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Received today — 3 May 2026 The Guardian World news

Spirit pilot gets ‘overwhelming’ send-off from Southwest after his final flight is cancelled

3 May 2026 at 15:17

Jon Jackson was scheduled to fly his last flight on Saturday when Spirit ceased operations – Southwest staff stepped in

A Spirit Airlines pilot was given an emotional send-off into retirement by another airline after what was supposed to be his final flight was canceled amid Spirit’s sudden collapse on Saturday.

Jon Jackson had been scheduled to fly his final flight into Baltimore-Washington international airport on Saturday when the low-cost airline ceased operations after running out of cash and rescue talks with the Trump administration failed.

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© Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images

© Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images

© Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images

‘No one better to fight for us than one of us’: Minnesota flight attendant runs for Congress

3 May 2026 at 15:00

Kaela Berg is running in a crowded field with a pro-union message and a vow to protect the state’s immigrants

When the Minnesota state legislature is not in session, Kaela Berg is working in the skies.

Berg has spent the last six years doubling as a state legislator and a flight attendant, taking shifts when the legislature is on break.

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© Photograph: Ren E Jones Schneider/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Ren E Jones Schneider/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Ren E Jones Schneider/TNS via ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

The ‘Oscars for political nerds’ or a threat to democracy? Grab a ticket, it’s Canberra’s budget fundraiser season

As major parties once again spruik budget night events at thousands of dollars a ticket, some MPs say they resent the ritzy social galas

They’re dismissed as boring, little more than a “selfie” opportunity for economy nerds – or even labelled a threat to democracy.

But as budget week approaches, the major parties are once again spruiking fundraising dinners and drinks for their most loyal followers – and slugging them for thousands of dollars.

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© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

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  • Why the RBA is predicted to deliver a third straight interest rate hike this week Patrick Commins
    While interest rate rises can’t affect the surging price of oil caused by Middle East turmoil, they are still the Reserve Bank’s best – and only – tool to fight inflationFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOne economist is calling it the “Hormuz hike”.There’s a nearly 80% chance that the Reserve Bank will deliver a third straight interest rate rise on Tuesday, according to financial markets.Patrick Commins is Guardian A
     

Why the RBA is predicted to deliver a third straight interest rate hike this week

3 May 2026 at 15:00

While interest rate rises can’t affect the surging price of oil caused by Middle East turmoil, they are still the Reserve Bank’s best – and only – tool to fight inflation

One economist is calling it the “Hormuz hike”.

There’s a nearly 80% chance that the Reserve Bank will deliver a third straight interest rate rise on Tuesday, according to financial markets.

Patrick Commins is Guardian Australia’s economics editor

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© Photograph: AAP

© Photograph: AAP

© Photograph: AAP

Canada to be first non-European nation at EPC summit as Carney seeks allies

3 May 2026 at 14:57

PM’s attendance at European Political Community meeting in Yerevan seen as part of effort to build new ties after US rupture

Canada is to become the first non-European country to attend a meeting of the European Political Community when the prime minister, Mark Carney, joins Monday’s summit of the 48-plus nation grouping in Yerevan, Armenia.

Carney has said he is determined to build a new network of trade and diplomatic alliances after the loss of US markets under Donald Trump. His presence will also represent a show of western support for Armenia in its efforts to distance itself from Russia at a time when Washington’s approach to Moscow’s opponents, such as Ukraine, is at best ambiguous. Canadian diplomats have rejected suggestions Ottawa might seek EU membership.

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© Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock

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  • Fashion’s Faustian pact: the high cost of Jeff Bezos’s Met Gala patronage Morwenna Ferrier
    Billionaire’s role as honorary chair and main source of funding has led to boycotts and criticism event has lost its cachetThe Met Gala in New York is the grandest and ritziest event in the fashion calendar, and an indicator of the growing ties between designers, celebrity and power. But with tech billionaires now joining the cohort, this year’s party may be its most controversial yet.All eyes are on the guest list – and their outfits – to launch the fashion exhibition Costume Art at the Metropo
     

Fashion’s Faustian pact: the high cost of Jeff Bezos’s Met Gala patronage

3 May 2026 at 14:22

Billionaire’s role as honorary chair and main source of funding has led to boycotts and criticism event has lost its cachet

The Met Gala in New York is the grandest and ritziest event in the fashion calendar, and an indicator of the growing ties between designers, celebrity and power. But with tech billionaires now joining the cohort, this year’s party may be its most controversial yet.

All eyes are on the guest list – and their outfits – to launch the fashion exhibition Costume Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. Beyoncé, Venus Williams and Nicole Kidman are chairing the event with Vogue’s Anna Wintour, and tickets cost about $100,000 (£73,500). But in a plot twist worthy of the new Devil Wears Prada film, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, the Met Gala’s new honorary chairs, will be joining the 450 guests on the museum steps on Monday.

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© Photograph: Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty for the Met Museum/Vogue

© Photograph: Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty for the Met Museum/Vogue

© Photograph: Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty for the Met Museum/Vogue

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  • Jeanine Pirro says she has evidence officer was shot at White House press dinner Guardian staff
    US attorney says ‘we can establish’ pellet from defendant’s gunshot was ‘intertwined with fiber of vest’ of federal agentThe US government has evidence that a federal agent was shot by the suspect during an alleged recent attempt to assassinate Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, the US attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said on Sunday.“We now can establish that a pellet that came from the buckshot from the defendant’s Mossberg pump-action shotgun
     

Jeanine Pirro says she has evidence officer was shot at White House press dinner

3 May 2026 at 14:15

US attorney says ‘we can establish’ pellet from defendant’s gunshot was ‘intertwined with fiber of vest’ of federal agent

The US government has evidence that a federal agent was shot by the suspect during an alleged recent attempt to assassinate Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, the US attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said on Sunday.

“We now can establish that a pellet that came from the buckshot from the defendant’s Mossberg pump-action shotgun was intertwined with the fiber of the vest of the Secret Service officer,” Pirro said on CNN.

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© Photograph: Kyle Mazza/UNF News/Kyle Mazza - UNF News/CNP/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Kyle Mazza/UNF News/Kyle Mazza - UNF News/CNP/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Kyle Mazza/UNF News/Kyle Mazza - UNF News/CNP/Shutterstock

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  • Heathrow in talks with airlines to end row that could delay third runway Mark Sweney
    Airport seeks deal with BA owner, Virgin and billionaire local landowner, who has own expansion plan, over cost and service issuesHeathrow’s new chair has opened talks with airlines and the billionaire local landowner Surinder Arora to defuse a row that threatens to further delay the £49bn plan to build a third runway at Europe’s busiest airport.Philip Jansen, who was appointed at the start of the year, is understood to have held meetings with the airport’s carriers and with Arora, who has been
     

Heathrow in talks with airlines to end row that could delay third runway

3 May 2026 at 14:00

Airport seeks deal with BA owner, Virgin and billionaire local landowner, who has own expansion plan, over cost and service issues

Heathrow’s new chair has opened talks with airlines and the billionaire local landowner Surinder Arora to defuse a row that threatens to further delay the £49bn plan to build a third runway at Europe’s busiest airport.

Philip Jansen, who was appointed at the start of the year, is understood to have held meetings with the airport’s carriers and with Arora, who has been promoting his own £25bn expansion scheme, in the hope of finding the middle ground in a row over cost and service issues.

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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

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  • Republicans ‘concerned’ after Trump threatens to withdraw more US troops from Germany Sam Levine
    US announced withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers last week after German chancellor said US was being ‘humiliated’ by IranDonald Trump has threatened to withdraw more US troops from Germany after stunning European leaders and some senior members of his own party by last week announcing the withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers from Germany.The move left 30,000 US troops still in the country, according to CNN. But Trump threatened on Saturday that more cuts were coming. “We are going to cut way down, and we’re cu
     

Republicans ‘concerned’ after Trump threatens to withdraw more US troops from Germany

3 May 2026 at 13:39

US announced withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers last week after German chancellor said US was being ‘humiliated’ by Iran

Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw more US troops from Germany after stunning European leaders and some senior members of his own party by last week announcing the withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers from Germany.

The move left 30,000 US troops still in the country, according to CNN. But Trump threatened on Saturday that more cuts were coming. “We are going to cut way down, and we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000,” he told reporters on Saturday.

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© Photograph: Samuel Corum/EPA

© Photograph: Samuel Corum/EPA

© Photograph: Samuel Corum/EPA

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  • Lost ‘cloud’ of artist who wrapped the Reichstag to be created in UK gallery Dalya Alberge
    Exclusive: Scale model found in Christo’s studio leads to London realisation of internally lit Air Package on a CeilingChristo once wrapped up the Reichstag, suspended a curtain across a Colorado valley and covered up the Pont Neuf in Paris. Now, six years after the artist’s death, a London gallery is to create a monumental installation he designed in 1968, using a detailed scale model and drawings that had been presumed lost until their chance discovery.Christo had imagined a vast, internally i
     

Lost ‘cloud’ of artist who wrapped the Reichstag to be created in UK gallery

3 May 2026 at 13:00

Exclusive: Scale model found in Christo’s studio leads to London realisation of internally lit Air Package on a Ceiling

Christo once wrapped up the Reichstag, suspended a curtain across a Colorado valley and covered up the Pont Neuf in Paris. Now, six years after the artist’s death, a London gallery is to create a monumental installation he designed in 1968, using a detailed scale model and drawings that had been presumed lost until their chance discovery.

Christo had imagined a vast, internally illuminated suspended form, like a cloud, but technical constraints meant the plan was never brought to fruition.

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© Photograph: Lutz Schmidt/Reuters

© Photograph: Lutz Schmidt/Reuters

© Photograph: Lutz Schmidt/Reuters

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  • Starmer adviser held 16 undisclosed meetings with top US tech bosses Tom Wall
    Exclusive: Varun Chandra’s talks with Google, Meta, Apple and others raise fears of ‘lobbying behind closed doors’An influential government adviser close to Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves held 16 undisclosed meetings with top US tech executives, the Guardian can reveal.The No 10 business aide Varun Chandra discussed regulatory changes, AI and Donald Trump’s second administration with tech corporations during confidential meetings between October 2024 and October 2025. In one meeting he offered t
     

Starmer adviser held 16 undisclosed meetings with top US tech bosses

3 May 2026 at 13:00

Exclusive: Varun Chandra’s talks with Google, Meta, Apple and others raise fears of ‘lobbying behind closed doors’

An influential government adviser close to Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves held 16 undisclosed meetings with top US tech executives, the Guardian can reveal.

The No 10 business aide Varun Chandra discussed regulatory changes, AI and Donald Trump’s second administration with tech corporations during confidential meetings between October 2024 and October 2025. In one meeting he offered to help a top executive meet the prime minister directly.

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© Photograph: Steve Back/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Steve Back/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Steve Back/Shutterstock

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  • Sudanese woman and 16-year-old girl reportedly die trying to cross Channel Diane Taylor
    Two were found dead in the early hours of Sunday in boat carrying about 82 people, several of whom were injuredTwo female Sudanese asylum seekers have died trying to cross the Channel in the early hours of Sunday morning, off the coast of Boulogne.According to some reports, one was a teenager aged 16 and the other a woman in her 20s. They were found dead in the boat, which had run aground on the beach of Neufchâtel-Hardelot, according to Christophe Marx, the secretary general of the Pas-de-Calai
     

Sudanese woman and 16-year-old girl reportedly die trying to cross Channel

3 May 2026 at 12:30

Two were found dead in the early hours of Sunday in boat carrying about 82 people, several of whom were injured

Two female Sudanese asylum seekers have died trying to cross the Channel in the early hours of Sunday morning, off the coast of Boulogne.

According to some reports, one was a teenager aged 16 and the other a woman in her 20s. They were found dead in the boat, which had run aground on the beach of Neufchâtel-Hardelot, according to Christophe Marx, the secretary general of the Pas-de-Calais Prefecture.

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© Photograph: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP/Getty Images

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