Those who said Meta harms children struck a blow, but the ability of big tech to gouge profits and cause harm is barely diminished. That’s the battle to come

Follow the money. If you want to know how the tech giant Meta really feels about the $18bn it agreed to fork out to end a landmark lawsuit against it – an outcome widely hailed as a victory for campaigners – just look at its share price. It didn’t go down when word came on Wednesday that Meta had settled with the 29 US states that had argued that the company’s Facebook and Instagram platforms harmed children. On the contrary, Meta stock went up, initially surging by 5%, before levelling out at a gain of just over 1.25%. There could be no clearer proof that the money men reckon Meta dodged a bullet.

To be sure, there was plenty to hearten those who have long believed that social media damages teenagers especially, whether by exposing them to content they shouldn’t see or by sapping their self-esteem, offering them filters that show how much prettier they would look if they had cosmetic surgery or giving them a metric of their popularity – and unpopularity – in the form of a running tally of “likes” and views.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

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Each year, the Guardian reaffirms its commitment to the environment – both in our reporting and how we operate as a business. From critical tipping points to war in Iran, this is how the last 12 months have looked

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Today marks the end of the Guardian’s annual climate support campaign. Each year, during the campaign, we remind our audience about the Guardian’s role in covering the threats to our planet and the importance of independent journalism in telling that story. Our climate pledge is a reminder of the environmental values we place at the heart of our reporting and our organisation.

Since our 2025 climate pledge, the world has experienced extreme levels of heat as well as extreme forms of denial and abdication in the face of the climate crisis. But, across the world, there have also been inspiring efforts to tackle it.

We will be publishing our annual company emissions data in the autumn, explaining what drives our emissions and where they have risen and fallen.

We have started the process of estimating our emissions from generative AI usage. We hope to report on this next year.

We have undertaken our B Corp recertification in line with the new standards introduced by B Lab in 2026. We will find out our result later this year.

We have participated in advertising industry working groups that published a methodological framework that aims to capture the emissions impact of digital and print advertising.

We open ourselves up to scrutiny by independent third parties, such as the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and B Corp, so they can assess the robustness of our targets and our internal policies.

Monarch who opened up the Norwegian royal family and its palaces to the public, and married a commoner despite his father’s opposition

King Harald V of Norway, who has died aged 89, Europe’s oldest serving monarch, was the country’s third king since it regained independence in 1905 following the dissolution of its union with Sweden. Although he ceased to be head of the Lutheran state church in 2012 and subsequently lost his constitutional status as “holy” six years later, he did exhibit the Scandinavian moderation, stoicism and genial approachability that led a newspaper to name him Norway’s person of the year in 2017.

The first Norwegian king to be born in the country since 1370, Harald was also related to both the Swedish and the British royal families. His parents were Crown Prince Olav, who was king as Olav V between 1957 and 1991, and his wife, Princess Märtha, a member of the Swedish royal dynasty. His grandparents were King Haakon VII, the first king of the independent country, who reigned for 52 years from 1905, and his wife, Queen Maud, daughter of Britain’s Edward VII. The family roots are Danish – from the Glücksburg dynasty – as were those of the Duke of Edinburgh and the former Greek royal family. The mixed heritage made him sympathetic to refugees: “It is not easy to say where we come from. Home is where the heart is,” he said.

The star has long been French cinema’s favourite tousle-haired Adonis, which makes his latest performance – as a schlubby, stay-at-home dad – all the more surprising. ‘I appreciate people laughing at me,’ he says

‘Even though I’ve been working in film for over 20 years, I still have this desire to look beautiful on screen,” says Louis Garrel, on a video call from his bed inside a boat off the coast of Corsica. The French film star is lying on his stomach, occasionally kicking up his bare legs, ruffling his curls and running the nail of his thumb over his moustache. I think the person he sees on the laptop screen in front of him is me, but I am pretty certain he is flirting with his own reflection.

The attraction between the Paris-born 43-year-old and the camera tends to be reciprocal. Long of limb, tousled of hair and chiselled of nose, Garrel has spent a career on screen as French cinema’s favourite Adonis – the man film-makers turn to when they need an erotic wrecking ball to smash up bourgeois twosomes and turn them into quivering menages a trois.

Nine people have died in events police had linked to organised crime in an area shaped by deprivation and fading opportunities, but there is light, say residents

“This place might look bad but it’s not, the people are good people,” said one woman before turning to her young daughter and asking: “Is this place bad?” The girl shakes her head vigorously.

It’s a difficult thing to say given the week’s events in Grangetown and South Bank on Teesside.

The UK prime minister clearly still adores the band. Perhaps he’s attracted to songs about sham justice and murderous meat factories, shot through with nihilism and exquisite despair

As an origin story, Andy Burnham: Smiths Fan has a lot going for it. It’s plainly authentic: he can name the time he saw them live (Salford University, Queen Is Dead tour, 1986). A cynical young man in a hurry might fake that now, but not back when he first said it, in 2013. Asked by Labour Uncut for his desert island tracks during his 2010 leadership bid, three of the eight were sung by Morrissey (two Smiths singles and one off Viva Hate), which is superfan territory.

That’s a softball exercise to endear yourself to Labour members; you have eight chances to hit every base, and to blow three lives on an artist who had already, by then, been dabbling in nationalism for 18 years (we’ll come back to this) was dicey and brave. You’ll recall that Burnham did not win that election. If you were an enemy state, amassing this hinterland for an asset, you’d have basically done a really good job.

Desperate relatives trying to reach loved ones last seen in area where entire villages have been swept away

• Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates

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Families are rushing to Nepal to search for the 33 British nationals who are still missing, as fears mount over the risk of a second wave of flooding in the region.

The catastrophic flash floods that hit Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, thundering down valleys and sweeping away entire villages, have killed at least 538 people, while more than 1,500 remain missing.

Prosecutors allege men were deliberately targeting Jewish community when four vehicles were set ablaze in March

Four men have pleaded guilty to destroying four Jewish community ambulances in an arson attack causing about £1m of damage.

Hamza ⁠Iqbal, 20, Rehan Khan, 19, and Judex Atshatshi and Saif Ali, both 18, admitted to a charge of destroying or damaging property being reckless whether life would be endangered.

Moscow recruits an estimated 1,000 people a day but western officials say it cannot keep up with casualty level

Russia is losing about 6,000 more troops in Ukraine each month than it can recruit, western officials have said.

While Russia is still acquiring new battlefield recruits at speed, with an estimated rate of 1,000 a day, in the last two months even this has not been sufficient to replace those killed or injured.

Exclusive: PM also warns his ministers against trying to influence vote when bill returns to Commons next month

Andy Burnham has told Labour MPs that he will not cast a vote when the assisted dying bill returns to the Commons next month to avoid influencing the debate.

While the move was welcomed by supporters of the measure, No 10 officials said the prime minister had no wish to affect the process in either direction, and was just doing what he thought was best to allow MPs to reach their own collective view.