The first lady’s UN security council speech came days after Iranian media reported an airstrike killed 165 people and injured 96 others at girls’ school

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Melania Trump became the first spouse of a sitting world leader to preside over the UN security council on Monday, calling on member states to protect children’s access to education days after Iranian state media reported that an airstrike killed at least 165 people at a girls’ school in southern Iran.

The meeting, titled Children, Technology and Education in Conflict, had been scheduled before the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday.

Zinke, interior secretary during Trump’s first term, cites health problems and declines to run again in Montana

Ryan Zinke, a Montana Republican who served as interior secretary during Donald Trump’s first administration, said he would not seek re-election to a fifth term in the US House, citing health concerns.

The decision gives Democrats an outside chance to pick up a House seat in a state that has veered to the right politically over the past decade.

The war in the Middle East triggered by the joint US and Israeli attack on Iran expanded dramatically on Monday, with casualties and destruction reported across at least nine countries, including major strikes on Tehran.

Since the US and Israel first struck Iran with bombing and missile attacks over the weekend, the speed at which this war has exploded into a regional conflict is ‘dizzying’, says the Guardian’s Oliver Holmes. Tehran swiftly retaliated to the attacks, which killed the country’s supreme leader, by launching strikes across the Middle East.

• A visual guide to the US-Israeli war on Iran and Tehran’s response

• US-Israel war on Iran – live updates

After spending taxpayers’ money, Florida governor will likely be left holding bill for $608m promised by Trump administration

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Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, spent $1.2m of taxpayers’ money per day to open and operate the notorious immigration jail known as Alligator Alcatraz, court records obtained by the independent investigative news website the Florida Tributary reveal.

A switch in position by Donald Trump’s administration also now looks likely to leave Florida on the hook for at least $608m spent on the harsh Everglades detention and deportation facility and other immigration jails, the outlet said. That was despite gloating by DeSantis in September that the state would be reimbursed from federal funds.

David Harbour stars in a deliciously dark dating app drama that is close to the bone after his real-life Lily Allen fallout. But his performance along with Jason Bateman and Linda Cardellini’s make for a wonderfully bingeable show

Never trust a man who rides a recumbent bicycle. That seems to be the first lesson provided by DTF St Louis, a new seven-part dark comedy starring Jason Bateman, David Harbour and Linda Cardellini, and who – honestly – could fail to get behind such a message?

Bateman plays Clark Forrest, local weatherman, microcelebrity and recumbent bicycler round his little patch of St Louis, Missouri. He becomes fast friends with a sign language interpreter, Floyd (Harbour), when they are sent to report on a violent storm together and Floyd saves him from being decapitated by a flying stop sign. Floyd is a goodhearted soul with a mutinous stepson, a hot wife and Peyronie’s disease. That’s when the penis acquires an abnormal curvature that can make penetration difficult, due to a connective tissue problem that is often associated with middle age.

Channel 4’s edgy new ‘social experiment’ cuffs strangers together in a bid to heal a divided Britain. Instead, what emerges is nasty, crass and completely abysmal

After his brilliantly machiavellian performance on The Celebrity Traitors, Jonathan Ross was destined to pop up on our screens again soon. Cue his big post-Traitors gig, hosting Channel 4’s new six-part “social experiment”. It is, explains Ross, a show about whether “a divided Britain [can] settle its differences”, by handcuffing two strangers from different walks of life together for 24 hours a day (including in the shower – ooh-er!) and seeing who can last the longest for a shot at a £100,000 prize. Really, though, it’s a show that manipulates those differences for views – a cheap throwback to Wife Swap at best and The Jeremy Kyle Show at worst.

Each pair has clearly been selected for maximum mutual discomfort. Jo is the owner of a plus-size fashion brand and Reuben thinks fat people are lazy; Tilly spends her spare time helping homeless people while millionaire Anthony reckons he’s an expert ’cos he’s been camping before; George is a former prison officer who believes learning is the best way to empower himself while Sir Ben is an aristocrat who – despite having an expensive education – still chooses to own a painting by Adolf Hitler.

Bill and Hillary Clinton last week faced hours of questioning from lawmakers about the convicted sex offender

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Videos of Bill Clinton, the former US president, and Hillary Clinton, the former US secretary of state, answering questions about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were released Monday by a House committee investigating the late financier.

The recordings of the depositions, which spanned hours over two days last week, show how both Clintons distanced themselves from Epstein. Bill Clinton told the committee that he had ended his relationship with Epstein years before the financier entered a guilty plea in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

• US captain scored in final despite dealing with injury

• Knight says she has been overwhelmed by fans’ support

Hilary Knight revealed on Monday that she led the US women’s ice hockey team to gold at last month’s Olympics while suffering from a torn medial collateral ligament (MCL) in one of her knees.

“I’m not walking around the best, and I’m missing a few games for the [PWHL’s] Seattle Torrent,” Knight said on CBS Mornings. “To be able to play through injury was definitely a mental sort of gymnastic challenge for myself and also physical, but we’ve got some amazing support staff that did their best to get me out there and perform at my best – as best as I could.”

President using ‘very common cream’, personal doctor Sean Barbarella says without giving details

Donald Trump was seen with a rash on the side of his neck during the Medal of Honor Ceremony on Monday, fueling more speculation about the state of the president’s health.

In a statement, Trump’s personal doctor said that the rash was caused by a cream that the president was using as a “preventative skin treatment.”

Trump’s decision to join Israel in attacking Iran has divided the American right – from Murdoch’s cheerleaders to Maga isolationists

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As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump repeatedly pledged to get the US out of “endless wars”, put “America first” and focus on domestic policy. After his first term, he was fond of boasting, somewhat misleadingly, that there were “no wars” during his presidency.

Now the Trump administration’s decision to join Israel in attacking Iran has shocked the US and the world. It has also divided conservative media in the US – with many journalists and pundits on the right celebrating Trump’s decision to confront a longtime American foe, but others expressing dismay or confusion at the revival of a Bush-style interventionism that they thought the Maga movement had repudiated.

Prime minister does not believe US has a plan beyond ‘shock and awe’ stage, as some MPs dread what lies ahead

• US-Israel war on Iran – live updates

• What we know so far on day three of the Iran war

• A visual guide to strikes on Iran and Tehran’s response

Tony Blair’s support for the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 has long loomed like a spectre over the Labour party.

It was present in 2013 when Ed Miliband as opposition leader voted to block UK military action against the Syrian regime.

Bulky and noisy Iran-made unmanned attack drones have hit buildings in Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE and elsewhere

• US-Israel war on Iran – live updates

• A visual guide strikes on Iran and Tehran’s response

Iran’s noisy $50,000 delta-winged Shahed 136 drones have long been an unwanted sight over the skies of Ukraine.

Now, over the last 48 hours, hundreds of the distinctive weapons have struck Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE and across the Gulf as Tehran tries to intimidate and impose costs on regional allies of the US.

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.”

Unlike his predecessors, Friedrich Merz projects certainty, even when he’s wrong. Now he must turn words into a deliverable plan

The 18th-century philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder is credited in Germany with coining the maxim: “Talk is silver, but silence is golden.” The saying has come to define Germany’s political culture. Olaf Scholz was economical with words and drew mockery for his wooden, monosyllabic replies as the “Scholzomat” or even the “coma chancellor”. Scholz was not entirely different from his predecessor. Angela Merkel grew up in East Germany’s communist dictatorship and learned early that words could be dangerous. She spoke cautiously, almost clinically, in the monotone of a central banker. Every word served a purpose. That was precisely why everyone listened closely.

Friedrich Merz, by contrast, is anything but a soporific speaker. The trained lawyer has a sharp tongue and visibly enjoys the sound of his own voice. In this, the conservative chancellor resembles the French president, Emmanuel Macron – another beau parleur. And like Macron, Merz is a know-all. He rarely misses a chance to show his audience how clever he is.

Joseph de Weck is a fellow with the Foreign Policy Research Institute

Claire Danes, Wunmi Mosaku, Rose Byrne and host Kristen Bell were among the crowd at the 32nd Actor awards, formerly known as the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards, held in Los Angeles on Sunday. This year, for the first time, the awards had a fashion theme: ‘Reimagining Hollywood glamour from the 20s and 30s’. While some stars dressed the part, others interpreted the costume cue very loosely

• Actor awards 2026: Michael B Jordan, Jessie Buckley and Catherine O’Hara among big winners

Israel has closed all crossings into Gaza, threatening to plunge 2 million people into a new hunger crisis

• US-Israel war on Iran – live updates

Israel closed all crossings into Gaza indefinitely when it attacked Iran, imposing a siege that has already pushed up food prices and threatens to plunge 2 million people into a new hunger crisis.

After more than two years of war, and with Israeli forces in control of about 60% of the territory, almost all of Gaza’s food must be brought in.

French president says Paris could deploy nuclear-capable fighter jet to countries such as Germany and Poland

France will increase the size of its nuclear arsenal for the first time in decades and significantly intensify nuclear weapons cooperation with eight European allies including the UK as part of a “major” strengthening of its deterrence doctrine, Emmanuel Macron has said.

Amid growing concern among European leaders about wavering US commitments to help defend the continent, the French president said on Monday that Paris could deploy nuclear-capable Rafale fighter jets to partner countries such as Germany and Poland.

Make billionaires pay their fair share act would apply to those with a net worth of $1bn or more

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Senator Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna, a representative, on Monday introduced legislation that would impose a 5% annual wealth tax on America’s billionaires.

The proposal, titled the make billionaires pay their fair share act, would apply to individuals in the US with a net worth of $1bn or more, of which Sanders’s office estimates there are 938 people who meet that threshold.

A near-halt to shipping in strait of Hormuz and attacks on Middle East refineries are threatening supplies and stoking inflation

• Nils Pratley: A gas shock – not an oil shock – looks more threatening

• US-Israel war on Iran – live updates

Iran has responded to US and Israeli attacks by launching a series of counterstrikes against states across the Middle East, with serious consequences for the oil and gas industry and the global economy.

Tehran has attacked oil facilities in neighbouring countries, while shipping traffic through the strait of Hormuz – the crucial bottleneck at the mouth of the Gulf – has all but ground to a halt.

As for Keir Starmer, even when he tries to make a reasonably sound judgment he somehow ends up losing both sides of the argument

Maybe we should have just had done with it back in December. Instead of offering a polite reservation, every western country should have sent a full, state delegation to Norway. Begging, imploring the Nobel Committee to award Donald Trump the peace prize. We could all have chipped in a couple of billion just to make it even more worth winning.

And if that wasn’t enough, we could have twisted the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, to upgrade his “Peaceiest Ever President” award to the “Makes Jesus Look Second Rate” prize. A large solid gold statue of The Donald would have done the trick. There’s more than enough in the Fifa slush funds.

Some who live in region are unsure what to do amid missile strikes, while others are desperate to get home to the UK

• US-Israel war on Iran – live updates

• What we know so far on day three of the Iran war

After the US-Israel attack on Iran and the disruption to travel, some flights are resuming. Dubai Airports said “limited” flights would restart on Monday evening, three days after they were cancelled.

British people living in the Middle East or travelling through the region told the Guardian they were struggling to know what to do in an ever-changing situation. Others spoke about their efforts to return to the UK. Here are some of their experiences:

In a combative press conference, the Pentagon chief dodged questions about the goals of the US military’s Iran operation

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Leave it to Pete Hegseth, the ex-Fox News host now leading the Pentagon, to reframe the massive US-Israeli military operation in Iran as an act of resistance against political correctness: the first based regime-change war of the Maga era.

In a combative press conference at the Pentagon on Monday, Hegseth brought his anti-PC ethos to defend exactly what Donald Trump has said he did not want: to embroil the US in a major intervention in the Middle East with no clear timeline for exit.

Sir Keir Starmer draws a narrow legal distinction. But if British bases enable a wider US-Israeli campaign, the UK risks sliding into an unlawful conflict

In the Commons on Monday, Sir Keir Starmer was clear that Britain will not join offensive action against Tehran. It is wise not to join an illegal attempt at “regime change from the skies”. Sir Keir will, however, permit US use of British bases for limited defensive strikes aimed at stopping Iranian missile attacks. That is a legally clear line, but it may be politically and militarily tricky to stick to.

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions are reckless and unlawful. But so are Iran’s strikes – hitting hotels, airports and energy infrastructure – across the Gulf. Where Britain’s allies have asked for support, or where UK nationals are at risk, the UK is legally entitled to act in collective self-defence. But this holds only as long as the action is restricted to halt Tehran’s barrage.

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The war in the Middle East continues to escalate, with casualties and destruction reported across at least nine countries in under 10 hours. Israeli and US warplanes launched a fresh wave of strikes across Iran, while US allies in the Gulf states are under attack from Iranian missiles and drones. Nosheen Iqbal speaks to the Guardian’s head of international news, Jamie Wilson