The Guardian

It broke my heart to see a seal so injured by a £1 plastic toy. Now I campaign to ban them – and it has changed my life

There was an incident seven years ago that changed my life. I saw an adult grey seal with a plastic pink flying ring toy so deeply embedded in her neck that she was practically dead. It was stopping her from feeding because it was digging into her and she couldn’t extend her neck – the wounds were horrific.

The first African woman to curate the Venice art biennale has died. Here we publish a piece she wrote for the Guardian after taking up the role, in which she talks about championing African and women artists and her vision for the 2026 biennale

The pioneering art curator Koyo Kouoh has died at the age of 57. Kouoh, the first African woman to be named artistic director of the Venice Biennale, died on 10 May – just days before the title and theme of the 61st edition of the art biennale were due to be revealed. A statement on the organisation’s website said her death leaves “an immense void in the world of contemporary art” and that she had worked “with passion, intellectual rigour and vision on the conception and development of the Biennale Arte 2026”.

From Tower Bridge bathers to moody night bus portraits, these photographs from David Bailey, Mary McCartney and more reinvent the way we see the city

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For many couples, shared income is no longer the default model – and some enjoy keeping things separate

When Laura, a teacher from Manchester, first moved in with her now husband, money was, she said, “almost a non-topic”.

They earned similar amounts, split the bills, were often both skint and “felt like equals navigating a fun but slightly precarious time together, with separate bank accounts”.

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With his brilliant mind and impeccable credentials, it’s little wonder that wealthy clients trusted him with their fortunes. Then they started to get suspicious

Ewan McKay is a quiet, trusting man with a lifelong passion for golf. Growing up in the 1950s in Angus, a windswept county on Scotland’s east coast, he found the sport a perfect outlet: a shared activity that reduced the pressures of socialising. Later, as an adult, golfing allowed him to rub shoulders with wealthy farmers who became useful contacts for his expanding business, selling Scottish seed potatoes to English farms. Once he sold that business, McKay had enough money to follow his dreams and create a course of his own.

For a long time the appendix was considered disposable. After all, millions of people have theirs removed each year and go on to live healthy lives. But as Heather F Smith, a professor of anatomy at Midwestern University tells Ian Sample, researchers are increasingly understanding what this small worm-shaped organ may be bringing to the table in terms of our health. Smith explains how the appendix is linked to both our immune system development and gut health, and why she thinks an increasing interest in the microbiome may bring it to greater prominence

Islamophobia is rampant in France. Official denial, even of the word itself, is driving the hatred

Friday is a holy day for practising Muslims – a time to observe the faith more deeply and, where possible, attend prayers at the mosque. That’s exactly what Aboubakar Cissé did early on Friday 25 April.

In the southern French village of La Grand-Combe, Cissé, a 22-year-old carpenter originally from Mali, volunteered at his local mosque and was a familiar face among worshippers. So when he offered guidance through the prayers and rituals that Friday to a newcomer, a young man he did not know , it was an entirely natural gesture. The stranger, however, had come to prayers with very different intentions.

• New York 3-1 up in best-of-seven series after comeback
• Boston star scores 42 but limps off after worrying injury

Jalen Brunson had 39 points and 12 assists, and the New York Knicks moved a win away from their first Eastern Conference finals appearance in 25 years and pushed the defending champion Boston Celtics to the brink of elimination with a 121-113 victory Monday night in Game 4.

The Celtics will have to make just the 14th comeback from a 3-1 deficit in NBA history to extend their title reign and may have to do it without All-Star Jayson Tatum, who was carried off the court with a leg injury in the final minutes.

Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will work with Australia and the Netherlands to consider reparations

The UN aviation council has ruled that Russia was responsible for the downing of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine that killed all 298 passengers and crew, prompting calls for “reparations” for the families of victims.

Flight MH17 was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile while flying over eastern Ukraine in 2014 as fighting raged between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces. Among the victims were 196 Dutch citizens and 38 Australian citizens or residents.

Church refuses White House directive, citing longstanding ‘commitment to racial justice and reconciliation’

The Episcopal church’s migration service is refusing a directive from the federal government to help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status, citing the church’s longstanding “commitment to racial justice and reconciliation”.

Presiding bishop Sean Rowe announced the step on Monday, shortly before 59 South Africans arrived at Dulles international airport outside Washington DC on a private charter plane and were greeted by a government delegation.