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Middle East crisis live: Rubio says US-Iran agreement ‘pretty solid’ as oil price falls amid optimism for deal

Israeli strikes pounded south and east Lebanon on Sunday despite the ceasefire as the leader of Hezbollah expressed hope for an agreement between Iran and the US that also ends hostilities in Lebanon. Lebanon’s health ministry raised the overall toll in the war since 2 March to 3,123 killed. It said two people including a paramedic from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee were killed on Sunday in Israeli raids. A day earlier 11 people including six women and a child were killed in a single strike in the south’s Sir al-Gharbiyeh, the ministry said on Sunday, decrying a “massacre”. Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have continued attacks on each other despite the nominal ceasefire, as mentioned. Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said that “God willing, this [Iran-US] agreement will be finalised ... and accordingly that we too will be among those included in this agreement” on a full cessation of hostilities. After Qassem’s speech, US secretary of state Marco Rubio accused Hezbollah of trying to plunge Lebanon “back into chaos”.

Monday briefing: Why public patience with privatisation has finally run out

Good morning. At the height of the privatisation bonanza of the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher’s government was spending vast sums on TV and billboard adverts urging us to “tell Sid” that he could pick up shares in British Gas. It was the era of the Great Flog-off, and “Sid” was promised a stake in a bright, shareholder-led future. Now, in 2026, the sheen has well and truly come off Sid’s investment. Whether it is the state of our railways, or our rivers in England and Wales, the argument for private ownership of public essentials is looking increasingly threadbare. But, as Dr Simon Griffiths, reader in politics at Goldsmiths, explains for me in today’s newsletter, nationalisation isn’t a “magic wand” either. We spoke about the fiscal trauma of the Liz Truss era, the “pragmatic” case for public ownership of the railways, and why Keir Starmer is so terrified of spooking the markets even when the public is on his side. First though, this morning’s headlines. Five big stories Middle East | Donald Trump defended himself against criticism from fellow Republicans on Sunday as he appeared on the verge of agreeing a deal with Iran to end the war. UK news | Parts of the UK are officially in a heatwave as temperatures soared to within reach of May records. Ukraine | Russia used its powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile for a third time in Ukraine as part of a massive attack on Kyiv and its surrounding region that killed at least four people and injured about 100. UK politics | Andy Burnham has sought advice from Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff, on how to manage a potential transition into Downing Street if he succeeds the prime minister. UK news | Police investigating Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor are looking into an allegation that he behaved inappropriately towards a woman at Royal Ascot, according to a report. In depth: ‘The public mood has shifted, the government’s hand remains hesitant’ The 80s Tory promises of a “shareholding democracy” feels like a lifetime ago. Today, we are less concerned with dividends and more concerned with whether our trains turn up on time, or if our local beach is safe to swim at, as shareholders appear to be raking it in. But while the public mood has shifted, the government’s hand remains hesitant. *** What did Keir Starmer promise on nationalisation? During the 2024 general election campaign, Starmer’s Labour pitched a vision of “national renewal” that included significant moves toward public ownership. The pledges were specific: a state-owned Great British Energy, the renationalisation of the railways as private contracts expired, and a “tougher” stance on the water companies. It was a platform designed to look radical to the base but “fiscally responsible” to the City. But, Simon Griffiths points out, “as [Starmer’s] position became more secure he became increasingly cautious.” That was already a step back from his leadership campaign, and nationalisation was slowly replaced by the “pragmatism” of the doorstep. Optics are another consideration. “Nationalisation implies a left-of-centre government rather than the centrist one Starmer is leading. It also costs an awful lot of money. With the exception of rail – which you can do as the contracts run out, a sort of ‘nationalisation on the cheap’ – nationalising steel or water would be a massive financial commitment when money is very tight.” *** What has Labour done in government? So far, the results are mixed. The railways are the big win for Starmer: as Great Western Railway and others see their contracts lapse, they are being folded back into public hands. Cambridge South station will open shortly, the first station to be badged Great British Railways (GBR), and trains with the new livery have been seen on the network. Derby’s labour market will be the beneficiary of the new GBR headquarters, and Aberdeen is set to benefit from the creation of a Great British Energy HQ there. Elsewhere, the government has been forced into more “activist” roles. The recent Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill – introduced this month as Starmer promised yet another government reset following the disastrous May elections – gives the government the power to bring British Steel into public ownership to prevent a total collapse at Scunthorpe. It’s not an ideological choice; it’s a “break glass in case of emergency” measure. *** How popular is nationalisation? The short answer: very … in certain spheres. “Nationalisation was popular with Labour members in particular, but it isn’t necessarily popular overall,” Griffiths says. Campaign group We Own It argue that “support for public ownership has increased substantially between 2017 and 2024”, gathering together a range of polling stats from YouGov to make their case – for example 66% of people want buses in public ownership, 64% want care homes in public ownership, 64% want energy in public ownership, 55% want to see more services run in-house by councils and 76% want to nationalise the railways. “The demographic of the electorate who associates inefficiency with nationalisation is a shrinking one,” says Griffiths. To a voter in 2026, the private sector hasn’t delivered the efficiency it promised; it has delivered high bills, sewage and a struggle to find an Avanti West Coast train that runs. *** Why has Labour been so cautious? This is where it gets complicated. Nationalising a company like Thames Water would be an “easy win” with voters. In a rare moment where a Guardian journalist found themselves agreeing with Jacob Rees-Mogg, I found myself nodding along when he argued for allowing Thames Water to simply go bust, letting administrators take over while shareholders lose their equity. But the government is spooked, and the culprit is Liz Truss. The memory of the 2022 mini-budget – and the market’s violent reaction to it – is baked into the Labour psyche. “It demonstrated that there were limits to what you could do without the market getting involved and pushing up interest rates,” Griffiths says. Even if, as I suspect, all money is somewhat fictional, the reaction of the bond markets is terrifyingly real. Labour fears that “seizing” assets or ignoring shareholders would trigger a crisis of market confidence. They are governed by a fear of the markets that, as Griffiths says, exists “perhaps for very good reason.” *** Would an alternative prime minister make a difference? Andy Burnham is all but certain to join the challenge for the Labour leadership, and therefore Number 10, should he win the Makerfield byelection next month. He has suggested that a programme of mass renationalisation would be at the centre of his policy platform. “We need a different path completely. Put more things back under stronger public control: energy, housing, water, transport,” Burnham said earlier this month. With deindustrialisation, privatisation and deregulation, the policy decisions of the 80s have left services that, he said, “just work for the private shareholders and not for the paying public.” Whether the supposed “King in the North” trumpeting his achievements in uniting Manchester’s public transport into the Bee Network, can actually persuade the bond markets remains the £40bn question. Burnham’s pitch is a direct challenge to the “ultra-caution” that has defined the last two years of Labour in government. Thames Water has already said Burnham even floating the idea of nationalisation is damaging its prospects for recovery. For decades, the ghost of the 1970s was used to scare us away from public ownership. But as sewage flows and bills rise, it seems more and more voters are deciding that the only thing scarier than the past is more of the same. What else we’ve been reading Russia-watchers Pjotr Sauer and Shaun Walker have a deeply reported piece speaking to Kremlin insiders, intelligence officials and business leaders on the wavering faith in the “increasingly isolated” Vladimir Putin. Charlie Lindlar, newsletters team Hannah Murray was in Skins and Game of Thrones, but the main focus of this interview by Charlotte Edwardes is her recovery after being drawn into a wellness cult. Martin This week’s advice column from Annalisa Barbieri is a belter: what do you do if you suspect your colleague is lying about having cancer? Charlie Photographer Taryn Segal spent an evening in Arkansas at the somewhat bewildering – to British eyes – event of mass auditions to become one of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. Martin Sport dorks and public transport dorks alike will love Benton Graham’s report on how Amtrak is preparing for a boom in ridership from the hordes of fans from public transit-adoring nations during this summer’s World Cup. Charlie Sport Football | Arsenal celebrated being Premier League champions for the first time since 2004 by recording a comfortable victory at Selhurst Park, where they beat Crystal Palace 2-1. Tennis | Emma Raducanu lost 6-0, 7-6 (4) against Argentina’s Solana Sierra but Fran Jones won at a slam for the first time, beating Beatriz Haddad Maia in three sets. Formula One | Kimi Antonelli won the F1 Canadian Grand Prix, his fourth consecutive win for Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen completing the podium. The front pages “US close to peace deal with Iran as Trump faces fury from own party”, is the Guardian’s splash today. The FT leads with “Trump warns US will not rush into peace deal with Iran as talks drag on”, while the Telegraph’s headline is “Iran to give up uranium for peace, says US”. The i Paper’s top story is “‘Embarrassing’ texts to expose ministers’ cosy relationships with Mandelson”. The Times says “Money for parents spur young into work”. The Daily Mail runs with “Soft justice makes police ‘caretakers for criminals’”, and the Express writes “Criminals are taking over our high streets”. Lastly, the Mirror says “Russian spies … for real, Nige?” Today in Focus The death penalty returns to Israel The Guardian’s senior Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, discusses a pair of laws recently passed by the Israeli parliament to bring back the death penalty – seemingly only for Palestinians. Cartoon of the day | Tom Gauld The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad The River Wye’s entire catchment has been granted intrinsic rights in a new charter – the first full river‑catchment charter in the UK. Adopted by Herefordshire and Powys councils and expected soon in Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire, it recognises the Wye’s rights to flow, biodiversity, freedom from pollution, regeneration, and representation. The move aligns with the global rights of nature movement, echoing similar protections in New Zealand, Ecuador and Canada. The Wye has suffered severe ecological decline, largely blamed on nutrient pollution from intensive poultry farming and sewage. More than 4,500 residents have joined a high court claim against Avara Foods and Dŵr Cymru, who deny responsibility. Jackie Charlton, the county council’s cabinet member for a greener Powys, said: “This is about working together with partners and communities to restore the river and safeguard it for generations to come.” Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply

Sweden’s PM puts IVF at centre of re-election bid amid record low birthrate

Sweden’s prime minister has promised to put IVF at the heart of his re-election campaign as he tries to win over female voters amid the country’s record low birthrate. Ulf Kristersson’s government recently increased the number of state-funded IVF attempts granted to aspiring first-time parents from three to six. Now he has said that if his party, the centre-right Moderates – whose minority-run coalition depends on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats – hold on to power in September’s general election, they will also fund IVF for additional children. It comes after official statistics showed this year that, despite often being cited as one of the best countries in the world to have children, Sweden’s fertility rate sank to 1.42 last year, the lowest since 1749 when records started. “It is a level we have never had in Sweden,” Kristersson, who has three grownup children, said recently, speaking on his phone-in podcast. “And that got me thinking. It could be because lots of people don’t want to have children, but I am quite sure that it is also because quite a lot of people never get those children that they really would like to have.” While under the new law those trying to have their first child are eligible for six rounds of free IVF, additional children are not funded, with a single attempt costing about 50,000 kronor (about £3,975). Promising to also fund attempts for those trying to have multiple children as an election promise, he said: “There is nothing wrong with having one child, but a lot of people who have one child also want to have a sibling as well.” While he said he was “definitely not getting involved in how many children each family should have”, adding that it is “a really private thing”, the debate has prompted some commentators to accuse politicians of trying to “enter the bedroom”. But it is an issue the government is taking very seriously. Following in the footsteps of neighbouring Norway, it has commissioned a study into how to reverse the trend, warning that if it continues at the current rate each generation will be about a third smaller than that of their parents. The health minister, Elisabet Lann of the Christian Democrats, which is also in favour of extending IVF to siblings, said: “We want to give more people the possibility to fulfil their family dreams and wishes to become parents. One in six couples in Sweden are involuntarily child-free. It affects their quality of life, social life, mental health and their whole existence is characterised by their longing to start a family.” Opposition party the Social Democrats, Sweden’s largest party, said more help is needed for those who want to have children, but warned against IVF for siblings being used as “short term political moves” or of offering “false hope”. Fredrik Lundh Sammeli, the Social Democrats’ social political spokesperson, said: “The issue of demographics and sinking birthrate is an important issue for politics. We need to build a society where people feel optimistic and belief in the future and where the public sector also removes obstacles for people who want to have children.” But some experts are not convinced that this IVF strategy will have the desired effect to the population or to voter intention. Martin Kolk, a sociologist and lecturer at Stockholm University, said that in Sweden – which has generous parental leave and where childcare is heavily subsidised – the reason for people having fewer children is more likely to be cultural change. Becoming a parent, he said, is seen by some to be “competing with other lifestyles”. He said: “That other aspects of life, so career, hobbies, friends, self-fulfilment, play a little bigger role in life, and then perhaps family building and childbirth plays a little smaller role.” Helena Olofsdotter Stensöta, a political science professor at the University of Gothenburg, said that, while their election pledge sends a “symbolic sign that the Moderates are thinking about women”, it is unlikely to have much material impact on the relatively well-off groups that the party tends to appeal to. “Moderate voters are mostly men. If only women had voted in the last election, we would have a red [Social Democrat-led] government.” What will be more important, she said, is whether coalition partners the Liberals get enough votes to get above the 4% threshold needed to remain in parliament. And, so far, Moderate and Sweden Democrat voters “have not shown any big interest in saving the Liberals, which is also rooted in them competing between themselves for the position of prime minister”.

‘Massive’ child abuse scandal in France as school staff investigated for violence and sexual assault

France is facing a child abuse scandal as ‘monitors’ at dozens of state nursery and primary schools are investigated for violence, sexual assault and rape. Paris police are examining more than 100 allegations of mistreatment, physical violence and rape of children as young as three by school monitors during lunch breaks, nap times and after-school activities, prosecutors have confirmed. “We have investigations under way in 84 preschools, about 20 primary schools and about 10 daycare centres,” said Paris’s top prosecutor, Laure Beccuau. Lawyers said the investigations included the alleged rape of children as young as three and four years old. Parents’ groups said they had fought for years for allegations to be taken seriously. They said failures in the recruitment process and checking of school monitors had allowed abuse to continue. “It’s a massive scandal,” said Florian Lastelle, a lawyer for three Paris families who have filed police complaints over the alleged abuse of their children. “The state school system is a source of pride in this country, but unfortunately in France today it’s not possible to say that the public service guarantees children’s safety.” School monitors are adults who are in charge of children during lunch, breaktime, naps and after-school activities, sometimes spending more time with children than teachers. They are not employed directly by schools or the education ministry, but are instead recruited by city hall or local authorities – often without training or professional diplomas and increasingly on a casual basis, with many paid by the hour. Nursery school is mandatory in France from the age of three, and school monitors are a key daily presence for children aged from three to 11. Accusations against school monitors reported by parents across France include children being screamed at, pushed, having their hair pulled, being denied food, forced to eat until they vomited and being sexually assaulted or raped. Lawyer Louis Cailliez, who represents two Paris families, filed police complaints in February over the alleged rapes of their nursery schoolchildren in 2025. In one case, a three-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a school monitor at a school in the west of Paris. In another instance, a three-year-old boy was allegedly raped by the same monitor who had been moved to a different school after complaints he had been physically violent towards children. Cailliez said: “One morning, the three-year-old boy became so distressed in front of the school gates, refusing to go in, that he fell into a kind of trance and his mother was in tears. The headteacher had to come out to force the child into school, and at the time neither the boy’s mother nor the headteacher knew why.” He said the children were suffering physically and psychologically from the repercussions of the alleged abuse. He said: “It is daily torture for the parents who want the investigation to move forward to establish the scale of the offences.” Cailliez said the school monitor sector in France was a “disaster” and “a national catastrophe”. The trial begins in Paris next week of a school monitor accused of the sexual abuse of five children aged between three and five, at a nursery school in the 11th arrondissement. A verdict is expected next month in another case of a 47-year-old school monitor accused of sexually abusing nine 10-year-old girls in Paris. Emmanuel Grégoire, the new Socialist mayor of Paris, has launched a €20m (£17.3m) plan to tackle what he called “major dysfunction” in the city’s school monitor system. “If there was a collective mistake, it was to treat these incidents as isolated when in fact they point to a systemic risk, and perhaps even a systemic code of silence,” Grégoire told Le Monde last month. Between January and April, Paris city hall suspended 78 school monitors, including 31 suspected of sexual abuse. Grégoire, who disclosed that he was sexually abused as a child by a school monitor, has set up a citizens’ assembly to discuss the role of school monitors, which will report back in June. The parents’ collective, SOS Périscolaire, has been at the forefront of gathering testimony and campaigning for justice for the past five years, amid a struggle to make parents’ voices heard. One of its founders, Anne, who did not want her full name published, said the abuse scandal was nationwide. “This is clearly systemic and across the whole of France. There is dysfunction not just at a city level, but we’re beginning to say there is also dysfunction by the state.” She said it was a good sign that prosecutors had opened investigations into school monitors: “At last parents and children’s accounts are being taken seriously.” She said parents were battling for basic steps to be taken, such as being given a list of names and photographs of the school monitors who were working with children’s classes. These were still not systematically provided. A spokesperson for a different parents’ group, #MeTooEcole, set up in the east of Paris, said: “French society is opening its eyes to the fact that school is not the sanctuary we had thought. When you drop a child at school in the morning, that child is absolutely not protected against administrative dysfunction and paedophile behaviour. Children are being confronted with all forms of violence: from verbal and physical violence to sexual assault. It’s horrifying and it is creating fear. Parents are outraged.” • Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

‘She does not back down’: the couple seeking to legalise same-sex marriage in Botswana

Bonolo Selelo was at Botswana’s national museum for a Gaborone Pride event when she spotted Tsholofelo Kumile and was struck by her good looks. The two initiated a conversation and when Kumile expressed anxiety about what a tarot reading at the event might hold, Selelo thought nothing of offering her a hug. The reading turned out positive but Kumile claimed her hug anyway and they talked for hours. That was 1 October 2023. Two months later, they moved in together. Then, on a hike during the Easter holidays in 2024, Selelo proposed to Kumile. A year later, they visited a local government office to register their intent to marry and were told it wasn’t legal. “It was kind of expected. But I don’t think they expected the response,” Kumile said. She looked affectionately at Selelo. “She does not back down.” The couple launched a court case, claiming the right to marry. Hearings are scheduled for 14 and 15 July. If they succeed, Botswana would become the second African country to legalise same-sex marriage, after South Africa in 2006. However, the case is facing fierce opposition from the government and traditional and church groups. “We did have a frank discussion about it,” said Selelo, sitting next to her fiancee in the office of her law firm, which Kumile also works for. “I said … I want us to get married, because I love you, but there’s also the practical part.” As a lawyer, Selelo worried what would happen to Kumile if she died. “I feel that I would be able to withstand a lot of legal pressure, but I wouldn’t want her to be harassed if I am no longer there to offer that protection. And, for me, marriage would give her that added protection that no other institution would be able to give her.” Botswana decriminalised same-sex relations in 2019 when the high court ruled that a British colonial-era ban was unconstitutional. The decision was upheld on appeal in 2021. The government is now defending its ban on same-sex marriage. A spokesperson for Botswana’s Attorney General said: “The Attorney General’s position... is that the Marriage Act stipulates that a valid marriage is one between a bride and a bridegroom and or a husband and wife, connoting a bond between a man and woman in the conventional sense. The Marriage Act does not provide for same sex marriages.” Selelo and Kumile argued that another law, the Interpretation Act, supports their case, due to the law stating: “In an enactment words importing the male sex include the female sex and words importing the female sex include males.” Much of southern Africa and the continent’s island states are relatively liberal compared with the rest of Africa, where 32 of 54 countries criminalise consensual same-sex intimacy. Since 2012, Lesotho, Mozambique, Seychelles, Angola, Mauritius and Namibia have legalised same-sex relations. However, some countries on the continent have passed harsher laws amid a global backlash against LGBTQ+ rights. Uganda in 2023 and Senegal this year increased the prison times for consensual gay sex and both criminalised the “promotion” of homosexuality. Opinions in Botswana about LGBTQ+ people have become more negative since the 2019 decriminalisation ruling. In a 2021 survey conducted by the pan-African survey organisation Afrobarometer, half of Botswanans said they either would like or would not care about having gay people as neighbours, the joint fifth highest out of 34 countries surveyed. Three years later, the figure had fallen to 41%. Legabibo, an LGBTQ+ rights campaign group, is running a campaign called “Lorato Ke Lorato” (Love Is Love) to try to change hearts and minds. “We want to show ourselves as ordinary citizens … We’re not asking for any special rights,” said Matlhongonolo Samsam, who is leading the campaign. On the other side is the Dingwetsi Association, a traditional women’s group that promotes heterosexual marriage and is seeking to join the case. Grace Silver founded it in 2015, concerned at rates of divorce and family breakups. She said it now had about 2,000 members paying 20 pula (£1.10) a month. Members often wear traditional headwraps and blue, white and black tartan blankets that signify they are married women. Several showed up wearing the attire to a hearing in March for Selelo and Kumile’s case. “This is our culture. We need to protect it,” Silver said. Accompanying Silver was Moshe Morebodi, of the Botswana House of Prayer and Transformation. “Same-sex human rights are a subset of a satanic sect,” he said. About 80% of Botswana’s population is Christian, according to the World Religion Database. Tshepo Ricki Kgositau runs the Ricki Kgositau Foundation to support transgender Botswanans and is also a member of an LGBTQ+ task team within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. She said: “It has been really disappointing to see the very conservative and narrow interpretation by some conservative faith community members … If you do not know love, you cannot claim to know God.” The lack of same-sex marriage in Botswana caused Kgositau her own difficulties. In 2017, she married her husband in South Africa. He was meant to come to Botswana for their traditional wedding but because she had not yet legally changed her gender (which requires a court ruling), he was barred from entering the country. They also lost the money they had spent planning the celebrations. “It was absolutely devastating,” she said. For Brendon Tereki and his partner, Tashatha, the legal case brings hope. After connecting on Facebook two years ago, their first meeting at a popular bar in Gaborone was also Tereki’s first date with a man in public. By the end of the night, Tashatha had made him feel comfortable enough that they were able to kiss. “He has made me open up more than I ever thought,” Tereki said. “I really want to get married.”

Oil prices fall to two-week lows – as it happened

We’re wrapping up this live coverage now but you can read more in our latest full report as the US and Iran appear to inch closer to peace deal. Here’s a recap of the day’s major news – thanks for joining us. Donald Trump said on Sunday he had told his representatives “not to rush into” any deal with Iran, as his administration played down hopes of an imminent breakthrough in the three-month-old war which had been raised a day earlier. The US blockade on Iranian ships in the strait of Hormuz would “remain in full force” until an agreement was signed, the US president said on social media. “Both sides must take their time and get it right.” Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said Washington was still obstructing parts of a potential deal, including Tehran’s demand for the release of tens of billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenues frozen in foreign banks. Trump had said on Saturday that Washington and Iran had “largely negotiated” a memorandum of understanding on a peace deal that would reopen the Hormuz strait, and that final details “will be announced shortly”. The following day Trump defended himself against criticism from fellow Republicans over the proposed agreement, which party hawks called a disaster, and claimed his nuclear deal with Tehran would be “the exact opposite” of the one agreed by Barack Obama, which Trump pulled out of in 2018. “If I make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper one … I don’t make bad deals!” A senior Trump administration official told reporters an agreement would not be signed on Sunday, saying the Iranian system did not move fast enough. But, speaking anonymously, he said Iran had agreed “in principle” to open the strait of Hormuz in exchange for the US lifting its naval blockade, and to dispose of Tehran’s highly enriched uranium. There was no immediate confirmation from Iran. Iranian sources told Reuters that in future stages of talks “feasible formulas” could be found to resolve the uranium dispute. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and Trump had agreed that “any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear threat entirely”. He also said Trump reaffirmed his support for Israel’s right “to defend itself against threats on all fronts, including in Lebanon”. Israeli strikes pounded south and east Lebanon on Sunday despite their ceasefire as Hezbollah’s chief expressed hope for an Iran-US agreement that ends the Iran war and includes Lebanon. Lebanon’s health ministry said two people including a paramedic from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee were killed on Sunday in Israeli raids, raising the war’s overall toll since 2 March to 3,123 killed. Oil prices fell to two-week lows and stocks lifted amid optimism for an Iran deal. Brent crude futures dropped more than 4% to $98.83 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate also fell over 4% to $92.03 a barrel, while Nasdaq futures were up 1.2% and Japan’s Nikkei jumped 3%. With news agencies

K-pop androids and automated artists: welcome to South Korea’s strange and ambitious robot theme park

Four child-sized humanoid robots take the stage at an arena in eastern Seoul, and as the opening beats of a song by K-pop star G-Dragon begin, they start to dance. Arms swinging, legs stepping in sync, heads bobbing, wigs and baggy clothes swishing, until – mid-performance – one of them seemingly malfunctions and has to be removed from the stage. Welcome to Galaxy Robot Park, a new 16,500 square metre facility in Gangdong district that its creators claim is the world’s first robot theme park. It represents an ambitious – some might say audacious – vision of a future in which robots don’t just assist humans but entertain them, perform concerts across continents simultaneously, and even walk runways. Behind the project is Galaxy Corporation, an entertainment company that positions itself as an “enter-tech” firm, blending entertainment with technology. It manages megastar G-Dragon, as well as Taemin from the group Shinee and actor Song Kang-ho, known to western audiences for his role as the father in Parasite. K-pop has long served as a testing ground for experimental tech, from SM Entertainment’s Aespa, which pairs real members with virtual avatars, to fully virtual boybands like Plave. At the opening show, the robots execute their moves with surprising fluidity across a repertoire of different songs, including G-Dragon’s Home Sweet Home and Taemin’s Advice and Idea. “We’re planning three to six K-pop concerts daily, over 1,000 shows annually,” Choi Yong-ho, Galaxy’s chief executive and self-styled “chief happiness officer”, tells reporters. “By the end of this year, We’re planning to take them on a world tour.” Cha Woo-jin, a music critic and industry analyst, is wary of whether audiences will embrace the shows around the world, but sees the ambitious plan as both a cultural and economic experiment. “If you put a robot in an Elvis museum, fans would be repulsed,” he says. “But K-pop is a visual packaging model, so robots feel less alien.” A robot tour, he says, would be like a cover dance crew – the groups that replicate routines of famous K-pop performers – but without hotel bills or per diems. Beyond the arena, the park offers various robot experiences. Robot valets welcomed guests at the door. Others, including robotic dogs, roam around the outdoor areas playing with visitors. A robotic arm with a face attachment draws my portrait, chatting with me while it works. The result is highly accurate, but I feel it make me looks older than I am. Up the hill, there’s also a boxing ring where visitors can control humanoid fighters through a mirroring system, watching their movements replicated in real time as the machines battle each other. At one point a punch makes a glove fly off into the crowd. One robot falls off the stage, but recuperates and gets back into action. Galaxy also plans to stage what it calls the world’s first robot fashion show in late May, followed by the launch of a robot fashion label. Choi offers few details about how exactly robots will model clothing or what a robot fashion brand might entail. The broader vision involves deploying K-pop performing robots to places where human stars cannot easily travel, including war zones. Once choreography is programmed into one robot, all robots worldwide can instantly learn and perform it, enabling concurrent shows across multiple countries. The real question for music critic Cha, is whether robots can replicate K-pop’s essential ingredient: emotional connection with fans. “That will determine if this is a genuine cultural shift or just a novelty show.”

GPS jammed on RAF jet carrying UK defence secretary close to Russian border

An RAF jet carrying the defence secretary, John Healey, had its signal jammed for the entire three-hour flight after it flew near the Russian border. Healey had been visiting British soldiers in Estonia and was travelling back to the UK when the electronic attack happened, the Times reported. It is thought Russia was behind the incident on Thursday. Smartphones and laptops were unable to connect to the internet and pilots had to use a different navigation system as the plane’s GPS was disabled. It is unclear if Healey was deliberately targeted but the flight path was visible on aircraft tracking websites. Passengers, who included photographers and a reporter, were told the Dassault Falcon 900LX aircraft could still operate safely. Healey had met the Estonian minister of defence, Hanno Pevkur, in Tallinn to discuss long-term bilateral defence cooperation and its strategic expansion. On Wednesday the Ministry of Defence (MoD) revealed two Russian jets had “repeatedly and dangerously” intercepted an RAF spy plane above the Black Sea last month. A Russian Su-35 jet flew so close to the British reconnaissance aircraft that it triggered its emergency systems, including disabling the autopilot. A Russian Su-27 also flew six metres from the unarmed Rivet Joint’s nose and carried out six passes in front. The MoD said it was the most dangerous Russian action against a British Rivet Joint aircraft since a plane fired a missile over the Black Sea in 2022. A Rivet Joint is a spy plane, with a crew of up to 30, capable of a wide range of electronic surveillance at a ranges of about 150 miles, and would have been monitoring Russian activity as part of a Nato patrol. In March 2024, an RAF plane carrying the then-defence secretary Grant Shapps had its GPS signal jammed while flying near Russian territory. The satellite signal was interfered with for about 30 minutes while the flight was heading back to the UK from Poland. Last month, Healey revealed the UK had tracked three Russian submarines that loitered over critical undersea infrastructure in the North Atlantic for a month before they sailed away. “I would like to pay tribute to the outstanding professionalism and bravery of the RAF crew who continued with their mission despite these dangerous actions,” he said. “Let me be very clear: this incident will not deter the UK’s commitment to defend Nato, our allies and our interests from Russian aggression.”