Read the daily news to learn English

Monday briefing: Will the international effort to stop the further spread of hantavirus be successful?

Good morning. This is Michael Segalov – as of today, I’ll be popping up into your inboxes from time to time. There’ll be no shortage of infighting, intrigue and briefing in Westminster this week, as the dust settles on the government’s disastrous election results. We’ll be bringing you the latest on backbench MP Catherine West’s (likely futile) attempt to topple Keir Starmer, alongside the rest of the fallout. Today, though, we kick off with something else … the race to contain a rare, deadly virus. On 2 May, the outbreak of a lethal hantavirus strain onboard a luxury cruise liner was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). As of this morning, nine probable cases have been identified, with three fatalities. It has left experts scrambling to conduct a track-and-trace exercise of global proportions. While 149 passengers and crew remained on the ship once the virus had been identified, at least 29 passengers of 12 nationalities had already disembarked. Seven of them were British. For today’s First Edition, I spoke to infectious diseases epidemiologist Dr Charlotte Hammer, and our reporter Robyn Vinter who is on the ground in Tenerife where the ship has been evacuated. But first, the headlines. Five big stories UK politics | Keir Starmer faces a fight for his political life in the next 24 hours as potential Labour leadership rivals from Wes Streeting to Angela Rayner position themselves for a contest. Iran conflict | Donald Trump has rejected an Iranian response to a US peace proposal as “totally unacceptable”, on a day the ceasefire showed signs of fraying as drone strikes were reported around the region and Benjamin Netanyahu warned the war was “not over”. UK news | Labour has accused Nigel Farage of attempting to dodge scrutiny as the Reform leader continued to face questions over the £5m gift he received from a crypto billionaire shortly before the last general election. Business | The full nationalisation of British Steel is expected to be announced in the king’s speech this week, a year after the government took over the daily running of the loss-making business from its Chinese owner. Health news | Experts have called for a four-day week in the UK as research suggests those who work longer hours are more likely to be obese. In depth: ‘You follow and monitor anyone who may have been exposed to the virus’ Departing Argentina on 1 April, passengers onboard the MV Hondius embarked on an Atlantic adventure to Cape Verde, via some of the world’s most remote locations. A dream holiday turned into the stuff of nightmares when a deadly pathogen found its way on to the ship. Within days, symptoms were showing: fever and gastrointestinal issues, pneumonia and breathing difficulties. On 11 April, a 70-year-old Dutch man died onboard, while his 69-year-old wife died two weeks later in Johannesburg, having travelled to South Africa. A third passenger, a German woman, died on 2 May. Currently, there are at least a further six probable or confirmed cases from this outbreak, including the ship’s doctor and one of its guides. Three of those patients are British. When the ship arrived in Cape Verde, authorities refused to let it dock. On 6 May, it headed to the Canary Islands. Anchored beyond the shores of Tenerife, the first tranche of passengers disembarked yesterday, under tightly controlled conditions. The remaining 22 British nationals onboard (19 passengers, three crew) were taken to shore, with 20 of them transferred to a Merseyside hospital to isolate. *** What is hantavirus? Dr Charlotte Hammer leads an infectious disease research team at Cambridge University, and previously worked on the frontline in public health, investigating outbreaks just like this one. “All the evidence suggests this is a known strain of hantavirus,” says Hammer, “which makes the mission to contain it far easier”. First identified in the mid-twentieth century, hantaviruses are zoonotic – primarily infecting rodents and occasionally transmitting to humans. The specific strain onboard is known as the Andes hantavirus. It can cause a severe and often fatal lung disease called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. “It’s transmitted from specific species of rodent,” says Hammer, “and we already have evidence of it transmitting from human to human. But being on a boat with 20 plus nationalities represented makes it a challenge in both epidemiology and international coordination.” *** The disease detectives Once the WHO identified and confirmed the outbreak, Hammer says, attention turned to the patients’ stories. “Hypotheses developed to establish how transmission happened,” says Hammer. “Systematically, you eliminate all incorrect options. Simultaneously, we are studying published reports and studies on this strain of virus. Past and present evidence come together to form a coherent picture. It’s why we call these experts ‘disease detectives’.” As the ship is flagged to the Netherlands, Dutch authorities were involved early. “En route to the Canary islands, Spanish authorities also stepped in. The WHO leads the international coordination, with all countries affected or with nationals onboard contributing. There’ll be a rolling team working 24/7.” Currently, says Hammer, the most likely scenario “is that one or two people caught the virus while travelling in South America prior to embarking, and they brought it on to the ship, with limited person-to-person transmission on the ship itself”. *** Anatomy of an outbreak From that point on, containment is key. “You follow and monitor anyone who may have been exposed to the virus,” says Hammer. “As a precautionary measure, that includes everyone who embarked on the cruise.” While utterly miserable for the passengers themselves, the outbreak occurring onboard a cruise ship is a massive benefit for public health. “Cabins are tight and small with limited air circulation,” says Hammer. “Passengers remain in close, sustained contact for extended periods of time.” But, once the outbreak was identified, keeping the remaining passengers onboard until their tightly choreographed departure was organised was relatively straightforward. Slightly trickier was the task of tracking down the 29 passengers who disembarked early. “But thanks to the isolated nature of the locations where they departed the ship,” Hammer says, “all will have had some sort of traceable ticket. Plus, they have a rather pressing motivation to identify themselves to the authorities – it’s a scary disease. And given how much attention this story has received globally, the chances they’ll be unaware are low.” *** Crisis Averted In short, says Hammer, there’s little risk posed to the public. “This type of virus requires significant close contact for human-to-human transmission to occur.” And while there is a short, initial period of milder symptoms, the onset of serious illness is rapid. “If this was a virus like Covid – with relatively easy pre-symptomatic transmission in transient contexts – it would be close to impossible to control by this point.” Overnight, two more passengers displayed symptoms of the virus and another tested positive. One French national showed symptoms while on a chartered flight to Paris, leading all five nationals onboard to be placed in “strict isolation”. US authorities said that of the 17 Americans returning home, one has tested positive but does not have symptoms, while another has mild symptoms. Both were “travelling in the plane’s biocontainment units out of an abundance of caution,” the US Department of Health and Human Services said. Robyn Vinter has been on the ground in Tenerife all weekend. “Throughout Sunday, dozens of people were brought to shore in blue plastic ponchos and face coverings,” Robyn tells me. “From where I was standing, it was hard to gauge their expressions. But their body language portrayed exhausted, even bewildered, people. By early evening, flights had taken off bound for several countries, including the UK. Today, the process will happen all over again for passengers from the US and Australia, who will be the last passengers to leave. After that, the seas are due to get too rough, and the ship will return to the Netherlands.” The experts stress there is no need to panic about this specific outbreak. This virus has been known for decades. And while rare, it is not uncommon. “Argentina sees 50-100 cases annually,” says Hammer, “even if we aren’t used to dealing with hantaviruses of this type in Europe. I would be surprised if any of this was a massive challenge for the authorities beyond the practical logistics.” The WHO has repeatedly made clear this is not the start of a pandemic, with risks to public health “absolutely low”. Still, this scare should offer a moment for reflection. “Another pandemic is certainly likely,” says Hammer, “even if the timescale remains unknown.” Much like this incident, she believes “it will probably originate from a zoonotic virus through human-to-animal contact, and through some sort of major transport hub.” A global, coordinated response will prove vital. Meanwhile, the United States has slashed funding for infectious disease research under Trump, and quit the WHO. Last year, Argentina followed suit. This relatively contained drama feels like a rather ominous warning. Your election questions, answered From 10am today, Guardian political journalists Jessica Elgot and Peter Walker will be answering your questions about the fallout from last week’s elections in an AMA over on Reddit’s r/ukpolitics forum. It’s not too late to get your questions in by heading here. (And if you have any questions you’d like First Edition to dig into in more detail hit reply on this email, or contact us on First.Edition@theguardian.com). What else we’ve been reading If you share your birthday with another significant date – Christmas Day, Valentine’s, St Patrick’s day – celebrating a half birthday might be just the ticket. What has led to the rise of this new special event? Katy Vans, newsletters team Spend your morning salivating over this colossal collection of sandwich-based stories (egg and cress, anyone?). Michael As someone trying to learn Welsh, a language legislated against for centuries before being added to the school curriculum in the 1990s, I found this piece by Sophie Smith Galer on what it means to lose a language, a must-read. Katy In schools and universities across the globe, educators are confronting the presence of AI. This account from one professor dealing with students producing “words without work” is fascinating. Michael It is the 25th anniversary of BalletBoyz, formed the same year as smash hit film Billy Elliot brought male dancing to the masses. Despite this there is still some stigma around men dancing on stage with other men. Katy Sport Football | Arsenal kept control of the title race with a 1-0 win but West Ham had an added-time equaliser ruled out for a foul on David Raya amid penalty area wrestling. Football | Goals from Marcus Rashford and Ferran Torres fired Barcelona to the La Liga title with their 2-0 victory at home to Real Madrid in the clásico. Women’s cricket | England’s biggest summer got off to an underwhelming start at Chester-le-Street, as they limped to a one-wicket win in the first one-day international against New Zealand. The front pages “Labour leadership rivals circle as Starmer tries to cling to power”, is the Guardian’s splash today. The Times goes with “PM fights to save his skin after Rayner ultimatum”, and the FT says “Starmer fights for his survival as threat of leadership challenge mounts”. The Telegraph has “Streeting: I’m ready to be PM”. The i Paper leads with “Today or never to save your job, Labour MPs tells Starmer”, the Mail says “Streeting and Rayner ready for Starmer’s fall” and the Mirror’s headline on the same topic is “Change … before it’s too late”. “Fight or go, challenger tells Starmer”, is the Metro’s front page. The Express leads with “How dare he, PM plots to rip up Brexit.” The Sun deviates from politics with: “Strictly: it’s Emma” Today in Focus The mysterious death of the teenager who posed as a Russian billionaire The journalist Patrick Radden Keefe tells Nosheen Iqbal how he tried to unravel the double life and tragic death of 19-year-old Zac Brettler – and what it tells us about London’s dark underbelly. Cartoon of the day | Tom Gauld The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad Tilton, a small village in Leicestershire, launched a community electric car‑sharing scheme after residents struggled with transport access. The club offers two shared EVs and volunteer drivers, improving mobility for locals. Miriam Stoate, a local regenerative farmer, worked with other volunteers and community energy organisation Green Fox to set up this new scheme. In the UK transport is the largest source of carbon emissions, and despite rising EV sales, experts warn progress is too slow. Even if the government invests heavily in rail and buses, they won’t meet climate goals without reducing overall car use. Shared EV fleets and community‑led solutions are essential to cutting emissions and congestion. Says Stoate: “We now have a viable transport option that everyone can use without buying more and more cars – and it has helped to build our community, too.” 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

‘It’s like we went bankrupt overnight’: poorest Somalis suffer as piles of worthless shillings mount up

As US troops withdrew from Somalia in the spring of 1994, a teenaged Muse Omar Jama began working as an exchange trader in Mogadishu’s Bakara market. More than three decades later, he still does the same job, but wonders for how much longer. Jama, 49, sits in a plastic chair in the one-room office he shares with other traders. The auto-rickshaws speed by outside, but inside is quiet; the noise of bargaining has faded and the traders exchange few words between themselves. Their battered metal safes, filled with millions of Somali shillings, are closed and locked. The paper fortunes inside have suddenly become worthless. “It’s like we went bankrupt overnight,” says Jama. Last month, fed up with greasy, ripped and aged banknotes, a handful of traders in Mogadishu decided they would no longer accept them. Soon businesses, shops and even bus drivers were following suit, and the decision quickly spread to regions outside the capital. The impact on prices was immediate, pushing up everyday expenses such as groceries, medicines and public transport. A small bag of powdered milk, for example, more than doubled in price. Amid global food price rises and Somalia’s ongoing drought, poor people are bearing the brunt of the effects of an economy that is becoming completely “dollarised”. Somalia is one of the most remittance-dependent countries in the world. The diaspora sends billions annually – primarily in US dollars. These remittances flow into the economy via informal money-transfer operators, known as hawala in Arabic. The heavy presence of international bodies in Somalia – such as the UN, aid organisations, foreign forces and security firms – has further reinforced the use of US dollars. Somalia has not printed any banknotes since 1991, when the then government of Siad Barre was overthrown, the central bank ceased to operate, and the country gained the infamous title of “failed state”. In the following years, the 1,000 Somali shilling note, the highest-value bill, became the only officially recognised money in circulation. In the absence of an agreed unified currency amid factional conflict and politics – the breakaway territory of Somaliland launched its own shilling – the US dollar and phone transfers have become increasingly commonplace. Soon the only regions that accepted shillings were Mogadishu and some towns and districts in the country’s south. Before last month’s revolt from businesses, people from all walks of life would come to Jama’s office at Zoobe junction to exchange their shillings for dollars via mobile money, or vice versa, cashing in mobile remittances for Somali shillings. Now, just like hundreds of thousands of others who are not paid in dollars through banks, Jama’s life has been turned upside down. “Prior to the rejection of the Somali shilling, I was able to make enough to cover the basics such as rent, electricity and water,” says Jama. He now walks the three miles (5km) to work because he cannot use shillings on the bus. “The rejection of the Somali shillings has hurt poor people the most, even the beggars. They used to be given a couple of thousand Somali shillings by passersby and for them, it was a form of survival that helped them purchase food and small goods but now the notes they have are worthless,” Jama says. “When they come to me trying to exchange their Somali shillings for mobile money in dollars, I have to turn them away because my safes, shelves and tables are already full of Somali shillings that I’m unable to exchange for US dollars anywhere.” On 4 May, dozens of exchange traders staged a protest, waving wads of the old banknotes as they walked through the streets of Mogadishu, shouting: “Somalia is the only country without a currency.” Jama was too disillusioned to join them. “It doesn’t seem like things will ever be the same again. Our currency is dead and so is our way of life.” Asha Ali Ahmed, 39, who sells vegetables at what used to be her mother’s market stall in Mogadishu, has similar concerns. “We were raised off the earnings from this vegetable stand,” she says. “I would take the Somali shillings to [the farming town] Afgoye to buy vegetables, then return to Mogadishu and sell them in the market.” Now farmers refuse to accept the shillings and request payments in mobile money instead, increasing vegetable prices. “Vegetables were already expensive because of the drought,” she says. “The rejection of the shilling only exacerbated our situation.” Somalia is enduring a dire drought that has caused widespread crop failures, raising food prices and disrupting livelihoods. According to the World Food Programme, nearly a third of the country’s population, 6.5 million people, face severe hunger, and 2 million children under the age of five face acute malnutrition. “Most people who bought vegetables from my stand were people that could only afford to make purchases in shillings. Paying with mobile money means they have to pay more, and most can’t afford to,” says Ahmed. In a televised press conference, the federal government announced that the rejection of the Somali shilling would constitute a crime and ordered traders and businesses to continue accepting it. But Jama and others doubt the ruling can be enforced by the fragile state. “The government’s decree to save the shilling is good but we need action to back the directive. There are no police, or anyone for that matter, helping us,” he says. “What would help would be [for the government] to go to businesses and hold people accountable for refusing to accept the Somali shilling. Even fines would help,” he adds. Jama leans back in his chair. Across the street, guards stand watch behind mounted machine guns at the ministry of foreign affairs. “Millions are going to suffer,” he says quietly. “More families will be pushed into poverty.”

Greece scrambles to explain how explosive-packed drone landed in its waters

Authorities in Greece have intensified investigations into how an explosive-packed drone ended up in waters off the west of the country. An inquiry, involving specialised military teams, broadened at the weekend after bomb disposal experts detonated the unmanned device at sea. The Greek defence minister, Nikos Dendias, said the drone, suspected to be of Ukrainian origin, almost certainly came from “a foreign state” although he stopped short of identifying the country. “We know what it is, and we more or less know what it contains,” he said, while also attempting to allay fears that Greece lacked the military capabilities to defend itself against such emerging technology. “We have nothing to envy, we are creating the possibilities so that our homeland can equip its combat navy with the most developed drones and anti-drone systems that currently exist.” It is believed the drone landed close to the shores of Lefkada, a popular resort island in the Ionian, when its operators lost control and the device drifted off course. It was found by a fisher in a cave last Thursday. Alarm over its discovery deepened on Saturday after it was reported that the long-range kamikaze drone was laden with an estimated 100kg of explosives. Greek defence ministry officials refused to confirm it was loaded with munitions. But in a new era of warfare, where cheap and deadly drones have increasingly changed the nature of combat, the incident raised questions over maritime security in an EU member state that is more vulnerable for having Europe’s longest coastline. The political opposition was quick to accuse Athens’ centre-right government of being ill-prepared to deal with the threat posed by such weaponry. On Sunday, Michalis Katrinis, the main opposition Pasok party’s defence spokesperson, said: “Mr Dendias has told us he ‘knows’ [all about the drone] but the Greek people are not allowed to learn anything about its origins, the purposes it served and how it was found, moving unhindered, around Lefkada.” Its discovery, he added, had proved that Greece was in danger of being dragged into the theatre of war. The small nationalist, pro-Russian Greek Solution party said the chance finding was evidence of a “conscious military provocation”. Inspection of the maritime drone was taking place at a naval base on the Greek mainland where the device had been transported. Military sources, quoted in local media, said experts were examining the robot’s serial number as well as its inbuilt GPS for clues to its origin. With specialist teams increasingly saying the device resembled a Ukrainian-made Magura V3 naval drone, the theory that its intended target was Russian oil and gas shipping in the Mediterranean was also gaining traction. Kyiv has admitted taking aim at tankers used to circumvent sanctions in Russia’s shadow fleet. This month Ukrainian drones took out two ships in the Black Sea, significantly stepping up its campaign against the Russian energy sector. Equipped with satellite communication systems, V3 drones can carry explosive loads of up to 300kg. Their lethality has been upgraded by their autonomy and speed: the unmanned vehicles can travel for up to 60 hours at a top speed of about 50mph (80kmph).

Hantavirus: what happens to cruise ship passengers now and will they quarantine?

The complex operation to repatriate passengers and crew of the hantavirus-hit cruise ship, the MV Hondius, is almost complete. Up to 150 people have started flying home aboard military and government planes from Spain’s Canary Islands, and the World Health Organization has recommended, but not mandated, a 42-day quarantine once they have landed. Here’s what we know about how different countries are managing quarantine. How did cruise passengers and crew leave the hantavirus-stricken ship? Passengers wore blue medical suits and breathing masks as they disembarked MV Hondius on to smaller boats, according to observers. Those boats docked at a small industrial port in Tenerife. Evacuees then boarded Spanish army buses and travelled to an airport. A protective board separated drivers from passengers. Evacuees then changed into new protective equipment and pictures showed them on the tarmac being sprayed down by medical officers before boarding repatriation charter flights. Will hantavirus cruise ship passengers quarantine when the flights land? The WHO recommends a 42-day quarantine and “active follow-up”, including daily checks for symptoms such as fever. The 42-day quarantine can be carried out at a staffed facility or in isolation at home. Some health experts are concerned people may not strictly isolate for six weeks. The WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says his organisation does not ‘force’ its guidance. Will countries manage hantavirus quarantine and isolation differently? It’s still unclear. In the UK, the NHS says people will undergo medical tests at Arrowe Park hospital, near Liverpool. The group will initially stay for 72 hours, and arrangements for further isolation assessed. In Australia, passengers will be taken by ambulance to a hospital to undergo assessment and establish suitable quarantine arrangements. The facility in Sydney’s west has been designed to treat patients with “high consequence” infectious diseases, such as Ebola. It has a dedicated elevator from a helipad and ambulance bay, and its own sewage treatment plant. France said all of its evacuees – one who is now symptomatic – “have immediately been placed in strict isolation until further notice”. The French prime minister said he would issue a decree to authorise appropriate isolation measures to protect the public. Are some countries enforcing stricter hantavirus rules? Yes. Greece’s health ministry said a male evacuee will spend 45 days in mandatory hospital quarantine in Athens. Authorities said the man will be placed in a specially prepared negative-pressure chamber at Attikon university hospital. In Spain, 14 citizens will be placed in biosafety isolation beds at the Gómez Ulla military hospital in Madrid. How about the US, as it is no longer a WHO member? The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control, Dr Jay Bhattacharya, says the 17 Americans and one British national who reside in the US will be flown to the University of Nebraska. At a quarantine facility, their risk levels for spreading the virus will be assessed. After that, they will be given the choice of staying in Nebraska or going home, where their conditions would be monitored by state and local health agencies. The US health department confirmed on Sunday that one evacuee has mild symptoms and another has tested mildly PCR positive for the Andes strain of the virus. Perhaps complicating matters, some Americans are already back in the US, having disembarked the ship in Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean on 24 April. At least four states – Arizona, Virginia, California and Georgia – are monitoring them. In January, the US officially withdrew from the WHO. Some experts questioned if that would weaken US access to global virus and disease databases. What happens to the hantavirus-affected ship and its crew? The ship should be inspected for rodents, disinfected and ‘appropriate rodent control measures implemented’, the WHO says. Staff involved in the operation should wear PPE including eye protectors, respirators, gowns, and gloves. The Philippines government has confirmed 38 Filipino seafarers working on the ship will quarantine in Rotterdam before repatriation home. India confirmed that two of its nationals on board the ship, working as crew, had been evacuated to the Netherlands where they will be quarantined. They have been described as “healthy and asymptomatic”. What is the public health risk? Three passengers – a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman – have died, and a small number have fallen sick with the disease. But officials have so far stressed the risk for global public health is low. ‘This is not another Covid. And the risk to the public is low. So they shouldn’t be scared, and they shouldn’t panic,’ Ghebreyesus said. With agencies

Ukraine war briefing: Mixed reaction to Putin proposal of Schröder as peace mediator

German officials have reacted cautiously to Vladimir Putin’s surprise suggestion that former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder could act as a mediator in Ukraine war peace talks, saying they had “taken note” of Putin’s comments but viewed them as part of “a series of bogus offers” from Russia, government sources told Agency-France Presse. One source said a real test of Moscow’s intentions would be to extend the current three-day truce. Schröder, 82, has remained close to Putin long after leaving office, standing apart from most western leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. He previously held key roles in Russian energy projects, including work on the Nord Stream gas pipelines and a seat on the board of Russian oil firm Rosneft, which he gave up in 2022. Putin on Saturday said he thinks the Ukraine war is winding down and he nominated Schröder as a potential key negotiator to help end the conflict. Michael Roth, a former lawmaker from Germany’s Social Democratic party (SPD) and chair of the foreign affairs committee, said a mediator “cannot be Putin’s buddy”, in an interview with Tagesspiegel. He stressed that any mediator must above all be accepted by Ukraine. “Neither Moscow nor we can decide that on Kyiv’s behalf.” Others within the party, however, have been more open to Putin’s suggestion. Quoted by Der Spiegel, the SPD’s foreign affairs spokesperson in parliament, Adis Ahmetovic, said the proposal needs to be “carefully considered” with European partners. SPD lawmaker Ralf Stegner argued, in the same magazine, that “if we don’t want Putin and (US President Donald) Trump to decide Ukraine’s future” alone, Europe should seize every possible chance – however small. Meanwhile, the US-mediated ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine appeared under serious strain on its second day on Sunday, writes Angelique Chrisafis and Pjotr Sauer. Both sides have accused the other of violating the deal through weekend attacks. Three people were killed in Russian drone strikes on areas near the frontline, and more than 200 battlefield clashes had taken place since early Saturday, Ukrainian officials said. Russia’s defence ministry said it had downed 57 Ukrainian drones over the past day and “responded in kind” on the battlefield. The US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Moscow “soon enough” to continue talks with Russia, news agency Interfax reported Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov as saying on Sunday. Russia has accused Armenia of providing Volodymyr Zelenskyy with “a platform for anti-Russian remarks”, in a further sign of a chill in relations between traditional allies Moscow and Yerevan. On a visit to Yerevan last week, Zelenskyy said Russia feared “drones may buzz over Red Square” in Moscow during the annual parade on 9 May. “The main thing for us is that Armenia does not adopt an anti-Russian stance,” the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Russia was awaiting an explanation from Yerevan on the matter. Latvia’s defence minister resigned on Sunday, after the recent incursion of two Ukrainian drones into its territory, hitting oil storage facilities. Minister Adris Spruds’s decision followed a call for his resignation from Latvia’s prime minister, Evika Silina, who stated he had “lost (her) trust and that of the public”. Silina said anti-drone systems had not been deployed quickly enough to counter the Thursday’s incursion. On Thursday, two drones crossed over the Russian border into Latvia. A fire broke out, but was quickly brought under control. The Ukrainian foreign minister Andriy Sybiga said that the drones had flown into Latvia as a result of “Russian electronic warfare”.

Trump calls Iran’s response to peace plan ‘totally unacceptable’ as ceasefire frays

Donald Trump has rejected an Iranian response to a US peace proposal as “totally unacceptable”, on a day the month-old ceasefire showed signs of fraying as drone strikes were reported around the region and Benjamin Netanyahu warned the war was “not over”. The Iranian counter-proposal was passed to Washington through Pakistani mediators. The semi-official Tasnim news agency, citing an informed source, said on Sunday night that Iran’s proposed text for negotiations underlined the necessity of lifting US sanctions, ending the US naval blockade of the strait of Hormuz after the signing of initial understanding, and an immediate end to the war with guarantees against any renewed attack on the country. The US had presented a peace proposal a week ago, which was reported to consist of a one-page, 14-point memorandum of understanding that would reopen the strait while setting a framework for further talks on Iran’s nuclear programme. The US parameters for nuclear talks reportedly included a moratorium on Iranian nuclear enrichment for up to 20 years; the transfer overseas, possibly to the US, of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU), which could be used to make nuclear warheads; and the dismantling of Iranian nuclear facilities. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Iranian counter-proposal suggested a shorter moratorium, the export of part of the HEU stockpile and the dilution of the rest, and refusal to accept the dismantling of facilities. Trump responded shortly afterwards by saying: “I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘representatives’. I don’t like it – totally unacceptable.” Earlier in the day Trump had posted a long statement on his online platform, Truth Social, alleging Iran “has been playing games with the United States, and the rest of the World, for 47 years”, adding that Tehran “will be laughing no longer”. Trump was expected to talk to Netanyahu on Sunday. The Israeli prime minister had earlier warned the war would continue as long as Iran had a stockpile of HEU. “It’s not over, because there’s still nuclear material – enriched uranium – that has to be taken out of Iran. There’s still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled,” he told the CBS programme 60 Minutes, according an excerpt published before its broadcast. Asked how the HEU should be removed, Netanyahu said: “You go in and you take it out,” adding that the best way would be to enter Iran to secure the fissile material as part of an agreement. He said Donald Trump had told him he wants “to go in there”. In a separate interview, Trump appeared to take a more relaxed view of the HEU stockpile, which the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, says is buried deep under mountains in central Iran. The US president suggested that for the time being, satellite surveillance was sufficient to guarantee no one had access to it. Trump said on the Full Measure programme: “We’ll get that at some point … We have it surveilled. I did a thing called Space Force, and they are watching that … If anybody got near the place, we will know about it – and we’ll blow them up.” As he has on numerous occasions since a ceasefire was declared a month ago, Trump said US attacks on Iran could be resumed. He said the US could “go in for two more weeks and do every single target. We have certain targets that we wanted, and we’ve done probably 70% of them, but we have other targets that we could conceivably hit. “But even if we didn’t do that, you know, that would just be final touches,” he added. Trump is under heavy pressure to maintain the ceasefire, and potentially make a peace deal, before a scheduled visit this week to China, which is pushing for an end to hostilities and the opening of the strait. Two critical issues that will be at the heart of any future nuclear talks between the US and Iran are the disposal of Iran’s 440kg of HEU enriched to 60% purity – close to weapons grade – and the suspension of uranium enrichment. In an interview on Iranian state media late on Saturday, a military spokesperson said the country’s forces were at “full readiness” to protect the stockpile. “We considered it possible that they might intend to steal it through infiltration operations or heliborne operations,” Brig Gen Akrami Nia said. Trump is reported to have been presented with military options for seizing the HEU, but the operation would have required a large number of troops and would have taken weeks. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Moscow’s proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran to help negotiate a settlement remains on the table. Iran was responding on Sunday to a US memorandum that was itself a response to an earlier Iranian proposal. That also envisaged the lifting of parallel US and Iranian blockades on the strait, which have been driving up oil prices and stifling the global economy, with an emphasis on the lifting of sanctions and the release of frozen Iranian assets. The announcement of a new response from Tehran came on a day when the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire, which came into effect on 8 April, showed new signs of strain. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reported drone incursions in their airspace on Sunday, and a drone attack started a small fire on a ship on the coast of Qatar. Another drone strike was reported at a camp used by an Iranian Kurdish rebel group near Erbil in north-eastern Iraq. Qatar’s defence ministry did not give details of the vessel targeted on Sunday, other than that it had come from Abu Dhabi. The UAE defence ministry said it had shot down the drones which entered its airspace, and which it said were Iranian. Qatar denounced the strike on a ship in its territorial waters as a “serious escalation”. The country’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, told Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, that using the strait as a means of exerting pressure would only deepen the crisis, and that freedom of maritime navigation should not be compromised. Kuwait’s defence ministry spokesperson said its forces had dealt with drones which entered the country’s airspace early on Sunday, “in accordance with established procedures”, without attributing responsibility for the incursion. Meanwhile, Iran’s deputy foreign minister warned against a planned French-British effort that aims to support maritime security in the strait after hostilities are over. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, responded by saying it would not be a military deployment but an international mission to secure shipping when conditions allow. The UK and France will on Tuesday host a multinational meeting of defence ministers on military plans to restore trade flows through the strait, the British government said. “The defence secretary, John Healey, will co-chair a meeting of over 40 nations, alongside his French counterpart, minister Catherine Vautrin, for the multinational mission’s first defence ministers’ meeting,” a ministry statement said Sunday. Hours earlier, Iran warned London and Paris against sending warships to the region. Tensions have flared under the truce as the US and Iran have sought to assert their control of the strait. On 4 May, Trump launched what he called Project Freedom, which was supposed to provide a route out of the Gulf for the hundreds of ships trapped by the war. Iran, which closed the strait after the initial US-Israeli attack on 28 February, responded with attacks on US naval vessels, commercial vessels and oil facilities in the UAE. Trump called off Project Freedom after 36 hours and the passage of just two US-flagged ships. Saudi Arabia had refused permission for US forces to use its bases and airspace for the operation. Tehran has insisted that all ships passing through the strait coordinate with its armed forces and pay a $2m (£1.5m) toll. On Sunday, Iranian state media reported that a Panama-flagged vessel bound for Brazil had been allowed to sail through the strait. The US military has blockaded Iranian ports since 13 April, saying it has turned back 61 commercial vessels and disabled four. Trump has said that the current ceasefire includes Lebanon, and has told Israel to stop the bombing of Hezbollah targets there. Israel has reduced the intensity of its campaign but has continued to carry out strikes. Lebanon’s health ministry reported that 36 people had been killed and 74 wounded by Israeli strikes on Saturday. Among the casualties were several paramedics wounded in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military said, meanwhile, that it had intercepted Hezbollah drones approaching its troops in the area.

Nobel laureate’s smuggled memoir details beatings and neglect in Iranian prisons

In an exclusive extract of writing smuggled from prison in Iran, the Nobel peace prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has described the “torture” of solitary confinement, and her systematic medical neglect by the prison system. The writing from the past decade will be part of a soon to be published memoir that gives a rare and alarming insight into the treatment of Mohammadi, who is in critical condition. It details beatings, constant interrogations, deprivation of medical care and long stretches in solitary confinement during her numerous imprisonments. “There is no hardship worse than illness combined with imprisonment,” she wrote. “Authoritarian regimes do not always need an executioner’s rope. Sometimes, they simply wait for the human body to fail.” After those words were written and she was rearrested, Mohammadi’s health hit another crisis point this year, with her weight dropping by more than 20kg. She was found unconscious in her cell after an apparent heart attack in March. For weeks, requests by her family and doctors for her to receive proper medical treatment from her team of surgeons were denied. On Sunday, she was released on bail to receive treatment from her medical team in Tehran. She remains in a critical condition. Her family have said her continuing detention and the refusal of proper medical care constitute a “slow execution”. Mohammadi wrote of how her stretches in prison have caused significant damage to her health. She has suffered a pulmonary embolism, seizures, multiple infections, chest pain and other life-threatening medical events in prison, and describes the agonising wait for often inadequate medical care. The writings were smuggled out by fellow prisoners and visitors during Mohammadi’s time in Iran’s notorious Evin, Qarchak and Zanjan prisons, at considerable risk to their own safety. They had to be rewritten several times over the past decade, after pages or notebooks were discovered and destroyed by prison guards. The memoir, A Woman Never Stops Fighting, will be published in September. It covers Mohammadi’s early life, the way her parents helped inspire her political convictions, her path into activism, and the many years she spent in prison for public protest. Mohammadi has been arrested 14 times for her activism on advancing women’s rights in Iran, improving the conditions of prisoners and ending the regime’s use of the death penalty. She has been sentenced to 44 years in prison and 154 lashes across a number of convictions. The campaigner was awarded the Nobel peace prize while in prison in 2023, during the Women, Life, Freedom protests. In December 2024, she was released on a temporary sentence suspension after a series of health events, but was violently rearrested a year later and sentenced to years’ more prison time in February.

Dozens of people from cruise ship struck by hantavirus leave Tenerife

Dozens of passengers and crew from countries around the world have been evacuated from a cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak. British people were among those taken off the ship as part of a two-day operation that began on Sunday in Tenerife. They were put on chartered flights back to the UK, where they will enter hospital quarantine in Merseyside. At about 9pm on Sunday, a plane carrying 22 UK citizens landed in Manchester, it was reported. Spanish passengers wearing blue plastic ponchos and hair coverings had already been taken off the vessel by medical teams in hazmat suits after being screened for the infection. They were then taken by coach to Tenerife airport. The ship arrived in the Canary Islands in the early hours of Sunday carrying 146 people, after three people died of the virus and eight more became ill. No one else onboard the vessel had symptoms, but passengers and crew had been confined to their cabins for days to help halt the spread of the virus, which is transmitted only through very close contact. They were each being screened for hantavirus, which can cause flu-like symptoms leading to respiratory arrest and death in some cases. The 19 passengers and three crew from the UK were to be flown into quarantine at Arrowe Park hospital in Wirral. None of the British passengers are showing any symptoms, according to the head of the NHS trust managing the quarantine. They will get regular welfare checks over the next 72 hours in self-contained flats at Arrowe Park before self-isolating for 45 days at home. Separate flights have been arranged for those from elsewhere to repatriate passengers and crew to their home countries. The Spanish government and the World Health Organization (WHO) have said the passengers and crew will not come into contact with people in Tenerife. Fourteen Spanish citizens landed at Madrid airport on Sunday evening, the government confirmed. Flights carrying passengers from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Canada, Turkey, France, Ireland and the US followed. The French prime minister announced on Sunday that one of five French nationals flown home was showing symptoms of the illness. “These five passengers have immediately been placed in strict isolation until further notice,” Sebastien Lecornu posted on X, adding he would issue a decree later on Sunday authorising appropriate isolation measures be put in place to protect the public. In the US, the health and human services department said that out of 17 Americans being repatriated from the ship, one had mild symptoms and another had tested mildly PCR positive for the Andes strain of the virus. Spanish authorities said a Dutch refuelling plane would pick up any passengers who had not yet been evacuated on Monday. The last scheduled flight would be to Australia with six people, departing on Monday afternoon. The government of the Philippines, the country with the most people on board, confirmed that of the 38 Filipino crew, 24 were stewards and hotel staff. The latter were being transferred to the Netherlands on two flights from Tenerife and will begin their quarantine in the Netherlands. A spokesperson said the remaining 14 staff were deck and engine operatives, part of the essential crew remaining on board to bring the ship to port in Rotterdam. Those who have been evacuated were being asked to isolate for 42 days from their point of potential exposure, which for most of the passengers would be many days ago. The MV Hondius is anchored slightly offshore of the southern commercial port of Granadilla. Passengers have been taken to the dock in groups of five to 10 by a small boat only when planes were on the asphalt ready to receive them, the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, said. Flights to some countries were yet to be arranged as authorities scrambled to get planes in place on Sunday. Winds off the coast of the island were expected to pick up from Monday, meaning any people whose flights had not been arranged may be stuck onboard. Authorities have sought to make clear that the virus, though serious, would not result in another pandemic. However, the director general of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was asked at a press conference in Tenerife on Saturday night whether allowing passengers to travel all over the world and relying on them to self-isolate with no oversight could cause further outbreaks. “Based on our assessment, what you have said is not going to happen,” he said. At the port Javier Padilla Bernáldez, Spain’s health secretary, said PCR diagnostic testing was not being carried out on the ship and instead those onboard were having their temperatures taken and had filled out a health survey designed to identify hantavirus symptoms. He said the UK and US had asked for further testing onboard the MV Hondius, which had been refused, but the countries had been told they could test passengers on the plane as soon as it left the airport. Countries are carrying out their own health checks, which for some, such as the UK and Spain, involve PCR testing. He said the European Commission and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control were “trying to achieve a certain degree of coordination, and not a high variation among the different countries”. “But every country has its own confidences,” he said. The polar cruise ship arrived at the Canary Islands after spending days stranded off the coast of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde. Local authorities would not allow the ship to dock amid fears of a wider outbreak overwhelming the healthcare system of the small island nation. Fears of a new pandemic were unfounded, the WHO said, because hantaviruses did not spread as quickly as Covid-19 and treatment was highly effective if the virus was caught quickly enough. However, a broad incubation period, lasting between a few days and eight weeks, means infected people might have the opportunity to pass on the virus before any symptoms become apparent. For this reason, the WHO is putting together an international coordinated response, particularly in tracing those who left the vessel since the onset of the outbreak more than a month ago. Several countries have come together to solve the logistical challenge of tracing people who have been in close and prolonged contact with 29 people who disembarked on 24 April in the remote southern Atlantic island of Saint Helena. Two British people are self-isolating in the UK because they could have been exposed to the virus before getting off about a month ago. Neither has symptoms. A specialist army team and medical personnel were parachuted on to the British overseas territory of Tristan da Cunha with medical aid and equipment after a British national disembarked on to the island, where they live, with a suspected case of hantavirus.