4 h. ago Mountainhead review – tech bros face off in Jesse Armstrong’s post

Weapons-grade zingers come thick and fast in this chamber piece about four plutocrats on a weekend in a lodge that goes awry when the planet descends into chaosJesse Armstrong has returned with what feels like a horribly addictive feature-length spin-off episode from the extended Succession Cinematic Universe – though without Succession cast members. It is set in a luxurious Utah megalodge which winds up resembling the Dr Strangelove war room, mixed with the apartment from Hitchcock’s Rope. Mountainhead is a super-satirical chamber piece about the deranged, cynical and facetious mindset of the uber-wealthy, the kind of people who think about ancient Rome every day, though not about Nero and his violin. It may not have the dramatic richness of Armstrong’s TV meisterwerk while the pure testosterone of this all-male main cast (minus any Shiv figure) is oppressive – though that is kind of the point. The pure density of weapons-grade zingers in the script is a marvel.Our heroes are four ...

Politics

5 h. ago European markets suffer losses after Trump ‘recommends’ 50% tariff on EU, and threatens Apple with 25% tariff – business live

US president Donald Trump reignites trade war with threat to impose high tariffs on European goods, and Apple iPhones made overseasTrump says he is hitting EU with 50% tariff as trade talks are ‘going nowhere’As well as cutting UK energy costs (see earlier), Donald Trump can also take credit for growing the German economy!New GDP data this morning shows that Germany’s GDP rose by 0.4% in January-March, twice as fast as the first estimate of 0.2% growth in the quarter.“The reason for the slightly higher growth compared to the initial estimate was the surprisingly positive economic development in March.”“In particular, production in the manufacturing sector and exports performed better than initially expected.The German economy had its best quarterly performance since the third quarter of 2022, and the reason for it seems to be Donald Trump. As a result of the announced tariffs and in anticipation of ‘Liberation Day,’ German industrial production and exports surged in March.Net export...

Economics

6 h. ago SAS officer 'blocked bid by Afghan troops to come to UK because they may have witnessed war crimes'

A United Kingdom Special Forces officer rejected the asylum applications of 1,585 Afghan soldiers who may have witnessed war crimes committed by British troops.

Events

7 h. ago Stock markets plunge after Trump reignites trade war risk with threat of 50% tax on EU goods

US president’s fresh plan wipes billions off shares in UK, US, France, Germany Spain and Italy

Events

8 h. ago Netanyahu accused of slander after criticising Macron, Carney and Starmer

Israeli leader’s antisemitism claim labelled defamatory as he is warned against pursuing a war without endMiddle East crisis – live updatesBenjamin Netanyahu was accused of slander and pursuing a war without end after he claimed the leaders of France, Canada and the UK were stoking antisemitism and siding with Hamas by demanding he end the two-month blockade of food and aid into Gaza.In what has become an extraordinary standoff with some of Israel’s closest allies, Netanyahu appeared to deliberately raise the stakes on Thursday night by accusing his western critics of abandoning Israel in a war for its very existence. Continue reading...

Politics

8 h. ago Ukraine and Russia exchange 800 PoWs in largest prisoner swap of war so far

Russian foreign minister continues to question Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as first phase of ‘1,000 for 1,000’ deal takes placesUkraine and Russia have begun the largest prisoner exchange of the three-year war, with almost 800 captives returned on both sides in a process expected to last several days.Confirming the first phase of the exchange had taken place, the Ukrainian president, Volodmyr Zelenskyy, said Ukraine had returned 390 people to Russia and that the process would continue with further groups on Saturday and Sunday. Continue reading...

Events

9 h. ago In Ukraine, I saw Trump’s ‘peace deal’ wouldn’t just trade away land – but lives, memories and homes | Timothy Garton Ash

Ukrainians I met in Kyiv and Lviv were grimly realistic about the end of the war. We should follow their exampleThe next time a breathless news anchor talks about the prospect of a war-ending “deal”, with Ukraine “ceding land for peace”, I want to sit them down with Adeline. In Lviv last week, Adeline showed me on her phone map her lost home in Russian-occupied Nova Kakhovka, just across the Dnipro River from the Ukrainian-liberated territory around Kherson. Look, she said, with tears welling up in her eyes, here on this satellite snapshot you can see the ecological disaster that followed Russia’s destruction of the Kakhovka dam in 2023. And here’s the place where she dreamed of setting up a small art gallery. “Why should I give up on my home?” she cried. Why indeed.The territory occupied by Russia is the size of Portugal and Slovenia combined. It’s difficult to get accurate figures, but perhaps some 5 million people live there, while at least another 2 million refugees from those t...

Politics

11 h. ago Trump ‘recommending’ 50% tariff on EU, and threatens Apple with 25% tariff – business live

US president Donald Trump reignites trade war with threat to impose high tariffs on European goods, and Apple iPhones made overseasTypical energy bill in Great Britain to fall 7% to £1,720 a year from JulyAs well as cutting UK energy costs (see earlier), Donald Trump can also take credit for growing the German economy!New GDP data this morning shows that Germany’s GDP rose by 0.4% in January-March, twice as fast as the first estimate of 0.2% growth in the quarter.“The reason for the slightly higher growth compared to the initial estimate was the surprisingly positive economic development in March.”“In particular, production in the manufacturing sector and exports performed better than initially expected.The German economy had its best quarterly performance since the third quarter of 2022, and the reason for it seems to be Donald Trump. As a result of the announced tariffs and in anticipation of ‘Liberation Day,’ German industrial production and exports surged in March.Net exports an...

Politics

13 h. ago West warns Iran not to hit back as Israel launches revenge strikes

UK and US among nations seeking to keep Middle East from all-out war in wake of Israeli airstrikes on military targets with Tehran saying it is ‘obligated’ to respond

Events

31 h. ago Microsoft fires employee who interrupted CEO's speech to protest AI tech for Israeli military

Microsoft has fired an employee who interrupted a speech by CEO Satya Nadella to protest the company’s work supplying the Israeli military with technology used for the war in Gaza

Events

36 h. ago House passes Trump’s ‘big beautiful’ tax and spending bill after months of wrangling – US politics live

Sweeping legislation will now be sent to the SenateThe Kremlin said on Thursday that a report in the Wall Street Journal which said US president Donald Trump had told European leaders that President Vladimir Putin did not want to end the war in Ukraine contrasted with its own knowledge.The Journal said Trump had briefed European leaders after talking to Putin by phone on Monday and said Putin wanted to keep fighting in Ukraine because he thought he was winning.With a narrow 220-212 majority, House Speaker Mike Johnson could not afford to lose more than a handful of votes from his side.Republicans on the party’s right flank had pushed for deeper spending cuts to lessen the budget impact, but they met resistance from centrists who worried they would fall too heavily on the 71 million low-income Americans enrolled in the Medicaid health program. Continue reading...

Politics

37 h. ago UK government urged to introduce GCSE in Ukrainian for child refugees

Children’s commissioner joins Kyiv in asking DfE to create new qualification to cope with ‘immense upheaval’ of fleeing warThe children’s commissioner has joined Kyiv in lobbying the UK government to introduce a new GCSE in Ukrainian to help child refugees cope with the “immense upheaval” of fleeing war in their country.In December, the Guardian revealed that Ukraine was “deeply concerned” to discover many Ukrainian teenagers are being pressed into learning Russian in British schools because no GSCE in Ukrainian is available. Continue reading...

Politics

37 h. ago Process for allowing Afghan troops to UK ‘a disaster area’ that could be likened to ‘a crime scene’, court hears

MoD facing legal action over scheme to bring some former Afghan commandos to safety in the UK

Events

43 h. ago Volodymyr Zelenskyy has courage. Pope Francis had it too. Why are there so many cowards? | Alexander Hurst

Corruption and greed have eroded morality in public life. Powerful people who do what is right are in short supply“Courage is seeking the truth and speaking it,” Jean Jaurès, the French philosopher and Socialist party leader, told a group of high school students in 1903. “It is not yielding to the law of the triumphant lie as it passes, and not echoing, with our soul, our mouth and our hands, mindless applause and fanatical jeering.”When the first world war reared its ugly, pointless head, Jaurès refused to give in to mindless fanaticism and attempted to coordinate a Franco-German general strike to stop the rush to war. In 1914, he paid for those efforts with his life when a 29-year-old French nationalist shot him twice in the back.Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

Events

50 h. ago EastEnders fans are 'only just realising' Zack star James Farrar once starred in Call the Midwife

EastEnders' Zack Hudson is set to go to war with the Mitchell family in the coming weeks as he fights to have a relationship with his son Barney

Politics

56 h. ago European unity against Putin in peril if Trump moves to ease sanctions

EU’s hopes of US increasing pressure on Kremlin have been dashed, and Hungary could yet make situation worseEuropean leaders – who have promised to impose “massive” new sanctions on Russia after Vladimir Putin’s rejection of a ceasefire in Ukraine – face the prospect of having to introduce their planned expansion of economic restrictions on the Russian war economy without the United States.European hopes that Donald Trump might increase the pressure on the Kremlin were dashed after the US president’s two-hour inconclusive phone call with Putin on Monday. Trump did not follow through on previous threats to introduce “large-scale” sanctions on Russia if there was no ceasefire, but instead extolled the prospect of restarting trade with Moscow. Continue reading...

Politics

58 h. ago UK demands Netanyahu stop the war in Gaza as 'scores more die'

Britain, France and Canada call out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's massive escalation of war in Gaza as a race against time is underway with 14,000 Gaza babies at risk if no aid gets through

Events

2 d. ago Ukraine war briefing: Pope opens Vatican door to peace talks, says Meloni

Zelenskyy says Putin ‘trying to buy time’ after phone call with Trump; EU lays on further sanctions and more coming up. What we know on day 1,183Pope Leo confirmed to Giorgia Meloni his willingness to host in the Vatican the next round of negotiations to try to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Italian prime minister said on Tuesday. “Finding in the Holy Father confirmation of the readiness to host the next talks between the parties in the Vatican, the prime minister expressed deep gratitude to Pope Leo XIV for his unceasing commitment to peace,” said a statement from Meloni. Leo, elected two weeks ago, said on 14 May that the Vatican could act as a mediator in global conflicts, without specifically mentioning Russia’s war against Ukraine.Separately the Italian prime minister said she had talks with other European leaders and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, over next steps. “It was agreed to maintain close coordination between the partners with a view to a ne...

Events

3 d. ago Mounting Gaza horror as Israel presses attack despite world condemnation

Crisis-hit Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu pushes on with his horror war on Gaza - snubbing growing global condemnation, accusing one outspoken critic of uttering 'anti semitic blood libels'

Events

3 d. ago Spain ditches influencers after disastrous bid to get social media 'celebrities' to promote destinations saw quiet spots swarmed by thousands, prompting protests by locals

The move comes a year after jeering Mallorcan protestors descended on an Instagram-famous beach and blocked visitors from entering in a bid to combat mass tourism.

Events