Category Archives: World News

‘What happened to the testicles?’: mockery in Milan over bull mosaic’s restoration

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Rampant Bull needed a makeover after wear and tear from tourists, but refurbishment ‘castrated’ it, critics say

The restoration of a floor mosaic in Milan called the Rampant Bull has been mocked after the works appear to have erased a crucial anatomical detail – its testicles.

The 19th-century mosaic in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping arcade needed a makeover because a small crater had formed in the tiny pink tiles featuring the bull’s testicles, due to the constant stream of tourists performing a heel-spinning gesture.

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Nvidia launches ‘superchip’ putting AI power into laptops and PCs

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Firm says its RTX Spark PC chip for Microsoft Windows will let AI agents replace the mouse and keyboard

A new front has opened up in the battle for dominance in AI chips, as Nvidia said its latest development could replace the mouse and keyboard in how people use computers.

The $5tn (£3.7tn) US semiconductor company has launched a “superchip” that puts AI capabilities into laptops and desktop computers, a move that will pit it against Intel, Apple, Qualcomm and AMD.

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UK will not have to pay Rwanda £100m over failed asylum scheme, court rules

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Rwanda had sued UK government over alleged breach of agreement, after scheme scrapped by Labour on first day in office

The UK will not have to pay the Rwandan government millions of pounds over a failed migrant deportation scheme set up by Boris Johnson’s administration, an international court has ruled.

The east African nation had sued the current UK government for more than £100m, claiming it was owed after a breach of an agreement.

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Kane Parsons becomes youngest film-maker to open at No 1 in the US with Backrooms

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Backrooms stunned industry observers by taking $81m in its first weekend, a record for studio A24

Kane Parsons has become the youngest film-maker to open a film at number one at the North American box office for his directing debut Backrooms.

Parsons, 20, is seven years younger than the previous record holder, Josh Trank, who was 27 when his debut Chronicle recorded a $22m opening in 2011. Backrooms stunned industry observers by taking $81m in its first weekend in North America – which was also a record for its studio, A24.

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French navy seizes Russia-linked oil tanker in Atlantic

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President Macron says ship subject to sanctions and posts video of operation that took place with UK support

A suspected Russian oil tanker has been detained in the Atlantic, France has announced, in the latest seizure aimed at combatting Moscow’s “shadow fleet” of vessels contravening international sanctions.

The Tagor was detained on Sunday morning in international waters more than 400 nautical miles (740km) west of Brittany with the help of the UK and other partners, said the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

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Death of Congolese man renews scrutiny of race relations in Ireland

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Yves Sakila died after being restrained by security guards ‘in broad daylight’

Irish authorities have agreed to a second postmortem on the body of a Congolese man who died after being restrained by shop security guards on a Dublin street, prompting an outcry and comparisons to the death of George Floyd.

A forensic pathologist from England is to conduct an independent postmortem this week on Yves Sakila, 35, an alleged shoplifter who was pursued and pinned to the ground in the city centre on 15 May. The police force, An Garda Síochána, is investigating.

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Could Trump’s Iran ‘excursion’ be a bigger global turning point than Vietnam?

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The far shorter Middle East war has rapidly revealed the strategic weakness of US firepower in an interconnected world

In a 1965 speech justifying the war in Vietnam, Lyndon B Johnson argued that the goal was to ensure “every country can shape its own destiny” since only in such a world could the US secure its own freedom. However, he also admitted “such were infirmities of man that force must often precede reason, and the waste of war, the works of peace”.

It was the kind of elegant justification of the country’s moral mission to which successive US presidential speechwriters have turned at times of war.

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Colombia goes to polls in election pitting outgoing leader’s ally against pro-Trump candidates

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Ballots are being cast in the first round of the South American nation’s presidential elections

Colombians are casting ballots in the first round of the South American nation’s presidential election, choosing between candidates with radically diverging visions for the future of peace in a country haunted by decades of armed conflict.

The vote on Sunday, seen as a referendum on outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s policies, comes 10 years after Colombia signed a historic peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

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Sky ends controversial news joint venture in United Arab Emirates

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Sky News Arabia to retain name in brand licensing deal after criticism of its coverage of atrocities in Sudan

Sky is exiting its TV news joint venture with the United Arab Emirates, Sky News Arabia, which has been criticised for its coverage of the war in Sudan, with accusations of genocide denial.

Sky and its partner IMI – the investment vehicle controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the vice-president of the UAE and owner of Manchester City – have announced a new commercial deal in which the UK-based broadcaster will relinquish all strategic and operational ownership of the 24-hour Arabic language news and current affairs service.

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Germany’s embattled nightlife scene welcomes plan to reclassify clubs

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There is hope that a change to building regulations could resurrect music clubs, which have been hit by rising rents, social shifts and noise disputes

A move by the German government to reclassify nightclubs to distinguish them from amusement and adult entertainment facilities could give a much-needed boost to the country’s struggling nightlife, industry advocates say.

Under a fundamental change to building regulations approved by Friedrich Merz’s cabinet last week, nightclubs will be formally recognised as providing cultural and artistic value, making it more difficult for developers to evict venue operators in favour of new construction.

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Israel seizes strategic castle in deepest incursion into Lebanon in 26 years

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Experts say capture is largely symbolic, but it complicates efforts to extend the ceasefire between US and Iran

Israeli troops have captured a clifftop castle as they made their deepest incursion into Lebanon in more than 26 years, further shattering a nominal US-brokered ceasefire and complicating efforts to extend the separate truce between the Washington and Tehran.

After days of intense fighting and airstrikes in nearby villages, the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said the military had captured Beaufort Castle, also known as Qalaat al-Shaqif, which it had used as a base during its previous occupation of southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000.

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Three climbers die and one rescued after fall on Alaska’s Mount McKinley

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Four were part of seven-person group that had traveled to US to ascend North America’s tallest mountain

Three people have died after falling while climbing Alaska’s Mount McKinley, according to officials. A fourth climber has been rescued.

The four were part of a seven-person group that had traveled to the United States to ascend Mount McKinley, also known as Denali, North America’s tallest mountain, according to information released by the Latvian Mountaineering Association.

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Animal welfare violations swarm Miami zoo owned by ex-drug kingpin in Tiger King

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Endangered snow leopard had leg amputated and capybara died at Mario Tabraue’s controversial roadside facility

An endangered clouded leopard had a leg amputated and a capybara died following botched breeding attempts at a controversial Miami roadside zoo owned by a convicted drug trafficker featured in the Netflix documentary Tiger King.

Federal wildlife inspectors found multiple other violations during a March inspection at Zoological Wildlife Foundation (ZWF), including dilapidated, insecure or unsafe housing conditions for wild animals, filthy cages, and water and food contaminated with algae and dead insects.

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Four more men freed from flooded Laos cave in hazardous rescue mission

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Two still missing as divers make their way deeper into cave through muddy water and sharp rocks to find them

Four more miners who were trapped in a flooded cave in Laos for 10 days have been freed by divers, but two people are still missing as rescuers continue to crawl through narrow, deluged tunnels and sharp rocks to find them.

The first of the party of seven men was rescued on Friday in a perilous rescue mission which has required teams to drain water from the cave and navigate collapse hazards.

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Looming Iran peace deal shows how Trump’s maximalist goals have shrunk

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Sobering reality for president after three-month odyssey that threatens to take him back to where he started

After the hubristic beginnings came the reality.

The road travelled since the most momentous foreign policy decision of his presidency seems to have delivered Donald Trump to a sobering destination: that Iran has been the nemesis of several US presidents before him for a reason and is an adversary not to be taken lightly.

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Colombia prepares to go to polls in election shadowed by resurgence of political violence

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Sunday’s presidential vote is contest between left and right – and between contradictory proposals for dealing with the decades-long armed conflict

Mateo Pérez Rueda was one internship away from completing a degree in political science. The 24-year-old also worked as a bicycle delivery rider and sold fruit salads and juice to finance his passion: the Colombian independent digital magazine El Confidente.

On 4 May he travelled to Briceño, in the western province of Antioquia, to report on the long-running conflict between the army, paramilitaries and dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

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Eighteen people killed in Afghanistan truck crash, including 10 children

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Truck was carrying Afghan families returning Pakistan when it overturned, official says

A truck overturned in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing 18 people on board including 10 children, a provincial official told Agence France-Presse.

Deadly traffic crashes are common in Afghanistan, due in part to poor roads after decades of conflict, dangerous driving and a lack of regulation.

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US ‘more than capable’ of resuming war against Iran, Pete Hegseth says

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Pentagon chief also tells Singapore defence summit of ‘alarm’ at China’s military buildup but says US does not seek ‘needless confrontation’

The US warned on Saturday it was “more than capable” of resuming war with Iran after President Donald Trump said any peace deal must adhere to his red lines, including Tehran never being able to develop nuclear weapons.

The White House had signalled Trump was close to a decision on an initial deal on Friday after weeks of mixed signals in tenuous negotiations, though Tehran denied there was a final agreement on ending the Middle East conflict that has jolted the global economy.

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A broken economy and an emboldened regime: Iranians abandoned to endure fallout from war

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Some Iranians hoped foreign intervention would unseat the regime but instead the US-Israel war has damaged livelihoods and strengthened those in power

As Donald Trump swung this week between threats of new military action against Iran and predictions that a lasting ceasefire deal was imminent, many Iranians were left exhausted and gripped by uncertainty.

Despite the partial lifting of an internet shutdown that began when the war started on 28 February, fears of worsening repression at home have also fuelled pessimism about the future among some of those to whom the Guardian spoke.

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Alarm at Mexico bill allowing elections to be annulled for ‘foreign interference’

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Opposition says constitutional amendment would give bill ruling party carte blanche to overturn will of voters

Amid fierce criticism from opposition groups, Mexico’s senate has passed ‌a constitutional amendment to include “foreign interference” as grounds to annul election results in the country.

The bill, which was presented by the country’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, defines foreign interference as “illicit financing, propaganda, the systematic ⁠dissemination of misinformation, digital manipulation, and ⁠the intervention of foreign governments ⁠or agencies”.

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