Vítor Pereira had promised Nottingham Forest would approach this assignment with a “Champions League mentality” and his players did not disappoint him. A fabulous attacking performance not merely succeeded in ruining Sunderland’s lingering European ambitions but also lifted 16th-placed Forest to 39 points. That is within touching distance of safety and given Pereira’s team are now six points clear of West Ham and eight in front of Tottenham, the struggle to avoid the final remaining relegation place is surely between the two London clubs now. Continue reading...

The chatshow host lifts the energy of this game where families battle to avoid being voted out of a street they move into. But he’s not onscreen often enough to save it I’ve had a good idea. Let’s apply for a moratorium on new reality shows, at least until the frenzied desire for a challenger to The Traitors’ crown is over. Otherwise they’re just going to keep happening. The Neighbourhood – presented by Graham Norton, its saving grace – is the latest to throw its cap into the ring. Six families take up residence in a suburban close (the neighbourhood, you get it) and each is aiming to be the last one voted out and thus claim the uncustomarily large pot of £250,000. This at least suggests that someone in the TV commissioning offices is beginning to understand the concept of inflation and the truth that yer 50 or 100ks are no longer universally life-changing amounts of money but closer to being a month’s rent or the price of a tank of petrol. Continue reading...

Home secretary indicates Whitehall talks about returns programme, a move that would shock humanitarian groups Shabana Mahmood has refused to rule out sending rejected Afghan asylum seekers back to the Taliban-controlled country. The home secretary said she is “monitoring very closely” talks between Kabul and EU countries about a returns programme for refused claimants. She also indicated that “additional conversations” about Afghan returns were happening inside Whitehall. Continue reading...

Jake Reiner calls parents ‘center’ of his life and says brother being at ‘center’ of loss is ‘almost too impossible to process’ Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox The elder son of beloved director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Reiner, eulogized his parents, who were “the center” of his life, in a Substack essay published Friday, four months after the pair were found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home. Nick Reiner, the couple’s younger son, who long struggled with drug addiction and mental illness, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection to their deaths, to which he has pleaded not guilty. Continue reading...

Wendy Duffy died at Pegasos clinic in Basel as assisted dying bill in England and Wales fails to pass A grieving mother has ended her life at a clinic in Switzerland four years after the death of her only child. Wendy Duffy, 56, a physically healthy woman, died at the Pegasos clinic in Basel after struggling to cope with the death of her 23-year-old son, Marcus. Continue reading...

Furyk set for second stint as US captain Woods steps aside after arrest and treatment Europe chasing third straight win in Ireland Jim Furyk is returning as US Ryder Cup captain for the 2027 matches in Ireland, the PGA of America announced Friday, as the Americans try to get back on track against a European team that has dominated the last three decades. Furyk is the fourth US captain to get a second chance dating to 1979, considered the modern era of the Ryder Cup when continental Europe became part of it. Continue reading...

US judge orders release of a woman and her five children who were family of the 2025 Colorado fire attack suspect A woman and her five children, whose immigration detention of more than 10 months marked the longest family detention under Donald Trump’s second administration, were released on Thursday hours after a judge’s order, their lawyer said. US district judge Fred Biery of the western district of Texas ordered the family’s release. Continue reading...

Royal Court theatre, Liverpool Writer-actor Aron Julius captures the sparkling charm of Liverpudlian fighter John Conteh in a punch-by-punch account of his career Don King is singing the praises of his new signing. The boxing impresario, played by Zach Levene with an extravagant bouffant, sees something special in John Conteh, the light-heavyweight champion. It is a talent that goes beyond the ring. “He walks into a room and the air changes,” he says. Impressively, this is a quality captured by Aron Julius. Playing the Kirkby kid who became WBC light-heavyweight champion in 1974, he is muscular, light-footed and graceful. More than that, he sparkles. With a needling Liverpool wit, he is as cheeky as he is charming. Who wouldn’t want him to win? Continue reading...

Appellate panel finds president can’t circumvent laws that allow people to apply for asylum at the US-Mexico border Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox An appeals court on Friday blocked Donald Trump’s executive order suspending asylum access, a key pillar of the US president’s original plan to crack down on immigration at the southern border after he retook the White House. A three-judge panel from the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit found that immigration laws give people the right to apply for asylum at the border, and the president can’t circumvent that. Continue reading...

Trump’s DoJ says it is taking steps to ‘strengthen the federal death penalty’ in opposition to Biden-era policies The US justice department announced on Friday that it is taking steps to “strengthen the federal death penalty”, including bringing back firing squads and readopting the lethal injection protocol utilized during the first Trump administration. “Today, the Department of Justice acted to restore its solemn duty to seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences – clearing the way for the Department to carry out executions once death-sentenced inmates have exhausted their appeals” the justice department said in a news release. Continue reading...

Fans of both sides are feeling similar levels of stress at different ends of the Premier League table Zadie Smith once wrote that “the square mile around Arsenal’s stadium could be a suitable surrogate for the whole wide world”. Perhaps you only really glimpse this on a match day, when the jerk chicken grills and paella pans fire up and belch delicious smoke across the rows of terraced houses, when the locals in weathered replica shirts brush shoulders with tourists bearing selfie sticks, when a small group of dedicated volunteers at a kiosk by the Ken Friar Bridge accepts non-perishable donations for the Islington food bank. And you shall scoff, and you shall sneer, because there is a north London of the popular imagination, and Islington in particular, which has become a surrogate for something else entirely. A slur, an insult, a byword for privilege and entitlement and metropolitan effeteness, the place of Blair and Corbyn and Starmer and a shrink on every street corner. North London is elite, north London is out of touch, north London looks down on the rest of you while eating plates of £16 pasta. Continue reading...

Ernie Dosio, a 75-year-old vineyard owner, was hunting an antelope species in Africa when the incident occured Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox An American millionaire big-game hunter has died after being crushed by a group of elephants during a hunting expedition in Gabon. Ernie Dosio, a 75-year-old vineyard owner, was hunting yellow-backed duiker, an antelope species, in the central African country of Gabon when the incident occurred last Friday. While in the Lope-Okanda rainforest, he and his guide unexpectedly came across five female elephants accompanied by a calf. Continue reading...

The Tale of Kaho, out in July, will be 16th novel by Japanese author who has faced criticism for portrayal of women The Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami will publish his first novel to feature a woman as the main character this summer. The Tale of Kaho will be published in Japan on 3 July, with an ebook edition released the same day. A UK edition has not yet been announced. Continue reading...

Claudia–Liza Vanderpuije has fully withdrawn allegations relating to her former co-host, her lawyers say The TV presenter Claudia–Liza Vanderpuije has withdrawn claims against her former Channel 5 News co-host Dan Walker after reaching a “mutual agreement” with the broadcaster and ITN. Vanderpuije, who co-hosted a show with Walker for a year between 2022 and 2023, had filed claims of unfair dismissal, discrimination and harassment on grounds of race and sex, and breach of contract. Continue reading...

Crisis in the Middle East, Russian strikes in Dnipro, blackouts in Karachi and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists Continue reading...

The Oscar winner is set to produce, and possibly star in, a film adaptation of the war game series with Christopher McQuarrie at the helm Michael B Jordan is following up his Oscar win with the announcement of another new project: a big-screen adaptation of the hit video game series Battlefield. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Sinners star will produce, and possibly star in, a film based on the long-running war series which is being hyped as the year’s most in-demand project to date in Hollywood Continue reading...

After years in the wilderness, the Canadian’s artfully restrained Coachella performances – now known as “Bieberchella” – have seen him elevated to the status of pop elder You could be forgiven for having lost touch with Justin Bieber. The defining teen idol of the 2000s was discovered on YouTube, anointed by R&B stars Usher and Drake and enormously famous by his 16th birthday. But Biebs’ monumental fame as a floppy-haired, baby-faced singer presaged a difficult coming of age in the spotlight and a string of very 2010s controversies. (Who could forget Mally, the pet monkey seized by German customs in Munich in 2013?) In recent years, Bieber has pivoted to more mature R&B, kept a lower profile and focused on his health and family. But his headlining sets at Coachella this month – collectively dubbed “Bieberchella” – have sparked a renewed appreciation for Bieber’s music and his turbulent path to becoming a respected pop elder. Continue reading...

Green party leader accuses Keir Starmer of ‘silly games’ in accusing his party of playing down hate crimes Zack Polanski has called on politicians to treat antisemitism with “consideration, care and nuance” as he accused Keir Starmer of trying to play political games with the issue. The Green leader’s comments come after the prime minister accused him of playing down recent antisemitic incidents. Polanski’s party is facing increasing scrutiny for recent comments by some candidates and members. Continue reading...

Police investigating allegations Mandelson and former prince Andrew passed sensitive info to Epstein will struggle to make charges stick without files British police investigating the former prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson are preparing to start interviewing witnesses in Royal and government circles. It comes as police fear that prosecutors will be “reluctant” to bring charges unless the Trump administration agrees to hand over the original documents from the Epstein files. Continue reading...

Young coach showed tactical nous in his first caretaker stint but was also part of Liam Rosenior’s backroom team Given Chelsea supporters are pining for the old days, perhaps they can cheer themselves up by remembering glorious runs from some of the club’s previous interim managers, although whether Calum McFarlane is capable of emulating the likes of Guus Hiddink, Roberto Di Matteo and Rafael Benítez looks like a long shot as another damaging week for the BlueCo project draws to a close. Is this inexperienced young coach the man for a salvage operation? Fans will take some convincing after watching Chelsea’s players not so much throw in the towel as not even bother to pick it up at all during Tuesday’s defeat to Brighton, which saw off Liam Rosenior. Those heading to Wembley for Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Leeds will hope for a response but do not be surprised if they turn mutinous again. Continue reading...

⚽ Premier League updates from the 8pm BST kick-off ⚽ Live scoreboard | Latest table | And read Football Daily Friday night, who wants a fight? ? Not this peaceable Guardianista, that’s for sure, and not Nottingham Forest. They’re trying to escape a relegation fight – and can go a long way towards achieving that if they win at Sunderland tonight. Forest are 16th in the table, five points clear of Tottenham with five games remaining. This time last year they were fourth, but although the change in Forest’s league position has made things a lot more complicated, their objective is essentially the same: to play Champions League and Premier League football next season. Continue reading...

Liverpool’s troubled goalkeeping situation in spotlight as Newcastle manager fears for fitness of his England defender Continue reading...

James Kempster’s DNA was found on dead barn owl and kestrel rammed into door handles of volunteer store A man has been found guilty of possessing the bodies of wild birds of prey that were dumped alongside 50 dead hares outside a village shop in Hampshire. Traces of James Kempster’s DNA were found on a barn owl and kestrel that were rammed into the handles of the volunteer-led shop in Broughton. Continue reading...

Fiftieth anniversary of an FA Cup win still central to their city’s identity forms an evocative backdrop to Saints’ semi-final against Manchester City Two years ago, when sixth-tier Maidstone won at Ipswich to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time, their manager, George Elokobi, distilled the unique, enduring impact of an FA Cup giantkilling into five syllables: “This binds us for life.” The same bond, only even more powerful, will be in evidence on the south coast in the next week. All connected with Southampton hope to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their only FA Cup final triumph having reached another final. Continue reading...

Name the deadliest of sins – cruelty, deceit, avarice – and Trump will both exhibit them and celebrate them It’s no accident that the figure emerging as the global challenger to the might of Donald Trump is a priest in white, known as Pope Leo XIV. In recent weeks, the pope has issued a string of barely coded denunciations of the US president, unfazed by the insults that have come his way in return. It’s no longer fanciful to imagine that what an eastern European pontiff, John Paul II, did by confronting the Soviet empire in the 1980s, an American-born pope may do in the 2020s by daring to speak truth to the would-be emperor in the White House. Of course, several heads of government have stood up to Trump too. Canada’s Mark Carney has done it most explicitly, while his European counterparts have taken a stand by refusing to join the president’s reckless, wrong-headed war on Iran. But none has the global reach of the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...