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• The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest saw a significant decline in viewership, drawing 131 million viewers—35 million fewer than the previous year. • Organizers attribute the drop to boycotts by five countries protesting Israel's participation, with notable viewing decreases in Britain (3.7 million), Poland (3.8 million), and France (3.3 million). • Despite the overall decline, Bulgaria secured its first-ever victory with Dara's song "Bangaranga," and the event maintained strong engagement among viewers aged 15 to 24 at 54.8%.

• Eurovision's grand final saw a total loss of 35 million viewers this year, with significant declines recorded in Britain (3.7 million), Poland (3.8 million), and France (3.3 million). • The viewership drop follows boycotts by Ireland and four other nations over Israel's participation, with Ireland's RTÉ choosing not to air the live broadcast. • Despite the losses, the event maintained an average viewing share of 42.6% across 35 markets, peaking at 93% in Finland and 54.8% among viewers aged 15 to 24.

• The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest saw a significant decline in viewership, drawing 131 million viewers—a drop of 35 million compared to the previous year. • Organizers attributed the decline to boycotts from five countries protesting Israel's participation, with notable viewing losses in Britain (3.7 million), Poland (3.8 million), and France (3.3 million). • Despite the overall dip, the event maintained strong engagement among youth, with a 54.8% viewing share for those aged 15 to 24, and peak popularity in Finland at 93%.

• The article identifies five top transfer targets for the upcoming summer window as clubs prepare for the 2026 World Cup. • Jarrod Bowen is highlighted as a potential replacement for Mohamed Salah at Liverpool to maintain offensive production after the star's departure. • Newcastle United is seeking a replacement for Anthony Gordon, while Manchester United is expected to target established Premier League talent.

Brendan Banfield convicted of killing Christine Banfield and man lured to couple’s Virginia home as fall guyA Virginia man who was having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair was sentenced on Friday to life in prison without parole for the murder of his wife and a man who was lured to the couple’s home as a fall guy.Brendan Banfield, a former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) law enforcement officer, claimed he shot Joseph Ryan after he came across Ryan attacking his wife on the morning of 24 February 2023. But prosecutors said Brendan Banfield and au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães set Ryan up in a scheme to kill Christine Banfield, a pediatric intensive care nurse. Continue reading...

• A National Audit Office (NAO) report has revealed that Prince Andrew was sub-letting cottages at Royal Lodge. • The watchdog examined the property arrangements of various royals to determine the impact on public spending. • A Palace source stated that rent paid by non-working royals covers all publicly funded expenditures, ensuring no additional cost to the taxpayer.

Evoke had been in talks for two months with Bally’s Intralot, which has extensive international operationsThe owner of William Hill and the 888 online casino brand has agreed a £243m takeover by the Greek casino and lottery operator Bally’s Intralot.Evoke has been locked in talks with the Athens-listed Bally’s Intralot, which has extensive international operations including in the US, for the past two months. Continue reading...

Report into royal property affairs reveals disgraced ex-prince generated private income from Windsor Royal LodgeAndrew Mountbatten-Windsor received private income from subletting three cottages on his Windsor Royal Lodge estate while paying a “peppercorn rent” to the crown estate, a report into royal property arrangements has revealed.The National Audit Office (NAO) review also shows that King Charles pays an “adjusted” rent from his private Duchy of Lancaster income, below open market value, for his disgraced brother’s non-working royal daughters, princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, to live in royal palaces. Continue reading...

Andrés Manuel López Obrador says Washington is using investigations into governors and propaganda to boost rivalsMexico’s former president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has accused US officials of trying to weaken the governing party to strengthen the opposition, amid rising tensions between the two countries over Washington’s investigations into several Mexican governors.“Some US officials are plotting to weaken Morena and strengthen the rightwing opposition in Mexico with the aim of restoring a subservient, corrupt, mafia-like, and cruel government,” López Obrador wrote in a lengthy letter posted on X on Wednesday. Continue reading...

• The Canadian Department of Canadian Heritage ordered the CRTC to review its policy requiring streaming services to increase spending on local content. • The government aims to prevent these new regulatory costs from being passed on to consumers through higher subscription fees during a period of high cost-of-living pressure. • While the official reason focuses on consumer pricing, experts warn that the requirements could further strain Canada's trade relationship with the United States.

• Scott Mills' husband has shared his first social media post following the DJ's dismissal from the BBC. • The post comes as a wave of famous friends and colleagues have publicly voiced their support for the sacked presenter. • Rylan Clark recently highlighted the emotional difficulty of seeing close celebrity friends be "cancelled," noting the impact on personal relationships.

Veteran journalist says executives pushed unverified claims and gave politicians a say in interviewsThe longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, who was fired by CBS News on Tuesday after clashing with the network’s new management, issued a public statement accusing the network’s new executives of silencing employees and claiming they instructed him “to inject falsehoods and bias” into his reporting.“‘60’ has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories,” Pelley wrote in the lengthy statement he shared on social media on Wednesday morning. Continue reading...

Greens support needed to pass proposed changes but party concerned it will give government sweeping discretionary powersGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAnthony Albanese has ridiculed Angus Taylor as a “Temu [Tony] Abbott” amid an increasingly bitter fight over tax changes in the budget, as the Greens raise concerns about key provisions of the government’s proposal.Labor will speed the first tranche of its budget legislation through the lower house on Thursday, and hopes to pass it through the Senate within weeks. Continue reading...

BoM and other agencies expect transition to the first El Niño since spring 2023 sometime during winterFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereAustralia should prepare for an imminent El Niño, with the Bureau of Meteorology and other agencies forecasting that the weather phenomenon is likely to develop in the coming months.“The models are really aligning now,” Felicity Gamble, a senior BoM climatologist, said. “We are expecting a transition to El Niño sometime during winter.” Continue reading...

Move comes after meeting in which Pelley said network chief Bari Weiss was ‘murdering’ news showScott Pelley, one of the most well-known and respected journalists in broadcast journalism, has been fired by CBS News after clashing with network brass over last week’s severe round of cuts at 60 Minutes, the show he has worked on since 2004, the Guardian confirmed.While changes were long expected at 60 Minutes, CBS News management shocked staffers last week by firing the network’s executive producer, executive editor and two correspondents, Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi, without giving a specific reason for their terminations. Continue reading...

Pelley reportedly rebuked ousting of show’s executive producer, executive editor and two top correspondentsScott Pelley, a veteran 60 Minutes correspondent, called out CBS News management in a heated meeting on Monday morning, attacking the network’s decision on Thursday to fire the show’s executive producer, executive editor, and two fellow correspondents, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, as part of a broader overhaul of the show, sources tell the Guardian.During a meeting of the show’s staff and Nick Bilton, its newly appointed executive producer, along with the CBS News managing editor Charles Forelle, Pelley took direct aim at Bari Weiss, the network’s controversial editor-in-chief. Continue reading...

• A diverse range of new movies and shows are launching this Friday across major streaming platforms including Netflix, JioHotstar, Prime Video, and ZEE5. • Key releases include the Tamil thrillers *Kara* and *Leader*, the Malayalam family drama *Cousins & Kalyanams*, and the courtroom comedy *Jolly LLB 3*. • Genre-specific highlights feature a unique superhero experience with *Spider-Noir* and a biographical look at tennis star Rafael Nadal in the project *Rafa*.

• Local authorities in Reggio Emilia, Italy, have banned upcoming concerts by Kanye West and Travis Scott. • The decision follows a pattern of cancellations, including West's scheduled June 19 performance at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów, Poland. • Officials cited "formal and legal reasons" for the Polish cancellation, which influenced the Italian authorities' decision to block the events.

Campaigners had hoped to buy property from Nottingham Trent University to maintain public accessBramley apples are a staple in supermarkets across the UK and it all started in a house in Nottinghamshire. But now the future of the original fruit-bearing tree is in question after the garden where it stands has been sold by Nottingham Trent University (NTU).The news has left campaigners aiming to turn it into a heritage site “gobsmacked”. Continue reading...

Despite government pledges, more than 20 authorities will not allow gullies, citing safety, legal and parking concernsThe energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has said charger gullies to connect electric cars parked on streets will help cut costs for drivers, yet millions of UK households may be unable to use the simple technology because their local councils will still not allow charging cables to cross the pavement.Despite government promises to “slash red tape” and make it easier to put in gullies, more than 20 local authorities appear to be holding out against them. Continue reading...

Investigation launched into activity in Coalsnaughton, Clackmannanshire, a former mining villageNearly 100 homes have been evacuated following reports of ground movements in a former mining village in Scotland.Properties began being evacuated on 18 May and an investigation has since been launched into the activity in Coalsnaughton, Clackmannanshire. Continue reading...

• Vivo has officially launched the TWS 5e earbuds in the Chinese market. • The new audio device features 11mm dynamic drivers and hybrid adaptive active noise cancellation (ANC) for improved sound quality. • A key highlight of the product is its long-lasting battery life, which can provide up to 55 hours of total playback.

Angus Taylor believes the former PM is uniquely placed to help the party as its new president, but some fear he will render it even more unelectableGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastImmediately after ousting Sussan Ley, Angus Taylor used his first press conference as opposition leader to debut a slogan he hoped would define a new era of Liberal conservatism.“The door must be shut,” Taylor said of his approach to prospective migrants who didn’t subscribe to Australia’s “core beliefs”. Continue reading...

Former prime minister elected Liberal party president on Friday after running unopposedFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastTony Abbott has declared the Liberals are “under new management” after his election as party president, vowing to help Angus Taylor lead a “people’s revolt” against the Labor government.The former prime minister and conservative warrior was elected to the position at the Liberal federal council meeting in Melbourne on Friday, marking a return to active political life seven years after losing his seat in federal parliament. Continue reading...

Liberal insiders concerned former PM could pull party even further to the right by appointing Advance allies to prominent positionsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastTony Abbott will step down from his role advising the rightwing advocacy group, Advance, as the conservative ideologue prepares for his high-profile role as the Liberal party’s new federal president.Liberal insiders have also shared concerns Abbott is considering Advance’s director, Matthew Sheahan, or Steve Doyle – who runs Whitestone Strategic, the consultancy group that supports its operations – to fill the vacant federal director position, warning it could dismantle what is left of the party’s identity. Continue reading...

Aiden Daniel Cuevas allegedly told undercover officer reporter ‘needed to be taken off the board’An Alabama neo-Nazi accused of trying to start a paramilitary unit to take out “high value targets” aimed to kill a journalist who once reported on him, according to law enforcement testimony obtained by the Guardian.Aiden Daniel Cuevas allegedly used “coded talk” to tell an undercover officer in November 2024 that the journalist was a “pawn” that “needed to be taken off the board”. Continue reading...

• Tensormesh said on May 27 it raised $20 million from Nvidia, AMD and CoreWeave, along with Valley Capital Partners and Laude Ventures, to improve AI inference efficiency. • The startup is launching Tensormesh Inference, a software-as-a-service product built around KV caching to reduce redundant computations in large language model workloads. • The round is notable because major AI infrastructure players backed a company focused on a core performance bottleneck, signaling demand for lower-cost, faster model serving.

• Bollywood superstar Ranveer Singh is facing a boycott from an Indian film union following his decision to exit the upcoming movie Don 3. • The backlash stems from accusations that Singh disrespected the cultural significance of a specific scene, though the actor has since issued a formal apology. • This controversy follows a pattern of past friction, including Singh's involvement in a 2015 comedy roast that led to police complaints regarding obscenity.