‘Their lives were getting harder, even with help. They did not want to go to a nursing home and neither wanted to live without the other. So it made sense for them to leave this life together’

This is a photo of my parents right after their deaths, in Assen, the Netherlands, on 1 May 2024. My father Klaas Roemers was 90, my mother Fenny Roemers-Visser was 86.

They had a good life and a very happy marriage, but the last years were difficult. They were both sick and exhausted. Both had heart failure, my mother had a lot of pain. Both were in a really bad shape. They still lived in their own house but life was getting harder and harder, even with help. They did not want to go to a nursing home and neither wanted to live without the other – they wanted to step out of life together. They were afraid one would die naturally and the other would be left behind. They were very close, and did everything together, really everything – so it made sense they would leave this life together.

Financial Reporting Council looking into whether the firm met its standards regarding the Horizon IT system

EY, one of the “Big Four” accounting firms, is being investigated over how it audited the accounts of the Post Office, as the postal branch network wrestled with the Horizon software scandal that resulted in hundreds of post office operators being wrongly convicted.

The UK’s accounting regulator, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), said it had begun an investigation into whether the firm met its standards “with particular reference to matters related to the Horizon IT system”.

Pierre Poilievre had hoped to be the next PM, but a sharp change in mood amid Trump tariffs has the party in turmoil

When Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre finally emerged from a holding room, excited shouts erupted in a tsunami-like wave throughout the banquet hall. Party faithful – some in the ill-fitting free T-shirts handed out by staffers – craned their necks for a glimpse of the man they hoped will be the next Canadian prime minister.

Hair perfectly parted and clad in his standard-issue crisp blue suit, Poilievre embraced the first supporter, a gesture that appeared to leave her overjoyed. Another supporter, wearing a red “Save Canada” shirt, was crestfallen when Poilievre seemed to miss him, before the leader turned and gripped the man’s hand in a firm shake.

• French tennis player suggests Dove ‘collab’ on Instagram
• Dart apologises for telling umpire Boisson ‘smells bad’

French tennis player Lois Boisson has responded to Harriet Dart’s on-court claim that “she smells really bad” with a social media post that pokes fun at the incident.

During a change of ends in Tuesday’s match in Rouen, Dart asked the umpire: “Can you tell her [Boisson] to wear deodorant because she smells really bad?” Her comments were picked up by a courtside microphone and quickly attracted attention and criticism on social media.

Opposition leader also says ‘I’ll let scientists pass that judgment’ when asked if climate change impacts getting worse in second showdown

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Peter Dutton has admitted he made a mistake by wrongly claiming the Indonesian president had announced a proposal for Russia to base military aircraft in Indonesia, and declined to state whether the impacts of climate change were getting worse.

The opposition leader has also confirmed his plan to reduce the size of the federal public service by 41,000 positions by 2030 would not pay for the entirety of the Coalition’s policy platform, suggesting further cuts to government spending may be necessary.

Country may be home to as many as 13,000 bears, the highest total by far in Europe outside Russia

Romania may be home to as many as 13,000 brown bears, almost twice as many as previously thought, the country’s forestry research institute has said, as officials promised new laws to allow communities to deal with “crisis bear situations”.

The institute’s study of 25 counties in the Carpathian mountains was the first to use DNA samples from material such as faeces and hair. Previous estimates based on prints and sightings put the bear population at less than 8,000.

Researchers say urgent action needed to inform people about risks of heatwave temperatures and adapt homes

The number of UK homes overheating in summer quadrupled to 80% over the past decade, according to a study, with experts calling the situation a crisis.

Heat already kills thousands of people each year in the UK and the toll will rise as the climate crisis intensifies. Urgent action is needed both to inform people on how to cope with high temperatures and to adapt homes, which are largely designed to keep heat in during the winter, the researchers said.

From northern soul to rugby league beef, here’s what I learned while writing We Were There

Hello and welcome to The Long Wave. I’m Lanre Bakare and I usually cover arts and culture for the Guardian, but I’m taking over the newsletter this week to tell you about my new book, We Were There , a cultural history of Black Britain.

It’s set between 1979 and 1990, covering the rise and premiership of Margaret Thatcher, the UK’s first female prime minister, whose divisive but transformative remodelling of Britain is still felt today – and within that political upheaval, race dominated the headlines. But it was also a time when modern Black British culture was forged. I’ll talk you through five things I learned from my research.

Arakawa was shown to have been researching medical conditions related to Covid-19 and flu and police bodycam footage from inside the couple’s home released

Authorities on Tuesday released a lengthy investigation report detailing some of the last emails, phone calls and internet searches by Gene Hackman’s wife Betsy Arakawa in the days before her death, indicating that she was scouring for information on flu-like symptoms and breathing techniques.

Arakawa died in February of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome – a rare, rodent-borne disease that can led to a range of symptoms that include flu-like illness, headaches, dizziness and severe respiratory distress, investigators said. Hackman is believed to have died about a week later of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease.