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Received today — 5 May 2026 The Guardian World news
  • ✇The Guardian World news
  • Salisbury Cathedral restores stained-glass treasure by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris Steven Morris
    Project to refurbish ‘Angels’ hailed huge success as dean says it will ‘lift spirits and rekindle hope’Sam Kelly admitted there had been some nights of broken sleep as he led a two-year project to restore one of Salisbury Cathedral’s treasures, a stained-glass window by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris.“It would be wrong to say I didn’t lie awake sometimes,” said the head glazier. “You are working on something that is very precious and if it fell on the floor, it would be very bad.” Continu
     

Salisbury Cathedral restores stained-glass treasure by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris

5 May 2026 at 06:00

Project to refurbish ‘Angels’ hailed huge success as dean says it will ‘lift spirits and rekindle hope’

Sam Kelly admitted there had been some nights of broken sleep as he led a two-year project to restore one of Salisbury Cathedral’s treasures, a stained-glass window by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris.

“It would be wrong to say I didn’t lie awake sometimes,” said the head glazier. “You are working on something that is very precious and if it fell on the floor, it would be very bad.”

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© Photograph: Cassie Dalby

© Photograph: Cassie Dalby

© Photograph: Cassie Dalby

  • ✇The Guardian World news
  • Tuesday briefing: How AI facial recognition in policing works – and how it can go wrong Martin Belam
    In today’s newsletter: With the use of facial recognition skyrocketing, there are calls for the rapid development of safeguardsGood 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 sus
     

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

5 May 2026 at 05:45

In today’s newsletter: With the use of facial recognition skyrocketing, there are calls for the rapid development of safeguards

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.

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.

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© Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

© Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

© Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

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

5 May 2026 at 05:34

Foreign minister Penny Wong visits Fiji this week to progress the security and economic agreement

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.

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© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

RBA interest rates: Reserve Bank hikes official cash rate to 4.35% in blow to mortgage holders

5 May 2026 at 05:16

Reserve Bank of Australia raises rates for third consecutive meeting, lifting them to early-2025 levels

The Reserve Bank has delivered a third straight interest rate hike to contain growing inflationary pressures linked to higher fuel prices, even as it warned the Iranian war would deliver a major blow to the economy.

The widely expected decision to lift the cash rate to 4.35% from 4.1% comes as the central bank revealed a gloomy new set of forecasts that showed intensifying cost-of-living pressures alongside weaker growth.

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© Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

© Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

© Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

  • ✇The Guardian World news
  • Google DeepMind workers in UK vote to unionize amid deal with US military Alice Speri
    Exclusive: Worker pointed to Iran war and Pentagon’s Anthropic feud as indications the department is ‘not a responsible partner’Workers developing Google’s artificial intelligence products in the UK have voted to unionize, in part out of concerns about a deal between the company and the US military that was announced last week.In a letter slated to go to management on Tuesday and shared exclusively with the Guardian, workers at Google DeepMind, the company’s AI research laboratory, requested rec
     

Google DeepMind workers in UK vote to unionize amid deal with US military

5 May 2026 at 05:05

Exclusive: Worker pointed to Iran war and Pentagon’s Anthropic feud as indications the department is ‘not a responsible partner’

Workers developing Google’s artificial intelligence products in the UK have voted to unionize, in part out of concerns about a deal between the company and the US military that was announced last week.

In a letter slated to go to management on Tuesday and shared exclusively with the Guardian, workers at Google DeepMind, the company’s AI research laboratory, requested recognition of the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as joint representatives of the lab’s UK-based staff.

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© Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

© Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

© Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Concierge firm co-founded by queen’s nephew went on ‘ill-timed’ hiring spree before Iran war

5 May 2026 at 05:00

Quintessentially almost quadrupled staff in Middle East and Asia less than year before wealthy began to flee Gulf

The embattled luxury concierge service co-founded by Queen Camilla’s nephew Ben Elliot embarked on what appeared to be an inopportune hiring spree in the Middle East and Asia before wealthy individuals began fleeing the region because of the US-Israel war on Iran.

Quintessentially almost quadrupled staff in the regions from 22 to 84 during its financial year to 30 April 2025, according to newly released annual accounts, which again reported multimillion-pound losses and warned of “material uncertainty” about its future.

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© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

  • ✇The Guardian World news
  • Vote Lib Dem or ‘regret it’ living under a Reform council, Davey tells voters Helena Horton
    Party leader says vote for Labour or Greens in closely run seats will result in Reform victory at local electionsVoters in the home counties will “regret it for a long time” if they do not back the Liberal Democrats and wake up to a Reform-led council, Ed Davey has said.The Lib Dems leader has identified five councils – East Surrey, West Surrey, Hampshire, West Sussex and Huntingdonshire – where his party could win overall control, as well as swathes of the former “blue wall” where Davey said it
     

Vote Lib Dem or ‘regret it’ living under a Reform council, Davey tells voters

5 May 2026 at 05:00

Party leader says vote for Labour or Greens in closely run seats will result in Reform victory at local elections

Voters in the home counties will “regret it for a long time” if they do not back the Liberal Democrats and wake up to a Reform-led council, Ed Davey has said.

The Lib Dems leader has identified five councils – East Surrey, West Surrey, Hampshire, West Sussex and Huntingdonshire – where his party could win overall control, as well as swathes of the former “blue wall” where Davey said it was a “straight fight” between his party and Reform at the English local elections.

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© Photograph: Nick Warren/PA

© Photograph: Nick Warren/PA

© Photograph: Nick Warren/PA

‘Time the rest of us stepped up’: terror survivors’ group writes letter in support of UK Jews

5 May 2026 at 05:00

Letter coordinated by Survivors Against Terror, which includes bereaved relatives, after spate of attacks on Jewish community

Dozens of survivors and bereaved relatives of 19 separate terror attacks have written an open letter of solidarity to the Jewish community, saying: “Standing together in the face of hatred is not just the right thing to do – it’s the most effective way of defeating terrorism.”

The letter was coordinated by the group Survivors Against Terror (SAT), after terror attacks on two Jewish men in north London earlier this week, in what was the latest in a series of attacks on the community in the UK.

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© Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

Australian author Craig Silvey pleads guilty to possessing and distributing child exploitation material

5 May 2026 at 04:36

Prosecutors drop two other charges against Jasper Jones author, 43, including allegations he produced child exploitation material

Award‑winning author Craig Silvey has pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child exploitation material, while a charge that he produced such material has been dropped.

Silvey, 43, was first charged in January after detectives from Western Australia police’s child abuse squad raided his Fremantle home, allegedly catching him communicating online with child exploitation offenders and seizing his electronic devices.

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© Photograph: Tace Stevens/The Guardian

© Photograph: Tace Stevens/The Guardian

© Photograph: Tace Stevens/The Guardian

‘They came to kill us’: royal commission hears horrific accounts of antisemitism faced by Jewish children in Australia

5 May 2026 at 04:10

Jewish children face antisemitic abuse, swastikas etched on school walls and other students performing Nazi salutes, hearing told

Jewish children in Australia face antisemitic abuse at school, see swastikas daubed on walls and witness classmates perform Nazi salutes: they live with antisemitism “all day, every day”, a Sydney Jewish mother has told a royal commission hearing.

The woman, known as Dina before the commission, said Australia had become a more hostile, more dangerous place for Jews, most horrifically demonstrated by the Bondi massacre in December in which 15 people were shot and killed.

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© Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

© Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

© Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

  • ✇The Guardian World news
  • Canadian fiddler sues Google after AI Overview wrongly claimed he was a sex offender Sian Cain
    Ashley MacIsaac, who is seeking $1.5m in civil lawsuit, says inaccurate information led to concert cancellationAn acclaimed Canadian fiddle player has launched a $1.5m civil lawsuit against Google, alleging that the online giant defamed him by falsely identifying him as a sex offender in an AI-generated summary of his life and career.Ashley MacIsaac, a three-time Juno award-winning musician, filed the claim in the Ontario superior court of justice, asserting that Google was liable for the “fores
     

Canadian fiddler sues Google after AI Overview wrongly claimed he was a sex offender

5 May 2026 at 02:22

Ashley MacIsaac, who is seeking $1.5m in civil lawsuit, says inaccurate information led to concert cancellation

An acclaimed Canadian fiddle player has launched a $1.5m civil lawsuit against Google, alleging that the online giant defamed him by falsely identifying him as a sex offender in an AI-generated summary of his life and career.

Ashley MacIsaac, a three-time Juno award-winning musician, filed the claim in the Ontario superior court of justice, asserting that Google was liable for the “foreseeable republication” of its AI-generated Overview feature, which previously published defamatory claims that he had been convicted of multiple criminal offences, including the sexual assault of a woman, internet luring involving a child with the intention of sexual assaulting the child, and assault causing bodily harm.

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© Photograph: The Canadian Press/Alamy

© Photograph: The Canadian Press/Alamy

© Photograph: The Canadian Press/Alamy

US supreme court expedites Voting Rights Act ruling so Louisiana can redraw its maps for midterms

5 May 2026 at 01:19

Ketanji Brown Jackson blasted the decision, saying the court has hastened it ruling only twice before in 25 years

The US supreme court went out of its way on Monday to help Louisiana Republicans redraw their congressional maps before this year’s midterm elections by allowing a recent ruling that gutted a key part of the Voting Rights Act to take effect ahead of schedule.

The procedural move comes less than a week after the court’s landmark decision striking down Louisiana’s congressional map and gutting section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Usually, the court waits 32 days to formally issue its judgment to the lower court. Last week, Louisiana asked the court to speed up that process, citing the urgency with which it needed to redraw its congressional maps. On Monday, the court agreed to do so.

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© Photograph: Gage Skidmore/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Gage Skidmore/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Gage Skidmore/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

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