Top politicians will gather to set growth target with focus on technology self-reliance amid rising US competition Thousands of delegates will arrive in Beijing this week for China’s annual Two Sessions, one of the most important events in the country’s political calendar and a rare opportunity for the global media to see Beijing’s top lawmakers up close. The Two Sessions” are concurrent gatherings of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an advisory body. Continue reading...

Select departures organised as US state department warns Americans to leave on commercial flights ‘due to safety risks’ US-Israel war on Iran – live updates Travellers stranded by a widening war in the Middle East began departing the United Arab Emirates aboard a small number of evacuation flights on Monday, as governments around the world worked to extract their citizens from the region. Airlines Etihad Airways and Emirates, based in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and budget carrier FlyDubai said they would operate limited flights, in the wake of the chaos and damaged sparked by Iranian missiles and drones. Continue reading...

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Allen isn’t in the first act of her own show, only coming on after 45 minutes of a string ensemble to stiffly deliver her acclaimed album in full When Lily Allen’s West End Girl was released in October 2025, it was an instant sensation. A raw document of marital betrayal and neglect, it was a new kind of divorce album for the post-tabloid celebrity, inspired by Allen’s own separation from actor David Harbour. It earned Allen rave reviews and a place alongside Miranda July’s All Fours in a contemporary canon of emancipatory, autofictional art for modern (heterosexual) women. The album’s structure as a narrative held rich potential for live staging, and Allen’s choice to play it in full on a tour of theatres – before returning for an arena run later this year – suggested she would make good on its theatrical promise. Split into two acts, West End Girl Live certainly begins with theatrical flair. A string ensemble – named the Dallas Minor Trio after one of the album’s standout tracks – takes to the stage for a version of Allen’s 2008 hit The Fear. The crowd enthusiastically sings along to karaoke-style lyrics on a screen behind the trio. It works as a prelude: the song’s minor key paranoia translates well to the arrangement and its themes of existential crises are relevant to the album we’re here to see. Continue reading...

State laws had limited sharing of information with parents about gender identity of trans students in public schools The US supreme court has decided to block a series of California laws that can limit the sharing of information with parents about the gender identity of transgender students in public ​schools. This ruling marks a victory for parents who challenged these protections on religious and due process grounds. The emergency request was granted on Monday and the decision was made along party lines, with the three liberal justices dissenting. Continue reading...

Secretary of state says Trump ordered pre-emptive strikes out of concern about Tehran retaliation after Israeli attack Israel’s determination to attack Iran and the certainty that US troops would be targeted in response forced the Trump administration to take pre-emptive strikes, secretary of state Marco Rubio said, in a new explanation for Washington’s surprise entry into the conflict. The rationale drew divided reviews from top members of Congress who on Monday evening received the first briefing by the Trump administration since it ordered the air campaign to begin over the weekend. Continue reading...

Kyiv’s forces find success along southern frontline in February, while Russian troops grind forward in the east. What we know on day 1,469 Russia’s army recorded its slowest advance on the frontline in Ukraine in nearly two years in February, an analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War showed, as Kyiv’s troops scored several localised breakthroughs. The slowdown came as Moscow’s forces at the front struggled after Elon Musk cut the Russians’ access to Starlink internet terminals. Russia advanced by a total of 123 sq kilometres (48 sq miles) – the lowest since April 2024 – during the month, according to the analysis conducted by Agence France-Presse. Ukrainian troops managed several localised advances during February, the data showed, including a 61 sq-kilometre gain on 15 February, and gains of more than 50 sq kilometres on 21 February and 23 February. Kyiv’s forces saw most success along the southern frontline, pushing Russia’s army back in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Moscow, meanwhile, has been grinding forward in the east, moving closer towards the key hubs of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Russia occupies just over 19% of Ukraine. Russia’s Sheskharis oil terminal suspended oil loadings on Monday following a Ukrainian drone attack that injured five, damaged 20 buildings and set a fuel terminal on fire, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials and three trade sources. The Sheskharis oil terminal in Novorossiysk is Russia’s major oil outlet in the Black Sea, loading 700,000 barrels per day of crude oil. An official at Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, said Ukrainian drones had struck the terminal at the port, hitting six of its seven loading facilities, and that the drones also struck Russian warships. Ukraine’s general staff said the drones also struck a naval base, along with an S-400 surface-to-air missile defence system. Russia made no mention of any damage to its military assets. Reuters could not independently verify what Ukraine had struck. US-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine expected later this week may take place in Switzerland or Turkey if a planned meeting in Abu Dhabi is not possible due to the war in the Middle East, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Monday. He also noted that western countries have given no indication so far that their delivery to Kyiv of vital air defence missiles could be disrupted by commitments to Middle East defence. Peace talks have appeared deadlocked in recent weeks over Russia’s insistence that Ukraine hand over the remaining part of its eastern Donbas region which Moscow does not control. Russian strikes killed at least eight people in Ukraine including during an attack on a civilian passenger train, Ukrainian authorities said on Monday. Three people were killed in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, a Ukrainian stronghold that Russian forces are advancing towards, officials said. The head of the wider Donetsk region said two people were killed and 13 wounded in Druzhkivka. Slovakia wants to initiate a meeting with the EU commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and ideally together with Ukraine and Hungary, to get oil flows along the Druzhba pipeline restarted as quickly as possible, the Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, said on Monday. Slovakia and Hungary have blamed Ukraine for dragging its feet on restarting supplies of Russian crude through the pipeline, although Kyiv says repairs take time after what it said was a Russian attack on pumping stations in western Ukraine in late January. “This has now become a European-Ukrainian problem and Europe must decide on which side it stands,” Fico said. Ukraine will complete the technical work needed to open negotiations on all topics for its EU accession process within days, Zelenskyy said on Monday. Zelenskyy urged the EU to agree on a firm date for Ukraine to join the bloc, saying that would provide an important guarantee of the country’s future security. “We are ready, but not all leaders of the European Union are … I mean, not everyone is ready to give Ukraine this opportunity,” Zelenskyy said. Ukraine became a formal EU candidate country in the early days after Russia’s invasion in February 2022. But so far, Kyiv’s progress through the existing EU process has been held up by Hungary, which has blocked the unanimous approval required to open formally each of the six so-called accession “clusters” of issues to be resolved. Continue reading...

Ruling retains boundaries for 2026 elections despite state court ruling it was unfair to Black and Hispanic residents The supreme court on Monday sided with Republicans in ruling that the boundaries of the only GOP-held congressional district in New York City do not not need to be redrawn for the 2026 elections, despite a court ruling that the district is unfair to Black and Hispanic residents. The justices halted the state court ruling that had ordered New York’s redistricting commission to redraw the district held by Nicole Malliotakis that covers Staten Island and a small piece of Brooklyn. Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands of passengers have found themselves stranded in the middle of a conflict between Iran and its Gulf neighbours Holidaymakers on the first flights out of Abu Dhabi since Saturday have described their experiences up close as conflict erupted between Iran and its Gulf neighbours. With thousands of flights cancelled across the Middle East, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded, the UK has begun forming evacuation plans for some of the estimated 300,000 Britons in the region. Continue reading...

Largest study of its kind suggests high red meat consumption has biggest impact, followed by smoking More than a quarter of healthy years lost to breast cancer are due to lifestyle factors such as red meat intake and smoking, according to the largest study of its kind. The study, published in the Lancet Oncology, used data from population-based cancer registries to produce a comprehensive analysis of breast cancer and its risk factors. Continue reading...

Dublin, Helsinki, Stockholm and Tallinn among port cities more choked by sulphur oxides from ferries, analysis shows Fume-belching ferries spew more sulphur pollution than cars in several EU capitals, analysis has found. Dublin, Helsinki, Stockholm and Tallinn are among 13 of Europe’s 15 biggest port cities choked more by sulphur oxides (SOx) from ferries than road vehicles, data shared exclusively with the Guardian shows. Continue reading...

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 Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox 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. Continue reading...

Matt Targett’s first-half double helped Middlesbrough return to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Birmingham and further boost their hopes of promotion to the Premier League. Third-place Millwall’s triumph against Preston at the weekend cut the gap to just the one point coming into the match, but Kim Hellberg’s side responded to restore their four-point advantage in second place. Birmingham lost just their second league game at St Andrew’s since May 2024, meaning their chances of finishing in the playoffs have slipped further away. They remain eight points off the top six. Continue reading...

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 Continue reading...

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. Continue reading...

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. Continue reading...

Major US indexes recover after falls earlier in the day amid concerns of rising gas prices Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox US stocks see-sawed on Monday as investors tried to keep abreast of the news on the first day of trading since the US and Israel attacks on Iran began. After dipping down over 1% across the board, the major indexes recovered most of their losses even after global markets saw heftier drops earlier in the day. At Monday’s closing, the Dow was down 0.15%, while the S&P 500 was 0.04% up. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 0.36% for the day. Continue reading...

Winger started in England’s first ever international Lionesses will wear black armbands against Ukraine Tributes are being paid after the death of the trailblazing footballer Lynda Hale, who scored in England’s first official women’s international fixture. Hale, who was also a seven-time winner of the Women’s FA Cup as part of the Southampton Women’s FC side that dominated the English women’s game throughout the 1970s, started the Lionesses’ first formal game, against Scotland in November 1972. Continue reading...

The Fifa president’s sycophancy towards the US president has left the organisation facing a new nadir, but any reckoning seems a distant prospect Mr President. Fellow exco members. We’re going to need a bigger Board of Peace. How many mini‑pitches are we up to now? Gaza got 50 of them last month. What will it take to football-fix the global conflict being set in train by Fifa’s own Peace Prize Boy? A hundred mini-pitches? Four billion mini-pitches? All the mini‑pitches in the universe? In a more sane version of what we must, out of habit, call the real world, it would seem absurd to talk about sports administration in the context of the US, Iran and the airborne conflict being played out across the borders of their allies. Continue reading...

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 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.” Continue reading...

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.” Continue reading...

Claude climbs to top of app store charts in US and UK after being blacklisted by Pentagon over ethics concerns The AI model Claude has surged in popularity after being blacklisted by the Pentagon last week over ethics concerns. Claude climbed to the No 1 spot on Apple’s chart of top free apps on Saturday in the US – dethroning OpenAI’s ChatGPT, just one day after the Pentagon tapped OpenAI to supply AI to classified military networks. The bot’s app climbed the iPhone app charts in the UK but did not beat out ChatGPT. Claude also raced up the Android charts in the US and UK, though ChatGPT reigned supreme, according to data from Sensor Tower. Continue reading...

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. Continue reading...

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. Continue reading...

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 Gaza’s food must be brought in. Continue reading...

It was right to disallow Tottenham’s goal in the north London derby and it was also correct to rule out the goal that would have given Burnley a 4-4 draw against Brentford At the start of the season, clubs, fans and the media were told referees would be taking a proactive approach to holding in the penalty area, or grappling as some call it. We have since seen some really good examples of on-field referees making decisions where they have clearly identified holding offences and others where the VAR has recommended a review. But in the past six or eight weeks the issue seems to have intensified, with a change in tack in the Premier League, where clubs are loading the penalty area at every set piece. During the game between Arsenal and Chelsea on Sunday there was one corner where Declan Rice was holding Jorrel Hato, David Raya was being held, Gabriel Magalhães’s shirt was being pulled and Viktor Gyökeres was having a tug at Enzo Fernández. It was very messy. The players have a real responsibility with this because a lot of histrionics go with it. Players are going to ground easily, obscured by a crowd of people in the penalty area, and offences can be difficult to detect. Continue reading...