The Guardian

Both Pakistan and India have confirmed the news after it was announced on social media by Donald Trump

Who is Asim Munir, the army chief leading Pakistan’s military amid the crisis with India?

The general once fell foul of Imran Khan, but since taking the top spot has been quietly amassing power over the government and supreme court, as our profile here says.

Yet even now that the country is out of the clutches of martial law, it is still widely understood that the most powerful man in Pakistan is not the head of the government but instead the chief of the army.

Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and Donald Tusk are in Ukraine for talks with Zelenskyy

It is the first time the leaders of the four European nations (France, the UK, Germany and Poland) have made a joint visit to Ukraine, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“We are clear the bloodshed must end. Russia must stop its illegal invasion,” the leaders said in a joint statement, adding:

Alongside the US, we call on Russia to agree a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to create the space for talks on a just and lasting peace.

Kosmos 482 re-enters the atmosphere more than a half century since launch on failed mission to Venus

A Soviet-era spacecraft plunged to Earth on Saturday, more than a half century after its failed launch to Venus.

The European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking agency confirmed its uncontrolled re-entry, based on analysis and the disappearance of the spacecraft from tracking on subsequent orbits. The European Space Agency’s space debris office also indicated it had re-entered the atmosphere after it failed to appear over a German radar station.

From ensuring your swearwords are in languages other than English to outrageous euphemisms, contestants in the famously camp extravaganza have ways to avoid being toned down …

When the winner of this year’s Eurovision song contest is announced shortly before midnight next Saturday, it won’t be the first climax of the evening. “I’m coming / I’m coming,” a scantily clad Lithuanian will announce in the chorus of her song. Australia’s male entrant will invite listeners to “sh-sh-shake me good” so they can get “a taste of the milkshake man”. And Malta’s submission is going to prompt the audience to shout the word “Kant” – due to it sounding like a rude English term for female genitalia.

A nurse and an engineer founded Opio Connect to make machines that dispense drugs and reduce drudge work

Lanea George pulls open a steel security door and enters a windowless room where a video camera stares at what looks like a commercial-grade refrigerator. The machine, dubbed Bodhi, whirrs and spins before spitting out seven small plastic bottles containing precisely 70ml of methadone, a bright pink liquid resembling cherry cough syrup. It is used as a substitute for morphine or heroin in addiction treatment.

This store-cupboard stalwart is versatile and healthy, but which did our reviewer rate – or hate?

• 13 kitchen gadgets top chefs can’t live without

I’ve gone off script here and rated jarred chickpeas and tinned/packeted ones separately, because they’re such different beasts – and with a price point to reflect it. That said, I was pleasantly surprised by a few standouts in the tinned section, one of which is about to save me a fair amount of cash as I trade in my expensive jarred chickpea habit for a more frugal, but no less worthy alternative.

Our writers provided all the latest football news as we counted down to Saturday’s football action

On this day in 1995… Nayim.

Sunderland are favourites to meet Sheffield United* at Wembley after a terrific 2-1 win at Coventry last night. Eliezer Mayenda scored a clinical winner in the 88th minute after a bad mistake from Coventry defender Milan van Ewijk.

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AI safety campaigner calls for existential threat assessment akin to Oppenheimer’s calculations before first nuclear test

Artificial intelligence companies have been urged to replicate the safety calculations that underpinned Robert Oppenheimer’s first nuclear test before they release all-powerful systems.

Max Tegmark, a leading voice in AI safety, said he had carried out calculations akin to those of the US physicist Arthur Compton before the Trinity test and had found a 90% probability that a highly advanced AI would pose an existential threat.

The US government went ahead with Trinity in 1945, after being reassured there was a vanishingly small chance of an atomic bomb igniting the atmosphere and endangering humanity.

Legislation would radically ease research restrictions on cannabis and other schedule I substances

A recently introduced bill, if it passes, would allow research on cannabis despite its schedule I status, which some experts say could help policymakers “craft effective” legislation in the future and potentially allow more clinical research on medical cannabis.

Representatives Dina Titus and Ilhan Omar introduced the Evidence-Based Drug Policy Act of 2025 (EBDPA) last week, which would radically ease research restrictions on cannabis and other schedule I substances.

Jeanine Pirro, who hasn’t held a government legal job in decades, does have a key qualification: relentless loyalty to the president

The revolving door between the Trump administration and rightwing Fox News took another wild spin this week, as America’s TV-obsessed president tapped Jeanine Pirro for a prominent legal post: top federal prosecutor for Washington DC.

Pirro is unqualified, perhaps even more so than was her former Fox colleague Pete Hegseth when he was named Trump’s defense secretary a few months ago. In that crucial position, Hegseth has been a dangerous embarrassment, as his shockingly inappropriate communications have exposed national security secrets to the world.