WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Trump calls Putin, house prices rising, and France's Amazon 'super-max' prison plan

 
today's international story

Putin and Trump give diverging view of call

What happened
Donald Trump portrayed his call with Vladimir Putin yesterday as a diplomatic success, claiming that ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine will now begin "immediately". But Putin downplayed the outcome, reiterating his firm demands and showing no sign of compromise.

Who said what
Trump described the conversation as having gone "very well", but even the framing of the call was different in the US and Russia, said CNN. For Trump, the discussion "amounted to a major occasion" conducted from the Oval Office; for Putin, who had phoned in from a school in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, it was "much less momentous".

During the two-hour conversation the US president "backed away from threats" intended to push Russia into a ceasefire, said The New York Times, instead "focusing on the possibility of future economic co-operation". What Trump "does not seem to understand" is that Putin is seeking to restore Russia's imperial power and erase what he sees as the mistake of Ukraine's independence, while Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine are "driven by self-preservation", said Roland Oliphant in The Telegraph. Consequently, there remains an "enormous gulf between those positions" that can't be bridged by simple negotiations or trade offers.

What next?
The call, the White House hoped, would "show how much influence the US president had in the Kremlin", said Sam Kiley in The Independent. But "they were sorely disappointed". Instead it simply showed that "it is, once again, Putin who pulls the strings".

 
 
today's property story

House prices hit another record high

What happened
Asking prices for homes in Britain have reached a record level for the second consecutive month, rising to an average of £379,517 according to property website Rightmove. Sales agreed over the past month are 5% higher than for the same time last year. The number of new homes coming to market is also up year-on-year and Rightmove reports early signs of a bounce-back in demand.

Who said what
"Mortgage interest rates are lower than they were this time last year,” said Colleen Babcock of Rightmove, adding that this month's Bank of England rate cut to 4.25% could encourage further drops from lenders. But this is also a "warning to sellers", said The Independent. "Pricing strategy is critical right now," Polly Ogden Duffy, managing director at property firm John D Wood & Co, told the paper. "With an increased supply of homes for sale buyers can be more selective, and overpricing – unless your property is truly exceptional – is a fast track to stagnation."

What next?
Rightmove says mortgage rates will be critical in shaping buyer activity throughout the rest of the year.

 
 
Today's justice story

France to open new high-security prison in Amazon

What happened
France plans to build a €400 million (£336 million) "super-max" prison for drug dealers and Islamist terrorists in the Amazon jungle. The facility, in the overseas territory of French Guiana, is a response to the increasingly violent turf wars between drug gangs as well as high-profile kidnappings and a series of attacks on jails and prison officers' homes.

Who said what
"The prison regime will be extremely strict, with one aim: to put the most dangerous narco traffickers in a place where they can do no harm," said Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin during a weekend visit to French Guiana. Darmanin said he had "declared war" on drug traffickers.

The territory was home to the "notorious" Devil's Island penal colony, which closed in 1953, said The Times. Prisoners there "survived for only five years on average".

What next?
The "fortress-like" facility will house 500 prisoners, with special wings for those deemed a risk to national security. Darmanin is also trying to negotiate a bilateral treaty with Brazil that would allow France to send jailed Brazilian drug mules there.

 
 

It's not all bad

Watching animals live online is more than just a quirky pastime. Research shows it can lift your mood, help you relax and even improve sleep quality. From ospreys in Montana to puffins in Wales and giraffes in Namibia, nature webcams have "proliferated over the past two decades", said The Guardian. Viewers say the streams offer comfort, connection and joy – especially for older people or those unable to access nature – making the internet's gentlest addiction a surprisingly powerful wellbeing tool.

 
 
under the radar

Musk's SpaceX has created a new city in Texas

The spaceflight company SpaceX has made itself a new home: residents of Texas's Cameron County voted on 3 May to incorporate Starbase, Texas, a city located near Boca Chica along the Lone Star State's southern border. It will serve as a "company town" for SpaceX, the brainchild brand of controversial tech mogul and Doge head Elon Musk. But exactly why SpaceX is making this move remains a bit of a mystery.

The new city itself is quite small, with a population of about 500 according to Bloomberg. It is "criss-crossed by a few roads and dappled with Airstream trailers and modest mid-century homes," said The Associated Press. Its incorporation as an official city appears to be largely symbolic as SpaceX "already manages roads and utilities, as well as 'the provisioning of schooling and medical care' for those living on the property".

The actual reasoning for the move remains unclear as SpaceX officials "have said little about exactly why they want a company town", said the AP. But it appears that SpaceX feels the city will assist in ramping up infrastructure for the brand's space launches. Incorporating Starbase will "help us continue building the best community possible for the men and women building the future of humanity's place in space", said the city's X account.

Still, this could be easier said than done. Whatever the "goals and ambitions of the new city of Starbase are, the first thing they're going to have to look at is what the budget is", Alan Bojorquez, a Texas attorney who works on municipal law, told The Wall Street Journal.

 
 
on this day

20 May 1609

William Shakespeare's collection of sonnets was first published in London. The first 126 of the 154 poems are dedicated to the still-unidentified "Fair Youth". In March a rare copy of Sonnet 116, one of the most famous English love poems, was found inside a 17th-century manuscript in Oxford's Bodleian Library.

 
 
Today's newspapers

"Kiss goodbye to Brexit" says The Telegraph, reporting on the UK's new trade deal with Brussels. "Starmer's surrender" is the "day the Brexit dream died" says the Daily Mail but The Mirror reports that the PM hailed the deal as a "win-win". The Daily Express calls the agreement a "betrayal", while The Times reports Starmer's promise that it will boost the economy by £9bn a year. "Poshest and Becks" says The Sun, on King Charles III's outing at the Chelsea flower show with David Beckham.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Clocking a blunder

A US man ordered his wife a Donald Trump-branded watch, only for it to arrive without an all-important letter "T" on the watchface, which instead read "RUMP". Tim Petit, from Rhode Island, paid $640 for the "limited edition" timepiece. "We had expected that it would have the integrity of the president of the United States," said Petit. The manufacturer, which is not affiliated with the president and pays to licence the name, has apologised and offered the couple an $800 voucher.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Rebecca Messina, Harriet Marsden, Ross Couzens and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Drew Angerer / Getty Images; Mike Kemp / In Pictures / Getty Images; Collart Hervé / Sygma / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images.