The Guardian

Sir Simon McDonald says Olly Robbins was ‘thrown under a bus’ by the prime minister and the decision feels ‘wrong’ The Peter Mandelson security vetting scandal is the biggest crisis for the diplomatic service in decades, a former Foreign Office chief has said. Sir Simon McDonald, who was the permanent under-secretary of the government department until 2020, has spoken out in defence of Sir Oliver…

Museum says The Music is Black is part of a push to reposition scene as central to UK’s cultural history Jacqueline Springer is standing in the middle of the V&A’s new exhibition space looking wistfully at a pair of drainpipe trousers, a tailored suit jacket and a porkpie hat, which create the unmistakable silhouette of Pauline Black , lead singer of the 2 Tone group the Selector. Springer is the…

Finance chiefs to join exercise in Washington designed to assess how they would handle collapse of significant bank The bosses of the central banks and treasuries of the UK, US and EU are to take part in a war game in Washington on Saturday to test how they would handle the collapse of a globally significant bank. Amid growing unease over the risks to global financial stability, the most senior o…

Exiled leader to revive push for change amid US backing of Delcy Rodríguez and delays to democratic transition Venezuela’s opposition leader, María Corina Machado, will seek to revive her push for political change with a rally in Madrid on Saturday, having found herself sidelined by Donald Trump after the abduction of the president Nicolás Maduro. “Venezuela will be free,” the Nobel peace prize w…

Victoria Bonya says authorities too scared to raise issues with Vladimir Putin, whose approval ratings are declining The Kremlin is grappling with the fallout from the viral spread of a celebrity blogger’s criticism of Russian authorities, as Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings register their sixth consecutive weekly decline. Victoria Bonya, a household name in Russia who rose to fame in 2006 on Do…

Voters broadly split along generational lines as pro-Russian former president leads in polls Anna Bodakova’s days tend to be rather hectic at the moment. Hopping between meeting voters on the street, political debates and recording videos for social media, the 23-year-old is standing to become an MP in Bulgaria’s general election. Last year she was among the many young Bulgarians who participated…

PM said he was ‘staggered’ not to have been told that Peter Mandelson had failed his security vetting before becoming ambassador to the US Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of UK politics on Saturday 18 April. Keir Starmer is facing “judgment day” according to senior government figures over the failure in Peter Mandelson’s vetting process. Continue reading...

Elisabeth Zetland, a senior researcher at MyHeritage, found that the actual Luigi has immigrated to US from Italy The Washington state businessman who inspired Nintendo to give the name Mario to its mustachioed, superhero plumber did not have a brother named Luigi like the fictional video game star famously does. But it has only just been determined that Nintendo may have unknowingly named its ma…

Iranian parliamentary speaker also says passage through waterway will depend on Iranian authorisation and accuses Donald Trump of multiple falsehoods Iran says strait of Hormuz ‘completely open’ to commercial vessels as oil prices fall Pakistan’s army chief has concluded a three-day visit to Iran , a military statement is being quoted as saying. Asim Munir led a Pakistani delegation to Tehran on …

The Plaza Prizes offered 10 awards in 2025 but some judges say they were not paid, while a number of winners hit back over AI accusations A competition for new writers that promised a £20,000 prize fund appears to have shut down, leaving winners and judges, including a Booker prize-winning novelist, out of pocket. Established in 2022, the Plaza Prizes last year offered 10 awards that were judged …

Bottlenecks in the system and parent’s suspicions mean doctors expect another serious outbreak soon By 10am on a spring day, the corridor of the clinic in the Transylvanian town of Săcele was already crowded with parents and children. They were all waiting to see Dr Mirela Csabai, one of just seven general practitioners serving a population of more than 30,000. Most of the cases that morning were…

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days Continue reading...

The president has opened fissures in his base by starting a war he couldn’t finish with Iran, stoking inflation and offending Christians. Barred from running again, he may feel he has nothing to lose Lance Johnson voted for Donald Trump three times. Now he is feeling buyer’s remorse. “I haven’t been too happy with the third time around,” said the 47-year-old contractor, sitting at a bar in Cresce…

As Orbán is rejected, there is cautious optimism new leader can restore ties – but issues such as EU accession loom large Like many Ukrainians, Oleh Kupchak was delighted when Péter Magyar won Hungary’s election last weekend, ending Viktor Orbán’s 16-year grip on power . “We were euphoric. Everyone was following the results closely. There were toasts,” said Kupchak, who has visited Budapest sever…

About 26 million people are under tornado watches from Wisconsin to Oklahoma, according to one report A stretch of the midwestern states is at risk of severe weather, forecasters warned on Friday, as tornadoes battered towns across the central US region, leaving behind debris and destroyed property. According to the National Weather Service, severe thunderstorms may be seen in north-west Oklahoma…