France v Iraq: World Cup 2026 – live

⚽️ World Cup kick-off: 5pm ET/10pm BST/7am AEST
⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Email Tim

And here’s our reporter at the game, Paul MacInnes. “Ground already packed for a match that has been highly anticipated in Philly,” he writes. “The French are here is big numbers (I followed a load of them to the ground today) but the Iraqi contingent is hardly to be sniffed at. They’ve packed out the stand behind one goal, and have been visible all over the city for the past few days.

“Just quickly, but the pre-match has been a weird one. Big load of load music and two hype merchants in the stands getting everyone up. But not all attempts have proven equal. There was a big cheer for the players as the teams were read out (and especially Mbappé) but not so much interaction when the call went up for everyone to ‘Join us in a round of applause for peace!’. I can only imagine Gianni Infantino will be saddened when he hears the news.”

Serbian TV pundit causes outrage with racist comment during Belgium game

• Rade Bogdanovic made comments on public broadcaster

• Former player and broadcaster apologise for statement

The former Yugoslavia and Atlético Madrid striker Rade Bogdanovic has sparked controversy on Serbian TV after saying that “Black players lack concentration beyond 60 to 80 minutes” during the Belgium v Iran World Cup match.

Bogdanovic, 56, made the comment on a World Cup programme aired by Serbia’s public broadcaster (RTS) late on Sunday night while discussing the 66th-minute red card shown to the Belgium defender Nathan Ngoy.

Irrepressible Messi breaks World Cup scoring record as Argentina beat Austria

It had to be Lionel Messi, it had to be on this day and perhaps it even needed to be in Dallas too. History was made in the way he knows best, a clinical left-footed flourish setting him out on his own as the World Cup’s highest goalscorer of all time.

Another followed with the game’s final action and at this rate 18 may even seem a modest figure a month from now. Messi has already scored five goals in two games, all but guaranteeing that Argentina will win Group J. A first golden boot would not be the worst present for an icon who turns 39 on Wednesday.

Two killed and several injured as tornado rips through southern Illinois

Officials say Sarita Kimble, 62, and Delores Shelton, 83, killed in Mount Vernon as several buildings destroyed

Authorities in Illinois say that two older residents were killed and at least five other people were injured in a tornado that ripped through a rural county and destroyed several buildings on Sunday evening.

The fatalities occurred in Mount Vernon, Sheriff Jeff Bullard of Jefferson county said on Monday. He identified the victims as Sarita Kimble, 62, and Delores Shelton, 83, who were inside separate structures leveled by the tornado.

Judge quashes 6 grand jury subpoenas against Minnesota officials

A U.S. District Judge ruled the Trump administration's use of grand jury subpoenas against Minnesota state and local officials was retaliatory and unlawful, finding no legitimate investigatory justification for them.

Clive Davis, legendary music executive, dies at age 94

Clive Davis helped shape the careers of music stars including Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen and Whitney Houston.

Supreme Court declines to hear Texas man's intellectual disability case in capital case

The court's action means Victor Saldaño is likely to be executed even though both defense and state experts determined he was not eligible for execution under the law.

SpaceX stock tanks 16%, extending slump following post-IPO rally

A rally following the company's record breaking IPO on June 12 has cooled, with stock dropping the past three days of trading.

Clive Davis predicted music’s biggest stars like no one else | Alexis Petridis

The legendary music executive signed everyone from Patti Smith to Barry Manilow and changed the industry forever

• Clive Davis: music industry executive who signed Whitney Houston and Bruce Springsteen dies aged 94

• Clive Davis: a life in pictures from Diana Ross to Aretha Franklin

Clive Davis always claimed that his life in the music business was really kickstarted when he chose to attend the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival: it was there he saw Janis Joplin and her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, and immediately bought their contract for $200,000, the first really high-profile signing of his career. But Davis was an unlikely fit at the most high-profile event of the Summer of Love: he was a Harvard-educated lawyer who had been “shocked” when a restructuring of Columbia Records saw him promoted from general counsel to the company’s president. He was sharp enough to spot which way the pop cultural wind was blowing – “a revolution in culture and philosophy”, he later recalled, “the Haight-Ashbury scene, with love peace and flowers” – but he was no one’s idea of a hippie. Amid a sea of paisley, batik, love beads and bells David turned up to the festival clad in “khaki pants and a tennis sweater”.

It was an image he would often recall for comic effect – “I was the costumed freak surrounded by everyone with flowers in their hair” – but there was something rather telling about it too: Davis’s skill as what used to be called a record man lay in his ability to balance the progressive with the traditional. He turned one wing of Columbia into something of a home for artists associated with the burgeoning counterculture, swiftly signing Santana, Blood Sweat and Tears, the Electric Flag and the wonderful psychedelic soul band the Chambers Brothers. But he never lost sight of the other side of the company, which dealt lucratively in soundtracks and easy listening and was home to Barbra Streisand and Tony Bennett: at one juncture, he found himself simultaneously attempting to renegotiate the contracts of Bob Dylan and Andy Williams. When he founded Arista Records in 1974, he did exactly the same thing: it was a label that provided a home for both Patti Smith and Barry Manilow.

Burnham prepares for power as an emotional Starmer bows out

New Makerfield MP could get keys to No 10 unopposed after British prime minister’s resignation paves way for successor

Keir Starmer has finally bowed to intense pressure to stand down as British prime minister as he conceded that he was no longer the right man to lead the country, leaving Andy Burnham all but certain to succeed him.

In an extraordinary day at Westminster, Starmer announced a timetable for his departure after months of growing discontent among Labour MPs and cabinet ministers, many unnerved by the threat from Reform UK before the next general election.

Burnham will begin to set out his likely policies next week with a series of speeches to demonstrate a big symbolic shift from Starmer’s government, starting with the economy and devolution.

He is considering appointing Ed Miliband as chancellor in order to challenge Treasury orthodoxy but has not yet made a final decision. Sources said Burnham was aware of the potential risks with business and the unions opposed to the move, but could be prepared to make the argument.

Shabana Mahmood is expected to stay at the Home Office after the former Greater Manchester mayor praised the home secretary for “facing up” to the big issues on immigration during the byelection campaign.

Wes Streeting could be appointed to one of the top cabinet jobs, but did “not come with any leverage” to discussions, with campaign sources rejecting his claims he had the numbers to run. Others have argued for him to be appointed chancellor to reassure the markets.

Starmer loyalists are still seeking a candidate who could potentially stand against Burnham – with it depending on whether Miliband was chancellor. Darren Jones has been touted as a possibility, and while sources said he was not organising a run, they stopped short of a categorical denial.

L’Équipe apologises to Belgian footballer Jérémy Doku for presenter’s comments

French media outlet distanced itself from criticism of Doku’s plan to fly back from World Cup for birth of first child

The French media outlet L’Équipe has apologised to the Belgian footballer Jérémy Doku after he was criticised by one of its pundits for saying he would leave the World Cup to be present at the birth of his first child.

The Belgian football federation said Doku had made it back to London in time to be with his wife, Shireen, who gave birth to a boy called Praise ⁠on Monday.

Trump plan would increase citizenship application fee by $570

A Trump administration plan would charge legal immigrants seeking citizenship $570 more in application fees while eliminating waivers and fee reductions for low-income applicants.

Magnificent Messi makes history, breaks all-time World Cup scoring record

Messi scored a record-setting 17th World Cup goal in Argentina's game against Austria. And, then, he netted another goal, making him the all-time leader in World Cup tournaments (men and women).

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.

Judge blocks Trump administration's database of Americans' personal info

U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said the administration violated the law when it created a centralized database of Americans' personal records.

New York City House primary emerges as key battleground in ‘AI civil war’

AI-focused Super Pacs are spending heavily in the midterms, and half has gone to a single Manhattan congressional race

The artificial intelligence industry is spending heavily in the 2026 midterms, hoping to secure influence over the technology’s first generation of legislation – and New York City’s primary has emerged as the key battleground.

AI-focused Super Pacs have raised over $100m this cycle, of which $49m has been spent so far, in dozens of congressional races across the country. Half of all spending has converged on a single Manhattan race: Tuesday’s Democratic primary in the district of NY-12.

Will Craft and Andrew Witherspoon contributed reporting

Judge blocks subpoenas for Walz and others over Minnesota immigration crackdown

Federal judge rules subpoenas linked to Trump’s immigration operation were ‘issued for unlawful reasons’

• US politics live – latest updates

A federal judge agreed to quash the US federal government’s subpoenas of leaders in Minnesota issued during the Trump administration’s controversial immigration crackdown on the state earlier this year.

The US Department of Justice issued subpoenas to the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz; the attorney general, Keith Ellison; the Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey; and other local officials in the Twin Cities in January.

Polymarket launches probe after report alleges deceptive marketing

A Wall Street Journal investigation found that the prediction market paid content creators to produce videos of fake trades purporting to show big financial gains.

Semenyo and Ghana aim to emulate 2010 World Cup heroes as they face England

Carlos Queiroz’s squad hope to repeat the form that almost made Ghana the first African team to reach the semi-finals

Antoine Semenyo was only 10 years old when Ghana came within a Luis Suárez handball of becoming the first African team to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup. The Manchester City forward can still vividly recall the emotions that night as he watched with his family in Bexleyheath, south-east London.

“I remember being at my uncle’s house, and we were screaming after the handball, thinking we were going through,” he said in an interview last month. “Watching Ghana play in the World Cup was so special. Mum, Dad, uncles, aunties, cousins all turn up to one house, and we would watch all the games together, celebrating and screaming. Ghana came in [for me] when I was 19 or 20, so I was never going to turn it down.”

Merlin the duck unruffled after meeting president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum

• Pet in a replica shirt is unofficial mascot of the World Cup

• Merlin’s owner, Karla Gómez, says it was ‘an honour’

Merlin, the pet duck in a mini Mexico shirt who has ⁠become a viral sensation and an unofficial mascot of the World Cup, met Mexico’s president on Monday.

The duck waddled on ⁠to the stage ⁠at the ​start of Claudia Sheinbaum’s regular morning press conference, took a seat where ministers and officials are usually seen, and unfazed ⁠by the occasion, let out a few quacks.

Supreme Court reinstates murder conviction in disappearance of Etan Patz

Etan Patz walked out of his New York City home headed for a school bus stop in May of 1979. He never made it to school and has never been found.

Companies are demanding states cut red tape. Data center-wary voters may think differently

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro touted a $20 billion economic development deal last June, the state's largest ever. It's caused Shapiro no shortage of grief.

Thomas Tuchel brings The Surge to make England genuine World Cup threat

Head coach wants players to use energy in the right spaces and is also getting the best out of an in-form Harry Kane

It didn’t take long for one wag in the travelling England caravan to come up with a deeply inappropriate nickname for that jazzed-up high-energy start to the second-half performance in Dallas last Wednesday. That name was: Packetball.

The word packet is, the Urban Dictionary confirms, slang for a small sachet of the same illegal and wholly inadvisable stimulant that was discovered in more than half of the Wembley Stadium toilets by a newspaper investigation after a home qualifier during the Southgate era.

Senate poised to advance housing bill to limit private equity purchases of single-family homes

Both chambers of Congress are expected to advance a sprawling housing package this week that's aimed at creating more supply and making homes more affordable.

Who is Andy Burnham, the ‘man of the people’ likely to be next UK prime minister?

Expected successor to Keir Starmer has promised to understand voters outside London and those who feel unheard

In the story that Andy Burnham tells about himself, “the turning point” in his political life came in 2009 when he was booed at a football ground in the north-west of England. He had been an ideologically reliable middle-ranking minister under Tony Blair, the centrist New Labour prime minister between 1997 and 2007, and had gone on to be appointed as secretary of state for culture, media and sport under Blair’s successor, Gordon Brown.

On the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster – the fatal crowd crush that killed 97 Liverpool fans in 1989 – Burnham was representing Brown’s administration at Anfield, Liverpool’s famous stadium. But as he began to offer his words of condolence into a microphone on the pitch, the then 39-year-old minister’s speech was interrupted by loud and angry calls from the stands for justice for those who had been killed due to no fault of their own. A series of British governments had refused demands for a public inquiry into the disaster.

The Guardian view on Labour’s leadership: Andy Burnham has a story. He must also have a plan | Editorial

Keir Starmer won power but never explained Britain’s crisis. The new MP for Makerfield offers a sharper diagnosis – and one that voters can understand

Political careers often end when circumstances demand qualities that a politician cannot supply. That seems especially true of Sir Keir Starmer. On Monday, he stepped down as Labour leader, hours before Andy Burnham arrived at Westminster to take his seat as MP for Makerfield.

Sir Keir’s achievements were real. He won a large parliamentary majority in 2024, provided more cash for the NHS and was steadfast in his support of Ukraine. He undoubtedly restored a measure of seriousness after years of Tory psychodrama. But the 2024 victory was always more brittle than it seemed: Labour’s vote actually fell from 2019 and Nigel Farage’s decision to stand candidates in 2024 fractured rightwing votes. Sir Keir won power; he did not change the political weather.

The Guardian view on the death of Carlo Ginzburg: a historian who taught us to think about outsiders | Editorial

The work of one of Italy’s greatest scholars focused on ordinary lives oppressed by power and prejudice. That approach resonates today

Reflecting on the genesis of his most famous work, Carlo Ginzburg wrote that by immersing himself in the trial of a 16th-century miller burned by the Roman Inquisition, he turned a possible footnote into a book. Fifty years on, after being translated around the world, The Cheese and The Worms still stands as a supreme exemplar of historical research devoted to the lives of “the persecuted and the vanquished”.

Ginzburg’s death last week, at the age of 87, means that one of the last living links with a remarkable postwar generation of historians has gone. In its passion for reconstructing the fabric of lives previously thought too marginal to bother with, his writing had affinities with EP Thompson’s “history from below” movement and the Annales school in France. As the rise of 21st-century authoritarianism creates new generations of scapegoats and misfits, the approach of one of Italy’s greatest scholars speaks directly to our times.

U.S. strike on alleged drug boat kills 2, leaves 6 survivors, in the Caribbean

The U.S. military has conducted another strike against a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean, killing two and leaving six survivors, the U.S. Southern Command said.

Canadian healthcare staff decry ‘cruel hoax’ after scam email promises paid day off

Unions condemn ‘insensitive’ internal cybersecurity test sent to healthcare workers in Newfoundland and Labrador

For years, healthcare staff in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador have felt overworked and underappreciated. Turnover, burnout and thinning resources were pushing workers in the sector to a breaking point.

So when the email titled “June Holiday” arrived in thousands of inboxes, they felt a moment of overdue joy.

Trump expected to meet with defense contractors Wednesday amid Iran peace talks

The Trump administration has been ratcheting up pressure on defense contractors to prioritize production and American manufacturing capabilities over shareholder payouts.

Meta's WhatsApp head to step down, will be replaced by Indian fintech founder Kunal Shah

Will Cathcart will step down as the head of WhatsApp and move into another role at the company. Kunal Shah will take over.

"Alligator Alcatraz" shutting down permanently, sources tell CBS News Miami

Closing Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz" has been the subject of speculation for the past two months.

Did you know? Alan Greenspan and Ayn Rand were close friends

One of the most intellectually important relationships in the life of the late Fed chair Alan Greenspan was with his close friend, the formidable novelist and libertarian thinker Ayn Rand.

Jamie George captains England again as Borthwick plays it safe for brutal summer tour

• Caluori, Fisilau, Janse van Rensburg, Sela, Kloska selected

• Fin Smith says he had to ‘fake’ confidence after Lions tour

At some stage there will be better times ahead for English rugby. They have an encouraging amount of young talent, a decent age profile and another 15 months to develop prior to the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Get it right – and they have a more than promising draw – and the sunlit uplands could yet be glimpsed in Australia next year.

That, at least, is the cosy scenario. First, though, there is the equivalent of a precarious looking rope bridge to be crossed by those named in Steve Borthwick’s squad for this summer’s inaugural leg of the Nations Championship. Three Tests in three continents in successive weeks with a squad lacking its regular captain and on a four-match losing streak is not the idyllic travel brochure it might have been.

Iran agrees to UN nuclear inspectors’ return as part of agreement with US

Other measures include Washington lifting sanctions on Tehran’s oil exports and reopening the strait of Hormuz

Iran has agreed to allow UN nuclear inspectors back into the country as part of an agreement under which Washington will lift sanctions on Tehran’s oil exports and the strait of Hormuz will reopen, the US vice-president, JD Vance, has said.

Long-term independent monitoring of Iran’s nuclear programme, which it says is for energy purposes only, was in effect halted last summer after Israel and the US attacked the country. Tehran suspended cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in response to strikes on its nuclear facilities.

Interstellar comet may be oldest object seen in our solar system, scientists say

Observations suggest comet spent billions of years on ‘vast unimaginable trajectories’ around our galaxy

An interstellar comet that blazed past the sun last year could be nearly three times older than our solar system and is unlike anything ever before seen in our cosmic back yard, astronomers said on Monday.

The comet 3I/Atlas is just the third visitor from beyond our solar system that humanity has ever observed, its unusual brightness offering scientists an unprecedented opportunity to study something that came from elsewhere in the galaxy.

‘Institutional threat’: election of far-right leader raises fears for democracy in Colombia

Trump-admiring Abelardo de la Espriella has vowed to ‘disembowel’ the left and kill criminals like ‘rats and cockroaches’

When more than 20 women accused a Colombian evangelical pastor in 2012 of sexually abusing them, the defendant’s lawyer sought to discredit the allegations by telling the court that they were “trepadoras” – a pejorative term meaning social climbers.

He ultimately secured his client’s acquittal – although the case remains under review by the supreme court – but footage of the remark resurfaced during Colombia’s presidential campaign, sparking outrage among many progressive voters.

Endangered pregnant whale found dead on bow of cruise ship in Alaska

A pregnant fin whale was found dead on the bow of a cruise ship in Alaska last week. Fin whales are endangered and particularly threatened by vessel strikes.

Trump claims ‘vandals’ foiled his $14m revamp of DC’s reflecting pool. What actually happened?

Trump’s pre-Fourth of July renovation project has endured problems with algae, peeling paint and an inflating price tag

Donald Trump’s rush to repaint the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, a symbol of Washington DC, has hit roadblock after roadblock as the country’s 250th anniversary nears.

The public has been gripped by the ill-fated $14m attempt to renovate the reflecting pool, which the US president vowed to make “beautiful” in time for this summer’s birthday celebrations at the capital.

Improved performance, freedom of movement and less pain: how to start a mobility practice

Mobility can’t be tracked on a leaderboard, but it can help you feel better and make daily tasks easier

Fitness is often measured through numbers: how much weight a person can lift, or how fast or far they can run. But one important metric is harder to quantify: mobility.

Mobility gets overlooked, because the relevant exercises do not “have the instant visual appeal of traditional workouts”, says Tyler McDonald, certified personal trainer and senior brand manager for the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

How to start meditating

How to start weightlifting

How to start budgeting

How to start running

90/90 hip switches: Sit on the floor with the front leg bent at a 90-degree angle (thigh out in front of you and calf perpendicular to you) and the back leg bent at a 90-degree angle (thigh out to the side, calf roughly parallel to you). Slowly rotate your knees to the opposite side without lifting your feet off the floor. “This is fantastic for opening tight hips,” McDonald says.

Cat-cow stretch. With your hands and knees on the ground, arch your back towards the ceiling, dropping your head between your arms. Then, slowly drop your back and raise your head and glutes towards the ceiling. This helps with spine mobility.

World’s greatest stretch. Yes, this stretch has quite the name, but for good reason. Start in a plank. Bring the right leg forward into a low lunge position. Stretch the right arm overhead towards the ceiling, twisting the upper body. Then, bring the right hand behind the head and attempt to touch the ground with the right elbow. “It hits your hips, hamstrings and upper back all at once, making it incredibly efficient,” says McDonald.

Alan Greenspan, Fed chair under 4 U.S. presidents, dies at age 100

Alan Greenspan's lengthy reign at the Federal Reserve coincided with a period of stability from the mid-1980s until 2007.

Spanish PM’s former right-hand man jailed for 24 years for corruption

José Luis Ábalos found to have taken bribes on Covid-era public contracts in damaging blow to Pedro Sánchez

Spain’s supreme court has jailed the former transport minister José Luis Ábalos for 24 years for taking bribes on public contracts for sanitary equipment such as ‌face masks during the Covid pandemic.

Ábalos’s aide, Koldo García, was jailed for 19 years in a trial that is one of several scandals to have enveloped the government of Pedro Sánchez over recent months.

The rise and fall of Keir Starmer: where did it all go wrong?

PM’s demise after landslide victory two years ago points to an increasingly volatile and impatient electorate

Historians will puzzle over this one. Of the six prime ministers that have led Britain over the last decade, with a seventh now on the way, it will be the fall of Keir Starmer that will most perplex the political analysts of the future.

They will ponder a man who won a landslide victory in July 2024 only to be pushed out less than two years later, having started no illegal wars, having triggered no grave economic crises, having been accused of no scandalous act of corruption.

Two children found dead in car in France as heatwave hits Europe

Number of countries issue alerts with sustained and rising temperatures expected to present danger to health

• Europe live – latest updates

Two children aged four and two have been found dead in their family’s car in south-eastern France, the local prosecutor said, as a large swathe of western Europe suffers a ferocious heatwave forecast to shatter absolute temperature records.

“The causes of death are yet to be determined, but the heat is the leading line of inquiry,” said Hélène Mourges, the prosecutor in the town of Carpentras, where the temperature was expected to exceed 39C (102.2F) on Monday afternoon.

Unhappy camper: man rescued after falling into toilet at California campsite

Unidentified man fell into vault toilet at Camp Edison while trying to retrieve sunglasses he dropped, officials say

An unhappy camper spent about 15 minutes submerged in sewage in the putrid tank of a California campground’s vault toilet after falling in trying to retrieve sunglasses he dropped, according to officials.

The latest entry into the annals of bizarre US campground mishaps took place on Saturday at Shaver Lake’s Camp Edison, about 50 miles north-east of downtown Fresno. A spokesperson for the Fresno county sheriff’s office said specialist rescue crews from Cal Fire were required to extricate the unidentified man from the confined tank beneath the waterless, non-flushing toilet.

Angry and lonely after my marriage ended, I came dangerously close to embracing the manosphere | Mitch Brown

After my separation my world became tiny and my dependence on the online world grew. The internet told me women were to blame, and I started to believe it

In 2024, after the breakdown of my marriage, I came dangerously close to falling down the manosphere pipeline. As someone who has become something of a public advocate for healthy masculinities and inclusion, this is not something I find easy to admit or write about. I struggle to reconcile that version of myself, as recent as two years ago, with the man I am today and the values I so strongly believe in. But I also believe it’s important we tell these stories, both to examine how men can find their way into these spaces and how they can find their way out.

The term “manosphere” might seem like a bit of a buzzword, a fringe ideology that exists in dark corners of the internet. We need to recognise that it is far more widespread than that. A 2022 survey by The Man Cave found that a quarter of young Australian men saw Andrew Tate as a role model, and 36% found him relatable. Subsequent studies have found the movement is on the rise, both here and overseas.

A job that changed me: At the dole office, I met very few ‘bludgers’. Most people desperately wanted work

Graduating into a recession, my role at Australia’s government employment agency was sobering. I felt how easily my place could have been reversed

It was 1994 and the then prime minister, Paul Keating, had a problem.

Me.

SpaceX signs computing power deal with open-source AI startup Reflection worth up to $6.3 billion

SpaceX has turned its Colossus data center into a commercial computing power platform, landing recent deals with Anthropic, Google and Cursor.

Bad Bunny sparks UK’s Latino moment as 100,000 fans line up to see him perform

Rapping in Spanish used to be a hard sell to Britons – but the Puerto Rican star is making the Latin American community visible

At the Seven Sisters Latin Village in north London, construction is under way.

The market, which has become a centre for the British Latino community and has fought off a long battle against redevelopment, is paying homage to the biggest Latino star on the planet: Bad Bunny (real name Benito Martínez Ocasio).

Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Fed, dies at age 100

Alan Greenspan presided over the Federal Reserve for 19 years under four presidents and mastered the art of obfuscation known as Fedspeak.

‘Albania is not for sale’: Protests grow over Kushner-linked luxury development project

The primary focus of the unrest is a proposed multi-billion-euro tourism project on Albania's Adriatic coast.

Wimbledon 2023 champion Vondrousova given four-year ban for refusing anti-doping test

• ‘No compelling justification’ for not submitting a sample

• ‘Unpredictable testing is essential to protect clean sport’

Marketa Vondrousova, the 2023 Wimbledon singles champion, has been banned from professional sport for four years after she refused an anti-doping test.

According to an independent tribunal, Vondrousova provided “no compelling justification” for declining to provide a sample after being notified at her home by a doping control officer in December. The 26-year-old is suspended from all professional events until 21 June 2030.

Two aircraft come within about 300 feet of each other in close call at Boston's airport

The FAA is investigating an apparent close call at Boston Logan Airport over the weekend. An American Airlines jet was cleared to take off on a runway crossing the one a Delta jet was about to land on. Kris Van Cleave has more.

‘Guys would think I was a girl then get aggressive when they found out my name was Brian’: how Placebo made Nancy Boy

‘I thought I could regain some power by writing a celebration of debauchery that was so brazenly sexual it would infuriate the people who insulted me’

Nancy Boy was about reclaiming the homophobic insults that were hurled at me every time I went out because I had long hair and wore eyeliner and nail polish. I’d walk into a bar and people would react vociferously, or guys would think I was a girl then get really aggressive when they found out my name was Brian. I thought I could regain some power by writing a celebration of debauchery that was so brazenly sexual it would piss off the people who insulted me even more.

2 students in custody after shooting at high school in Philippines kills 3

An investigation is underway to determine the cause. Police said the suspects claimed they were bullied at school.

How growing inequality is worsening Social Security's financial crunch

Faster income growth for top U.S. earners has eroded Social Security's tax base, fueling calls to raise or eliminate the payroll tax cap.

The champion they didn’t want: inside Wyndham Clark’s lonely US Open coronation

The major winner has rebuilt both his swing and confidence and learned to function without the approval of the masses

On the evening before he won the US Open for a second time in four years, Wyndham Clark marched up the 18th fairway at Shinnecock Hills to put the finishing touches on a third round that would leave him six shots clear of the field. He had spent the past three days patiently defanging one of the crown jewels of American golf, building the third-largest 54-hole advantage held by a US Open leader since the second world war. The title was his to lose.

Yet when Clark arrived at the final green on Saturday bathed in golden-hour light, one thing was conspicuously absent: the crowd. Most of the spectators had left or were leaving and the grandstands around the green were only thinly populated. It was a remarkably muted backdrop for America’s once-and-future champion golfer as he stood on the doorstep of a rare wire-to-wire US Open victory.

Shipping stalls in Strait of Hormuz after Iran declares key waterway closed again

The update comes even as industry trackers showed Iranian tankers have continued to sail through the strait.

Supreme Court allows a ruling that ends a tool to protect minority voters in 7 states

The Supreme Court has left in place a ruling that strikes down a key tool for enforcing Voting Rights Act protections for voters with a disability or an inability to read or write in seven states.

Tesla drivers crash into swimming pool and home in separate US incidents

Texas man using ‘automated driving assistance system’ crashed into house and Connecticut man drove into pool while trying to park

Separate crashes in Texas and Connecticut involving Tesla electric vehicles left a woman dead when a car barreled into a house; and a driver rescued after plunging into a municipal swimming pool.

A doorbell video camera captured the Friday night episode in Katy, Texas. Authorities said 76-year-old Martha Avila Mantilla was standing in the front room of a relative’s home when the Tesla Model 3 car crashed at speed into the residence.

Giulio Cesare review – nightmarish take on Handel has snakes, sadism and a mummy

The Grange festival, Northington, Hampshire
David Alden’s blackly comic Kafkaesque production has a strong cast whose lively performances were not always matched by the Early Opera Company in the pit

The year 1724 found Handel at the very height of his popularity. Giulio Cesare, written for a handpicked cast of the finest singers, may lack the psychological depth of Tamerlano, the year’s other premiere, but rarely had the composer come up with such an infectious score. A gung-ho tale of colonial conquest, it is ripe for sending up politicians with a hankering for foreign intervention. Here, however, David Alden resists the temptation to skewer the likes of Trump in a Kafkaesque production that takes quite a different tack.

For an opera often staged as a comedic romp, Alden’s nightmarish world of body bags and refugees is about as dark as it gets. Cesare initially seems more interested in his military memoirs than sleeping with the enemy. Cleopatra is unhealthily fixated on asps while her servant, in a brilliantly absurdist twist, is a bona fide mummy. Tolomeo’s general urinates in the toilet while his master lounges in the nearby bath and Cornelia, widow of the brutally beheaded Pompey the Great, is battered and bewildered until she finally turns to the bottle.

F-16 fighter jet intercepts plane in restricted airspace over Maryland

An F-16 fighter jet intercepted a civilian plane that had entered restricted airspace over Hagerstown, Maryland, on Saturday, military officials said.

Tornadoes rip through Midwest as high winds fuel wildfires in West

A string of intense tornadoes ripped through southern Illinois late Sunday as there were at least two dozen tornado reports in the Midwest. Meanwhile, high winds in the West are fueling at least 70 active wildfires. Rob Marciano reports.

Stokes saga humiliates McCullum and exposes England’s captaincy succession crisis | Mark Ramprakash

With Stokes now 35, the ECB needs to identify rising talents with the capacity to be serious people, not just young men having fun with their mates

If we learned one thing at the Oval last week, it is that this England team really needs Ben Stokes. So it came as a relief when, a couple of hours after the second Test against New Zealand ended in heavy defeat, he and Gus Atkinson were exonerated by the England and Wales Cricket Board after an investigation into their celebrations following victory in the first Test. But the governing body found itself in a process with no perfect outcome, and if the one it has ended up with is not the disaster it flirted with a week ago when Stokes was apparently considering retirement, it is still embarrassing.

Its handling of the incident was understandable, given the public drunkenness that marked the players’ trip to Noosa during the Ashes, and Harry Brook’s altercation with a nightclub bouncer in Wellington before that. There was a real lack of transparency around Brook’s incident, which was not revealed to the public until a newspaper discovered and reported it, and that led to a kneejerk reaction when the ECB thought there had been a repeat. All three incidents could have been handled better – it just keeps finding different ways of getting it wrong. At least no one can accuse it of not taking this one seriously, and if it hasn’t truly established its competence it has established that all players are accountable, which will help to set a standard of acceptable behaviour.

Hayley Williams review – punk and R&B expertly intertwine on first solo tour for Paramore star

Roundhouse, London
In her first European jaunt outside of her headbanging band, the singer uses humour to turn angsty songs into rowdy collective catharsis

Hayley Williams swaggers on stage with a guitar and begins gleefully raging about her antidepressant of choice. Mirtazapine, a pop-punk ode to the drug that “makes me eat” and “makes me sleep”, swiftly rouses the audience into a boisterous singalong. Her chemistry with the crowd is so potent that it’s easy to forget this is Williams’s first London gig since supporting Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour with her band Paramore in 2024, and her first ever European tour as a solo artist. “I remember so many of you,” she says, beaming at the crowd. She points at someone in the front row: “You came on stage [for] Misery Business.”

For years, Williams had vowed to never pursue solo music. In fact, when she landed a deal with Atlantic Records at 14, it was on her insistence that she’d make music as part of a band. Now finally released from the contract she signed as a teenager, the 37-year-old’s third solo record, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, was a grief-stricken reflection on lost loves and lost innocence. On stage, she appears to heal those wounds with soulful artistry. A daring cover of Nina Simone’s Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood leaves the room in silence; a brief snippet of Didn’t Cha Know by Erykah Badu prefaces her viral hit Good Ol’ Days.

James Phelan: Showman review – an amazing pick’n’mix of telepathy and magic

Underbelly Boulevard, London
Audience members become unsuspecting mind-readers, and numbers disappear from their memory, in this hugely entertaining show

An audience member is on stage, their feet hypnotically glued to the floor. Under the influence of magician and mentalist James Phelan, we’ve just seen them unable to count to 10, or remember their own name. Now Phelan has a finger to their brow, to channel into their head the unspoken thoughts of another punter sat in the auditorium. A woman in the back row is invited to summon to mind what she wished to be when she was younger. A pause while she does so, and then: “she wanted to be the Woolworths pick’n’mix lady,” pipes up the mesmerised individual. And the woman in the back row exclaims: “Holy shit!”

Give or take banal speculation about plants in the audience, I have not a scooby how such tricks are accomplished. The mind reels. Phelan, the nephew of TV conjuring stalwart Paul Daniels, occupies most of his set, Showman, with this stuff, and – no matter how many times you’ve seen mind-benders and “neuro-linguistic programmers” do it all before – it’s absorbing to watch an innocent member of the public have the number seven seemingly wiped from her mind, or another one select the very figure between nought and 200 that Phelan requires for his dramatic climax to work.

AI models that can take down governments and business months away, rare Five Eyes statement warns

Signal agencies in Australia, the US, the UK, New Zealand and Canada sound alarm after Trump blocks foreign nationals from Anthropic’s Fable AI model

Powerful AI models capable of taking down governments and businesses are mere months away, cyber intelligence agencies for the Five Eyes have warned in a rare joint statement, urging leaders to “act now”.

The surprising public intervention by signals agencies for Australia, the US, the UK, New Zealand and Canada comes after the Trump administration earlier this month decided to block “foreign nationals” from using a much-hyped AI model built by tech company Anthropic, called Fable.

Where to find the best summer deals

Big retailers are offering deep discounts this week, including Amazon with its Prime Day event. Kelly O'Grady breaks down where to find the best summer deals.

Alan Greenspan, who chaired the Fed under 4 U.S. presidents, dies at 100

Alan Greenspan, a former chair of the Federal Reserve, has died at the age of 100. Greenspan led the Fed under four U.S. presidents.

Tesla allegedly on autopilot crashes into Texas home, killing one person

Officials say a Tesla crashed into a home in Katy, Texas, on Friday, killing one person. The driver told officials the Tesla was on autopilot. An investigation is currently underway.

Massive warehouse fire burns for days in LA, prompting environmental and health concerns

Firefighters say they are gaining ground on a massive warehouse fire that broke out Wednesday in Los Angeles. The flames are now causing public health concerns as toxic fumes seep into the air. Carter Evans reports.

Starmer’s resignation and a ray of new year light: photos of the day – Monday

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

Pitfall review – big-hole survival horror is as if cast of Friends strayed into Deliverance

Laborious and bombastic thriller set in a forest where a maniacal woodsman and a cast of irritating victims converge with gory results

No low-budget horror movie can apparently now be greenlighted without featuring the obligatory posse of supremely irritating victims ripe for the culling. Pitfall director James Kondelik is evidently unbothered that this might make his bloody agenda too blatant; even his “sympathetic” characters – a pair of grieving siblings on a wilderness trip to commemorate their parents – bleat out their issues at such length that it’s sweet relief when a maniac woodsman (played by former UFC fighter Randy Couture) arrives to shut them up in a laborious and bombastic survival horror.

Pitfall plays a bit as if the cast of Friends had strayed into Deliverance. Ashley (Alexandra Essoe) and her brother Scott (Marshall Williams) are returning several years later to the forest location where their parents died in a car accident after hitting a deer. Their respective other halves, Charlie (Matt Hamilton) and Gwen (Jordan Claire Robbins), are in tow – as well as carping spare wheel Lars (Richard Harmon). But Scott and Charlie’s credentials as outdoorsmen are rumbled when, fleeing from wolves, the former falls into a spiked hunting pit of the type he’d warned everyone to avoid a few hours earlier.

8 things to know about the gut microbiome and keeping yours healthy

Wellness influencers often talk about fixing a broken gut microbiome. And marketers sell tests and supplements to fix your gut health. Here's what what the evidence really shows about gut health.

Alan Greenspan, the legendary former Federal Reserve chair, dies

During his chairmanship, Greenspan was celebrated as possibly the best central banker in history. But later, his reputation was tarnished by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

UK PM Keir Starmer resigns. And, US and Iran agree to roadmap for final deal

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation on Monday. And, the U.S. and Iran have agreed to a "roadmap" to reach a final deal within 60 days.

Aldeburgh festival roundup – Tansy Davies and Freya Waley-Cohen premieres, plus blistering Shostakovich

Various venues, Suffolk
The second weekend boasted brand new music by Davies and Waley-Cohen, the premiere of Alex Ho and Rockey Sun Keting’s Chronicle, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales with Kevin Edusei on exhilarating form

Percussionists are classical music’s original multitaskers. But even by their standards, Colin Currie is a virtuosic outlier. For portions of the world premiere of Tansy Davies’s percussion concerto Earth Works, Currie sat almost motionless at the kit except from the elbow down, as he sent a complex, glitchy weave of cymbal and drum skittering across an orchestral texture that ran on an altogether more monumental timescale. An arm shot out from behind a screen of tubular bells to reach a hi-hat cymbal amid an invisible juggling act dominated by what sounded like cowbells. There was a passage centred on an upturned dustbin and a tiny gong that might have been a small dangling frying pan. There were multiple just-in-time dashes back to a drumkit.

Behind Currie, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales looped melodic cells and exposed strata of flutter-tongued brass and delicate veils of strings, thick wodges of double bass, searing woodwind and elemental rumbles of orchestral percussion rolling across the stage.

Jabs, human ash and a tapeworm: behind the appetite for a new kind of disordered eating movie

Supernatural horror Saccharine and melodramatic comedy Maddie’s Secret are the latest films on body-image anxieties served up by Hollywood

Saccharine is soundtracked by a rumbling stomach. Ping-ponging between binge eating and regimented workout routines, first-year medical student Hana Hitching (Midori Francis) considers how she could drop down to her ideal weight. For someone whose body-image issues appear longstanding – a brief shot reveals the diet books stashed away in her drawer – a quick fix appears irresistible. Hana begins taking an illicit supplement guaranteed to make the weight just “melt off”. The secret ingredient? Human ash.

Soon she begins to be stalked by the ghostly presence of the woman whose cremated last remains she has been consuming. “It’s kind of worth it, right?” says a formerly overweight friend, who once took the same pills and experienced the same ensuing anxiety and audio hallucinations, in a scene that encapsulates the cruel motto central to extreme diet culture: nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.

‘Absolute nightmare’: Brexit bellwether constituencies revisited 10 years on

From north-east Scotland to Romford, London, what do those who spoke to the Guardian during the referendum campaign make of how it all panned out?

The Guardian has revisited five bellwether constituencies we reported on during the 2016 EU referendum campaign, and asked those we spoke to at the time how they now feel about Brexit a decade on from the vote.

Why the EU should be moving heaven and earth to get Iceland into the club | Valérie Hayer

Negotiations with Reykjavík risk being bogged down by rigid accession rules. For strategic reasons, Brussels has to learn how to bend a little

Iceland is preparing for a referendum this summer on whether to restart negotiations with the EU about joining the bloc. If voters approve, the government in Reykjavík could complete talks for the country to become the EU’s 28th member state. Iceland is already part of the Schengen passport-free area, and has access to the EU single market through the European Economic Area, meaning that much of the regulatory groundwork for its integration is already done.

Yet the conversation about a possible Icelandic application for EU membership reveals a deeper issue: the European Union must rethink its own future admission of like-minded democracies as a geopolitical necessity.

Valérie Hayer is a French MEP and leader of the Renew Europe parliamentary group

‘A lot of our parents were paid by the hour’: a first-gen money coach’s blueprint for wealth

Maria Melchor grew up undocumented in Connecticut. Now she’s helping other first-generation Americans build wealth

Maria Melchor remembers her first paycheck: $1,414. Fresh out of college and into a paralegal job at the Legal Aid Society in New York City. With student loans still in their grace period, for the first time, she had more than she needed.

“It felt like a lot of money,” said Melchor, now 30. Melchor was born in Mexico and immigrated to the US at nine years old. She grew up undocumented in Connecticut, watching her parents struggle to make ends meet.

From Burma to Big Brother: George Orwell’s best books – ranked!

From frontline reporting to a trailblazing comic novel and a prophetic dystopia, which of Eric Blair’s books is the best?

Imagination was not George Orwell’s forte. In each novel the protagonist is to some extent an Orwell surrogate doing things that Orwell did in places where Orwell had been. Here, somewhat unconvincingly, the author’s representative is a repressed young woman, Dorothy Hare, who loses her memory, identity and faith. Orwell considered it “tripe” except for the dream-like, polyphonic chapter where Dorothy sleeps rough in Trafalgar Square – a fascinating legacy of his youthful infatuation with James Joyce.

Marius Borg Høiby rape conviction renews focus in Norway on consent in digital age

Norway is supposedly one of world’s most gender-equal countries, yet sexual violence remains prevalent across society

In many ways, the case of Marius Borg Høiby, who was sentenced to four years in prison last week after being found guilty of offences including domestic violence and two counts of rape, was exceptional.

The king’s 29-year-old step-grandson grew up in the public eye alongside the royal family, mixing in Oslo’s wealthiest circles, partying at exclusive nightclubs and having afterparties at his family’s official royal residence.

Cape Verdeans what are your thoughts on Cape Verde’s World Cup 2026 performance so far?

We would like to hear from Cape Verdeans in the UK and across the globe on the team’s progress in the tournament

Cape Verde is enjoying a fairytale World Cup, with their performance becoming the story of the tournament.

There was the shock 0-0 draw with Spain in their tournament debut. Then on Sunday, there was another when they drew 2-2 with two-time champions Uruguay in Miami. This now puts them in serious contention for a place in the knockouts.

Ukraine intensifies attacks on Crimea to raise cost of Russian occupation

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says strikes on oil facilities part of ‘long-range sanctions’ intended to isolate the territory

Ukraine has stepped up its strikes on Crimea as part of a strategy to isolate the occupied peninsula from mainland Russia and raise the cost of the occupation.

On Sunday, Russian-installed authorities suspended civilian fuel sales until at least Wednesday, a move that underscored Ukraine’s growing ability to disrupt supply lines linking Crimea to Russia.

Benita review – Alan Berliner puts new spin on late film-maker’s work in entrancing tribute

After Benita Raphan took her own life in 2021, director and friend Berliner spent years poring over her unfinished work to create a documentary unlike anything else

This is a one-of-a-kind documentary that has been coaxed and cut together by veteran film-maker Alan Berliner (Intimate Stranger, First Cousin Once Removed), who also serves as its narrator – but most of its graphics, footage and imagery were made by film-maker Benita Raphan, also the subject of the film. As such, it’s not exactly a collaboration since Raphan took her own life in 2021, for reasons the film gently tries to untangle. Nevertheless, Berliner commits to creating in this film something that limns the fragile spirit, startling originality and dogged, and indeed doggy, kindness of his canine-loving late friend.

In the process, Berliner has completed the unfinished film she was worrying over when she died but at the same time makes something entirely new; it might be called a tribute perhaps, or a bio-pastiche, or maybe a found-footage cinematic seance. Any way you slice and dice it, it’s a strangely entrancing work, an “irregular verb” like its subject, as she was described by her mother Roslyn in her New York Times obituary.

The US re-legalized the death penalty 50 years ago. Is it working as intended?

The Marshall Project analyzed over 9,000 death sentences handed down since states brought the punishment back

Fifty years ago, Americans set out on a polarizing mission: to find a just and fair way to punish the worst-of-the-worst crimes by execution.

In some ways, this was a surprising choice. In 1972, a narrow majority of the US supreme court had scrapped the country’s entire death penalty system, calling it “morally unacceptable”, “racially discriminatory” and “arbitrary”. It seemed possible that Americans might join our peers in Europe and Latin America, many of whom had ended executions for good.

The end of the NBA’s American empire: how the 1986 draft changed basketball for ever

European players had long been dismissed as a risk by NBA teams. But two picks by the Portland Trail Blazers helped usher in the league’s international era

NBA commissioner David Stern walked to the podium at the Felt Forum in Madison Square Garden on 17 June 1986. “For the last pick of the first round of the NBA draft … America’s game,” Stern said with a hint of a smile, “the Portland Trail Blazers select Arvydas Sabonis of the Soviet Union.”

Boos rained down from the crowd. TBS hosts Bob Neal and Larry Donald burst into laughter. One Portland journalist said if Sabonis ever played in the NBA he’d jump off the Broadway Bridge. (Sabonis had actually been drafted by the Atlanta Hawks the previous year but it was voided because he was not yet 21.) Portland doubled down two rounds later, selecting Dražen Petrović from another communist country, Yugoslavia.

We are witnessing the slow death of the prestige career | Alice Lassman

White-collar work is at risk across the board, including at elite consulting firms that used to be a pathway to the 1%

Consulting is a delicate contract: endure two challenging, formative years – and in return, get a golden ticket to anywhere. Firms like McKinsey tout themselves as the “CEO factory”, and boast they’re “not surprised” to be consistently named the best place for future leaders.

The skills they promise to build – synthesis, sharp analysis, crisp communication, client-readiness, hypothesis-driven thinking – have enticed every generation’s top graduates. Get an offer from a place like this, and everything else will fall into place: about as clear a guarantee of future success as you could get fresh out of a bachelors. These firms spent decades marketing themselves as production houses of excellence, and until recently, they were.

Alice Lassman is an economist who writes The Intimacy Economy, a Substack and forthcoming book on the economics of connection, care and relationships

Keir Starmer has resigned, paving way for a 7th U.K. prime minister in 10 years

Prime Minister Keir Starmer is stepping down. His likely successor, Andy Burnham, a popular former mayor, would become the U.K.'s seventh prime minister in 10 years.

UK and France rewrite ‘one in one out’ treaty to stop removed migrants returning

People smugglers have been using lorries to bring people deported to France under the deal back to the UK

The UK and France have been forced to rewrite the “one in, one out” deal because of concerns over the numbers of people re-entering the UK after being removed to the continent.

The original treaty said people arriving in small boats could be returned to France. But people smugglers have used lorries to bring people who had been deported to France under the deal back to the UK.

‘Allowed me to accept my own taste’: why Bridesmaids is my feelgood movie

The latest in our series of writers highlighting their comfort films is a look at an endlessly quotable antidote to bro-focused comedies

At this year’s Oscars ceremony, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne and Ellie Kemper lined up on stage to celebrate 15 years of Bridesmaids. Frankly, as awards bits go it was a little hard to watch, and the lineup was missing Wendi McLendon-Covey (recovering from a neck lift, naturally), but I had a small thrill seeing them together anyway: Bridesmaids has been my comfort film for almost half my life.

Bridesmaids, written by Wiig and Annie Mumolo and directed by Paul Feig, arrived in a confetti shower in 2011. It follows Annie (Wiig) – already in a fragile state following the collapse of her bakery, her relationship and her living situation – as she navigates being maid of honour for her best friend Lillian (Rudolph). We don’t see much of Dougie, Lillian’s fiance: it’s Annie and Lillian’s relationship that takes centre stage here. They have the sort of friendship it seems impossible to break, built on years of love, shared tastes and endless inside jokes – that is, until the wedding planning begins, and Annie finds herself ill-equipped to lead the motley crew of bridesmaids Lillian has assembled in the run-up to the wedding. No one poses a greater threat to the friendship or Annie’s headspace than Helen (Byrne), the perfectly manicured wife of Dougie’s boss. Helen is everything Annie is not: pristine, well-connected and apparently excellent at organising bachelorette parties. They clash constantly, with increasingly messy results.

Despite state bans, abortions have almost doubled. The reason? Pills via telehealth

States that have banned abortion are suing to stop mailing of abortion pills over state lines. But the telehealth providers say no matter the outcome, they can adapt, and so will their patients.

The Leveret By Anna Goldreich review – a hare mends the pain of baby loss

This bold debut about a woman finding healing after a late miscarriage is written with utter conviction

Birth. “A detaching, a loosening of something, then the pain of it.” A small, curled and crinkled creature is wrested from that pain. But then, instead of the long-awaited cry of a newborn: silence.

This is the background of Anna Goldreich’s highly accomplished, calmly devastating first novel The Leveret, a book that asks us to see late miscarriage as the death it feels like for many mothers. Since this miscarriage, six months ago, Clare has felt everyone, including her partner Phoebe, impatiently expecting her to get on with her life. But she remains floored by loss, stuck waiting for that first cry.

Barack Obama’s gripping new show: best podcasts of the week

The 44th president’s latest podcast is a slick, excellently researched look at the post-slavery period in the US. Plus, a troubling foray into the world of swinging

Who would have thought, back in 2008, that Barack Obama (pictured above) would become one of podcasting’s biggest movers and shakers? The former president is front and centre of this series on the post-slavery period in the US, a collaboration with Malcolm Gladwell for Audible and the History Channel. It’s slick and excellently researched, but it’s the calibre of conversation and careful dot-joining that make it so compelling. Hannah J Davies
Widely available, episodes weekly

The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI by Cory Doctorow review – the real price of artificial intelligence

A vivid and entertaining polemic on the economics of the tech revolution, filled with righteous ire

As former Google CEO Eric Schmidt  could tell you, AI is a hard sell these days. Last month, he tried talking up the AI revolution during a commencement address at the University of Arizona and was loudly booed by students about to enter an AI-ravaged job market. His discombobulation was telling.

Schmidt is not the only AI booster to crash out with students recently as the popular backlash grows. Every week brings a new story about some writer, publisher or academic who has torched their reputation by using an unreliable chatbot. Most US voters are opposed to the construction of vast, resource-guzzling new datacentres. A majority believe AI will negatively impact not just jobs but creativity and human relationships. In some quarters, saying that AI has any benefits at all is akin to saying that biological warfare gets a bad rap. As a New York Times column put it: “AI populism is here. And no one is ready.”

Chicken nuggets, lamb lollipops and pitta pockets: Claudine Boulstridge’s family favourites – recipes

Cooking for kids doesn’t have to be a chore: these three meals are quick, full of flavour and, crucially, fun both to make and to eat

Family meals don’t need to mean hours in the kitchen or a mountain of washing-up. These crisp chicken nuggets are a healthier homemade favourite that kids absolutely love, while the lamb lollipops are fun and surprisingly simple; the stuffed pitta pockets, meanwhile, are perfect for lunches, after-school dinners or eating on the go. Above all, all three dishes are built for real family life: quick, full of flavour and designed to make mealtimes a little easier and a lot more enjoyable.

Top officer says anti-racism guidance has fuelled myth of two-tier policing

Head of Greater Manchester force rejects claims of anti-white bias but says he understands where it comes from

Policing in Britain has “adopted the language of activism” and official guidance has “over-corrected” to combat accusations of racism, one of the UK’s most senior officers has said.

Sir Stephen Watson, the chief constable of Greater Manchester police, said he did not believe that “two-tier policing” existed or that forces were biased against white people.

From mobile jungles to shadow art: how Dutch people try to beat the heat

A national heatwave plan has been activated to help people stay cool during the Netherlands’ increasingly hot summers

Households in Amsterdam are being urged to hang their curtains outside their windows as health experts recommend simple hacks to moderate the heatwave rolling across the Netherlands, where homes were built for old-fashioned damp and coldish northern European weather.

In a viral social media post last week, Eline Coolen, the heat coordinator at the city’s public health institute, urged sweaty city-dwellers to rig up temporary curtain rails or drape curtains or sheets outside to stop the sun’s rays reaching their large windows.

6/21: CBS Weekend News

Trump threatens new attacks as U.S. and Iranian negotiators meet; at least 70 major fires burning in western U.S.