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Pop star boyfriend posting from Coachella, celebrity statesman, global brand: Justin Trudeau’s offbeat political afterlife

The downfall of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán prompted a flurry of reaction from progressive leaders around the world celebrating the end to an authoritarian regime. One statement stood out – not so much for the sentiment it expressed, but the setting in which it was issued. “Hungarians voted for change and a renewed commitment to democratic institutions after years of erosion under Viktor Orbán,” wrote Justin Trudeau, Canada’s former prime minister – posting from the Coachella music festival, where he and his girlfriend, the American pop star Katy Perry, were watching Justin Bieber. “A powerful and positive signal to democracies around the world that citizens can reclaim institutions and restore respect for rights.” While the message was no different from boilerplate language issued near-daily by former world leaders, the context was less than typical. Earlier that day, Perry had posted a picture of Trudeau eating takeout noodles in a backwards baseball cap and jeans, looking more like a carefree celebrity companion than a recently departed head of government. The tonal contrast hinted at the challenge facing Trudeau, who stood down in March 2025 after nearly a decade in office: how to shape a political legacy and decide the extent to which he wants to remain public spectacle. The responses to his social media post also raised broader questions of what Canadians expect from their former political leaders. “Sending this from coachella is WILD,” one user wrote on X. “The contradiction we’re seeing with Justin Trudeau is one that he dealt with before he came into office: is he a celebrity, or is he a man of depth?” said Susan Delacourt, a longtime political columnist with the Toronto Star who has covered Trudeau since before he became the Liberal party leader in 2013. “For those who have remained Trudeau loyalists, here’s a healthy debate about how much he’s doing to burnish his legacy and reminding people of his record in office – and also enjoying himself.” Trudeau’s first social media post after leaving office was a mobile phone selfie at Canadian Tire, a big-box chain that sells coffee machines, snow shovels, barbecues and motor oil. The image, captioned in French and English, suggested he was settling into the role of the everyman, easing into a quiet life outside the public gaze. Soon, however, he was photographed alongside Perry (on a yacht, in a restaurant, on a ski-slope) and other celebrities, including Prince Harry and the Olympic gold medallist Eileen Gu. Other prime ministers have taken more staid routes after leaving office: jobs at flashy law firms, travelling for business ventures and a retreat to a lifestyle they led before entering the political arena. During King Charles’s throne speech in Ottawa last year, Trudeau was spotted speaking animatedly with former prime minister Stephen Harper. “I asked Trudeau after what they were talking about,” said Delacourt. “He told me they were comparing notes on how to manage post political life. He didn’t tell me anything of what they concluded. But it’s something all prime ministers wrestle with.” Largely, she said, Canadians expect former prime ministers “to go away – and largely, they do”. But Trudeau, 54, is the first prime minister to leave office with an extensive social media following. “He has an active presence because people are interested in him and because he remains interested in the world,” said Delacourt. “Relatively speaking, he’s still a young man. People are saying: ‘Look at him, living his best life.’ And he is happy. He really is.” And Trudeau’s complicated relationship to fame long predates Perry and her 200 million Instagram followers. He has said publicly he is an introvert, and those close to him say he can be a very private person. But he is also the son of Pierre Trudeau, Canada’s first true “rock-star” politician, and he entered public life carrying both the mythology and expectations of that inheritance. His celebrity was reinforced once in office: a splashy Vogue feature and a Rolling Stone cover christening him “The North Star” prompted eye-rolling at home. “I was struck by how much inherited charisma played such an important role in his political career. He presented himself early on as someone that Canadians already knew – and his career can be seen in a way as the kind of restoration of the vision for the country that his father first created,” said Stephen Maher, author of The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau. Early in office, Trudeau showed an instinct for viral moments, whether explaining quantum computing or turning up in shirtless photo ops – both of which were carefully staged by the prime minister’s team. Later, the asset became a liability. A poorly planned India trip and his decision to surf on a day set aside to honour Indigenous peoples revived claims that he was more style over substance. Maher argued that Trudeau achieved much office than might be suggested by his deep unpopularity at the end, pointing in particular to the expansion of the welfare state and efforts to widen representation in government. “He focused on child poverty and expended a lot of energy – more than makes sense by a straight political calculation – on improving life for Indigenous peoples in Canada,” he said. “He reflected a growing multicultural society of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.” Trudeau’s post-office image is also being shaped in contrast to his successor. As Mark Carney cultivates the aura of a pragmatic technocrat uninterested in politics, Trudeau appears freer, or more vulnerable, to drift into the role he has always half occupied: a celebrity statesman and global brand. Both were in attendance at Davos where Carney gave his famous speech eulogizing the international rules-based order. Trudeau, who still keenly follows Canadian politics, also spoke, discussing the need for soft power in geopolitics. Perry sat in the front row. At the recent Liberal party convention, Trudeau made an appearance by video to welcome attenders, saying they should be proud of the Canada they built together. But for a prime minister who won three consecutive elections, he was notable for his absence. Carney offered remarks that were complimentary of Trudeau, but weren’t yet nostalgic for the former leader. A year into Trudeau’s political afterlife, the shape of his legacy is unsettled and remains a subject of debate within the party he led. But the quality that first propelled him to power – celebrity – seems likely to endure. “Trudeau’s team very astutely built a global brand for him. But part of managing a global brand is having a good sense of how things that you do will land in order not to damage that brand, and they misjudged that at times,” said Maher. “But in the end, it worked. He was – and still is – famous around the world. People around the world know his name, and that’s going to last.”

Middle East crisis live: UN chief calls for Israel-Lebanon ceasefire to be ‘fully’ respected as it comes into effect

Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has welcomed the ceasefire in Lebanon, which he credited to the “bold and sagacious diplomatic efforts led by president Donald Trump”. In a post on X, Sharif expressed hope that the ceasefire “will pave the way for sustainable peace”, adding: “Pakistan reaffirms its unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon, and will continue to support all efforts aimed at lasting peace in the region.”

‘Ticking timebomb’: Tehran residents return to ruined city amid fears truce will not hold

Like many in Tehran, Mehdi, 36, an IT professional, had fled the capital in the early days of the war to stay with relatives in the north. Returning to the city, he was confronted by bombed-out buildings, debris and rubble still scattered across the roads. His home has been damaged by the blasts, the glass shattered and bedroom window frames blown out. In his first days home – just before the ceasefire was agreed – a series of explosions sent him scrambling for shelter. “There’s a whistling sound I hope you never hear … a missile so close that you don’t know if it’s going to hit your house or your neighbour’s,” he says. Three missiles hit the street in a matter of seconds. Now Mehdi, along with thousands of other Iranians who have filtered back to their homes or workplaces during the fragile truce, is navigating a city riddled with ruined buildings, destroyed infrastructure, an economy in turmoil and looming anxiety over the approaching ceasefire deadline. “There’s a lot of talk about precision strikes,” he says. “Let me tell you: my favourite fast food place has been hit by a missile. The clinic we used to visit whenever a new wave of Covid or a cold came around is gone. Even the garden where I spent some of the best moments of my childhood was hit.” Mehdi and his wife now sleep in their living room – the least damaged part of the house. He is trying to piece together paperwork for insurance, as they wait for whatever comes next. “Our home is now barely livable. In some sense, we’ve become war refugees.” An economy in turmoil The toll on civilian infrastructure across Iran has been immense, says Noor*, an activist based in Tehran who stayed through the US-Israeli onslaught. Explosions have destroyed “schools, universities, pharmaceutical production centres, hospitals … civilian homes, private cars and city buses”. Now, although the streets are full again, many people, especially those who rely on the internet, have lost their livelihoods. The internet blackout imposed by the Iranian authorities continues and has crossed a 45-day mark, leaving most of Iran’s population cut off from the world, and a few paying large sums to get online through Starlink and VPNs. “Internet shutdowns have destroyed online jobs,” Noor says, “which were a source of income for many people, especially young people.” According to some estimates, about 10 million Iranians depend on internet access to run small businesses or make an income. Iran had an affordability crisis before the war but now, Noor says, medications for patients with serious or chronic illnesses are difficult to find and, while food remains available in shops, “we can’t afford it”. The economic pressure, dire before the bombing began, has now become unbearable, she says. “Almost all food items have become more expensive. Most people can no longer afford red meat and fish. Dairy products have increased in price by more than 40%.” Other people in Tehran say affording basic grocery items has become very difficult. Adding to the worsening economic crisis, Noor says, factories are struggling to operate owing to a lack of raw materials, some construction workers have lost their jobs and many workplaces are laying off staff or reducing their workforce. Banks, international businesses and government offices are all under strain, as unstable internet disrupts basic operations. Many schools remain shuttered and “mothers working in the private sector are facing difficulties in caring for their children, since kindergarten and schools are closed”. ‘Trapped between two wars’ Arash, 21, a student from Tehran, drove out of the city to stay with relatives after 10 days of war. The lack of information on what was happening around their neighbourhood, because of the internet blackout, had caused them to be worried and fearful. He has since returned to the city. Even with a pause in the bombing, “I am hyper alert all the time,” he says. The atmosphere in the capital feels tense and heavily surveilled with security forces – including police forces, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij [state-backed militia] – running roadblocks and checking vehicles. “They search vehicles and phones. One day, I saw all three [sets of security forces] in a single street and crossed all the three checkpoints. They are all heavily armed with Dushka rifles and AK-47s.” Some checkpoints have recruited children, he says. There have been reports of children used at checkpoints across Iran, a practice that amounts to the use of child soldiers, which is a war crime. In a March campaign to enlist civilians, called “Homeland Defending Combatants for Iran”, an IRGC official in Tehran said the minimum age for recruits had been set at 12. “Some of them are kids [who look as if they are aged about] 10 or 12, and are armed. One of them told me he was 11 and he had a Kalashnikov,” says Arash, who says he feels devastated that children are “trapped between two wars” – the US-Israeli assault and the regime’s abuse of them. Describing the feeling of facing a repressive state and the prospect of a return to war, Arash says: “You know the story of the person cooking the frog in water and slowly increasing the temperature? That’s how we feel right now. Slowly dying, but not realising.” Fears for the future As the two-week deadline marking the end of the ceasefire nears, all of those who spoke to the Guardian were deeply apprehensive. “Even if we think of rebuilding, we can’t: the ceasefire is fragile and the war can start anytime,” Arash says. “Hope is all we have, but that’s fragile too. I think of what [Donald] Trump said – that he would bomb us back to the stone ages. I am laughing now, thinking about it. But I am deeply worried he thinks that of us. Does he really think that of us Iranians?” Despite the economic hardship and a “fragile ceasefire” that feels like a “ticking timebomb”, Noor says the people of Iran are still hopeful. But she worries that there is no clear plan on how to protect civilians during the war and its aftermath. “We just have to be hopeful in ourselves. We believe in the power of our nation,” she says. The controversial comments by the US president, threatening to “unleash hell” and “destroy Iranian civilisation” are also on the mind of Mehdi, who fears a future filled with “one-tonne bombs, nightly bombardments, the destruction of this country’s infrastructure. It feels like nothing awaits us but [Trump’s threat of] ‘a return to the stone age’.” For Arash, this period stuck in a limbo is “the worst outcome … the city is in ruins and we are in a worse economic situation than we were in.” “I don’t know who is winning this war, but we know who’s losing,” he says. “It’s us, ordinary Iranians.”

Friday briefing: Is theatre in a Misérables state, or is the industry just adapting to tough times?

Good morning. We all enjoy a great night out at the theatre. Last year, 37 million people visited theatres in the UK. And while London may sometimes feel like New York City’s less cool cousin, the West End welcomed 3 million more fans than Broadway in 2025. When you look at the star-studded lineup at last weekend’s Olivier awards, with Rosamund Pike, Adjoa Andoh, Elaine Paige and David Harewood among those lighting up the red carpet at London’s Royal Albert Hall – you can see why audiences jump at the chance to witness live performances. But behind the headline numbers of bums on seats and money splashed at the bar, there are growing concerns about the future of the industry – not least the impact of the cost of living on the affordability of a night out, and the escalating cost of staging shows. For today’s newsletter I spoke to the Guardian’s chief theatre critic, Arifa Akbar, about the state of British theatre in 2026 – where it is thriving, where it is struggling, and why it still matters. First, the headlines. Five big stories Middle East crisis | Donald Trump has announced a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon to be followed by a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese leaders next week, in a deal that it is hoped will bring progress toward a parallel peace agreement between the US and Iran. UK politics | Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting clearance but the decision was overruled by the Foreign Office to ensure he could take up his post as ambassador to the US. Russia-Ukraine war | Russia has carried out its deadliest attack against Ukraine this year, killing at least 17 people and injuring more than 100 in a wave of drone and missile strikes across the country. UK news | A teenager and two men have been arrested after an attempted arson attack at the offices of a Persian media organisation in north-west London, the Metropolitan police said. UK news | A church warden who was jailed for life for the murder of a university lecturer has had his conviction quashed at the court of appeal and a retrial has been ordered. In depth: ‘Demand is strong. Talent is abundant’ British theatre in 2026 is popular, culturally vital, and in places creatively strong – but financially being slowly squeezed to death. That was the headline finding of a joint report on the industry by UK Theatre and the Society of London Theatre, which was published earlier this year. That tension – between strong audiences and fragile economics – is at the heart of the sector right now. Along with the 37 million people who who enjoyed shows in the UK last year, the report says that the industry has other, wider, positive effects: it supports 100,000 jobs in the UK and every £1 spent on a theatre ticket generates a further £1.40 in local economic activity. West End revenue topped £1bn last year. That all sounds healthy, but there is a caveat. The report notes: “Real-terms ticket prices have fallen since 2019: theatres have absorbed inflation rather than pass[ing] it on fully, sustaining access at the cost of margins.” It suggests that a third of organisations in the sector forecast operating deficits this year. It concludes: “Demand is strong. Talent is abundant. What is at stake is scale, access, and long-term resilience.” *** Big pressures Arifa says the pressures are showing up most clearly in how theatre is being made and sold. One of the most striking trends, she says, is the dominance of celebrity casting. “It’s not the occasional Hollywood name any more,” she says. “It’s dominating theatre – and bleeding into subsidised theatre too.” The effect of this, she argues, is being felt across the industry, with trained theatre actors increasingly squeezed out of leading roles by big names from film and television. “Some are having to leave the industry. Some are doing second jobs – delivery work, whatever. Ten or 20 years ago, a non-celebrity theatre actor could headline a cast. Now, to get people booking, you need a big name,” she says. “It leaves a lot of theatre actors hostile and upset,” she adds – and it changes the theatre-going experience. “I saw Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick in a show – people clapped when they walked on. There was actual gasping. It was like a zoo – people had come to see her, not the play.” At the same time, ticket prices in the commercial West End have quietly shifted into a new – more expensive – normal. “We used to make a fuss about a ticket costing £350,” Arifa says. “Now nobody seems to bat an eyelid.” The rising cost raises serious questions about access and representation. So who can afford to go to the theatre and who is being priced out? *** Safe bets and creative risks There is a line in The Theatre, a 1993 song by Pet Shop Boys, about a homeless person begging for change late at night “from a patron of the arts … or at least The Phantom of the Opera”. It is a knowingly snooty take on populist theatre – but also a reminder that this end of the market has always been a part of the West End. Even if such shows have long since existed, Arifa worries, though, about a more recent loss of range in the industry. “There’s a sort of fever,” she says, as producers try to bring audiences back after the pandemic. That can mean safer choices – revivals, adaptations of films such as Mrs Doubtfire and The Devil Wears Prada –and what she calls “nostalgic” crowd-pleasers and “prosecco musicals”, where producers bank on stag and hen parties pitching up en masse for a sing along. But it is not all about retrenchment. Alongside the commercial pressures, there are still signs of creative risk and renewal. Arifa points to the rise of immersive theatre, particularly among younger audiences who “want to be part of an experience rather than just watch”. Some of that work can feel derivative, she says – but when it works, it can be genuinely powerful. She name-checks I Do, a show where the audience move around the rooms of a hotel watching the preparations for a wedding. She also highlights producers such as Nica Burns, whose Soho Place theatre is the first new-build in the West End for decades. But theatre will always rely on revisiting old stories, and when it does, Arifa argues, it should do so with purpose. She cites recent productions of Arthur Miller plays such as All My Sons, as an example of theatre based on past texts that still manage to speak to the present. That production of All My Sons could, she says, “have been about Grenfell, or PPE scandals – corruption, people dying because of it”. She notes that one of its stars, Paapa Essiedu, has argued that if you revive something, it should feel relevant, rather than simply returning to familiar classics for their own sake. In a separate interview, Mark Gatiss makes a similar point about the Royal Shakespeare Company’s upcoming production of Bertolt Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, noting that despite being written in 1941, its depiction of populist politics feels strikingly contemporary. *** Cultural power For all the challenges, Arifa is clear that British theatre remains a space of real cultural power. On stage, she says, there has been visible progress in representation, with more diversity and more disabled performers than in previous decades – even if that progress has yet to be fully reflected behind the scenes. Almost three quarters of of respondents to the UK Theatre and Society of London Theatre’s report said that their programming reflects the diversity of the communities they serve, which they achieve through targeted outreach, partnerships with schools and community groups, and sustained investment in diversifying workforces. But there are also concerns that progress is uneven. Studies suggest the gender gap in the industry has stalled or even worsened, a reminder that gains can slip back under pressure. In the UK cultural sector as a whole, for every £1 earned by men, women were paid 85p in 2023, the second successive year the pay gap in the industry had increased. “That’s something we need to watch,” says Arifa. *** Art for all At its best, though, theatre can still do something few other art forms can: provoke, unsettle and stay with an audience long after the curtain falls. Dramas exploring the theme of justice picked up several awards at the Olivier’s at the weekend, even if the sticky paws of Paddington: The Musical dominated the prizes. “Theatre can leave you thinking about issues for days afterwards,” Arifa says. That enduring impact matters, particularly at a moment when the wider economics of the industry are under strain. For Arifa, though, the case for theatre goes beyond economics. For all the celebrity casting, rising prices and creative compromises, it still occupies a unique place in public life. “Despite everything, theatre still matters. It’s our congregation,” she says. What else we’ve been reading Stuart Heritage writes movingly about taking his son to get glasses for the first time, and the memories it brings back from his childhood. Patrick, newsletters team Jonathan Liew describes the men’s 2026 Fifa World Cup as “a grotesque experiment in vulture capitalism” as he looks at price-gouging on the cost of physically getting to the matches. Martin If you thought training to run a marathon was hard work, how about trying to train to run one entirely underground in a Swedish zinc mine. Patrick Emily Dinsdale speaks to five photographers – including Anton Corbijn – who are exhibiting at Japan’s epic photography festival: Kyotographie 2026. Martin Gaby Hinsliff is thoughtful on the wider implications after Judge Sir Adrian Fulford highlighted the role of Axel Rudakubana’s father and mother in the run-up to the Southport stabbings. Patrick Sport Football | Morgan Gibbs-White’s 12th-minute goal, shortly after Porto’s Jan Bednarek was sent off, was enough to give a nervous Nottingham Forest a 1-0 win and a semi-final against Aston Villa. Crystal Palace were beaten 2-1 in Fiorentina but progress to the Europa Conference semi-final with a 4-2 aggregate victory. Football | Alex Manninger, the former goalkeeper who helped Arsenal win the Double in 1998, has died in a car accident in Austria, aged 48. According to local reports, Manninger’s car was in a collision with a train on a level crossing on the Salzburg local railway in Nussdorf am Haunsberg on Thursday morning. Golf | LIV Golf has insisted the tour will to continue “uninterrupted and at full throttle” this season amid claims that its Saudi Arabian backers will imminently withdraw having funded the breakaway league to the tune of $5bn (£3.68bn). Something for the weekend Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now TV Beef | ★★★☆☆ The second series stars Carey Mulligan and Oscar Isaac as a married couple who oversee the running of a luxury country club. Josh is the general manager (with a penchant for gambling and camgirls) and Lindsay is the interior designer-cum-hostess (with a penchant for restoring the social status she had as a posho in her native England and an icily ruthless streak). They are both frustrated with where life has led them – so close to real money, but so far from having it themselves. Overall, Beef feels like an entertaining potboiler rather than the dark march towards truth that the first series was. Not enough meat on the bones. Lucy Mangan Music Massive Attack: Boots on the Ground (ft Tom Waits) | ★★★★☆ Even by the standards of a band noted for their unhurried approach, Massive Attack’s recorded output has dwindled to a trickle in recent years. Tom Waits’s presence on Boots on the Ground underlines their continued ability to attract blue-chip collaborators. Your attention is drawn by Waits’s voice – at its most Beefheartian here – and what he’s saying. Apparently sung from the viewpoint of a boorish, violent, unbound figure of authority – the type of aggressor and warmonger so emboldened of late – the lyrics veer between the surreal and the distressing. Clearly, this isn’t a piece of music destined to elbow Massive Attack’s greatest hits – Teardrop, Safe from Harm, Unfinished Sympathy – from people’s affections: it is dark, disturbing, ominous, with a distinct streak of WTF?. Which makes it music perfectly fitting for the times. Alexis Petridis Games Pragmata | ★★★★☆ Despite its sparkling near-future setting, Pragmata succeeds because it feels like a throwback to gaming’s recent past. It’s a beautifully made, heartfelt single-player adventure with a novel combat idea, and it prioritises storytelling and atmosphere. Where attempts at heartwarming games often come across as off-puttingly saccharine, Pragmata pulls off its father-daughter relationship with surprising deftness. This is Capcom’s belated, surprisingly soulful first entry into gaming’s sad dad genre. Tom Regan Film Miroirs No 3 | ★★★★☆ German director Christian Petzold delivers an elegant and disquieting psychological mystery of the sort that doesn’t interest today’s British film-makers, though this one appears to have more than a taste of PD James or Ruth Rendell. It is about family dysfunction and grief and unnervingly lays out the aftermath of a sudden violent trauma. The faint suggestion that the film itself has gone into a kind of shock could have layered the proceedings with something infinitesimally dreamlike and unreal. What makes this film interesting is that it isn’t heading for a macabre twist or chilling denouement but something positive and even redemptive. It is highly diverting, elegantly contrived study of an unhappy family group and the cuckoo in its nest. Peter Bradshaw The front pages “Revealed: Mandelson failed security vetting for US role,” is the lead story at the Guardian on Friday. “Starmer on brink as his Mandleson ‘lies’ are exposed,” says the Mail. “Mandelson hired after failing to pass vetting,” has the Times. “Starmer accused after revelation that Mandelson failed vetting for US post,” runs the FT, as the i says “Starmer in peril again as No 10 turns on the Foreign Office,” and the Express: “‘Starmer must resign after blatant lies to MPs’”. “Putin’s Brit hit list revealed,” is the splash at the Mirror. “Posh breaks Brooklyn silence,” is the lead story at the Metro. “Footie ace killed in train horror,” has the Star. Finally, the Sun with “Long time no see, Fergie.” Today in Focus Will Trump regret taking on the Pope? The president’s posting of an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus horrified many Christians. Sarah Posner tells Annie Kelly why evangelical voters still flock to him. Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad Step away from the bustling centres of major UK cities and a different country emerges: high streets that were once full of life are punctuated by derelict buildings. In a new series, Sam Wollaston tells the story of six of these empty sites. The first is the tale of Wildings, an old department store in Newport – once among the grandest in the Welsh city – which fell into disrepair and became a drug den. The photos, captured by Christopher Thomond, are beautiful, and help chart the decline of parts of the UK in a new and moving way. 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 feels like death is certain’: lives and limbs lost to crocodile attacks on the banks of Kenya’s rising Lake Turkana

Ng’ikalei Loito was walking out of the warm waters of Lake Turkana on a sunny afternoon, having just finished swimming with her two sisters-in-law, when she suddenly felt the crushing force of a crocodile’s bite on her legs. In excruciating pain, she instinctively clung to a partially submerged tree that was within reach and screamed for help, as the crocodile tried to drag her under the water. Loito’s thoughts raced to her five children. She wondered who would take care of them if she died. “When a crocodile attacks, it feels like death is certain,” she said. As shouting villagers waded into the water, eventually the crocodile let go of Loito’s legs, which were now bloody and badly mangled. She was carried out and taken to hospital, a three-hour drive away, in a police vehicle. Ng’ikalei Loito sits on her tricycle outside her house in Kalokol town in Turkana Attacks on people living along Lake Turkana in north-west Kenya have become common in recent years as rising water levels shift the habitats of Nile crocodiles – predators that can grow up to six metres (20ft) long and weigh up to 900kg (2,000lb) – closer to human settlements. The attack on Loito took place in December 2024 in Lowarengak town on the western side of the lake, near the Ethiopian border. Medics at the hospital plastered one leg and put an external fixator on the other. However, the following afternoon they found that both her legs were turning green and only one of her toes was responsive, so they decided to amputate them. “The legs were completely destroyed,” the 33-year-old recalled in an interview earlier this month that took place at her home in Kalokol town, her tricycle parked nearby. Loito used to cook and sell mandazi, a fried dough, in the town to support her family. She now depends on assistance from her mother and other relatives she lives with. “My life has totally changed. I am not able to do anything now,” she said. Lake Turkana, the world’s largest permanent desert lake, is one of eight major lakes along the Kenyan part of the Rift Valley, a geographic depression stretching 4,000 miles (6,500km) from Lebanon to Mozambique. In 2021 a government report found that the lake’s total surface area had expanded by about 10% over the previous decade. Many rely on Lake Turkana, the world’s largest alkaline lake, to catch fish for consumption and sale inside and outside Kenya. The rising water levels in many of Kenya’s Rift Valley lakes have displaced tens of thousands of people and submerged homes, schools, farms, hospitals and infrastructure. Researchers have attributed the rise to various factors. The same 2021 report said the primary explanation was increased rainfall caused by the climate crisis. It also linked the phenomenon to tectonic movement in the Rift Valley. Another report that year, by the UN environment programme, said climate change may make the flooding of Lake Turkana more frequent over the next two decades. Clockwise from top left: What was once a toilet on the Long’ech peninsula has now been partially submerged by the rising water level of Lake Turkana. A fisher rows his log boat off Long’ech. Felisters Dapat, who lost her 10-year-old son, stands on the lakeshore in Long’ech. The lakeshore in Lochilet village. Elijah Chege, county warden for Turkana at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), said the overflow had brought crocodiles closer to human settlements. The animals have now established new nesting and hunting grounds along the altered shorelines, which has increased the likelihood of attacks on people, he said. Traditional fishing practices, such as the use of logs as boats, also expose communities to heightened risk of attacks, Chege added. Chege said that to address the problem, KWS conducts awareness campaigns in communities to teach people about high-risk areas and crocodile behaviour, adding that the agency also recruits local scouts to monitor crocodile movements. “We have to teach the community to coexist with these animals,” he said. “We need to balance conservation and the safety of the community. Because the crocodiles, at the end of the day, have to be there. They are in their habitat.” Chege also said KWS relocates “problematic” crocodiles and, in the worst-case scenario, kills them. Despite these efforts, the attacks persist. In the past year, KWS recorded seven deaths and 15 injuries due to crocodile attacks, according to Chege. Achiro Kephas, referrals and emergency coordinator at the Turkana county’s health ministry, said most victims are fishers, most deaths go unreported and most survivors end up with permanent disabilities. Testimonies of crocodile attacks can be heard in many communities surrounding the lake. Ng’ispaan Long’olan, who lost his leg in a crocodile attack Just across the road from Loito’s home, Ng’ispaan Long’olan sat on a wooden chair selling water and charcoal, with two crutches next to him. Long’olan recalled how he lost his left leg to a crocodile attack in Natirae village one morning in 2018, just a day after his youngest child was born. He was untying a fishing net in the lake when a crocodile bit his legs. A struggle ensued and, feeling his right leg starting to break, the thought of death crossing his mind, Long’olan poked his middle and ring fingers into one of the crocodile’s eyes. The animal let go but Long’olan’s left leg, now crushed and detaching from the rest of his body, was stuck in the net. Some fishers came over in a boat but were unable to free the limb. So he instructed them to cut it off using a traditional Turkana wrist knife. “I was in so much pain and the leg was torn and completely damaged,” he said. Ng’ispaan Long’olan shows his scar from the metal rod inserted in his leg The 44-year-old now has a metal rod in his right leg, and the two fingers that he used to attack the crocodile are numb. The only way to end the attacks, he said, is for KWS to shoot the crocodiles dead. Partially submerged palm trees, electric poles, fences and buildings, some miles from the shore, could be seen on a recent journey by boat across the choppy waters between Kalokol and the Long’ech peninsula. “This used to be a popular club,” said Kephas, , pointing towards the top of a structure poking out of the water with wooden frames and a collapsed iron roof. On the peninsula, families are reeling from recurrent crocodile attacks and the loss of land. Ayanae Loong’orio lost her eight-year-old daughter, Esther Ikimat, in 2024 when a crocodile attacked her as she was swimming in the lake during a school lunch break. “My legs failed me,” Loong’orio recalled of trying to reach the scene. “I ended up crawling towards the lakeshore, screaming for help and asking people to save my child.” Ayanae Loon’gorio, who lost her eight-year-old daughter in a crocodile attack A video later posted to social media showed the animal dragging her – her head and hand hanging out of its mouth – further into the lake. “Oh, my God! Where is the gun? I wish I had one! Bring the gun now,” a voice is heard saying in the Turkana language as the animal swims away. A fisher in an engine-powered boat chased after the animal and hit it on its back with the boat. The crocodile released Ikimat’s lifeless body and it was recovered. In less than two years since the attack, the water has encroached further, meaning Loong’orio can no longer pinpoint where it happened. Felisters Dapat lost one of her children in the same circumstances. Daniel Lotaruk was swimming with friends when a crocodile bit him and carried him away. Felisters Dapat, whose son was killed by a crocodile Residents later found his legs on the shore. His other body parts have never been recovered. Dapat, 31, often goes to the site where Lotaruk was swimming, hoping she will find the remains. “What can we do?” she asked. “Even if people kill the crocodiles, the animals will still reproduce.” People angered by the attacks sometimes take matters into their own hands. Last October, residents of Kalokok town killed a crocodile that they said had been terrorising them. On a recent hot afternoon in a thatched structure on the lakeshore, about a dozen fishers sat and listened attentively to Kephas. Achiro Kephas holds an awareness forum on crocodile attacks in Long’ech He was holding an awareness forum on crocodile attacks, touching on subjects such as the human behaviours that may cause attacks, the force of a crocodile’s bite and the importance of immediate medical attention for victims. He asked a participant to hold up an image of a crocodile for him, its sharp teeth prominently visible. He said: “When this crocodile bites you, your chances of survival are low.” He added: “All of us who depend on the lake should try to avoid those behaviours that put us at risk of crocodile attacks.”

Gunfire reported in Beirut as truce comes into effect – as it happened

We’re closing this page now but our live coverage continues on a new blog here, including a recap of the latest key developments. Thanks for following along.

Ukraine war briefing: €90bn EU loan for Ukraine to be released in second quarter

The EU expects to start releasing a new €90bn loan to Ukraine in the second quarter, the bloc’s economy chief told AFP on Thursday. The EU’s economy commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, was speaking on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings, which brought finance ministers, central bankers and other leaders to Washington. “Our support for Ukraine, also continued pressure and sanctions against aggressor Russia was very much part of the agenda,” Dombrovskis said. He warned that Moscow was “emerging as a winner from this war in Iran, because it provides windfall profits to feed Russia’s war machine”. Russia hammered civilian areas across Ukraine with drones and missiles on Thursday, killing at least 17 people and wounding more than 100 others in the worst aerial attack in weeks, Ukrainian authorities said. Nearly 700 drones and dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles were used, as Ukrainian officials said vital stocks of advanced interceptors were running low. Donald Trump on Thursday condemned a massive Russian drone and missile attack across Ukraine that ripped through apartment buildings in the capital, Kyiv. Asked by reporters at the White House for his reaction to the barrage, Trump said: “I think it’s terrible.” It is not in the interest of the US that Russia is the winner of the Iran war, the German vice chancellor, Lars Klingbeil, said on Thursday in Washington. “It’s not in our interest and it cannot be in the interest of the United States,” he said in a joint statement with the finance ministers of Ukraine and Norway on the sidelines of the IMF spring meetings. Klingbeil said the Russian economy was growing thanks to the Middle East conflict and the country was profitting from the energy situation. As the conflict in the Middle East dominated the gathering of finance officials at the IMF in Washington, the ministers of Norway, Germany and Ukraine spoke about not forgetting to support Ukraine in its defence against Russia. “All the meetings here are about the question of what’s happening with the war in Iran, and I think it’s really important we show solidarity with our friends in Ukraine,” Klingbeil said. The heads of the EU and Nato on Thursday discussed efforts to bolster Europe’s arms production, as Donald Trump threw doubt on Washington’s commitment to the transatlantic alliance. “We need to invest more, to produce more and to do both faster,” the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, posted online after meeting Nato’s chief, Mark Rutte. European nations are scrambling to bolster their militaries in the face of Russia’s war on Ukraine and pressure from Trump.

Armed robbers hold 25 people hostage at Naples bank before fleeing through hole in floor

Armed robbers held 25 people hostage at a bank in Naples for two hours on Thursday, before fleeing through a tunnel. The three thieves entered a branch of Crédit Agricole in the southern Italian city at about 11.30am, taking hostage staff and customers, who were freed by police a couple of hours later. “Thanks to the swift response … all the hostages were freed shortly after 1:30pm, without serious injuries,” Michele di Bari, prefect of Naples, said in a statement. Emergency responders smashed windows to enter the bank in piazza Medaglie d’Oro in the city’s Arenella district, by which time the robbers had escaped, reportedly down a hole in the bank’s floor and into the sewers. The company that manages Naples’s water network has been inspecting the sewer system, according to the local news site Fanpage.it. It was unclear whether the robbers managed to flee with any loot. According to Fanpage, the robbers were believed to have targeted safety deposit boxes and there was no cash inside the bank. The Naples prosecutor Nicola Gratteri was also at the scene. One of the people held hostage, a bank customer, told Fanpage they had been locked in a room. “I was in the bank when they entered; there was definitely three of them. They came and locked us – customers, employees and the manager – in a room. They were armed but they didn’t use violence.” A branch of Crédit Agricole in Milan was targeted in a similar robbery in 2020. In that case, two armed robbers walked into the premises through the main entrance and held staff hostage as two accomplices entered via a maintenance hole, having crawled through the sewer network. The gang stole several safe-deposit boxes before all escaping through the drains.