News and stories from all over the world

UK criminal justice
New breed of political prisoner arises in Britain as anti-protest sentences rise
Haroon Siddique
Sat 23 May 2026 18.00 CESTLast modified on Sat 23 May 2026 18.02 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/may/23/anti-protest-sentences-rise-england-wales-political-prisoners

Britain has created a new breed of political prisoners through the systematic incarceration of people acting to prevent climate breakdown and the annihilation of Gaza, a report claims.

The research by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the protest group Defend Our Juries says that custodial sentences for acts of direct action or civil disobedience were once rare but are now being imposed with increasing length and frequency.

Their report, which will be launched on Tuesday, points to an increase in anti-protest legislation in England and Wales, police powers and civil law injunctions brought by corporations and public bodies as well as judges removing legal defences and “exceptionally long” sentences.

In what they say is the first analysis of the jailing of “Britain’s new political prisoners”, the researchers identified 286 cases involving climate and Palestine-solidarity activists who were sent to prison for protest for a total amount of jail time of 136 years.

The average detention period in the 256 cases for which data was available was 28 weeks, with one in three protesters jailed for six months or more and one in five for more than a year.

David Whyte, the report’s co-author and professor of climate justice at QMUL, said: “These are exceptional sentences that are being used to apply to protests which are themselves profoundly political.

“So it’s clear that extreme sentences and the level of remand detentions [before trial] at an extreme level are being used to respond to one category of prisoners and that’s prisoners who’ve been detained because they’ve been involved in civil disobedience, direct action as a result of political protest. So there is something going on which is profoundly political. Very often those protesters are reflecting majority rather than a minority view.”

The report describes remand as “the first line of attack”, with the effect of chilling protest and civil disobedience. The researchers found that in 60% of cases, final sentences were more lenient than time already spent in custody awaiting trial. They highlight the “Filton 24”, who were charged with offences connected to a Palestine Action direct action protest at a factory near Bristol run by the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.

The accused spent up to 18 months in jail – the standard pre-trial limit is six months – before all but one were bailed after the first set of six defendants were cleared of aggravated burglary. Two out of those six were subsequently acquitted of criminal damage. Eighteen more defendants due to stand trial over the events at Filton still face other charges.

Contempt of court, where there is no jury trial, was found to account for 40% of cases of imprisonment. Contempt charges either arise from the conduct of a defendant in the courtroom, including where an order of a judge is breached (8% of total imprisonment cases), or where a civil injunction obtained by a private company or public authority to prevent protest is breached (32% of cases).

Whyte said: “The real danger is that you criminalise people for breaching something which is essentially a civil injunction. So that doesn’t start as a criminal offence but it ends up with a criminal penalty and that’s very concerning because it means that private companies, effectively, are imposing injunctions which lead to large numbers of people going to jail.”

The report found that 69 people were imprisoned, including some for holding placards, after Warwickshire borough council obtained a high court injunction in 2022 in response to Just Stop Oil’s direct action campaign at Kingsbury oil terminal.

A judicial spokesperson said: “Judicial independence and impartiality are fundamental to the rule of law. Upon taking office, judges take the judicial oath where they swear to act ‘without fear or favour, affection or ill will’. In each case, judges make decisions based on the evidence and arguments presented to them and apply the law as it stands.

“Judges and magistrates sentence according to the law set by parliament and the sentencing guidelines set by the independent Sentencing Council, as well as the facts of each case which may have aggravating or mitigating factors.”

Israel-Gaza war
Board of Peace focus on Hamas risks return to war in Gaza, critics say
Julian Borger
Sat 23 May 2026 11.00 CESTLast modified on Sat 23 May 2026 13.00 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/23/board-of-peace-focus-on-hamas-risks-return-to-war-in-gaza-critics-say

The top diplomat from the Board of Peace has blamed Hamas for the stalled ceasefire , but critics have said the US-backed board’s lack of even-handedness in implementing the truce risks a return to war.

The “high representative for Gaza”, Nickolay Mladenov, told the UN security council on Thursday that Hamas was the “principal obstacle” to the ceasefire’s continued implementation because “it refused to accept verified decommissioning, relinquish coercive control and allow a genuine civilian transition”.

Hamas rejected the Bulgarian diplomat’s accusations. Its spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, said the report “reflects continued adoption of the Israeli position and serves as an attempt to justify further Israeli escalation”.

Critics of the Board of Peace, launched by Donald Trump in January, said the Mladenov report gave a misleading and one-sided account of the ceasefire, in which Israel has been the main violator.

Israeli forces have continued to carry out airstrikes on Gaza. They have also moved forward from the ceasefire line agreed in October, increasing the area under direct Israeli control from the agreed 53% to at least 60%, and have regularly shot at Palestinians who came within a few hundred metres of the shifting line. More than 850 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire was declared in October.

Israel has also fallen short of its obligation to allow in 600 trucks of humanitarian supplies a day, and has refused to relax restrictions on “dual-use” items, which have prevented aid agencies bringing in basic humanitarian supplies, such as water pipes, or heavy machinery to begin clearing rubble.

Israel was not directly criticised in Mladenov’s report, only by implication in references to “all parties”. Critics said that by putting the blame solely on Hamas, Mladenov’s report could lend legitimacy to any future decision by Benjamin Netanyahu to return to war.

“Israel never fulfilled any of its obligations under phase one of the deal, so why would anyone trust they’d live up to phase two, especially once the weapons (Gaza’s only leverage) are gone?” said Muhammad Shehada, a visiting fellow at the Middle East programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

“If they say no, then Netanyahu is going to get a free hand in Gaza and basically be absolved of any obligations under the Trump deal and declare war whenever he wants.”

Successive versions of Mladenov’s roadmap were presented to Hamas and other Palestinian factions in March and then April. The April version proposed the creation of an “implementation verification committee” to oversee the disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups, while ensuring Israel took reciprocal steps.

The documents said inventory and collection of weapons would be “implemented gradually in phases”, with “heavy weapons” to be handed in within 90 days, though the definition of “heavy” included assault rifles. The April version of the roadmap said disarmament would be monitored by multilateral bodies, but it added that the “process will be under Palestinian leadership”.

Gershon Baskin, an Israeli analyst who has been involved in past back-channel negotiations with Palestinian groups, welcomed the roadmap, saying: “Israel and Hamas should agree to it and its implementation should begin immediately.”

However Baskin was critical of Mladenov’s characterisation of the stalemate, putting sole blame on Hamas. He said the militant group had “indicated its willingness to begin the process of disarmament and decommissioning of weapons”.

“Hamas’s demand is that it be done in parallel to the commitments that Israel has undertaken and has not fulfilled,” Baskin added.

In his report to the UN, Mladenov accused Hamas of tightening its grip on the 40% of Gaza still under its control. However, Hamas has been calling since February for the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), a panel of 12 Palestinian technocrats created by the Board of Peace in January, to be allowed into the territory to begin the transfer of power.

“The Hamas guys inside Gaza are much more pragmatic,” Baskin said. “They don’t have money, they don’t have the resources, and the people in Gaza don’t want them. And they know that they can’t continue like this.”

Under Mladenov’s plan, the NCAG is supposed to oversee the disarmament of armed groups in Gaza, however Baskin said Israel had adamantly refused to allow the committee members to enter Gaza from Egypt, where they have become an administration in waiting.

“It is the Israeli insistence that NCAG not go in,” he said. “Americans have been told by the Israelis that if NCAG is allowed to go in, it will create a situation like Lebanon, where there will be an official government but the real power will be with the guys with guns in the streets.”

“I don’t think that’s the big problem,” Baskin added. “The big problem is that Israel wants to renew the war, and they’re creating the conditions where the Israeli public is being pumped every day, with the media telling them that Hamas is rebuilding itself, Hamas is gaining strength; that’s a really overblown exaggeration of reality.”

Daniel Levy, the British-Israeli head of the US/Middle East Project and former peace negotiator in earlier Israeli-Palestinian talks, said Hamas had not rejected disarmament and the transfer of power.

“It’s well established that they are ready to hand over governance. There’s never been a question about that,” Levy said. “But they’ve also talked in terms of non-rearmament, non-display of weapons, and [surrendering] heavy weapons. They’ve set out some of these things, but they are not going to wave a white flag of surrender.”

The limbo has left the Palestinians officials in the NCAG stuck in a hotel in Cairo. They have attended seminars on governance and state-building, and they recently flew to Brussels to meet EU officials, but they have been prevented from talking to the press.

Shehada said four NCAG members had threatened to resign.

“With the lack of progress in Gaza, they came to realise that they are a distraction to buy Israel more time,” he said, adding that the four members were persuaded to stay by Mladenov.

A source close to the NCAG said its members were aware their reputation for integrity was suffering among Palestinians by their association with the Board of Peace, but he said: “They also know there is no alternative. If there is any hope of stopping the killing in Gaza, this is the only game in town.”

French Open 2026
French Open agrees to talks with players in row over grand slam prize money
Matt Hughes
Sat 23 May 2026 15.54 CESTLast modified on Sat 23 May 2026 16.52 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/may/23/french-open-agrees-talks-players-pay-row-grand-slam-prize-money-tennis

The French Tennis Federation (FFT) has promised to make concrete proposals about increased prize money, player welfare and representation within the next month in talks with leading agents at the French Open .

The discussions took place on Friday, the same day many players, including the world No 1s, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka , collectively decided to limit their pre-tournament media briefings to 15 minutes in protest at what they regard as insufficient prize money paid by the four grand slams.

The players chose to conduct only their mandatory duties, a press conference and an interview with the host broadcaster, rather than the 60 to 90 minutes they usually devote to interviews, photoshoots and other media activities.

The slams allocate about 15% of their tournament revenues in prize money and the players are demanding that be increased to 22%, to match the percentage paid by the ATP and WTA Tours.

The players are understood to have been heartened by Friday’s meeting, which included three representatives of the FFT, the players’ representative, Larry Scott, and a group of player agents. Sources involved described as positive talks as vindicating their media boycott. One said one day of direct action had achieved more than a year of discussions behind the scenes.

The FFT has promised to return with detailed proposals within a fortnight of the finals at Roland Garros, with the players adamant an increase in prize money must take place alongside discussions over welfare and player representation.

Amélie Mauresmo, the Roland Garros tournament director and former world No 1, on Thursday defended the FFT’s decisions regarding this year’s prize money and their financial contributions to players. “We have a model that is very different from what is on the Tours, be it the ATP Tours or the WTA,” she said. “Even a different model from the other grand slams.

“We put in place everything we can also in the interest of the players. We are also [improving] our infrastructure, we have prize money that has increased well, doubled in 10 years, and then also increased well in recent times, not only towards the top players, but also towards those who are more qualifiers and the first rounds of the table.”

The All England Club has offered to set up a player council at Wimbledon to give the players a say in the operating of the tournament , but they do not regard that as sufficient. Further meetings with the All England Club and the United States Tennis Association will take place in Paris next week, with the players keeping their options open for protests at Wimbledon, which begins on 29 June.

Tennis Australia is not involved in the discussions as in a separate dispute the body has sided with the Professional Tennis Players Association, the players’ union, in its legal case against the three other slams.

Film
Coward review – soldiers find escapism and romance in wartime theatrical troupe
Peter Bradshaw
Fri 22 May 2026 15.41 CESTLast modified on Fri 22 May 2026 15.42 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/may/22/coward-review-soldiers-find-escapism-and-romance-in-wartime-theatrical-troupe

T he word of the title is not used at any time in this film, but the relevance is clear. On the western front in the first world war, Belgian soldiers get permission to form a theatrical troupe, often in drag, to entertain their comrades when they are behind the lines and raise their morale (not entirely unlike the now despised 70s BBC TV comedy It Ain’t Half Hot Mum). The director is Lukas Dhont who explored gay and transgender issues in movies such as Girl and Close, and this story of a gay affair in the army is heartfelt and well acted, if rather earnestly researched.

The motley “band of rejects”, evidently excused frontline combat duty for various reasons, is led by Francis (Valentin Campagne), a tailor in civilian life who has now ecstatically flowered in the new role the war has given him. He is exuberant, mischievous, imaginative and genuinely committed to his theatrical art. The resulting entertainments look professionally accomplished. (Did these first world war gang shows really have people playing flute and clarinet?) One stolidly handsome, shy soldier called Pierre (Emmanuel Macchia) is fascinated by these theatrical types and by Francis himself; he deliberately stabs his own hand with a bayonet on the field of battle so he can join their group.

All these actors must endure covert or open accusations of cowardice. For Francis and Pierre, the charge becomes more complicated. At the height of their love affair, they wonder if they should desert, run away together to a neutral country like Switzerland or Spain, and openly affirm who they are. But are they too cowardly? Interestingly, it isn’t just a matter of the troupe providing racy, louche shows for the ranks. Francis and the players have to put on a more intimate after-dinner revue for high-ranking types and endure their boorish behaviour; they also have to produce little entertainments, like children’s shows, for the horribly wounded in hospitals, and even mount stirringly martial, patriotic vignettes for soldiers who are about to go into battle.

Francis himself is a fierce disciplinarian, as tough as any sergeant, who will not stand for Pierre or anyone else neglecting their showbusiness duty to provide escapism for the troops. Francis is candid about how much he loves his theatricals, even loves the war itself. “We are free here,” he tells Pierre; they are free to express themselves artistically and, indeed, romantically and erotically. The war has given them a chance to be who they actually are. Like life and love, the war itself may be all too brief. It is quite a paradox.

There is much that is valuable and interesting in this movie, although it is a little predictable in what it has to say and how it says it, though Campagne and Macchia give committed performances as secret lovers in the shadow of war.

Coward screened at the Cannes film festival .

Quiz and trivia games
What links Flamingo, Mercury Fountain and Trois Disques? The Saturday quiz
Thomas Eaton
Sat 23 May 2026 08.00 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/may/23/what-links-flamingo-mercury-fountain-and-trois-disques-the-saturday-quiz

The questions

1 What is the most populous city directly on the Mediterranean coast? 2 Which ruler last had a coronation in 1963? 3 What school subject, abbreviated, is plural in Britain but singular in the US? 4 Which married couple have 12 Olympic golds between them? 5 Gatsby, Gowen and Tibbs were which establishment’s long-term residents? 6 Which rodents are known as “nature’s engineers”? 7 Which act’s As Nasty As They Wanna Be was the first album declared legally obscene in the US? 8 What global climate event is ENSO? What links: 9 Avatar (LA); Dangal (Mumbai); Behind the Scenes (Lagos)? 10 Xi Jinping; Primo Levi; Angela Merkel; Margaret Thatcher? 11 Saltburn; The Full Wax; The Good Earth; taekwondoin turned boxer? 12 Acca; in-play; moneyline; prop; spread? 13 Flamingo; Lobster Trap and Fish Tail; Mercury Fountain; Trois Disques? 14 White Dogwood (11); Golden Bell (12); Azalea (13)? 15 Fates of the Guadalupe storm petrel, Socorro dove and Stephens Island wren?

The answers

1 Alexandria, Egypt. 2 Papal (Paul VI). 3 Maths/math. 4 Laura Trott/Kenny and Jason Kenny. 5 Fawlty Towers. 6 Beavers. 7 2 Live Crew. 8 El Niño southern oscillation. 9 Highest grossing films (not inflation adjusted): Hollywood; Bollywood; Nollywood. 10 All have chemistry (or related) degrees. 11 Gemstone first names: directed by Emerald Fennell; starred Ruby Wax; written by Pearl Buck; Jade Jones. 12 Types of sports betting. 13 Artworks by Alexander Calder. 14 Amen Corner (holes 11 to 13) at Augusta National Golf Club. 15 Birds made extinct (or near extinct) by cats.

Immigration and asylum
‘I don’t have a life’: man sent to France in ‘one in, one out’ refugee scheme tells of return to UK
Diane Taylor
Sat 23 May 2026 13.00 CESTLast modified on Sat 23 May 2026 17.30 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/may/23/i-dont-have-a-life-man-sent-to-france-in-one-in-one-out-refugee-scheme-tells-of-return-to-uk

An asylum seeker sent from the UK back to France under the “one in, one out” scheme has covertly returned to Britain and is now in hiding, the Guardian has learned.

In the first interview with a one in, one out returnee living under the radar in the UK, the man told the Guardian his situation was “desperate”.

He said he was aware of at least 18 other one in, one out asylum seekers who had returned in the same way as him and were now also in the UK covertly.

Other one in, one out returnees the Guardian has spoken to in mainland Europe said they were also aware of people returning to Britain in a clandestine way.

The man, who returned to the UK in a lorry, said: “After I was sent back to France by the Home Office , the smugglers caught me and wanted to force me to work with them.

“I don’t want to work with the smugglers and I refused to do so. They beat me so badly that my face is still full of bruises and injuries.

“I managed to escape from them and felt that my only option was to come back to the UK, which is a safer place for me.”

He said that when he was in the “Jungle” – a name used for the refugee camp in northern France where smugglers operate – people were being offered journeys in lorries rather than on boats because of one in, one out.

“The price for a small boat Channel crossing is €1,000 to 2,000, while the price for a lorry to the UK is €4,000 to 5,000.”

He said he believed many asylum seekers had returned to the UK using lorries: “I don’t know exactly how many people sent back to France under one in, one out have returned to UK and are now living underground, but I know of 18.”

The aim of the one in, one out scheme is to deter small boat crossings and stop people-smuggling gangs. Since it was agreed between the UK and France, however, thousands of asylum seekers have continued to cross the Channel and the smugglers have adapted their business model.

They now launch more vessels from Belgium and offer more expensive journeys to the UK in lorries to bypass the police on French beaches.

The number of people crossing the Channel so far this year has come down by about a third compared with the same period last year, but that is thought to be partly due to windy weather in recent months making crossings too dangerous.

As of 28 April, 605 people had been returned to France and 581 people had come to the UK under the one in, one out scheme.

The returnee said he was not working illegally in the UK and rarely left the room in which a friend had offered him temporary shelter.

“I’m in a city outside London and I’m scared to leave this room,” he said. “I’m running from the smugglers, the police and the Home Office. I don’t have a life any more and I don’t have a plan.

“I keep thinking about handing myself into the police, but if I do that and the Home Office sends me back to France again I am sure the smugglers will kill me if they find me, because I ran away from them.

“I’m not a bad person for the UK. I want to live in peace here, work legally and be safe. But people like me who are living underground can be forced into crime to survive. I came here to respect the rules of the country, not to break them, but the immigration rules here may force people like me to break the rules by doing things like working illegally.”

In another case, an asylum seeker who smuggled himself out of the UK in January after living here for more than a decade, because he feared the Home Office was going to detain and deport him, has recently received an email from the Home Office, showing no awareness that he has left the country.

The man, who is now living in Italy, said the Home Office message warned him of enforcement action because he had not stayed in touch, and offered him help with voluntary return to his home country from the UK.

“It is crazy to receive this from the Home Office,” he said. “They do not realise I am no longer in the UK. I would love to return to the UK legally, but there is no way for me to do that at the moment.”

Seema Syeda from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants said: “The government’s border regime is pushing people into unsafe routes and criminalising people. The simple, moral answer is to allow people seeking safety to use the same routes as everyone else: train, ferry, plane.

“Public money would be put to better use improving public services and addressing the cost-of-living crisis, not on an inhuman and degrading border regime aimed at appeasing a small but vocal minority of far-right political groups.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Anyone looking to return to the UK after being removed under the UK-France agreement is wasting their time and money. They will be removed again.

“Under this government, enforcement is up, asylum decision-making is up, removals are up and the backlogs and hotel use are coming down.

“Twenty twenty-five was a record year for tackling organised immigration crime, with disruptions up by more than a third on 2024. Under our returns agreement with France, we have deported more than 600 illegal migrants from British soil.”

Brexit
UK pitched single market for goods with EU in pursuit of deeper trade ties
Jennifer Rankin
Fri 22 May 2026 23.51 CESTFirst published on Fri 22 May 2026 19.00 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/22/uk-pitched-single-market-for-goods-with-eu-as-it-pursues-trade-reintegration

The UK government pitched the creation of a single market for goods with the EU as the cornerstone of an ambitious attempt to reintegrate British trade back into Europe , the Guardian can reveal.

During recent visits to Brussels, the Cabinet Office’s top official on EU relations, Michael Ellam, presented the idea to deepen the UK’s economic relationship with the bloc.

But in a sign of the challenge Keir Starmer’s government faces in securing growth through a closer relationship with Europe, sources said that EU officials rejected the idea – and instead suggested a customs union or economic alignment through the European Economic Area.

Those ideas are impossible under Starmer’s red lines. He said in 2024 the UK would not rejoin the EU, the single market or customs union in his lifetime. The EEA – a single market of 30 mostly EU countries – would also mean accepting free movement of people, another Labour red line.

UK government sources, however, denied that the EU had definitively rejected a single market for goods and said it was among a range of options being discussed before a summit tentatively pencilled in for 13 July.

The UK and EU have not yet agreed a forward-looking agenda to be launched at the summit.

Both sides hope to announce: a veterinary agreement to ease trade in food, drink and animal products; an accord linking emissions trading schemes (ETS); and to break the deadlock over a youth mobility programme – three deals promised at the last EU-UK summit in 2025.

But Labour’s attempts to deepen the economic relationship are hitting the same buffers Theresa May encountered with her Chequers plan when she tried to craft a “common rulebook” for goods , without free movement of people, during the Brexit negotiations in 2018.

EU officials want to avoid a complicated relationship with the UK that could prove an attractive model to anti-EU populists in the 27 member states.

For instance, it is argued that a special deal for the UK could embolden a Eurosceptic candidate in France’s 2027 presidential elections to argue that Paris should pay less attention to single market rules.

Other countries, it is suggested, might question their contributions to the EU budget if the UK is deemed to be getting special treatment.

An EU diplomat said the EU’s approach was based on its interests: “If you start going back on those principles – leading to a non-member being treated better than an actual member – you certainly would trigger an internal debate on the fundamentals of [EU] cooperation.”

The prime minister and chancellor have said they are keen to explore alignment on goods. In her Mais lecture , Rachel Reeves said there was “a strategic imperative for deeper integration between the UK and EU – in our shared need for greater economic resilience”.

UK government sources said the EU had always been nervous about its red lines, but pointed out that Brussels had opened talks on access to the single market for food and agricultural products, and electricity.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “We have previously confirmed that the next UK-EU summit will be held this summer. A final date will be confirmed in due course.

“We are negotiating an ambitious package of measures with the EU ahead of the summit, including a food and drink SPS [sanitary and phytosanitary] deal and emissions trading deal that, alone, are set to add up to £9bn a year to the UK economy by 2040.”

The Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds last month told reporters in Brussels that the UK wanted deals with the EU on steel and electric cars , to avoid British industry being damaged by imminent changes in EU rules in these sectors.

The government is also seeking deeper cooperation in defence: the prime minister announced earlier this month he would like the UK to enter talks to join the EU’s €90bn (£78bn) EU loan for Ukraine, enabling British firms to benefit from defence contracts for Kyiv.

A European Commission spokesperson declined to comment on the UK pitch for a single market in goods, adding that the commission was working to conclude the SPS agreement, ETS linkage and youth experience scheme.

“We also see scope to deepen cooperation where it matters most now: defence industrial cooperation,” the spokesperson added, citing the UK’s wish to start talks on the Ukraine loan.

The spokesperson also referred to continuing discussions between the EU and UK on an innovation fund for hi-tech industries and joint work to curb irregular migration.

Following the rebuff over a single market for goods, EU officials are not expecting the government to do much on defining a future agenda before the Makerfield byelection in June, where Labour faces a tough challenge from the anti-EU Reform party.

The Labour candidate, Andy Burnham, who is expected to stand to replace Starmer as prime minister, has said he will not try to return the UK to the EU and promised “a relentless domestic focus”.

In a speech intended to rescue his premiership earlier this month, Starmer said his government would be defined by “putting Britain at the heart of Europe” . As an example of the stronger relationship he said he wanted, Starmer called for an “ambitious” youth experience scheme that would allow young people to live, work and study in Europe.

But negotiations remain stalled . The EU continues to reject UK proposals for a cap on numbers and a requirement that EU students should pay the much higher rate of tuition fees for foreign students, rather than the domestic rate.

The EU and Mexico signed a long-stalled free trade agreement on Friday as they seek to decrease dependence on the US and partly insulate themselves from Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The accord, on which they reached broad agreement in 2025 but have delayed signing, expands a trade accord from 2000, which covered only industrial goods. The new pact adds services, government procurement, digital trade, investment and farm produce.

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the European Council president, António Costa, signed the deal in Mexico City in their first summit in more than a decade.

“This agreement is a true geopolitical statement,” Costa said on Friday, shortly after signing the agreement. “With the modernised global agreement, we are better prepared to face the challenges of our time.”

Sheinbaum said: “This agreement opens up enormous opportunities for both regions, allowing for expanded trade.” She highlighted the pharmaceutical industry, agriculture, technological development and electric mobility.

Additional reporting by Reuters

Côte d’Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire wary of jihadist threat in north 10 years on from major attack
Eromo Egbejule
Sat 23 May 2026 15.00 CESTLast modified on Sat 23 May 2026 15.01 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/23/cote-divoire-wary-of-jihadist-threat-in-north-10-years-on-from-major-attack

T hese days, when she is not organising the annual International Day of Reggae celebrations in Côte d’Ivoire , Rose Ebirim picks up litter scattered on the beach in the historic port town of Grand Bassam, 25 miles east of Abidjan. Both activities have become a form of therapy since the time she saw someone die.

“13 March 2016 was a Black Sunday for me,” she said.

On that day, she saw three gunmen open fire at close range as they stalked three adjacent hotels on the beach in a 45-minute shooting spree. By the time security agencies shot the attackers dead, they had killed 19 people including nine foreigners, and traumatised the entire nation.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for Côte d’Ivoire arresting its men and handing them over to Mali. It was not until December 2022 that an Abidjan court sentenced 11 men – including seven in absentia – to death for their roles in the attack.

“Our forces have strengthened their operational vigilance to ensure that such tragedies never happen again,” the defence minister, Téné Birahima Ouattara, said at a ceremony this March to commemorate the 10th anniversary of what was the first major terrorist incident on Ivorian soil.

Grand Bassam, a Unesco world heritage site and the country’s first capital, forms part of a relatively peaceful three-hour drive to the border with Ghana lined with resort towns that once again cater to residents and tourists.

But up in the north, on the borders with Mali and Burkina Faso , the threat of jihadism continues to lurk. Both states have expelled French and American troops in recent years after military takeovers, pivoting to stronger partnerships with Russia instead.

Côte d’Ivoire, now a key western ally for counterinsurgency in the region, stands as a buffer state between the Gulf of Guinea and the core of the Sahel. The violence in its neighbours has driven thousands of refugees into the country’s north.

At the time of the 2016 attack, the insurgency had just emerged in Burkina Faso as a spillover from Mali. Terrorism incidents linked to jihadists have almost tripled in coastal west Africa as armed non-state actors proliferate.

Military formations and security personnel in the region have been repeatedly targeted by Al-Qaida-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), which swallowed AQIM. In June 2020, Katiba Macina, another group in the JNIM coalition, killed 14 Ivorian soldiers in the village of Kafolo near the Burkinabé border.

The groups are beginning to employ more sophisticated tactics and are adept at carrying out complex raids in a region that is now “the world’s most active zone of Islamist militancy”, said Héni Nsaibia, senior analyst for west Africa at the conflict monitor Acled. “JNIM’s use of armed drones has rapidly proliferated from fewer than 10 recorded strikes in 2024 to around 80 in 2025,” he added.

Since the Kafolo attack, the number of policemen and gendarmerie recruited in the Ivorian north has more than doubled. Five years ago, an EU-backed counter-terrorism academy opened in Jacqueville, another beach town west of Abidjan , where elite units are being trained to counter the evolving threat.

A spokesperson for the Ivorian government did not respond to questions about the status of talks about a speculated US drone base or American troops sharing an existing airbase with their Ivorian counterparts.

Backed by international development funding, the state has also been at work in remote border villages in the north – building primary schools, deploying mobile health clinics and funding vocational micro-loans for young cashew farmers who might otherwise be tempted by the financial promises of militant groups.

But its dense forests and porous borders are still cause for concern to citizens and residents. The Ivorian government spokesperson did not also respond to questions about regional and international counterinsurgency collaborations.

In Grand Bassam, the three hotels are shuttered. Near them, Ebirim still goes on with awareness about beach pollution and the reggae splash, which is now in its sixth year. “I occupy myself with those activities,” she said. “After 10 years, I’m starting to sort myself out.”

Dating
Blind date: ‘Would we meet again? Stay tuned, divas’

Sat 23 May 2026 07.00 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/may/23/blind-date-colman-ben

Colman on Ben

What were you hoping for? Brown eyes, decent chat, and if all else failed, a good story.

First impressions? Punctual – we both arrived early and in surprisingly similar outfits.

What did you talk about? The best and worst shows we’ve seen. The Australian outback. The seven oak trees of Sevenoaks. Blarney Castle. Standup comedy. Coming out. Celebrities we’ve come across.

Most awkward moment? None at all – easy from the start.

Good table manners? Exceptional. He kept on topping up my glass and was lovely to the nice dog that wandered over to our table.

Best thing about Ben? He was warm, chatty and genuinely interested in what I had to say.

Would you introduce Ben to your friends? I may have to if he ends up coming to my gay run club. We were intrigued to discover that we didn’t have any mutual followers on Instagram.

Describe Ben in three words Easy-going, engaging, mischievous.

What do you think Ben made of you? Open, affable, inquisitive – he said I was quick-witted, which I was happy to hear.

Did you go on somewhere? We stayed for coffee, followed by tea, and ended up lingering. Ben had to go to work, so I travelled with him, which felt like a nice way to round things off.

And … did you kiss? We hugged goodbye on the train as he dashed off to work.

If you could change one thing about the evening what would it be? That Ben didn’t have to go to work – we’d have happily gone for a drink.

Marks out of 10? 9.

Would you meet again? Yes – he suggested we meet up again when I’m back from holidays.

Ben on Colman

What were you hoping for? A decent story for the “waiting for the kettle to boil” chat in the office.

First impressions? Eyelash envy.

What did you talk about? Barry’s Tea. Joanne McNally . How we’d fare during a zombie apocalypse.

Most awkward moment? The intermittently disturbed conversation every time the train we went on afterwards started screaming.

Good table manners? Insert chef’s kiss emoji.

Best thing about Colman? His joie de vivre and that he sees the funny side of everything life throws at all of us.

Would you introduce Colman to your friends? As Olivia Dean once said, he’d “slot right in”.

Describe Colman in three words Vibes all the way (that’s technically four).

What do you think Colman made of you? Probably that I’m pretty convivial and had a sweaty forehead for the first half‑hour.

Did you go on somewhere? Sadly I had to go to work, so no.

And … did you kiss? My mother could be reading this … (we didn’t).

If you could change one thing about the evening what would it be? The fact that the old ball and chain (my work) was beckoning.

Marks out of 10? A solid 9.

Would you meet again? We plan on it – stay tuned, divas.

Colman and Ben ate at the Bull and Last , London NW5. Fancy a blind date? Email blind.date@theguardian.com

Life and style
The office lunch was once a luxury. Now it’s just a pain
Dave Schilling
Sat 23 May 2026 18.00 CESTLast modified on Sat 23 May 2026 18.02 CEST
News
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/23/office-lunch-luxury-pain

I t’s 12.30pm as I write this. My mind is preoccupied with moving my fingers from key to key on my ageing laptop, a task I paused briefly to remove a hair from the screen. Then, I scratched my leg again, which kicked up another hair. I should get back to work, but I can’t concentrate. Why? Because I’m incredibly hungry. It is, after all, lunchtime – the most worthless part of any work day.

It is not that there’s shame in lunch. It’s just that we’re not programmed to eat at a certain time. We’re all different and the whole concept of the office lunch is obsolete nonsense in 2026. Let it go.

Big Lunch (or alternatively, the Lunch Industrial Complex) will tell you otherwise. Lunch is considered a fundamental element of the work day. It is legally mandated here in California, after all. But it is also something people who work in offices look forward to. It’s a moment to step away from the invisible chains that attach us to our computers for an hour or so of normal human behavior. Back when I worked in an office, I would look at my phone and think, if I can just make it to noon, I’ll be OK . Lunch was like a little treat to break up the monotony of corporate life. In some jobs, there was even a free lunch to make the whole thing even more appealing. You can’t leave the office. You don’t even have to leave the office!

I wasn’t around for most of the 20th century, but according to TV shows like Mad Men, the old days of lunch meant meandering to a classy steakhouse and getting drunk off martinis, then plopping on to a chaise longue until the buzz wore off. I would happily endorse that version of lunch, but that’s not what we are being presented with today. The modern office lunch is about convenience and expediency. It’s being hustled through a Sweetgreen to collect your biodegradable bucket of vegetables so you can get back to your desk before your next meeting.

The work day lunch is merely a distraction from your unenviable reality, offering the illusion of choice while reinforcing the plain and simple fact of your need to earn a living performing a series of tasks you hate. Shall I have pizza or Mexican food? No, I mustn’t. I shall have a salad, lest I become a walking man-beast made primarily of partially digested carbohydrates.

Lunch, as a concept, evolved from light refreshments as a leisure activity to a meal equal to the other two, thanks to the rapid rise of industrialization in the 19th century . Lunch became a crucial break from mining coal or assembling car parts. I don’t need nearly as much of a break from designing PowerPoint slides or responding to an email that’s “just following up on my previous request”. Patience, yes. But that’s a different story.

So, we have rendered this middle child of a meal (not as nourishing as breakfast and not as fun as dinner) a culinary pariah tied directly into emotional desire. Lunch is the vestigial tail of the Industrial Revolution. I no longer look forward to noon like an over-caffeinated child anticipating Christmas morning. Maybe I’ll have a small snack – nuts, a protein bar, crudites. I might even read or go for a walk. I recognize my privilege here, that I’m not mandated to be anywhere or do anything I don’t want to do. I can occupy myself with other pursuits that are more nourishing than a buffalo chicken wrap. But the fact remains that my job is still as active as any office worker’s. As in, not at all. I prefer a big, nutritious breakfast or a nice, early dinner.

If I have to meet someone socially or professionally during the day, or if my stomach is screaming at me, I’ll eat. (In my fantasies, my stomach sounds exactly like my mother, a topic to unpack another time.) But without the peer pressure of needing to make use of my hour of mandated leisure time by filling my mouth with overpriced junk (or gossiping with co-workers), I can truly be free. The office lunch is a scam perpetrated by venture capitalists with big dreams of franchising their various “elevated” takeout dining experiences. But automation, economic malaise and the collapse of the urban business district are going to make these places even more useless. Sweetgreen’s business is cratering for these very reasons. As the economy suffers, fast food is growing in popularity again , but fast food is not the answer.

Places like Sweetgreen, Pret a Manger or Cava sustain themselves on the concept of lunch being connected to leisure: with your hour of free time, you should have a meal, even if it’s food you don’t even particularly enjoy consuming. I’m not saying don’t eat lunch; rather that the break you receive from the drudgery of employment should be spent on pleasurable activities. If that means eating, great. But don’t do it just because you think you have to. I say we should normalize taking a nap in the afternoon. Not a Mad Men-style snooze caused by excessive alcohol consumption, but a rest from the all-consuming stimulus of modern life. Get rid of the cubicles and unused couches in the various open-plan tech spaces and put in beds. Give me a teddy bear and one of those caps cartoon characters wore at night .

And now … I’m done typing. I can go eat something. Why am I eating in the afternoon? Am I some kind of hypocrite?

No.

It’s because I didn’t eat breakfast.

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist