US immigration
Stephen Miller delivers for Trump: 145,000 US kids separated from their parents
Arwa Mahdawi
Sat 23 May 2026 14.00 CESTLast modified on Sat 23 May 2026 16.34 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/23/45000-us-kids-separated-parents-study

S tephen Miller, Donald Trump’s immigration czar and the architect of some of the government’s cruelest policies, doesn’t care what you think about him. He doesn’t care if you call him “ Pee-wee German ” or “ Weird Stephen ” or “ Voldemort ”, or any of the other nicknames he has inspired; his self-esteem is excellent.

“I have a very, very secure, intact ego,” Miller told Fox News’s Jesse Watters this week after being asked how he felt about his wife, Katie Miller, potentially landing a big distribution deal with Paramount for her terrible Maga podcast . “I’ve never had a larger fan following,” Miller continued. “[A]ny man who works for President Trump is a man that is very, very strong and self-assured in his role.”

Well, yes, I suppose you’ve got to be a very, very strong man to separate babies from their parents – which is what Miller will forever be famous for. Back in Trump 1.0, Miller played a key role in implementing a “zero tolerance” border policy that systematically removed more than 5,000 immigrant children, some just a few months old, from their parents at the US-Mexico border. A Human Rights Watch report released in December 2024 found that as many as 1,360 children had never been reunited with their parents.

Swayed by all the outrage, Trump eventually signed an executive order ending the family separation policy in 2018 . But the practice continues, albeit in a different form. A report released on Monday from the Brookings Institution estimates that more than 145,000 US citizen children have had at least one parent detained since the start of Trump’s second administration, amid a mass deportation campaign heavily influenced by Miller .

To be clear: there are no official figures about how many children have been affected by Trump’s mass deportations. But Brookings, which is a highly reputable nonpartisan thinktank, conducted a statistical analysis that looked at the demographic characteristics of the roughly 60,000 people currently in detention, and the 400,000 people who have been put into Ice detention from an interior arrest since the start of Trump’s second term. The report estimates that out of the more than 145,000 children believed to be affected, more than 22,000 experienced the detention of all their co-resident parents. More than 53,000 citizen children with a detained parent were estimated to be under the age of six.

Trump is not the first president to detain or deport the parents of US citizen minors. However, he’s doing it at a much faster rate, and in a much crueler way, than his predecessor. A data analysis by ProPublica published in March found “ICE arrests of parents doubled in the first seven months of Trump’s second term compared with the Biden administration”. It also found mothers were being more aggressively targeted: “Trump is deporting about four times as many moms of US citizen children per day as Biden did.” A Guardian investigation from May uncovered similar statistics.

Another change from Biden administration norms are the guidelines on how immigration officers should exercise their discretion when it comes to families. “A document once known as the Parental Interests Directive has been given a new name under Trump – the Detained Parents Directive ,” writes ProPublica. “And its preamble, which once instructed agents to handle immigrant parents in a way that was ‘humane,’ has been stripped of the word.”

Again: Trump is not the first president to separate US citizen children from their immigrant parents. But no other administration has been so callous about the welfare of the children affected. “The bottom line is that there is no systematic approach to protecting the children of those detained by ICE,” the Brookings report states. There is “no government entity … responsible for their wellbeing”. There also isn’t adequate record-keeping, meaning we have little idea what is happening to all these children.

What we do know, of course, is that many of these children are going to be immensely traumatized. Kelly Kribs, an attorney at the Young Center, told the Guardian in May that the separation crisis unfolding now is even more insidious than the family separation policy from Trump 1.0. “It’s leading to all the same forms of trauma that we saw unfold back in 2018,” said Kribs . “But the speed and the scale of the separations now is at a level we’ve never seen before.”

One suspects that the Millers, who have three kids of their own, are not particularly perturbed by these 145,000 traumatized children. Stephen met his wife, Katie, when they both worked for Trump during his first term, and she is just as hawkish on immigration as he is. “DHS sent me to the border to see the separations for myself – to try to make me more compassionate – but it didn’t work,” Katie boasted to Jacob Soboroff in 2018 , according to his book, Separated. She added that colleagues told her she’d think about family separation differently when she had her own kids: “But I don’t think so.” Perhaps she’ll share some more of her charming views with us on The Katie Miller Podcast.

Gaza flotilla activists allege sexual assault in Israeli detention

“We were stripped, thrown to the ground, kicked,” Luca Poggi, an Italian economist who was among those detained from the flotilla, told Reuters . “Many of us were Tasered, some were sexually assaulted, and some were denied access to a lawyer.” Israel has denied these particular sexual assault allegations. Meanwhile, the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has been proudly showing off a video where the Israeli military is shown abusing the international activists who were trying to reach Gaza with aid.

The Taliban appears to be legitimizing child marriage

According to the AP, a new divorce decree “says that the silence of a girl reaching puberty can be interpreted as consent to marriage”. While the Taliban insists Afghanistan has banned the forced marriage of girls, experts and activists disagree. “After issuing hundreds of anti-women decrees, the Taliban are now attempting to institutionalise child marriage within the formal legal structure,” one activist told the Guardian .

The rise and fall of the only (known) female yakuza

Mako Nishimura has certainly had a more eventful life – and clubbed more male gangsters – than most. This Guardian long read by Sean Williams is well worth your time.

‘Lower-value human capital’ is a delightful new phrase CEOs are using

The chief executive of Standard Chartered, a very high-value man, has now apologized for describing the almost 8,000 staff members who are going to lose their jobs as “ lower-value human capital ”.

Tennessee school board member who called teen ‘hot’ is charged with assault

Back in April, Keith Ervin put his arm around a female student seated next to him during a public board meeting that was being filmed and said: “God – you’re hot. Did you know that? Damn.” His fellow board members eventually censured him but he refused to step down. Now he’s been served with a criminal summons .

Why did Trump invest millions in a conveyor-belt sushi chain?

It’s very fishy, but one theory floating around is that either Trump or his son, Don Jr, who runs the president’s trust, mixed up the sushi brand Kura Sushi with Tokyo firm Fujikura, a wire maker that has been making a ton of money from the AI datacenter boom. Either Trump really loves his salmon rolls or we are governed by idiots.

The week in pawtriarchy

Australian farmer Rhys Smoker was making a nice salad to go with his steak dinner when he found a live frog in his sealed bag of supermarket lettuce. His roommates called the little fella Greg and released him in a nearby pond. Lettuce be glad that Smoker didn’t get a frog in his throat.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Family
Tim Dowling: the band shuns my new jokes. But telling the old ones proves even riskier
Tim Dowling
Sat 23 May 2026 07.00 CESTLast modified on Sat 23 May 2026 07.11 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/may/23/tim-dowling-the-band-shuns-my-new-jokes

I remember the first time it happened, in the band’s earliest days. We were playing a small festival in Yorkshire, before a seated audience in an arts centre. At the end of the first song there was an unfamiliar sound, like bacon sizzling, but amplified. It took me a moment to realise it was applause.

Up until that point we had mostly played in pubs, where everything we did was met with the same level of high-spirited indifference – the persistent, lively hum of people determined not to let a bit of music spoil their night out. Applause was new.

The clapping tailed off and was replaced by a terrifying, respectful silence, broken only by the sound of the guitarist tuning his E string. I thought: “Oh my God, they’re paying attention.” From then on we knew that whenever we weren’t playing, we had to have something to say.

The depth of that between-song quiet still varies from show to show. Some nights a rowdy give-and-take with the crowd prevails. Other nights it’s like being in a touring production of The Seagull. It can be down to the acoustics of the room or the part of the country you’re in. You have to adapt to the moment.

Halfway through our spring tour I come off the stage having related an anecdote about a woman from the previous night telling me a cute story about a cat and me telling her to shut up. It’s based on a true story, except in real life I was polite and charming. The rest of the band are trying to dissuade me from ever repeating it.

“It was completely out of character,” says the piano player back in the dressing room.

“That’s the point,” I say. “It’s unexpected – that’s what makes it funny.”

“But they didn’t laugh,” he says. “There was just this sharp, collective intake of breath.”

“Yeah, well,” I say. “I’m still workshopping it.”

“People love cats,” he says.

I cannot rely solely on anecdotes that have survived the difficult workshopping process. While some members of each audience will have never seen us before, others may turn up to every show in a run of four. In October I got told off by a fan for telling a story about a woman named Angela who drove all the way from Scotland to a gig in Cambridge just to buy one of our souvenir mugs. She claimed to have heard it upwards of 30 times. The tale of Angela and the Mug was completely nailed on, and I retired it with extreme reluctance.

On the drive back from a gig in Hailsham in East Sussex, the guitar player and I rehash the evening.

“They were a good crowd,” he says. “Receptive, engaged, up for it.”

“They would have loved the cat thing,” I say.

“Why didn’t you do it?” he says.

“The rest of the band put me off,” I say. “I’ve lost my nerve.”

“Don’t lose your nerve,” he says.

“It’s supposed to be out of character!” I say.

A week later we’re in Gateshead. We have played here before and know roughly what to expect, but tonight the audience seems particularly tuned in and ready for anything. Just over halfway through the show I swap my banjo for a guitar, and an expectant hush falls. In a conspiratorial voice, I begin a long story about a cute black cat with a white bib.

“I told you it would work,” I say in the Travelodge afterwards.

“It was better,” says the piano player, reluctantly. “Or maybe they just hate cats here.”

But success doesn’t always stiffen one’s resolve, and the next night in Edinburgh I find I have no appetite for risk. In the first half I scan the audience to see if the fan who warned me off the mug story is in. As far as I can determine, she is not. I decide to wheel it out one last time. It has a Scottish connection, after all. For the last line, I lean into the microphone a little.

“And then she said: otherwise it’s a long way to come for a fucking cup .” Reliably, the crowd goes wild.

Afterwards, out by our merchandise stall, a man stops me.

“You told that story tonight about someone called Angela and a souvenir mug,” he says.

“Yes,” I say. “You may possibly have heard it once or …”

“This,” he says, stepping to one side to reveal a woman standing behind him, “is Angela.”

“Oh, hi Angela,” I say. “How are you?”

“I can’t believe you’re still telling that story,” she says.

“Actually I’ve stopped,” I say. “It was just for tonight.”

As we’re speaking it occurs to me that this is not the second time I’ve met Angela after a gig, but the third.

Championship
McBurnie’s late winner sinks Middlesbrough and takes Hull into Premier League
Ben Bloom
Sat 23 May 2026 18.50 CESTLast modified on Sat 23 May 2026 18.59 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/may/23/hull-middlesbrough-championship-playoff-final-match-report

What a lot of unnecessary fuss that all was. For all the rigmarole over interns spying at golf courses and which team should be allowed to play at Wembley, it was Hull who were destined to become a Premier League club all along.

Head coach Sergej Jakirovic had described his side as “collateral damage” in the spygate saga that had provided the most extraordinary precursor to this Championship playoff final, forcing him to prepare for the £200m match by analysing the wrong team for more than a week. Best laid plans and all that. After nine years, Hull are back in the top flight.

Following a buildup no one will forget, it was a turgid match that few will ever choose to remember. The only thing that mattered was Oli McBurnie’s stoppage-time winner.

Having sat deep for most the 90 minutes, Hull broke down the left through substitute Yu Hirakawa, whose cross was palmed away by Sol Brynn, but only as far as McBurnie. The Scot could not miss his rebound from a couple of yards.

Victory will come as a relief to many given Hull owner, Acun Ilicali, had vowed that his side would take legal action in the event of defeat here, questioning why an eliminated team had been reinstated. Speaking immediately before kick-off – “now the boys are in the stadium and they will not hear me” – he suggested his lawyers would argue that either Hull should have been declared playoff winners after Southampton’s expulsion or seventh-placed Wrexham inserted into a semi-final against Middlesbrough . Thankfully, the threat will no longer need to be acted upon.

Little over a year ago, Hull supporters were considering life in an alternative division. On that occasion it was relegation to League One that was of paramount concern – a fate they avoided on the final day of the season only thanks to superior goal difference.

They then began this campaign with a three-window transfer fee embargo – later reduced to two – that has left them relying on suitable free agents when looking to strengthen. The pre-season target, admitted Jakirovic, was to finish in the top 10, “but I thought that would be difficult”. To make the playoffs was widely thought inconceivable. To secure Premier League football laughable.

For Middlesbrough, who experienced a rollercoaster of their own in the week before this fixture, the wait for a win at Wembley goes on – six times they have played here, and six times they have been defeated.

Victory must go down as something of a tactical masterstroke by Jakirovic. By the first drinks break, taken in sweltering conditions midway through the opening half, Middlesbrough had been allowed 76% possession, without once testing Ivor Pandur in the Hull goal.

Fans of Jakirovic’s side have become accustomed to a delightful form of perverse inversion in a season where Hull finished second bottom of the Championship’s expected points table and had the fourth-worst defensive record. The ball is not something they often see much of, but that handicap did not prevent them from reaching this Wembley showdown.

The Hull head coach was content in his approach to take against Saturday’s opponents, whose problem for much of the campaign had been actually putting the ball in the net.

Over the course of their two-legged semi-final against Southampton, Middlesbrough took 81 touches inside the opponents’ box and attempted 40 shots for just one solitary goal. Such was Hull’s diligence in defence – content to allow their opponents to knock the ball in unthreatening horizontal lines – that Boro almost wholly failed to raise pulses despite their territorial advantage.

Indeed, it was Hull who came closest to scoring. Lewie Coyle’s header required Brynn to palm the ball to safety, and the Hull’s patience was almost rewarded on the cusp of half-time when McBurnie did brilliantly to nod off Adilson Malanda’s back and against the crossbar with the keeper seemingly beaten.

The game became more stretched as Hull attempted to provide greater attacking threat after the break, but the pattern soon continued – all huff and puff, but no real risk of Middlesbrough scoring.

The cheer that greeted the removal of Hayden Hackney’s substitute’s bib was as loud as any heard inside Wembley to that point. The Boro academy graduate was last month named Championship player of the season, but he had not featured since suffering a groin injury in mid-March, missing Boro’s last 10 games, of which they have won just two, sliding out of the automatic promotion places in the process.

Another Boro substitute, Sontje Hansen, thought he had managed his side’s first shot on target of the match after 81 minutes, but his effort was well tipped round the post before the offside flag was belatedly raised.

Then came the sucker punch that few saw coming. In the fifth minute of injury-time, McBurnie poked home and the amber half of Wembley entered delirium.

Donald Trump
Trump Mobile investigating potential exposure of would-be customers’ personal information
Catie McLeod
Sat 23 May 2026 04.35 CESTLast modified on Sat 23 May 2026 09.31 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/23/trump-mobile-investigating-potential-exposure-of-would-be-customers-personal-information

A phone company launched by Donald Trump’s family business is investigating a potential security flaw on its website that appears to have exposed the personal details of an estimated 27,000 people who sought to buy a gold-coloured smartphone.

Trump Mobile said in a statement that it was investigating the issue – “with the assistance of independent cybersecurity professionals” – in which the full names, addresses and phone numbers of people who filled out preorder forms appeared to be exposed.

“Based on the available information, we have not identified evidence that Trump Mobile’s systems, infrastructure, or network were directly compromised. The investigation remains ongoing,” the company said in response to questions from the Guardian about the issue.

“At this time, the incident does not appear to involve Trump Mobile payment card information, banking information, Social Security numbers, call records, text messages, or other highly sensitive financial data. At this time, the impacted information appears to be limited to certain customer details, including names, email addresses, mailing addresses, order identifiers and mobile phone numbers.”

The company said additional safeguards and monitoring measures were now in place, and it was “also evaluating any applicable notification obligations”.

Trump Mobile said customers should remain alert for any suspicious emails, calls or text messages regarding their orders, and the company “ will not ask customers to provide payment information, passwords, or other sensitive information through unsolicited communications”.

The discovery coincided with Trump Mobile beginning to distribute its bespoke T1 smartphones after an almost 10-month delay and an about-face on the company’s initial promise to manufacture the phones in the US.

An Australian programmer – who has been working in IT for nearly 20 years and asked not to be identified out of fear of being the target of personal attacks – told the Guardian they had incidentally discovered the site’s possible security flaws and reported them to Trump Mobile.

Jonathan Soma, a programmer and professor at New York’s Columbia University, reviewed the code that the Australian had uncovered and copied from the Trump Mobile website. Soma said the website used a common e-commerce model, in which every potential order added another “1” to a list, the total of which had reached 27,224 possible pre-orders on the available information.

But he said the code reflected the last step before payment, meaning those who didn’t proceed with the purchase were also recorded in the data, even those people who have abandoned their carts without paying the deposit, so the true number of preorders was likely to be even lower.

“I probably started three phone purchases and didn’t buy any of them,” he said.

News of the security vulnerability comes nearly a year after the Trump Organization debuted the cellular service and smartphone product in June 2025 to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of the launch of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

At the time, Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr announced plans for a new “sleek, gold smartphone” that would be “proudly designed and built in the US for customers who expect the best from their mobile carrier”.

The Trump Mobile website now says the phones are “designed with American values in mind”.

Last week, the company’s chief executive, Pat O’Brien, said the first T1 phones were assembled in the US and, moving forward, would use components “primarily manufactured” locally.

O’Brien would not confirm how many preorders there had been and told USA Today that Trump Mobile was “incredibly pleased” with the interest in its products.

He said the T1 phones were starting to be shipped to customers.

– Dara Kerr contributed to reporting

NBA
Wembanyama: ‘I need to be more of a team player’ after Spurs fall behind in West finals

Sat 23 May 2026 13.31 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/may/23/san-antonio-spurs-oklahoma-city-thunder-nba-playoffs-victor-wembanyama

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 26 points and 12 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder climbed out of a 15-point hole minutes into the game to beat the host San Antonio Spurs 123-108 on Friday night and take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.

Oklahoma City’s bench outscored San Antonio’s 76-23, including 15 points by Alex Caruso. Victor Wembanyama had 26 points for San Antonio. Devin Vassell added 20 and De’Aaron Fox had 15 in his series debut.

For the first time since Wembanyama came to San Antonio, he and the Spurs are trailing in a playoff series. Friday was San Antonio’s second consecutive loss after winning Game 1 in a double-overtime classic.

“It’s my first playoffs. It was the first playoffs for many of us,” the 22-year-old French phenom said. “Of course, there was going to be hard trials. It is to be expected. But now, we’re going to see what we’re made of.”

Wembanyama’s 26 points came in 39 minutes, during which the Spurs outscored the Thunder by four points. The problem was the other nine minutes, during which the Thunder outscored the Spurs by 19.

But Wembanyama – as he tends to do – found plenty of fault in his own game, after finishing with only four rebounds and three assists.

“I have trouble making my teammates better right now,” Wembanyama said. “I should do better. My shooting splits aren’t terrible. I need to be more of a team player.”

He was asked what that means.

“Facilitate better, rebound the ball better,” Wembanyama said. “Push their defense a little bit more, to fight further and see how much they’re willing to help off of my teammates and feed them.”

Jared McCain had 24 points and Jaylin Williams added 18 for Oklahoma City. The Thunder were without Jalen Williams, who sat out with left hamstring soreness.

“We just went out there and competed,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “They obviously jumped on us early. First game in their building, their crowd behind them, they were excited to play. We just wanted to make sure we competed from that point on. We obviously didn’t give our best effort to start that game, but can’t do nothing about it. It’s behind us. All we can do is focus on the next possession, and we did that.”

The Spurs raced to a 15-0 lead, the longest run to open a game in the conference finals since the play-by-play era began in 1997. Then they got outscored by 30 the rest of the way.

The series continued to be chippy with emotions boiling over early in the second half. Stephon Castle hit the court on back-to-back dunk attempts. The second resulted in a flagrant 1 foul against Ajay Mitchell and technical fouls on Mitchell and Vassell after the two exchanged words following the foul.

SpaceX
SpaceX rocket bursts into flames during Indian Ocean landing – video

Sat 23 May 2026 12.20 CESTLast modified on Sat 23 May 2026 14.21 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/science/video/2026/may/23/spacex-rocket-bursts-into-flames-during-indian-ocean-landing-video

Iran
Trump to meet with US negotiators to decide on Iran’s ceasefire proposal
William Christou
Sat 23 May 2026 19.25 CESTFirst published on Sat 23 May 2026 17.21 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/23/iran-hosts-pakistani-delegation-diplomacy-to-avert-new-us-strikes

Donald Trump said he would meet today with American negotiators to review Iran’s latest proposal and decide by Sunday whether he will strike Iran “to kingdom come”.

Trump told Axios it was a “solid 50/50” on whether he would be able to make a “good” deal with Iran or begin striking the country anew. He will be meeting with special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner, along with JD Vance .

Trump is also expected to meet with Gulf mediators, to discuss the situation with Iran. Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish leaders are expected to participate in the talks. A Pakistani security official said a memorandum of understanding is being “fine tuned” to end the war, Reuters reports.

Trump’s interview with Axios comes as Iran’s top negotiator said earlier on Saturday there will be no compromise over its national rights during a meeting with the Pakistani army chief in Tehran on Saturday. In the past few days, there has been a flurry of diplomacy aimed at preventing renewed US strikes on Iran and potentially extending the ceasefire.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, said Tehran would secure its “legitimate rights”, whether through the battlefield or through negotiations, while accusing the US of not being an honest negotiating partner, Iranian state media reported.

“If Trump acts foolishly and the war resumes, the response against the United States will certainly be more crushing and bitter than on the first day of the war,” Ghalibaf said during the meeting. He added that the Iranian military had rebuilt its capabilities during the ceasefire that began in early April.

His comments came amid reports that the US was considering fresh strikes on Iran as negotiations for an enduring truce between the two countries sputtered. The Trump administration was preparing for a renewed round of strikes, CBS news reported on Friday , citing informed sources.

Trump has frequently threatened to strike Iran if it does not reach a deal with the US, though military analysts have expressed doubt that a renewed aerial campaign could tip the balance in the Washington’s favour.

Amid the escalated rhetoric from both sides, Iranian state TV reported that Iran was in the “final stage” of drafting a framework for a deal with the US.

Pakistan, which has been mediating talks between Iran and the US, has led a renewed push in recent days to bridge the gap between the two parties. Pakistan’s army chief, Syed Asim Munir, also met Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, on Saturday, before leaving Tehran.

The talks reportedly focused on a 14-point peace proposal by Iran, as well as messages between the two parties.

A Qatari delegation met with Iranian and Pakistani mediators in Iran on Friday, and on Saturday, Trump spoke with the Qatari emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to discuss “regional and international efforts to stabilise the ceasefire”, according to a statement by Tamim’s office.

A ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran has been in place since early April after more than a month of war. The truce was meant not only to stop fighting, but also to give space for negotiations over reopening the strait of Hormuz – a chokepoint for about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies – as well as Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme.

Talks have largely not progressed and the strait remains mostly closed, despite the ceasefire and mediation efforts.

On Saturday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, expressed cautious optimism for negotiations. “There’s been some progress done, some progress made. Even as I speak to you now, there’s some work being done,” Rubio told reporters in New Delhi during a visit to India. “There might be some news a little later today. There may not be. I hope there will be,” he said.

It is unclear what “news” Rubio was referring to. Mediators on Saturday said they believe they were close to extending the ceasefire by 60 days and set a framework for talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the talks.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency meanwhile quoted the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei as saying that positions had moved closer in recent days.

Trump met the US secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, in the White House on Friday reportedly to review options for restarting the bombing campaign. Trump also announced that he would be skipping his son’s wedding this weekend for reasons “pertaining to the government”.

It is unclear what the target of a renewed bombing campaign would be. In the past, Trump threatened to wipe out “a whole civilisation”, and targeted civilian infrastructure such as bridges. Israel had also attacked energy facilities, and strikes damaged desalination facilities during the war in March.

Human rights groups have criticised the attacks on civilian infrastructure, saying that attacks against public infrastructure could be considered war crimes for their impact on civilians.

Sites that hold Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which has been a key point in negotiations, could be targeted, but those facilities and other nuclear sites are probably deep underground and would require complex operations using tons of bunker-buster bombs.

Iranian stockpiles of drones, ballistic missiles and missile-launching sites could also be targets, as they were in the last round of conflict. Targeted assassinations of Iranian officials could also be on the table.

Analysts, however, have warned that the US is in an even more vulnerable position than it was at the beginning of the Iran war.

The Washington Post revealed that the US had depleted much of its stockpile of advanced missile-defence interceptors, a key munition it needs to defend its bases and allies in the Middle East.

Much of the US public is against the war and is frustrated with soaring gas prices and inflation that have occurred as a result of the closure of the strait of Hormuz. Trump’s popularity has declined, with an approval rating of about 37% – a historic low.

It is also unclear how much the US actually achieved in the first round of conflict. The Iranian leadership remains in place, and intelligence assessments indicate that as much as 60% of Iran’s missile and drone stockpile remains.

Mona Lisa
From high BMI to the ‘GLP-1 look’: how weight-loss jabs are changing the face of beauty
Anna Bawden
Sat 23 May 2026 16.12 CESTLast modified on Sat 23 May 2026 16.40 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/may/23/mona-lisa-high-bmi-glp1-beauty

Mona Lisa is the most famous portrait ever painted and millions of people flock to the Louvre to admire her enigmatic smile every year.

As well as being beautiful, Mona Lisa was, according to some experts, also seriously overweight. Now they are asking how that leaves our notions of artistic beauty in an era of weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, arguing that in future, “GLP-1 face” could become the subject of modern depictions of artistic beauty.

Contemporary art often portrays trends in aesthetics, body image and health – lots of painters and photographers have made art featuring cosmetic surgery , for example. But researchers believe the exponential growth in use of weight-loss jabs is changing our perception of beauty, with future artworks likely to depict thin people with gaunt faces who have lost weight rapidly while on GLP-1 medication.

Prof Rosalind Gill, fellow at the British Academy and professor of inequalities in media, culture and creative industries at Goldsmiths, said: “While GLP-1 face is often regarded negatively, humans have the capacity to perceive beauty in all kinds of faces and bodies, and features of this hollowed-out look are definitely becoming desirable – in a similar way to ‘heroin chic’ in the 1990s and, before that, the resignification of certain iconic images of people with Aids as beauty ideals.

“Add to this a voracious consumer culture with brands constantly in search of new looks to sell to us, and it is eminently possible that a variant of GLP-1 will become a new cultural ideal – also reflected in art.”

Her prediction follows research by Dr Michael Yafi, a paediatric endocrinologist at the University of Texas, Houston, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul. He speculated that while some artists, notably the Brazilian painter Fernando Botero, continue to celebrate heavier figures, weight-loss drugs would influence how people are portrayed in artworks.

“I think that as more people use these drugs, GLP-1 face will be depicted in art,” he told the conference. “The face can develop an aged or tired look due to rapid fat loss in the cheeks, temples and under-eye areas. I am sure that if Picasso had been alive today, he would have painted it.”

Understanding that society’s definition of what makes a body beautiful has changed would help medics provide better care, Yafi added.

“If physicians see that obesity was for centuries viewed as a positive thing, it will help them be non-judgmental and more empathic,” he said. This should allow them to treat patients more holistically and ultimately successfully.

From plump cherubim and angels in Renaissance art, to many of Rubens’ and Renoir’s paintings, overweight and obese people were historically represented positively in art. Corpulence was seen as a sign of wealth, status and wellbeing.

“Strong men, leaders, royal families, religious people, high people in the society were portrayed with high BMI [body mass index],” Yafi said. “Beautiful women and models were also portrayed with high BMI.”

It wasn’t until the second half of the 20th century, when scientists discovered saturated fats, trans-fats and their association with metabolic and cardiovascular disorders, that body image as expressed in art began to change.

“This led to images of thin, often unrealistically thin, men and women being glorified and obesity being stigmatised,” Yafi said. “Suddenly, thin people became beautiful and the women who inspired artists for centuries were no longer considered attractive.

“Some scientists believe Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was very unhealthy and that she had a problem with her BMI, cholesterol and severe hypothyroidism .”

“We don’t know because we cannot go back and make a diagnosis, we are just analysing her features,” Yafi added.

Art historian Bendor Grosvenor, cautioned against leaping to conclusions. He said: “Poor Mona Lisa, she’s always being diagnosed with something she almost certainly never had. If a doctor today diagnosed someone only on the basis of how their face looked, we wouldn’t take them seriously. Art is art, and a portrait – even one by Leonardo – is usually about so much more than likeness, let alone health. This is as likely for the art of the future as the art of the past.”

US-Israel war on Iran
An ever-expanding catastrophe over Iran is not inevitable. Trump can and must be stopped
Simon Tisdall
Sat 23 May 2026 11.00 CESTLast modified on Sat 23 May 2026 18.43 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/23/ever-expanding-global-catastrophe-inevitable-donald-trump

W ith the deadlocked war in Iran about to enter its fourth month, loose comparisons with previous US quagmires in Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam are bandied about. When the conflict began, warnings of another “forever war” seemed exaggerated. No longer. As matters stand, the negative international humanitarian, economic and geopolitical fallout from this fiasco looks set to prove more permanently globally damaging than any of those past US-made disasters.

That being the case, an urgent question arises, not least today as reports suggest the US president and his secretary of war are planning to rain more bombs on Iran: who will stop Donald Trump?

Having started something he cannot finish, the US president, egged on by Israel’s warmonger-in-chief, Benjamin Netanyahu, has boxed himself into a corner. Either he resumes the illegal bombing of Iran on an even bigger scale, brazenly threatening war crimes in hopes of forcing surrender; or else he accepts a negotiated compromise that falls embarrassingly short of his initial aims, including eliminating Iran’s nuclear programme, and leaves an angry, more hardline, strategically strengthened regime in power.

Neither choice is attractive – or tenable – for Trump. He and his fanatical sidekick, Pete Hegseth, should know by now that bombing cannot blow away Iran’s defiance and resilience. It is not even militarily effective: 70% of Iran’s missile stockpile reportedly remains intact . In any case, Trump’s threats to break the ceasefire, like his aborted Project Freedom in the strait of Hormuz, are opposed by Gulf states fearful of more retaliatory attacks, by Washington’s allies, Israel excepted – and by most US voters .

A peace deal, with add-ons, that is broadly in line with Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear pact with Tehran, which Trump foolishly wrecked and is now the most Iran seems willing to offer, would rightly be counted an abject Trump failure. It would represent a landmark US strategic defeat with significant implications for the global contest with China and Russia. And any deal that left the regime charging transit fees in the strait of Hormuz would be utterly humiliating. No amount of spin could conceal such a presidency-defining calamity.

Trump knows he cannot simply do nothing. Lurching indecisively back and forth, he appears both manic and Micawberish. Blood-curdling threats are followed, often in the same day, by claims that something will turn up. In one sense, that’s his problem. The collapse in his approval ratings to about 37% is fully deserved. Unfortunately, the standoff is also doing immense, possibly irreversible harm to people all across the world. Trump’s Iran problem is everyone’s problem now.

So the question must be asked again: who will stop Trump?

Among the poorest countries , the need to end the war is not ideological. It’s existential. Staples such as rice and wheat have doubled in price in Somalia since the conflict began. Shortages of fertiliser could ruin the growing season, presaging devastating famines. The World Food Programme predicts that, if the war continues, an additional 45 million people will face acute hunger . And the misery is exacerbated by Trump’s and the UK’s (and other countries’) foreign aid cuts.

The economic impact on the better-off is painfully evident, too. Developed countries from Europe to Asia are penalised through spiralling energy, fuel, food and commodity prices, the full impact of which has yet to be felt. Last month, the IMF cut its global growth forecast to 3.1% in 2026, blaming the “shadow of war”. In effect, ordinary people everywhere are paying a Trump war tax.

Trump’s war is upending the geopolitical balance. The US is now publicly at odds with its closest allies , Germany, France and Britain. The Gulf states, too, are questioning a US alliance that has made them Iranian targets. All this is boosting Russia, whose oil exports face reduced sanctions, and hurting Ukraine. Meanwhile, to the consternation of Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan, this month’s Beijing summit confirmed China’s growing global ascendancy as a subservient, clueless Trump failed to secure its help on Iran.

The universally negative knock-on effects of this unprovoked, avoidable conflict unfold daily. It undermines democratic accountability, political stability, human rights, the UN charter, the Geneva conventions, environmental conservation and climate policy, common decency and, most of all, common sense. Yet where is the furious shout of global outrage at what Trump, almost single-handedly, is doing to the world? Where is the pushback as this crisis intensifies?

An ever-expanding catastrophe is not inevitable. Trump must and can be stopped.

Radical, concerted action is urgently required. Western governments wield most leverage, individually and collectively. If Britain, for example, truly has a “special relationship” with the US, now is the time to exploit it for the general good. Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, has urged so-called “middle powers” such as Canada, India, Brazil and Japan to join Europe in a “ coalition of independence ”. Now is the time to deploy this idea in the battle to make Trump see reason.

Where governments are already grouped together, as in the EU, the African Union, the G20 and Brics, a much tougher, united approach to Washington is necessary. If Trump continues to block meaningful peace talks, the US should face a downgrading of ties, punitive sanctions and import tariffs. Next month’s EU summit, and the G7 summit in France that precedes it (which Trump is expected to attend ), is the moment when leaders of other western democracies, acting together, must finally bring him to heel.

The UN security council is another platform where greater pressure should be applied. What if France and the UK were to join China, Russia and other members in demanding an immediate, permanent end to hostilities, followed by independent mediation? That may give Washington pause. European Nato members could suspend or limit non-Ukraine military cooperation. More US bases in Europe could face restrictions or closure. And why maintain the fiction of cordial diplomatic relations? Send Trump’s typically underqualified, loud-mouthed ambassadors back home for a rethink. Boycott next month’s World Cup or move matches to non-US venues. Ban McDonald’s. Ban Budweiser.

All this and more might be attempted by a global community of nations that is being seriously damaged by a capricious US war of choice and refuses to be its helpless victim. Yet the most direct way of stopping Trump remains pressure from Americans themselves. Most deplore his war. Most are enduring steep cost of living rises. They, too, worry where his tyrannical behaviour is leading. Action to stop this constitutionally unauthorised war is under way in Congress. These efforts must be redoubled. And when November’s midterm elections arrive, Trump and his spineless Republican enablers must be punished severely.

The disease of Trump and Trumpism, so destructive of the US itself, risks becoming a global pandemic. His Iran war is but a symptom. Cuba may be next to be infected. Trump must be made to understand his deficit-funded, ill-led, school-bombing , over-sized military does not make him boss of the world. A bold, radical and imaginative collective intervention by the US’s friends is urgently required. By all legitimate means, Trump must be stopped.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Cannes film festival
The Dreamed Adventure review – beautiful but opaque Bulgarian tale of digging up the past
Peter Bradshaw
Fri 22 May 2026 17.47 CESTLast modified on Fri 22 May 2026 17.48 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/may/22/the-dreamed-adventure-review-beautiful-but-opaque-bulgarian-tale-of-digging-up-the-past

T he digging up of the past – and the hiding of secrets in the present – are the themes of Valeska Grisebach’s complex, subtle, opaque new drama which seems to withhold some of its narrative meaning from the audience, moment-by-moment. It is set, like her previous film Western , in Bulgaria’s remote and beautiful mountainous country, where memories of the Balkan wars (and the communist era before that) are still fresh and where there is money to be made and resources to be exploited for those who are ruthless enough.

As with Western, Grisebach uses nonprofessionals for many very likable supper-and-drinking-and-reminiscing scenes with people gathered round tables shooting the breeze, scenes that don’t need a particular reason to exist, other than their easy, garrulous energy. And as before, Grisebach shows an interesting reluctance to conform to conventional narrative templates – though while this film actually does conform to Chekhov’s ancient rule about what happens to the gun produced in act one (well, act two in this case), the denouement isn’t the usual arthouse flourish of violence. I felt however that in the course of this film, Grisebach was feeling and improvising her way through all this ambient detail towards a meaning that she (and we) didn’t really reach.

Veska (Yana Radeva) is a woman running an archaeological dig in Matochina in south-east Bulgaria . Out of the blue, she runs into an old friend (or maybe more than that); this is Saïd (Syuleyman Alilov Letifov), a man on the fringes of some dodgy business deals who has showed up in the locality (which he hasn’t visited for decades) to buy stolen diesel fuel from an up-and-coming local villain nicknamed Raven. Saïd turns down an offer to help with this man’s chilling, lucrative people-trafficking network: a growth business for organised crime in this part of central Europe.

In fact, Saïd’s appearance here is resented by many locals, who remember his theft of a cigarette shipment – in which Veska had been involved, before she reinvented herself as an archaeologist – and Saïd’s onetime involvement with an even bigger gang boss called Illya who wants to build a road on Veska’s archaeological site. Saïd’s old 90s Passat car is stolen, perhaps for trafficking purposes, perhaps to warn him off, and actually Saïd disappears himself – though not permanently, and not with any clear explanation. In his absence, Veska takes it on herself to sell the contraband diesel that Saïd has bought, though the mechanics of doing this mystifyingly happen off screen. Veska is tough, for all her genial, grandmotherly style, and she intends to confront Illya about the violence and abuse of his trafficking business which she has known about for decades and which threatens to involve a teenage girl working on Veska’s dig.

The interest of the film resides not really in any adventure, dreamed or real, but in all its incidental detail: the ruggedly beautiful countryside, the stately restaurants and hotels from the communist era, and the parade of people who emerge everywhere, including a platoon of Polish women working in a nearby solar-panel factory. This last is a group of people who look like the real thing, which Grisebach couldn’t perhaps resist including in her film. The Dreamed Adventure is clearly the work of a director with a fluent, distinctive film-making language, but what she is trying to tell us is elusive.

The Dreamed Adventure screened at the Cannes film festival .