$100 million New Jersey deli fraud defendant Patten wants no prison time despite past conviction

James Patten is the person to be sentenced for a scheme that sent the market capitalization of a company that owned just a small New Jersey deli soaring.

The Open 2026: golf updates from day one at Royal Birkdale – live

️Updates from the first-round action at Royal Birkdale
️Ewan Murray’s preview | Official leaderboard | Mail Scott

Bob Mac aside, it’s still a wee while until some of the more fancied stars take to the course. Time for a little scene setting, then. Ladies and gentlemen, on the tee, Ewan Murray …

A fast start for Bob MacIntyre! He sends his opening tee shot into the rough down the left, and only just finds the front of the green with his second. But he rolls in a 45-footer and birdie is not a bad way to start the week! Oban’s finest already has three top-ten finishes at the Open on his resumé, including a tie for seventh at Portrush last year. Keep an eye out.

World Cup 2026: Tuchel takes blame amid speculation over England future; Argentina players criticised for banner – live

⚽ Latest news in aftermath from dramatic day in Atlanta
⚽ Tuchel takes blame | Player guide | Golden Boot | Mail us

Thomas Tuchel had already shown this week he’s not someone who is prone to mere pleasantries after a game. The head coach shouldered the blame for England becoming too passive after taking the lead against Argentina, but at the same time said he had “no regrets”.

I don’t believe so much in an English thing and a curse or whatever. It’s repeating itself in different moments. It’s different coaches, different players, different situations.

What cost us today was that we were not active enough in any structure. I can understand these discussions are out there and of course a million coaches after the game know it better. You can discuss this with a million coaches. I have to make a decision on the pitch. It’s how I analyse the match and I take the responsibility.

US strikes expand to northern Iran as Tehran fires on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan – Middle East crisis live

Iran reports explosions in several cities including capital while US military says it also hit and disabled tanker in strait of Hormuz

• US attacks oil tanker in strait of Hormuz as strikes reported in Tehran

In a conversation last night, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz told US defence secretary Pete Hegseth that Israel is determined to keep its forces in “security zones” in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, according to a statement from Katz’s office reported in Israeli media.

Katz “emphasised Israel’s determination to remain in the security zones in Syria, Gaza, and Lebanon in order to protect Israel’s borders and the communities near the border from the threats posed by jihadist forces”, the statement said.

Ukrainians take to the streets after Zelenskyy ousts defense minister in surprise shake-up

Ukrainian protesters took to the streets of Kyiv on Thursday, decrying Zelenskyy's surprise decision to dismiss Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

Zelenskyy faces outrage over defence minister sacking as Starmer makes farewell Ukraine visit as UK PM – Europe live

Arrival of outgoing British leader in Ukraine comes as Zelenskyy faces outrage after removing Mykhailo Fedorov

Elsewhere, we have got some big news from Luxembourg.

Google may be held legally liable for content on Youtube when it is made by a commercial partner, the European Court of Justice has ruled.

Oil companies are making billions. In the U.S., calls to tax their windfall are growing

Higher oil prices since the Iran war began mean many oil companies have brought in excess profits. Some U.S. lawmakers want to tax those windfall profits and give the money to lower-income Americans.

'Gossip' had godly origins. Here's how it gained its sinful reputation

We've all engaged in a little 'gossip.' But did you know its origins were tied to family and friendship?

DHS pledged body cams for all immigration agents. Months later, that hasn't happened

In recent days, federal immigration agents fatally shot two immigrant fathers. None of the federal officers involved were wearing body cameras, the agency said.

Ex-Fed advisor gets over three years in prison for lying about China ties

The case marks one of the most prominent U.S. prosecutions alleging Chinese intelligence targeting of U.S. institutions, as Trump intensifies its pursuit of foreign economic espionage.

Making Mahmood chancellor shows Burnham ‘subservient to City’, Greens’ Polanski says – UK politics live

Green leader claims expected appointment shows new PM ‘won’t challenge the power of the bankers, or tax their wealth’

Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, says reports saying Shabana Mahmood is now set to be Andy Burnham’s chancellor have shown he would be “subservient to the City”.

Polanski posted this on social media this morning.

We don’t know what the cabinet will be yet, but the mood music is ominous.

A Labour Party subservient to the City of London and harking back to the Blair years would be catastrophic for this country.

“City relieved” = Burnham’s government won’t challenge the power of the bankers, or tax their wealth.

Who is choosing our politicians - the people or the banking sector?

Argentina fans celebrated their victory jubilantly, with some near the pitch holding a banner which read “Las Malvinas son Argentinas”, which translates to “The Falkland Islands are Argentinian”.

The banner referring to the dispute over the British overseas territory made its way to the players, who held it up as they revelled in their win.

‘Malvinas are Argentinian’: World Cup holders celebrate win over England with Falklands banner

• Banner refers to Falkland Islands conflict in 1982

• UK business secretary calls for Fifa investigation

The Argentina players celebrated their World Cup win over England with a banner saying “Las Malvinas son Argentinas”, making reference to the 1982 Falklands war.

Argentina were 1-0 down with five minutes to go of the semi-final in Atlanta but rallied and scored twice in quick succession to reach a second straight World Cup final, where they will face Spain in New Jersey on Sunday.

Renzo Piano’s giant glass cube towers over the rest of the Stirling prize’s samey brick-built shortlist

Coming from the same developer as the Shard, London’s latest trophy building may be 54 storeys shorter than envisaged but should rise to building of the year

If Irvine Sellar, the larger-than-life developer who gave London the 95-storey hypodermic pinnacle of the Shard, had had his way, the UK’s tallest building would have been joined by a sibling: a 72-storey residential tower soaring above Paddington Station, the pair of leviathans winking conspiratorially at each other across the capital. In the end the Paddington Pole, as it became known, attracted the feather-spitting ire of heritage bodies and community groups, and after 1,800 objections, was refused planning permission by Westminster Council.

Undaunted, Sellar and his architect Renzo Piano – the Italian imperator of hi-tech and co-designer, with Richard Rogers, of Paris’s Pompidou Centre – went back to the drawing board and simply lopped off 54 storeys. And so, in a reverse ferret that was a gift to headline writers (“Pole-axed” trumpeted Building magazine), the Pole became the Cube: an 18-storey office block, homogenous, crystalline and curiously self-effacing, despite its cubic chonk, its glacial glass walls reflecting the grey London sky.

Midnight social media curfew and limits to infinite scrolling proposed for older UK teens

The U.K. government has proposed new measures to protect older teens on social media, including a midnight curfew and a limit to infinite scrolling.

More than 500 feared dead after reports of two shipwrecks off Myanmar, UN says

Vessels believed to have departed from Myanmar in late June, with mostly Muslim Rohingya minority onboard

The United Nations has said more than 500 people are feared dead after reports of two large shipwrecks off Myanmar since late June.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) and its refugee agency UNHCR voiced alarm in a joint statement at reports “that two boats carrying more than 500 people may have capsized off the coast of Myanmar in recent days”.

Germany warns US against election interference after it announces grants scheme

State department says plan will provide funding to ‘address national sovereignty, migration, censorship and lawfare’

Friedrich Merz has warned Donald Trump’s administration against interfering in German elections after the US state department announced a scheme to fund Maga-aligned causes in Europe.

The German chancellor was responding to a new US initiative offering grants of up to $3m (£2.2m) for European charities, thinktanks and individuals.

Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis calls for U.S. to spearhead AI standards body

Tech giant's AI boss said "urgent action" was needed as AI capabilities advanced.

The Hawk review – Will Ferrell’s dated golf comedy just isn’t that funny

Ferrell’s brash ladies man and loser golfer could have been hilarious. But comedy has sped up over the last two decades, and all the genital gags and dodgy references fall flat

In the 2000s, American comedy had a rude awakening. While the preceding decade had been all attractive sophisticates bantering in big cities, the new millennium arrived in a miasma of crude, cartoonish buffoonery: Austin Powers, American Pie, Dude, Where’s My Car? These were, sadly, the sacred texts of a millennial adolescence.

In comparison, the work of the Frat Pack – a group of comic actors that included Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Seth Rogen and Luke and Owen Wilson, plus writer-director Judd Apatow – seemed almost highbrow. By the middle of the decade, this cohort had funnelled ribald irreverence into much better films, including Zoolander, Dodgeball and Anchorman. Eventually, though, the worm turned; as chin-stroking dramedy and nerdy Marvel wisecracking took hold of the zeitgeist, this PC-needling silliness fell out of fashion.

‘I felt Holden was talking to me alone’: The Catcher in the Rye at 75

JD Salinger’s wry, subversive classic inspired novelist Joseph O’Connor to be a writer. He reflects on why this story of a disaffected teenager remains as fresh and transgressive as ever

In 1981, when I was 17, my first girlfriend gave me a paperback of her dad’s favourite novel. I’d never heard of it despite living in a home full of books. My parents loved the work of Edna O’Brien, Muriel Spark, John le Carré, Dickens. So did I. But encountering the first sentence of JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye made the world burst into colour.

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”

Fleabag at 10: did Phoebe Waller-Bridge usher in a wave of female-fronted series – or straitjacket them?

The confessional classic opened the floodgates for a generation of brilliant female showrunners. But as risk-averse streamers tighten their purse strings, is the industry forcing women’s stories back into a box?

Ten years ago, Phoebe Waller-Bridge locked eyes with the camera and asked her audience: “Do I have a massive arsehole?” An unexpected punchline to a monologue about a booty call that went surprisingly – and literally – south, it announced Waller-Bridge as a new star of British telly. The half-hour comedy series Fleabag broke the fourth wall, and the internet. Its second season was even bigger, spawning countless thinkpieces discussing Andrew Scott as the “hot priest” and the sold-out Topshop jumpsuit worn by Waller-Bridge, which had a keyhole cutout revealing an aspirational slice of boob.

Both Fleabag and Waller-Bridge were praised for blazing a path that female showrunners and their feminist creations could later stomp down. It secured Waller-Bridge an exclusive deal with Amazon worth a reported $20m (£16m) a year. The show’s success certainly changed Waller-Bridge’s life. But, a decade on, as the British television industry has been reshaped by the rise of streamers, budget cuts and dwindling opportunities for new talent, how did it change TV?

You be the judge: should my girlfriend stop buying so many flowers?

Damien says plants last longer, but Tolu doesn’t think things have to survive for years to be worthwhile. Who should turn over a new leaf?

• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

Flowers are a fleeting gesture. Why not buy plants that last years instead?

The social media ban sceptic: are we getting it wrong on kids, tech and mental health?

Psychologist Candice Odgers has studied adolescent mental health for 25 years. She fears the current debate around smartphones obscures some of the biggest issues facing teenagers – from the impact of Covid to the health of their adult caregivers

The quickest way to make being online safer for children and teens would be to kick all adult men off the internet, the Canadian psychologist Candice Odgers believes. Men are the biggest perpetrators of sextortion and most likely to spread misinformation, she says.

Odgers is not recommending this as a policy for governments to adopt: “That would be crazy, right? It would be unfair.” But she is on a drive to puncture the prevailing narrative that the best way to address online harms is a social media ban for teenagers.

Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey used occupied land as a film set. That feels like a betrayal | Mohamed Sleiman Labat

The decision to shoot in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara, where the Indigenous people can’t tell their stories without fear of imprisonment, helps erase our own brutal journey

• Peter Bradshaw’s five star review
• A classicist’s verdict

The simple act of holding a camera in my homeland of Western Sahara can be a crime. When Sahrawi film-makers and journalists attempt to document everyday life under Moroccan occupation, they can often end up in prison cells. For the Moroccan regime, a camera in the hands of a Sahrawi threatens its official narrative that Western Sahara is part of Morocco.

In contrast, when celebrated international names in the film industry wish to capture an ideal picture for an epic journey, and decide that our land is exotic enough to shoot the desired scenes, they are welcomed, escorted and granted access by the same authorities that usually deny us that right.

U.S. slaps 25% tariff on most Brazilian goods over 'unfair trade practices'

A separate U.S. probe into forced-labor enforcement could see an additional 12.5% duty on Brazilian goods on top of the 25%, with the decision due next week.

The band playing when a Bangkok bar caught fire mourns its members among the 33 dead

Victims of this week's flash fire at a Bangkok music bar that took more than 30 lives included four of the six core members of the band playing when the blaze broke out.

British girl, 15, stranded in Rome for six weeks due to new passport rules

The dual national, who missed six weeks of school, is latest of several children affected by recent Home Office policy

A British girl was prevented from returning to her school in the UK for six weeks after a trip to see her grandmother in Italy because of the Home Office’s new rule requiring dual British nationals to have a British passport to get back into the country.

The 15-year-old, who was stranded in Rome in April, is just the latest of a number of children and young adults hit by a new Labour government rule that came into force in February.

Where tourists seldom tread, part 21: two northern powerhouses on the rise once more

Preston and St Helens were heartbeats of the industrial age, but their power faded. In the last of our series, we discover how their legacy is finally being celebrated

• Where tourists seldom tread, parts 1-20

This double act of “Lancashire” locations is my final celebration of Britain’s bypassed towns. My native county has dominated my life of late, and one key question asked in these columns has been: can you holiday right at home?

The French author Xavier de Maistre believed you could fit a journey inside a single room. And in Instructions on How to Climb a Staircase the Argentine-French writer Julio Cortázar turned a walk upstairs into a quest. An entire county offers enough adventures to fill a life.

Emergencies on planet Earth: images from the climate crisis – in pictures

From fierce flooding and escaped pigs to birds that can’t fly due to the weight of plastic in their stomachs, mankind’s biggest challenges are on stark display at Summit Photo 2026

Up All Night by Imogen Willetts review – a seductive history of going out

From 18th-century pleasure gardens to Studio 54, the story of nightlife in all its hedonistic – and political – glory

In this fabulous alternative history of the modern world, the academic and “party historian” Imogen Willetts looks at the last 500 years of civilisation through the sometimes blurry lenses of its after-dark scenes, with fascinating results. She begins by trying to capture what it feels like to go on a big night out, focusing on a phenomenon that, in 1912, the sociologist Émile Durkheim labelled “collective effervescence”. In one passage, she explains this by referencing dancing as part of ancient tribal hunting rituals, listening to Charli xcx’s 365, or singing along to Sweet Caroline with tens of thousands of other people in a stadium.

This is no dry academic study, then, and its mix of historical research, critical theory and conversational references to pop culture makes for a bright and compelling read. What Willetts calls the “seemingly superficial act of getting gussied up to drink, dance, have fun and meet people” is, of course, much more than that, and she scratches away at the layers with skill. Nightlife can contain, or enable, rebellion, community, innovation, art, love, sex and political revolution. From Japan to France, from Shanghai to Germany, via many detours to the United States, she examines historical movements as they might be seen from dusk till dawn.

From Cambridge ‘impostor’ to New Labour star: Andy Burnham’s winding path to power

In the first of a two-part profile, Daniel Boffey traces the incoming PM’s early forays into politics and his rise to prominence – ultimately leading to him leaving London for Manchester

Andy Burnham had emerged victorious, but niggling doubts remained about his mandate. It was the summer of 1987 and the 17-year-old had represented Labour in a school hustings as Margaret Thatcher and Neil Kinnock were battling it out in that year’s general election.

“Andy was standing against another guy, a really nice guy who was the Conservative candidate,” said Steve Harrington, a former English teacher at St Aelred’s Catholic high school, in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside. “Andy gave a speech, which was excellent, then the other guy came on to make his speech and Andy’s fans – unbeknown to Andy – snatched the plug out of the microphone. So they couldn’t hear what he was saying. Andy won by a landslide. Having said that, he probably would have anyway, as it was a heavily Labour area … But he was innocent, he hadn’t been involved in [the prank] and wouldn’t have been.”

U.S. to impose 25% tariffs on Brazilian imports over unfair trade practices

The United States is imposing 25% tariffs on imports from Brazil after finding a range of what it deemed unfair trade practices by the world's 10th-biggest economy.

All newborns in England to be screened for spinal muscular atrophy from 2027

Campaigners hail ‘landmark moment’ in early detection and treatment of rare muscle-wasting disease

Every baby born in England will be screened for a rare muscle-wasting disease, starting next year, the Department of Health and Social Care announced on Thursday.

Campaigners said the “landmark moment” should lead to babies who were found to have spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) being treated early and thus growing up without any of its debilitating symptoms.

Thursday news quiz: Meta losing face, sugar in space and a bear in the wrong place

Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?

And so after nearly 70bn matches – or so it seems – the Fifa World Cup has reached the sharp end. But regular readers will know that they face the sharp end of the challenge of the Thursday news quiz every Thursday. Fifteen questions await on topical news, general knowledge and pop culture. Plus collective nouns for some reason. There are no prizes, but let us know how you got on in the comments. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 256

Revealed: Bucharest tourists hiring rentals that could collapse in an earthquake

Exclusive: More than 200 illegal holiday properties found in buildings at the highest level of seismic risk

Tourists in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, are staying in illegal accommodation listed on Airbnb and Booking.com in buildings considered so seismically vulnerable they could collapse in the event of a major earthquake, according to exclusive data shared with the Guardian.

Analysis of data collected by Re:Rise, a Romanian organisation working on seismic risk reduction, identified at least 207 illegal tourist rental properties advertised across the two platforms in Bucharest at the end of May, with a combined capacity to host more than 1,000 visitors each night.

Defence is the one public budget we dare not question – will Andy Burnham break this cycle? | Andy Beckett

Any boost for the military will be paid for by cuts elsewhere. Britain’s new PM should be careful he is not being sold a pup

For many British voters, politicians and journalists, public spending has had a bad name since the late 1970s, when Margaret Thatcher’s government began its long campaign to tame the supposedly bloated state. From this perspective, the public sector wastes money, commissions unnecessary or out-of-date projects and generates endless jargon and reasons for its own existence, while delivering strikingly fewer social or economic benefits.

Constant public and private lobbying for more funds from every minister, this argument continues, has helped make the job of prime minister impossible, and raised taxes and government debt to intolerable levels. Therefore the state requires a fundamental rethink – which means its sense of entitlement needs to shrink.

Moroccan intelligence insider reveals widespread use of Pegasus hacking software

Whistleblower suggests internal security services deployed spyware from 2017 against key domestic and foreign targets

A former member of Morocco’s domestic intelligence service has helped to provide an unprecedented insight into how the north African state used hacking software – including Pegasus spyware – to target journalists, human rights defenders, French politicians and Spanish cabinet ministers and police officers.

Pegasus, which is manufactured by the Israel-based NSO Group, allows its operator to access everything on a target’s mobile phone, including emails, text messages and photographs. It can also activate the phone’s recorder and camera, turning it into a listening device.

Wildfires expose millions in Midwest, Northeast to dangerous smoke

Heavy smoke from several large wildfires blazing in Canada and Minnesota is engulfing large swaths of the Midwest and Northeast U.S. this week.

The most beautiful act of resistance I’ve seen: Madrid tenants fighting landlords with art | Leah Pattem

When an investment fund bought their building, the residents of Tribulete 7 protested in the only way they knew how – through radical creativity

Spain’s housing crisis finally came for the tenants of Madrid’s Calle Tribulete 7 when their block was sold to an investment fund. Feeling pressured to leave by rent increases and aggressive construction works that flooded some apartments, they did everything they were supposed to do: organise meetings, contact the tenants’ union and find a lawyer. They also protested, spoke to journalists and created an Instagram account to spread the word. But they also did something I’d never seen before.

They opened up their homes to the public and invited musicians to play inside, in the very flats and shops that were suddenly at risk. A month later they flipped this concept on its head and took their furniture out on to the street. There the tenants cooked, knitted, played chess in their dressing gowns, worked from home and bobbed in their armchairs to a local band playing a brass version of Freed from Desire. It was a spectacular theatrical performance of everyday existence, but also a fight for their lives.

‘The minute I had success, I stopped taking drugs’: John Waters on 60 years of screen carnage

As Hairspray and his ‘angriest movie’ Desperate Living are rereleased, the ‘Pope of Trash’ reflects on dead dogs, dirty rats, ‘that lunatic RFK’ and why there are no novelty dances any more

John Waters still remembers the day his 1988 comedy Hairspray was awarded a PG certificate. “It was horrible,” he says.

Until then, Waters, christened the “Pope of Trash” by the novelist William S Burroughs, was notorious for filming the unfilmable. In Eat Your Makeup, he recreated JFK’s assassination only five years after the event, casting the boisterous Divine in drag as Jackie Kennedy. He invented a blasphemous sex act called the “rosary job” in Multiple Maniacs, which also featured a rape-by-giant-lobster. Most repulsively, in Pink Flamingos, he persuaded Divine to scoff a fresh dog turd on camera.

The Dacre dynasty: how the Daily Mail’s fearsome former editor still shapes the British press

Paul Dacre broke new ground in selling readers an angry rightwing perspective. Today, most of Fleet Street is run by his disciples

In 1986, 131 years after the Daily Telegraph was founded, its editor, Max Hastings, wrote a memo to senior colleagues about the newspaper’s nature and purpose. “The Daily Telegraph is … ‘nice’,” he said, “in the business of reassurance, of providing confirmation each morning for our readers that their world is looking pretty safe and stable.” He went on: “We are not a strident campaigning newspaper – our business each day is to seek to give our readers the fullest possible information about what is happening in the world, and to suggest what it might mean.”

In practice, under Hastings and many other Telegraph editors, this ethos produced a journalism of pervasive but usually understated conservatism: often focused on the English countryside, the value of hierarchy and tradition, the pleasures of seasonal pursuits such as foxhunting and gardening, the interests of farmers and retired military men – and cautionary tales about more reckless lives gone wrong, often presented through enjoyably detailed reports from the divorce courts. The Torygraph, as many non-readers called it, could be inward-looking and “numbingly dull”, says Geoffrey Wheatcroft, the historian of British conservatism, but it was “thoroughly respectable”. Many of its most renowned figures, such as Hastings’s predecessor as editor, Bill Deedes, were “mildness itself”.

1 dead, 3 missing after boat sinks near Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay

One person died and three were missing in San Francisco Bay on Tuesday after a boat with 20 people on board sank near Alcatraz Island, authorities said.

Sons say they learned father was killed by ICE through video, news reports

Ronaldo Salgado said he learned his father, 52-year-old Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, had been shot by an ICE officer in Houston last week through a video posted online that depicted him "screaming" for help.

Sam Neill’s cause of death revealed to be pneumonia

Neill’s longtime representative says the actor’s family agreed to release the information due to ‘inaccuracies and outright falsehoods’ in media

• Gillian Armstrong remembers Sam Neill: ‘I can’t believe that the very next day he was gone’

• Sam Neill’s final interview and his life in pictures

Sam Neill’s cause of death was pneumonia, his longtime representative has revealed.

The 78-year-old actor’s “sudden and unexpected” death was announced on Monday, just three months after Neill revealed he was finally cancer-free since being diagnosed with stage three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, in 2022.

Fears for New Zealand’s native species as first bird flu case emerges

Minister urges public to report cases of three or more sick or dead birds in a group after brown skua seabird tests positive for H5N1 on Wellington beach

The deadly H5N1 bird flu has been confirmed in New Zealand for the first time, sparking alarm that some of the country’s most beloved and vulnerable native birds could be wiped out if it spreads.

A single ocean-going seabird, a brown skua, returned a confirmed positive test on Wednesday, after it was found on Petone beach in Wellington on 10 July, said Andrew Hoggard, the biosecurity minister.

R Kelly formally appeals to Donald Trump to commute his 31-year prison sentence

The R&B singer was found guilty of racketeering, sex trafficking and producing child abuse images, with his lawyer lobbying the US president for more than a year

R Kelly has formally appealed to the US president, Donald Trump, for a reduction of his 31-year prison sentence for racketeering, sex trafficking and child abuse images, in a filing to the Department of Justice.

The 59-year-old R&B singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was found guilty in 2021 of leading a criminal enterprise that recruited women and underage girls for illegal sexual activity and pornography, for which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 2022 he was found guilty on three counts of child abuse images and three counts of child enticement and sentenced to 20 years in prison, which he is serving nearly entirely concurrently but for one additional year.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

2 families sue hospital after Colorado man claims he was switched at birth

Two years ago, Jeremy Morrison took a DNA test and found out his parents were not biological actual parents.

Who could replace Lindsey Graham in the Senate after his sudden death?

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's sudden death late Saturday has set off a scramble for who will succeed him in the Senate.

Five booksellers arrested in Hong Kong police raids in latest crackdown on ‘seditious’ materials

Third round of arrests linked to independent bookstores after similar operations in March and June widely regarded as crackdowns on dissent

Hong Kong authorities have raided two bookstores and arrested five people on suspicion of selling allegedly seditious publications, according to local media reports, in the latest step targeting independent booksellers.

Videos and photos from multiple media outlets on Wednesday showed officers wearing vests marked with “police” seizing boxes from the building that houses Have A Nice Stay, a bookshop founded by former journalists. AFP reporters saw officers also lead away a woman in handcuffs to a van.

GPS data tracks boat Nolan Wells was on before he went missing

GPS data from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, obtained by CBS News, tracks the movements of the boat that carried Nolan Wells to Horn Island on July 4.

Trump overturns pause of ICE vehicle stops implemented after deadly shootings

Neither of the victims of the ICE shootings in Maine or Texas were the target of enforcement operations, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Argentina rallies past bitter rival England to book spot in World Cup final

Defending World Cup champion Argentina rallied to edge England 2-1 to advance to Sunday's final at MetLife Stadium, where they will face Spain.

Tim Scott doesn't rule out Darline Graham running for her brother Lindsey's Senate seat

With this year's race to succeed Lindsey Graham in the Senate still wide-open, GOP Sen. Tim Scott suggested the late senator's interim replacement — his sister, Darline Graham — could be one candidate.

Pentagon proposes new secrecy power to withhold unclassified records from FOIA

The legislative proposal would allow the defense secretary to withhold "controlled unclassified information," potentially curbing public access to a wide range of defense records.

Florida DMV hands 76-year-old a license plate that became the talk of her senior community

Some people ask and pay for funny license plates, but this Florida woman received plates at random that make people laugh. Tony Dokoupil has the story.

United Airlines anticipates $6 billion in added fuel costs

U.S. airlines say higher jet fuel prices are costing them billions more than they anticipated at the beginning of the year.

Blanche faces questions on DOJ fund, Epstein files at Senate confirmation hearing

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing to lead the Justice Department in a permanent capacity.

How global heating supercharged floods in West Africa, displacing thousands

Adaptation to frightening new normal and reducing emissions further and faster is critical, scientists warn

Dozens of people drowned, hundreds had to be rescued and thousands were displaced when floods struck the coasts of west Africa last month.

Now scientists have concluded that the rains that caused the floods were supercharged by climate breakdown. Global heating, they say, turned what should have been a routine weather event into a climate catastrophe.

New $1 coin featuring Trump in production at US Mint, treasury says

Coin commemorating 250th anniversary will be released this fall and marks first time a living president appears on currency

The treasury department announced on Wednesday that the US Mint has started producing a new commemorative $1 coin featuring Donald Trump as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.

The coin is scheduled for release this fall. Treasury officials said its final design was approved earlier this year by the US Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were appointed by Trump.

China and Xi Jinping seen more favourably than the US and Trump in poll of major countries

Global views appear to have flipped in Beijing’s favour, driven in part by tensions between the Trump administration and US allies, a new Pew survey shows

The world has largely viewed the US more favourably than China for years, but those opinions have flipped in Beijing’s favour this year, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center, a remarkable shift driven in part by tensions between the Trump administration and US allies.

More people have favourable views of China than the US in 25 out of the 36 countries and territories that were surveyed, including Canada and Mexico. The poll was conducted from February to May, a period when the United States and Israel were engaged in a war against Iran.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup schedule and how to watch

With 104 World Cup games being played in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, it's like "a Super Bowl every single day for five weeks," U.S. team captain Tim Ream told CBS News.

Senators on both sides question Todd Blanche's independence

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Trump's former personal lawyer, faced questions at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. He tried to reassure key Republicans, but not everyone was convinced. Nikole Killion has more.

Nolan Wells' family meets with Mississippi district attorney over his death

The parents of Nolan Wells and their legal team received assurances from the Mississippi district attorney on Wednesday that the investigation into the teenager's death would be thorough. Skyler Henry has more details on the case.

Boat capsizes in San Francisco Bay, killing 1, 3 still missing

After a three-story cabin cruiser capsized in the San Francisco Bay on Tuesday, a 79-year-old man died, and three people were still missing 24 hours later. Jonathan Vigliotti reports.

Canada wildfires darken U.S. skies, trigger air quality alerts

Hundreds of wildfires in Canada darkened skies in the U.S. on Wednesday. A big shift in the wind prompted air quality alerts in at least 16 states across the Midwest and Northeast. Tom Hanson reports.

Lionel Messi’s inevitable gravity bends another occasion in Argentina’s favour | Barney Ronay

While England shrank away in Atlanta, Argentina’s No 10 was not finished making his mark on the biggest stage

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Well, not to this lot anyway. On a day of ceaseless rolling noise under Atlanta’s vast refrigerated dome, England reached the end of the road, the end of their own capacities at this World Cup, the end of the gears within this team. Mainly they ran into Lionel Messi, who wasn’t ready to be done just yet. Not like this anyway.

With 55 minutes gone England were actually winning this game, 1-0 up thanks to Anthony Gordon’s goal, the only real moment of clarity they produced all match. At which point they simply disappeared as an animate entity from the stage.

‘We screwed up the comms’: JD Vance admits errors over Epstein files release

Vice-president tells Joe Rogan administration botched handling and should have released all documents from start

JD Vance agreed with criticism that the Trump administration botched the handling of the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, telling podcast host Joe Rogan that “we absolutely screwed up the comms”.

The Department of Justice’s repeated moves to delay the release of documents related to the convicted sex offender drew bipartisan disapproval last year. The files have been one of the most significant political liabilities to Donald Trump since his second term began.

‘I’m just happy we’ve made it this far’: England fans on watching the World Cup defeat unfold

More than 8,000 packed into Castlefield Bowl, Manchester, hoping to witness England break a 60-year curse. But it was not to be

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Billed as the feistiest match of the tournament, it was England’s chance to defeat an infamous rival and break a 60-year curse to secure a men’s World Cup final.

But it was not to be. During a nail-biting second half, Argentina scored the two goals needed to take themselves to the final – and dash England’s World Cup dreams yet again.

It was supposed to be different but Argentina showed intent, Tuchel showed fear | Jacob Steinberg

England head coach made changes that would have led to Southgate and Eriksson being hammered

Lionel Messi has seen buses reverse into position before. England did not confront the greatest player of all time with anything new when they dropped back with a place in the World Cup final within reach. The negativity was lamentable and it was no surprise when punishment arrived in the form of a clinical Argentina fightback in Atlanta.

This was a tale as old as time. There was a chance for England to push on after Anthony Gordon fired them ahead early in the second half, but they reverted to type. The mentality was passive and they looked scared to win. No one put a foot on the ball and offered control. Harry Kane? Invisible in another game. The midfield? Outplayed, outrun and outclassed by Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernández. Thomas Tuchel? Outwitted by Lionel Scaloni, whose substitutions made a difference, and too quick to retreat when there was so long left for England to defend their lead.

Fed Chairman Warsh says he meets 'often' with Trump administration, defends independence

Kevin Warsh said Wednesday that he speaks with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent frequently outside their regular weekly meetings.

Argentina stuns England in World Cup semifinal with late comeback

One of the World Cup's great rivalries ended with one of the World Cup's best comebacks. Argentina scored two goals in seven minutes, stunning England 2-1 in Wednesday's semifinal. Lionel Messi had two assists, including on the winning goal in the final minutes. Nicole Valdes reports.

7/15: CBS Evening News

Canada wildfires darken U.S. skies, trigger air quality alerts; senators on both sides of the aisle question Todd Blanche's independence.

Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh's testimony to Senate banking committee hits on economy, interest rates

As part of congressionally mandated Capitol Hill appearances for the central bank leader, Warsh spoke Tuesday to the House financial services committee.

Fear and hope in Utah in the shadow of America's largest wildfire

People in Monticello, Utah have been tense and preparing to evacuate since shortly after the Babylon fire started June 26th

Edvard Munch and the Chocolate Factory: the bitter truth behind the Freia frieze

New exhibition in Oslo connects artist’s 1922 public work with the history of cocoa, the labour movement and women’s emancipation

At first, to be among Edvard Munch’s Freia frieze is almost to be swept up by a dance. Across the 12 canvases on display at Oslo’s Munch museum, fruit pickers’ arms reach with balletic poise, water flows from watering cans in unison, farewells are dramatically bid and synchronised couples move across a beach arm in arm. Even Munch’s brushstrokes, dominated by blues and greens, cannot sit still.

But as you start to ponder why these scenes – commissioned in 1922 as public art to decorate the walls of the women’s canteen at the factory for renowned Norwegian chocolate company Freia – were created, the urge to move evaporates.

Venezuelan man becomes 22nd person to die in ICE custody this year

Jesús Manuel Arenas-Silva, 45, found ‘unresponsive’ while being transferred between detention facilities in Georgia

Another person has died in federal immigration custody this week in Georgia, officials announced on Wednesday. His is the 22nd death in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody this year.

Jesús Manuel Arenas-Silva, a 45-year-old Venezuelan man, died on Monday morning while being transferred between detention facilities in Georgia. In a press release, ICE said Arenas-Silva was arrested last Thursday and had been detained at the Irwin county detention center, a privately run facility in Georgia. He was being transferred to another ICE facility, the Folkston ICE processing center, when he was found “unresponsive” in a transport bus. ICE said the “suspected” cause of death was cardiac arrest.

Analysis: Fed Chairman Warsh faces an inflation credibility test after Congress hearings

The new Fed chairman avoided major stumbles in two days of testimony before the House and Senate, but faces a rapid test of his commitment to price stability.

United earnings top estimates but airline expects $6 billion in added fuel costs

United reported higher revenue for premium, corporate and no-frills basic economy tickets and higher revenue for both domestic and international trips.

7/15: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Todd Blanche has confirmation hearing for attorney general job; Trump overturns ICE order suspending most traffic stops.

Hegseth requires testosterone deficiency screening for service members over 30

The Pentagon will now require service members over 30 to screen for testosterone deficiency, and if needed, they can elect to have testosterone replacement therapy.

Houston prosecutor could bring charges against ICE agents in fatal shooting

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, who is investigating the fatal ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, told CBS News ICE's tactics "in no way resemble" the behavior of police agencies he's worked with.

Trump's pick to head national intelligence, Jay Clayton, won't tell senators Biden won the 2020 election

The Senate Intelligence Committee is considering Jay Clayton's nomination to be the director of national intelligence.

Todd Blanche says he has 'full faith' in Kash Patel as FBI director

Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche previously served as a criminal defense lawyer for President Donald Trump.

Hassett sees no 'excuse' to raise rates, says Warsh will push Fed to 'right answer'

Hassett, on CNBC, credited President Donald Trump's policies after the latest consumer price index reading came in much lower than expected.

Amazon senior cloud executive departs after 18 years

Brown helped launch one of AWS' oldest services and also oversaw its compute and machine learning units.

Trump rails against New York’s statewide datacenter moratorium

AI-friendly president shared a post saying governor Kathy Hochul should scrap the one-year policy ‘IMMEDIATELY’

Donald Trump railed against the New York governor, Kathy Hochul, for pausing the construction of large new datacenters, the resource-intensive facilities that power artificial intelligence.

New York became the first US state to enact a moratorium on new datacenters on Tuesday, when Hochul signed an executive order mandating a one-year statewide pause on so-called “hyperscale” datacenters.

In this star-powered World Cup, Spain show value of collective and control | Sid Lowe

Luis de la Fuente’s final-bound team have been fuelled by togetherness and a commitment to each other that goes back a long way

On the way out of the dressing room in Arlington, Luis de la Fuente gathered his “family” and delivered one last message before the World Cup semi-final against France. He had long known what he was going to say, if not exactly how – it’s what he has been saying for 50 days and more. “I’ll tell them that this is a unique stage, the kind of moment that may never be repeated again, and that we have to be ourselves,” he had suggested 18 hours earlier; now that idea crystallised in a line. “We’re facing one of the best lineups in the world,” the Spain coach told them, “but we’re the best team in the world.”

By the time they made their way back in again, a voice was heard above the shouts, another line to encapsulate it all, to define this. It belonged to Marc Cucurella and it said: “What a fucking recital!” A call came in to De la Fuente, King Felipe on the phone saying pretty much the same thing, if a little more politely. On went the music, Jamaican (Bam Bam) blasting out, pizza was passed around, and they bounced about. Some did, anyway. Some just sat there taking in what they had done. “It was written: we started in Atlanta and we end in New York,” Dani Olmo said, but a semi-final is not supposed to be like this.

Food supplements could help bees cope with climate crisis, research suggests

Insects in study fared better in cold when given a probiotic and prebiotic mix alongside their usual sugar diet

Food supplements for honeybees could help the insects better withstand temperature stresses linked to a changing climate, early research suggests.

Scientists found that worker bees fed a mixture of probiotics and inulin, a plant-derived prebiotic, survived prolonged cold exposure better than bees given an ordinary sugar diet.

Save the Children clashes with Labour after accusing Starmer of ‘complicity’ in Gaza deaths

Government – which provides significant portion of charity’s funding – is understood to have demanded an explanation

The charity Save the Children has angered the government with a social media post marking Keir Starmer’s impending exit from Downing Street.

The organisation suggested on X that the outgoing prime minister was complicit in the deaths of thousands of civilians in the Israel-Gaza war.

New York Fed President Williams says inflation has peaked, rates 'well positioned'

Williams cited five reasons why he expects the latest price surge has run its course.

Ella Baron on Nigel Farage and the World Cup – cartoon

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The Guardian view on Keir Starmer’s farewell: a dignified departure and a necessary one | Editorial

The outgoing prime minister was on good form during his sometimes emotional last PMQs. But Labour MPs were right that change was needed

Mercifully for a prime minister whose defenestration was swift and brutal after Labour’s catastrophic local election results in May, Sir Keir Starmer’s valedictory week has offered several opportunities to point to what he got right. Sir Keir’s steadfast record in corralling international support for Ukraine – and ensuring Britain stayed out of Donald Trump’s illegal war on Iran – will be looked on favourably by history. A minute’s applause in Paris on Monday, from leaders of the “coalition of the willing” countries, was well deserved.

On Tuesday in the House of Commons, Andy Burnham paid tribute to the outgoing prime minister for his role in drafting the bill that finally became the Hillsborough law this week. On Wednesday, serendipitously, the England team’s World Cup exploits allowed Sir Keir to indulge his passion for football during his final prime minister’s questions.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

‘Zara death pants’: are these the world’s most dangerous trousers?

Wide-legged and flowing, they are causing a storm on social media, with people posting videos of the fabric getting caught in escalators and causing painful trips

Name: “Zara death pants.”

Appearance: Flowing, wide-legged, with a high waist, elastic waistband and front pockets.

IRS chief Frank Bisignano will lead Trump Accounts expansion

The Treasury Department is putting a top official in charge of the new program as it enrolls millions of families.

Here's what the Common Cents Act means for businesses, consumers

New law aims to address how businesses and consumers should transact amid the phase-out of the penny.

Cyclospora outbreak leaves consumers guessing which foods are safe

Officials are still searching for the source of the outbreak, prompting consumers to seek advice on social media about which foods to avoid.

Wildfires in Ontario make Toronto air quality worst in world

Environment Canada has issued health warnings after sky over city turns yellow

Smoke from more than 100 active wildfires in northern Ontario have made Toronto’s air quality the current worst in the world and caused yellow, smoky air in cities across the north-east US.

Environment Canada issued health warnings on Wednesday after the sky over country’s largest city turned a sickly yellow and was ranked the worst in the world according to IQAir, the Swiss technology company that racks global air quality.

Wærenskjold wins fastest ever Tour de France stage in frenzied sprint to Nevers

• Alaphilippe gets in breakaway before being reeled in

• Pidcock’s rollercoaster ride continues on return to Tour

The records keep tumbling in the 2026 Tour de France. After race leader Tadej Pogacar shattered the record for the fastest climb of the Col du Tourmalet, Norwegian sprinter Søren Wærenskjold won the fastest-ever road stage, in a frenzied sprint into Nevers.

Pogacar revealed his stage had not been entirely straightforward. “I ran over a loose bottle with my front wheel and almost crashed,” he said. “I completely shat my pants there. Luckily, I managed to keep my handlebars upright. It’s nice to have days like this, but you still have to keep your focus throughout the stage.”

A classicist’s verdict on Nolan’s Odyssey: a soulful hero flatters our times as women and nuance pushed overboard

Matt Damon’s sensitive and repentant Odysseus might come as a surprise to Homer, likewise some significant omissions concerning the poem’s female characters

• Peter Bradshaw’s five star review

• Nolan’s film shot on occupied land. That feels like a betrayal

It would be easy to think that the Odyssey, Homer’s epic poem composed over 2,500 years ago, is all about Odysseus. It’s called the Odyssey, after all. It opens with the invocation to the Muse, “Tell me about a complicated man” – pulling no punches about the poem’s theme. This is, on the surface of things, an epic about a man coming home, a return voyage that spans fluorescent fantasy worlds and yawns across 10 years in the wake of the fall of Troy; a one-hero clash with monsters and princesses, giants and whirlpools, the fight to reclaim his place as king of Ithaca, and as the hero of an epic of his own.

But the point about an epic is that it also contains multitudes. There is much that is epic about Christopher Nolan’s latest film. For those familiar with Nolan’s work, that hardly comes as a surprise. It’s a long watch, coming in at just under three hours. It reckons with the breadth of the Odyssean legend, from the sack of Troy all the way to Odysseus’s return, and seamlessly juggles the epic’s multiple timelines and flashbacks. And while the jaw-dropping cinematic effects of a feature film shot with Imax cameras might seem entirely modern, the way Nolan captures the smashing of a ship’s prow into the waves or the crunch of bones in the Cyclops’ jaws have their roots in the dynamic visuality of Homer’s poetry – what ancient commentators called enargeia, the epic’s ability to bring the world to life before your eyes.

The Odyssey review – Nolan goes god-tier with breathtaking epic of men, monsters and moral metamorphosis

Doing full justice to the Homeric legend, Christopher Nolan amasses an epic cast to convey the true cost of war with film-making of thrilling ambition

• A classicist’s verdict: soulful hero flatters our times as women and nuance pushed overboard

• Nolan’s film shot on occupied land. That feels like a betrayal

Christopher Nolan reinvents the Homeric legend as a colossal origin-myth story of postwar disillusion, an epic ordeal of anguish witnessed by the dead and presided over by capricious deities who participate on almost equal terms with the humans. It speaks to the generational pain of PTSD; plenty of soldiers come home in person after any war promptly enough, but arriving back to their prewar state emotionally or spiritually can take years or decades and may never happen at all. The invisible odyssey of anguish is punctuated by flashback episodes, hallucinations, confrontations with the arbitrary gods of dysfunction. And all the time the spouses and children cannot move on with their lives.

This is a film with thrilling ambition, boldness, seriousness, generosity and flair. There are some broad-brush moments in the dialogue, yes, but even these are applied with a muscular flourish. It has gasp-inducing, Imax-sized landscapes of loneliness shot by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema – who, incidentally, avoids the sea’s traditional cliched colour – and full-tilt battle sequences and fight scenes accompanied by the throbbing and thrumming of drums.

Shakira review – she-wolf roars again in playful victory lap from Colombian superstar

Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey

Ahead of her World Cup final performance, the singer’s Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran tour whips through exuberant hits

In the dark of a sold-out Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, a screen lights up on a desert. Around me are girls and their moms in concho shell belts and coined hip scarves, and there are Colombia soccer jerseys and the country’s traditional vueltiao hats as far as you can see. An uncanny CGI figure of Shakira shakes loose the sand. She looks to be covered in a silvery oil slick. I immediately recognize the Shakira of the La Tortura video I saw on MTV’s TRL in 2005, her stomach flickering in fluid, controlled movements. She pounds the sand, and a silver-sequined Shakira emerges, first on screen and then on the floor.

“There’s nothing like when a she-wolf reunites with her pack,” she howls.