40 m. ago WCL and Championship playoff finals, Liverpool favourites to sign Wirtz – matchday live

Buildup to today’s major finalsLive scores | Fixtures | Get in touchManchester City wrap up their Premier League campaign on Sunday with a game Pep Guardiola believes is “by far” their most important of the season. City head to Fulham knowing a draw will almost certainly secure a top-five spot and a place in the Champions League for next season.After winning the title in the past four seasons, it is a relatively modest target but Guardiola recognises it is the least of the club’s expectations. The City manager said: “If we want to play in the Champions League, we have to take a result there. This is what we are going to do. Of course, it’s really important.” Asked if it was the most important game of the season, Guardiola said at a press conference: “By far.” Continue reading...

Sport

43 m. ago Sheffield United v Sunderland: Championship playoff final – live

Updates from the 3.01pm kick-off at WembleyGet in touch! You can email Rob hereBoth managers make two changes from the semi-final second leg. Sheffield United bring in Rhian Brewster, so impressive in the first leg against Bristol City, and Tyrese Campbell in place of Andre Brooks and Tom Cannon.Chris Rigg, 17, and Romaine Mundle start for Sunderland instead of Wilson Isidor and Patrick Roberts. Continue reading...

Sport

44 m. ago Europe at risk of becoming ‘technological supplicant’ to US and China, says McMafia writer Misha Glenny

Discussion took place during The Independent’s daily News Review event at the 2025 Hay Festival

Events

56 m. ago Mountain marvel: how one of biggest batteries in Europe uses thousands of gallons of water to stop blackouts

‘Much-loved’ Dinorwig hydroelectric energy storage site in Wales has a vital role to play in keeping the lights onSeconds after a catastrophic series of power outages struck across the UK in the summer of 2019, a phone rang in the control room of the Dinorwig hydropower plant in north Wales. It was Britain’s energy system operator requesting an immediate deluge of electricity to help prevent a wide-scale blackout crippling Britain’s power grids.The response was swift, and in the end just under million people were left without power for less than 45 minutes. While trains were stuck on lines for hours and hospitals had to revert to backup generators, that phone call prevented Britain’s worst blackout in a decade from being far more severe. Continue reading...

Politics

56 m. ago ‘A case study on psychosis’: men on why Tim Robinson’s Friendship feels a little too real

‘I was so incredibly uncomfortable,’ one man said of watching the new cringe comedy starring Robinson and Paul RuddFriendship is a nightmare – especially if you’re a guy.The new film, starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd, follows middle-aged Craig (Robinson), who spends every night sitting alone, in the same chair, until he makes friends with his neighbor Austin (Rudd). But their joint adventures end in a friendship breakup, essentially because Craig is too weird. (Warning: mild spoilers ahead.) Continue reading...

Politics

56 m. ago As Texas’s measles outbreak slows, officials warn of rise in other states

Cases in New Mexico and Kansas give experts reason to be ‘concerned’ in second-worst US measles year since 2000The measles outbreak in Texas is showing signs of slowing, though other states are seeing more cases and health officials are warning against complacency as the US continues to experience high rates of measles amid falling vaccination rates.It has been a handful of days since anyone in Lubbock, Texas, has tested positive, and there are no known measles hospitalizations at the children’s hospital in the city, which has also cared for children from nearby Gaines county. Continue reading...

Events

56 m. ago Nathaniel Parker performs Anthem for Doomed Youth Poem by Wilfred Owen – video

The actor reads a poem in memory of Derek Jarman, who was the first director to cast him in a film - as Wilfred Owen in War Requiem. The film is part of a series to mark Celebration Day 2025 – a new annual moment, held on the last bank holiday Monday of May, to honour and celebrate those who have shaped our lives but are no longer with us. Directed by Oliver Parker at Abbey Road Studios, curated by Allie Esiri and published exclusively by the Guardian. On Celebration Day, join in by sharing your memories using #ShareYourStar• ‘He lived inside poetry’: Toby Jones and Helena Bonham Carter perform poems in memory of lost loved ones• Susan Wokoma performs What If This Road by Sheenagh Pugh – video Continue reading...

Politics

56 m. ago Formula One 2025: Monaco Grand Prix qualifying updates – live

Qualifying from 3pm BST around the famous circuitSign up for The Recap newsletter | And email JohnMonte Carlo, the most symbolic and glamorous GP of them all. As a race the tight streets of Monaco mean passing moves are low on success rate so perhaps qualifying is where the real juice is, and the principality sees its best, speediest racing.The news from practice is that Lewis Hamilton has had a late prang – that will keep the Ferrari mechanics busy. Charles Leclerc was quickest so they may be on the right lines though Max Verstappen looks menacingly in form.1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 1:10.9532. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.280 (medium)3. Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.2944. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.4455. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.5636. Alex Albon (Williams) +0.7157. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.8618. Carlos Sainz (Williams) +0.9409. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +0.99910. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +1.06011. George Russell (Mercedes)12. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)13. Nico Hulkenber...

Sport

65 m. ago College graduates this year are not finding jobs. AI is partly to blame

“What actually can I do as a human who’s a recent graduate that some robot isn’t going to take over?” asked one recent graduate. Michelle Del Rey reports on the students trapped without a next step

Politics

1 hour ago WCL and Championship playoff finals, Salah named Premier League player of the year– matchday live

Buildup to today’s major finalsLive scores | Fixtures | Get in touchManchester City wrap up their Premier League campaign on Sunday with a game Pep Guardiola believes is “by far” their most important of the season. City head to Fulham knowing a draw will almost certainly secure a top-five spot and a place in the Champions League for next season.After winning the title in the past four seasons, it is a relatively modest target but Guardiola recognises it is the least of the club’s expectations. The City manager said: “If we want to play in the Champions League, we have to take a result there. This is what we are going to do. Of course, it’s really important.” Asked if it was the most important game of the season, Guardiola said at a press conference: “By far.” Continue reading...

Sport

1 hour ago Any trade deal with US must be based on ‘respect not threats’, says EU commissioner

Maroš Šefčovič’s remarks come after pace of talks prompted Trump to propose 50% tariff on goods from blocThe European Union’s trade chief has struck a defiant tone after Donald Trump threatened to place a 50% tariff on all goods from the bloc, saying any potential trade deal between Brussels and Washington must be based on “respect not threats”.The US president made his statement after voicing frustration with the pace of progress on a trade agreement with the EU. The new rates would come into effect from 1 June. Continue reading...

Events

1 hour ago ‘I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen next’: Brockwell Park festival row ignites debate over public space

Legal decision in favour of south London campaign group trying to restrict music festivals reignites access rowPublic parks have been a cherished part of British life since the 19th century; for the Victorians they represented a “commitment to cultivate public good within the public realm”.But differing interpretations of this vision for municipal green space are at the heart of a debate over a very 21st-century issue: music festivals. Continue reading...

Politics

1 hour ago I’m feasting on the contents of hedgerows like a horse in plimsolls – and I’ve never felt so healthy | Nell Frizzell

Nettles, hedge garlic, sticky weed: Britain in May is a lush salad bar that I can’t resist, and it’s doing wonders for my skinI had a daughter during one of the bone-cold early months of this year, which means that my full-time job is now to produce a yield. Between the hours of dawn and midnight, with a few lactic minutes in between, I am a feeding machine for a new person.And it is this, perhaps, that has led to my somewhat strange new eating habits. Pregnancy may traditionally be the time associated with cravings and aversions – the old cliches of sardines and jam, coal and creosote, bread and crackers. But here, in my postnatal feeding frenzy, I’m eating nettles by the handful. I am chomping on sticky weed. I have been biting the heads off dandelions (bitter – like really serious dark chocolate) and sucking the nectar from inside honeysuckle. This recent chlorophyll gala has, of course, coincided with England’s greatest month: May. Some of us love the look of May, some of us enj...

Politics

1 hour ago Hush over Hollywood: why has it become so hard to make films in Los Angeles?

The drop in productions is causing alarm – can Tinseltown halt the exodus and reclaim its spot as the home of movie-making?When Adam Scott was working on the hit TV show Parks and Recreation in the early 2010s, the Los Angeles studio where the show was filmed was packed – “every stage was filled and working”.These days, he told his former co-star Rob Lowe in a much-discussed recent podcast conversation, “it’s quiet over there” – in part because “it’s just too expensive to shoot here”. Continue reading...

Culture

2 h. ago Russell Brand's wellness festival cancelled amid rape charges

All three days of Russell Brand's 2025 'Community' wellness festival have been quietly cancelled, with ticketing pages now dead and vendors advising customers to seek refunds.

Events

2 h. ago The Look Of MCM London Comic Con Spring 2025 On Day One, Friday

The Look Of MCM London Comic Con Spring 2025 On Day One, Friday  Bleeding Cool News

Politics

2 h. ago Dear America: women’s bodies are not state property | Tayo Bero

Adriana Smith, declared braindead in February, is being kept alive because she’s pregnant. Where was the concern for her life while she was here?A Black pregnant woman who was declared brain dead back in February is still being kept alive on a ventilator, because of a Georgia law that prohibits abortions beyond six weeks. If this sounds like the stuff of speculative fiction, it’s because there’s literally a Handmaid’s Tale episode about this. And while the TV show based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 book may have gotten many things right about the soul of authoritarianism and a violently patriarchal society, living that reality is even more sickening.Anyone who thinks this is about the life of Adriana Smith’s child is fooling themselves. This is the state, boundary testing to see how far they can take their efforts to have full reproductive control over American women, and gauging how much the American public is willing to tolerate.Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Events

2 h. ago F1 Monaco GP LIVE: Qualifying start time, schedule and practice results

Follow live F1 updates from Monaco as the drivers build towards a key qualifying session on Saturday

Politics

2 h. ago Vernon Kay fires dig at 'missing' Rylan Clark days after issuing warning

Vernon Kay joked that his Rylan Clark "hasn't been seen" since presenting the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, with the joke coming days after Vernon warned his colleague to "behave himself"

Events

2 h. ago Critics say the movement to defund the police failed. But Austin and Seattle are seeing progress

The rallying cry from 2020 Black Lives Matter protests pushed some US cities to divert money towards housing and community servicesAfter George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, protesters who swarmed the streets across the US shouted the refrain: “Defund the police.” An idea that was once viewed as radical – to redirect money from law enforcement to other city departments and social services – became a rallying cry overnight.As a result of continued pressure, dozens of jurisdictions throughout the nation promised to reduce their police budgets. While most of them backtracked and increased law enforcement funding in the next year or two, several cities changed policies or added new public safety and homeless services departments. Continue reading...

Events