The UK is experiencing record-breaking temperatures in an unprecedented May heatwave, while large parts of Europe are also facing blistering conditions. As the climate crisis makes extreme heat more likely, are we prepared? Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian reporter Helena Horton. Source link
Published On 24 May 202624 May 2026 The speaker of Senegal’s parliament says he is resigning, two days after his close ally was fired as prime minister in a deepening political crisis. The move by speaker El Malick Ndiaye clears the way for sacked premier Ousmane Sonko to run for the post of head of parliament, where his Pastef party holds a strong majority. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list That could further complicate reform efforts by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who sacked his former ally Sonko on Friday after months of tensions. Ndiaye said on Facebook that his decision to step down was “a personal choice, guided above all by my notion of institutions, public responsibility and the greater interest of the nation”. Faye owed his presidency in large part to Sonko, who would almost certainly have taken the top job had he not been barred from running in the last presidential election due to a defamation conviction. Their Pastef party won the 2024 elections on a promise of a profound political …
Lithuania issued an air alert on Wednesday after a stray drone was detected close to the country’s border with Belarus, with NATO’s Baltic air-policing mission activated as a result. The incident came after two Ukrainian drones, intended for Russia, came down over an empty oil storage facility in Latvia earlier this month — sparking a crisis that has led to the collapse of the governing coalition. A NATO jet shot down a drone in Estonian airspace last week. “Russia’s public threats against our Baltic States are completely unacceptable,” von der Leyen said in a message posted on social media last week. “Russia and Belarus bear direct responsibility for drones endangering the lives and security of people on our Eastern flank. Europe will respond with unity and strength.” The three Baltic countries have warned that Moscow is seeking to capitalize on the incidents to drive a wedge between Ukraine and its EU allies — issuing a joint statement in which they rejected “Russia’s blatant disinformation campaign and its fabricated accusations following the airspace violations, which Russia …
Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more When Alexa was made redundant from her job in tech sales for the second time in her young career, she realised she couldn’t rely on her industry for financial stability anymore. “It’s volatile, there’s a lot of lay-offs, I wanted to give myself an added layer of protection; a contingency plan,” she says. “It doesn’t matter what company you’re in, it’s so up and down.” The 26-year-old used her savings to pay £1,800 to train as a pilates instructor. Within a matter of months, she was teaching classes five days a week before commuting into London from Buckinghamshire for her nine-to-five. In the first year, she topped up her salary by five figures: “Any money I made, I invested,” she says. “I’m very money-oriented, …
Santa Cruz, Bolivia – A spiralling political conflict is threatening social stability in Bolivia. Just six months after the new administration took office, President Rodrigo Paz is facing a wave of demonstrations, highway blockades and growing calls for his resignation. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The unrest began a little more than a month ago with the convergence of several sector-based demands. Some organisations were calling for wage increases, others complained about contaminated fuel that had damaged thousands of vehicles, while additional groups protested against a law authorising changes to land classifications, which, its critics said, favoured land concentration among big business owners. Although the government managed to ease some of the disputes by conceding to certain demands, including repealing the land law and offering a financial bonus for teachers, as well as speeding up compensation for some vehicles damaged, Indigenous groups from the highlands decided to push the protests to the limit by blocking roads in an effort to force the president to step down. On May 6, hundreds of protesters began …
Our guest has an important role in promoting social policies in the European Union, at a time when much of the political oxygen is being sucked out by the competitiveness and simplification agenda, as well as by defence and security issues. Roxana Minzatu is Executive Vice-President of the European Commission and is in charge of social rights and skills, quality jobs and preparedness. Minzatu is a Romanian social democrat, a former minister for European funds in the Romanian government and a former MEP. She recently presented an anti-poverty strategy aimed at dealing with the fact that one in five Europeans – or 93 million people – are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. “I want to send a signal of optimism with this strategy. I don’t want to paint a bleak picture,” Minzatu tells the programme. “But the reality is that the numbers (of people at risk of poverty) are dynamic. The cost of living is rising, the energy shocks crisis, the invasion of Ukraine, and now the Middle East crisis. There are a …
Beirut, Lebanon – Shortly after Mario Habib opened his barber shop in 2006, a war broke out between Israel and Hezbollah. Twenty years on, he’s living through another war. The shop has become a fixture of his Furn el-Shebbak neighbourhood. Mario, a 51-year-old with tattoos and short black hair, slips in jokes as he cuts his clients’ hair, a steady stream visiting throughout the day. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list But Mario has noticed that he isn’t as busy as he used to be. Israel’s war on Lebanon and the US-Israel war on Iran are damaging Lebanon’s economy. Prices are rising as a result of supply issues – particularly of oil from the Gulf region, which has largely stopped since the US and Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz. And, in Lebanon, which had already been suffering from an economic crisis, there is less work, and people are losing their jobs. “The price of running the generator is killing me,” he said. “Everything has gotten more expensive, the price of petrol doubled, …
The author shares how she joined OnlyFans to try and fight the climate crisis. Half of my OnlyFans inbox is men asking me if they can watch me orgasm (answer: not yet, but keep spending and we’ll see). The other half is men asking me why governments are so inept when it comes to acting on imminent climate threats. Replying to all of these messages is time consuming. But it’s what I signed up for when I decided to join a platform known for porn to talk about the existential threats being faced by humanity; specifically, the climate crisis. My decision to join OnlyFans feels, in some perverse way, like a hunger strike. If my body is the only thing extractive capitalism hasn’t yet taken from me, I will use it as a form of protest, for attention in a way I never anticipated when I first started working in climate communications. My job as a narrative strategist involves understanding the stories people believe about climate change, and unfortunately many of those stories are incorrect. …
McSweeney, who was credited with meticulously devising Labour’s election success in 2024, is convinced that AI has not yet been used to the full extent of its capability to manipulate elections, and that any polls in Ukraine following a ceasefire will be a lightning rod for malign influence, according to people familiar with his thinking. His allies say he is conscious of the potential for the use of AI to ramp up in British elections, where public trust in institutions is already low and Nigel Farage’s Reform Party is on the march. The ex-Downing Street aide is expected to appear on a panel alongside media executives and polling specialists Friday. McSweeney is the most prominent figure associated with British politics appearing at the Prague summit, after the Ministries of Defence and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office opted not to send any ministers. The conference is not yet seen as a “must-attend” event by government leaders in London, despite the British government’s stated commitment to integrate more closely with European allies on defense and security. McSweeney’s …
The MP stressed that given both Burnham and the other main leadership contender, Wes Streeting, have signed up to Reeves’ fiscal rules it “doesn’t leave much margin for significant change anyway.” “The bond markets kind of make her bomb-proof,” another Labour MP argued, praising the incumbent chancellor’s record for steadying the economy in turbulent times. “The big clash between Rachel and Ed is over the North Sea,” this person added, referring to the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gas fields whose licenses have been stymied by legal challenges. Reeves is seen as being in favor of their expansion, while Miliband puts more emphasis on the climate trade-offs. “So there’s a big fault line there. No wonder he wants her out of the way.” Another backbencher said they believed Miliband — who has made no public comment on whether he would want the job and remains in Starmer’s cabinet — would prevent “any meaningful welfare reform.” “Reverting back to a 2010-15 economic policy hymn-sheet” — the years when Miliband led the Labour Party to electoral defeat …
