Massive tranche reveals ex-ambassador’s scorn for Starmer’s leadership and his unwillingness to share information It is, Downing Street has said, the most extensive release of government documents ever done in response to a Commons motion – nearly 1,500 pages in all. But what does the second and main tranche of documents connected to Peter Mandelson’s role as US ambassador to Washington tell us that is new? Continue reading...

About half of drivers will take action on Tuesday as RMT blames TfL’s ‘refusal to engage meaningfully’ Strikes on the London Underground will go ahead on Tuesday after a day of talks failed to avert industrial action. About half of London’s tube drivers will go on strike, bringing widespread transport disruption to the capital. A second strike is planned for Thursday. Continue reading...

Financial stakes of AI race rise as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic are slated to go public this year Anthropic has filed confidentially for an initial public offering on the US stock market, the company announced Monday. The AI firm makes the Claude chatbot, popular with software engineers and other business clients, and has seen a meteoric rise this year. The company did not disclose the valuation it will target on the stock market, nor did it make public other terms of the offering. The startup announced on Thursday that it had raised $65bn in funding to value the company at $965bn post-money. Anthropic was valued at $380bn in February. Continue reading...

Victims should be given legal support to help slash number of claimants denied payouts, says Windrush commissioner The Windrush compensation scheme has failed to repair a grave injustice and needs a significant overhaul, a Westminster inquiry into government compensation schemes heard on Monday. Survivors of the Windrush scandal should be given legal support in making claims for compensation to help slash the number of claimants who are denied payouts and to bring the scheme in line with compensation programmes rolled out for victims of the Post Office Horizon and infected blood scandals, the independent Windrush commissioner, Clive Foster, told MPs. Continue reading...

The origin of PSG’s largesse and the effect it’s had on their domestic game can’t be ignored, even as we appreciate the team’s stunning quality Sign up for the World Behind The Cup newsletter Since 1990, only one side had ever successfully defended the Champions League – Real Madrid, who won three in a row between 2016 and 2018. Paris Saint-Germain’s victory in the final on Saturday elevates them to a new tier of the pantheon. No bad side has ever won the European Cup or Champions League, but only great sides have ever retained it. Arsenal pushed them much closer than Inter had in losing in the final the previous year, and there is always something slightly unsatisfying about a victory on penalties, but the quality of this PSG cannot be denied. They put six past Bayern in the semi-final – their superiority far greater than the one-goal aggregate margin would suggest. It was a similar story in the quarter-final, in which a 4-0 aggregate victory didn’t really reflect how much better they were than Liverpool. And while Chelsea may think they were slightly unlucky to lose the first leg of their last-16 tie away to PSG 5-2, the 3-0 result in the second leg was a devastating assertion of authority: three goals scored by an almost bored opponent apparently just as they felt like it. This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition. Continue reading...

Conquering of Beaufort Castle for first time in 26 years bring back memories of occupation of south Middle East crisis – live updates When Hussain Alawieh used to take tourists to Beaufort Castle, they would marvel at the view. The ancient hilltop fort, captured nearly 1,000 years earlier by Crusaders, still offered the same sweeping panoramic views of south Lebanon and the Litani River that empires fought over for a millennia. On Sunday, the view from the castle was obscured by white phosphorus smoke, the toxic incendiary munition providing a smoke-screen for advancing Israeli soldiers. Out of the fog rose an Israeli flag, and the castle, for the first time in 26 years, was once again conquered. Continue reading...

Michael Grade dismisses impartiality concerns, saying rightwing channel faces same rules as BBC, Sky and ITN Michael Grade, the recently departed chair of Britain’s media watchdog, has accused broadcasters of being “embarrassed” by GB News because it covers the “agenda of the majority”. Grade, who has recently retaken the Conservative whip in the House of Lords after stepping down from Ofcom, said he was now able to give his real view on the rightwing broadcaster, which has faced repeated accusations of partial and misleading coverage. Continue reading...

Analysts trace illegal views to 3.7m IP addresses in UK Champions League final watched legally by more than 7m Arsenal’s Champions League final defeat by Paris Saint Germain attracted more than 16.2m views on illegal streams in the UK after not being made free-to-air. Analysis conducted for the Guardian by the technology analyst Gaming Compliance International (GCI) shows there were 16.2m illegal stream views of longer than 90 seconds, traced to 3.7m unique IP addresses. The final was watched legally on TNT Sports and HBO Max by more than 7 million people. Continue reading...

Vickrum Digwa, 23, who fatally stabbed Henry Nowak, 18, to serve at least 20 years before being eligible for parole A man with a “weapon obsession” has been jailed for life for murdering a university student with a 21cm-long knife that he claimed to be carrying for religious reasons. Vickrum Digwa, 23, who stabbed 18-year-old Henry Nowak five times, will serve at least 20 years before being eligible for parole. Continue reading...

Fans and professionals alike are desperate for positivity after last year’s damp squib, but there is reason for hope One of the major benefits of announcing a “five-year plan” is that it should buy you some time but Epsom’s ambitious scheme to revive the status and popularity of the Derby, which was unveiled in December, may be an exception. There were just 22,312 paying spectators at last year’s race, and the need for an upturn in attendance for the 247th running of the Classic on Saturday is immediate. In part, this is because the Derby still retains a special place in the hearts and memories of many of the sport’s most committed fans, and its steady decline over the last couple of decades has been painfully obvious to all of us who still cherish the annual pilgrimage to Epsom in the first week of June. There is a collective need for signs of a revival. Continue reading...

75-year-old says he has ‘top doctor’ working on his case Newcastle send ‘heartfelt support and warmest wishes’ The former England and Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan has revealed he has stage four cancer. His family had said in January the former England, Liverpool and Newcastle player had been diagnosed with cancer and the 75-year-old provided an update on his health during a weekend appearance at the Tyne Theatre and Opera House. “They said we have a top doctor with this new way of fighting what you have got, which is stage four cancer,” Keegan said, in quotes reported by the Daily Mail. “He was a Liverpool supporter so I went to meet him. I knew I wouldn’t be walking alone, if you know what I mean.” Continue reading...

Smallest nation to reach a World Cup will be guided by the oldest coach in Dick Advocaat This article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 11 June. Continue reading...

Adult beginners are charming when the stakes are low. Learning the piano at 50 is cute – but nobody ever needed to be airlifted out of a piano recital I was 43, unfit and burnt out at the end of 2025, when my phone pinged from an old friend: I know this is unlikely but I’m thinking of doing this four-day hike and there are two places available. You stay in huts so there is less gear to carry. Would you like to come? Continue reading...

Calls the event ‘perfect place’ for her return to court Williams will play doubles with Victoria Mboko Serena Williams has announced her sensational return to professional tennis at 44 years old next week at the Queen’s Club in London. Williams will return to competition with a wildcard in the women’s doubles draw at Queen’s, a WTA 500 event in its second edition. She has not competed in the last four years since retiring from tennis at the US Open in 2022. Williams is a 23-time grand slam singles champion, the women’s open-era record, and a 14-time doubles champion. She is the only player to win the career golden slam in singles and doubles. Continue reading...

Wigmore Hall, London The Norwegian singer’s remarkable ability to inhabit a character, her warmth on stage and the control and tenderness she brought to the more intimate songs made this a very special recital Wigmore Hall is turning 125, its director John Gilhooley was being granted honorary membership of the Royal Philharmonic Society, and everyone in the audience was shouted a free drink, but there was another cause for celebration on Sunday night. With Lise Davidsen, the world’s most in-demand opera singer, giving an all-Schubert recital it was a case of standing room only. The Norwegian soprano has a Rolls-Royce instrument, more than capable of filling a house the size of the Metropolitan Opera, but up close she brought other qualities to the table. Her disarming warmth in seemingly off-the-cuff spoken introductions put the audience entirely at ease. Her ability to inhabit a character, as she does on stage, ensured songs such as Gretchen am Spinnrade and Die Junge Nonne were dramatic highlights. The former opened with a throbbing intensity and built to an eruption of volcanic proportions. Her fledgling nun seethed with a scared rapture that verged on the dangerously corporeal. Continue reading...

Success of far-right presidential candidate, Abelardo de la Espriella, suggests some voters are ‘fed up with politics’ The far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and the leftwing senator Iván Cepeda have just under three weeks to compete for the roughly 3.6m votes that did not go to either of them in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election on Sunday. That is no insignificant margin, given that De la Espriella’s lead over Cepeda amounted to little more than 670,000 votes – 43.7% against 40.9%. Continue reading...

Criticisms revealed in major release of files relating to Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to US UK politics live – latest updates Peter Mandelson exchanged WhatsApp messages with a senior cabinet minister criticising Keir Starmer’s lack of “verve” and tendency to buckle under pressure, suggesting the prime minister should behave in a more “Trumpian” fashion. The former US ambassador said Number 10 was “beleaguered and bereft” and that the public were “crying out for leadership”. Continue reading...

Record-breaking box office for Backrooms and Obsession has opened the door for twentysomething YouTube creators as the industry rethinks what audiences want At this time last year, the idea of a wide-release feature film-maker cutting their teeth on YouTube was, if not unheard of, certainly still a niche origin story. Siblings Michael and Danny Philippou had just released Bring Her Back, the follow-up to their surprise horror hit Talk to Me, to pretty-good reviews and OK box office; clearly they would continue to work, but the slightly diminished returns didn’t predict a YouTube explosion. Nor did the outright lousiness of Shelby Oaks, from longtime YouTube film critic Chris Stuckmann, when it premiered in theaters later in 2025. Generous horror-festival buzz died down as more people actually laid eyes on the movie; Stuckmann was an obvious enthusiast, and some saw promise in his first effort, but a clumsy found-footage pastiche without much emotional sense didn’t seem like the next big thing, either. But in 2026, something has shifted. In January, YouTuber Markiplier self-released his adaptation of the video game Iron Lung to theaters, and it outgrossed any number of big-studio titles. Then Curry Barker, whose comedy sketches have been a YouTube fixture, unveiled his feature debut Obsession. The film, made for under a million dollars, has become the box office phenomenon of the summer so far, managing a virtually unheard-of feat when its second and third weekends actually outgrossed its first. Obsession is sharing multiplex space with Backrooms, directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, who previously brought the spooky internet meme to life in a series of YouTube shorts. Despite being set in a series of purgatorial, sparsely furnished, fluorescent-lit “liminal spaces”, it was the top movie at the North American box office this weekend, poised to become the biggest-grossing movie from distributor A24 in a matter of days. Backrooms also opened to bigger numbers than any number of starrier or bigger-brand 2026 titles like Wuthering Heights, Scream 7, The Devil Wears Prada 2 or the last Pixar movie. That makes three YouTube-trained film-makers who have presided over some of this year’s biggest and/or most surprising hits. With them have come countless social media posts about how YouTube, not film school, provides the real training tomorrow’s directors need. Continue reading...

Met says non-fatal stabbings took place after most of the crowds had dispersed on Sunday evening Six people were stabbed after Arsenal’s Premier League victory parade in north London on Sunday, police have said. The Metropolitan police said the stabbings took place in the evening after most of the crowds had dispersed. Twenty-four people were arrested. Continue reading...

Need a pair of grown-up shorts? A summer sandal that works with everything? Or perhaps just a really cute bag? Our expert’s monthly edit is here to help • 52 women’s summer wardrobe updates for under £100 Weddings! Wimbledon! It’s June, which means that summer has well and truly arrived. The May heatwave may have flagged some gaps in your warm-weather wardrobe, so here are some of this month’s juiciest style updates. Read on for everything from the season’s most chic capri pants to bikini bottoms for under £10, plus some tips on under-the-radar brands to keep an eye on. Keep cool out there, comrades. Continue reading...

Launching in the UK this month, this new pint-sized console revives the motion-controlled video game boom of the 00s – with better, safer tech For a wonderful moment in the noughties, video games became a truly universal pursuit. As I witnessed my controller-phobic aunt swing a Wii remote and nail a tennis serve, while my great-grandmother furrowed her brow over sudoku puzzles on her Nintendo DS, it seemed my long-derided hobby had finally gone mainstream. The Nintendo Wii flew off the shelves, inspiring a wave of competitors such as the Xbox Kinect camera that encouraged people to play games by moving their bodies. But the tide turned: outside of still-niche VR gaming and the odd controller-waggler on the Switch, motion-controlled gaming has barely been seen for more than a decade. Now, 20 years later, a new console is aiming to get the whole family flailing in front of the TV once again: the Nex Playground. Launching in the UK later this month, the first thing that struck me about this family-friendly device is just how tiny it is. The size of two and a half Rubik’s Cubes taped together, this impressively unintrusive device swaps cumbersome controllers for camera-controlled minigames, putting you and your family directly in the game. Using a wide-angle lens and AI-powered tracking tech, the Nex Playground offers over 50 games that track players’ bodies as they leap, flail and dance about the living room. It’s not hard to see the appeal. Continue reading...

‘We didn’t have a washing machine, so I was in the launderette when our manager rang and said: “You’ve gone in at No 2”’ We were still a three piece: Adam Devlin, my brother Scott and myself. We hadn’t met Eds Chesters yet, so we didn’t have a drummer. We were spending a lot of time writing songs, trying to hone this west coast, mid-60s, Crosby, Stills & Nash sound – even though it was the 90s and we were from Hounslow in London. Continue reading...

International money transfer service’s shares tumble as it confirms discussions with prosecutor’s office Business live – latest updates Wise, the UK-based international money transfer service and darling of the London fintech scene, has confirmed it is answering questions from Belgian prosecutors investigating money laundering, sending its shares tumbling. In a statement to the stock market, Wise said it was “currently working with the Brussels prosecutor to respond to queries about our business, as we routinely do with regulators and law-enforcement authorities. Continue reading...

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...

People from Delaware to Montreal reported either hearing loud booms or seeing the fireball in the sky over weekend A meteor over Massachusetts during the weekend ultimately prompted reports of booms and sightings across New England into Canada. The American Meteor Society said that the meteor in question was about 3ft (1 meter) wide as it entered the atmosphere around the New Hampshire border with Massachusetts, north of Boston. Continue reading...