First Thing: Trump warns ‘clock is ticking’ for Iran to secure peace deal

Workers racing to turn reflecting pool blue for Trump may be at risk, union warns

Workers apply a blue protective coating as part of a renovation project on the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in Washington DC on Friday. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Workers renovating one of Washington DC’s most historically significant sites, in a project ordered by Trump, may be putting their safety at risk as they race to complete the task before the US’s 250th anniversary celebrations, a trade union monitoring the site has warned.

Union concerns have focussed on the reflecting pool on the National Mall – the site of Martin Luther King Jr’s 1963 “I have a dream speech” – after it was drained and fenced off to allow contractors to complete upgrades by 4 July.

The pool has become a hive of frenetic repair activity,with vehicles and heavy equipment now occupying the space.

• What is the union concerned about? Herbert Zaldivar, the business development director of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, said: “With this project, they are trying to rush on a timescale that is most likely to leave some liability with the contractor. The chemicals are hazardous. My concern is usually the level of risk when it’s rushed. Are workers taking the rightful steps to protect themselves?”

How ICE turned its violent arrest of a US citizen into online content – Stateside with Kai and Carter

In June 2025, Christian Cerna was arrested by ICE after being accused of punching an officer at a protest. Composite: Court records in USA v Cerna, Guardian-commissioned

In June 2025, Christian Cerna went to a protest in his neighborhood against ICE raids and allegedly punched a border patrol agent. He later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault but denies that he ever hit the officer.

Cerna was violently arrested in front of his family by ICE officers, who filmed the incident and posted the video to social media. Christian tells Carter Sherman how the experience took a “heavy toll” on him, and Sam Levin reveals the reporting behind the story.

• **What is Stateside with Kai and Carter?**It’s the new flagship video podcast for Guardian US, hosted by Wright and fellow journalist Carter Sherman. With new episodes three times a week, the show will bring the Guardian’s global perspective and unique lens on the US to life. Watch and listen now.

In other news …

Cate Blanchett at Cannes film festival on Sunday. The Australian actor has long been outspoken about gender inequality. Photograph: Daniele Cifalà/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

• Cate Blanchett has lamented that the #MeToo movement “got killed very quickly” in Hollywood. Speaking at the Cannes film festival, the Australian actor said there were still “10 women and 75 men” on film sets a decade later.
• Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin exchanged “congratulatory letters” yesterday before the Russian president’s Beijing visit this week, four days after Trump left China after a high-stakes summit.
• An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda is a “public health emergency of international concern”, the World Health Organization has said.

Stat of the day: Thousands gather in Washington DC for daylong US-themed prayer rally

The Rededicate 250 event on the National Mall in Washington DC on Sunday. Photograph: Seth Herald/Reuters

Thousands of people streamed on to the National Mall for a daylong prayer rally billed as a “rededication of our country as One Nation Under God”. Worship music blared from a stage that made clear the event’s Christian focus. Yesterday’s White House-backed event has been criticized for blurring the line between the church and state.

Don’t miss this: The US epoch of oil is collapsing. What comes next could be ugly

China is dominating the energy transition with astonishing results. Illustration: Guardian Design

History shows that when the dominant source of energy changes, the global balance of power often shifts with it. We are now undergoing one such transition, as the age of oil – dominated by the US, Russia and Gulf states – gives way to an era of renewables, overwhelmingly manufactured in China. Meanwhile, fossil fuel fascists in the US are attempting to turn back the clock.

… or this: How to become emotionally mature – at any age**. ‘We often don’t realise the hurt we’re causing’**

Children are ‘sensitive, sentient; they feel things just as acutely as an adult does’, says Gibson. Photograph: Stanislaw Pytel/Getty Images

“We’re in a system that’s rigged toward people who are willing to take advantage of other people, to look out for their own interests and amass as much as they can for themselves,” says Lindsay C Gibson, the author of Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents. Gibson remains optimistic that a better society, built by more emotionally healthy people, is possible.

Climate check: Experts sound alarm as North America’s bees start swarm season unusually early

This year’s unusually early swarm season follows several years of record bee colony declines worldwide, a report says. Photograph: ImageBroker.com/Alamy

After a series of record-breaking US heatwaves, the 2026 bee swarm season in North America has started 17 days earlier than last year, raising questions about how honeybees are responding to the climate crisis.

Last Thing: Peacock ‘invasion’ of Italian seaside town ruffles feathers

According to legends, the peacock – a bird of Asian origin – was introduced to Europe by Alexander the Great. Photograph: Paul Markillie/Alamy

Punta Marina, a seaside town on Italy’s Adriatic coast in the Emilia-Romagna region, has been overrun by peacocks – much to the delight – and frustration – of residents. The birdshad previously lived in a nearby pine forest but wandered into the town during the Covid pandemic – and never left.

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