© Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
India has reportedly summoned the top diplomat from Pakistan’s embassy to give notice that all defence advisers in its mission are persona non grata
India has summoned Pakistan’s top diplomat in New Delhi, local media reported on Thursday, a day after it announced measures to downgrade ties with Islamabad over a deadly militant attack in Kashmir.
A day after suspected militants killed 26 men at a tourist destination in Kashmir – in the worst attack on civilians in the country in nearly two decades – Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri said there was cross-border involvement in the attack and that New Delhi would suspend a six-decade old river-sharing treaty, as well as close the only land crossing between the neighbours.
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© Photograph: Adil Abass/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Adil Abass/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock
Victims include fans rushing to buy tickets at well over face value, data collected by Lloyds Banking Group suggests
Oasis fans have collectively lost more than £2m to scams since tickets for its reunion tour went on sale last year, a major bank has estimated.
Lloyds Banking Group based the calculation on the volume of fraud reports made by its own customers. Oasis fans make up more than half (56%) of all reported concert ticket scams so far this year, according to Lloyds’ data, losing £436 on average.
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© Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
Expectations that the Fed will cut short-term interest rates and falling consumer confidence could indicate what is ahead
Imagine you are sailing a ship through dense fog, looking out for land. Your lookout spots species of birds typically found offshore. It now seems likely that you are approaching land, but it is impossible to know for sure until you see the coastline. If a US recession is land, the “birds” are already swooping into view. But these sightings offer no guarantees of what lies ahead, only probabilities.
An inverted yield curve, when the long-term interest rate falls to or below the short-term rate, is commonly considered to be a predictor of recession. The 10-year bond rate did fall below the three-month Treasury rate in March, although the two are now at about the same level. In any case, the yield curve does not actually tell us much. It simply reflects financial market expectations that the US Federal Reserve might cut short-term interest rates in the future, which in turn reflects expectations that economic activity might falter.
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© Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
© Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
Sophie Lloyd, who was expelled in 1991 when her deception was exposed, accepts belated apology from the society
Deception has always been an integral part of magic. So when Sophie Lloyd set about attempting to gain access to the formerly male-only ranks of the Magic Circle, she concocted an elaborate disguise.
To become the magician Raymond Lloyd, she wore a male bodysuit, wig, gloves to disguise her feminine hands – making sleight of hand even more difficult – and wore “plumpers” in her mouth to give herself a square jaw.
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© Photograph: Magic Circle
© Photograph: Magic Circle
© Yahya Arhab/EPA, via Shutterstock
Five districts across Kyiv suffered damage in attack that is among the deadliest on the capital in the three-year war
At least nine people have been killed and more than 60 wounded in a “massive” missile attack on Kyiv, according to Ukraine’s state emergency service. It is among the deadliest attacks on the capital of the three-year war.
Ukrainian authorities issued an alert for a missile attack, and AFP journalists heard explosions across the capital early on Thursday.
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© Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters
© Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters
The nation remembers pontiff’s trip to the Philippines, where he met Typhoon Haiyan survivors in a show of sympathy and humility
At Quiapo church in central Manila, the pews are filled with worshippers. Latecomers gather near the entrance, clutching fans to ease the stifling heat.
A prayer is read out in memory of Pope Francis, known affectionately as Lolo Kiko, or Grandpa Francis, whose image stands framed on the alter.
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© Photograph: Lisa Marie David/Reuters
© Photograph: Lisa Marie David/Reuters
© Doug Mills/The New York Times
Groundbreaking project has produced some of the world’s most comprehensive studies on vaccine efficacy and safety
The largest ever global study into the safety of Covid-19 vaccines has been terminated just 13 months shy of completion, after becoming caught up in the Trump administration’s sweeping funding cuts.
The Global Vaccine Data Network, which was established in 2019 by the New Zealand-based vaccinologist Helen Petousis-Harris and the US-based vaccinologist Steven Black, has already produced some of the world’s most comprehensive studies on vaccine efficacy and safety, based on data from more than 300 million people.
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© Photograph: Emily Elconin/Reuters
© Photograph: Emily Elconin/Reuters
Brazil has been the world’s leading coffee producer due to the forced labour of enslaved Africans and Afro-Brazilians
“John” was just days from turning 16 when he was allegedly recruited to work on a Brazilian coffee farm that supplies the global coffeehouse chain Starbucks.
Soon after his birthday, he embarked on a 16-hour bus journey to the farm in the state of Minas Gerais – only to discover that none of what he had been promised would be fulfilled.
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© Photograph: Héctor Retamal/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Héctor Retamal/AFP/Getty Images
Penn Badgley’s ‘sexy’ serial killer story was once ludicrously fun. But despite plenty of fan-pleasing cameos and a propulsive twist, the show’s sign-off is so bad that it’s offensive
You, in which a serial killer and stalker of women, but a sexy one, is somehow fashioned into the hero of the piece, is a fundamentally preposterous show. It washes its hands of plausibility in favour of vocal fry, phones without passwords and quasi-literary second-person monologues. Perhaps most preposterous of all is that it has stretched the story over five seasons. You used to be fun, at least: a guilty-ish pleasure, aware of its own over-the-top silliness, that once gave the impression of knowing that it wasn’t so much pushing at the edges of credulity as body-barging it into an abyss. But as the seasons have ticked away, the satire has seeped out, leaving a mess of its own making that it tries, and inevitably struggles, to clear up.
The main problem is that Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) is both the hero and the villain. In this final – and that really is a mercy – season, You falls back on its old habit of not knowing which it would prefer him to be. After a predictably murderous stint as a lecturer at an English university, Joe is now married to billionaire and philanthropist Kate Lockwood (Charlotte Ritchie), living in New York with her and with his newly returned son Henry. He is no longer pretending to be dead and another person. Instead, he is a public figure, hiding from his many misdeeds in plain sight.
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© Photograph: CLIFTON PRESCOD/NETFLIX
© Photograph: CLIFTON PRESCOD/NETFLIX
First clinical trial of its kind could be ‘life changing’ for those living in fear of severe peanut reaction
Adults with severe peanut allergies can be desensitised by daily exposure, according to the first clinical trial of its kind.
After being given steadily increasing doses of peanut flour over a period of months, two-thirds of the trial participants were able to eat the equivalent of five peanuts without reacting.
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© Photograph: Kumar Sriskandan/Alamy
© Photograph: Kumar Sriskandan/Alamy
From personally promising to relocate vulnerable asylum seekers to speaking out against ‘cruel’ policies, the late pope was a voice for the marginalised
On a glorious spring day almost a decade ago, an Airbus A320 took off from Mytilene airport on the Greek island of Lesbos. For what seemed like an age, a small group of bystanders, including officials and the media, watched in disbelief until the plane veered left over the sun-speckled Aegean Sea and its Alitalia livery could no longer be discerned. On board was Pope Francis, who had spent barely five hours on Lesbos, then at the centre of the refugee crisis on Europe’s eastern fringes.
The whirlwind tour had been replete with symbolism but it was the pontiff’s fellow travellers who had caused such surprise. Moments after the head of the Roman Catholic Church had entered the aircraft, 12 refugees had also appeared, cheerfully making their way across the runway with expressions of stunned relief, their first taste of freedom after incarceration in the island’s notorious “reception” centre.
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© Photograph: Getty Images
© Photograph: Getty Images
Working for Hope Not Hate, I infiltrated an extremist organisation, befriended its members and got to work investigating their political connections
Charlie, the leader of a white nationalist group, leaned over the sticky pub table. He pointed a big finger at me and locked eyes. “You better not turn out to be an infiltrator for Hope Not Hate,” he said. I froze. Flanked by several of his lieutenants, Charlie watched, waiting for my response. His face softened into a smile. He started laughing and yanked down his collar, pretending to talk into a hidden microphone. “Abort! Abort!” he shouted. I played along, lifting up my wrist like there was a wire stashed in my cuff. “Get me out of here!” I yelled into my sleeve. “They’ve discovered me!”
Charlie was right to be suspicious of me. I was, in fact, an infiltrator for the anti-fascist organisation Hope Not Hate. The only thing he got wrong was the location of my microphone: it wasn’t in my collar but strapped to my chest.
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© Photograph: Drik Picture Library
© Photograph: Drik Picture Library
Instead of bazooka-level fines on global turnover, this €700m was no more than a slap on the wrist. It’s a missed opportunity
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, had some tough words for big tech this week, but it seems that at the last minute, the EU lost its nerve. Under the Digital Markets Act, companies that the EU has designated as “gatekeepers” – that is, digital platforms that provide core services such as search engines, app stores and messenger services – have special obligations and constraints that are meant to ensure a fair playing field for other companies.
Apple, which takes a significant cut of purchases (including subscriptions) made through its App Store, violated the act by preventing developers from directing customers to their own websites to get around the “Apple tax”. In Meta’s case, the company was fined for forcing Facebook and Instagram users to either consent to letting Meta use their personal data, or pay a monthly fee to remove ads.
Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist
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© Composite: Guardian Design / Getty Images
© Composite: Guardian Design / Getty Images
Madeleine Finlay and Ian Sample discuss three intriguing science stories from the week. From a hint at alien life on a distant planet, to a clue in the search for answers over why colon cancer rates are rising in the under 50’s, and news from a group of scientists who claim to have experienced a colour no one has ever seen before.
Are we alone? New discovery raises hopes of finding alien life
Childhood toxin exposure ‘may be factor in bowel cancer rise in under-50s’
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© Photograph: ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser/EPA
© Photograph: ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser/EPA
When they’re not shouting at their own children, many of Britain’s soccer dads like nothing more than swearing at the officials, or even trading blows on the touchline. Isn’t this supposed to be fun?
A chilly Saturday morning on the Astroturf pitches at Coram’s Fields in central London and several youth football matches are under way. I’m watching an under-11s game. The sound is the thud of boot on ball, the shrill interruption of the referee’s whistle, and a whole lot of shouting. From the players (“Mine!”, “Here!”, “Pass!”, “Ref!”, etc). From the two coaches (“Press!”, “Stay wide!”, “Push up!”, “Ref!”, etc). And from the touchline dads. There is one mum here today, but she’s less vocal.
To varying degrees, the dads are part fan, part coach, part personal trainer to their progeny. There is one dad (there’s always one) who’s taking it a bit further, who’s a bit shoutier than the others. “Get rid of it!” he screams at the defence, meaning hoof it upfield, which is the opposite of the coach’s instructions to play it out from the back. “Ref! Seriously?” he shouts at the referee (who’s only about 17 himself).
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© Illustration: Gus Scott/The Guardian
© Illustration: Gus Scott/The Guardian
Two Belgian 19-year-olds have pleaded guilty to wildlife piracy – part of a growing trend of trafficking ‘less conspicuous’ creatures for sale as exotic pets
Poaching busts are familiar territory for the officers of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), an armed force tasked with protecting the country’s iconic creatures. But what awaited guards when they descended in early April on a guesthouse in the west of the country was both larger and smaller in scale than the smuggling operations they typically encounter. There were more than 5,000 smuggled animals, caged in their own enclosures. Each one, however, was about the size of a little fingernail: 18-25mm.
The cargo, which two Belgian teenagers had apparently intended to ship to exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia, was ants. Their enclosures were a mixture of test tubes and syringes containing cotton wool – environments that authorities say would keep the insects alive for weeks.
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© Photograph: Gulfu Photography/Getty Images
© Photograph: Gulfu Photography/Getty Images
The government began to roll out its free breakfast club scheme this week as part of plans to help struggling families. But with predictions that child poverty could increase by the end of this parliament, how serious is Labour about tackling the problem? John Harris hears from a headteacher, and speaks to our political editor, Pippa Crerar
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© Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA
© Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA
Stuart Semple is selling product for £10,000 (or £29.99 to fellow creatives) – but scientists say hue cannot be replicated
A British artist claims to have replicated in paint a colour that scientists say they discovered by having laser pulses fired into their eyes.
Stuart Semple created his own version of the blue-green colour based on the US research published in Science Advances, which he is selling on his website for £10,000 per 150ml jar – or £29.99 if you state you are an artist.
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© Photograph: Stuart Semple
© Photograph: Stuart Semple
Donald Trump signs orders that attack funding and accreditation as his administration pushes to reshape colleges – key US politics stories from 23 April
Donald Trump has signed executive orders targeting US universities as his administration seeks to reshape higher education institutions and crack down on diversity and inclusion efforts.
The actions address foreign gifts to universities as well as college accreditation, which the president has referred to as his “secret weapon” to upend US universities.
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© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP
© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Steve Witkoff and Marco Rubio bail on negotiations in London, while Putin appears undecided about peace terms
When his jet lands in Moscow, Steve Witkoff – Donald Trump’s envoy and longtime friend – will mark his fourth visit to Russia this year, a pointed gesture that says as much about who he is meeting as who he is not.
The 68-year-old real estate executive, who holds no formal diplomatic credentials, was expected in London on Wednesday for talks with Kyiv and European allies.
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© Photograph: Gavriil Grigorov/Reuters
© Photograph: Gavriil Grigorov/Reuters
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