Leaders of UK, France and Germany call for lifting of aid restrictions and immediate ceasefire after holding talks

Keir Starmer has confirmed the government will be “taking forward” plans to airdrop aid into Gaza and evacuate children who need medical assistance in an effort to relieve what Downing Street called an appalling situation.

Speaking to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, on Saturday morning, the prime minister outlined the UK’s intentions to work with Jordan to carry out the plans.

Total remuneration at companies in England and Wales – many of them under scrutiny for sewage discharge – was £15m in 2024-25

The pay of water company chief executives in England and Wales rose by 5% in the last financial year to an average of £1.1m, despite a ban on bonuses for several companies and widespread outrage over the sector’s poor performance.

Total pay reported by water companies reached £15m in 2024-25, up 5% on £13.8m the previous year, according to Guardian analysis of 14 companies’ annual reports.

The urge to avoid music that brings up trauma from the past is powerful, but it may be better to ‘actively engage’

When Bonnie hears the opening bars of the Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony, she is transported back to 1997. But it isn’t a joyful memory that comes to mind; it is the painful recollection of driving home from school and seeing the sheriff changing a lock on her house.

Then a teenager, Bonnie and her family were about to be evicted. And the Verve’s song was everywhere.

Lawyers say grand jury transcripts might not provide much insight compared with documents still held by FBI and DoJ

As Donald Trump reels from political fallout related to his justice department’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein investigation files, the US president has directed his loyal attorney general, Pam Bondi, to “release all Grand Jury testimony with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, subject only to court approval”.

It is an effort at damage control for a White House now engulfed in endless speculation – especially among Trump’s previously devoted Maga base – about the extent of Trump’s relationship with the late, disgraced sex trafficker and wealthy financier who killed himself in jail in 2019.

The controversy may deal the president a serious political blow – or will his distraction machine overcome the odds once again?

Brrrr. Brrrr. Brrrrrrr. That’s the sound of Donald’s Trump ’s distraction machine , which has been running at full power as the president tries his best to stop us all from talking about Jeffrey Epstein . Or, to be more specific, from talking about just how chummy he was with the dead paedophile.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

Authorities accuse activists linked to pro-democracy group Hong Kong Parliament of subversion

Hong Kong’s national security police have issued arrest warrants for 19 activists based overseas, accusing them of subversion under a stringent national security law, marking the largest such tally yet.

They are accused of organising or participating in the Hong Kong Parliament, a pro-democracy group that authorities in the Asian financial hub say intended to subvert state power, under the law Beijing imposed in 2020 after months of pro-democracy protests in 2019.

• Dominant Scheffler moves four clear of the field

• Li Haotong and Matt Fitzpatrick lead pursuit

Scottie Scheffler still had 20 holes of this Open Championship still to play. History tells us leads can evaporate in just one. Dense rough, links bunkers, the scale of pressure attached to the oldest major. Open calamity is written in folklore. The ghost of Jean van de Velde still lingers. And yet, the bookmakers had Scheffler at only 1-8 to lift the Claret Jug. The fat lady had cleared her throat. Twenty holes. What sporting planet is this?

It is possible to run out of adjectives for Scheffler. Unflappable, remarkable, relentless. Nobody will ever match the impact of Tiger Woods on golf but it really is no exaggeration to suggest Scheffler can be similarly dominant. Come Sunday evening on the Causeway Coast, Scheffler will surely be a four-time major winner and three-quarters of the way towards a career grand slam. This is only his 24th major start as a professional. In one of them, his pursuit of glory was undermined by being thrown into a police cell.

Andy Byron leaves startup Astronomer after he and Kristin Cabot were placed on leave over Jumbotron incident

The married CEO who was filmed at a Coldplay concert in the US with his arms around his company’s HR head in a video that went viral has now resigned, the company Astronomer said on Saturday.

In a post on Linkedin, the software startup said: “Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted.”

At first, Australian soprano Nicole Car found her costar’s confidence curiously endearing. Later she realised they had serious chemistry, on and off the stage

• Find more stories from The moment I knew series

In 2015 I was making my European debut singing the role of Tatiana in Tchiakovsky’s Eugene Onegin in Berlin. I’d been offered the contract at relatively short notice and was assured by the casting director not to worry, my French-Canadian co-star was “a real charmer”. I took it with a grain of salt.

On the first day of rehearsals, Étienne (the charmer) arrived for a brief introduction before he rushed off to debut a very big role, playing Posa in Verdi’s Don Carlos.