Good morning.<\/p>\n
Iran has warned the US that it is prepared to confront any ground assault, accusing Washington of secretly planning a land attack while publicly seeking talks, as the war that has killed thousands of people and caused the biggest ever disruption to global energy supplies entered its second month.<\/p>\n
In a message published to mark 30 days since the start of the war, the Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said: \u201cThe enemy signals negotiation in public, while in secret it plots a ground attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur firing continues,\u201d Ghalibaf said. \u201cOur missiles are in place. Our determination and faith have increased.\u201d He said Iranian forces were \u201cwaiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners for ever\u201d.<\/p>\n
What has Donald Trump said? In an interview published last night, the president did little to assuage those concerns, telling the Financial Times that his \u201cpreference would be to take the oil\u201d in Iran, and saying of Iran\u2019s crucial export hub on Kharg Island: \u201cWe could take it very easily.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is a developing story. Follow the liveblog here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trump appears to relax de facto oil blockade on Cuba as Russian oil tanker arrivesA fuel tanker in Matanzas Bay in Cuba in February. Photograph: EPA<\/p>\n Donald Trump has signalled a new flexibility in allowing oil into Cuba<\/a>, hours before a Russian oil tanker under US sanctions arrived at the Caribbean island amid a de facto oil blockade imposed by Washington.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One, the president said: \u201cIf a country wants to send some oil into Cuba, right now, I have no problem whether it\u2019s Russia or not.\u201d<\/p>\n Until now, Trump\u2019s administration had in effect prevented all oil shipments to Cuba in an attempt to put pressure on the government in Havana, while also issuing a series of threatening statements.<\/p>\n Why is this important to Cuba? The thousands of barrels of crude would provide significant relief to Cuba, which, according to its president, Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel, has not received any oil imports for three months, leading to strict rationing of gasoline and exacerbating an energy crisis that has resulted in multiple<\/a> power<\/a> outages<\/a> across the country.<\/p>\n Cory Booker says Democrats have \u2018failed this moment\u2019 and calls for new leadersCory Booker speaking to the press last week. Photograph: Kena Betancur\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Cory Booker, the Democratic senator from New Jersey, renewed his calls for new leadership of the Democratic party<\/a>, saying it had \u201cfailed this moment\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a whole, our party has failed this moment,\u201d Booker said yesterday. \u201cI\u2019ve called for a generational renewal, because this left-right divide is killing our country and our adversaries know it.\u201d<\/p>\n During an interview on NBC\u2019s Meet the Press, Booker also said the Democratic party had \u201ctoo small of a coalition\u201d, especially as the party sought to confront \u201cnew challenges\u201d.<\/p>\n Do other Democrats agree with him? Some Democrats, specifically on the more progressive wing of the party, have discussed replacing Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, as midterm elections approach. Progressive senators reportedly see Schumer as an obstacle to standing up to Trump.<\/p>\n In other news \u2026Kim Novak in Vertigo. Photograph: Alamy<\/p>\n Kim Novak has voiced her disapproval of the casting of Sydney Sweeney as herself in an upcoming biopic, saying she is \u201ctotally wrong to play me\u201d. The 93-year-old actor said she would have \u201cnever approved\u201d the biopic Scandalous<\/a>, about her relationship with the musician Sammy Davis Jr.<\/p>\n Pope Leo has said God ignores the prayers of leaders who wage war and have \u201chands full of blood\u201d, in an apparent rebuke to the Trump administration<\/a> after comments by the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, that he was praying for violence against enemies who deserved \u201cno mercy\u201d.<\/p>\n Governments in five EU member states are \u201cconsistently and intentionally\u201d eroding the rule of law, Europe\u2019s leading civil liberties group has warned<\/a>, while democratic standards are deteriorating in six more.<\/p>\n Stat of the day: Thieves steal Renoir, C\u00e9zanne and Matisse paintings worth more than $10mCup and Plate of Cherries by Paul Cezanne, one of the paintings stolen from the Magnani Rocca Foundation near Parma. Photograph: Magnani Rocca Foundation\/Reuters<\/p>\n Thieves have stolen paintings worth more than $10m by Renoir, C\u00e9zanne and Matisse from a museum in Italy, police have said<\/a>. Four masked men stole Fish by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Still Life with Cherries by Paul C\u00e9zanne and Odalisque on the Terrace by Henri Matisse, according to Italian media reports.<\/p>\n Building Power: No Kings protest draws 8m to push back on Trump administrationPeople hold signs and flags as they march during the No Kings national day of protest in Chicago on Saturday. Photograph: AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n More than 8 million people protested against the Trump administration at more than 3,300 No Kings events across the US on Saturday, according to organizers<\/a>. The third of the No Kings protests, it constituted the greatest number of protests in a single day in US history, said Britt Jacovich, one of the organizers. Police arrested dozens of protesters<\/a> and shot teargas into a crowd on Saturday night at the No Kings protest in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss this: US war on Iran is widely opposed \u2013 so why isn\u2019t there a movement to stop it?People hold candles in remembrance of soldiers killed in Vietnam and other wars on Memorial Day in 1969. Photograph: Owen Franken\/Corbis\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The war on Iran is the most unpopular a US war has ever been at its onset, but this dramatic shift in sentiment has not yet translated into organized anti-war opposition<\/a>. But there\u2019s no reason to succumb to despair, because opposition can be rebuilt, write Salar Mohandesi, an associate professor of history at Bowdoin College, and Ben Mabie, a member of the editorial collective for the quarterly magazine Long-Haul<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2026 or this: Full network of clitoral nerves mapped out for first timeA 3D-printed model of the clitoris based on the work of Ju Young Lee. Yellow structures are the nerves, green and purple are erectile tissue, and red and blue are arteries and veins. Photograph: cirp GmbH<\/p>\n Almost 30 years after the intricate web of nerves inside the penis was plotted out, the same mapping has finally been completed for the clitoris<\/a>. As well as revealing the extent of the nerves that are crucial to orgasms, the work could help prevent women who have pelvic operations from ending up with poorer sexual function.<\/p>\n Climate check: \u2018I\u2019ve never seen anything like it\u2019: Hawaii\u2019s small farmers begin recovery after catastrophic floodingThick mud and debris surround a home after the Kona Low storm flood devastated the Otake Camp community in Waialua, Hawaii, last week. Photograph: Marco Garcia\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n One week on from two huge storms, in which as much as 50in (127cm) of rain fell and caused some of the state\u2019s worst flooding since 2004, Hawaii is only just beginning to grapple with the aftermath. The damage is immense, with officials estimating costs at $1bn, and farmers have been hit hard<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last Thing: Chesney the kangaroo found three days after hopping away from farmChesney the kangaroo near Sunshine Farm in Necedah, Wisconsin. Photograph: Debbi Marland\/AP<\/p>\n How does a kangaroo escape a petting zoo? It\u2019s not the opening line to a dad joke. If you\u2019re Chesney the kangaroo, you scale an 8ft (2.5-meter) fence and go on the lam for three days, sending residents of a small Wisconsin town on a search that would end happily on Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sign up<\/p>\n Sign up for the US morning briefing<\/p>\n First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you\u2019re not already signed up, subscribe now<\/a>.<\/p>\n Get in touch<\/p>\n