The Times have named a number of domestic talents on Eddie Howe’s radar this summer. He is one of the few local journalists who has commented on our interest in Espanyol stopper Joan Garcia, with much of the noise coming from Spain. Hardy also reveals that Newcastle are determined to lower the age of their squad this summer, suggesting the majority of our summer signings will be aged 24 and under. Alongside Quansah (22), Ramsey (24), Trafford (22) and Rudoni (23), Marc Guehi (24) fits that bill, although The Times have stressed that Newcastle will not be spending £60m-plus on the Crystal Palace captain, who is now approaching the final 12 months of his contract. Newcastle attempted to replace him with Liam Delap, 22, but were beaten to a £30m deal by Chelsea.

A man, 28, and woman, 20, are thought to have taken Nitazenes, believed to be up to 500 times stronger than heroin, after partying at a south London nightclub during the Spring Bank Holiday weekend. Drug testing charity The Loop has suggested these pills contain Nitazenes, which can be '50 to 500 times stronger than heroin'. The pills taken by the users over the weekend had the number 80 on one side and possibly an 'OP' on the other, Ealing Council said. Synthetic drugs have already left many Brits incapacitated on the streets (pictured). Nitazenes could make it way, way worse.

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Many of the papers focus on the government's strategic defence review. The Telegraph claims it's in "disarray", external because it says the defence secretary has "backtracked" on a pledge to boost military spending to 3% of GDP by 2034. Its leader column accuses ministers of "strategic delusion" - warning that "for 30 years, Britain has failed to match funding with geopolitical ambition". The front pages of the Times and the Telegraph include details of Ukraine's daring drone attack on Russian bombers yesterday. A study - suggesting that exercise is better than drugs to keep cancer at bay - is highlighted by the Guardian, external and the Times, external.

Live EventsBusiness-to-business ecommerce platform Udaan has closed a $114 million funding round led by existing investors M&G Prudential (UK) and Lightspeed Venture Partners, the company said in a press statement on Monday.The round, executed at a flat valuation of $1.8 billion, includes the previously disclosed $75 million infusion from the two investors, which founder and CEO Vaibhav Gupta had announced during a townhall earlier this year, as first reported by ET in February.Udaan’s valuation had dropped by 44% in 2023 to around $1.8 billion, down from its peak of $3.2 billion following a funding round in January 2021 .The company has not officially commented on its valuation.The Bengaluru-based firm said the fresh capital will be used to deepen its presence across key categories including fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and hotel, restaurant, and café (HoReCa) segments. Udaan also plans to expand its private label brands, especially in the staples category.“This capital raise will also fortify Udaan’s balance sheet, providing enhanced financial flexibility as the company advances toward its public market debut,” the company said in the statement.Gupta added that Udaan has been cutting costs aggressively.“We have reduced our Ebitda burn by 40% every year for the last three years and are on track to achieve full group Ebitda profitability in the next 18 months,” he said.In FY24, Udaan reported operating revenue of Rs 5,707 crore, showing flat growth amid major operational restructuring aimed at reducing losses.As ET reported earlier, the company restructured its debt late last year but still carries around $100 million in debt, with repayment timelines having been pushed out.

Long after the Trump administration is gone, there will still be a Harvard. But an America deprived of everything Harvard contributes will be far poorer and weaker. And it should find ways to have more diverse political representation among both students and faculty.But the Trump administration isn’t trying to fix Harvard. That leadership is under threat as never before: American universities, long leaders in basic and groundbreaking research, are falling behind. But like America, Harvard is worth fighting for.

However, if The Times report holds some weight, the British F-35A will also soon roar over the UK with air-launched nuclear bombs. At the time, the decision was formalized with the withdrawal of the WE.177 free-fall nuclear bombs, the last air-delivered nuclear weapons in the British arsenal. Nonetheless, the reports that have published details of the review do not mention that the air-launched nuclear capability is returning to Britain. The British Defense Secretary John Healey also refrained from commenting on the prospect of reintroducing air-launched nuclear weapons, instead reaffirming the Trident’s importance. “For over 70 years, our UK nuclear deterrent has been the ultimate guarantee of security in this country.

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“We are in a new era of threat, which demands a new era for UK defence,” he told MPs. The planned increase in defence spending was the biggest since the Cold War, said Sir Keir. A total unravelling of their strategic defence review because quite simply they haven't got a plan to fund it. Sir Keir added: "Third, we will innovate and accelerate innovation at a wartime pace, so we can meet the threats of today and of tomorrow, as the fastest innovator in Nato." Sir Keir also flagged up his aim to create a hybrid Royal Navy with greater use of AI, as well as creating a new Digital Warfighter Group with “appropriate recruitment and pay freedoms”.

Here is PA Media’s summary of some of the main points from the defence review. – Defence Secretary John Healey has pledged to “create a British Army which is 10x more lethal”, by combining capabilities with air-defence, long-range weapons and other technologies. – The National Security Council of ministers should review progress on the UK’s nuclear deterrent at least twice a year, the reviewers say. – Healey has pledged to create a new “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels that can patrol the North Atlantic. – As part of plans to increase innovation, defence experts should have faculty positions in partner universities from the 2026/27 academic year.

In White Man Walking (BBC4, 27 May), the filmmaker Rob Bliss charts his 1500-mile journey wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt, walking from the Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, Mississippi, to Washington, DC. Filmed over 60 days in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, White Man Walking portrays the physical toll of blisters, sunburn, and insect bites, of traversing vast distances on foot, on roads designed for cars, together with the psychological pain of threats and insults. Since her childhood, the director Ali Naushahi, an imam’s daughter, has seen parallels between her life as a working-class British Pakistani woman and that of the 18th-century rector’s daughter Jane Austen. That immersion shines through in Jane Austen: Rise of a genius (BBC2, first of three episodes, 26 May). The writer’s exploration of women’s economic precariousness heralded a new literary age: “There’s before Jane Austen, and after.”Today’s age of social-media saturation is humorously explored in Danielle Vitalis’s Danielle Does Life (BBC3, Thursday).

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, along with the US asking Nato countries to spend more on defence, is the backdrop to today’s strategic defence review. The measures in the report are wide-ranging – from better housing for armed forces to building up to 12 attack submarines. Our analysis shows that to meet all the goals of making the UK’s armed forces ready for war, more money will be needed. John Healey says a defence investment plan, described as a new investment framework, will be published in the autumn. You can read his analysis, check out all the key points of the strategy defence review, or read our full news piece.

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Representative photo (AP)Summer drought riskLONDON: The UK experienced its warmest spring on record, and its driest in more than 50 years, the country's official weather service said on Monday.Temperatures for the season have been frequently elevated this century, according to the data from the Met Office, which said: "Eight of the 10 warmest UK springs have occurred since the year 2000. "The data "clearly shows that recent decades have been warmer, sunnier, and often drier than the 20th century average," said Met Office scientist Emily Carlisle.The Met Office said provisional temperatures registered between March and May this year averaged 9.51 degrees Celsius (49.1 degrees Fahrenheit).That beat the last record, set in last year's spring, when the average was 9.37 degrees.The next warmest springs were in 2011, 2014 and 2007, according to the Met Office which has been recording temperature data since 1884.This year, the 128.2 millimetres (five inches) of rainfall recorded across the UK during the season was "approximately 40 percent below the long-term average and still the driest spring in more than 50 years", it said. "England was particularly dry, experiencing its driest spring in more than 100 years, beaten only by 1893," it added.The Met Office's Carlisle said: "The UK's climate continues to change. What's particularly notable about spring 2025 is the combination of record warmth and sunshine, alongside very low rainfall. ""This spring shows some of the changes we're seeing in our weather patterns, with more extreme conditions, including prolonged dry, sunny weather, becoming more frequent," she said.The recent weather's dominant feature had been the persistent high-pressure systems, often coming from the Azores or mainland Europe.These had lingered over the UK since late February and blocked the usual flow of Atlantic weather fronts, allowing high pressure to dominate, the Met Office said.Last month, the Environment Agency (EA) called a meeting of its national drought group after it said levels in reservoirs were "exceptionally low".In the meeting, the EA's deputy water director, Richard Thompson warned that "changing climate means we will see more summer droughts in the coming decades".The agency added that, while there was no official drought yet, there was a "medium risk" of a summer drought without sustained rainfall.The UK government has said it would step in to fast-track the building of two new reservoirs.According to the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, no new water reservoirs have been built since 1992.Scientists warn that extreme and fluctuating weather events are becoming increasingly common as planet-heating fossil fuel emissions keep rising.

Ukraine’s drone attacks on airfields deep inside Russia on Sunday were strategic and symbolic blows that military analysts said were designed to slow Moscow’s bombing campaign and demonstrate that Kyiv can still raise the cost of war for the Kremlin. After more than a year of planning, Ukraine was able to plant drones on Russian soil, just miles away from military bases. Then in a coordinated operation on Sunday, Ukrainian drones attacked five different regions in Russia. The operation on Sunday, along with extensive bombardments on Ukrainian cities by Moscow, also complicate ongoing efforts for diplomacy. Delegations from both sides met Monday for peace talks in Istanbul, with no breakthrough on a cease-fire announced.