‘We carry on with the sadness’: new projects honor life and legacy of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira

Friends and colleagues of Phillips, killed in the Amazon in 2022, completed his book, which coincides with launch of investigative Guardian podcast

Three years after the British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian activist Bruno Pereira were murdered in the Amazon, two major new projects will celebrate their lives and work – and the Indigenous communities and rainforests both men sought to protect.

Friends of Phillips have completed the book he was writing at the time of his death – How to Save the Amazon – which will be published in the UK, the US and Brazil on 27 May.

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New Zealand teenager dies after tackle game linked to viral Run It Straight challenge

Police confirmed the 19-year-old died in hospital on Monday night after he suffered a critical head injury

A New Zealand teenager has died after playing a tackling game, believed to have been inspired by a controversial new high impact collision sport trending on social media.

Police confirmed the 19-year-old died in hospital on Monday night after he suffered a critical head injury while playing a tackle game with friends in the North Island city Palmerston North on Sunday.

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Tuesday briefing: Trump’s statements about Putin have changed. Will his actions catch up?

In today’s newsletter: As the US president becomes more disillusioned with Vladimir Putin, a look at how his stance towards the Russian leader is – and isn’t – shifting

Good morning. Nobody is more surprised than Donald Trump, but he is starting to think that Vladimir Putin is not a straight shooter. “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him,” he wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. “He has gone absolutely CRAZY! I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!”

As ever with Trump, a part of you admires the chutzpah: the idea that Trump has long been troubled by Putin’s imperial ambitions is, of course, an absolutely warped version of the real history. But – even if Trump also criticised Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, grumbling that “everything out of his mouth causes problems” – there does seem to be a sense that the US president is becoming more seriously disillusioned with Putin as a partner, and seeking ways to avoid blame for the consequences.

Israel-Gaza war | The UK must impose sanctions on the Israeli government and its ministers and also consider suspending it from the UN to meet its “fundamental international legal obligations”, more than 800 lawyers have said. Signatories to a letter to the prime minister include former supreme court justices, court of appeal judges and more than 70 KCs.

UK news | Liverpool FC’s Premier League victory parade descended into chaos on Monday evening after a car collided with pedestrians in the city centre, injuring nearly 50 people. A 53-year-old man was arrested at the scene of the incident, which is not being treated as terrorism.

The race report | Senior figures in British business have described a chilling effect on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, saying they are being “rebranded” to avoid attracting unwanted political attention.

Cost of living | Food inflation in the UK has risen for the fourth month in a row, figures show, driven by increases in the cost of fresh produce, including steak. The annual rate of food price rises hit 2.8% this month, after a 2.6% rise in April.

Gender guidance | Formal guidance on how organisations should implement the supreme court ruling on gender may not be fully signed off for months, officials and MPs have said. The warnings come amid increasing worries about the capability of the government’s equalities watchdog following criticisms of its chair, Kishwer Falkner.

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France spent €90,000 countering research into impact of Pacific nuclear tests

Documents suggest campaign to discredit revelation that tests contaminated many more people than acknowledged

France’s Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) has spent tens of thousands of euros in an effort to counter research revealing that Paris has consistently underestimated the devastating impact of its nuclear tests in French Polynesia in the 1960s and 1970s.

Days before a parliamentary inquiry presents its report on the tests, documents obtained by the investigative outlet Disclose, and seen by Le Monde and the Guardian, suggest the CEA ran a concerted campaign to discredit the revelations.

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Japan introduces rules to put outlandish baby names to bed

The change is designed to halt the use of kirakira (shiny or glittery) names that have proliferated among parents hoping to add a creative flourish

Parents in Japan will no longer have free rein over the names they give their children, after the introduction this week of new rules on the pronunciation of kanji characters.

The change is designed to halt the use of kirakira (shiny or glittery) names that have proliferated among parents hoping to add a creative flourish to their children’s names – creating administrative headaches for local authorities and, in some cases, inviting derision from classmates.

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UK must impose sanctions on Israel to meet legal obligations, say more than 800 lawyers

Exclusive: Letter to PM signed by retired supreme court justices among others says lack of action will imperil international legal system

The UK must impose sanctions on the Israeli government and its ministers and also consider suspending it from the UN to meet its “fundamental international legal obligations”, more than 800 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges, including former supreme court justices, have said.

In a letter to the prime minister, they welcome Keir Starmer’s joint statement last week with the leaders of France and Canada warning that they were prepared to take “concrete actions” against Israel. But they urge him to act without delay as “urgent and decisive action is required to avert the destruction of the Palestinian people of Gaza”.

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Thousands of Israelis join violent, racist march through Jerusalem’s Muslim quarter

State-backed flag day march shut down Palestinian life in Old City to celebrate Israel’s 1967 annexation of East Jerusalem

Thousands of Israelis have joined a state-funded march through the Muslim quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem, where large groups chanted racist slogans including “Gaza is ours”, “death to the Arabs” and “may their villages burn”.

The annual march, paid for and promoted by the Jerusalem city government, celebrates Israel’s capture and occupation of East Jerusalem and its holy sites in the war of 1967. The Israeli takeover is not recognised internationally.

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Four former Volkswagen managers convicted of fraud in ‘dieselgate’ trial

Braunschweig court gives two former executives prison sentences for roles in emissions test-cheating scandal

A German court has convicted four former Volkswagen managers of fraud and given two of them prison sentences for their part in the “dieselgate” emissions test-cheating scandal that erupted almost a decade ago.

The former head of development Heinz-Jakob Neusser received a suspended jail term of one year and three months from the court in the city of Braunschweig, according to the news agency Bloomberg.

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Germany and Ukraine’s other allies scrap range limits on arms sent to Kyiv

Removal of restrictions, which is backed by UK, France and US, improves Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia

The German chancellor has said that Germany, along with Ukraine’s other main western supporters, will remove range restrictions on weapons delivered to Kyiv for the first time, to enable it to defend itself against Russia.

Friedrich Merz said Germany, Britain, France and the US had lifted the restrictions to enable Ukraine to be better able to hit military targets on Russian territory.

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World’s oldest fingerprint may be a clue that Neanderthals created art

A man 43,000 years ago dipped a finger in red pigment and made a nose on a face-like pebble in Spain, scientists say

One day around 43,000 years ago, a Neanderthal man in what is now central Spain came across a large granite pebble whose pleasing contours and indentations snagged his eye.

Something in the shape of that quartz-rich stone – perhaps its odd resemblance to an elongated face – may have compelled him to pick it up, study it and, eventually, to dip one of his fingers in red pigment and press it against the pebble’s edge, exactly where the nose on that face would have been.

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Emmanuel Macron says video of wife pushing him shows them ‘joking around’

French president denies quarrelling with Brigitte Macron after footage is seized on by Russia and far-right accounts

Emmanuel Macron has denied he and his wife, Brigitte, had an altercation after a viral video promoted by Russian state media and French far-right accounts appeared to show her pushing him in the face as they prepared to get off a plane in Vietnam.

The video, shot by an Associated Press camera operator, shows the French president appearing in the doorway of the plane at the start of a visit to Hanoi. His wife’s hand appears to shove him, causing him to step back before recovering and waving.

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Jafar Panahi returns to Iran in triumph after Cannes Palme d’Or win

The director of It Was Just an Accident was cheered by supporters as he arrived back in his home country, where his work has previously landed him in jail

Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi was given a hero’s welcome on his return to Tehran on Monday after winning the top prize at the Cannes film festival, footage posted on social media showed.

After being banned from leaving Iran for years, forced to make films underground and enduring spells in prison, Panahi attended the film festival in person and sensationally walked away with the Palme d’Or for his latest movie It Was Just an Accident.

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Crown questions to fore as king visits Canada amid tensions with Trump

Charles to open parliament in show of support at a crucial time – but that has not quieted a chorus of critical voices

The decision by King Charles to formally open Canada’s parliament on Tuesday reflects his role as a “steadfast defender” of the country amid threats to its sovereignty, says prime minister Mark Carney.

But Indigenous leaders say the rare visit is also a reminder that Canada’s founding relationship between the monarchy and the country’s first peoples cannot ever be “forgotten or displaced or broken”.

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Malawi battles mpox as cases of the infectious disease surge in Africa

Medicine shortages plus limited testing and hospital capacity exacerbated by withdrawal of USAID as outbreak gathers pace across countries in the region

Malawi’s ministry of health has announced three new cases of mpox in the capital, Lilongwe, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 11 since the country’s first was reported in April.

Malawi is one of 16 countries in Africa reporting mpox outbreaks as health officials battle with vaccine shortages as well as limited testing and hospital capacity.

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Starwatch: Venus will be unmistakably brilliant in the predawn sky this week

The planet will reach its maximum western elongation from the sun, making it visible in the early hours

Venus will reach maximum western elongation from the sun on 31 May. Maximum elongation means that it appears as far from the sun as it can, making it the most easily visible. The fact that it is to the sun’s west means that it is visible in the morning sky.

From the UK, Venus rises at about 03.15 BST, giving an observing window of about an hour from 03.30 BST. The sun rises at about 04.45 BST, and no observations should be undertaken once the sun is in the sky because permanent eye damage can occur from looking at its fiery surface.

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EU officials accuse bloc of taking ‘little to no meaningful action’ on Gaza

EU Staff for Peace letter accuses institution bosses of failing to exert influence to help Palestinians

A group of EU officials has written to the leaders of the European institutions criticising the bloc for “little or no meaningful action” in response to the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The group EU Staff for Peace said that more than 2,000 officials working for the European Commission, European parliament and EU agencies had signed a letter drafted in May 2024 which accused the EU of apathy to the plight of Palestinians.

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Estonia eschews phone bans in schools and takes leap into AI

Country at top of education charts aims to equip students and teachers with ‘world-class artificial intelligence skills’

While many schools in England have banned smartphones, in Estonia – regarded as the new European education powerhouse – students are regularly asked to use their devices in class, and from September they will be given their own AI accounts.

The small Baltic country – population 1.4 million – has quietly become Europe’s top performer in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s programme for international student assessment (Pisa), overtaking its near neighbour Finland.

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Marcel Ophuls, Oscar-winning film-maker of The Sorrow and the Pity, dies aged 97

The German-French documentarian, who fled the Nazis twice as a child, spent his career exploring wartime atrocities and conflicts around the world

Marcel Ophuls, the Oscar-winning French film-maker whose documentary The Sorrow and the Pity uncovered the truth of the Vichy government’s collaboration with Nazi Germany during the second world war, has died aged 97.

Ophuls “died peacefully” on Saturday, his grandson Andreas-Benjamin Seyfert confirmed on Monday.

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EU president secures tariffs delay after talk with Trump

Enactment of 50% tariffs postponed until July so both sides can ‘reach a good deal’ after pressure from European leaders

Donald Trump has announced that he will pause his threatened 50% tariffs on the European Union until 9 July, after a “very nice call” with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.

The European Commission president announced in a social media post that she had spoken with Trump and secured the delay to give the two sides more time to negotiate.

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‘US silence encourages Putin’ says Zelenskyy after largest Russian attack to date – Ukraine war live

At least 12 people killed in strikes involving nearly 300 drones and almost 70 missiles

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged international leaders to increase their pressure on Russia, after Moscow’s forces intensified strikes on Ukraine overnight.

The Ukrainian leader said rescuers are working in over 30 Ukrainian cities and villages after nearly 300 attack drones and almost 70 missiles, including ballistic ones, were launched by Russia overnight.

Each such terrorist Russian strike is a sufficient reason for new sanctions against Russia.

Russia is dragging out this war and continues to kill every day. The world may go on a weekend break, but the war continues, regardless of weekends and weekdays. This cannot be ignored. Silence of America, silence of others around the world only encourage Putin.

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