↩ Accueil

Vue lecture

Ukraine war briefing: Progress depends on Russia taking peace talks seriously, say Washington and Kyiv

US and Ukraine to hold third day of discussions in Florida as Emmanuel Macron says there is ‘no mistrust’ between Europe and White House. What we know on day 1,382

Ukrainian and US officials will hold a third straight day of talks in Miami on Saturday, with Washington saying the two sides agree that “real progress” would depend on Russia’s willingness to end the war. Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner have been meeting top Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov and Andrii Hnatov, the chief of staff of Kyiv’s armed forces. “Both parties agreed that real progress toward any agreement depends on Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace, including steps toward de-escalation and cessation of killings,” said a summary of the talks.

The US and Ukrainian officials “also agreed on the framework of security arrangements and discussed necessary deterrence capabilities to sustain a lasting peace”. The talks in Florida come after Witkoff and Kushner met Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Tuesday to discuss a US plan to end the conflict but the Russian president rejected parts of the proposal and threatened that Russia was “ready” for war if Europe started it.

Emmanuel Macron has said there is “no mistrust” between Europe and the US, a day after a report claimed the French president had warned privately there was a risk Washington could betray Ukraine, reports Oliver Holmes. “Unity between Americans and Europeans on the Ukrainian issue is essential,” Macron said during a visit to China on Friday. “And I say it again and again, we need to work together.”

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said they held “very constructive” talks with the Belgian prime minister, Bart De Wever, on Friday over an EU plan to use Russian frozen assets to fund Ukraine, which Belgium has so far refused to endorse. The EC, along with most European governments, prefers a “reparations loan” using Russian state assets immobilised in the European Union due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We agreed that time is of the essence given the current geopolitical situation,” von der Leyen said after the meeting in Brussels. Moscow’s ambassador to Germany, meanwhile, warned that the plan to use frozen Russian assets would have “far-reaching consequences” for the EU. “Any operation with sovereign Russian assets without Russia’s consent constitutes theft,” Sergey Nechaev claimed.

Russian drones struck a house in central Ukraine, killing a 12-year-old boy, officials said, while long-range Ukrainian strikes reportedly targeted a Russian port and an oil refinery. In Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, a Russian drone attack overnight to Friday destroyed a house where the boy was killed and two women injured, said the head of the regional military administration, Vladyslav Haivanenko. In Russia, Ukrainian drones attacked a port in the Krasnodar region on the border with Ukraine, sparking a fire at the Temryuk seaport and damaging port infrastructure, officials said. Ukrainian drones also aimed deeper inside Russia, attacking the city of Syzran on the Volga river, said the mayor, Sergei Volodchenkov, without providing more details. Unconfirmed media reports said Ukrainian drones hit an oil refinery in Syzran.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said a Ukrainian drone struck and damaged a high-rise building in Grozny, capital of Russia’s southern Chechnya region, and vowed to retaliate within a week. The drone had caused no casualties, he said on Friday.

Vladimir Putin has told the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, that Russia is ready to continue “uninterrupted” shipments of oil to India, signalling a defiant stance to the US as the two leaders met in Delhi and affirmed that their ties were “resilient to external pressure”. The statement, made on Friday after the annual India-Russia summit, appeared to be directed at western countries – particularly the US – that have attempted to pressure New Delhi into scaling back its ties to Moscow, reports Hannah Ellis-Petersen.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Oleg Petrasiuk/24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Oleg Petrasiuk/24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Oleg Petrasiuk/24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces/AFP/Getty Images

  •  

Zootopia 2 bucks trend for Hollywood releases in China as it breaks records for foreign animation

Now China’s highest-grossing foreign animation, the films, known as Zootropolis in some countries, comes amid a boom for domestic productions

A comedy about animal cops investigating a reptilian mystery has become the highest-grossing foreign animated film ever in China, bucking the trend of declining interest in overseas productions that has resulted in Hollywood films struggling in the Chinese box office.

Zootopia 2 (called Zootropolis 2 in some European countries), a hotly anticipated and widely marketed sequel to 2016’s Zootopia, was released in China last week. In its first seven days, it made about 2bn yuan (£213m) in ticket sales, making it one of the best-performing films of the year.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Go Nakamura/Reuters

© Photograph: Go Nakamura/Reuters

© Photograph: Go Nakamura/Reuters

  •  

Michael Jordan tells court he ‘wasn’t afraid’ of Nascar in antitrust trial

  • Jordan testifies in Nascar antitrust case

  • Says he invested $40m into 23XI team

  • Criticizes charter system as unlawful

Michael Jeffrey Jordan, as he cordially introduced himself to the federal courtroom in Charlotte on Friday, admitted it was his competitive side and novelty within the sport that emboldened a push for 23XI Racing to “challenge” Nascar over what he perceived were violations of antitrust rules.

Jordan shared financial and corporate details of his 23XI team and said he invested $40m of his own funds in the success of the Nascar Cup series team launched along with business partner Curtis Polk and longtime driver Denny Hamlin.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Grant Baldwin/Getty Images

© Photograph: Grant Baldwin/Getty Images

© Photograph: Grant Baldwin/Getty Images

  •  

Lady Gaga review – the Mayhem Ball shows Mother Monster is still the reigning queen of spectacle

Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
The pop star’s first Australian show in a decade comes after years of physical and mental pain – so it’s a great relief to see her having a good time again

As Lady Gaga is carted on stage atop a crinoline structure that resembles both a red velvet cake and a toilet roll doll cozy she states her dictum: “Dance or die”.

Mother Monster’s ruling sets into motion an operatic 150-minute show – her first in Australia since the artRAVE in August of 2014. For the entirety of the Mayhem Ball, Gaga careens between dancing and dying in what she calls her “gothic dream” – although it often reads more Halloween. Skeletons abound – no doubt a homage to the late Gaga muse Rick Genest, otherwise known as Zombie Boy. At times it’s downright Hitchcockian, Gaga a veritable Kim Novak as she switches between blond and brunette selves with each wig change.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation

© Photograph: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation

© Photograph: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation

  •  

How many spiders and pseudoscorpions does it take to make one of the world’s greatest taxonomists?

Former Perth curator Mark Harvey is one of the few people on Earth to have described 1,000 new species, many of them arachnids. Colleagues say his legacy is ‘unquantifiable’

For most people around the world, 16 August 1977 was memorable because it was the day Elvis Presley died.

“We turned the radio on when we got back in the car and that was the headline. Elvis was dead,” remembers Dr Mark Harvey.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Ben Harvey/Bush Blitz

© Photograph: Ben Harvey/Bush Blitz

© Photograph: Ben Harvey/Bush Blitz

  •  

From ‘terrorist’ to national treasure, renowned Māori activist finally tells his own story

Tāme Iti’s colourful memoir covers his decades-long fight for Indigenous rights in New Zealand and takes aim at ‘saboteurs’ in the government

There are so many ways to begin telling the story of Tāme Iti, arguably New Zealand’s most recognisable Māori rights activist, who was once branded a terrorist by the state and is now considered by many a national treasure.

You could begin with his formative school years at the foot of Te Urewera ranges, where he was made to write the lines “I will not speak Māori” as punishment for speaking his language – lines that have since become a prominent feature of his art and activism.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Alan Gibson/The Guardian

© Photograph: Alan Gibson/The Guardian

© Photograph: Alan Gibson/The Guardian

  •  

Professor visiting Harvard arrested by ICE agrees to leave country

Carlos Portugal Gouvea, charged with firing a pellet gun on eve of Yom Kippur outside a synagogue, has said he was not aware of the holiday or that he was shooting next to one

US immigration authorities arrested a visiting professor at Harvard law school after he was charged with discharging a pellet gun outside a Massachusetts synagogue the day before Yom Kippur, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Thursday – and he agreed to leave the country.

Carlos Portugal Gouvea, a Brazilian citizen, was arrested on Wednesday by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after his temporary nonimmigrant visa was revoked by the state department following what the Trump administration labeled an “anti-semitic shooting incident” – a description at odds with how local authorities have described the case.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Charles Krupa/AP

© Photograph: Charles Krupa/AP

© Photograph: Charles Krupa/AP

  •  

Thomas Frank faces Brentford reunion not knowing his best Spurs team

  • Frank up against former club Brentford on Saturday

  • Dane urges team to ‘be calm’ if they concede first

Thomas Frank has admitted he is still to decide on his best Tottenham team but promised his players would not panic should they concede another early goal in Saturday’s meeting with his former club Brentford.

Spurs suffered their record-equalling 10th home defeat of 2025 against Fulham last Saturday after going 2-0 down in the sixth minute and a section of supporters booed the goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario after his mistake for the second. But a spirited performance at Newcastle in midweek in which Cristian Romero equalised with an overhead kick in added time has lifted spirits after three successive losses.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Javier García/Tottenham Hotspur FC/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Javier García/Tottenham Hotspur FC/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Javier García/Tottenham Hotspur FC/Shutterstock

  •  

Sale blow 14-0 lead to slump to home defeat by Glasgow in Champions Cup opener

  • Sale 21-26 Glasgow

  • Alex Sanderson’s injury-hit side in worrying slide

Losing is in danger of becoming a habit for Sale after a stellar ­Glasgow side headed back north with a ­bonus-point win in this Champions Cup opener.

Alex Sanderson’s hosts, beaten here by Exeter a week ago and already off the pace in their Prem campaign, let slip an early 14-0 lead to a Warriors team packed with some of Scotland’s finest talent.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Ryan Browne/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Ryan Browne/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Ryan Browne/Shutterstock

  •  

Trump wins his peace prize from Fifa – any chance of a VAR review?

At a gaudy and gauche World Cup draw, Gianni Infantino went all out to flatter the world’s most precious ego

It had about as much drama and suspense as reading a dictionary or watching election results come in from North Korea.

To the surprise of no one, Donald Trump won the inaugural Fifa peace prize on Friday at a cheesy, gaudy and gauche World Cup draw expertly designed to flatter the world’s most precious ego.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

  •  

Wayward England pace attack fumble their golden chance to strike with new ball | Simon Burnton

So good in the first innings in Perth, England’s bowlers were dismal in the opening session on day two to let Australia off the hook

Jofra Archer’s first ball zinged towards Jake Weatherald and screamed just past the bat. His second arrowed into his pads, knocking him off his feet, and after a review the umpire raised his finger.

Forty-five overs later, Australia were all out for not many. But that was Perth, a bowling performance that started with a statement of intent from England’s premier fast bowler and a lead followed by his teammates.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

© Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

© Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

  •  

Fackham Hall review – Downton Abbey spoof is fast, funny and throwaway

Period drama parody has some decent and often smart gags and benefits from a game cast including Damian Lewis and Thomasin McKenzie

Perhaps it’s the feeling of end times in the air: after years of inactivity, spoofs are making a comeback. This summer saw the resurgence of the lighthearted genre, which at its best sends up the pretensions of overly serious genre with a barrage of pitched cliches, sight gags and stupid-clever puns. The Naked Gun, starring Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson in a spoof of a buddy-cop spoof, opened to moderate box office success; the hapless rock band dialed it back up to 11 in Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. Reboots of the horror spoof gold-standard Scary Movie and the Mel Brooks Star Wars rip Spaceballs were greenlit, and there were rumors of a return for international man of mystery Austin Powers. Unserious times, it seems, beget appetite for knowingly unserious, joke-dense, refreshingly shallow fun.

The latest of these goofy parodies, which premieres on the beyond-parody day that Fifa awarded Donald Trump an inaugural peace prize and Netflix announced its plan to buy Warner Bros, is Fackham Hall, a Downton Abbey spoof that pokes at the very pokeable pretensions of gilded British period dramas. (Yes, Fackham rhymes with a crass kiss-off to the aristocracy.) Co-written by British Irish comedian and TV presenter Jimmy Carr and directed by Jim O’Hanlon, Fackham Hall has plenty of material to work with – the historical soap’s grand finale just premiered in September, 15 years after Julian Fellowes’s series started going upstairs-downstairs with ludicrous portent – and wastes none of it. From ludicrous start (servants rolling joints for the household and responding to calls from the “masturbatorium”) to ludicrous finish (someone manages to marry a second cousin rather than a first!), this enjoyable silver-spoon romp packs all of its 97 minutes with jokes and bits ranging from the puerile to the genuinely funny, proving that there may yet be more to wring from eat-the-rich satire.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Paul Stephenson/© 2025 Elysian Films

© Photograph: Paul Stephenson/© 2025 Elysian Films

© Photograph: Paul Stephenson/© 2025 Elysian Films

  •  

The Liz Truss Show review – hapless ravings from a cupboard

Britain’s briefest PM kept her fans waiting before launching her latest plea for Maga attention in the form of a ham-fisted YouTube talk show

In the lead-up to the launch of The Liz Truss Show – the hot new YouTube series from Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister – one phrase was repeated time and time again: “They tried to silence her.” Turns out they didn’t need to, because Truss was perfectly capable of doing that herself.

Episode 1, she tweeted, would be available on Friday at 6pm. Except, on Friday at 6pm, it was nowhere to be seen. By 6.05, with still no sign of it, her faithful began to grow itchy. “Where’s your show?” they tweeted at her. A few more minutes passed. “FFS Liz get your act together,” sighed another.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: @trussliz/Instagram

© Photograph: @trussliz/Instagram

© Photograph: @trussliz/Instagram

  •  

People flee DR Congo fighting one day after peace deal signed in Washington

Hundreds driven into Rwanda as M23 militia battles Congolese army and Burundian soldiers for border town of Kamanyola

Fresh fighting in eastern DR Congo has forced hundreds to flee across the border into Rwanda, a day after a peace deal was signed in Washington DC.

Thursday’s agreement was meant to stabilise the resource-rich east but it has had little visible effect on the ground so far, in an area plagued by conflict for 30 years.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

  •  

Thomas Tuchel keeps his cool amid cringe, confusion and drama of World Cup draw | David Hytner

England manager happy to ‘focus on what we can influence’ after a draw that will live long in the memory and not for the right reasons

At the end of an extraordinary day in the US capital and a World Cup draw that lurched between the ridiculous and the sublime (with a greater emphasis on the former, if the truth be told), Thomas Tuchel and England now know. Croatia in Toronto or Dallas. Ghana in Boston or Toronto. Panama in New Jersey or Philadelphia. And that is just the group games.

With the excitement running wild and, well, England being England, their determination to bring it home to the fore, it was not long before the permutations were being scrutinised. It could be Mexico at the Azteca in the last 16 – the scene of the Hand of God in 1986. It could be Brazil in Miami in the quarter-finals. Tuchel pulled a face as if to say: “Wow.” There had been a lot to process. And that is before we talk about the Honourable Donald J Trump and his Fifa peace prize glory.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Scott Taetsch/FIFA/Getty Images

© Photograph: Scott Taetsch/FIFA/Getty Images

© Photograph: Scott Taetsch/FIFA/Getty Images

  •  

World Cup draw: group-by-group analysis for the 2026 tournament

How each team qualified, who will be favourites to progress to the knockout stage and which games to look out for

The opening game in the Azteca will be a repeat of the opener in 2010 when South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico in Soccer City, Soweto. Mexico have won one knockout game at the World Cup, beating Bulgaria last time they hosted, in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that side and will be targeting their third quarter-final as hosts. South Africa, coached by the veteran Belgian Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin, despite having a game against Lesotho they appeared to have won awarded against them for fielding a suspended player.

Continue reading...

© Composite: Getty Images

© Composite: Getty Images

© Composite: Getty Images

  •  

Vanity Fair and Olivia Nuzzi part ways amid scandal over RFK Jr relationship

‘Mutual’ decision follows controversy over relationship with presidential candidate and claims of ethical breaches

Vanity Fair is ending its association with Olivia Nuzzi, who had briefly been the magazine’s west coast editor, as the publication distances itself from controversy tied in part to her relationship with the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.

“Vanity Fair and Olivia Nuzzi have mutually agreed, in the best interest of the magazine, to let her contract expire at the end of the year,” publisher Condé Nast said in a statement on Friday shared with the New York Times.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP

© Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP

© Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP

  •  

US citizen chased by federal agents in New Orleans says she was targeted because ‘I’m brown’

Home security videos shows Jacelynn Guzman, 23, telling masked officers following her to ‘leave me alone’

A US citizen who was seen on home security video being chased by masked federal agents outside New Orleans amid the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown says she surmises that she was pursued because “I’m brown”.

“I have no idea why they targeted me,” Jacelynn Guzman told the Guardian reporting partner WWL Louisiana on Thursday, a day after the video in question was taken and subsequently went viral online.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Adam Gray/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Adam Gray/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Adam Gray/AFP/Getty Images

  •  

Norris’ date with F1 destiny arrives as he aims to keep Verstappen and Piastri at bay

He has a 12-point lead before Sunday’s Abu Dhabi GP but the British driver vows to ‘crack on’ if the title goes elsewhere

The atmosphere at a season-deciding finale in the Formula One world championship is like no other. The paddock positively hums with a febrile, pulsing excitement and sense of expectation that is impossible to ignore. Amid all of which the title favourite, Lando Norris, finds himself at the moment he has dedicated his life toward, destiny lying in his own hands.

After a gruelling 23-race trek around the world, the conclusion of all the work, sacrifice and effort will be decided in just an hour and a half on Sunday afternoon in Abu Dhabi.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: James Sutton/Formula 1/Getty Images

© Photograph: James Sutton/Formula 1/Getty Images

© Photograph: James Sutton/Formula 1/Getty Images

  •  

Wretched start to six wins in a row: how Aston Villa turned their season around

As Premier League’s most in-form side prepare to host Arsenal their experience is beginning to look like a superpower

In a parallel universe somewhere, Unai Emery is still wrestling with his black puffer coat in his dugout at the Amex Stadium, trying to force his hands through the sleeves, fresh from hurling it to the ground in wild celebration. The adrenaline of Aston Villa’s 4-3 comeback win at Brighton on Wednesday has probably only just faded. He made cinematic viewing and triggered memories of Mario Balotelli struggling to put on a warm-up bib and Tim Sherwood, while Villa manager a decade ago, launching his club-branded jacket towards the turf after Christian Benteke equalised against QPR.

By the end, Emery was hoarse and Villa had chalked up an eighth victory in nine Premier League matches, 12 out of 14 in all competitions. Across the past 10 league matches, Villa have accrued a division-high 25 points and in that time only Manchester City have scored more goals and Arsenal conceded fewer. This is the same team that failed to win any of their opening six matches and took three points from their first five league games. At that point Emery was concerned and shared his feelings with his squad, insisting his players raise their performance levels at training and in matches. Belief within an experienced squad – at 27.4 years, the average age of players selected in the league this season is the joint-oldest, with Fulham – did not waver.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: James Marsh/Shutterstock

© Photograph: James Marsh/Shutterstock

© Photograph: James Marsh/Shutterstock

  •  

US federal judge orders release of Epstein grand jury materials

Ruling compels unsealing of documents from 2006-2007 federal investigation into Epstein in Florida

A federal judge in Florida ordered the release of grand jury transcripts from the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking cases on Friday, citing the recently enacted federal law that overrides traditional secrecy protections.

US district judge Rodney Smith ruled that the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law last month by Donald Trump, overrode federal rules prohibiting the disclosure of grand jury materials.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: US Department of Justice/PA

© Photograph: US Department of Justice/PA

© Photograph: US Department of Justice/PA

  •  

Scotland to face Brazil and Morocco in World Cup group stage in repeat of France 1998

  • Steve Clarke’s side also drawn with Haiti in Group C

  • Fifth time Scotland and Brazil will meet at a World Cup

Scotland face a mouthwatering reunion with Brazil in their first World Cup campaign since 1998 after being drawn in Group C at Friday’s ceremony.

Steve Clarke’s players will also face Morocco and Haiti on their return to the big time, opening their campaign against the latter on 13 June. That curtain raiser will be played in either the Boston area or the MetLife Stadium near New York City.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Scott Taetsch/FIFA/Getty Images

© Photograph: Scott Taetsch/FIFA/Getty Images

© Photograph: Scott Taetsch/FIFA/Getty Images

  •  

Frank Gehry, legendary Canadian-American architect, dies aged 96

The architect, whose work included the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA, died after a brief illness

Frank Gehry, one of the most influential and distinctive talents in American architecture, died on Friday at his home in Los Angeles following a brief respiratory illness, his chief of staff confirmed. He was 96.

Gehry, the most recognizable American architect since Frank Lloyd Wright, was one of the first to embrace the potential of computer design, and pioneered a distinctively exuberant style of bravura power, whimsical and arresting collisions of form. His most famous work remains the Guggenheim Museumin Bilbao, a fantastical, titanium-clad composition on the Nervión River which received international acclaim upon its opening in 1997, heralding a new era of emotive architecture.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Lorenzo Ciniglio/Sygma/Getty Images

© Photograph: Lorenzo Ciniglio/Sygma/Getty Images

© Photograph: Lorenzo Ciniglio/Sygma/Getty Images

  •  

World Cup 2026 draw: England face two 2018 reunions, Scotland land Brazil

England will face a rematch of their 2018 semi-final in the opening fixture of their World Cup campaign next summer, after they were drawn alongside Croatia in Group L.

England will also play Panama, another side they faced at the Russia World Cup, and Ghana. Venues and kick-off times will be announced from 5pm GMT on Saturday but the group’s matches are split across four US cities – Dallas, Boston, New York/New Jersey and Philadelphia – and Toronto.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Chris Carlson/AP

© Photograph: Chris Carlson/AP

© Photograph: Chris Carlson/AP

  •