Keyword – Membership
Trefwoorden – Press freedom, Media, Newspapers & magazines, Somalia, Al-Shabaab, Drones (military), Middle East and north Africa, US foreign policy
Title – ‘They didn’t know or care, or wouldn’t say’: how we investigated the casualties of a covert US war | Press freedom | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/gautam-malkani
Link – ‘They didn’t know or care, or wouldn’t say’: how we investigated the casualties of a covert US war | Press freedom | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T09:00:26.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2026/jun/21/they-didnt-know-or-care-or-wouldnt-say-how-we-investigated-the-casualties-of-a-covert-us-war

T here are many reasons why some military conflicts go unreported or underreported. Local restrictions on press freedom. Prohibitively high risks to journalists’ safety. A lack of resources. The tendency for geopolitical conflicts to attract more attention than civil conflicts. And the sheer number of armed conflicts around the world right now. All these factors can also impede reporting on the humanitarian toll, civilian casualties and attempts to hold armed forces accountable.

Earlier this week, the Guardian published an investigation into the deaths of at least 12 civilians, including eight children, who were killed in a US airstrike in Somalia last year amid Washington’s covert military campaign against the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab. The articles, which are part of our Rights and Freedom series, are an example of the Guardian’s efforts to highlight conflicts that might otherwise receive little public attention.

“We’re reporting on this in the hope that the information and the Guardian’s reach will cut through,” says Mark Townsend, a senior global development reporter who worked on the investigation with Mohamed Gabobe, a freelance journalist and producer based in Mogadishu. “But it’s a very hard conflict to actually report on. Even excellent reporters like Mohamed can’t travel to areas controlled by al-Shabaab where this war is being conducted. And civilians in those areas aren’t allowed internet access or smartphones, so getting footage of strikes or images of the aftermath and victims and all the things you’d want to corroborate testimony is very difficult. On top of that, the US doesn’t release anything about what’s going on – it’s a very opaque campaign.”

The airstrike in question happened in November in the town of Jamaame. It was the deadliest US operation for civilians in Somalia during either Trump administration, and the bombing has become increasingly aggressive .

Mohamed says the impact on civilians caught up in the US drone war is all-too often overlooked by western news organisations. “I sometimes get the sense that many western media outlets view civilian casualties from US airstrikes in Somalia as a norm and part of everyday life,” he says. “But death shouldn’t be normalised, especially when the most powerful nation in the world is doing it on communities that have nothing to do with the armed parties involved in the Somalia conflict.”

Mohamed and Mark’s collaborative reporting illustrates how these kinds of hidden military operations can still be properly probed instead of neglected or normalised. As well as close cooperation between the Guardian and a well-connected journalist with local expertise, the investigation involved piecing together disparate sources of information in the absence of official records and documentation, and putting the findings to the relevant authorities.

“When it comes to this model of working, I think it varies depending on the particular news organisation,” says Mohamed, who has been a journalist for 10 years and first reported for the Guardian in 2022. “For instance, some western media outlets allow the local journalist in the field to take the lead, and once the work is done they’ll continue to coordinate with that local journalist to make sure the story is told in an accurate and authentic way. Meanwhile with others, once you do the work, they will overlook the knowledge and context of the local journalist and will release the story in a manner that fits their narrative – which isn’t always accurate and, in some cases, is biased, sometimes without them even knowing.”

Mark, who has reported for the Guardian and its former sister newspaper, the Observer, for 24 years, has worked on several similar collaborations with local journalists in other countries. “Obviously, it requires trust on both sides,” he explains. “It’s a collaboration in the most complete sense. But Mohamed did the hard yards here in terms of the on-the-ground reporting, so whatever feedback he had – for instance if something needed to be changed or slightly nuanced – then he got the final say, as far as I was concerned because it’s his lived experience, he’s the expert.”

Mark first contacted Mohamed after Tess McClure, an editor for the Guardian’s Rights and Freedom series, first spotted reports of a high number of children killed in last November’s airstrike.

Given the physical restrictions and risks of prosecution for reporting from al-Shabaab-controlled areas, Mohamed had to improvise. “I reached out to clan elders in Mogadishu,” he explains. “Clan elders are the leaders and decision-makers when it comes to the affairs of each respective clan and sub-clan in Somalia. By negotiating with them and explaining my intentions and the importance of survivors speaking out, they helped put me in touch with some of the victims.”

The survivors’ accounts of that day bring home the devastating reality of the drone strikes for civilians caught up in the conflict. “One of the biggest challenges was asking the victims who’d lost loved ones in the attack certain questions that went into details about the bodies of their loved ones, or the screams they heard once the aerial bombardment ceased,” says Mohamed. “I don’t like asking people those kinds of questions – it feels like you’re making them relive horrors that no human being should endure. When asking these questions, if the victim pauses, I get the sense that they’re having a flashback. And if they weep or whisper a prayer, or even make a reference to a verse of the Qur’an, then I know they’re hurting a lot. But these details are crucial for putting together what actually happened.”

Alongside the witness testimony, Mohamed and Mark also pieced the story together using photographs, video footage, X-rays of children’s shrapnel injuries, interviews with drone specialists and military analysts. Mark put about 30 detailed questions to the recently renamed US Department of War. They did not respond. The White House was also approached for comment and their eventual response, which is quoted in one of the articles published this week, is a stark reminder that the current US administration presents its own kind of hostile environment for journalists.

“It’s very important that their response was included in the article because it shows how they’re doing these things without any kind of transparency or proper legal course,” says Mark. “They didn’t know, didn’t care, or wouldn’t say. Either way, it’s pretty dire if you’ve killed innocent people – you’d think you’d feel a responsibility to work out why.”

The articles contain a series of urgent and unanswered questions, such as who signed off the attack on a densely populated family neighbourhood? Why and who, if anyone, was the intended target? The questions provide a powerful accompaniment to the witness testimonies. “Their refusal to share anything about what happened is in itself a galvanising factor,” says Mark.

Mark’s extensive and acclaimed reporting on the wars in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has demonstrated that readers are willing to pay attention to underreported conflicts: “Readers have responded brilliantly to our reporting about Sudan and the DRC, which are knotty conflicts that are quite complex. Readers do really care, which is very reassuring. Whether or not the wider world does, I’m not sure, but our readers do.”

This article is taken from the Guardian’s weekly email for supporters, sent on Tuesdays. To support the Guardian’s work, please click here . To find out more about theguardian.org, please click here

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Tennis, Sport, Emma Raducanu, Serena Williams, Katie Boulter
Title – Sell-out crowds and joy: how Queen’s Club women’s tournament outshone the men | Tennis | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/tumaini-carayol
Link – Sell-out crowds and joy: how Queen’s Club women’s tournament outshone the men | Tennis | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T04:00:20.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/21/sell-out-crowds-and-joy-how-queens-club-womens-tournament-outshone-the-men

O ne of the more amusing sights at the Queen’s Club tournament each year comes before even entering the grounds. On the first day of play on Monday, a deluge of spectators invariably descend on Barons Court station, just 150 metres from the entrance.

So many people passing through a tiny London Underground station naturally means long queues at the barriers. That congestion is not helped by many of them comically pausing in front of the gates to frantically search for their debit cards or desperately try to unlock their phones.

The Queen’s Club crowd may not exactly be the target audience of the LTA’s mission to open up the sport to all parts of society, but the attendance each year is truly impressive.

This year, general sale tickets for the men’s event sold out in less than a day. Its enduring popularity has felt even more significant over the past week given one of its weakest fields with just one top 10 player, Alex de Minaur, in the draw.

It is the latest example of the injury crisis that has swept the men’s tour over the past year, with so many young players dealing with significant injuries. The absences of Carlos Alcaraz and Jack Draper were particularly huge blows, but injuries to Lorenzo Musetti, Rafael Jódar and Holger Rune also weakened the draw.

The UK’s more comprehensive tax laws for international players also mean the Halle tournament, which had seven of the top 11 players this week, will hold an advantage over London for years to come.

The understated nature of the men’s event has only further highlighted the wild success of the women’s event, which exploded into action a week earlier as the site of one of the most significant stories of the year with the return of Serena Williams to doubles alongside Victoria Mboko, after four years in retirement.

That spectacle ended on a sad note, with Mboko slipping badly in her first-round match and tearing a medial collateral ligament. Still, as the event progressed, it showcased two of the more impressive days for British players over the past few years as Katie Boulter toppled Elena Rybakina, the world No 2 and reigning Australian Open champion, to reach the semi-finals. That was before Emma Raducanu won two matches in a day to reach her biggest final since winning the US Open in 2021.

The LTA can often serve as a punchbag for all sorts of frustrations within British tennis, the latest being the decision not to award the defending champion Tatjana Maria a main draw wildcard, so it is important to commend the organisation when it gets things right. It was a brilliant choice to finally bring women’s tennis back to Queen’s after a 52-year absence and in spectacular fashion.

The organisers certainly had to navigate some tricky issues. Not all members at the Queen’s Club, which functions as a private tennis club for about 49 weeks of the year, were pleased with the prospect of another week of professional players encroaching on their turf. Others, meanwhile, had legitimate concerns about British tennis being too London-centric. There were smaller questions about whether the men would object to playing on courts with a week of wear and tear.

Last year’s edition was a great success, but any lingering reservations this year were surely dismissed by the sight of Williams marching out on to the court for the first time in her career.

Between Williams, Raducanu and Boulter, last week played out as a series of joyful moments in west London and the atmosphere in each of their matches was unforgettable. Donna Vekic, a lucky loser, eventually defeated Raducanu to lift the biggest title of her career.

Women’s tennis is the most successful women’s sport in the world, but not all events attract great crowds. Here, the women’s tournament sold more than 70,000 tickets and was at 98% capacity during the whole week, selling out on five of its seven days. Some 9,000 fans packing out the stadium each day, even in the middle of working days, was a magnificent sight.

The LTA has also taken steps to address the dramatic prize-money gap between its events, with the tournament increasing the prize money by more than a third this year, making its total purse of $1,915,000 (£1,443,000) the second highest for a standalone Women’s Tennis Association 500 event on the tour.

By comparison, the German Open in Berlin this week, in which nine of the top 10 players entered, has a prize money pool of $1,206,446.

With the prize money for the Queen’s Club men’s tournament standing at €2,583,330, its increase of 2.4% in line with other ATP 500 events, the gap is still large but it has narrowed.

It is not a stretch to say that, in certain ways, the women’s Queen’s Club tournament completely overshadowed the men’s this year. This is just its second year of existence, meaning the tournament’s growing profile will allow it to build momentum with the goal of properly establishing it as a self-sufficient staple of the British summer sporting calendar and one of the best individual WTA tournaments on the tour.

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Judaism, Religion, UK news
Title – ‘I’ve finally found God without all the extras’: behind the surge in people converting to Progressive Judaism | Judaism | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/aamna-mohdin
Link – ‘I’ve finally found God without all the extras’: behind the surge in people converting to Progressive Judaism | Judaism | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T13:00:02.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/20/surge-in-people-converting-to-progressive-judaism

For Elizabeth Arif-Fear, there was no single moment when she realised she wanted to be Jewish. “It was just a journey over time,” she says.

The 37-year-old interfaith activist was born Christian, then converted to Islam and was Muslim for 14 years, before realising that that faith was also not the right fit. Eventually, she found the answer she had been searching for in Judaism . “I feel I’ve finally found God without all the extras,” she says. “Without Jesus, without Muhammad.”

Arif-Fear is part of a “surge” in the number of people converting to Progressive Judaism, a movement that represents about a third of British Jews . Figures shared with the Guardian show adult conversions rose from 78 in 2020 to 183 in 2025.

“There has been a lot of antisemitism and anti-Jewish feeling in the last three or four years. So you would have thought this is the last time that people would want to identify with the Jewish community, and yet, we’ve had a surge,” says Rabbi Jonathan Romain, convener of the Reform Beit Din, the rabbinic court for Progressive Judaism, and former rabbi of Maidenhead synagogue.

Romain says that, until recently, most converts did so for “romantic reasons”: they had Jewish partners and wanted to unify family life. But he believes the recent rise has been driven by three additional factors: the Covid-19 pandemic, the expansion of religious education in schools and DNA tests.

“We’ve found several times people have said to me, ‘Somebody gave me a DNA test as a Christmas present and it turned out I was Jewish,’” he says. “For some people, that’s just a matter of information. But other people, it intrigues them, or maybe it even answers something deep inside them.”

For Arif-Fear, what drew her towards Judaism was its progressive elements, and a culture in which questioning and debate were encouraged. “What really inspired me was the diversity and the pluralism in it,” she says. “I learned that you could be atheist and Jewish, and then they had Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Liberal, and that was really intriguing and inspiring for me.”

She adds: “So that inclusivity, that kind of dialogue, that questioning. It was just a really welcoming space. It’s LGBT-friendly, there are female rabbis, all of that. And people that were really proud of their faith but also felt very British at the same time.”

Romain says converts are increasingly coming from more diverse backgrounds. “Whereas beforehand it was largely white British, now because Britain is so multicultural, it’s very common to have people, who may have come from Romania or Portugal or Korea,” he says.

There are also notable numbers of LGBT people converting as Progressive Jewish communities can be more welcoming than other religious spaces.

For Debbie Collings, 65, conversion was about reclaiming something she had been born into. She had been raised Jewish until she was 16, but later left the faith. She found herself moving back towards it after caring for her ill father, who asked if she would be able to find the graves of his great-grandparents.

Collings found the gravesites, overgrown with grass, on a rainy day. “I just stood and looked at the graves and I went, ‘Oh my God’,” she says. Her great-grandparents had fled pogroms in Russia, she adds, and they and their children went on to make a huge contribution to Britain. “And now we – our generation – have rejected it.”

She left wanting to find out more about her family and Judaism. Like other converts and returnees, she spent a year in classes learning more about the religion and community, before having an interview with Romain and others on the rabbinic court and receiving confirmation that she was Jewish.

She describes stepping back into synagogue as a return to her roots. “I go in there and for me it’s like this peace just comes over me,” she says. “And it sort of fills a big gap that I didn’t really realise was missing until I started to explore it again.”

And, she adds, “if I die tomorrow, I know I can be buried in a Jewish cemetery”.

Amanda, who did not wish to give her last name, grew up in a Christian family and was a devout follower of the gospel before she began to question it. She felt people had failed to answer her growing issues with the New Testament, and the more she got to know people within Judaism, the more she felt she belonged.

She had often heard adults who converted to Christianity say, “‘I felt full of the Holy Spirit’,” but she did not feel that when converting to Judaism. “It just felt normal, like it should have been. Like it always was, if that makes sense,” Amanda says.

Her daily life hasn’t changed much: she never ate pork or shellfish, she says. The biggest change is “having gone from Sunday to Saturday,” she says. “Now, I forget that the world carries on on the Saturday.”

She particularly enjoys preparing for shabbat. “At the end of the day, when you light your candles and you just collapse on the settee, you think, ‘Oh, phew.’”

Romain says that sense of community is one of Judaism’s strongest draws. “There’s an enormous sense of camaraderie. In this world that is becoming increasingly polarised and lonely, because the local pubs are closing, high streets have collapsed, you can’t go to a post office anymore, you order everything online and you work from home, there’s that sense of human kindness and human contact,” he says.

“That’s something religions in general can offer, but Judaism in particular is very good at.”

The numbers of converts remain modest, in part because Judaism is not a proselytising faith. But Romain says that is central to its outlook. “There is a Jewish saying – this time I can quote – which says that if anyone tells you he loves God but he doesn’t love his neighbour, then you know he’s lying,” he says.

“It’s all very well keeping kosher, or saying Hail Marys, or genuflecting, and fasting. But it’s no good if you’re then unpleasant to the person standing next to you.”

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Spain, Overtourism, Europe, World news, Travel
Title – Beyond the beach: Spain pushes offbeat regions as tourist numbers nudge 100m | Spain | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/samjones
Link – Beyond the beach: Spain pushes offbeat regions as tourist numbers nudge 100m | Spain | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T07:00:03.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/20/spain-offbeat-regions-tourist-numbers-overtourism

Spain is redoubling its efforts to push its tourist appeal beyond the familiar “sun and sand and coast” model as it prepares for another record-breaking year in which the number of foreign visitors could reach 100 million for the first time, the country’s tourism minister has said.

Speaking to the Guardian, Jordi Hereu rejected suggestions that Spain was now saturated with tourists but said it had become clear that the “old formulas no longer work”, especially amid growing concerns about overtourism and the effects of the climate emergency.

Hereu, the minister of industry and tourism, said the steady growth in tourist numbers – which could be further boosted this summer by uncertainty over Middle Eastern destinations after the US and Israel’s war on Iran – could be managed sustainably and responsibly.

Last year, the number of foreign tourists rose by 3.2% to 96.8 million, while the value of their spending grew by 6.8% to hit €134bn (£116bn). Figures from the first quarter of this year show tourist numbers up by 3.4% and revenue up by 6.7%.

“With that growth, we could reach 100 million,” Hereu said. “But I’d like to point out that that doesn’t worry us or obsess us … [We favour] what I call calm growth – in other words, growth that can be easily managed. And this year, despite what’s happening and the demand diversion effect, I think that in general, for the moment, our forecast is for moderate growth.”

While tourism has long been a pillar of the Spanish economy, making up more than 12% of its GDP, its rapid and unchecked growth in many parts of the country over recent years has triggered protests and a furious backlash . Overtourism , not least the proliferation of tourist flats, has changed the face of entire neighbourhoods and cities, priced locals out of the housing market and increased pressure on public services and natural resources.

Asked if the current rates of tourism were sustainable, Hereu said: “Yes, if we do our homework, and no if we don’t do anything.” The minister, a former mayor of Barcelona, praised his successor in that role, Jaume Collboni, a fellow socialist, for pushing ahead with a decision to ban tourist flats in the Catalan capital by 2028 , but he said Spain’s highly decentralised nature made it hard for the central government to drive local change. He also contrasted the different approaches of leftwing and rightwing administrations.

“I think there are places in Spain that are now seeing the effects of not regulating anything,” he said. “But I also want to be very clear, because this is also influenced by political stripes. The left is more in favour of regulating tourism than the right, because the right holds the view that we should allow freedom because the market will self-regulate, which isn’t true, and in many places it’s clear that it isn’t self-regulating.”

Hereu said that while he believed anti-tourism feeling was “very much a minority thing” in Spain, it was becoming increasingly clear that a new approach was needed and that local and regional authorities needed to properly limit, regulate and tax their tourist offerings.

“What I do believe is that in some places there’s a demand for better tourism in the sense of a better model,” he said. “But the culture I see throughout Spain is a culture of a country that knows how to welcome people. Our key principle is that we’re in favour of transforming the model to keep ahead and that we’re working humbly to transform that model because the old formulas no longer work.”

Although he defended traditional beach tourism, which still makes up 37% of all visits, and said Spain had to be open to “all sectors” of the market, he noted that people were now seeking experiences beyond their sun loungers.

“It’s very interesting to see in the qualitative surveys that people who come basically because ‘hey, I’m here to relax, sun and beach, etc,’ also start asking for add-ons – like ‘beach plus’,” Hereu said. “I think this is also a good trend, because what we need is to add value.”

The minister said Spain’s socialist-led coalition government was committed to the socially, economically and environmentally sustainable principles set out in its 2030 tourism strategy.

“One is decentralising destinations over time and we’re also working towards deseasonalisation,” he said. “The third, very clear principle is the diversification of our offering away from all those decades of sun and sand and coast, which is where the [Spanish tourist industry] was born, and which is still the dominant offering.”

Although Spain has been pushing the summery charms of its eastern and southern coasts for decades, Hereu argues that the key to sustainable tourism lies in making it less seasonal, less beach-fixated and more geographically and culturally diverse.

The country’s current advertising campaign, called Think You Know Spain? Think Again , swerves sun-kissed costas to focus instead on images of churches, paradores , orange groves, folk festivals, food, wine, lakes, green spaces, handicrafts and brown bears. It even features rain.

“You don’t see any coastal beaches; instead, it’s inland Spain and the green Spain of the north,” he said. “So, it’s about decentralising and discovering other realities. And what’s happening? Low and mid season are growing much more than high season, and the inland, green Spain is growing much more than the majority segment.”

Spain’s reliance on tourism was laid bare during the Covid pandemic. In 2020, international visitor numbers dropped by 77% to just 18.9 million. That led the government to invest €3.4bn of EU next generation funds in a plan to modernise and transform the sector.

According to Hereu, that investment has allowed less visited areas of Spain – such as Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country and Navarre – to develop their tourist markets.

“There’s a lot of potential there, and that’s where we need growth to happen,” he said. “Because, for example, on the Mediterranean coast, especially now, in the high season, there are limits.”

The minister believes that diversifying and decentralising the tourist industry can help Spain tackle depopulation by ensuring that young people don’t have to leave their home towns in search of work elsewhere. Lengthening the season would also help to provide more stable employment, he added.

“Before it was June, July, August and, at most, September,” he said. “But now people open in April, May or June, and we have more stability. October is also very important now, and the truth is, in some cases chains tell me they’re open almost all year round. This also gives us more job stability, and it’s obvious that salaries also have to increase, right? You have to attract people to the sector and retain them. And that’s good news because it also brings social stability and a redistribution of profits.”

Hereu said the government was also seeking to help the industry adapt to the effects of the climate emergency, which are becoming ever more evident in Spain in the form of droughts, heatwaves, forest fires, floods and rising sea levels. He said renewable energy, efficient water use and good waste management could all help mitigate the consequences of the crisis.

It was now abundantly clear, he added, that sticking to the old model would be a mistake. “We’d have the opposite of what we have now – we’d be growing the number of tourists rather than the spending value,” he said. “And [now] we are growing more in value than in number.”

Keyword – US news
Trefwoorden – US news, Los Angeles, California, West Coast, Animals
Title – LAPD releases footage of moment officers shot and killed woman’s dog | US news | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/roque-planas
Link – LAPD releases footage of moment officers shot and killed woman’s dog | US news | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T20:52:08.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/20/lapd-releases-footage-officers-dog

The Los Angeles police department has released footage of the moment when officers shot and killed a woman’s dog in the hallway outside her apartment in the Canoga Park neighborhood.

Police had responded to reports of a woman screaming on 13 June, which turned out to be cheering, the night that the New York Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs to win the NBA finals.

The body-camera footage shows the moment that the woman, Marie Marseille, opens her door for the officers. Her two-year-old golden Saint Bernard doodle runs to the door and barks at the officers, whose faces are blurred in the video.

One of the officers immediately draws his gun and aims it first toward the ground, then lifts it toward the doorway. “Put your dog away!” one of the officers shouts.

“That’s a big-ass dog,” the officer wearing the camera says to his partner.

“I ain’t getting bit by that, bro,” says the officer seen holding his pistol.

Marseille returns to the door and appears to hold it to keep the dog inside, but does not shut it entirely. She tells the officers the dog is not aggressive.

The dog, wearing a blue Knicks jersey, walks out into the hallway and barks again at the officers, pauses, then takes a step forward and barks again. The officer who had drawn his pistol then fires four times. Both Marseille and the officer’s partner are standing behind the dog.

The other officer appears to also raise a pistol into view when his partner shoots.

Images from the body-worn camera used by the officer who shot the dog appears to show that the other officer carries two guns. During the first interaction with Marseille and her dog, his right hand hovers over what appears to be his service pistol.

After Marseille puts her dog away, he uses his other hand to unholster what appears to be a separate pistol, which he holds in his left hand through the rest of the encounter.

A video of Marseille sobbing and hugging the body of her two-year-old dog, named Jameson, went viral after Saturday’s shooting . The Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass, said she had spoken with the police chief, Jim McDonnell, to ensure an investigation into the use of force against the dog.

NBC4 reporter Eric Leonard noted that LAPD had released the video faster than normal, but that the department did not provide raw footage. Instead, the footage had been edited and the officers’ faces blurred, which is unusual.

“We’ve been looking at these body-worn videos for years. I don’t remember another instance where officers’ faces were blurred ever before,” Leonard said .

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Life and style, Sex, Relationships
Title – This is how we do it: ‘Sex was something to get through with my husband. With Jess, I feel desire’ | Life and style | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/olivia-ladanyi
Link – This is how we do it: ‘Sex was something to get through with my husband. With Jess, I feel desire’ | Life and style | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T10:00:27.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/21/this-is-how-we-do-it-sex-with-my-husband-desire-women

Meg, 35

I’d spent so many years visualising having sex with a woman

Before Jess, I’d only ever had sex with men. I’d been in a relationship with a man and had two kids with him, but felt completely disconnected from my body during sex – the only way I could orgasm was to shut my eyes and replay lesbian porn. Sex felt like something to get through. With Jess, I felt desire for the first time, instead of being the object of someone else’s.

Her Tinder profile said: “Smilier in real life, only in the area for three weeks.” I’d never kissed a woman before and had blown up my whole life to come out. When we kissed, my knees buckled and she called me Bambi – a nickname that has stuck. I rushed home and masturbated while thinking about her, then immediately told her about it.

I spent the first six months of our relationship getting out of my head and into my body. I’d spent so many years visualising having sex with a woman that I had to learn to orgasm without the internal screen I’d come to rely on. Jess was patient. She can read me from the inside out and knows when I’m stuck in a loop. Once, she noticed my mind drifting and said: “Stick with it.” I came immediately.

As a butch top, Jess gets pleasure from my pleasure and prides herself on taking care of me and the kids. That’s difficult for me to accept sometimes because I’ve always been the one in charge. Part of me feels like I don’t deserve to be taken care of, but handing over control to her is freeing. I love how visibly lesbian we are as a butch-femme couple. Mostly, I love how she talks to my kids – like they’re proper humans whose questions deserve serious answers.

We moved in together recently. Last night, the pressure got to me and I cried during sex. Will we still lose entire mornings in bed to mind-blowing sex when we have real-life stuff to manage? Jess is helping me learn how to relax – in bed, but also to walk away when I need to without feeling guilty.

One of the kids rolled her eyes and said: “Ugh! All you guys do is talk and kiss.” I’m excited to take Jess for granted, to do life together – even the mundane things.

Jess, 35

Meg desires me so openly that it feels liberating

Meg is the woman I’ll be with for ever – I felt that from very early on. But I knew she’d never dated a woman before, and there was a weight to that. I remember thinking: I hope I don’t give her a bad first experience.

I didn’t realise until later that she hadn’t kissed anyone but her husband in 12 years. She was confident and I was nervous, but then with our first kiss, the tables turned – suddenly I was on safe ground.

It was a big deal for Meg, and for me. It wasn’t just about sleeping with a woman – Meg had changed her whole life and there was no going back. She had to learn how to enjoy the entire process of sex, and not just rush to orgasm. Watching her experience desire for the first time was truly incredible. Seeing her discover what she likes and what she was capable of felt like a privilege.

Being a butch top isn’t about control for me. If anything, it’s the opposite. I see it as my job to take care of Meg in every way: practically, emotionally and sexually. I take the bins out, give her reassurance and make her come. But it’s more selfish than it sounds – my pleasure comes from giving Meg pleasure and looking after her, even though she doesn’t need me to.

The move has been stressful, but as a couple we’ve been incredibly steady, so I’m not worried. We’ve got this solid core that comes from being so sure about each other.

I grew up in a small fishing town, and although I’m proudly butch, in my younger years I questioned how conventionally attractive I was. But Meg desires me so openly that it feels liberating. She tells me how much she fancies me, and makes me feel so entirely loved. I never feel like too much.

It’s the best relationship I’ve ever had – and I hope it’s the last.

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – US-Israel war on Iran, Iran, Lebanon, Middle East and north Africa, World news, Switzerland
Title – Middle East live: US-Iran talks begin in Switzerland as strait of Hormuz remains closed | US-Israel war on Iran | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/fran-singh,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/roth-andrew,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/patrickwintour
Link – Middle East live: US-Iran talks begin in Switzerland as strait of Hormuz remains closed | US-Israel war on Iran | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T12:43:57.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jun/21/iran-us-israel-war-middle-east-lebanon-peace-talks-switzerland-vance-trump-strait-of-hormuz-latest-news-updates

Qatari mediator confirms that US-Iran talks have begun

Mediator for Qatar has confirmed the US-Iran talks in Switzerland have begun, according to AFP.

The talks between Iran and the US aimed at building out the fragile interim deal to end have been beset by difficulties including an Iranian decision to keep the strait of Hormuz closed in protest at Donald Trump’s inability to force Israel to end the fighting in Lebanon.

In a statement Qatar’s foreign ministry announced “the launch of the Lake Lucerne Summit and the first meeting of the high-level committee with the participation of representatives from the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran , and the two mediating states, the State of Qatar and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan”.

The US vice-president, JD Vance , leading the US delegation, earlier said he was adding Lebanon to an agenda that had originally been conceived to focus on the opening of the strait, the lifting of US sanctions on Iranian oil exports and the unfreezing of Iranian assets held overseas.

The Iranian delegation is led by the speaker of the parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, but the presence of the deputy oil minister and the governor of Iran’s central bank shows how Iran had wanted to focus on the terms for lifting sanctions.

The Swiss foreign ministry said the US and Iranian delegations, plus mediators from Pakistan and Qatar, were all present at the luxury resort.

Four months after the horrific Iran school bombing, fears grow that Trump and Hegseth will bury the truth

A secretive investigation into the attack that killed at least 175 has concluded, reports suggest. Will its findings ever see the light of day?

The attack on a girl’s elementary school in the Iranian town of Minab was one of the US military’s deadliest civilian bombings in decades. But nearly four months on, the Pentagon has produced no answers about why the military fired a Tomahawk cruise missile into a school on the first day of the war, killing at least 175 people, mostly children.

Some critics doubt that the Pentagon ever will, or will bury the results under classifications to keep the worst mistakes secret from the public.

As the US signs a shaky memorandum of understanding on a ceasefire with Iran, the secretive investigation into the attack has also become a test case for the self-styled secretary of war Pete Hegseth’s new approach to what he calls “warfighting”. As he said in early March, nearly two weeks after the attack, “our rules of engagement are bold, precise and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it”.

Shortly after the attack, Donald Trump suggested that it was carried out by Iran. When it became clear that the strike used a US-made Tomahawk missile , he suggested that Iran also had access to the cruise missiles. It does not.

Read more:

Envoys from regional heavyweights Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt pushed for swift progress in US-Iran talks at a meeting in Cairo on Sunday, as negotiations between the two countries began in Switzerland .

In a joint statement, the ministers called for a “swift and successful conclusion” to negotiations aimed at reaching a solution to outstanding issues that is “lasting, verifiable and mutually acceptable”, while taking into account regional concerns, particularly the security and stability of Gulf states.

Saudi Arabia, which was hit by Iranian attacks during the conflict, joined mediator Pakistan alongside Turkey and Egypt in facilitating negotiations weeks into the Middle East war.

My colleagues Heather Stewart and Philip Inman have done some analysis on how despite the ceasefire and ongoing peace talks, the Iran conflict is continuing to cast a shadow over the global economy

You can read their analysis here :

A technical fault in air traffic control, triggered by ⁠security measures for peace talks between the US and Iran in Switzerland , caused ⁠disruptions at Zurich airport ⁠on ​Sunday, aviation authorities said, adding the problem had been resolved.

The glitch occurred after ⁠the integration of a restricted zone over Buergenstock, the Swiss mountain resort where negotiations are ⁠taking place, into radar display systems, Swiss air traffic control ​authority Skyguide said.

The ‌zone was only ‌decided at the last minute because the decision to ‌hold the latest round of talks was not finalised until Saturday, according to a statement.

Operations have since returned to normal, Skyguide said, adding: “The systems are running smoothly, and security was ensured at all times.“

By ‌midday, 12 arrivals and 14 departures had been cancelled, an airport spokesperson told Reuters. ​At least 60 departures were delayed, she added. US vice-president JD Vance arrived for peace talks with Iran at Buergenstock on Sunday as foreseen in a tentative ⁠peace deal, but the diplomacy was overshadowed by ​Iran’s announcement ​that it had reimposed its ​blockade of the strait of Hormuz.

Qatari mediator confirms that US-Iran talks have begun

Mediator for Qatar has confirmed the US-Iran talks in Switzerland have begun, according to AFP.

The talks between Iran and the US aimed at building out the fragile interim deal to end have been beset by difficulties including an Iranian decision to keep the strait of Hormuz closed in protest at Donald Trump’s inability to force Israel to end the fighting in Lebanon.

In a statement Qatar’s foreign ministry announced “the launch of the Lake Lucerne Summit and the first meeting of the high-level committee with the participation of representatives from the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran , and the two mediating states, the State of Qatar and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan”.

The US vice-president, JD Vance , leading the US delegation, earlier said he was adding Lebanon to an agenda that had originally been conceived to focus on the opening of the strait, the lifting of US sanctions on Iranian oil exports and the unfreezing of Iranian assets held overseas.

The Iranian delegation is led by the speaker of the parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, but the presence of the deputy oil minister and the governor of Iran’s central bank shows how Iran had wanted to focus on the terms for lifting sanctions.

The Swiss foreign ministry said the US and Iranian delegations, plus mediators from Pakistan and Qatar, were all present at the luxury resort.

Israel will not withdraw from security zone in Lebanon, says defence minister

There ⁠was and is ‘no restriction’ on ⁠Israeli ⁠soldiers ​to act to eliminate ⁠threats in Lebanon , and that troops would not withdraw from the security zone, ‌Israeli defence minister ‌Israel Katz said in a statement on Sunday, according to Reuters.

Israeli strikes killed at ‌least 20 people in Lebanon ​on Saturday, Lebanon’s state news agency NNA reported, ⁠a day after a ​ceasefire with ​Iran-backed Hezbollah ​took effect ​after ‌months of ​escalating ​violence.

UN nuclear energy chief in Switzerland to ‘take stock’ of Iran developments

Rafael Grossi, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says he has met Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis in Burgenstock “to take stock of recent developments regarding Iran , the path ahead and the important role of the IAEA”.

The pair shook hands as teams from Iran and the US met to negotiate in Switzerland .

“At this critical moment, it’s important to give diplomacy every opportunity to succeed,” he said.

Earlier this month, IAEA’s governing board passed a US-backed resolution demanding Iran provide “complete information” on its enriched ⁠uranium stocks and grant access to inspectors to verify them.

Poll finds Israelis believe Iran won war

Israelis overwhelmingly believe that Iran emerged stronger from the Middle East war and its subsequent deal with the United States, a poll released on Sunday found, as reported by AFP.

The poll of 3,644 respondents, conducted between 17 June and 20 by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in collaboration with the Agam Institute, paints a stark picture of public sentiment after the US-Iran deal.

Of those surveyed, 92.1% said Iran had won or gained more from the conflict, while 82.9% felt that Israel’s long-term security had been weakened.

The survey found that even among voters who support the right-wing bloc, the electoral base of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 93.1% believed Iran had won.

Opposition to the US-Iran agreement was widespread, with 63.2% of respondents opposing it compared with just 12.1% expressing support.

The findings pointed to a broader crisis of confidence in Israel’s leadership.

Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed, 72.5% , said they did not believe Netanyahu’s claims about the military campaign’s achievements, while 56.4% rated his management of the campaign as “failed” or “poor”.

The poll also pointed to the political price paid by Netanyahu, with support for his premiership plummeting from 40.5% in early March to 29.4% in June.

Despite this, the survey found ongoing support for military action against Hezbollah in Lebanon .

Nearly half of respondents, 48.2%, backed renewed major military action against Hezbollah in Lebanon, even if it risked confrontation with Washington, while only 21% opposed such a move.

US-Iran talks in Switzerland to get under way as strait of Hormuz remains closed

Talks between Iran and the US aimed at building out the fragile interim deal to end the war are due to get under way in Switzerland, beset by difficulties including an Iranian decision to keep the strait of Hormuz closed in protest at Donald Trump’s inability to force Israel to end the fighting in Lebanon.

The US vice-president, JD Vance , leading the US delegation, said he was adding Lebanon to the agenda, which had originally been conceived to focus on the opening of the strait, the lifting of US sanctions on Iranian oil exports and the unfreezing of Iranian assets held overseas.

Vance arrived at a Qatari-owned Swiss mountainside resort in Bürgenstock early on Sunday to meet Iranian negotiators for the second time since the months-long conflict began. He has already held direct talks with the Iranians in Islamabad.

The Iranian delegation is led by the speaker of the parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, but the presence of the deputy oil minister and the governor of Iran’s central bank shows how Iran had wanted to focus on the terms for lifting sanctions.

The first clause of the memorandum of understanding published last week requires a ceasefire on all fronts including Lebanon , where fighting has escalated between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Full report here:

Iran says not seeking nuclear weapon or relinquishing enrichment rights

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated on Sunday that Tehran was willing to provide assurances that the country was not seeking a nuclear weapon, while insisting that Iran would not relinquish its right to enrich uranium, AFP reports.

“What the United States demands is that Iran not build an atomic bomb. This is nothing new, and we can also state in writing that we have no intention of building a bomb,” the president’s website quoted him as saying.

“However, we will not relinquish our right to enrichment, and the other side will have no choice but to accept this right,” he added, before Iranian and US negotiators were set to meet for talks in Switzerland later on Sunday.

Iran says Lebanon conflict ‘main topic’ in US talks

Iran said on Sunday that the ongoing conflict in Lebanon between Israel and militant group Hezbollah will top the agenda in talks with the US in Switzerland , as well as issues such as frozen Iranian funds and the sale of the country’s oil.

“The Zionist regime continues to violate its commitment in Lebanon , this issue will be the main topic of discussion in today’s talks,” foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said in a video shared by IRNA state news agency.

Tehran said on Thursday it had signed a deal with Washington to end months of hostilities that began on 28 February following US-Israeli attacks on Iran .

Under the agreement, the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon was also due to stop.

Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed at least 16 people, local authorities said, despite reports of a renewed ceasefire aiming to end the continuing clashes.

Lebanon’s civil defence agency said its personnel transported “16 dead and 12 wounded” to hospital, adding that they had been working “since the early morning hours” in the Nabatieh district.

Iran says it is closing strait of Hormuz over Israeli strikes in Lebanon

Iran has said it is closing the strait of Hormuz after waves of Israeli strikes in Lebanon in a move that threatens to derail the fragile interim peace deal with the US, signed just days ago.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned ships not to approach the strategic waterway, which before the war carried a fifth of global oil and liquid gas supplies, citing what it called Israeli crimes in Lebanon and a US violation of commitments to establish a ceasefire there.

It was unclear if the threat had been carried out, or if it would jeopardise talks in Switzerland scheduled for Sunday that were supposed to start the process of turning the current interim agreement between the US and Iran signed this week into a more detailed deal covering Iran’s nuclear programme.

Donald Trump promptly declared that “NO TOLLS” would be charged on ships seeking to pass through the strait during or after the ⁠60-day interim ceasefire. In a social media post on Saturday, however, he raised the prospect of the US imposing a toll should negotiations fail.

US-Iran talks to begin in Switzerland

Hello and welcome to our coverage of the latest in the Middle East and updates on the on going peace talks between the US and Iran .

Here are the latest developments:

On Sunday delegations for the US and Iran delegations have arrived at Swiss resort for talks . Mediators from Pakistan and Qatar will also be in attendance according to the Swiss foreign ministry. Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding earlier in June.

This follows news that Iran has said it has closed the strait of Hormuz over continued strikes from Israel in Lebanon . On Sunday Iran’s Fars news agency agency cited a military source ⁠as ⁠saying that the strait ⁠of Hormuz remains closed and the Revolutionary ⁠Guards navy has ​not ‌issued permission for ‌any vessels to ‌transit until further notice.

Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed at least 16 people , local authorities said.

US vice-president JD Vance arrived at the Swiss mountainside resort of Burgenstock early on Sunday to meet Iranian negotiators for the second time.

US Central Command says ⁠55 merchant ships transited strait on Saturday.

Read our latest report here :

Iran has said it is closing the strait of Hormuz after waves of Israeli strikes in Lebanon in a move that threatens to derail the fragile interim peace deal with the US, signed just days ago.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned ships not to approach the strategic waterway, which before the war carried a fifth of global oil and liquid gas supplies, citing what it called Israeli crimes in Lebanon and a US violation of commitments to establish a ceasefire there.

It was unclear if the threat had been carried out, or if it would jeopardise talks in Switzerland scheduled for Sunday that were supposed to start the process of turning the current interim agreement between the US and Iran signed this week into a more detailed deal covering Iran’s nuclear programme.

Keyword – Politics
Trefwoorden – Labour party leadership, Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting, Keir Starmer, UK news, Makerfield byelection, Politics, Labour, Greater Manchester
Title – Burnham allies confident of No 10 ‘coronation’ after surge in backers | Labour party leadership | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jessica-elgot,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/geraldine-mckelvie
Link – Burnham allies confident of No 10 ‘coronation’ after surge in backers | Labour party leadership | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-20T14:41:51.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/20/burnham-allies-confident-no-10-coronation-after-surge-backers-labour-leadership

Allies of Andy Burnham are increasingly confident of a coronation-style transfer of power after the number of MPs backing him for the Labour leadership surged following his byelection victory.

Burnham and his team are understood to have spent the last few days enlisting the support of MPs and ministers, as he prepares to challenge Keir Starmer in the coming weeks.

It was reported on Friday that, after his triumph in the Makerfield byelection, where he comfortably saw off the threat of Reform UK, Burnham’s team were hoping for 200 nominations , about half of the parliamentary party.

However, one minister said that figure was now “in the dust”, while another said it was “logical” that the number of backers would be closer to 300, which could complicate a challenge by the former health secretary Wes Streeting .

The former Greater Manchester mayor is hoping to have enough support to dislodge Starmer from Downing Street without the need for a lengthy leadership contest.

However, an uncontested takeover is not favoured by all MPs, some of whom want the new Makerfield MP to face the “scrutiny” of his ideas being “put through the wringer”.

Streeting and Burnham are expected to speak this weekend but sources close to the former insisted he also had the numbers to challenge Starmer and remained determined to do so, although they added that Streeting would not trigger a contest this weekend in order to allow the prime minister to “reflect on his position”.

Labour party rules mean that potential leadership candidates must secure nominations from at least 20% of the parliamentary party in order to force a contest.

The party has 403 MPs, meaning prospective challengers would need the support of 81 to stand. They would also require the backing of 5% of local branches, and at least three party-affiliated groups, of which a minimum of two must be trade unions.

Members would then vote for their preferred candidate, if more than one MP met the criteria to stand.

Starmer, as leader, does not have to meet these requirements and would be on the ballot automatically unless he chose to stand down. The prime minister has said he will fight any potential leadership contest, which could take months.

However, previously loyal cabinet ministers warned the PM on Friday that he faced the indignity of being forced out of office by a string of damaging resignations if he did not set out a timetable for his departure.

Burnham secured a majority of 9,000 in Thursday’s Makerfield poll, little more than a month after the constituency largely backed Reform in the local elections. His team now believe he is Labour’s best hope of preventing Nigel Farage’s party winning the next general election.

Although Starmer led Labour to a landslide general election victory in 2024, he is deeply unpopular with the electorate after a series of policy U-turns.

One Burnham ally said: “We passed every single ridiculous test that they set – to win the way Andy has won, we smashed through every single ceiling they set, I think there couldn’t be a clearer message.

“It’s not a personal thing, but we can’t afford not to do this. We’ve got to be honest with ourselves about where we are and what we need to do to keep a Labour government going and [Starmer] can’t do that sadly.

“This is an existential crisis for us, and it’s proven that there’s another way you can do things that navigates us through that. And I just think it’s unwise and sad that Keir and his team want to, at this point, not acknowledge or accept that. They’ve got time obviously, so we’ll see what happens.”

Jess Phillips, who resigned as the safeguarding minister last month and is close to Streeting, said that while Burnham had beaten Reform “absolutely soundly” he should still face the “rigour of at least some manner of contests”.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Lots of people don’t know Andy Burnham, have never worked alongside him, and that’s not his fault, unless you’re a Greater Manchester MP … I look forward to Andy Burnham arriving [in parliament] on Monday and those who are prospective candidates setting out their stall.”

Another close ally of Streeting said the “priority” for MPs was ensuring that Starmer understood he could not continue as leader.

They said: “There [are] two ways forward. One is orderly and comradely and gives the space for a forward-looking policy debate which could be a proper battle of ideas and whoever wins will come out stronger for it.

“And the alternative is one that is entirely focused on who’s to blame for what’s gone wrong in the last two years and extremely bitter and angry. I don’t think anyone wins in that scenario. That is within Keir’s gift.

“If Keir steps down, that does allow for a contest that is fought in a pretty collegiate way, because it won’t be about what’s gone wrong, it doesn’t have to be.

“I think putting [Burnham’s] ideas and [Streeting’s] ideas through the wringer and the challenge of media scrutiny and scrutiny from members means we’re more likely to come out of it with a stronger programme and a leader whose programme is tested and can then be put into action.

“I think there is also a risk of chaos if you don’t go into government with that kind of definition that you get from a campaign.”

Keyword – Art and design
Trefwoorden – Photography, Spain, Art and design, Culture, Europe, World news
Title – From the US-Mexico border to protests in Poland: highlights of PhotoEspaña 2026 | Photography | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/guy-lane
Link – From the US-Mexico border to protests in Poland: highlights of PhotoEspaña 2026 | Photography | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-21T06:00:23.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/jun/21/us-mexico-border-protests-poland-highlights-photoespana-2026-spain

P hotoEspaña, Spain’s leading festival of photography, held its official opening in Madrid this month and by September nearly 100 exhibitions will have showcased the work of more than 300 visual artists in the capital and across the country. Loosely corralled under the theme of reimagining, the exhibitions feature work by major figures in Spanish and international photography and less well-known emerging artists.

From the series Invisible Line. Photograph: Alejandro Cartagena

From the series Between Borders. Photograph: Alejandro Cartagena

Fundación Mapfre hosts an expansive overview of the career of the Mexican photographer Alejandro Cartagena, including three series he produced focusing on the effects and meaning of the US-Mexico border: Invisible Line, Between Borders and Los Americanos.

Of the border wall he says: “It’s potent, it shows its power all the time. Wherever you look, there’s these jagged lines or these massive concrete walls that are cutting and showing that we are different. They are from the north, we are from the south and the cultures don’t mix. There’s this obsession with being separate, being two different cultures.”

From the series Los Americanos. Photograph: Alejandro Cartagena

The effects of separation can be devastating. “One of the interesting or more poignant things of this experience was how the border, the wall, basically dissolves the idea of identity and personhood,” Cartagena says.

“And I’m iterating on the same idea. Who am I? Who are the people that live around me? Who are we as Mexicans? Who are we as Americans? And this physicality of the wall basically erases us and we become generic, we become no one.”

Laia Abril at her endometriosis solo show at Museo del Romanticismo in Madrid. Photograph: Jorquera

Seven life-size portraits by Laia Abril are installed in an intimate show at the Museo del Romanticismo exploring the debilitating effects of endometriosis. Her subjects, six women and a trans man, were photographed in the postures they adopt to manage their pain.

“The idea was to visualise in real size”, she says. “Their bodies in moments of pain, but also they were showing us what are the different positions they take when they try to have relief from that pain.” Abril’s portraits are taken from above in a reference to the almost out-of-body experiences she endures while coping with her own pain.

The triptych presentation is a further nod to the physical effects of the condition. “It’s kind of a fight between our body helping us to be resilient and fighting the pain, but also our body needs to be disconnected because it’s carrying a lot of pain.”

Lux and Umbra at the Fernán Gómez centre. Photograph: Jorquera

Top left: Yellow Vlei by Viviane Sassen. Top right: Sassen at the opening of Lux and Umbra. Above: Venus and Mercury at the Fernán Gómez centre. Photographs: Jorquera

Lux and Umbra , a retrospective of the work of the Dutch photographer Viviane Sassen at the Fernán Gómez centre, explores a career marked by a restless eclecticism. A childhood in Kenya and an interest in fashion design and art history with particular reference to surrealism all inform a visual language that defies easy categorisation.

If certain themes, including death, sexuality and mourning, recur, they do so on strictly ambiguous terms. Even the umbra, or shadow, of the show’s title has various meanings, appearing in her work as abstract or representational, staged or natural, literal or metaphorical.

Strike newspaper 9 by Rafał Milach and the Archive of Public Protests/Jednostka Gallery

The Polish photographer Rafal Milach’s strident exhibition at Circulo de Bellas Artes explores the disruptive potential of an engaged documentary practice committed to outflanking traditional patterns of spectatorship.

Avowing that “protest photography is quite boring visually, it always looks the same”, Milach directs his energies towards making work accessible to new audiences via the Archive of Public Protests , a platform for his and others’ photographs addressing social and political tensions in Poland and eastern Europe. Banners, murals and free newspapers feature in the exhibition, promoted as means of strengthening solidarity networks and encouraging opposition.

PhotoEspaña takes its theme from Reimagining , a diverse group show of 13 accomplished projects by photographers exploring varied approaches to their subjects and their medium.

From the series The Wreckage of a Catastrophe by Txema Salvans

Above left: from The Grid by Jon Gorospe: Above right: from Iberia by Aleix Plademunt

From the series Espacio Disponible by Eduardo Nave

Among them, Txema Salvans takes a caustic look at life on the road, no longer a symbol of prosperity and expansion, in his Wreckage of a Catastrophe series.

Jon Gorospe’s The Grid uses video and audio to examine the environments and routines of commuting. Aleix Plademunt displays more than 120 black-and-white photographs to evoke a colonial gaze and its narrowed focus on rubber trees in the Peruvian rainforest.

And Eduardo Nave, describing his Espacio Disponible series as “the opposite of Times Square,” photographs empty and rusting billboards that advertise their own obsolescence and the transition to the digital era.

Two exhibitions pay homage to canonical photobooks, one from the 1980s, the other from the fifties: Richard Avedon. In the American West, 1979-1984 at Fundación Mapfre, and Robert Frank and The Americans at Espacio Fundación Telefónica.

Clockwise from top left: Ronald Fischer, beekeeper, Davis, California, 9 May 1981; Sandra Bennett, 12 years old, Rocky Ford, Colorado, 23 August 1980; David Beason, shipping clerk, Denver, Colorado, 25 July 1981; Petra Alvarado, factory worker, on her birthday, El Paso, Texas, 22 April 1982. Photographs: Richard Avedon/The Richard Avedon Foundation

Avedon travelled with a team of assistants, a large format camera and a backdrop. He could take up to two days – in the case of beekeeper Ronald Fischer – to complete a portrait. Frank preferred to arrive unannounced, Leica 35mm in hand, work swiftly and move on.

Funeral, St Helena, South Carolina, from The Americans. Photograph: Robert Frank

Differences aside, certain similarities remain: both projects achieved their fullest expression in book form, and both have long been recognised as exemplary. Not least, and central to their enduring relevance, is the sense that both photographers testified to an American reality that no amount of rhetoric – of the Cold War fifties or Reaganite eighties – could disguise.

Guy Lane travelled to Madrid as a guest of PhotoEspaña

Keyword – Global
Trefwoorden – Society, Carers, UK news, London, Schools, Education, School attendance and absence, Social care, Documentary films, Documentary, Film
Title – Aiden’s story of life as a young carer | Is Mum OK? Documentary | Society | The Guardian
Author –
Link – Aiden’s story of life as a young carer | Is Mum OK? Documentary | Society | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-09T09:31:31.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/global/ng-interactive/2026/jun/09/how-do-you-give-britains-hidden-army-a-break-is-mum-ok-documentary