Amorim solves problem to send Man Utd into all-English Europa League final
Ruben Amorim had wondered which Manchester United would show up. Two did, the bad followed by the good, the insipid followed by the inspired. The side who could misplace simple passes followed by the team who finished with the flourish of a wonder goal by Mason Mount from 50 yards. When United looked to be stumbling and bumbling their way into the Europa League final, they instead surged into it, Mount borrowing from Beckham when they could have been buried by Athletic Bilbao. Amorim’s schizophrenic side could yet end a historically bad season on a genuine high, with a trophy and a return to the Champions League. Only Tottenham, who have beaten them three teams this season but are even lower in the domestic table, can stop them. “It would be massive especially after this season in the Premier League,” Amorim said. Their Europa League has been different. Even when Athletic threatened a comeback that might have been outlandish even for the watching Sir Alex Ferguson, United had a couple of trump cards to play. A man who set up the winner in a Champions League final took them to the Europa League showpiece. Mount’s belated first Old Trafford goal, almost two years into his United career, cancelled out Athletic’s lead. A £55m signing’s long-range finish into an empty net in injury time meant he doubled his tally for the club in one, devastating cameo. “Sometimes you are on the bench but you can change the game,” reflected Amorim. Amad Diallo was unleashed with him and he set up Rasmus Hojlund for the simplest of finishes.Meanwhile, Casemiro, who had headed United into a lead in the San Mames last week, had repeated the feat, stooping to meet Bruno Fernandes’ free kick. After scoring three goals in 15 minutes in San Mames, United mustered four in 19 at Old Trafford.
And yet Athletic Bilbao, like Lyon before them, had led at Old Trafford. United retain their status as the only unbeaten side in all three European competitions this season but they keep flirting with defeat. “We did quite well in Europe but we struggle a lot in Premier League,” mused Amorim.
At times, they justified his lowly pre-match billing of his side. For much of the match, they seemed to prove him right. “We have so many weaknesses,” he sighed. The side he said can lose their minds threatened to lose the game. Had Bilbao got the second goal they almost conjured, there may have been a wider loss of composure.
“I should be a better manager in this moment,” said Amorim, assessing his initial impact at Old Trafford. He nevertheless merits credit for United’s rousing finish. The second half was one-way traffic until he introduced Luke Shaw, Amad and Mount, while moving Fernandes back into midfield. “When you have a full squad, you can think about the game,” Amorim said. It was a strength in depth Athletic lacked. It brought an emphatic turnaround.
“The tie wasn’t a walk in the park for United in either the first or second leg; it was much more even than the scoreline suggests,” lamented Athletic manager Ernesto Valverde. He had a point. “if you look at both games, it was so much tougher than just the result,” Amorim accepted. The glory belonged to the losers, the sense a depleted group mounted a heroic effort. A club whose budget is dwarfed by United’s were without their four best players, the suspended defender Dani Vivian and three injured attackers in Oihan Sancet and Inaki and Nico Williams. For an hour, Athletic were relentless.Valverde has his own traumatic experience of 3-0 first-leg leads in European semi-finals: his Barcelona then lost 4-0 at Anfield in 2019. His search for a cathartic remontada ended with another of his sides conceding four in England.
Yet it had begun better. Just Mikel Jaureguizar’s third goal for Athletic was a special strike, a magnificent curler from 20 yards nestled in the top corner. United were culpable, Harry Maguire giving the ball away to Unai Nunez; after creating a goal with his unexpectedly slick skills on the right wing last week, Maguire redressed the balance with slack play on the edge of his own box.
The scoreline suggests otherwise, but the glory belonged to the losers, the sense that a depleted group mounted a heroic effort. A club whose budget is dwarfed by United’s were without their four best players: the suspended defender Dani Vivian and three injured attackers in Oihan Sancet and Inaki and Nico Williams. For an hour, Athletic were relentless.
Ernesto Valverde has his own traumatic experience of 3-0 first-leg leads in European semi-finals: his Barcelona then lost 4-0 at Anfield in 2019. His search for a cathartic remontada ended with another of his sides conceding four in England.
Yet it had begun better. Just Mikel Jaureguizar’s third goal for Athletic was a special strike, a magnificent curler from 20 yards nestled in the top corner. United were culpable, Harry Maguire giving the ball away to Unai Nunez. After creating a goal with his unexpectedly slick skills on the right wing last week, Maguire redressed the balance with slack play on the edge of his own box. For a moment, United may have wished he was still masquerading as a right winger.
Meanwhile, United had begun camped behind the ball, too passive, too error-prone and, when given the opportunities to counter-attack, missing the delivery, or the touch, or the timing of the run. When they got all three, Patrick Dorgu delivering a defence-splitting pass in an otherwise erratic display, Alejandro Garnacho dinked a shot wide.
But, for all their many failings, this United side have shown a capacity to mount comebacks. This comeback revolved around Mount as Amorim turned problem solver. The former Chelsea man produced a deft turn before curling a shot into the net. His second was glorious, latching on to a poor pass from Julen Aguirrezabala, which left the goalkeeper stranded outside his box, to find the empty net.
Over the two legs, Fernandes and Casemiro made the biggest contributions to taking United on, scoring two goals apiece, and they combined for their second on the night. Hojlund, who had looked out of sorts, was given a tap-in.
Once again, it felt cruel for Athletic. Their hopes of a hometown final felt extinguished last week, but neither the spirited players or the vocal fans showed it. The raucous Bilbao supporters had travelled in their thousands, but there will be a Mancunian invasion of the Basque country later this month for the final. “If you don’t win it, it is nothing,” said Amorim.
The temptation is to say that United will need to play rather better on their return to the San Mames than they did in the first hour here. Although, as they are facing Tottenham, maybe they won’t.
Woman accused of having illegal abortion in lockdown found not guilty
A woman has been cleared of carrying out an illegal abortion during Covid lockdown.
Nicola Packer, 45, took abortion medicine at home in November 2020 and later took the foetus to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in a backpack, her trial at Isleworth Crown Court heard.
Ms Packer cried and wiped her eyes with a tissue after she was acquitted of the charge of “unlawfully administering to herself a poison or other noxious thing” with the “intent to procure a miscarriage” at the southwest London court on Thursday.
The 45-year-old’s best friend said she was “persecuted” for a “tragic accident” as Helle Tumbridge joined calls from MPs, royal colleges and abortion providers for reform to abortion law.
“Nikki and I have spoken about [abortion law reforms] a lot, and we both said that we really believe it, until the law has changed and abortion is decriminalised, then women are going to remain second-class citizens in this country,” Ms Tumbridge said.
Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, who went to court to support Ms Packer during the trial, branded the four-and-a-half-year investigation “cruel and unnecessary” as she urged reform of the law.
“The true injustice here is the years of her life stolen by a law written decades before women had the vote, for a ‘crime’ which doesn’t even apply in two nations of the United Kingdom,” she said. “Nicola’s experience, in her own words, includes being taken from her hospital bed to a police cell, denied timely access to essential medical care, and spending every penny she had on lawyers defending her case.”
The case will have been a “shocking wake-up call to many that women are still being investigated and prosecuted for having an abortion today in this country”, said another Labour MP, Stella Creasy, calling for a change to the law so that “the right to choose is a human right”.
Both Labour backbenchers are believed to be laying separate amendments in parliament on decriminalising abortion in England and Wales, with MPs set to vote on a change to the law this summer.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) said the trial of Ms Packer had shown “just how outdated and harmful” current abortion law is.
President Dr Ranee Thakar said: “Restrictive abortion laws in England and Wales nurture an environment of fear, stigmatisation and criminalisation. They needlessly subject women to prolonged investigation, criminal charges, and custodial sentences for ending their own pregnancy.”
The RCOG said it had joined with healthcare professionals and experts “from over 30 other medical, legal and public health bodies” to call on parliament to “take urgent action to protect women’s essential reproductive rights and stop these criminal proceedings”.
Katie Saxon, chief strategic communications officer at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), said: “A woman who sought medical attention after experiencing a traumatic event has had to endure a protracted police investigation and public trial, her private life picked apart by prosecutors and reported in the national press, at a huge emotional and financial cost. Prosecuting women for ‘illegal’ abortion is never in the public interest, and no woman should ever have to go through this again.
“In recent years, we have seen record numbers of women investigated for suspected illegal abortions. Women are being arrested straight from the hospital ward, their homes searched, and their children taken away. This cannot continue. Members of parliament have a moral duty to decriminalise abortion for women and end the threat of police, prosecutions, and imprisonment once and for all.”
The government said any changes to abortion laws in the UK are “a matter of conscience for parliamentarians rather than the government”.
“All women have access to safe and legal abortions on the NHS,” a government spokesperson added. “Decisions to prosecute, within existing legislation, are for the CPS and are incredibly rare.”
Abortion provider MSI Reproductive Choices said the verdict showed “common sense and compassion” but urged legal reform to “stop women facing criminal prosecution”.
The trial heard Ms Packer had told two midwives that she had taken abortion pills received in the post from an NGO then known as Marie Stopes, now called MSI Reproductive Choices.
Jonathan Lord, the clinician in charge of Ms Packer’s care while working at MSI and co-chair of the RCOG abortion taskforce, said: “No woman should ever have to endure institutionalised public shaming and humiliation, yet alone in 2025 in England.
“The issue is not simply that Nicola had the misfortune of encountering some callous organisations or individuals, but that our current abortion laws directed and encouraged the actions taken against her.
“What’s happening, the horrific way the women and their children are being treated – including those with premature labours and natural later pregnancy losses – is a national scandal.”
Ms Packer, then 41, took the prescribed medications mifepristone and misoprostol when she was around 26 weeks pregnant during the second coronavirus lockdown, jurors previously heard.
The legal limit for taking medication at home for an abortion is 10 weeks. The typical full gestation term is 40 weeks and the outer limit for abortions in the UK is normally 24 weeks, though there are grounds where there are no limits.
Prosecutors had alleged Ms Packer knew she was pregnant for more than 10 weeks, which she had denied, speaking of her “shock” and “surprise” at being pregnant.
She tearfully told the jury of nine women and three men that she would not have taken the medication if she had known how far along she was, telling the court: “I wouldn’t have put the baby or myself through it.”
Ms Packer, who sat near her defence team throughout the trial, did not discover she was pregnant until she took a test on 2 November 2020, the court heard.
She took abortion medication on 6 November and went to hospital the following day, having passed a foetus into the toilet, her trial was told.
Jurors heard Ms Packer spent the night of 7 November in hospital and was arrested by police the next day.
Following six hours of deliberations, the jury reached its unanimous not guilty verdict. Ms Packer was supported by five people in the public gallery, with some hugging each other after the verdict was read to the court.
The Crown Prosecution Service said its prosecutors “exercise the greatest care” when considering “traumatic cases” like the trial of Ms Packer.
The spokesperson continued: “We recognise the profound strength of feeling these cases evoke, but have a duty to apply laws passed by parliament fairly and impartially.
“The role of the Crown Prosecution Service in this case was not to decide whether Nicola Packer’s actions were right or wrong, but to make a factual judgement about whether she knew she was beyond the legal limit when she procured an abortion.
“Prosecutors considered there was enough evidence to bring this case for a court to decide, and we respect the jury’s decision.”
Khan unveils plan to rip up green belt to build flats for Londoners
The London mayor will rip up the rules protecting green belt land in a bid to build almost a million much-needed new homes for Londoners.
Sir Sadiq Khan is promising a “radical change of approach” to the green belt, where most forms of development are forbidden, to help tackle the capital’s “pervasive and profound” housing crisis.
In a controversial speech, Sir Sadiq will hit out at what he says are myths that the green belt is “all beautiful countryside, green and pleasant land, rich with wildlife”.
“The reality is very different. The green belt can often be low-quality land, poorly maintained and rarely enjoyed by Londoners,” he will say on Friday.
Vowing to end the city’s housing crisis, the mayor will say that development in carefully chosen areas – done in the right way – will allow City Hall to unlock hundreds of thousands of good quality new homes for Londoners. Sir Sadiq said 88,000 new homes are needed in London each year for the next decade to meet the growing demand for housing.
London’s green belt, which covers more than a million acres of land spanning Greater London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, has been in place since 1938. Its aim is to prevent urban sprawl and protect nature.
But Sir Sadiq will argue the status quo is out of date and unsustainable given the severity of London’s housing crisis.
Acknowledging that the change will prove controversial, he will add: “As mayor, I’m not willing to ignore such a prospect just because it might be politically difficult – not when the life chances of the next generation of Londoners are on the line.”
London’s housing crisis is deepening, with the cost of renting or buying in the capital spiralling. Median house prices since the turn of the century have grown twice as fast as wages in London, while private rents have increased 40 per cent in the last decade.
Boroughs across the capital spend £4m a day on temporary accommodation due to the lack of available council properties, while hundreds of thousands of people are on waiting lists for social housing.
More than 180,000 Londoners are living in this temporary accommodation, officially homeless – including 90,000 children, which is the equivalent of one homeless child in every classroom in London, according to City Hall officials.
Sir Sadiq will warn: “A generation of Londoners now simply can’t afford to rent, let alone buy a home.
“We have young professionals stuck living in their childhood bedrooms for years on end; Londoners having to endure cold, damp accommodation that isn’t fit for human habitation; couples reluctantly moving out of the capital to start a family; and London primary schools closing because young families have been priced out of the area.”
Despite the announcement opening Labour up to attack from environmental campaigners, Sir Sadiq was backed by Angela Rayner.
The deputy prime minister said: “We all know someone who has been affected by the acute and entrenched housing crisis we’ve inherited, and the picture in London is as stark as anywhere.
“That’s why the government welcomes the bold proposal announced by the mayor today, which rises to the challenge.”
And chief executive of the Generation Rent campaign group Ben Twomey said: “When housing costs are forcing too many of us into poverty and homelessness, it is right that the mayor sets out his ambition to build the homes we need, including in parts of the green belt where appropriate.”
Bill Gates accuses Elon Musk of ‘killing children’ through budget cuts
Bill Gates has lashed out at Elon Musk, accusing the world’s richest man of “killing the world’s poorest children” through huge cuts to the US foreign aid budget.
It comes as Gates pledged to give away $200bn via his charitable foundation by 2045.
The 69-year-old co-founder of Microsoft said he was speeding up his plans to divest almost all of his fortune and would close the foundation on 31 December 2045, earlier than previously planned.
Gates said he hoped the money would help eradicate diseases like polio and malaria, end preventable deaths among women and children, and reduce global poverty.
His announcement follows moves by governments, including President Donald Trump‘s administration, to slash international aid budgets. The US cuts have been overseen by the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).
“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Gates told the Financial Times.
In an interview with Reuters, Gates warned of a stark reversal to decades of progress in reducing mortality in the next four to six years due to the funding cuts.
“The number of deaths will start going up for the first time … It’s going to be millions more deaths because of the resources,” Gates said.
“I think governments will come back to caring about children surviving” over the next 20-year period, though, he said.
Gates and Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, once agreed over the role of the wealthy in giving away money to help others but have since clashed several times. “People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them,” Gates wrote in a post on his website.
“There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people.”
He added: “It’s unclear whether the world’s richest countries will continue to stand up for its poorest people,” noting cuts from major donors including Britain and France alongside the US, the world’s biggest donor.
Gates said that despite the foundation’s deep pockets, progress would not be possible without government support. He praised the response to aid cuts in Africa, where some governments have reallocated budgets, but said that, as an example, polio would not be eradicated without US funding. Gates made the announcement on the foundation’s 25th anniversary. He set up the organization with his then-wife Melinda French Gates in 2000, and they were later joined by billionaire investor Warren Buffett. “I have come a long way since I was just a kid starting a software company with my friend from middle school,” Gates said.
Since its inception, the foundation has given away $100bn, helping to save millions of lives and backing initiatives like the vaccine group Gavi and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. It will close after it spends around 99% of Gates’s personal fortune, he said. The founders originally expected the foundation to wrap up in the decades after their deaths.
Gates, who is valued at around $108bn today, expects the foundation to spend around $200bn by 2045, with the final figure dependent on markets and inflation.
The foundation is already a huge player in global health, with an annual budget that will reach $9bn by 2026.
It has faced criticism for its outsized power and influence in the field without the requisite accountability, including at the World Health Organization.
Gates himself was also subject to conspiracy theories, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. He has spoken to Trump several times in recent months, and twice since the president took office on 20 January, he told Reuters on Thursday, on the importance of continued investment in global health.
“I hope other wealthy people consider how much they can accelerate progress for the world’s poorest if they increased the pace and scale of their giving, because it is such a profoundly impactful way to give back to society,” Gates said in the statement.
A&E and maternity services under threat over NHS savings targets
Hundreds of doctors and nurses’ jobs could be scrapped and maternity and A&E services scaled back to meet the government’s “eye watering” NHS savings, a new report has revealed.
A survey of trust leaders by NHS Providers found clinical jobs have already been slashed or are under threat, while outpatient services such as diabetes clinics, rehabilitation centres and talking therapies are at risk of being reduced.
Two trust leaders also said they were considering reducing maternity or emergency departments from multiple hospitals in order to maintain safety and meet the government’s savings demands.
Another trust is cutting end-of-life and palliative care beds in the community, restricting stop-smoking services and working to reduce hospital referrals. One trust chief said they were already “restricting” non-emergency care and surgeries, while 600 clinical roles have been axed at another trust.
The NHS, which is facing a £6bn to £7bn deficit, was allocated £22bn over two years by the government in the last budget. However, this financial award came with strict efficiency-saving requirements.
Interim chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery, said: “Most of the money that was allocated to the system was already spoken for. So whilst that money feels like a lot of money and it is, the demands outstripped the supply of finances there, and there’s very little money left to invest in the measures to tackle these challenges.”
“These [savings targets] are at eye wateringly high levels. This comes on the back of a year-on-year focus on efficiencies and trying to tackle that high demand. So, I think it is fair to say that it’s going to be extremely challenging.”
“Politicians are going to have to give trusts air cover locally and nationally when they need to make some changes, because even if trusts aren’t cutting services or closing services, they may well be moving services.
“Moving a maternity service or changing an A&E is an incredibly controversial thing to do. We know that that controversy is there, and so we need the political will as well to follow that.”
The survey, which ran last month, included responses from 160 NHS chief executives, chairmen and other board executive directors. These cover 114 trusts in England and account for 56 per cent of the sector.
Royal College of Nursing, General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, warned:“Cutting nurse jobs costs lives and Wes Streeting will need to decide if this is acceptable on his watch….Ministers must realise that in the drive for savings, it is patients who are paying the price.”
The poll found 47 per cent of leaders are making cuts to services, with a further 43 per cent considering this option.
More than a third, 37 per cent, said their organisation was cutting clinical posts to balance their books, with a further 40 per cent considering this.
More than nine in 10 leaders, 94 per cent, said their plans would have a negative impact on staff wellbeing and the culture of their organisation.
One trust chief executive said: “It’s really difficult to find a way to protect, to safeguard patients, arguably to strengthen safeguards and to deliver the financial efficiencies, like others, we’re taking difficult decisions
“We’re having conversations about moving away from local provisions to asking patients to travel 20 to 30 miles for care now, but on the basis that that travel will mean that their care will be delivered in a better environment, will be safer, and faster. We provide a number of maternity services. It’s an opportunity to bring those together to standardise them.”
“We are restricting access now to planned [non-emergency] care. We’ve got a series of services which are unfunded, and we’ve written back to NHS England to say we no longer want to provide those.”
Another said: “Demand has gone up across all ages by 10 per cent in my services on the year before…I think the differences this year is they’re [the savings targets] are eye watering… at the moment, I don’t know how I’m going to do it.”
The trust chief also called for a reform of the system, which allows private providers with a local NHS contract to provide services nationally, which it said was leading to patients “queue jumping”
Talking about their maternity services, a trust chief said they were considering amalgamating services.
“So I mention maternity, we’ve got an ED with only 200 beds. So we’re going to have to think about what we do with that because it’s not just that we pay a lot of money to run two Maternity services…So how do we reduce costs and be able to take some brave decisions?”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We invested an extra £26 billion to fix the broken health and care system we inherited, and through our Plan for Change, are determined to tackle inefficiencies and drive-up productivity in the NHS.
“We have underlined the need for trusts to cut bureaucracy to invest even further in the front line, so we can support hard-working staff and deliver a better service for patients and taxpayers’ money.”
Bucket-list beaches: Crystalline waters and secret shores in Dalmatia
Dalmatia’s coastline is, quite simply, spectacular. With the lion’s share of Croatia’s 1,200-plus islands, islets and reefs, Dalmatia’s stretch of the Adriatic has some of the country’s most beautiful beaches and seascapes. Whether you’re on the mainland coast or island hopping, you’ll be wowed by towering cliffs that hover over sheltered, pine-fringed coves, and broad sweeps of beaches
The sheer variety of swimming spots means there’s something for everyone; families in search of long stretches of beach with watersports, vibing beach bars and all the facilities to romantics looking for secluded pebbly coves to revel in tranquillity.
If Croatia’s beaches weren’t appealing enough, the coastal waters have just been crowned the cleanest in Europe, beating holiday hotspots including Greece, Spain and Italy to be ranked number one. The European Environment Agency checked out more than 22,000 beaches throughout the European Union, and Croatia’s coastal waters came out on top. In fact, out of nearly 900 Croatian beaches tested, over 99 per cent got the highest rating of ‘excellent’, owing to low industrial pollution, minimal over-construction and a lack of mass commercialisation.
So, beyond being picture-postcard idylls, Dalmatia’s beaches should be your top choice for a relaxed, sustainable holiday in a protected natural environment. To get you started, here’s a selection of Dalmatia’s unmissable beaches.
A popular inclusion in ‘world’s best beach’ lists, Zlatni Rat (pictured above) – also known as Golden Horn – is a curvy, V-shaped beach of fine white pebbles flanked by vivid turquoise waters on the southern coast of the island of Brač. Watch the windsurfers in action as you bask in the sun, or take respite at one of the wood-shaded beach bars. Follow the coastal footpath to the seafront promenade of the much-loved village of Bol – and as it’s only a 20-minute walk to Zlatni Rat, this makes the perfect base for your stay.
For a more laid-back vibe and beautifully calm sea, just a few miles west of Bol is the blissful Murvica. Find a shady spot under the pines to flop after your swim and snorkel in crystal clear waters, or take in vistas of Vidova Gora, the highest peak on the island. There’s a delightfully rustic beach bar where you can grab a cold drink and a bite to eat, and while you’ll have to bring your own parasols, you can reach the beach easily from the carpark.
Punta Rata’s Blue Flag beach is used to vying for the title of Europe’s top beach, and once you set foot on its long expanse of pebbles, it’s clear why. This breathtaking idyll, north of the Makarska Riviera town of Brela, appears to go on forever – fringed with pine trees and surrounded by waters that offer fabulous snorkelling. Look out for the Brela Stone, a giant rock that rises from the sea and is found on many local postcards.
It takes a bit of effort to reach award-winning Stiniva Bay on the southern coast of Vis island, but it’s 100 per cent worth it. Take the rocky footpath downhill to this glittering bay sheltered by two curving cliffs that almost close the cove off from the sea, with only the smallest boats able to squeeze through the gap. There’s just enough room for a beachside café, with its terrace offering superb views.
Heading to the northeastern coast of Vis, and easier to access than Stiniva Bay, you’ll find scenic Stončica Beach. Its sparkling blue waters and mix of white sand and pebble beach, shaded by woods, make this truly picture perfect. The shallow waters, with a very gradual slope, are perfect for children. Stop for lunch on the covered terrace of the waterside restaurant and feast on freshly grilled fish and meat.
Tucked away on Hvar island’s southern coast is the unassuming Dubovica beach – surrounded by tumbling slopes covered in maquis and olive trees. In contrast to the sophisticated beach clubs of Hvar Town, this tiny coastal treat, set in a cove beside a 17th-century church, is perfect for relaxing, while the turquoise waters are made for sea safaris. Refresh and refuel at the beach restaurant or bar.
Back on the mainland on the Makarska Riviera, Velika Duba is a peaceful, pebbly bay backed by fragrant pines and connected to the village of Blato via a pleasantly shaded footpath. It’s all about simple pleasures here: swimming in gin-clear waters, lazing in the sun, doing a bit of snorkelling, having a cold drink in the beachside bar and falling under the spell of a Dalmatian sunset.
For more travel inspiration, information and to plan your trip visit Central Dalmatia
How war in Ukraine reduced Putin’s parade to a shadow of itself
Ever since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, the annual military parade to honour the defeat of Nazi Germany has been a shadow of former years.
The displays of state-of-the-art tanks and intercontinental ballistic missiles in Moscow’s Red Square have gone, while world leaders, even Moscow’s allies, have been wary of standing alongside Putin to watch the procession of military prowess.
The invasion has devastated Ukraine and cost Russia’s military thousands of tanks and hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
Before the all-out war in Ukraine, Victory Day, celebrated a day later than VE Day, became a parade not just to honour the sacrifices of a previous generation but also to burnish Putin’s image of post-Soviet Russia being restored to its former greatness.
In 2023 and 2024, however, one single tank rolled across Red Square, while a mere 9,000 troops walked behind it, a significant cut compared to previous years. Much of Russia’s more modern equipment was – and still is – in use in Ukraine. The single tank was a Second World War-era T-34, carrying the banner that the Soviet Union used when it defeated Nazi Germany alongside other allies. The model is not in combat use.
In 2023, one of the parade’s most recognisable events, the Immortal Regiment march – during which attendees proceed through Moscow’s Red Square holding portraits of their Second World War veteran relatives – was also scrapped. Experts speculated that this was because of Kremlin concerns that, should people wish to hold up their relatives killed in Ukraine, it would expose a more accurate reflection of the number of Russian losses in the invasion, a figure that Moscow has consistently suppressed.
Analysts believe just 51 vehicles were involved in the 2023 procession. That is a quarter of the 200 pieces of military hardware that rolled through the streets of Moscow in 2020 when Russia marked the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. In 2022, a few months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the number of vehicles involved was as high as 131, about the same level as pre-Covid parades.
In 2024, the number of military vehicles increased from 50 to 60 due to a growth in the number of armoured fighting vehicles and armoured cars.
Dozens of cities across Russia and occupied Ukraine have also been forced to cancel their events owing to security concerns. The city of Sevastopol, on the southwestern shores of the Crimean peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Putin in 2014, has announced that it will cancel this year’s parade. It is the third year running that it has done this.
In Moscow, where events are too important to Putin’s projection of power to cancel, a complex web of air defences has been erected to protect against possible Ukrainian aerial assaults. Multiple drone strikes in the run-up to Friday’s parade forced airspace closures at all four of the city’s airports.
The Kremlin said there would also be disruptions to mobile phone signals.
Putin’s conveniently timed call for a temporary truce has been all but dismissed by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who has said Kyiv will not “play games to create a pleasant atmosphere to allow for Putin’s exit from isolation on 9 May”.
In a video from Independence Square on Thursday morning in the Ukrainian capital, Mr Zelensky described Moscow’s Victory Day as a “parade of bile and lies … and fear”.
But Russian officials are adamant that after several years of smaller parades, this year’s event will be “very large scale”, as Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin’s top foreign policy adviser, said recently.
At least 29 foreign leaders, including Chinese president Xi Jinping and Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico, who is the leader of a European Union member, will attend the event, according to Mr Ushakov.
Russian state broadcaster Zvezda even claimed that US secretary of state Marco Rubio might attend, though the Kremlin said it had no information on his plans.
Irrespective of who attends, the possibility of Russia recreating its pre-war military parades is slim. Much of its equipment is either destroyed or in use in Ukraine.
Snow weather warnings issued in Spain as UK temperatures soar
Tourists hoping for a weekend of sun in Spain and the Balearic Islands will be left sorely disappointed as heavy rain and hail is set batter the holiday destination.
A Status Orange storm warning has been issued for large swathes of the country, with thunderstorms predicted in the northern regions, including Barcelona and Madrid.
Popular hotspots across Catalonia, Andalusia, Castile and Valencia have been hit with storm alerts throughout Thursday afternoon and Friday, with forecasters warning of the possibility of snow in higher areas.
AEMET, the state weather agency, has warned that there is a possibility that the conditions will be “accompanied by hail”, with poor weather set to continue throughout the weekend.
It is in stark comparison to the warm and sunny weather expected in the UK on Saturday, with temperatures set to reach 21 degrees in London and highs of 20 degrees in the Scottish Highlands.
The poor weather is being caused by a low-pressure system moving in from the Atlantic, as well as a cold air mass that is making its way across the Iberian Peninsula.
Despite the balmy temperatures usually expected this time of year in Majorca and Menorca, holidaymakers can only expect highs of 20 degrees, with heavy rain, thunderstorms and cloudy conditions running until next Wednesday.
Beach days in Alcudia or cocktails in Palma may require the extra assistance of an umbrella, while the Canary Islands have also been unable to escape the onslaught of bad weather to hit the Mediterranean.
Despite warmer conditions in Tenerife, the island is set to see heavy rainfall over Friday night and through until the weekend, with highs of 22 degrees.
In a post on social media, the forecaster wrote: “Thursday marked by storms. Attention, they will be strong in areas of Galicia and the centre and east of the Peninsula. They may be accompanied by hail.
“In parts of the interior of the Valencian Community, they could be very strong, adn the alert is orange (significant danger).”
Meanwhile, the UK will see “classic” spring weather over the coming days, with temperatures of up to 26C and patches of frost overnight, forecasters have said.
Conditions from Thursday through to Saturday are expected to be broadly similar, with dry weather and sunny spells forecast across the country, according to the Met Office.
It comes as a power outage hit several areas of the Spanish island of La Palma in the Canary archipelago on Thursday, the local council said in a post on the social media platform X.
Early reports suggested that a third of La Palma had been left without electricity, impacting around 30,000 people. The council urged everyone to remain calm and avoid overwhelming emergency services.
La Radio Canaria reports that power has since been fully restored.
The island was not affected by the massive blackout that hit most of Spain and Portugal on April 28.