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Middle East crisis live: ‘We have not even begun’, Iran warns US amid escalation in strait of Hormuz

Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has condemned the attacks on the US-allied UAE after the Gulf nation was struck by a barrage of missiles and drones yesterday. The UAE came under repeated attacks from Iran for the first time since a ceasefire took hold in early April. One sparked a fire at a key oil facility in Fujairah and injured three Indian nationals, authorities said. In a post to X this morning, Sharif expressed his full solidarity with UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “Pakistan strongly condemns the missile and drone attacks on civilian infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates last night,” he wrote. “Pakistan stands firmly with our Emirati brothers and sisters as well as with the government of the United Arab Emirates at this difficult time. It is absolutely essential that the ceasefire be upheld and respected, to allow necessary diplomatic space for dialogue leading to enduring peace and stability in the region.” Pakistan is playing a crucial mediating role between Iran and the US, having hosted a first round of peace talks in Islamabad in April. It continues to relay messages between the two sides even if an agreement looks increasingly elusive.

Tuesday briefing: How AI facial recognition in policing works – and how it can go wrong

Good morning. Over the last couple of days, the Guardian has been reporting that facial recognition technology is being rolled out across the UK at a pace that appears to be outstripping the rules designed to govern it. Police forces are increasingly using live systems to scan members of the public in real time, while retailers are deploying similar tools to identify suspected shoplifters. Advocates of the technology argue that facial recognition is effective and here to stay. Critics warn it risks creating a system where people are monitored – and sometimes wrongly flagged – without clear safeguards. For today’s newsletter, I spoke to the Guardian’s UK technology editor, Robert Booth, about how the technology works, how widely it is now being used and what happens when it goes wrong. First, this morning’s headlines. Five big stories Middle East crisis | Donald Trump has threatened that Iran will be “blown off the face of the earth” if it attacks US vessels trying to reopen a route through the strait of Hormuz. Delivery industry | More than 7,000 Just Eat couriers are taking legal action against the food delivery company in an attempt to gain better employment rights, including the minimum wage and holiday pay. Europe | At the European Political Community summit in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, Keir Starmer has called on Europe to “face up” to tensions with the Trump administration, as heads of government gathered to discuss the EU’s loan scheme for Ukraine. UK news | Keir Starmer will call for a whole-of-society response to rising antisemitism on Tuesday, saying that it is not enough simply to condemn the scourge, but people “must show it” through their actions too. Cost of living | Food prices are set to be 50% higher by November compared to 2021, according to research by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit. In depth: ‘There’s a sense that it’s happening in a creeping way’ One afternoon recently in Croydon, Robert Booth watched as police officers trialled a deployment of live facial recognition cameras. Mounted high above the street, the cameras were switched on for a few hours at a time. Nearby, uniformed and plainclothes officers lingered, waiting. When someone on a watchlist passed through the camera’s field of view, an alert was sent to officers’ phones. What happened next was striking. “It was like a trap snapping shut,” Robert tells me. Within seconds, officers converged on the individual – “a kind of net closing” – often before the person had any idea they had been identified. In one case, he saw a man taken to the ground by several officers in a matter of moments. “It all just happens in a flash,” he says. “That kind of thing happening in the public sphere, enabled entirely by technology, feels quite new.” *** How does it work – and why now? Live facial recognition systems, as Robert wrote in this explainer, scan faces captured on camera and compare them against watchlists compiled by police or private operators. If the system identifies a potential match, it alerts officers, who can then decide whether to intervene. Part of the appeal is clear: it can be effective. Police say it has led to arrests, and businesses claim it acts as a deterrent to shoplifting. But the rapid uptake of facial recognition reflects a broader pattern seen with other technologies, from social media to age verification, where adoption has outpaced the development of clear regulatory frameworks to govern it. And use is rocketing: so far this year the Metropolitan police in London has scanned more than 1.7 million faces, up 87% on the same period in 2025. *** The ‘edge cases’ where concern arises On Monday, social affairs correspondent Jessica Murray reported on the case of Ian Clayton, a retired health and safety professional from Chester. He is one of a number of people who have spoken to the Guardian after being falsely identified as a thief by shops using Facewatch, a live facial recognition system. He described the experience of being thrown out of a store after his face was flagged as “very Orwellian”, adding “it was like I was guilty until proven innocent.” “These are straightforwardly difficult and wrong situations. The question is how widespread those cases are,” Robert says. “The technology itself may improve, and the systems around how it’s used may improve, too,” he adds. Even so, a small error rate can easily become significant if the technology is deployed more widely. Beyond individual errors, there is a broader concern about the cumulative effect of the technology – that simply moving through public space increasingly involves being unknowingly monitored and checked against databases. *** What do the public think? Robert spoke to people in Croydon when he was observing the police using the system. “Some take the view that if you’ve got nothing to hide, there’s nothing to worry about,” he tells me. “They also point out that our faces are already used in lots of different ways online and for unlocking our phones.” Others are more concerned. “They worry about the risk of mistaken identity, and the fact they may not even have noticed the cameras. There’s a sense that it’s happening in a creeping way.” There are also people who are very much opposed to its use. Robert says they consider hundred and thousands of faces being scanned in public as “a clear infringement of their liberties”. The campaign group Liberty have warned that, as the situation stands, police could use the tool as a means of intimidation at protests, retroactively on any image or footage they hold, and have used it to track children as young as 12. Data has also shown that systems are more likely to incorrectly include black and Asian people than their white counterparts in search results. *** What happens now? “The key question is whether regulators can make sure the downsides of the technology don’t happen – so that people can feel they’re getting the benefits without the harms,” Robert says. One thing is clear – oversight is fragmented. Several bodies are involved, including the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Watchdogs have warned that this patchwork approach is struggling to keep pace with the technology’s rapid development. The Home Office has said it is considering a new legal framework for the technology. For now, the direction of travel is clear. “The technology is clearly going to keep advancing,” Robert says. “The question is whether the rules around it can keep up.” What else we’ve been reading The Guardian’s Arts editor, Alex Needham, ventured to Japan’s “art island”, Naoshima, guided by the avant garde creative, Lee Ufan. The Korean-born artist, whose retrospective opens in Venice next weekend, discusses finding inspiration in Duchamp – and why he once chased three enormous sheets of paper in Tokyo. Yassin El-Moudden, newsletters team Nobody likes a break-up or delivering bad news. Isabel Bekele looks at the people using AI chatbots to rehearse awkward conversations in advance. Martin Combining a pedal steel guitar with the Turkish saz, the third solo album by former Vampire Weekend member Rostam Batmanglij blends Americana with sounds from south-west Asia. It’s Batmanglij’s “best to date”, according to Shaad D’Souza, who spoke with the Iranian-American musician in this great interview. Yassin My colleague Sammy Gecsoyler was sent to Birmingham to investigate the death of UK clubbing, asking: “Whatever happened to Saturday night?” Martin This fascinating exclusive on Kenya’s AI-powered healthcare system follows months of investigations into how the technology is being used to means-test the amount of contributions patients are expected to make – with disastrous consequences for the poorest. Yassin Sport Football | Four players were taken off with head injuries as Nottingham Forest eased to a 3-1 win against Calum McFarlane’s Chelsea. A wild 3-3 draw at Everton for Manchester City may have handed Arsenal the edge in the title race. Snooker | Wu Yize has won the World Snooker Championship final, beating Shaun Murphy 18-17, with a break of 85 in the deciding frame. Cycling | The 19-year-old French prodigy, Paul Seixas, is set to become the youngest Tour de France cyclist in 89 years, raising hopes that he may become the country’s first homegrown winner since 1985. The front pages “Trump’s bid to reopen Hormuz pushes region back to the brink” is the Guardian’s splash on Tuesday, while the FT says “Iran warns US not to enter Hormuz strait and launches drones at UAE”. Ahead of the local elections, the i Paper leads with “Leadership rivals circle Starmer as local election ‘bloodbath’ looms for Labour.” The Times runs with “Labour MPs plot Starmer putsch after poll losses,” while the Mirror writes “Stop him” underneath a picture of Nigel Farage. Kemi Badenoch tells the Daily Mail “Britain needs zero tolerance on crimes that make our lives a misery” and the Sun leads with: “Just one more small boat and arrivals hit … 200,000”. The Metro focuses on tensions with Brussels under the headline “Starmer walks EU tightrope”. The Telegraph’s top story is “Met seeks UK trial for Madeleine suspect,” and finally the Express with “Fan ban police tsar campaigns with man behind vile abuse”. Today in Focus Fake fans, fake buzz? How your favourite band got big Shaad D’Souza explains how bands such as Geese have faced a backlash since a marketing company revealed its tricks for pushing them into the limelight, and Eamonn Forde discusses what it takes to succeed in the music industry today. Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad High schools in one London borough are trying a new way to help students deal with anxiety caused by exams, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and challenging home lives: virtual reality. Schools in the borough of Sutton are teaming up with a local NHS mental health trust to trial the use of VR headsets by the tech company Phase Space. In the first 10 schools that tried out the devices, 90% of students saw an immediate drop in their stress levels, while attendance has improved and anxiety around exams has decreased. Sixteen-year-old pupil Lora Wilson described using the tool: “It’s very difficult to explain but it’s a really cool experience. It almost feels like I’m somewhere else and I can just relax.” 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

Australia eyes security pact with Fiji as pushback from Beijing undermines agreement with Vanuatu

Australia looks close to signing a landmark security and economic agreement with Fiji as part of the Albanese government’s efforts to contain China’s growing influence across the Pacific. But pushback from Beijing has undermined a separate pact with Vanuatu’s government, resulting in a scaling back of a deal aimed at locking in Australia as the country’s primary security partner. The foreign minister, Penny Wong, and the minister for Pacific Island affairs, Pat Conroy, were due to arrive in Suva on Tuesday afternoon as part of a three-day trip focused on fuel security and strategic ties. The pair are expected to progress a new treaty known as the Vuvale Union in talks with Fiji’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, and cabinet ministers. Wong and Conroy have dramatically increased engagement across the Pacific since Labor’s 2022 election win amid concerns China is buying influence through funding for major infrastructure projects and the provision of services, including policing. This week’s visit is expected to include talks on energy security and major supply chain disruptions caused by the war in Iran. Wong and Conroy will also hold talks with the secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum secretariat, Baron Waqa. Fiji is due to host a pre-Cop31 summit in October, part of a negotiated settlement between Australia and Turkey over hosting rights for the massive climate event in November. Wong said Australia and Fiji shared an enduring partnership, which helped keep the Pacific region “secure, stable and resilient”. “Strengthening our ties with Fiji is a key part of Australia’s broader commitment to the Pacific, grounded in listening, partnership and long-term collaboration,” she said. “Australia will continue to stand alongside Fiji and other Pacific Island partners to address fuel security challenges, including advocating for open and stable global supply routes so essential shipments can reach our region.” Conroy welcomed the opportunity to progress the Vuvale Union, including efforts to stop organised criminal activity taking place in the region. “We recognise that after climate change, transnational crime is a top security threat for the region,” he said. “That’s why we’ll discuss how Australia can support a coordinated regional response to transnational organised crime.” Australia has used regional security deals to lock in cooperation with countries including Tuvalu and Nauru, as well as upgrading diplomatic ties with Papua New Guinea to a formal alliance. The strategy came after the Solomon Islands government signed a secretive security agreement with China in 2022. That deal caught the Morrison government, and New Zealand’s government, “off guard”. But efforts to secure the so-called Nakamal agreement with Vanuatu were blocked in September last year as government ministers raised concerns about infrastructure funding promises from China. Despite a visit from the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, last year, Vanuatu’s leader, Jotham Napat, confirmed the delay related to Vanuatu’s ability to continue to seek infrastructure funding from other countries. China and Vanuatu are negotiating their own deal, known as the Namele agreement. Napat said in April it was a “comprehensive development cooperation agreement” and not a security deal. Beijing has paid millions for upgrades to government buildings in Vanuatu, including an $86m gift to renovate the prime minister’s office last year. Labor hopes to sign some form of a deal with Vanuatu soon. A previous security agreement struck with Vanuatu in 2022 was never formally ratified by the country’s parliament, amid concerns over a lack of consultation and whether it was consistent with Vanuatu’s philosophy of non-alignment in foreign policy.

First Russian oil reportedly arrives in Japan since Iran war – as it happened

We’re shutting this live coverage now but you can read our full report as the Middle East returns to the brink of full-scale war. Below is a summary of the latest events. Thanks for joining us. The US military said it fired on Iranian forces and sank six small boats targeting civilian ships as it moved to reopen the strait of Hormuz on Monday and Tehran sought to reassert its blockade. The US-allied United Arab Emirates came under repeated attacks from Iran for the first time since a ceasefire took hold in early April. One sparked a fire at a key oil facility in Fujairah and wounded three Indian nationals, authorities said. Donald Trump said Iran would be “blown off the face of the earth” if it attacked US vessels trying to reopen a route through the Hormuz strait under a US military operation titled Project Freedom. Two American-flagged merchant ships had successfully transited the strait on Monday as part of the project, the military said. Earlier, Iran’s military central command warned that it would strike any US naval vessel approaching the strait, and claimed to have struck a US frigate in the area with two missiles. US Central Command denied that claim, saying no US Navy ships had been struck and US forces were continuing to enforce the naval blockade on Iranian ports. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the US and the UAE “should be wary of being dragged back into quagmire”. He also said there was “no military solution” to the crisis. In Oman, two people were injured by an attack on a residential building in Bukha, along the coastline of the strait of Hormuz, an Omani state news agency reported. The British military reported two cargo vessels on fire off the UAE. Stocks sank on Tuesday amid the fresh spike in Middle East tensions. Japan took delivery of its first stockpile of oil from Russia since global supplies were choked off by the Hormuz strait’s closure, reports said. A fire onboard a South Korean-operated vessel in the strait of Hormuz that had an explosion has been extinguished, ship operator HMM said. South Korea’s foreign ministry said no casualties were reported, while Trump blamed Iran for the attack. The UK and Saudi Arabia both called for de-escalation after reported barrage of Iranian attacks on the UAE. British PM Keir Starmer said: “Iran needs to engage meaningfully in negotiations to ensure the ceasefire in the Middle East endures, and a long-term diplomatic solution is achieved.” Inflation is picking up and the global economy could face a “much worse outcome” if the war in the Middle East drags into 2027 and oil prices hit about $125 a barrel, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned.

‘Extreme demands’: Finnish cross-country ski psychodrama Guts finds global success

The concept of sisu – used to refer to guts or inner strength – is often talked about as the source of Finnish happiness. And Guts, a hit Finnish TV series about top female cross-country skiers, makes it clear from the beginning that any happiness in this psychodrama is going to be exceptionally hard-won. Featuring vomiting on ice, hallucinations, bullying male coaches and female rivalry, Guts combines the ferocity of competitive sport with cosy homes and pretty snow scenes. Hot on the heels of Heated Rivalry, the Canadian ice hockey romance, it is part of a new wave of shows featuring winter sports. The Finnish broadcaster Yle also has a figure skating drama in its autumn schedules. Guts has been a huge success in Finland – where it is billed as Black Swan in snow, after Darren Aronofsky’s 2010 psychological horror film about rival ballerinas – and its star Roosa Söderholm last week won best performance at the Canneseries festival in Cannes. Söderholm, 31, said she could not believe the reception the show received in Cannes and was shocked to receive an award for her portrayal of a skier desperate to become a world champion. “It is quite rare for Finnish people to be awarded internationally, so I am quite speechless about it still,” she said. Part of the show’s international appeal is its insight into Finland and its culture, which she said many viewers find “exotic”. She was also drawn to the fact that it is a story centred around women’s sport, which is still rare. Suvi Mansnerus, executive producer and commissioner for Yle Drama, said she immediately felt the idea, created and written by Jemina Jokisalo, could appeal to domestic and international audiences. Mansnerus is keen to emphasise that while Finland is a “ski-crazy nation”, this is not a sports series. Cross-country skiing, she said, “provides the framework for good drama and storytelling”. Like Heated Rivalry, Guts is a story about people searching for connection and meaning, she added. “It reveals the uniqueness of athletes and their ultimate competitive spirit, something we can relate to, but never fully understand or experience ourselves,” she said. “Cross-country skiing, with its extreme physical and mental demands, provides the perfect backdrop for exploring these intense human stories.” Söderholm herself spent two years training up for the show with her fellow cast members and expert coaches. While, like most Finnish children, she learned to ski when she was young, she did not have any technical skills so had to pretty much learn from scratch. Now cross-country skiing has become such a central part of her life that she even trains with roller skis in summer. “I love it. It’s stuck with me. Or I’m stuck with skiing,” she said. “Cross-country skiing has the same feeling as if you like to go jogging, like to run,” she said. “And you can also do it together with friends.”

Ukraine war briefing: Duelling ceasefires as Zelenskyy floats open-ended truce

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has offered a potentially open-ended ceasefire beginning on Wednesday to Vladimir Putin, whose defence ministry has demanded that hostilities should cease for Friday and Saturday so that Russia can mark the anniversary of the second world war defeat of Nazi Germany, 81 years ago. The Russian defence ministry threatened that if its truce demand was not met there would be a “massive missile strike on the centre of Kyiv” – adopting a tone akin to Donald Trump’s recent threats to attack Iranian civilian infrastructure, in what has been condemned as a potential war crime. Its follows a familiar pattern of unilateral ceasefire declarations by the Russian side – most recently around Orthodox Easter – that have had little to no impact. Zelenskyy initially responded that the Russian request was “not serious”, later following up that while Kyiv had not received any official requests for a truce, in the time left until midnight on Wednesday “it is realistic to ensure” that a ceasefire takes effect. “We announce a regime of silence starting from 00.00 on the night of May 5 to May 6.” He gave no end time but said Ukraine would “act symmetrically” according to Russian actions. Noting that Russia had failed to respond to Kyiv’s longstanding calls for a lasting ceasefire, he urged the Kremlin “to take real steps to end their war, especially since Russia’s defence ministry believes it cannot hold a parade in Moscow without Ukraine’s goodwill”. This year, the parade in the Russian capital is scheduled to take place without tanks, missiles and other military equipment for the first time in nearly two decades. Speaking at a summit with European leaders in Armenia on Monday, Zelenskyy said that the Russian authorities “fear drones may buzz over Red Square” on 9 May. “This is telling. It shows they are not strong now, so we must keep up the pressure through sanctions on them.” High global oil prices will not help boost Russian economic growth this year as Ukrainian drone attacks and western sanctions affect crude output and exports, the influential thinktank TsMAKP, which is close to the Russian government, has predicted. “This year, a reduction in exports from Russia is expected compared to 2025,” analysts wrote as TsMAKP cut its forecast for gross domestic product growth. “The main considerations were the risks of reduced production and, consequently, exports of hydrocarbons from Russia due to new attacks on port infrastructure and oil refineries.” TsMAKP cut the GDP growth forecast for this year to between 0.5% and 0.7% from 0.9% and 1.3% one month ago. The government is officially forecasting 1.3% but officials have said this is optimistic and will be revised. New government forecasts are expected later this month. Russia’s economy contracted by 0.3% in the first quarter, its first quarterly contraction since early 2023. Russia was forced to reduce oil output in April due to Ukrainian drone attacks on ports and refineries – what Kyiv calls “kinetic sanctions” – as well as a halt to crude supplies through the only remaining Russian oil pipeline to Europe, according to a Reuters report last month. A Russian missile attack killed seven people and wounded more than 30 in the town of Merefa, in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region, Ukrainian officials said on Monday. Regional prosecutors said Russian forces appeared to have used an Iskander-type ballistic missile. The governor of the southern Zaporizhzhia region, Ivan Fedorov, said a Russian strike killed a husband and wife in the village of Vilnyansk and their adult son was wounded in the strike, along with three other people. In Russia, the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said a Ukrainian drone killed a civilian resident in a border area and wounded seven others, including a 10-year-old boy. Two people were injured when a Russian drone hit an apartment building in Brovary, Kyiv region, said the head of the regional military administration. Keir Starmer has said the benefit of joining the European Union’s £78bn loan scheme for Ukraine “outweighs the cost”, writes Pippa Crerar, as the British prime minister argued the continent must move at pace to bolster its own defence. Starmer on Monday used a meeting of the European Political Community in Armenia to begin negotiations to participate in the EU scheme. If the UK’s effort to join the EU’s £78bn recovery loan scheme for Ukraine is successful, British defence firms would be able to provide equipment for Kyiv in return for a financial contribution of up to £400m. Weather monitoring equipment at the illegally Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in south-eastern Ukraine was damaged in a drone strike., the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday.

Modern slavery at record levels in UK and expected to worsen, report warns

Slavery in the UK is at record levels and is expected to worsen over the next decade, the government’s independent anti-slavery commissioner has warned. According to the number of referrals to the national referral mechanism, which assesses potential victims of slavery and provides support to victims, numbers have almost doubled in the last five years from 12,691 referrals in 2021 to 23,411 in 2025, the highest ever number. In her report, published on Tuesday, Eleanor Lyons said this increase was not only due to better detection of slavery but also to worsening conditions in the UK and across the world. “Poverty, global instability, conflict, global displacement of people and the breakdown of safe migration routes are creating a growing pipeline of vulnerability that traffickers are quick to exploit,” said the report, Anticipating Exploitation: A Futures-Based Analysis. It pulled together research compiled by more than 50 different experts across law enforcement, government, civil society and the charity sector and is the first comprehensive forward-looking analysis of how modern slavery and human trafficking are likely to evolve in the UK over the next decade. Lyons said that unless the UK took action, the situation could become even worse with AI being used to scale up and professionalise exploitation; the increased use of digital labour in “scam compounds” – such as entrapping people into investor and romance fraud; and the integration of cryptocurrencies into trafficking models. The report also raised concerns about the continued growth of gig economy platforms, coercive labour in areas such as agriculture, construction and mining, and an increase in reproductive slavery such as enforced egg harvesting and surrogacy. Lyons called on ministers to increase funding for specialist police units so they can disrupt exploitation, prosecute more businesses exploiting or enslaving workers, and to launch a national campaign to help the public recognise and report exploitation. She has also called on the government to improve victim care. Her report warned that without urgent action criminal networks would become more cunning, less visible and harder to disrupt. “Slavery and the most harrowing forms of exploitation are becoming more widespread in this country and evolving faster than we can respond,” Lyons said. “As exploitation becomes more complex and more hidden, driven by technology and global instability, it will spread further and become harder to stop unless we act now.” A separate evaluation report, also published on Tuesday by the Council of Europe’s influential group of experts on trafficking in human beings, Greta, highlighted a steep rise in potential trafficking victims. While the experts welcomed a series of steps taken by the UK authorities in recent years to tackle human trafficking, such as not holding victims responsible for criminal acts they were forced to carry out by their traffickers, they urged the UK to adopt a number of further measures to bring the country’s anti-trafficking laws, policies and practices fully into line with the convention on action against trafficking in human beings. The report stressed the need for more resources, increased prioritisation and better coordination between law enforcement and other agencies, as well as reinforced financial investigations. It added that further safeguards were needed to prevent trafficking for labour exploitation, as well as the trafficking of people from vulnerable groups – including children, migrants, asylum seekers and homeless people. A Home Office spokesperson said: “Modern slavery is a global scourge that abuses and exploits people for profit. We are committed to reviewing the modern slavery system to reduce opportunities for misuse of the system, whilst also ensuring that we have the right protections for those who need it. “We are working with brave survivors to inform policy development and improve the process of identifying victims. We have also taken immediate action to reduce the backlog of cases, ensuring victims get swift decisions and the support they need to rebuild their lives.”