value from thousands to millions of pounds.
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam announced on Monday that it had rediscovered an early biblical scene by the Dutch master that was once thought lost, thanks to hi-tech scanning and two years of expert analysis.
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