Ukraine marks Chornobyl anniversary amid fears of history repeating due to Russia war

Reform leader went public after approach from Guardian, but does his claim stack up that money was for his security?Nigel Farage was given undisclosed £5m by crypto billionaire in 2024Nigel Farage has admitted he received a personal gift of £5m from the Reform UK mega-donor Christopher Harborne shortly before the general election in 2024.He did not disclose that gift at the time. And he made no mention of it in the year since. That is, until Wednesday morning, when the Daily Telegraph published a story in which Farage admitted receiving the money from Harborne – saying it was for his personal security. Continue reading...

Tearful testimony details missed warnings and lack of plan as families oppose reopening of Texas campA director of Camp Mystic, the all-girls Christian camp in the Texas Hill Country where 25 campers and two counselors were killed in a flash flood last summer, has offered a tearful apology to victim’s families for the loss of life.“We tried our hardest that night. It wasn’t enough to save your daughters,” Edward Eastland said, at a joint Texas House and Senate committee panel in Austin investigating the deadly flooding. “I’m so sorry.” Continue reading...

Fans in Buffalo, only a few miles from Ontario, filled the silence when a microphone cut out at the start of a matchThe Electric City. Nickle City. Queen City. City of No Illusions.Buffalo, New York, has accrued many nicknames over the years, but in an age of growing tensions between two traditional allies, one such epithet has taken on extra resonance: the City of Good Neighbors. Continue reading...

Brown calls for police to look into former prince’s use of public funds as he says he had colleague raise issue in 2008Gordon Brown has revealed he ordered that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor be questioned about incurring “unacceptable costs” as a trade envoy in 2008, as he called for the police to widen their inquiry to include the use of public funds.The former prime minister said he asked a colleague from the business department to question Mountbatten-Windsor about his travel expenses. Continue reading...

Critics say Maryland’s new law banning rapidly change product costs based on consumer data is full of carveoutsMaryland has become the first state in the US to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores.Maryland’s law bans grocers and third-party delivery services from using a person’s personal data to set higher prices. Wes Moore, the governor, signed the measure into law on Tuesday. “At a time when technology can predict what we need, when we need it, when we’ll pay for it and also – when we’ll pay more for it, and at a time when we’re watching how big companies are then using these analytics against us to make record profits, Maryland is not just pushing back. Maryland is pushing forward because we are going to protect our people,” Moore said at the bill signing ceremony. Continue reading...

The fuel crisis is seeing more voters keen to shift to renewable energy rather than stick with fossil fuelsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA majority of Australians support taxing profits from gas exports and extending the cut to the fuel excise, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll, despite Anthony Albanese on Wednesday ruling out a new tax on existing gas export contracts.The poll also found the fuel crisis is seeing more voters keen to shift to renewable energy rather than stick with fossil fuels. Australians also say they’re already cutting back on travel, switching to public transport and reducing their use of aircon and heating amid the global fuel uncertainty. Continue reading...

Democrats had filed civil contempt resolution against former attorney general for not appearing for depositionUS politics live – latest updatesThe House oversight and government reform committee has said that former attorney general Pam Bondi will now appear before the panel on 29 May to answer questions about the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and its release of the Epstein files.The announcement of the date came shortly after the Democrats on the committee announced that they had filed a civil contempt resolution against Bondi after she did not appear for her deposition earlier this month. Continue reading...

Three defendants deny plotting arson attack on two homes and a car connected to prime minister in London last yearA series of arson attacks on property linked to Keir Starmer was masterminded by a Russian-speaking contact using the pseudonym “El Money”, a court has heard.Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Petro Pochynok, 35, both from Ukraine, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, a Romanian national, sat with their heads bent towards interpreters as Duncan Atkinson KC, prosecuting, opened the trial over the arson attacks in May last year. Continue reading...

Article 42.7 had languished in obscurity for decades – until Donald Trump began casting doubt on US commitment to Nato• Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereMost people have heard of Nato’s article 5. The “one for all, all for one” clause states an armed attack on one member country should be considered an attack on all, requiring member states to come to the victim’s aid – including with “the use of armed force”.Not so many, till this week, had heard of the EU’s own mutual defence clause, article 42.7 (pdf), which says that if a member state comes under armed attack, the others “shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power”. That’s perhaps because there hadn’t, until recently, been much need for Europeans to consult article 42.7. More than 40 US military bases and 85,000 troops across the EU (and UK) were testament to Washington’s defence commitment to the old continent. Continue reading...

Royal Navy chief says unified naval force will deter future Russian threats from the ‘open sea border’ to the northBritain has agreed to create a unified naval force with nine European countries to deter future Russian threats from the “open sea border” to the north, the head of the Royal Navy has announced.Gen Sir Gwyn Jenkins insisted that despite the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, where the strait of Hormuz remains closed after the US-Israel war in Iran that “Russia remains the gravest threat to our security”. Continue reading...

At the heart of the case was the question of how much lawmakers are allowed to consider race when they redraw districtsSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe US supreme court has ruled that Louisiana will have to redraw its congressional map, in a landmark voting rights case.At the heart of the case, Louisiana v Callais, was a thorny question of how much lawmakers are allowed to consider race when they redraw districts to ensure that Black voters are adequately represented. The supreme court initially heard oral arguments in the case last March, but took the unusual step of asking lawyers to re-argue the case last fall. In setting the case for a re-argument, the justices raised the stakes of the case, asking lawyers to focus on whether section 2 of the Voting Rights Act was constitutional. Continue reading...

Rise in electricity demand in first quarter of 2026 was moderated by record output from rooftop solarGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMore datacentres and warmer conditions helped push electricity demand to record highs in the first three months of the year, according to Australia’s Energy Market Operator, while growth in batteries kept average wholesale prices down.Electricity demand – from households, business and industry – reached record levels of 25GW in Q1 2026, an increase of 1.2% compared with the same quarter last year. Across the grid, this growth was offset by record output from rooftop solar. Continue reading...