Jannine Mancilla, 32, and Nicole Macias, 34, bonded over a shared love of DIY fashion and hand-me-downs, and frustrations with an environmentally-destructive industry and a throwaway culture that creates huge amounts of waste. So they came up with a radical idea: asking people to offer up their old clothes – for free. Their Los Angeles clothing swaps have grown from humble origins to “overwhelmingly” popular events that receive hundreds of pounds of clothing donations each month, helping attendees save the planet and keep money in their pockets.

Jannine Mancilla: All of us at Radical Clothes Swap are first-gen Mexican American and grew up with an immigrant, sparse mentality. I grew up with hand-me-downs from my siblings and cousins. We had that cookie container that never had cookies in it, that we would reuse to hold a sewing kit. I grew up mending my own pants. When skinny jeans were a thing, I would sew them by hand.

Nicole Macias: I still get my brothers’ hand-me-downs. There’s nothing like a beat-up old shirt or a sweater to sleep in or just hang around in. Bipoc communities have always done this because we’re resourceful. It was ingrained in our upbringing and our lifestyle. A lot of times we’ve had to, because we couldn’t afford to buy new wardrobes every new school year.

In 2021, I was invited to participate in a back-to-school community event for young people, and I thought about what I could bring that wouldn’t require the kids to spend money. I had been inspired by a company called Suay Sew Shop that does textile repurposing and has a free rack at their store.

I was blown away by that concept – you could just grab a sweater off a rack and it’s free. So I decided to have a free rack at the back-to-school event. I donated five items from my own closet and did a shout-out on social media asking people for clothes they wanted to get rid of.

The response was overwhelming. I got all types and sizes of clothing: pajamas, winter coats, jeans, dresses, shorts, workout clothes, you name it. I couldn’t even fit all the bags in my car and had to borrow a friend’s catering van to haul everything with me.

After that I did four more swaps and ended up with more and more clothes. Jannine, who I’d never met, hit me up on social media and she was like: “Hey, I like what you’re doing. I’ve done this before. Do you want to team up?” I had already agreed to a community event in [the Los Angeles neighborhood of] Inglewood and told her to come. She was like: “Yeah, let’s do it.”

I showed up with my clothes, my wagon and some hangers. Jannine showed up with a canopy and a table and some hangers. We were hanging clothes from the canopy. It was so ugly, but people loved it.

Jannine: People were so thrown off by the concept that it was all free.

We are ruled by capitalism, and if people aren’t profiting, they don’t take an interest in it. Giving out something for free without expecting anything in return is radical.

We don’t ask anything of people. We don’t even ask them to post and tag us. When we created an Instagram, we were throwing out names. Nicole threw out the word “radical” and we were like: “Wait, that fits, because what we’re doing is very, very radical and unheard of. Who just gives out clothes or anything for free without expecting anything in return?”

That’s how we came up with Radical Clothes Swap. There’s literally no catch: you’re keeping money in your pockets and saving the environment a little bit by shopping for free.

Nicole: At first people were unsure, but now we have a following. Since March, we’ve probably held about five per month. Angel City Brewery is our main swap, every second Saturday of the month. We’re also at the Rivian Pasadena Hub every last Sunday.

We typically get up to 100-plus folks that visit us and, on average, about 50 of those people donate clothes to swap. We’ve estimated that each of those people donates about 6-10lb of clothes, so we receive up to 500lb of clothes per event. We tend to go home with extra donations, which we store for future events.

A lot of people don’t understand that a lot of thrift stores are so overwhelmed with donations that sometimes they just throw clothes away. For people who do thrift, they’re also starting to find that the quality is not good. A lot of it is fast fashion that’s priced at regular store prices.

Jannine: What also makes it different from thrift stores is the connections that people make. It’s so beautiful to see people come to our events who don’t know each other, and then we turn around and we see them laughing and talking. It’s not just a place for people to shop for free, but to build community and make connections with other like-minded folks.

When we were growing up it wasn’t cool to wear second-hand clothes, but now it is. White people are thrifting more, so prices are rising because there’s more demand. In a way, this is us taking back that power that we’ve had, something that we’ve always done.

Nicole: Our end goal is to open up a physical space where we can host more educational workshops, like mending and fabric dyeing. We’d love to expand outside of Los Angeles and California.

I feel like Bipocs are always the trendsetters, and this concept of swapping is coming full circle. There’s no money involved. There’s no exchange. It’s community at its core, just giving back.

• The DIY Climate Changers is a series about everyday people across the US using their own ingenuity to tackle climate change in their neighborhoods, homes and backyards. If you would like to share your story, email us at [email protected]

Actor Steve Buscemi is OK after he was punched in the face by a man on a New York City street, his publicist said on Sunday.

The 66-year-old star of Fargo and Boardwalk Empire was assaulted on Wednesday morning in Manhattan and taken to a nearby hospital with bruising, swelling and bleeding to his left eye.

“Steve Buscemi was assaulted in Mid-Town Manhattan, another victim of a random act of violence in the city,” according to a statement from his publicist. “He is OK and appreciates everyone’s well wishes.”

The assault was first reported by the New York Post.

The New York Police Department put out a statement on the assault on Wednesday. Buscemi’s representative confirmed Sunday that the unidentified assault victim in the police statement was the actor.

The police said there were no arrests and the investigation was continuing.

Buscemi’s Boardwalk Empire co-star Michael Stuhlbarg was hit in the back of the neck with a rock while walking in Manhattan’s Central Park on 31 March. Stuhlbarg chased his attacker, who was taken into custody outside the park.

Night skies were lit up around the world by a spectacular display of the northern lights on Friday, with sightings seen widely across Europe, the US and even New Zealand (as the southern lights). The lights occur when charged particles emitted from the sun reach the Earth’s atmosphere and collide with gases around the magnetic poles triggering breathtaking night-time auroras.

In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a “severe” G4 geomagnetic storm event, but by Friday evening it announced conditions had reached “extreme” G5 levels, the highest level on the space weather scale, for the first time since October 2003.

G5 geomagnetic storms carry the potential to cause impacts to modern day infrastructure, such as inducing strong currents in power grids and disrupting satellite communication signals. The Halloween storm of October 2003 caused power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa.

A large sunspot cluster about 17 times the size of Earth has been the primary source for this rare event by producing several strong solar flares since Wednesday last week. The region of the sun continued to be active over the weekend, with NOAA saying another period of G4-G5 geomagnetic storms were possible later on Sunday.

Meanwhile, parts of North America continue to endure a historic heatwave through May. In Mexico, the hottest day in history for the month of May was observed last week, with temperatures reaching a brutal 51.1C (124F) in Gallinas on 9 May. This temperature is less than a degree below the all-time national record in Mexico during any month.

It also set a new monthly record for the whole of the North American continent for May, surpassing the 50.5C recorded on 27 May 1973 in Ballesmi, also in Mexico.

The extreme heat has put immense pressure on the country’s power grid, with blackouts lasting several hours across numerous cities. There have been a reported 159 active wildfires as a result of the extreme heat, covering about 186,500 acres of land, including parts of Mexico’s protected natural areas.

The heatwave also comes during a water crisis, with much of Mexico experiencing a moderate to exceptional drought. There is no end in sight for this heatwave, with temperatures forecast to reach low to mid-40C through at least the rest of the month.

The Covid-19 pandemic will “look minor” compared with what humanity faces from the growing number of superbugs resistant to current drugs, Prof Dame Sally Davies, England’s former chief medical officer, has warned.

Davies, who is now the UK’s special envoy on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), lost her goddaughter two years ago to an infection that could not be treated.

She paints a bleak picture of what could happen if the world fails to tackle the problem within the next decade, warning that the issue is “more acute” than climate change. Drug-resistant infections already kill at least 1.2 million people a year.

“It looks like a lot of people with untreatable infections, and we would have to move to isolating people who were untreatable in order not to infect their families and communities. So it’s a really disastrous picture. It would make some of Covid look minor,” said Davies, who is also the first female master of Trinity College, Cambridge.

AMR means that some infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites can no longer be treated with available medicines. Exposure to drugs allows the bugs to evolve the ability to resist them, and overuse of drugs such as antibiotics accelerates that process.

Widespread resistance would make much of modern medicine too risky, affecting treatments including caesarean sections, cancer interventions and organ transplantation.

“If we haven’t made good strides in the next 10 years, then I’m really scared,” Davies said.

Without the development of new treatments “it’ll grind on for decades and it won’t burn out. We know that with viruses, they burn out, you generally develop herd immunity, but this isn’t like that.”

Last week the UK government announced a national action plan on AMR, with commitments to reduce its use of antimicrobials in both humans and animals, strengthen surveillance of drug resistant infections, and incentivise industry to develop new drugs and vaccines.

Launching the plan, Maria Caulfield, the health minister, said: “In a world recovering from the profound impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, international collaboration and preparedness for global health challenges have taken on an unprecedented level of importance.”

Davies has spent more than a decade warning about the problem, but said it truly hit home when her “beautiful” goddaughter, Emily Hoyle, died of a drug-resistant infection aged 38.

Hoyle had cystic fibrosis and had undergone two lung transplants before she was infected by Mycobacteroides abscessus, which was resistant to treatment.

The team treating her “tried everything”, Davies said. “But I would think for me, looking back from the year before she died, I thought it was likely this would kill her.

“And she knew about six months before she died that this was not going to be treatable and that she would probably die of it.

“She had a very beautiful death – she was very dignified, laughing, joking, making light of it to husband, family, all of us. She was very special.

“But she gave me permission to use her story as my goddaughter because, well, it got personal for me, the Christmas before last.”

Hoyle’s death has reinforced her determination to turn the tide, Davies said, describing it as a question of intergenerational fairness.

“My generation and older have used the antibiotics [and] we’re not replenishing them. We’re not making sure that our food is produced with as low usage as possible. And I owe it to my children and – if I have them – grandchildren and the next generations to do my best.”

There are also issues of fairness in the present day, she said. One death in five caused by AMR is in a child aged under five, usually in sub-Saharan Africa, where Davies said the problem is “particularly prevalent and disastrous”.

Many of the countries are also being hit hard by the climate crisis and Davies said the two problems were interlinked.

“If we don’t control and mitigate AMR, then it will kill more people before climate change does,” she said.

“Climate will play out in many ways, but think about flood water, think about sewage, think about displacement, think about storms and what they spread and the lack of clean water if you’ve got drought; infections do go up.”

There are global efforts to reduce inappropriate use of drugs such as antibiotics in medicine, although the Covid-19 pandemic stalled progress on many of those initiatives. Few new antibiotics have been created in recent years and the issue is “made more complicated” because it involves sectors such as farming as well as human health.

More than two-thirds of antibiotics go into farm animals, Davies said, usually to promote growth or prevent infections in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions rather than treat specific infections.

Some Asian fish farms were “tipping antibiotics in with the fish food”, partly because it is cheaper, she said, but also because of a lack of research into which infections occur in local breeds of fish such as tilapia, and which vaccines might be needed.

“If you don’t have appropriate, careful use,” she said, “you’re risking it really getting out of control.”

Animals, including humans, excrete up to 80% of the antibiotics they take in, she points out, “contaminating the environment”. Factories producing antibiotics may not control their effluent, allowing “dramatic amounts” to enter water systems.

Despite her warnings, Davies insisted she is a “glass half-full” person, brimming with enthusiasm as she discusses projects that find a different approach. A major US poultry supplier has stopped using antibiotics, “so you can do it”, she said.

Breakthroughs such as genomics and artificial intelligence are “reinvigorating” the science of new antibiotics. She is also hopeful that programmes to incentivise pharmaceutical companies to create new antibiotics will bear fruit.

Ideally, such medicines should be held in reserve as a last resort if existing drugs fail to work, so bugs do not develop resistance to them. However, this makes it hard for companies to guarantee a return on investment in research and development.

Various countries are exploring alternative means of funding, such as a subscription model by NHS England, paying a fixed annual fee for access to antimicrobials, regardless of volume used.

Davies is part of the UN Global Leaders Group on AMR. In September, the UN will hold a high-level meeting on the issue and the group is pushing for targets by 2030, including reducing global human deaths from AMR by 10%, cutting antimicrobial use in agriculture by at least 30%, and ending the use of “medically important antimicrobials for human medicine” in farming where they are not needed to treat disease.

While “honoured” to be part of the group, she said more formal structures were needed. “We need inter-country governance of some form, a bit like a COP for climate change,” Davies said.

Particularly important would be the establishment of an independent scientific panel similar to the IPCC, “otherwise, it’s academics saying, ‘oh, we need this target’. And however correct that is, if you haven’t taken the low- and middle-income countries on the journey, there’s no reason why they would accept those – or should accept them.”

Twenty-seven new bathing sites will be designated in England ahead of this summer’s swimming season, the government has announced.

Giving waterways bathing status means the Environment Agency has to test them for pollution during the summer months, putting pressure on water companies to stop dumping sewage in them.

Twelve rivers are among the new sites. There are three river areas in England designated for swimming, far fewer than in many other European countries. In France, for example, there are more than 570 river bathing sites.

Bathing status is no guarantee the waters are safe to swim in, however. Last year, testing by the Environment Agency found that England’s three river swimming areas all had “poor” status due to pollution. This means people should not swim in them and risk getting sick if they do. Sewage spills and agricultural runoff mean swimming sites can carry E coli and intestinal enterococci, which could make swimmers ill.

The water campaigner and former Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey told the Guardian: “Every single stretch of river in England currently tested carries a ‘do not swim’ advisory. This lot will simply join that ignoble, floundering list of failure.

“It’s clearly not a strategy to deal with the decaying state of our rivers, it’s simply panic from a decaying government, it’s making excuses all before exiting stage left in the run-up to a general election.”

Water companies were criticised for record sewage discharges into England’s waterways last year. Recent data showed raw sewage was discharged into rivers and seas for more than 3.6 million hours, more than double that in the previous 12 months.

Bathing sites are only tested in the summer months but the government has promised a consultation later this year on proposals that would include extending monitoring outside the bathing season, as some people use the rivers recreationally all year.

The water minister, Robbie Moore, said: “The value our bathing waters bring to local communities is incredibly valuable – providing social, physical and positive health and wellbeing benefits to people around the country – and I am pleased to have approved a further 27 new bathing water sites for this year.

“These popular swimming spots will now undergo regular monitoring to ensure bathers have up-to-date information on the quality of the water and enable action to be taken if minimum standards aren’t being met.”

The chair of the Environment Agency, Alan Lovell, said: “The importance of England’s bathing waters for residents and visitors alike cannot be overstated, which is why the Environment Agency provides rigorous testing to ensure that bathers can make informed decisions before swimming in one of our 451 sites.

“Overall bathing water quality has improved massively over the last decade due to targeted and robust regulation from the Environment Agency, and the good work carried out by partners and local groups. Last year, 96% of sites met minimum standards, up from just 76% in 2010 – and despite stricter standards being introduced in 2015. We know that improvements can take time and investment from the water industry, farmers and local communities, but where the investment is made, standards can improve.”

The new bathing sites

• River Wharfe at Wetherby Riverside, High St, Wetherby, West Yorkshire

The world’s big banks have handed nearly $7tn (£5.6tn) in funding to the fossil fuel industry since the Paris agreement to limit carbon emissions, according to research.

In 2016, after talks in Paris, 196 countries signed an agreement to limit global heating as a result of carbon emissions to at most 2C above preindustrial levels, with an ideal limit of 1.5C to prevent the worst impacts of a drastically changed climate.

Many countries have since promised to reduce carbon emissions, but the latest research shows private interests continued to funnel money to oil, gas and coal companies, which have used it to expand their operations.

Eight in 10 of the world’s most eminent climate scientists now foresee at least 2.5C of global heating, according to the results of a Guardian survey published last week – an outcome expected to lead to devastating consequences for civilisation.

Researchers for the banking on climate chaos report, now in its 15th edition, analysed the world’s top 60 banks’ underwriting and lending to more than 4,200 fossil fuel firms and companies causing the degradation of the Amazon and Arctic.

Those banks, they found, gave $6.9tn in financing to oil, coal and gas companies, nearly half of which – $3.3tn – went towards fossil fuel expansion. Even in 2023, two years after many large banks vowed to work towards lowering emissions as part of the Net Zero Banking Alliance, bank finance for fossil fuel companies was $705bn, with $347bn going towards expansion, the report says.

US banks were the biggest financiers of the fossil fuel industry, contributing 30% of the total $705bn provided in 2023, the report found. JP Morgan Chase gave the most of any bank in the world, providing $40.8bn to fossil fuel companies in 2023, while Bank of America came in third. The world’s second biggest financier of fossil fuels was the Japanese bank Mizuho, which provided $37.1bn.

London-based Barclays was Europe’s biggest fossil fuel financier, with $24.2bn, followed by Spain’s Santander at $14.5bn and Germany’s Deutsche Bank with $13.4bn. Overall, European banks stumped up just over a quarter of the total fossil fuel financing in 2023, according to the report.

Tom BK Goldtooth, the executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, which co-authored the study, said: “Financiers and investors of fossil fuels continue to light the flame of the climate crisis. Paired with generations of colonialism, the fossil fuel industry and banking institutions’ investment in false solutions create unlivable conditions for all living relatives and humanity on Mother Earth.

“As Indigenous peoples, we remain on the frontlines of the climate catastrophe, and the fossil fuel industry targets our lands and territories as sacrifice zones to continue their extraction. Capitalism and its extraction-based economy will only perpetuate more harm and destruction against our Mother Earth and it must come to an end.”

Critics of the report said its methodology, which relied on investigating deals reported by financial market data companies such as Bloomberg and Refinitiv, meant researchers did not have a detailed view of what was being financed, and by whom.

Specifically, syndicated loans, bond issues and underwriting arrangements often involved several banks with varying levels of exposure. And financing to fossil fuel companies to fund transition technology projects could not be distinguished from financing for new oil wells, they said.

Spokespeople for Barclays, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and Santander all emphasised that their organisations were supporting energy sector clients’ transitions toward more sustainable business models. Mizuho declined a request for comment.

In a country where so much of society is still bisected along class lines, many have a very particular image of a clever person – and it’s roughly Stephen Fry. A grand-seeming Oxbridge-educated man with a posh accent and an interest in art and opera, who can recite passages of classic literature. Rob Rinder, the criminal barrister, broadcaster and host of Judge Rinder, fits well into this mould and loves all things “high culture” and intellectual pursuits. He is, as his co-host Rylan Clark says, “one of the cleverest blokes I know”. Meanwhile, Rinder says Clark “doesn’t know his arts from his elbow”. However, over the course of the three episodes of Rob and Rylan’s Grand Tour, Clark emerges as the brilliant mind, with levels of intelligence, wit and profundity that may have been overlooked because there remains a perception of what a clever person is like.

The pair position themselves as an odd couple from different sides of the tracks, being good mates, both going through “painful divorces” who, despite their divergent interests, have decided to embark on a journey that represents a fresh start. The series follows them through the “hedonism” of Venice, the Renaissance feast that is Florence and the baroque glory of Rome, replicating a journey made by Lord Byron, 200 years after his death at just 36. But as the series reminds us, this was not just a journey that Byron made: many of the “poshos” of the era would journey to Italy as a rite of passage, a form of cultural education to establish themselves as erudite individuals who understood art, history and the ways of the world.

We first see Rinder in Venice aboard a gondola, wanting to take in the historical traditions of the city. Clark is in a glitzy speedboat and is a little intimidated by all the art and opera ahead. But while Rinder is moved and fascinated by the galleries, concerts and archaeology of this and the other two cities, his response comes across as a little more shallow than Clark’s reflections. When discussing Caravaggio, castratos or the Colosseum, Rinder always seems to give the prototypical clever-person answer, while Clark connects to his surroundings on a molecular level, seeing in ancient ruins existential questions that connect to his own mortality and desire to achieve greatness.

Clark also brings a gorgeous vulnerability to the screen. Not only is he dealing with heartbreak, but also with the lingering insecurity of having been an object of ridicule in his early career. It’s a truly remarkable journey that he has been on, having first come to public attention as the runner-up on Signed By Katie Price before being labelled a “joke act” on The X Factor and finally hitting his stride as a presenter on This Morning, Big Brother’s Bit on the Side and Ready Steady Cook. But even if he is best known for being a larger-than-life camp icon who pokes fun at himself, it has become clear over the years – and is further illuminated by this programme – that Clark is an extremely smart and talented man who should not be underestimated.

The relationship between Rinder and Clark proves surprisingly sweet and tender, too. Although they often fall back into the clever one/silly one shtick, they seem to hold each other in equally high regard. Clark has little ego around the gaps in his knowledge and soaks up what Rinder tells him about the historical significance of the places that they visit. Rinder also gazes at him adoringly when Clark interprets what the Botticellis hanging in the Uffizi or the Venetian mask worn during the carnival symbolise to him.

While Rinder and Clark seem quite transformed by their journey and time together, ending the trip with their hearts a little less broken and open to the possibility of finding love again (albeit with an iron-clad prenup), what’s most interesting about the programme is how it challenges our perception of Clark. For centuries, the Grand Tour was undertaken by those who more closely resembled Rinder, people with the right sort of class and education, unlike Clark, who was a “ginger kid from a council flat in Stepney Green”. But it is lovely to behold where that kid has ended up, see his formidable mind absorb the glories of the journey Bryon once embarked on and watch his confidence bloom in the Italian sunshine.

Three people were killed and at least 12 were wounded Saturday night in a shooting at party in south Alabama.

Andre Reid with the Baldwin county sheriff’s office’s investigation division told WALA-TV that about 1,000 people were attending a May Day party near the community of Stockton when an altercation started and gunfire erupted. Reid said most of the victims were “younger people”.

There was not immediate word on whether arrests had been made. The Associated Press left a message with the sheriff’s office Sunday.

Stockton has a population of about 400 people. It is roughly 30 miles (48.3km) north-east of Mobile, Alabama.

Reid said no law enforcement officers were involved in the shooting, which was among more than 150 mass shootings reported in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The nonpartisan archive defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more victims are killed or wounded. Perennially high numbers of mass shootings in the US have prompted some to call for meaningful gun control, though Congress for the most part has not delivered it.

The mass shooting in Alabama was only one instance of high-profile gun violence seen in the US over the weekend, which culminated in Mother’s Day on Sunday.

Three Atlanta police officers were hospitalized with gunshot wounds after a confrontation that left a suspect dead Saturday evening, authorities said.

And in Euclid, Ohio, a police officer was shot and killed after being “ambushed” while answering a disturbance call, and a suspect was being sought, authorities said Sunday.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

Vladimir Putin has removed his longtime ally Sergei Shoigu as defence minister in the most significant reshuffle to the military command since Russian troops invaded Ukraine more than two years ago.

In a surprise announcement, the Kremlin said Andrei Belousov, a former deputy prime minister who specialises in economics, will replace Shoigu.

Putin, who was sworn into his fifth term as Russia’s leader earlier this week, proposed that Shoigu take the position as head of Russia’s powerful security council. It is currently led by Nikolai Patrushev, a hawkish former spy and one of Putin’s closest advisers.

Shoigu, Russia’s longest-serving minister, assumed leadership of the defence ministry in 2012 after his tenure as the emergency services minister. He has been leading Russia’s military through its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022.

As defence minister Shoigu was tasked with modernising Russia’s military and was believed to have direct access to Putin, going on regular hunting and fishing trips with him in Siberia.

Shoigu’s popularity in Russia grew after the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, which he was credited with orchestrating.

But he has come under intense criticism for Russia’s military setbacks after the February 2022 invasion, as well as for his inability to root out the widespread corruption that continues to plague the army. Most dramatically, Shoigu was forced to fend off an armed uprising last summer by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who had called for his arrest.

Shoigu’s position appeared to have weakened last month when the security services arrested his long-term confidant Timur Ivanov, a deputy defence minister, and charged him with large-scale corruption.

On paper, Sunday’s reorganisation places Shoigu in a position formally considered higher ranking than his role in the defence ministry in what some observers believe is a move by Putin that allows his old ally to save face.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin decided to appoint Belousov, a veteran economist, to lead the defence ministry after Russia’s war spending had vastly increased.

“It’s very important to put the security economy in line with the economy of the country so that it meets the dynamics of the current moment,” Peskov said.

Peskov added that the Russian president had decided a civilian should head the defence ministry to ensure the department was “open to innovations and advanced ideas”.

Russia has presided over a massive ramping up of industrial military production over the last two years, with total defence spending rising to an estimated 7.5% of its GDP.

A former defence official who has worked with Shoigu, speaking on conditions of anonymity, said: “The Kremlin wants the ministry to be led by an economist who knows how to streamline its operations.

“The defence ministry is supposed to be efficient and well run, while the actual decisions on the battlefield are left to the military.”

Valery Gerasimov, the veteran chief of Russia’s general staff and someone with a more hands-on role when it comes to the fighting, will remain in post, the Kremlin said.

It remains unclear what position will be taken by Patrushev, who has led the security council since 2008 and is believed to have helped mastermind the invasion of Ukraine.

Peskov told Russian state media late on Sunday that Patrushev’s new role will be announced in the “next few days”.

Earlier this week it was announced that his son Dmitry Patrushev, formerly agriculture minister, will be promoted to deputy prime minister.

The television cut-aways to the ­enclosure housing the Arsenal ­supporters perfectly captured the anxiety. It was not supposed to be like this, not against this ­Manchester United. But the lesser spotted a­cceptable version of Erik ten Hag’s team was on show, fighting for the badge, and Arsenal were made to suffer.

Leandro Trossard scored their goal midway through the first half after a United defensive malfunction – of course it was – but the advantage was slender and everyone knew, most of all Mikel Arteta, that it could take only one moment to rub out.

With five minutes to go, there was thunder and lightning. Very, very frightening. Arsenal had not exactly made a habit of winning here in recent years, doing so only once in their previous 16 Premier League visits. They desperately needed the points, to answer Manchester City’s victory at Fulham on Saturday, to jump back above them at the top of the table, to make sure that their ­challenge would go to the final day next Sunday.

Arsenal got the job done, relief ­fusing with the euphoria when it was all over. The downpour at the very end was almost biblical, the ­hailstones pelting down too, the notorious Old Trafford roof getting a thorough examination and it ­certainly made for a vivid backdrop when Arteta and his players celebrated in front of the travelling fans.

Arsenal were well below their best in creative terms; their star players were defenders, namely Ben White and William Saliba. The result was the only thing that mattered. Does ­anyone think that City will slip up; they play their game in hand at ­Tottenham, of all places, on Tuesday night? City have never done so under Pep Guardiola when the title has been within their grasp. For Arsenal, it remains about believing.

Any pre-match optimism had been difficult to locate in United hearts and yet there was a ­tremendous roar from the home crowd upon the first ­whistle; excellent support ­throughout. It was surely in spite of the evidence contained on the team sheets. Call it blind faith, defiance. Or just backing your club.

Arsenal had been unchanged, ­bristling with assurance, ­momentum behind them. What remained so ­disorientating about United was the sheer number of absentees, ­especially at the back, where Casemiro ­continued alongside Jonny Evans in the wake of the horror show at Crystal Palace last Monday. There was no one else.

Arsenal were odds-on with some bookmakers to score at least three. Digest that, for a moment. Yet United appeared determined to show some personality and they might have scored first when Scott ­McTominay won the ball high up off Thomas Partey and, suddenly, ­Rasmus Højlund had a clear ­shooting chance. He slipped at the crucial moment.

United were good for the opening 20 minutes, winning a few duels, although Arsenal threatened on ­corners, Aaron Wan-Bissaka ­having to make one important clearing header. The problem, of course, is United’s near constant vulnerability, the sense that a structural breakdown is never far away.

It came when André Onana went long, Casemiro having shown for the short ball and White took a header from Saliba to feed it back up the inside right for Kai Havertz. The Arsenal centre-forward looked ­offside. That was until we looked along what passed for United’s line and saw Casemiro was still 10 yards back. Havertz ran around Evans to cross low. Trossard lost Wan-Bissaka to touch home.

Arsenal might have scored again on 29 minutes when White worked a give-and-go with the ­disappointing Bukayo Saka, burst away from Casemiro and lifted just off target. United, though, held their own up to the interval, despite struggling for clear-cut openings.

Ten Hag had recalled Sofyan ­Amrabat in midfield and he brought some muscle, earning a generous ovation when he was substituted late on. Amad Diallo, who started ahead of Antony on the right wing, showed twinkle toes and sharp turns. Kobbie Mainoo looked as if he could make something happen.

Arteta had won here previously as a manager, Arsenal’s lone league ­success of the recent past coming under him in November 2020 – the 1-0 pandemic ghost game that was ­settled by Pierre-Emerick ­Aubameyang’s penalty. Arteta needed his team to manage the game in the second-half. The longer it stayed at 1-0, the more his insides churned.

Declan Rice saw a shot blocked by Wan-Bissaka but with Diogo Dalot and Alejandro Garnacho driving variously up the left, the home crowd sensed an equaliser.

Garnacho was stopped in his tracks by one excellent Saliba tackle. On another occasion, the United winger dropped his shoulder to open up a shooting chance, stepping inside only to get the curler all wrong. ­Garnacho’s final action was too often a frustration.

It was nervy for everyone ­connected to Arsenal. They sat deep at times, in the second-half, inviting United to make the game. Martin Ødegaard sent one shot too close to Onana but at the other end Antony – having come off the bench – pinched the ball ahead of Takehiro Tomiyasu before fluffing the shot.

Garnacho kept going, it kept on being nearly but not quite for him while Onana tipped over from the Arsenal substitute Gabriel Martinelli. The goalkeeper would also paw clear a Wan-Bissaka backwards flick and a drive from Rice.