Friday’s top story: UK prime minister to depart on 7 June. Plus, how the rock biopic became a Hollywood hit

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Subscribe now to receive the morning briefing by email.

Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories. Have a great Memorial Day weekend; the briefing will be back on Tuesday.

May stands down, expressing ‘deep regret’ over Brexit failure

After a turbulent three years in Downing Street – a period that will inevitably be remembered for her failure to achieve a deal on Brexit – the British prime minister, Theresa May, has announced she will quit on 7 June. Making her resignation statement outside No 10 on Friday morning, May said the job had been “the honour of my life”, but admitted it was “a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit.”

Leadership race. May’s exit will spark a race between several top Conservatives to be the next prime minister, but the overwhelming favourite is the former foreign secretary – and leading Brexiter – Boris Johnson.

May’s mistakes. May stepped into a gap left by David Cameron, who lost the Brexit referendum, and Johnson, who failed to capitalise on winning it. But it was her own misjudgments that doomed her leadership, writes Dan Sabbagh.

Assange could face decades behind bars over new US charges

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Assange is taken from court in London earlier this month. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

US prosecutors have announced 17 new charges against Julian Assange, which could result in the WikiLeaks founder being jailed for decades for publishing state secrets about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The 47-year-old had already been charged with working to hack a Pentagon computer system, in a secret indictment unveiled after his recent arrest at Ecuador’s embassy in London. If convicted of all 18 charges, he would face a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.

US allies. The former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr has said such a lengthy prison sentence would “test the patience” of Australia and other US allies in considering Assange’s extradition.

Free speech. By indicting Assange under the Espionage Act, the Trump administration is challenging the first amendment and the free speech rights of journalists, argues Julian Borger.

Pelosi still resisting impeachment despite Trump ‘cover-up’

Play Video 1:39 Nancy Pelosi: ‘The White House is just crying out for impeachment' – video

Despite his repeated insistence that he was “extremely calm”, Donald Trump seemed anything but on Thursday as he responded to the provocations of the House Speaker. Nancy Pelosi had accused him of being “engaged in a cover-up”, said she was concerned for the president’s wellbeing, and urged Trump’s staff and family to stage “an intervention for the good of the country”. Yet Pelosi is still resisting calls from her party to begin impeachment proceedings.

Full cooperation. Trump has directed the US intelligence committee to “quickly and fully cooperate” with attorney general William Barr’s investigation into the origins of the Mueller inquiry.

Book deal. Donald Trump Jr has secured a deal with Center Street Press, a Hachette imprint, for a book about the Trump administration’s “great achievements”.

Weinstein and accusers reach tentative $44m agreement

Facebook Twitter Pinterest More than 15 lawsuits have been filed accusing Weinstein or his company of misconduct. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

The disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein has reportedly reached a tentative $44m deal to resolve several of the more than 15 lawsuits surrounding his alleged sexual misconduct, and to compensate his accusers. Weinstein, who denies all allegations of nonconsensual sex, still faces criminal charges of rape and performing a forcible sex act. The deal was reached between his alleged victims, the board of his former firm Weinstein & Co and the New York attorney general’s office.

#MeToo movement. More than 70 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct since the first allegations became public in 2017 and sparked the #MeToo movement.

Crib sheet

Organisers expect a record number of young people in more than 110 countries to take part in the latest round of school climate strikes on Friday, exceeding the 1.4 million who walked out in March to express their concern over the climate crisis.

The deaths of three people on Everest have been linked to congestion on the world’s highest mountain, where an American and two Indian victims were forced to queue for hours with other climbers in the high-altitude “Death Zone” near the summit.

Facebook has unveiled plans to launch its own cryptocurrency in 2020. GlobalCoin would enable Facebook’s 2.4 billion monthly users to make digital payments in a dozen countries.

The US intends to bombard the Midway Atoll – the site of a key second world war naval battle – with rodenticide to eradicate the rampant mouse population threatening a crucial seabird habitat.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rocking on: A Star Is Born, Teen Spirit, Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman and Wild Rose. Composite: Getty/REX

How singers became superheroes in Hollywood

As the new Elton John biopic Rocketman aims to rival the box office success of Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born, Laura Snapes asks how rock stars – real or fictional – have suddenly become such a big draw for Hollywood.

The hunt for the arsonist behind Australia’s worst wildfires

On a single day in 2009, 173 people were killed by bushfires sweeping across the Australian state of Victoria. When detectives realised not all the blazes had started naturally, they set out to find the culprit, as Chloe Hooper reports.

Neil Gaiman: ‘Good Omens feels more apt now’

Good Omens is a TV version of a novel Neil Gaiman wrote with Terry Pratchett in 1990. But as political satire, says Gaiman, it feels just as fitting today. “The lovely thing about it being angels and demons is that you don’t actually have to be talking about the Tories or the Republicans or Labour or the Democrats,” he tells Lidija Haas.

Toxic America: the safety row over flame retardants

Today in the Guardian’s Toxic America series on the harmful chemicals in our daily lives, Jessica Glenza and Lauren Aratani report on Massachusetts’ failure to ban toxic flame retardants found in furniture and other household items, while Teresa Carr discovers how chemicals in the environment are damaging men’s sperm.

Opinion

Progressives may have been shocked by Trump, Brexit and the rise of Modi’s nationalists in India, but now they must admit the seeds of endemic racism were there all along, says Gary Younge.

There is no denying that bigotry, once embedded in a political culture, is difficult to excise. But it cannot be avoided for reasons of expediency and complicity either. That is in no small part how we got here: people who knew better eschewing “difficult conversations” because it would cost them votes.

Sport

Kawhi Leonard topped 30 points for the fourth time in the Eastern Conference finals as the Raptors beat the Milwaukee Bucks 105-99 on Thursday night, taking Toronto to a 3-2 series lead and the brink of the NBA finals.

The disgraced former cycling champion Lance Armstrong has said he “wouldn’t change a thing” about the doping that eventually saw him stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, in an interview to be broadcast by NBCSN next week.

Sign up

The US morning briefing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.