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Middle East crisis live: Iran says it needs guarantees against attacks before Gulf can be stable

We are restarting our live coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Iran needs “credible guarantees” against more US-Israeli attacks before it can ensure security in the Gulf, Tehran’s envoy to the UN has said, while on a Russian visit Iran’s foreign minister blamed Washington for the failure of peace talks. “The US approaches caused the previous round of negotiations, despite progress, to fail to reach its goals because of the excessive demands,” the minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Monday in St Petersburg, where Vladimir Putin promised him Moscow’s support in ending the war. Donald Trump on Sunday had told Fox News that if Iran wanted talks, “they can call us” – adding that his cancellation of sending his envoys to Pakistan at the weekend did not signal a return to hostilities. On Monday Amir Saeid Iravani, Tehran’s UN ambassador, told a security council session: “Lasting stability and security in the Persian Gulf and the wider region can only be achieved through a durable and permanent cessation of aggression against Iran supplemented by credible guarantees of non-recurrence and full respect for the legitimate sovereign rights and interests of Iran.” Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed, without providing evidence, that Hezbollah’s rockets and drones were a key threat demanding military action as the Israeli army expanded airstrikes on Lebanon. Authorities there reported at least four people were killed on Monday despite a supposed ceasefire. In other key developments: Donald Trump is unhappy with an Iranian proposal on the war because it does not address Iran’s nuclear program, Reuters cited a US official as saying on Monday, after Trump discussed the proposal with his top national security aides. Iran had offered to end its closure of the strait of Hormuz if the US lifted its blockade and ended the war in a proposal that would postpone discussions on Iran’s nuclear program, the Associated Press reported earlier, citing two unnamed regional officials. Later reporting quoted White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt as saying the proposal was “being discussed”. Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said direct talks with Israel sought to end the war on Lebanon and that those who dragged Lebanon into it were the ones committing “treason” – a jab at the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah, which claimed several attacks on Israeli targets in south Lebanon on Monday. Iraq’s newly elected president nominated businessman Ali al-Zaidi as the country’s prime minister-designate on Monday, after the country’s leaders yielded to US pressure not to support the bid of a former premier close to Iran. The Coordination Framework – an alliance of Shia factions with varying links to Iran – had initially backed powerbroker Nouri al-Maliki to become the country’s next premier, but Trump’s ultimatum left Iraqi leaders looking elsewhere. The US and Iran clashed at the UN on Monday over Tehran’s nuclear program and its selection to be one of dozens of vice-presidents at a month-long conference to review the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. US official Christopher Yeaw said Iran’s selection was an “affront” to the treaty. Tehran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Reza Najafi, rejected the US statement as “baseless and politically motivated”.

Lebanon accuses Israel of committing ‘ecocide’ in country since 2023

Lebanon’s minister for the environment has accused Israel’s military of committing “an act of ecocide” in the foreword to a report detailing the harm done to the country’s natural resources during the invasion of 2023 to 2024. Israeli military aggression “reshaped both the physical and ecological landscape” of southern Lebanon, according to the report, which does not consider the impacts of Israel’s latest barrage of attacks this spring. Published amid a patchy ceasefire, as refugees from Israel’s latest invasion return to shattered homes and communities, the 106-page report outlines how southern Lebanon has suffered profound ecological disruption and the loss of essential ecosystem services. In her foreword, Tamara el Zein said: “The scale and intentionality of the damage to forests, agricultural lands, marine ecosystems, water resources, and atmospheric quality constitute what must be recognised as an act of ecocide, with consequences that extend far beyond immediate destruction. “The environmental damage we face is not simply ecological – it is a matter of public health, food security, livelihoods, social fabric, and national resilience.” According to the report, attacks by Israeli forces: Damaged 5,000 hectares (12,350 acres) of forest cover, including broadleaf, pine and stone pine stands, destroying habitats, disregulating local climates and causing soil erosion. Destroyed $118m (£87m) of physical agriculture assets, including crops, livestock facilities, forestry resources, fisheries and aquaculture infrastructure. Caused further losses of $586m (£433m) in lost agricultural production as a result of disrupted harvests and reduced yields. Destroyed 2,154 hectares (5,320 acres) of orchards, including 814 hectares of olive groves and 637 hectares of citrus plantations, and caused extensive damage to banana plantations. Contaminated soils with phosphorus concentrations up to 1,858 parts a million, with particular contamination hotspots in south Lebanon and Bekaa valley in the east. Caused widespread air pollution episodes extending well beyond immediate strike zones and releasing particulates; sulphur and nitrogen oxides; and toxic compounds such as dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Israel’s critics argue that it is currently repeating “the Gaza playbook” in southern Lebanon by issuing the civilian population with expulsion orders, targeting hospitals and medical staff, demolishing entire villages, destroying water infrastructure and killing media workers. Within months of beginning its war on Gaza in 2023, Israel’s forces had destroyed about 38-48% of tree cover and farmland, with olive groves and farms reduced to packed earth and groundwater contaminated by munitions and toxins, and air polluted by smoke and particulate matter. According to the new report, prepared by Lebanon’s National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS-L) and covering the period between October 2023 and December 2024, southern Lebanon was similarly treated by the Israeli military. “The environmental footprint of the war is evident in the destruction of forests and woodlands, many of which served as biodiversity hotspots and carbon sinks, and in the burning of agricultural lands, including high-value orchards and staple crop fields, undermining both livelihoods and national food security,” the report states. In total, it estimates the monetary cost to the country amounts to an estimated $25bn ($18bn), comprising $6.8bn in physical damages, $7.2bn in economic losses ands $11bn in recovery and reconstruction needs. “Lebanon cannot carry this burden alone,” El Zein said. “We call for international solidarity and support to share the responsibility of environmental recovery. The scale of the damage and the costs of restoration demand collective action and long-term partnerships.” Doug Weir, the director of the Conflict and Environment Observatory, which studies the environmental impact of war, said: “The report’s focus on building back better, and on strengthening national environmental monitoring capacities, are welcome recognition of two critical priorities for any conflict-affected state. “Sadly, elements of the report’s findings are already out of date due to the devastation wrought by Israel since the study period, particularly in the area it is illegally occupying south of the Litani River,” he added. A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said: “The IDF is aware of the potential environmental impacts of its operations in the region. The IDF operates to protect the citizens of Israel and to ensure the security and safety of the surrounding areas. All IDF actions are carried out with precautions taken to minimise harm to civilians and the environment.”

Taking power in Mali might be a stretch but insurgents can force hand of weakened regime

When al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic militants launched a series of attacks on military bases and raids into major towns in Mali and neighbouring Burkina Faso last summer, observers suggested they had been inspired by their counterparts in Syria, who had overthrown the regime of Bashar al-Assad and taken power six months or so earlier. Despite the tactical successes that earned them the fearful title of the “Ghost Army”, seizing swathes of territory and denying cities and the military of fuel and other essentials, the chances of Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) definitively defeating Mali’s military regime and the thousand or so Russian mercenaries hired to defend it looked poor. This week few think the regime of Assimi Goïta, a soldier who seized power in Mali in 2021, will survive very long – even if most analysts still believe it is more likely the Islamic militants and their separatist partners will seek to force concessions from authorities in the chaotic, poor and violent African country rather than seek outright control. Recent days have seen a paroxysm of violence in Mali that is shocking even for the Sahel, which stretches below the Sahara across Africa from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. The region has been scarred in recent years by successive coups d’état, extremism, humanitarian crises and wars. Major UN, US and French counterinsurgency and peacekeeping missions between 2012 and 2022 all failed. Few external powers have been keen to get involved again. The joint offensive launched last weekend by JNIM and its allies in Mali’s Tuareg minority community was carefully planned and coordinated. It targeted government forces and their Russian auxiliaries with ambushes, car bombs, drones and more conventional weapons, inflicting significant casualties. One was Mali’s defence minister, Sadio Camara, killed in a suicide attack on his residence in the garrison town of Kati. Another was the head of military intelligence. Other attacks hit Bamako’s international airport, while JNIM fighters and Tuareg separatists seized control of the key northern town of Kidal after soldiers fled and a force of Russian mercenaries surrendered. The defeat reversed a key symbolic victory won by the junta in Mali three years ago. Jean-Hervé Jezequel, Sahel project director for International Crisis Group, described “a major escalation in the conflict, a new stage reached by armed groups in the strategy that has driven them in recent years to attack Mali’s main urban centres”. There are deeper underlying reasons for the new surge of violence. The Sahel offers a perfect storm of factors that lead to violent extremism: grinding poverty, instability, sectarian tensions and a history of decades of conflict that has left huge numbers of weapons. Last year just under 70% of deaths from terrorism occurred in only five countries, of which three were in the Sahel. A further accelerant is the brutal counterinsurgency tactics systematically employed by armed forces and Russian mercenaries across the region, and, above all, the failure of governments to provide basic services and security. In country after country, militants have exploited this by offering protection and some basic assistance, as well as coercing communities into accepting their authority and strict Islamic rules. Expansion is essential to their campaign. Controlling populations means young men can be recruited and mosques can be used to bolster influence and authority. Control of roads and rivers means traffic can be taxed and routes used for lucrative smuggling operations. Ulf Laessing, who runs the Sahel programme of Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Foundation from Bamako, said the main focus for JNIM was to carve out an enclave within Mali which would allow it to build up its “own state in some kind of autonomy”, as al-Sharaa and HTS did in Syria before launching their lightning offensive to overthrow the al-Assad regime. The tactical alliance with the Tuareg separatists is in line with a strategy pioneered by al-Qaida, to which JNIM may owe a tenuous loyalty, which encourages militants to build relationships and connections with communities. It is unlikely the alliance would survive victory, however, according to analysts. Laessing said JNIM and other Islamic militant groups were “testing the bulwarks of regimes everywhere”. “I don’t think Bamako will fall … The JNIM can’t control large cities but they can force governments to their knees and negotiate with them and force them to adopt more of their ideology,” he said. “JNIM plays a long-term game. They can simply wait until the state authority erodes further.”

Tuesday briefing: Can a deeply divided UK agree on an assisted dying bill?

Good morning. Last week the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill in England and Wales fell at the final hurdle – just weeks after Scotland’s parliament voted down similar proposals to legalise assisted dying. For those opposed to a change in the law, it was a victory. For supporters, it has prompted anger – not just at the outcome, but at the process, with campaigners arguing that the unelected House of Lords had thwarted democracy by blocking legislation that had already passed the Commons. For today’s newsletter, I spoke to Nathan Stilwell, who has campaigned on the issue for Humanists UK, and Lucy Webster, political journalist and the author of The View from Down Here: Life As a Young Disabled Woman, who was opposed to the bill in this form, about the ethics of assisted dying and what comes next. But first, the headlines. Five big stories Monarchy | King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived at the White House on Monday for a state visit in Washington with the transatlantic alliance showing fresh signs of strain. US news | The suspected gunman at the White House correspondents’ dinner had, according to the FBI, written that “I am no longer willing to permit a paedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes”. Cole Tomas Allen, 31, from Torrance in southern California has appeared in court charged with three federal crimes including attempting to assassinate the president. UK politics | Keir Starmer will face a vote on whether to launch a standards investigation into his appointing Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington. The speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, has granted a debate today on potentially referring the prime minister to the privileges committee. Education | Half of headteachers say parts of their school are either out of use or unfit for purpose due to leaks, damp, mould, asbestos, ageing boilers and malfunctioning fire doors, according to a survey by the National Association of Head Teachers(NAHT). Conservatives | Police are assessing evidence about donations to Robert Jenrick’s campaign to become Conservative leader in 2024 after a referral from the elections watchdog, the Guardian can reveal. In depth: ‘I don’t believe anyone should suffer unnecessarily’ There was a point last summer when it felt highly likely that assisted dying – legal in many other countries, such as Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and most of Australia – would be made legal in England and Wales. So when the assisted dying bill was scuppered last Friday night, stalling in the House of Lords after more than 1,000 amendments, some campaigners struggled with it. “It’s hard not to get emotional about it,” Nathan Stilwell tells me. “Terminally ill people were given hope last year when elected politicians voted for this, and we could never have imagined that a bill of this importance would end in this way – simply being talked out, without a vote and without anything meaningful we could do to stop it.” The defeat in Westminster followed a similar setback in Scotland. In March, MSPs rejected a bill by 69 votes to 57, despite having previously backed it for further scrutiny. With defeats on both sides of the border, Stilwell says it feels like a “retrenchment”. Even among the bill’s many critics the mood was far from celebratory after it stalled. “I don’t think anyone is delighted,” Lucy Webster tells me. “It doesn’t feel like a good win … for most of us it is not about being against the principle. I’m actually in favour of assisted dying, because I don’t believe anyone should suffer unnecessarily.” Instead, she argues, the concern was about how the legislation had been drawn up. “It was specifically about a bill which was poorly designed, poorly consulted on, and [which] didn’t take into account very legitimate concerns about groups of people who would have been made incredibly vulnerable.” *** What was being proposed? The bill would have allowed terminally ill adults in England and Wales – defined as those with a life expectancy of six months or less – to request medical assistance to end their own life. To qualify, a person would have had to be mentally competent, acting voluntarily and free from coercion, and to make a formal, witnessed declaration of their wishes. Two independent doctors would have had to confirm the diagnosis, prognosis and the patient’s capacity, with further scrutiny from a multidisciplinary panel including medical, legal and safeguarding expertise before approval was granted. Medication would then be prescribed but taken by the individual themselves, rather than administered by a clinician. Even if it had passed, the law would not have come into effect immediately. Implementation was expected to take several years, with unresolved questions about how the service would operate in practice – including whether it would sit within the NHS or alongside it – and what systems, training and safeguards would need to be put in place for it to work. *** How did the bill fail in Westminster? Stilwell is unequivocal that a Lords “filibuster” was, in practice, what ended the bill’s passage in Westminster. “If you look at the nearly 1,300 amendments, with more still being introduced last week, many were clearly unworkable,” he says. He cites amendments requiring pregnancy tests for all applicants, including people over the age of 80, and increasing the number of doctors involved from two to seven. “It was effectively wrecking the bill,” he tells me. What was disappointing, he says, was that “it has been deeply serious legislation, but the way it was handled veered into the absurd”. But even if Lucy was unhappy with the way the bill ended up being stalled, her concern revolves around whether decisions about assisted dying can truly be separated from wider social attitudes. “These medical decisions are not made in a vacuum,” she says. “They are shaped by society’s biases around disability.” For many people, she argues, the issue is trust in the system itself. “Disabled people know going to the doctor is not a neutral ground … It’s not about me, but I’ve had doctors tell me I must have a poor quality of life – I’m a journalist and an author. I have a great life.” *** Could advocates have gone further to reassure critics? Supporters argue the bill had already been designed to be highly restrictive. “The eligibility criteria were already among the strictest in the world,” Stilwell says. The process itself was deliberately rigorous, involving multiple assessments, waiting periods and oversight before any approval. “There was already so much in the bill that if you added more, a terminally ill person simply wouldn’t be able to access it. We’re at the limits of what someone in that situation could reasonably go through.” But critics remain unconvinced. Concerns about coercion, the protection of disabled people and the wider impact on healthcare have continued to dominate opposition to the proposals. The Nuffield Trust, which retains a neutral position on the ethics of whether or not assisted dying should be legalised, has carried out extensive research into assisted dying in practice (pdf). It found that, internationally, assisted dying systems are complex, resource-intensive and uneven in practice. There is a heavy reliance on clinicians, which can act as a restriction, and the insistence on multiple stages – requests, assessments, waiting periods, approvals – can make it slow and administratively heavy. *** What happens next? It seems very unlikely that the government will put a new bill forward itself. Although it kept officially neutral on the issue as it went through parliament, there are prominent cabinet members – including Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood – who have expressed opposition. That means any future attempt to bring back the bill would most likely come again via a private member’s bill – an uncertain route that is dependent on the luck of the parliamentary ballot. But Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP for Spen Valley, promised that the fight was not over, arguing in this piece for the Guardian that the bill had faced “a relentless campaign of misinformation.” She also claimed to have had conversations with MPs who voted against it last time,who are now so angry with the bill having been delayed that they would support it being picked up again in the next session and sent back to the upper chamber. Recently, the Isle of Man and Jersey have each voted to allow assisted dying. Once enacted, their residents will be among the 300 million or so people across multiple countries that have access around the world to legally assisted deaths. In researching this topic for today’s newsletter, one paragraph has stayed with me more than all else. Frances Ryan wrote at the start of this latest round of parliamentary debate: “The truth is, there are no goodies or baddies here. There are just human beings – some of them in pain, scared or angry – trying to do right by themselves, their loved ones and their community. Life is not easy. It is messy.” The messy conclusion to this latest attempt to legislate on the issue means it remains unresolved, but it will not be going away. What else we’ve been reading The uneasy ceasefire between the US and Iran ceasefire has been dominated by concerns about the economy. But this article with the perspectives of six ordinary Iranians is a timely human reminder of what is at stake. Patrick I pride myself on keeping up with music culture. Half-human, half-horse nag pop provocateur DJ star HorsegiirL may be the moment I finally concede I don’t understand what is happening any more. Martin I loved the story of how Wembley’s ground staff keep the grass looking so good. It’s precision lawn-mowing at its finest. Patrick This true crime retelling of the sensational case of the Denver Spider-Man, a murder that shocked Colorado in the 1940s, reads as if it could have been an X Files episode. Martin Kimberley Brown tells the moving tale of a jailed mother and her daughter in Ecuador. As one legal expert puts it: “The entire [prison] system is designed to produce the worst possible outcomes in terms of breaking the social fabric.” Patrick Sport Boxing | Anthony Joshua is to face Tyson Fury this year after the promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed a deal to stage the biggest fight in British boxing history has been signed. Joshua will face the Albanian heavyweight Kristian Prenga in Riyadh on 25 July as a warm-up for his long-awaited showdown with Fury, which is expected to take place in November and be shown on Netflix. Football | First-half goals from Casemiro and Benjamin Sesko set Manchester United on their way to a 2-1 win against Brentford at Old Trafford. Snooker | Ronnie O’Sullivan’s bid for a record-breaking eighth Crucible title was shattered in Sheffield as John Higgins capped a remarkable comeback with a 13-12 win to move into the World Snooker Championship quarter-finals. The front pages “PM pleads for unity among Labour MPs over critical Mandelson vote” says the Guardian’s splash headline. The Times has “PM battles to block sleaze vote” while the Telegraph goes with “Starmer pleads with MPs to save him”. The Mail calls it “Starmer’s stitch-up to save his own skin”. The Financial Times runs with “Meta’s $2bn swoop on Manus blocked in warning from Beijing over AI deals”. The i paper splashes on “King’s warning to America: Charles urges US president and Congress to stick with Europe”. About that, the Mirror says “Peace envoy” under the strapline “King’s American mission”. The Metro has “Iran embassy in chilling call for ‘martyrs’”. The Express chooses as its lead: “PM is ‘putting welfare ahead of UK national security’”. Today in Focus The secretive billionaire bankrolling Nigel Farage A crypto tycoon has given millions to Farage’s political parties. But who is Christopher Harborne and what does he want in return? Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad A social media influencer in Poland has raised more than £50m during an extraordinary nine-day nonstop fundraiser for a child cancer charity. Dozens of celebrities – from the footballer Robert Lewandowski to Coldplay’s Chris Martin – backed the initiative, which now ranks among the largest fundraising efforts in YouTube history. To raise money, the 23-year-old influencer Łatwogang listened to a charity song about children fighting cancer around the clock for nine days, interspersed with appearances by celebrities. The song, a diss track, was pitched at cancer itself, with an 11-year-old rapping: “If you suffer from cancer just like me, this song is for you. I’m Maja and this is my third relapse, and I have reasons to diss you.” The money raised will support the Cancer Fighters foundation that supports children with cancer and their parents. 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

‘Shortcomings and failures’ could sink Aukus nuclear submarines plan, UK inquiry warns

“Cracks are already beginning to show” in the UK’s funding for the Aukus agreement that could derail the ambitious nuclear submarine plan, a British parliamentary inquiry has found, highlighting a threat to Australia’s security. UK shipbuilding has been under-funded for decades and the country’s submarine availability is “critically low”, the House of Commons defence committee’s report found. When the nuclear submarine HMS Anson visited Australia in February, it was Britain’s only attack-class submarine at sea. It had to be rapidly recalled to the northern hemisphere – ahead of schedule – when war broke out in the Gulf, undermining confidence in UK’s capacity and commitment to Aukus. The defence committee’s inquiry into Aukus “has revealed shortcomings and failings in the delivery of Aukus which threaten to prevent that promise becoming a reality”, the report said. “In the UK, political leadership – essential to secure the success of a programme of Aukus’s length, cost, and complexity – has faded. We call on the prime minister to take a more visible role in promoting and driving forward Aukus to counter the political drift that could see it derailed.” The Guardian put a series of questions to the Australian Submarine Agency, responsible for delivering the Aukus agreement. Australia is dependent upon the UK’s ability to design and build an entirely new class of nuclear submarine, the SSN-Aukus. Any delay or failure on the UK side could leave Australia exposed without any sovereign long-term submarine capability. While Australia will buy between three and five Virginia-class submarines from the US to cover the “capability gap” between the retirement of its existing Collins-class diesel-electric submarines and the arrival of the SSN-Aukus, the US capacity to deliver these is also in serious jeopardy. Australia has promised the UK A$4.6bn to uplift its submarine-building capacity and has sent nearly half a billion dollars to its Ministry of Defence. Prime minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday the trilateral deal had overwhelming support from both the British government, including UK prime minister Keir Starmer, and defence personnel. “Aukus is, to quote President Trump, full steam ahead. And I’m very confident that it will be so,” he said. Shadow defence minister James Paterson said while he was confident Aukus would still succeed, he did not believe it could be done so without an increase in defence spending and contingency planning. “I think we do need contingencies for potential capability gaps … should events get out of our control, should we find ourselves in conflict in our own region in the future, before Virginia class submarines or other capabilities arrive,” he said. Paterson suggested capability gaps caused by Aukus delays – the ability to deliver long range, stealth strike capability – could be plugged if Australia were to acquire a fleet of B-21 stealth bomber jets. Meanwhile, the UK has more pressing priorities – it must first build its Dreadnought class of nuclear-armed submarines – and it is structurally hampered by the fact that it has only one shipyard for building submarines, at Barrow-in-Furness. £200m has been committed to upgrade Barrow but the committee found that the timeline for improvements had “already slipped”. “Efforts to regenerate Barrow to attract and maintain the workforce required to deliver SSN-Aukus must be properly funded,” the report said. The report said Aukus would fail if it was seen within the UK’s defence bureaucracy as just another plan “competing for scarce resources”. “Only strong and visible political leadership from the very top of government can counter a drift into bureaucratic obscurity and ensure that Aukus receives the funding and priority that the nation’s defence and security demands.” The committee chair, Labour MP Tan Dhesi, said “cracks are already beginning to show” in Aukus funding. “This cannot be allowed to happen again. Even seemingly minor shortfalls and delays snowball over time, with potentially severe consequences.” The committee said it was also disquieted by government secrecy over the reality of Aukus progress. In 2024 the UK’s former national security adviser, Sir Stephen Lovegrove, was appointed as the government’s Aukus adviser and commissioned to review it. “It is deeply disappointing that more than a year after Sir Stephen Lovegrove completed his review of Aukus, the government’s commitment to issue a public version of his findings has not been fulfilled,” the report said. “This reflects poorly on the government and is damaging to stakeholder and public confidence.” When the Astute-class submarine HMS Anson docked in Perth in February, it was billed as a vital signal in maintaining the credibility of Britain’s commitment to Aukus. But the vessel was rapidly withdrawn and deployed to the Middle East when war broke out in Iran. “It is clear that fulfilling this commitment has stretched the Astute fleet to – or even beyond – its limits,” the report found. The committee heard evidence that Britain’s submarine fleet was “the smallest the UK has had in living memory” and had been stretched “to the limits of its capacity” in sending the Anson to Australia. Dr Sidharth Kaushal, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said trying to fulfil Aukus meant some functions and training for the UK’s fleet would have to be abandoned. “The risk of stretching our [attack-class] fleet is not just about the availability of hulls but, frankly, that we operate it to death,” he said.

Israel’s direction poses ‘existential threat’ to Judaism, UK’s leading progressive rabbis warn

The UK’s most senior progressive rabbis have warned that Israel’s current political direction risks becoming “incompatible with Jewish values”, while insisting that criticism of the country’s government is “a Jewish obligation” rather than an act of disloyalty. Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy, co-leads of Progressive Judaism – the newly formed movement representing around a third of synagogues in the UK – said Israel’s trajectory could pose an “existential threat” not just to the country itself but to Judaism. Speaking ahead of the launch of the movement’s first book, Progressive Judaism, Zionism and the State of Israel, they also expressed hope that change remains possible. “We’ve often talked about the direction of Israel being an existential threat not to Jews per se, but to Judaism,” Baginsky said. “What happens when the direction of the government within Israel takes Israel down a line that makes it incompatible with our Jewish values? That’s a huge worry.” That question lies at the heart of the book Baginsky co-edited with Levy and Dr Ed Kessler, which brings together 40 essays from Jewish clergy and community leaders, reflecting a wide range of perspectives on the fraught debates surrounding Jewish identity, Zionism and Israel. Levy argued that exploring these tough questions is not a sign of disloyalty to Israel or to the Jewish community. “It is to be part of a millennial conversation about Jewish values and what God wants of us in the world and our relationship with the land.” He added: “What the government of Israel does reflects on us as Jews and reflects on our Judaism. Therefore, it is our Jewish obligation to be in dialogue with that in some way.” While Progressive Judaism is a Zionist movement committed to a Jewish, pluralist and democratic state in Israel, the collection of essays also includes contributions from voices who would not describe themselves as Zionists. The book forms part of a wider review being carried out by Progressive Judaism into its relationship with Israel and Zionism. “One of the things that we have seen in the world by the Jewish community is the view that diversity of voice is somehow weakening,” Levy said. “But what sits underneath the book is the idea that holding differences makes us stronger.” Baginsky said the mission of Progressive Judaism was to insist on living within that complexity. “To say you’re a Zionist, to say you’re critical of the Israeli government, and to also talk about antisemitism means there are very few spaces that you can’t be criticised in,” she said. Both were keen to stress that any guidelines resulting from the review would not impose a top-down view on what congregants should think or feel. “Just as there is no theological position that you have to sign up for in order to be able to be part of our communities and be in relationship with the rest of Judaism, similarly, there’s no political position on Israel that you have to hold in order to be part of our communities,” Levy said. The essays include political perspectives, personal views and religious mediation. The latter was of particular importance to the co-chairs, who said they were keen to assert their perspective as religious Zionists and challenge the narrative being set by far-right Israeli leaders such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir. “We have a responsibility to show that our religious Zionism is not the religious Zionism that we see sometimes coming out of the West Bank,” Baginsky said. “My Zionism is also a recognition of Palestinian self-determination.” Levy added: “It’s not that kind of proprietorial Zionism. It’s a different kind of Zionism that’s articulated out of our religious life. It’s textual, it’s deep, and it’s rich.” That position has at times brought them into tension with parts of the British Jewish community. Last year, while addressing a rally for Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, Baginsky and Levy were booed off stage after calling for an end to the war and the establishment of a Palestinian state. “That moment was painful. It was nearly a year ago, and I still feel it viscerally,” Baginsky said. But it has not stopped her from calling for justice and peace for all in the Middle East. Levy agreed, but wanted to also focus on what followed the heckling. “Which was an outpouring of responses from across the Jewish community, and the wider faith community, who wanted to show their support.”

Humanoid robots to become baggage handlers in Japan airport experiment

Japan’s famously conscientious but overburdened baggage handlers will soon be joined by extra staff at Tokyo’s Haneda airport – although their new colleagues will need to take regular recharging breaks. Japan Airlines will introduce humanoid robots on a trial basis from the beginning of May, with a view to deploying them permanently as a solution to the country’s chronic labour shortage. The Chinese-made humanoids will move travellers’ luggage and cargo on the tarmac at Haneda, which handles more than 60 million passengers a year. JAL and its partner in the initiative, Japan Airlines GMO Internet Group, hope the experiment – which ends in 2028 – will lessen the burden on human employees amid a surge in inbound tourism and forecasts of more severe labour shortages. In a demonstration for the media this week, a 130cm-tall robot manufactured by Hangzhou-based Unitree was seen tentatively “pushing” cargo on to a conveyer belt next to a JAL passenger plane and waving to an unseen colleague. The president of JAL Ground Service, Yoshiteru Suzuki, said using robots to perform physically demanding work would “inevitably reduce the burden on workers and provide significant benefits to employees”, according to the Kyodo news agency. Suzuki added, however, that certain key tasks – such as safety management – would continue to be performed by humans. Japan is struggling to cope with a simultaneous surge in tourists from overseas and an ageing, declining population. More than 7 million people visited the country in the first two months of 2026, according to the Japan National Tourism Organisation, after a record 42.7 million last year, despite a drop in the number of visitors from China triggered by a diplomatic row between Tokyo and Beijing. According to one estimate, Japan will need more than 6.5 million foreign workers in 2040 to reach its growth targets as the indigenous workforce continues to shrink. The country’s foreign population has risen dramatically in recent years, but the government is now under political pressure to rein in immigration. The president of GMO AI and Robotics, Tomohiro Uchida, said: “While airports appear highly automated and standardised, their back-end operations still rely heavily on human labour and face serious labor shortages.” Robots can operate continuously for two to three hours and the firms are planning to use them to perform other tasks, such as cleaning aircraft cabins.

Ukraine war briefing: Arrests over Russian GRU-linked murder plots in Lithuania

Lithuanian authorities say they have charged 13 people with two attempted murders in Vilnius linked to Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, while Ukraine said the same group constituted a “Russian intelligence network” that tried to murder Ukrainian journalists and an intelligence official. Lithuania alleges those who sought the killings were acting in the interests of the GRU, said Saulius Briginas, the Lithuanian police chief. The suspects, some of whom were arrested in Lithuania in March, were charged with seeking to kill one Lithuanian – an activist and fundraiser for Ukraine – and one Russian national, a dissident and activist for the rights of the Bashkir minority of Russia. The same suspects were also believed by police to be behind an arson attack on Ukraine-bound military equipment in Bulgaria and espionage against the Greek military, he added. “We are witnessing hybrid-style crimes against European Union countries, their national security, and persons who act in support of Ukraine,” said Briginas, the police chief. Russia’s defence ministry, which is in charge of military intelligence, did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by the Reuters news agency. Moscow has always denied allegations it is involved in such operations or in a wider sabotage campaign involving arson attacks aimed at destabilising Ukraine’s allies. But there have been several successful prosecutions in target countries including the UK and admissions by participants that they were acting for Russian paymasters. Lithuania has previously said the GRU was behind parcel blasts in Europe and attempted arson at an Ikea store and at a plant that supplies radio scanners to Ukraine’s army. The Ukrainian foreign minister, Andriy Sybiga, said he had summoned Israel’s ambassador in protest over a shipment to an Israeli port allegedly containing stolen grain farmed on Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. Ukraine says it previously informed Israel in April that a Russian shipment received at Haifa contained grain from Ukrainian territory. Sybiga said: “It is difficult to understand Israel’s lack of appropriate response … Now that another such vessel has arrived in Haifa, we once again warn Israel against accepting the stolen grain and harming our relations.” The Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Saar, hit back at Sybiga over the public announcement but added “the matter will be examined … Israel is a state that abides by the rule of law.” The EU found in 2024 there was evidence Russia was “illegally appropriating large volumes of [cereals and grains] in territories of Ukraine, which it illegally occupies, and routing them to its export markets as allegedly Russian products”. A Russian drone attack before dawn on Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa wounded 14 people, including two children, authorities said on Monday, in a barrage of civilian areas. A Ukrainian drone strike killed two people in the Russia-occupied part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, the Moscow-installed governor, Vladimir Saldo, said on Monday. A man and a woman in their 70s died in the village of Dnipriany, he said. In Odesa, drones hit residential neighbourhoods and civilian infrastructure, said Serhii Lysak, the head of the city’s administration. Five of the wounded, most of them with shrapnel wounds, were hospitalised, according to Oleh Kiper, the head of the regional military administration. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, said on Monday that Russia has fired approximately 1,900 attack drones, nearly 1,400 powerful guided aerial bombs and about 60 missiles of various types at Ukraine over the past week. In Poland, Donald Tusk, the prime minister, said his government planned to build a “drone armada” with Ukraine’s help, to defend both itself and the rest of Europe. Zelenskyy also announced that Ukraine is massively scaling up the production of ground robots that can deliver supplies, evacuate injured soldiers and fire automatic weapons. Kyiv has ordered 25,000 ground robots for this year – twice as many as in 2025, and the number is set to grow, said Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy noted a recent raft of good news for Ukraine: Nato partners, excluding the US, had contributed to a financial arrangement to buy American weapons; the EU approved a €90bn (US$106bn) loan to Ukraine; and the EU intended to place more sanctions on Moscow. Meanwhile, Ukraine continued assailing oil terminals and refineries deep inside Russia with long-range drones and missiles, aiming to disrupt Moscow’s economy. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based thinktank, said it had seen geolocated evidence that Ukrainian forces conducted at least 10 strikes against Russian oil and gas infrastructure in the past two weeks.