Iran denies deal with US is imminent despite some progress 25. May 2026 (14:47) Tehran says ‘contradictory statements’ from US and Israeli interference hindering negotiationsIran has poured cold water on suggestions that a deal with the US is imminent, pointing to the confusion in US positions and Israeli interference as key factors in why a complete agreement is proving difficult to secure.Speaking at the weekly foreign ministry press briefing, Esmail Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s negotiating team, also said future management of the strait of Hormuz was a matter for Oman and Iran to reach agreement on, and that it was not tolls that were being proposed but “fees for navigational services”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Oil prices fall below $100 a barrel on hopes of Iran peace deal 25. May 2026 (14:43) Brent crude futures down 6% to lowest level in two weeks and stock markets riseOil prices fell below $100 a barrel on Monday and stock markets rose on hopes that the US and Iran are inching closer to a peace deal.Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were down 6% to $97.28 a barrel, the lowest level in two weeks, with hopes that an agreement to end the near three-month US-Israeli war on Iran can be struck. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Chemical tank crack eases explosion fears as 50,000 residents flee California 25. May 2026 (14:35) US officials hope damaged tank at California aerospace site will relieve pressure and avert blast riskA damaged chemical tank in southern California cracked over the weekend, which authorities were hopeful would relieve pressure and reduce the risk of an explosion.Some 50,000 residents in Garden Grove, a city of roughly 170,000 about 40 miles (60km) south of downtown Los Angeles, have been evacuated and are waiting for a resolution. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
UK records its highest ever May temperature 25. May 2026 (14:16) Scientists say record-breaking heat is a reminder of how climate crisis is affecting livesThe fierce heat sweeping Europe over the bank holiday weekend has beaten the UK’s all-time temperature record for May, with highs of up to 35C still to come on Monday afternoon.A temperature of 33.5C was recorded at London’s Heathrow on Monday lunchtime, according to provisional data from the Met Offfice, beating the previous May record that was set in Camden Square in 1922 and reached again in Tunbridge Wells and Regent’s Park in 1944. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Trump Tower in Georgia to be built on land part-owned by son of US sanctions-hit leader 25. May 2026 (14:00) Links between Trump Organization and Ivanishvili family for Tbilisi skyscraper raise new conflict of interest concernsA Trump Tower planned for the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, is to be built on land currently part-owned by the son of the US-sanctioned leader of the country, according to official records.The proposed skyscraper, a joint venture between a local consortium and the Trump Organization, which is managed by the US president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, will be on a plot whose current registered owner is the International Charity Fund Cartu. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks prompt raft of conspiracy theories in divided US 25. May 2026 (14:00) Ever-growing influence of social media and AI means such ideas spreading at faster rates than before, experts sayHantavirus and Ebola outbreaks carry with them familiar attendants in the US: extreme conspiracy theories about a planned pandemic, or “plandemic”, designed to upend midterm elections or push new vaccines or any one of a myriad of wild ideas.Ebola, which the World Health Organization warned on Friday is spreading rapidly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, poses a “very high” risk at the national level. In the upside-down world of conspiracy theories it could be a bioweapon, a financial plot, or a scheme to extract national resources. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Decision not to jail three UK boys for rape is ‘unusual’ and could be reviewed, says ex-attorney general 25. May 2026 (13:04) Dominic Grieve says people are ‘perfectly entitled’ to ask Richard Hermer for review of teenagers’ sentencesAppeal judges would be unlikely to criticise the attorney general, Richard Hermer, if he asked them to review “unusual” non-custodial sentences handed to three teenage boys convicted of raping two girls, one of his predecessors has suggested.Dominic Grieve, who also served as home secretary, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the goal of rehabilitating offenders – particularly younger ones – needed to be balanced with providing deterrence. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Rise in shoplifting and theft in UK finds nine in 10 retailers in rural areas targeted 25. May 2026 (13:00) Exclusive: Research shows cost of crime for each affected business was on average £83,000 in past yearNine in 10 retailers based in rural locations have been victims of crime in the past 12 months, according to research, underlining the widespread impact of the rise in shoplifting and theft even in more remote parts of the UK.Rural retailers include farm shops as well as stores selling machinery and other equipment. The financial cost of crime for each affected retailer was on average £83,000 during the past year, according to a survey carried out by the commercial insurer NFU Mutual. Meanwhile, one in 20 victims said crime had cost them more than half a million pounds. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Reform MP refuses to say whether Farage should produce evidence for Russian hack claim 25. May 2026 (12:52) Danny Kruger says matter is ‘private’, after party leader claimed hack was behind Guardian story about £5m giftA senior Reform UK figure has refused to call on the party’s leader, Nigel Farage, to hand evidence to the UK’s security services to support his claim he was hacked by Russian agents.Farage has come under mounting pressure to substantiate the claim that a state-sponsored Russian hack was behind the disclosure published by the Guardian last month of a £5m gift he had received from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. Labour and the Conservatives have both stressed the threat to national security posed by the Russian state. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
The BHP files: World’s biggest miner BHP backtracks on climate action with key projects put on ice, leaked documents reveal 25. May 2026 (12:30) Exclusive: Cache of internal documents leaked to the Guardian and the ABC’s Four Corners show multinational has war-gamed ways to massively delay decarbonisationRevealed: the internal BHP memo that slammed the brakes on world’s biggest miner’s climate pushRead more from the BHP files investigation hereGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe world’s biggest miner has halted or delayed projects to cut vast amounts of emissions and has quietly war-gamed options to push major climate investments in its Western Australian iron ore operations into the next two decades, internal documents show.An exclusive investigation based on documents leaked to the Guardian and the ABC’s Four Corners can reveal that BHP, one of Australia’s biggest historic emitters, has dumped plans for a facility that could have significantly reduced emissions and has put on ice renewable projects designed to power its iron ore operations in the vast, resource-rich Pilbara region. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
