Germany’s presumed next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has suffered a humiliating setback on his path to power by failing to secure the necessary majority in the Bundestag lower house of parliament to be elected.

The ballot on Tuesday was the first time in Germany’s postwar history that a candidate has lost the first round of voting in a country that prides itself on predictability and stability.

A second round of voting is to be held on Tuesday afternoon and Merz is to stand again. But even success in a re-run would leave Merz and his fledgling government severely weakened.

Commentators called the shock outcome, in which Merz garnered 310 votes, short of the required 316, a “complete catastrophe” for the conservative politician and “a punch to the stomach”. The 69-year-old leads the centre-right CDU/CSU bloc, which won February’s snap election with a disappointing 28.6%.

Immediately after the lost vote, a stony-faced Merz retreated with his parliamentary group to consult on the path ahead.

It was not immediately clear from the secret ballot whether it had been rebels among his own conservatives or from the junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), who had withheld their expected support.

The Social Democratic co-leader Lars Klingbeil, who has been designated to become Merz’s vice-chancellor and finance minister, reportedly told his MPs that he had “not the slightest indication that the SPD was not completely behind” Merz. “We can be counted on,” he insisted.

Markus Söder, the head of the Bavarian sister party of Merz’s CDU, the Christian Social Union, called on MPs to abandon any “little games or wake-up calls” and vote for Merz in the name of protecting German democracy, warning a final defeat could be seen as a “harbinger of Weimar”, the tumultuous era that ushered in the Nazis’ rise.

A failure by Merz to win in the second round would immerse Europe’s top economy into political turmoil, triggering an open-ended leadership battle or potentially even new elections in which the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party would be expected to do well – or even win outright.

The AfD co-leader Alice Weidel gleefully welcomed Merz’s debacle, posting on X that his failure win a majority in the first round “shows what a weak foundation the small coalition is built on”.

The stunning developments throw a finely calibrated schedule for the week into potential disarray.

Merz had been due to be sworn in Tuesday and to travel to both Paris and Warsaw on Wednesday, signalling a return to German leadership within the EU after six months of political limbo since Olaf Scholz’s government collapsed in acrimony.

He had been due to preside over ceremonies in Berlin marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war in Europe on Thursday before heading to Brussels on Friday to meet EU and Nato leaders.

Merz hoped on Tuesday to become the 10th chancellor of the postwar period, facing an already staggering in-tray of domestic and foreign policy challenges unseen since national reunification 35 years ago.

The next government will have to revive the flatlining economy and fend off the far right while maintaining support for Ukraine against the backdrop of fresh uncertainty in the transatlantic relationship under Donald Trump.

Merz, a corporate lawyer who made a fortune in the private sector but has never led a state government or a ministry, promised “strong, well-planned and dependable governance … in times of profound change, of profound upheaval” as he signed the coalition pact on Monday.

“That is why we know that it is our historic obligation to lead this coalition to success,” he said, noting that partners keenly awaited a return of German stewardship in Europe.

Scholz’s Social Democrats turned in their worst performance in more than a century in February’s election, with just over 16%. Together with the CDU/CSU they have only a slim majority to pass a reform agenda in the Bundestag, where the anti-immigration, pro-Kremlin AfD forms the biggest opposition bloc.

Merz, however, has a deep popularity deficit among Germans, who mistrust his often brash style and mercurial temperament.

A poll last week for the public broadcaster ZDF showed that only 38% supported him as chancellor while a full 56% said he was the wrong person for the job. Merz is particularly disliked by Social Democrats, with 62% rejecting him, in a gloomy foreshadowing of Tuesday’s disaster.

The black-red coalition, named for the parties’ colours, had stronger backing than Merz himself at 48% while 37% oppose the alliance. Yet nearly one in two Germans do not think the team has what it takes to solve the country’s most pressing problems.

The outgoing government slashed its growth forecast for the German economy, Europe’s largest, to zero for this year, citing the impact of Trump’s erratic trade policies. Germany had already suffered two years of recession, contracting by 0.3% in 2023 and 0.2% in 2024.

Before even taking office, Merz in March engineered a reform of the “debt brake”, curbing public spending to unleash a massive “bazooka” package of investment in Germany’s creaking infrastructure and the military, amid fears about Trump’s commitment to Nato and Ukraine’s defence against the Russian onslaught.

Germany is the second biggest national supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States.

The bold budget move proved highly unpopular, however, with fiscal hawks in the CDU/CSU – possibly a source of the dissent on display in Tuesday’s vote.

Merz had harboured a decades-long ambition to become chancellor but was long thwarted by his longtime rival Angela Merkel, who held the office for 16 years. Since assuming the leadership of their CDU in 2022, he has steered the party to the right of her more moderate course, particularly on border policy.

The hard-right AfD has capitalised on public backlash against migration, coming second in the February election. Two recent polls have shown it overtaking Merz’s CDU/CSU in support as it profits from the power vacuum in Berlin.

Last week, the BfV domestic intelligence agency designated it a “confirmed rightwing extremist” force, stoking long-running calls for an initiative to ban the party outright. Merz’s bid to claw back support from the AfD had been seen as one of the biggest challenges facing him for this term.

Even if he ekes out a win, Merz will engage in the battle in a feebler position than initially presumed.

“Germany is always seen as a source of super-stability in Europe, even worldwide,” the political scientist Wolfgang Schröder told the rolling news channel n-tv. “This bumpy patch on the way to forming a government clearly shows that’s not necessarily the case. You could call it Germany becoming normal.”

Germany’s presumed next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has suffered a humiliating setback on his path to power by failing to secure the necessary majority in the Bundestag lower house of parliament to be elected.

The ballot on Tuesday was the first time in Germany’s postwar history that a candidate has lost the first round of voting in a country that prides itself on predictability and stability.

A second round of voting is to be held on Tuesday afternoon and Merz is to stand again. But even success in a re-run would leave Merz and his fledgling government severely weakened.

Commentators called the shock outcome, in which Merz garnered 310 votes, short of the required 316, a “complete catastrophe” for the conservative politician and “a punch to the stomach”. The 69-year-old leads the centre-right CDU/CSU bloc, which won February’s snap election with a disappointing 28.6%.

Immediately after the lost vote, a stony-faced Merz retreated with his parliamentary group to consult on the path ahead.

It was not immediately clear from the secret ballot whether it had been rebels among his own conservatives or from the junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), who had withheld their expected support.

The Social Democratic co-leader Lars Klingbeil, who has been designated to become Merz’s vice-chancellor and finance minister, reportedly told his MPs that he had “not the slightest indication that the SPD was not completely behind” Merz. “We can be counted on,” he insisted.

Markus Söder, the head of the Bavarian sister party of Merz’s CDU, the Christian Social Union, called on MPs to abandon any “little games or wake-up calls” and vote for Merz in the name of protecting German democracy, warning a final defeat could be seen as a “harbinger of Weimar”, the tumultuous era that ushered in the Nazis’ rise.

A failure by Merz to win in the second round would immerse Europe’s top economy into political turmoil, triggering an open-ended leadership battle or potentially even new elections in which the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party would be expected to do well – or even win outright.

The AfD co-leader Alice Weidel gleefully welcomed Merz’s debacle, posting on X that his failure win a majority in the first round “shows what a weak foundation the small coalition is built on”.

The stunning developments throw a finely calibrated schedule for the week into potential disarray.

Merz had been due to be sworn in Tuesday and to travel to both Paris and Warsaw on Wednesday, signalling a return to German leadership within the EU after six months of political limbo since Olaf Scholz’s government collapsed in acrimony.

He had been due to preside over ceremonies in Berlin marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war in Europe on Thursday before heading to Brussels on Friday to meet EU and Nato leaders.

Merz hoped on Tuesday to become the 10th chancellor of the postwar period, facing an already staggering in-tray of domestic and foreign policy challenges unseen since national reunification 35 years ago.

The next government will have to revive the flatlining economy and fend off the far right while maintaining support for Ukraine against the backdrop of fresh uncertainty in the transatlantic relationship under Donald Trump.

Merz, a corporate lawyer who made a fortune in the private sector but has never led a state government or a ministry, promised “strong, well-planned and dependable governance … in times of profound change, of profound upheaval” as he signed the coalition pact on Monday.

“That is why we know that it is our historic obligation to lead this coalition to success,” he said, noting that partners keenly awaited a return of German stewardship in Europe.

Scholz’s Social Democrats turned in their worst performance in more than a century in February’s election, with just over 16%. Together with the CDU/CSU they have only a slim majority to pass a reform agenda in the Bundestag, where the anti-immigration, pro-Kremlin AfD forms the biggest opposition bloc.

Merz, however, has a deep popularity deficit among Germans, who mistrust his often brash style and mercurial temperament.

A poll last week for the public broadcaster ZDF showed that only 38% supported him as chancellor while a full 56% said he was the wrong person for the job. Merz is particularly disliked by Social Democrats, with 62% rejecting him, in a gloomy foreshadowing of Tuesday’s disaster.

The black-red coalition, named for the parties’ colours, had stronger backing than Merz himself at 48% while 37% oppose the alliance. Yet nearly one in two Germans do not think the team has what it takes to solve the country’s most pressing problems.

The outgoing government slashed its growth forecast for the German economy, Europe’s largest, to zero for this year, citing the impact of Trump’s erratic trade policies. Germany had already suffered two years of recession, contracting by 0.3% in 2023 and 0.2% in 2024.

Before even taking office, Merz in March engineered a reform of the “debt brake”, curbing public spending to unleash a massive “bazooka” package of investment in Germany’s creaking infrastructure and the military, amid fears about Trump’s commitment to Nato and Ukraine’s defence against the Russian onslaught.

Germany is the second biggest national supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States.

The bold budget move proved highly unpopular, however, with fiscal hawks in the CDU/CSU – possibly a source of the dissent on display in Tuesday’s vote.

Merz had harboured a decades-long ambition to become chancellor but was long thwarted by his longtime rival Angela Merkel, who held the office for 16 years. Since assuming the leadership of their CDU in 2022, he has steered the party to the right of her more moderate course, particularly on border policy.

The hard-right AfD has capitalised on public backlash against migration, coming second in the February election. Two recent polls have shown it overtaking Merz’s CDU/CSU in support as it profits from the power vacuum in Berlin.

Last week, the BfV domestic intelligence agency designated it a “confirmed rightwing extremist” force, stoking long-running calls for an initiative to ban the party outright. Merz’s bid to claw back support from the AfD had been seen as one of the biggest challenges facing him for this term.

Even if he ekes out a win, Merz will engage in the battle in a feebler position than initially presumed.

“Germany is always seen as a source of super-stability in Europe, even worldwide,” the political scientist Wolfgang Schröder told the rolling news channel n-tv. “This bumpy patch on the way to forming a government clearly shows that’s not necessarily the case. You could call it Germany becoming normal.”

Hamas has said it is no longer interested in truce talks with Israel and urged the international community to halt Israel’s “hunger war” against Gaza, hours after Israeli officials agreed an intensified offensive in the devastated territory that would involve displacing “most” of its residents and a sustained Israeli military presence.

“There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip,” Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, told AFP.

On Monday, Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan for Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which an Israeli official said would entail “the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories”.

Effie Defrin, Israel’s chief military spokesperson, said the planned offensive would include “moving most of the population of the Gaza Strip … to protect them”. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said the “population will be moved, for its own protection” in a video posted on social media, but gave no further details.

Nearly all of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced, often multiple times, since the start of the war triggered by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted another 250. More than 52,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza that followed. A two-month ceasefire collapsed in mid-March when Israel reneged on a promise to implement a second phase.

Faltering indirect talks have continued since, brokered by Qatar and Egypt, but with little sign of any significant progress. Any breakthrough appears unlikely as long as Israel remains committed to forcing Hamas to disarm, and Hamas refuses to release hostages without a ceasefire leading to a permanent end to hostilities as well as a total withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Some analysts suggest Israel’s threats of the new offensive, occupation of territory and massive displacement are designed to force concessions from Hamas, as well as shore up rightwing support for Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.

Hamas on Monday described the new Israeli framework for aid delivery in Gaza as “political blackmail” and blamed Israel for the war-ravaged territory’s “humanitarian catastrophe”.

The prospect of a new and intensified Israeli offensive has prompted deep international concern.

Jean-Noël Barrot, the French foreign minister, in a radio interview on Tuesday called Israel’s plan for a Gaza offensive “unacceptable”, and said its government was “in violation of humanitarian law”.

A spokesperson for the British Foreign Office said the UK did not support an expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, while a UN spokesperson said on Monday that António Guterres, the UN secretary general, was “alarmed” by the Israeli plan that “will inevitably lead to countless more civilians killed and the further destruction of Gaza”.

Humanitarian officials say the territory is on the brink of catastrophe as food and fuel runs out due to a total Israeli blockade imposed on 2 March.

Military officials in Israel have given different versions of a plan reportedly agreed by ministers to allow a limited amount of aid into Gaza, which would be distributed from a small number of newly constructed hubs in the south of the territory staffed by private contractors but protected by Israeli troops.

Humanitarian officials have dismissed the scheme as unworkable, dangerous and potentially unlawful.

US officials have not reacted directly to Israel’s threat of a new offensive, but President Trump said on Monday that his administration would help get food to “starving” Palestinians. He blamed Hamas for making it “impossible” by diverting humanitarian assistance for its fighters.

“We’re going to help the people of Gaza get some food. People are starving, and we’re going to help them get some food,” Trump told reporters during an event at the White House.

Israeli officials have said the new operation will not be launched before Trump concludes his visit next week to Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar.

Naim, a Hamas political bureau member and former health minister in Gaza, called for international pressure on Israel to end the “crimes of hunger, thirst, and killings”.

In recent weeks, Israeli troops have reinforced kilometre-deep “buffer zones” along the perimeter of the territory and expanded their hold over much of the north and south of the territory.

In all, more than 70% of Gaza is under Israeli control or covered by orders issued by Israel telling Palestinian civilians to evacuate specific neighbourhoods.

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, was due to meet with US president, Donald Trump, on Tuesday in a closely watched encounter at the White House that could hint at the future relationship between the two countries and their two leaders.

Over the weekend, Trump said it was “highly unlikely” he would use military force to annex Canada, a key trading partner and political ally. In recent months, the president has repeatedly threatened to use economic coercion to weaken Canada to the point that it accedes to Trump’s wish to make it the 51st state.

“I think we’re not ever going to get to that point, something could happen with Greenland … I don’t see it with Canada, I just don’t see it, I have to be honest with you,” he said.

Carney crafted much of his federal election campaign on Canada’s collective outrage over the US president’s threats to the nation’s sovereignty. During his victory speech last week, Carney used one of his campaign’s most frequently delivered lines, telling exuberant supporters Trump wanted to “break us, so that America can own us”.

“That will never, ever happen,” he added, to shouts from the crowd.

Carney also used his first post-election press conference to once again quash any idea Canada was interested in becoming the 51st US state, a proposal repeatedly floated by Trump.

“It’s always important to distinguish want from reality,” Carney said on Friday, referring to a firm belief that Canada joining the US will “never, ever happen”.

Colin Robertson, a former senior Canadian diplomat who has had numerous postings in the US, said Trump’s relatively cordial tone since the election bodes well for the Canadian delegation and makes an Oval Office ambush less likely.

Robertson speculated that Trump’s background as a property developer has helped frame his perception of Carney – who he last week referred to as a “very nice gentleman”.

“Anybody I met in real estate, their favourite people are bankers. I suspect that immediately, Trump will look at Carney as a kind of ‘super banker’ and see him in a positive light,” he said.

“And Carney’s also been very careful not to be personally critical of Trump, beyond talking about him that we’re a sovereign country, and this is how we’re doing stuff. That’s worked very well for him. He pushed back when Trump questioned our sovereignty, but that push back would be something the president understands, because that’s how he behaves.”

While much was made about Trump’s awkward handshake with Carney’s predecessor Justin Trudeau, the pair had a famously frosty relationship.

In Trudeau’s final days as prime minister, Trump repeatedly derided him as “governor” of Canada. And while the president had sometimes called the prime minister a “very nice guy”, Trump also called Trudeau “two-faced” after he was revealed on video leading the laughter at Trump’s expense at a Nato summit.

Still, Carney’s “antagonistic” rhetoric towards Trump might be something he might regret when faced with the economic realities of Canada’s dependence on the United States, said Ryan Hurl, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto.

“I suspect he backs away from the idea that our relationship with the United States is ‘over’ and he might modify it to say that our relationship is ‘changing’,” said Hurl. “Trade negotiations are never completely static and hopefully he can present his negotiations with Trump as something that is better for Canada, and not simply as bending the knee to President Trump.”

The headwinds the prime minister faces in Tuesday’s White House meeting are already sufficiently strong, on both the economic and partisan fronts.

“If Carney presents himself as making concessions to Trump to preserve the trading relationship between the two countries, the Conservative party will be able to take advantage of this,” said Hurl. “But if no agreements can be made, Canadians are going to start feeling the political the economic fallout very quickly.”

Carney ran much of his brief federal election campaign on the idea that Canada needed to seek out new trade markets. And while a pledge to reshape Canada’s economic structure was welcomed by voters, many of the structural changes implied by such a policy shift – including eliminating internal trade barriers and getting more Canadian products to foreign markers – will take time. “You can’t just snap your fingers and change port capacity. That is a generational project,” said Hurl.

Meanwhile, Trump is also starting to face domestic pressure: his decision to launch a trade war with allies and foes alike has started to harm him in public opinion as American companies warn they were prepared to raise costs for consumers.

“Trump has probably overreached on trade issues and we’re really starting to see the push back now. With questions over consumer confidence and the direction of the country, we can be part of the solution to Trump’s self-inflicted problem,” said Robertson.

He pointed to Canada’s “relatively strong” bargaining position as the two delegations meet at the White House.

Canada’s federal government has invested in increased border checks, and fentanyl interceptions – the supposed pretext for Trump’s tariffs – have dropped further from a low starting point.

Trade officials anticipate the United States will request changes to the USMCA free trade agreement, which is due for negotiations in 2026. And despite Trump’s repeated assertions that the United States doesn’t need Canada’s resources, experts say potash, steel and aluminum remain key purchases for American farmers and manufacturers.

“And if, for example, they raise the issue of dairy and supply management, we can ask, ‘What do you want here? Do you want more access for dairy products? Because you’re not using your quota right now. And you also practice supply management when it comes to rice and sugar and cotton. So if you want to negotiate this, then we’ve got the process,” said Robertson. “At the end of the day, what’s really important about this meeting, as my kids would say, is the ‘vibe’ between the two. That’s almost more important than whatever processes are committed to moving forward.”

Those close to the prime minister say he was approaching the meeting like he did during debate preparations in the federal election: preparing for all possible iterations of the unpredictable president.

“With Trump, you’re just never sure on any day where he is, what’s going on in his head and who was the last person to talk to him before in the meeting,” said Robertson. “But one thing we know about Carney, he has always been two things: disciplined and prepared.”

The party of the year had the potential to be a political firecracker. New York’s ultimate see-and-be-seen event, the Met Gala, was also the launch of Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, a fashion exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum honouring the subversive power of black style and the role of dandyism in expanding ideals of masculinity. In other words, the A-list were showing up to raise a toast to diversity under the watchful eye of an administration bent on reversing it.

On the night, the resistance came to party, not to protest. Glamour was the guest of honour, with politics very much the plus-one. The tempered tone of the night was typified by Kamala Harris, the most high-profile political guest, slipping in a side entrance to avoid the photographers. The night was a joyful and thoughtful celebration of black heritage and creativity, but it was not a forthright statement about politics in 2025.

Diana Ross wore a feathered ivory gown with the names of all her children and grandchildren embroidered on to an 18ft train, which took up most of the museum steps. Andre 3000 wore a grand piano on his back. Rihanna announced her third pregnancy in pinstripe bump and matching bustle. Hailey Bieber accessorised her Saint Laurent tuxedo with a martini, and no trousers. But the night did not reach the controversial heights of Kim Kardashian in Marilyn Monroe’s dress, or Rihanna as the pope – let alone the boldness of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s 2021 ‘Tax The Rich’ dress.

Homages to André Leon Talley, Josephine Baker and Dapper Dan were recurring themes. It was the death two years ago of Talley, fashion editor of American Vogue and iconic black dandy, which first sparked the idea for this exhibition in curator Andrew Bolton. Talley “radiated joy”, Anna Wintour wrote in a recent tribute. Talley’s fingerprints were all over the red carpet, in Colman Domingo’s electric blue cape, a nod to Talley’s 2011 Met Gala look, and in singer Doechii staging a pre-gala photo op swinging one of his trademark accessories, a Louis Vuitton tennis racket cover.

The fashion headline of the night was a revival of the sophisticated glamour of 1920s and 1930s Harlem. Singer FKA twigs wore a scalloped and feather trimmed Baker-esque cocktail dress with a chiffon stole, made for her by the black British designer Grace Wales Bonner. Zendaya wore an immaculate three-piece ivory “zoot suit”, the ultra-fitted silhouette popular in Harlem dancehalls in that era, which recalled the flamboyant tailoring of queer blues singer Gladys Bentley.

Dapper Dan, iconic 80-year-old tailor and godfather to hip-hop fashion, told red carpet reporters that his jazzy black-and-white tailoring, with matching two-tone hat and shoes “personifies the Harlem Renaissance”. Jazz-age fashions, which have been percolating on the moodboards of New York creatives since the Met’s 2024 show The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism, looks to be the most influential fashion direction to emerge from the gala.

Most striking among the Harlem Renaissance tributes was the return of the kiss curl. The slick, lacquered single loop of hair popularised by Baker a century ago was worn on the red carpet by celebrities from across the board: singer Dua Lipa, actor Sydney Sweeney, gymnast Simone Biles, basketball player Angel Reese and rapper Bad Bunny.

For white guests, there were anxieties around how best to honour black culture without risking accusations of appropriation. Gigi Hadid wore a gold Miu Miu dress that paid tribute to the work of black designer Zelda Wynn Valdes, who made gowns for Ella Fitzgerald and created the original Playboy Bunny waitress costume. Kendall Jenner wore a grey tailored two-piece, with a wrapped waist tied at the back in a style inspired by Nigerian tailoring traditions, which designer Torisheju Dumi said expressed “the versatility of black dandyism and what it means to a black British woman.”

The interpretations of the dress code, “Tailored for You”, was a reminder of how fluid men’s and women’s fashion has become. Men wore capes and skirts and brooches; women wore trousersuits and waistcoats. Walton Goggins, riding the crest of White Lotus mania, twirled for the cameras in his deconstructed Thom Browne coat and matching flared skirt. Zendaya’s three-piece trousersuit was made for her by Pharrell Williams, who designs menswear, not womenswear, for Louis Vuitton.

At a historic edition of the Met Gala with tons of news-making moments, Rihanna and A$AP Rocky once again stole the show.

The power couple is expecting their third child, the rapper A$AP Rocky revealed.

“It feels amazing, you know,” gala co-chair A$AP Rocky told reporters who congratulated him on Monday after outlets reported the couple was expecting their third child. “It’s time that we show the people what we was cooking up. And I’m glad everybody’s happy for us ’cause we definitely happy, you know.”

TMZ reported earlier on Monday that Rihanna and the rapper were expecting their third child.

A representative for Rihanna did not immediately return the Associated Press’s request for comment.

Photos taken of the singer on Monday walking in New York showed her with what appeared to be a baby bump.

Later in the night, Rihanna appeared on the Met Gala carpet in a pinstripe look and a huge hat, her newly announced baby bump on display.

“Honestly, it’s a blessing nonetheless,” Rocky told the AP. “Because you know how like some people in other situations at times can be envious of other people. But we’ve been seeing love for the most part. And we real receptive to that and appreciate that, you know what I mean? That’s love. Love is love.”

The couple announced their last pregnancy in a similarly starry way: at the 2023 Super Bowl, Rihanna emerged on stage for her half-time performance with baby bump on full display. Their son Riot Rose was born later that year.

The couple’s first child, RZA, was born in May 2022.

Rocky is one of the 2025 Met Gala co-chairs of the menswear-themed event tied to the museum’s Superfine: Tailoring Black Style. But his attendance at this year’s Met Gala wasn’t always a sure bet. That announcement came a couple months before the opening of his trial on firearms charges in Los Angeles. Rocky was ultimately found not guilty in mid-February.

At his trial, he showed his eye for fashion. He sported tailored suits and luxury labels throughout the proceedings. Yves Saint Laurent even put out press releases directing attention to his high-fashion court attire. He was clad in a pinstripe Saint Laurent suit for the verdict.

He has collaborated with several designers and brands on shoes, sunglasses and clothing collections. In December, he was honored with the Cultural Innovator Award at the British Fashion Council’s Fashion Awards.

Ukrainian drones have targeted Moscow for the second night in a row, forcing temporary airport closures as the Russian capital prepares for a major military parade marking the end of the second world war that is expected to draw world leaders.

The consecutive attacks came before the annual 9 May victory parade, which this year commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union and its allies’ victory over Nazi Germany.

Vladimir Putin tried to call a three-day ceasefire for the 8-10 May anniversary; however, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, characterised the idea as self-serving and pointless unless it lasted 30 days in line with a US proposal that the Russian president has ignored.

The Moscow mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said at least 19 Ukrainian drones approached Moscow “from different directions”. Three social media sites with links to Russian security services said one drone struck an apartment building near a major road in the south of the capital, smashing windows. There were no reports of casualties, both they and Sobyanin said.

“Specialists from the emergency services are working at the sites where the incidents occurred,” Sobyanin said. The mayor referred to debris falling on one of the key highways leading into the city, but made no mention of a dwelling being hit.

Russia’s aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, temporarily halted flights at all four airports that serve Moscow. Airports in some regional cities were also temporarily closed.

In the Voronezh region that borders Ukraine in Russia’s south-west, at least 18 drones were reported, the regional governor said.

There was no immediate comment from Kyiv about the latest drone attack.

Ukraine’s drone campaign in Moscow appears aimed at unnerving the Kremlin before the 9 May parade, which about two dozen foreign leaders – including China’s Xi Jinping – are expected to attend.

Zelenskyy earlier warned that Ukraine “cannot bear responsibility for what happens” to foreign leaders attending the commemoration parade in Moscow.

Security has been tightened in Moscow before Victory Day celebrations, with residents experiencing major internet disruptions. Russia’s state-run Tass news agency reported that critical facilities in the capital had been placed under reinforced protection, while some Telegram social media channels reported that air defence systems had been transferred to protect Moscow.

The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova previously accused Zelenskyy of directly threatening the 9 May events, while the former president Dmitry Medvedev said “10 May may not come for Kyiv” if there were any “Victory Day provocations”.

So far, there is no indication that Ukraine will accept Moscow’s proposed three-day ceasefire, which Zelenskyy has dismissed as an “unserious” stunt aimed at ensuring smooth 9 May celebrations. The US has been pressing Moscow to agree to a longer, one-month ceasefire, though on Monday, Trump appeared to tacitly support the Kremlin’s proposal.

“As you know, President Putin just announced a three-day ceasefire, which doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a lot if you knew where we started from,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military said its forces had been engaged in combat operations in Russia’s Kursk region over the past 24 hours, despite Moscow saying it had defeated a Ukrainian incursion into the area.

In a daily update posted on Telegram, the military said its forces in the Kursk sector had fought off Russian attacks and come under fire from Russian artillery and air-dropped bombs.

Local Russian authorities appeared to confirm on Monday evening that Ukraine’s military had made gains along the border. Vasily Khudyakov, the head of Glushkovo – a small settlement in the Kursk region – said Russian troops had begun evacuating all residents from the area.

“Due to the worsening situation in the village, residents currently there must temporarily evacuate,” Khudyakov wrote on social media.

Reuters contributed to this report

Ukrainian drones have targeted Moscow for the second night in a row, forcing temporary airport closures as the Russian capital prepares for a major military parade marking the end of the second world war that is expected to draw world leaders.

The consecutive attacks came before the annual 9 May victory parade, which this year commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union and its allies’ victory over Nazi Germany.

Vladimir Putin tried to call a three-day ceasefire for the 8-10 May anniversary; however, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, characterised the idea as self-serving and pointless unless it lasted 30 days in line with a US proposal that the Russian president has ignored.

The Moscow mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said at least 19 Ukrainian drones approached Moscow “from different directions”. Three social media sites with links to Russian security services said one drone struck an apartment building near a major road in the south of the capital, smashing windows. There were no reports of casualties, both they and Sobyanin said.

“Specialists from the emergency services are working at the sites where the incidents occurred,” Sobyanin said. The mayor referred to debris falling on one of the key highways leading into the city, but made no mention of a dwelling being hit.

Russia’s aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, temporarily halted flights at all four airports that serve Moscow. Airports in some regional cities were also temporarily closed.

In the Voronezh region that borders Ukraine in Russia’s south-west, at least 18 drones were reported, the regional governor said.

There was no immediate comment from Kyiv about the latest drone attack.

Ukraine’s drone campaign in Moscow appears aimed at unnerving the Kremlin before the 9 May parade, which about two dozen foreign leaders – including China’s Xi Jinping – are expected to attend.

Zelenskyy earlier warned that Ukraine “cannot bear responsibility for what happens” to foreign leaders attending the commemoration parade in Moscow.

Security has been tightened in Moscow before Victory Day celebrations, with residents experiencing major internet disruptions. Russia’s state-run Tass news agency reported that critical facilities in the capital had been placed under reinforced protection, while some Telegram social media channels reported that air defence systems had been transferred to protect Moscow.

The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova previously accused Zelenskyy of directly threatening the 9 May events, while the former president Dmitry Medvedev said “10 May may not come for Kyiv” if there were any “Victory Day provocations”.

So far, there is no indication that Ukraine will accept Moscow’s proposed three-day ceasefire, which Zelenskyy has dismissed as an “unserious” stunt aimed at ensuring smooth 9 May celebrations. The US has been pressing Moscow to agree to a longer, one-month ceasefire, though on Monday, Trump appeared to tacitly support the Kremlin’s proposal.

“As you know, President Putin just announced a three-day ceasefire, which doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a lot if you knew where we started from,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military said its forces had been engaged in combat operations in Russia’s Kursk region over the past 24 hours, despite Moscow saying it had defeated a Ukrainian incursion into the area.

In a daily update posted on Telegram, the military said its forces in the Kursk sector had fought off Russian attacks and come under fire from Russian artillery and air-dropped bombs.

Local Russian authorities appeared to confirm on Monday evening that Ukraine’s military had made gains along the border. Vasily Khudyakov, the head of Glushkovo – a small settlement in the Kursk region – said Russian troops had begun evacuating all residents from the area.

“Due to the worsening situation in the village, residents currently there must temporarily evacuate,” Khudyakov wrote on social media.

Reuters contributed to this report

Donald Trump’s tariffs policy will trigger a “price shock” and possible shortages, and lead to public pressure on him to change his approach, the former vice-president Mike Pence has said.

In one of his most wide-ranging critiques yet on the policies of the president he used to serve, Pence, speaking to CNN, derided the White House’s “wavering” support for Ukraine and declared – in direct contradiction of repeated assurances from Trump – that President Vladimir Putin of Russia “doesn’t want peace”.

Pence’s comments came in an interview after receiving the John F Kennedy Profile in Courage award in recognition of his refusal to bow to pressure from Trump to overturn the 2020 presidential election when he presided over Congress’s certification of the results on 6 January 2021.

The vice president’s determination to carry out his constitutional role and certify Joe Biden’s victory presaged an attack on the US Capitol by a violent mob, who chanted “hang Mike Pence”, as the vice-president was spirited to safety by security personnel.

Pence told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that Trump’s decision to pardon about 1,600 convicted rioters after he returned to office in January “sent the wrong message”.

“I was deeply disappointed to see President Trump pardon people that engaged in violence against law enforcement officers that day,” he said.

Addressing tariffs – which Trump has made a signature policy of his second presidency while implementing a 90-day pause on exports from most countries after international markets plunged – Pence said they were “not a win for the American people” and warned that their worst effects had yet to be seen.

“I do have concerns that, with the president’s call for broad-based tariffs against friend and foe alike, that ultimately the administration is advancing policies that are not targeted at countries that have been abusing our trade relationship, but rather are essentially new industrial policy that will result in inflation, that will harm consumers and that will ultimately harm the American economy,” he said.

“Even the administration has conceded that there may be a price shock in the economy, and there may be shortages” after the current pause expires, Pence said.

He said the White House was in danger of stoking a political backlash, citing Trump’s recent comment that tariffs might result in American children having two dolls instead of 30 and that “maybe the dolls will cost a couple of bucks more”.

“Keeping our kids’ toys affordable: that really is part of the American dream,” he said.

“I think the American people are going to see the consequences of this. I think they’ll demand a different approach.”

He criticized the administration for threatening to abandon support for Ukraine, whose president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump has publicly blamed for Russia’s invasion, while repeatedly praising Putin – relenting only recently after the Russian leader rebuffed peace offers and instead ordered missile attacks on Kyiv.

Pence said: “If the last three years teaches us anything, it’s that Vladimir Putin doesn’t want peace; he wants Ukraine. And the fact that we are now nearly two months of following a ceasefire agreement that Ukraine has agreed to and Russia continues to delay and give excuses confirms that point.

“The wavering support the administration has shown over the last few months, I believe, has only emboldened Russia.”

He was equally scathing about Trump’s stance towards Canada, which he had hit with trade tariffs and said he would like to annex as the 51st US state.

Pence, by contrast, called Canada “a great ally, whose soldiers have fought and died alongside Americans in every war since world war one”.

Drones have struck the airport and targeted an army base in Port Sudan, officials said, the third straight day the seat of power of the government, which is aligned with the Sudanese army, has come under attack.

The country’s main fuel depot was hit on Monday, causing a massive blaze just south of the eastern city that had until Sunday been considered a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of displaced people fleeing a two-year war.

An Agence France-Presse correspondent reported loud explosions at dawn on Tuesday and plumes of smoke over the coastal city, one coming from the direction of the port and another from a fuel depot just south.

One drone struck the civilian section of the Port Sudan airport, an airport official told Agence France-Press, two days after the facility’s military base was first attacked in drone strikes the army blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

All flights were grounded at the wartorn country’s main international port of entry, the source added.

Another drone targeted the main army base in the city centre, an army source said, while witnesses reported a nearby hotel was hit.

Both sites are close to the residence of Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who has been at war with his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the RSF, since April 2023.

A third drone hit a fuel depot near the southern port in the densely populated city centre, where the UN, aid agencies and hundreds of thousands of displaced people have relocated from Khartoum.

Witnesses in the city’s north reported anti-aircraft fire from a military base.

The RSF has increasingly relied on drones since losing territory including nearly all of Khartoum in March, attacking deep into army-held territory.

Explosions were heard early on Tuesday morning across Port Sudan, where the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on Monday reports of paramilitary attacks were a “worrying development threatening the protection of civilians and humanitarian operations”.

Nearly all humanitarian aid into Sudan, where famine has already been declared and nearly 25 million people are suffering dire food insecurity, arrives in Port Sudan.

At the airport, where Sudanese airlines had resumed flights after Sunday’s strike, “fires broke out in multiple buildings” following the explosion, a traveller told AFP. The army source said the strike had also “targeted fuel depots at the airport”.

The RSF has in recent weeks attacked civilian infrastructure across the army-controlled north-east, causing widespread blackouts for millions of people.

Since it began, the war has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted 13 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises. It has effectively split the country in two, with the army controlling the centre, north and east while the RSF holds nearly all of the vast region of Darfur and, with its allies, parts of the south.

According to experts, the RSF’s increased reliance on drones since its loss of Khartoum has highlighted its reach and hindered the army’s supply line. The RSF has used both makeshift and highly advanced drones, which the army accuses the United Arab Emirates of supplying.

The international court of justice on Monday threw out a case brought by Sudan against the UAE, accusing it of complicity in genocide by supporting the RSF.
Sudan’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday it “respected” the ruling, which came on the basis of the ICJ’s lack of jurisdiction due to the UAE’s 2005 “reservation” on the UN genocide convention.

The only surviving guest of the beef wellington lunch at Erin Patterson’s house has told her triple murder trial he was happy and excited about being invited for the meal.

Ian Wilkinson, the pastor at the Korumburra Baptist church, is the sixth witness in the supreme court trial at the Latrobe Valley law courts in Morwell.

Wilkinson told the court on Tuesday that Patterson was at a church service when she invited his wife, Heather, to lunch less than a fortnight before the meal in July 2023.

Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to the beef wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha.

Patterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering or attempting to murder the relatives of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson.

She is accused of murdering Simon’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Simon’s uncle and Heather’s husband.

Wilkinson said that his relationship with Patterson “was friendly, amicable, [but] it didn’t have much depth”.

“I think we were more like acquaintances, we didn’t see a great deal of each other,” he said.

His wife’s relationship was “very similar”, he said.

“Heather would have seen Erin more than me, talked to her more than me, but we didn’t consider that the relationship was close.”

When asked by Jane Warren, for the prosecution, to describe Patterson, Wilkinson said she “just seemed like a normal person to me”.

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“As I say, when we met, things were friendly. We never had arguments or disputes.

“She just seemed like an ordinary person, I don’t know how to describe it.”

Wilkinson said that he and Simon had discussed relationship issues the estranged couple were having, but he never discussed these with Patterson.

Wilkinson had never been for a meal at Patterson’s house, nor been inside any house she lived in, he said, and no reason was given for the invitation.

But he said he and Heather were “very happy to be invited”.

“It seemed like maybe our relationship with Erin was going to improve,” he said.

The Pattersons collected the Wilkinsons about 30 minutes before they were due at Patterson’s home, Wilkinson told the court.

Heather noticed when they arrived at Patterson’s house that Simon’s car wasn’t there, and one of his parents confirmed he would not be attending lunch.

Wilkinson said Patterson met them outside, and they continued into the open-plan kitchen, dining and living room of the newly built house.

Heather and Gail went to inspect the pantry, but Wilkinson felt Patterson was reluctant for them to see it, so he stayed speaking with Don near the dining table.

He said they went outside soon after, before heading back inside for lunch.

Patterson was asked by Heather and Gail if she needed help plating up, but she said she didn’t, Wilkinson said.

He noticed that there were four large grey plates and a smaller plate that was “orangey, tan” colour.

Each plate had a beef wellington, which he said look like a pastie, green beans and mashed potato.

He sat at the head of the table, with Don next to Gail, to his right, and Erin opposite Don to his left.

After lunch, Wilkinson said, Patterson “announced that she had cancer”.

“She said that she was very concerned, because she believed it was very serious, life threatening, she was anxious about telling the kids, she was asking our advice about that, should I tell the kids or should I not tell the kids about this threat.

“At that moment, I thought, this is the reason we’ve been invited to the lunch.”

The conversation ended when someone noticed one of Patterson’s children and a friend were returning home.

Wilkinson noticed they had not prayed for Patterson, so he suggested they did so.

He asked “God’s blessing on Erin, that she would get the treatment that she needed, that the kids would be OK, that she would have wisdom about how she told the kids”, Wilkinson told the court.

Later that evening, Wilkinson said, Heather left bed to vomit. He felt alright at this point, but vomited for the first time soon after.

He was taken to hospital by Simon the following morning. Simon came to their house, and insisted that they go to hospital, as Wilkinson told the court he and Heather initially resisted.

They thought it was “a case of gastro, a few hours we’ll be right”, Wilkinson told the court.

The morning after that he was “abruptly woken up” and told there were fears he and Heather were suffering mushroom poisoning.

Ambulances arrived during this conversation, and the Wilkinsons were taken to Dandenong hospital. Wilkinson was given a charcoal substance to drink, and agreed he had “no memory” from this point regarding his treatment.

The court heard he was sedated and intubated, taken to the Austin hospital, and was treated in the intensive care unit there until 21 August 2023, before he was moved to a ward, discharged to a rehabilitation ward, and then eventually discharged home about a month later.

Under cross-examination from Colin Mandy SC, for Patterson, Wilkinson agreed that once Gail and Heather placed the four grey plates on the table, the guests were free to sit where they liked. Patterson took her own plate of food to the table.

Mandy suggested to Wilkinson that Patterson did not, in fact, have a set of four grey plates, and told the court no grey or stone plates had been found at her house.

Wilkinson insisted the plates were grey, and larger than the plate Patterson had served her own food on.

Mandy also asked Wilkinson about why he described Patterson as “announcing suspected cancer” in a statement he made to police in September 2023, when he told the court on Tuesday that she announced she had been diagnosed with cancer.

“That was the truth, as far as you were concerned at that time [of the police statement], wasn’t it?” Mandy asked.

“I think I was probably understating things at that point,” Wilkinson responded.

Wilkinson disagreed with Mandy that Patterson said at the lunch that it was “a suspected diagnosis”.

But he said he could accept he also did not mention a “diagnostic test” in his police statement, despite giving evidence on Tuesday that Patterson said at the lunch she had undergone a test of this kind.

Mandy asked Wilkinson if anything unusual occurred at the lunch, other than the discussion about Patterson’s medical condition.

“There’d been nothing out of the ordinary, apart from that discussion, that had happened on that day. That fair?” Mandy said.

“That’s fair,” Wilkinson said.

“Just a normal lunch?” Mandy continued.

“Yes,” Wilkinson said.

Medical witnesses who treated the lunch guests also provided evidence on Tuesday.

One of those witnesses, Dr Beth Morgan, told the court that about 10.30pm on the day after the lunch was when she first suspected the guests were not just suffering serious food poisoning.

“I was concerned that this wasn’t just gastroenteritis caused by food poisoning,” she said.

“There was a discussion about the presentation and how it was quite severe, but the onset of symptoms was quite delayed.

“This would be more indicative of a serious toxin syndrome as opposed to a food poisoning.”

Another witness, the owner and manager of the business where Patterson bought a food dehydrator, was the first witness of the day.

An invoice shown to the court detailed that Patterson bought the Sunbeam Food Lab Electronic Dehydrator for $229 on 28 April 2023.

The court has previously heard Patterson excitedly shared with friends that she had used the dehydrator for mushrooms.

The trial continues.

Eighty years after the second world war, polling shows many Americans and western Europeans believe an even more devastating third global conflict could break out within a decade, with tensions with Russia seen as the most probable cause.

As Europe prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the YouGov polling also showed large majorities felt that events during and before the second world war were relevant today and must continue to be taught to younger generations.

Between 41% and 55% of respondents in the five European countries polled: Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, said they thought another world war was very or fairly likely within the next five to 10 years, a view shared by 45% of Americans.

Majorities of 68% to 76% said they expected any new conflict would involve nuclear weapons, and between 57% and 73% also said a third world war would lead to greater loss of life than in 1939-1945. Many (25% to 44%) believed it would kill most people in the world.

Most people, ranging from 66% in Italy to 89% in the UK, said they would expect their country to be involved in such a war – but only minorities, from 16% in Italy to 44% in France, thought their armed forces would be able to defend them.

In contrast, 71% of Americans said they had confidence in the US military. Russia was seen as the most probable cause of another world war by between 72% and 82% of western Europeans and 69% of Americans, followed by Islamic terrorism.

Many Europeans, however, also felt the same about Europe’s supposed ally the US, with majorities in Spain (58%), Germany (55%) and France (53%) seeing tensions with the US as a major or moderate threat to continental peace.

Looking back to the second world war, respondents in France (72%), Germany (70%) and the UK (66%) were the most likely to say they knew a great deal or a fair amount about the conflict, with those in Spain – which was not involved – the least (40%).

About 77% of French people said they had been taught a great deal or fair amount about the war in school, compared with 60% of Germans, 48% of Britons and only 34% of Spaniards. Younger generations were more likely to report having been taught a lot.

Overwhelming majorities (82% to 90%) of western Europeans and Americans, however, said they thought it was important the second world war be taught in schools, with between 72% and 87% saying the events of the conflict and those leading up to it were still relevant today.

Between 31% (Spain) and 52% (the US) across all six countries said they thought it was possible that “crimes like those committed by the Nazi regime in Germany in the 1930s and 40s” could happen in their own country, during their lifetimes.

More respondents (44% to 59%) said they thought Nazi-style crimes could be committed in “another western European country”, with 44% to 60% also saying such a scenario was possible in the US – including 52% of Americans.

Asked who had done the most to defeat the Nazis, 40% to 52% in five countries surveyed replied the US, and 17% to 28% the Soviet Union. In the UK, however, 41% of respondents answered Britain – a view shared by only 5% to 11% of Americans and other western Europeans.

Almost half of Germans (46%) said they believed their country had done a good job since 1945 of dealing with its wartime actions, a view 49% of Americans and 58% of Britons agreed with. Respondents in France (34%) and Italy (30%) were not so sure.

However, almost half of Germans (47%) said they also thought their country had been “overly conscious of its Nazi past”, preventing it from acting strongly enough on more recent problems. Only 24% thought their leaders had got the balance right.

When it came to who had done the most to preserve peace since the end of the war, majorities (52% to 66%) in all six countries answered Nato, with at least a plurality (44% to 60%) crediting the United Nations with contributing a “great deal” or “fair amount”.

Between 45% and 56% of western Europeans and Americans also believed the EU – established partly with the goal of maintaining peace in Europe – had been a significant contributor to the absence of conflict.

After the cancellation of two UK performances with the Israeli musician Dudu Tassa, Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood has said that they “dread the weaponisation of this cancellation by reactionary figures as much as we lament its celebration by some progressives”.

In a statement, Greenwood and Tassa said that venues in London and Bristol as well as “their blameless staff” had received enough credible threats to conclude that it was not safe to proceed with the gigs.

“Intimidating venues into pulling our shows won’t help achieve the peace and justice everyone in the Middle East deserves,” they said. “This cancellation will be hailed as a victory by the campaigners behind it, but we see nothing to celebrate and don’t find that anything positive has been achieved.”

The two shows were due to take place in June in support of the duo’s 2023 album Jarak Qaribak, which translates as Your Neighbour Is Your Friend. The record features Arabic love songs and was recorded in Tel Aviv, Oxfordshire and across the Middle East. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a founding member of the BDS movement, described the planned events as “artwashing genocide” and welcomed their cancellation.

Greenwood and Tassa accused the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign – known as BDS – of having it “both ways”.

“The campaign which has successfully stopped the concerts insist that ‘this is not censorship’ and ‘this isn’t about silencing music or attacking individual artists’ … Forcing musicians not to perform and denying people who want to hear them an opportunity to do so is self-evidently a method of censorship and silencing.”

Greenwood and Tassa highlighted the heritage of the performers, among them singers from Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait and Iraq. “The silencing campaign has demanded that the venues ‘reaffirm (their) commitment to ethical, inclusive cultural programming’,” they said. “Just not this particular mix of cultures, apparently.”

They lamented the corner they had found themselves in politically. “For some on the right, we’re playing the ‘wrong’ kind of music – too inclusive, too aware of the rich and beautiful diversity of Middle Eastern culture. For some on the left, we’re only playing it to absolve ourselves of our collective sins.”

They said “meekly agreeing to be silenced without some response feels wrong” and drew contrasts with recent music industry support for Irish rap trio Kneecap in the face of censorship and moral panic. “We have no judgment to pass on Kneecap but note how sad it is that those supporting their freedom of expression are the same ones most determined to restrict ours.”

They praised the bravery of the performers in the band for their conviction in touring with them. “Their artistic achievements are toweringly important, and we hope one day you will get to hear us play these songs – love songs mostly – together with us, somewhere, somehow. If that happens, it won’t be a victory for any country, religion, or political cause. It’ll be a victory for our shared love and respect of the music – and of each other.”

In 2024, Greenwood and Tassa performed in Tel Aviv. At the time, PACBI called for “peaceful, creative pressure on … Radiohead to convincingly distance itself from this blatant complicity in the crime of crimes, or face grassroots measures”.

At the time, Greenwood said in response: “I think an artistic project that combines Arab and Jewish musicians is worthwhile. And one that reminds everyone that the Jewish cultural roots in countries like Iraq and Yemen go back for thousands of years, is also important.”

He added that he could not join any call to silence art made by Israeli Jews, calling it “unprogressive … Not least because it’s these people that are invariably the most progressive members of any society.”

Greenwood’s wife, artist Sharona Katan, is Israeli. Their nephew was killed in 2024 while serving in the Israeli Defence Force.

Radiohead have a long history with Israel. Their 1992 debut single Creep first became a success on Israeli radio after initially failing to break through elsewhere, and the band have continued to perform in the country throughout their career, despite protests from fans and activists.