Normal view

How Maddie suspect is ‘living like a rat’ in backstreets and forests as UK cops try to bring him here to face justice

6 May 2026 at 05:42
MADELINE McCann chief suspect Christian Brueckner has been "living like a rat" as he scuttles through the backstreets of Germany, bouncing between motels and a make-shift campsite. Brueckner's current whereabouts are unknown but wherever he has gone, public panic has followed him. The convicted paedophile and rapist, 48, has been living off grid in Germany...

Middle East crisis live: Trump changes strait of Hormuz plan again as Rubio says US offensive is ‘over’

6 May 2026 at 05:14

US president says he will briefly pause Project Freedom after just one day; Rubio says US has achieved objectives of Iran operation; Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi flies to China

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi met with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi for talks in Beijing on Wednesday, China’s Xinhua news agency reported, without giving details on the discussion.

Iran’s Fars news agency earlier said Araghchi would “discuss bilateral relations and regional and international developments with his Chinese counterpart”.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the military objectives of so-called “Operation Epic Fury” have concluded and the offensive stage of the war with Iran is “over”. Speaking at the White House press briefing, Rubio insisted that ongoing US military action in the strait of Hormuz is “defensive” in nature and a separate operation, in line with the Trump administration’s argument that it doesn’t need approval from Congress to continue the war against Iran. “There’s no shooting unless we’re shot at first,” he told reporters, urging Iran to “make the sensible choice” and negotiate a deal.

With the status of the ceasefire in doubt, Donald Trump declined to say what would constitute a violation, telling reporters only that Iran knows “what not to do”. It comes amid rising tensions after both sides exchanged fire in the strait of Hormuz on Monday. “Well, you’ll find out because I’ll let you know,” the US president said. “They know what to do, or what not to do more importantly.”

Before Trump’s announcement on Tuesday evening, his defense secretary Pete Hegseth insisted that “Project Freedom” had allowed the US to gain control of the strait, despite Iran claiming it has actually strengthened its control of the waterway, and thousands of cargo ships remain stranded there.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Pool/Annabelle Gordon - Pool/CNP/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Pool/Annabelle Gordon - Pool/CNP/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Pool/Annabelle Gordon - Pool/CNP/Shutterstock

Horrified Wagga residents call for proper sanitation at homeless camp where baby was found dead

6 May 2026 at 05:11

Tent where twins were born up to a 15-minute walk away from nearest public toilets or running water

The tent where a newborn baby was found dead at Wagga beach at the weekend was part of a homeless encampment up to a 15-minute walk away from the nearest public toilets or running water, with residents in a nearby apartment block saying conditions were “worse than a Syrian war camp”.

The tragedy has prompted fury in the community, with residents of Wagga Wagga calling on authorities to take urgent action to make the encampments safe and sanitary.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Sean Davey/The Guardian

© Photograph: Sean Davey/The Guardian

© Photograph: Sean Davey/The Guardian

Palestinian ambassador protests to Foreign Office over ’erasure’ by British Museum

6 May 2026 at 05:00

Objection after museum removes word ‘Palestine’ from list of countries of ancient Levant and Egypt and from some explanatory panels

The Palestinian ambassador to the UK has called for Foreign Office intervention after the British Museum removed references to Palestine from its exhibits.

The UK recognised the state of Palestine in September 2025, but the same year the museum removed the name “Palestine” from a panel listing the present-day countries encompassed by the ancient Levant, and replaced it with Gaza and the West Bank.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

  • ✇The Guardian World news
  • Rare pregnancy complication has put UK women into ‘emergency surgery’ Denis Campbell
    Scores of women have told how they were affected by placenta accreta spectrum for an awareness campaignWomen have had to undergo major emergency surgery, including a hysterectomy, when medical staff failed to detect they had a rare but potentially fatal complication of pregnancy.Scores of women have come forward to tell their stories of how they were affected by placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) since the launch in February of a campaign to raise awareness among NHS staff and mothers-to-be of the
     

Rare pregnancy complication has put UK women into ‘emergency surgery’

6 May 2026 at 05:00

Scores of women have told how they were affected by placenta accreta spectrum for an awareness campaign

Women have had to undergo major emergency surgery, including a hysterectomy, when medical staff failed to detect they had a rare but potentially fatal complication of pregnancy.

Scores of women have come forward to tell their stories of how they were affected by placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) since the launch in February of a campaign to raise awareness among NHS staff and mothers-to-be of the dangers it poses.

Continue reading...

© Composite: supplied

© Composite: supplied

© Composite: supplied

  • ✇The Guardian World news
  • Gibraltar dumping all of its raw sewage into Mediterranean Rachel Salvidge
    Wastewater from nearly 40,000 people and businesses pumped straight into sea as island still has no treatment plantRaw sewage from nearly 40,000 people and businesses is being pumped straight into the sea because the British overseas territory of Gibraltar does not have, and has never had, a wastewater treatment plant.For decades, untreated sewage has poured into the Mediterranean from the southern tip of the peninsula at Europa Point, where the government of Gibraltar says there are “high level
     

Gibraltar dumping all of its raw sewage into Mediterranean

6 May 2026 at 05:00

Wastewater from nearly 40,000 people and businesses pumped straight into sea as island still has no treatment plant

Raw sewage from nearly 40,000 people and businesses is being pumped straight into the sea because the British overseas territory of Gibraltar does not have, and has never had, a wastewater treatment plant.

For decades, untreated sewage has poured into the Mediterranean from the southern tip of the peninsula at Europa Point, where the government of Gibraltar says there are “high levels of natural dispersion”.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Chris Howes/Wild Places Photography/Alamy

© Photograph: Chris Howes/Wild Places Photography/Alamy

© Photograph: Chris Howes/Wild Places Photography/Alamy

  • ✇The Guardian World news
  • EU trade deal could force UK to restrict use of weedkiller linked to cancer Damien Gayle
    Glyphosate is currently sprayed on cereal and pulse crops to dessicate them and make them easier to harvestA new trade deal with the EU could lead to restrictions on the use of the controversial weedkiller glyphosate on UK food crops.The full-spectrum herbicide, which kills almost every plant it touches, is often sprayed on wheat, oats and other cereal and pulse crops immediately before harvest to desiccate them and make them easier to handle. Continue reading...
     

EU trade deal could force UK to restrict use of weedkiller linked to cancer

6 May 2026 at 05:00

Glyphosate is currently sprayed on cereal and pulse crops to dessicate them and make them easier to harvest

A new trade deal with the EU could lead to restrictions on the use of the controversial weedkiller glyphosate on UK food crops.

The full-spectrum herbicide, which kills almost every plant it touches, is often sprayed on wheat, oats and other cereal and pulse crops immediately before harvest to desiccate them and make them easier to handle.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Jean-François Monier/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jean-François Monier/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jean-François Monier/AFP/Getty Images

Attempts to stop prison drone drug deliveries hampered by crumbling Victorian walls

6 May 2026 at 05:00

Plans to install tougher netting and window grilles set back because walls cannot take extra weight, prison governors say

Weak and crumbling walls in Victorian prisons are hampering attempts to halt drones from delivering drugs and weapons to inmates.

Plans to install tougher netting and window grilles to stop drones from entering have been hampered because the walls have been unable to take the extra weight, prison governors said.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

© Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

© Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

❌