London mayor Sadiq Khan blocks £50m Met police deal with Palantir

Climbers take advantage of clear weather after threat of ice fall on normal route delayed start of spring season A record 274 climbers have reached the summit of Mount Everest from the Nepalese side in a single day after a spring season that started late because of the threat of ice fall on the normal tourist route.The climbers took advantage of the clear weather on Wednesday, said Rishi Ram Bhandari, of the Expedition Operators Association Nepal. Continue reading...

Critics of Royal Horticultural Society turn hose on corporate sponsorship, peat-free compost and general ‘wokery’There was King Charles and David Beckham as well as a nocturnal garden to support bats and a Viking-themed allotment full of edible plants in pots. The Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea flower show, which ends on Saturday, was as lovely and celebrity-glittered as ever, most agreed.But dig a little deeper, say critics on the conservative wing of the RHS – including one spectacularly outspoken former contributor – and not everything is necessarily smelling of roses. Continue reading...

Lawsuit says university and private investigators conspired to intimidate, terrorize and retaliate against Josiah WalkerA University of Michigan student is suing the school, accusing it of violating his constitutional rights when it waged a vast undercover surveillance operation against him in response to his protest of Israel’s war in Gaza.The lawsuit, which will be filed on Thursday in federal court by Cair-MI and U-M student Josiah Walker, claims the university and individual private investigators conspired to intimidate, terrorize and retaliate against Walker in 2024 and 2025. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Bodycam footage shared with the Guardian shows agents forced workers out of a van in what a judge has called ‘unlawful’ arrestNewly released body-camera footage shows US immigration officers stopping a van of farm workers in Oregon, smashing their windows and using facial recognition software to try to identify one of them.Videos from a 30 October 2025 operation were disclosed in court as part of an ongoing class-action lawsuit challenging Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) arrest tactics and racial profiling by agents. Lawyers for one of the detained farm workers shared the footage with the Guardian. Continue reading...

Colombia is a global leader in climate activism. Could US influence drag country to a future of mining and fracking?Several hours after dark in a quiet Caribbean neighbourhood, a cluster of environmental activists gather on plastic chairs between a mango tree and a courtyard wall emblazoned with the words: “Colombia, respira!” (breathe Colombia).So many people have turned up that some are forced to stand. That is because tonight’s speaker, Susana Muhamad, is one of the most admired socio-environmental campaigners in the world and this is a moment of profound historical significance. Continue reading...

Authorities in Galicia declare two days of mourning after toddler died during exceptionally high May temperaturesEurope live – latest updatesA two-year-old girl has died of heatstroke in north-west Spain after being accidentally left in her father’s car during an unseasonably hot spell that could push temperatures in some areas to 38C (100F).The child, who has not been named, went into cardiac arrest on Wednesday afternoon after spending several hours inside the vehicle in the Galician town of Brión after her father forgot to take her to nursery. Continue reading...

Republican senators have queried the timing and lack of detail in secret service bid to add money to the Department for Homeland security billHello and welcome to the US politics live blog.Senate Republicans could strip Donald Trump’s lavish White House ballroom complex from the Department of Homeland Security funding bill after members queried the timing and lack of detail in the $1bn Secret Service request.The US issued a federal criminal indictment against Raúl Castro, Cuba’s former president, potentially paving the way for a US military raid to capture him.Two police officers attacked by rioters at the US Capitol during the January 6 riot sued Donald Trump over plans to create a $1.776bn “anti-weaponization” fund.Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican congressman from a Philadelphia-area district carried by Kamala Harris in 2024, pledged on Wednesday to “try to kill” the $1.776bn slush fund created by Donald Trump’s Department of Justice this week, which could be used to compensate rioters who tried to keep Trump in office after he lost the 2020 election.Republican senator Bill Cassidy denounced two of Trump’s passion projects: $1bn in taxpayer funding for the White House ballroom the president can’t stop talking about, and the $1.776bn slush fund he plans to use to reward supporters who stormed the Capitol to try to keep him in office despite losing the 2020 election.A former federal prosecutor in Florida pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges that she illegally emailed herself a copy of the unreleased special counsel report on Trump’s mishandling of classified documents. Continue reading...

The Rolling Stone will play a lighthouse keeper in Three Incestuous Sisters, joining a cast including Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley and Saoirse RonanRolling Stones singer Mick Jagger is playing a lighthouse keeper in the new film from Happy as Lazzaro director Alice Rohrwacher, which is currently filming on the Italian island of Stromboli.According to reports in the Italian media, Jagger was photographed on arrival in Stromboli after flying in by helicopter to take a role in Three Incestuous Sisters, Rohrwacher’s adaptation of the 2005 “visual novel” by The Time Traveler’s Wife author Audrey Niffenegger. Continue reading...

Prime minister expected to boycott opening as local people organise protest to show US ‘no means no’Hundreds of people are expected to protest at the opening of a new US consulate in Nuuk after comments by the US special envoy to Greenland that it was time for Washington “to put its footprint back” on the Arctic territory.Thursday marks the official opening of the new consulate in the capital, although many Greenlandic politicians, including the prime minister, say they will not attend. Continue reading...

Will Lawrence, an outspoken opponent of AI data centers, is running in swing district where three mega complexes loomA prominent environmental organizer calling for a nationwide moratorium on data centers as he runs for the Democratic nomination in a swing Michigan congressional district has secured an endorsement from Bernie Sanders.Will Lawrence, co-founder of the youth-led Sunrise Movement climate justice group, was a key figure behind the campaign for a Green New Deal to battle economic and racial injustice while also fighting climate change. Continue reading...

Hundreds of cases reported in the DRC after USAID has been dismantled and key scientific research canceledA previously undetected outbreak of Ebola is coursing through parts of central Africa, and the US appears to be doing little to help stop it, after massive cuts to global and domestic public health efforts.There is no cure and no vaccine for the rare Bundibugyo variant of Ebola, which has caused two outbreaks in recent decades. Health leaders and scientists are now racing to understand where the virus is spreading and attempting to stop it – but the US is notably absent in these efforts. Continue reading...