Tunisia v Japan: World Cup 2026 – live

⚽️ Kick-off time: 9pm local/2pm AEST/5am BST/12am EDT
⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail Jonathan

Changes for Japan too with Tomiyasu and Itakura stiffening the back three, and Ito and Tanaka coming into the front three. Kubo misses out through injury and the lively playmaker is a big loss to a side already missing Minamino and Mitoma.

Expect the same 3-4-3 structure that has served Moriyasu well in recent months as he has built Japan from a side capable of dominating Asia to one equipped to handle the rest of the world.

I can’t afford a tutor to help my daughter get into grammar school. Will she still fulfil her potential? | Annalisa Barbieri

You may be projecting your own school experience on to your daughter, but her needs are different and she has you to support her

I have two children aged eight and four. My eight-year-old is very bright. She’s in year 3 and doing year 6 maths. Her state school has large classes and limited resources, so I challenge her by doing fun maths at home. I wanted to try getting her into a grammar school (our local state secondaries do not get good results), but lots of local parents pay for their children to have private tutors, which I can’t afford.

I fear my children will be penalised and stuck in a cycle of not fulfilling their potential. This hits personally because I was diagnosed with dyslexia in my 20s after underachieving and disciplinary issues at school. I could be projecting my baggage and putting unnecessary pressure on my children to do better than me. But I feel sad and hopeless at the unfairness of this issue in the education system, and the way the rich will always outrun the poor. Sometimes I wonder if there is any point in trying for something better.

Two-thirds of EU citizens back UK rejoining bloc, survey finds

Even voters for far-right and Eurosceptic parties back closer relations, polling says

Two-thirds of EU citizens would back Britain rejoining the bloc, while most UK voters say Brexit has been bad for the issues they care about and want closer ties, including levels of integration – such as free movement – long seen as toxic, a survey has found.

Ten years after the Brexit referendum, the polling by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), a thinktank, found 66% of respondents across 15 countries felt UK membership was a very good, good or “neither a good nor a bad” idea.

To the tablet and beyond: does Toy Story 5 go hard enough on technology?

The animated sequel sets up a tug-of-war between physical and digital play for children but is still eager not to be an anti-tech screed

For more than 30 years, Pixar’s signature Toy Story series has been entertaining children while giving voice to their parents’ anxieties. This is especially pronounced in the film’s sequels, as the living toys who dedicate their lives to the happiness of their owner/child experience all different sorts of potential and parent-paralleled obsolescence, from physical wear-and-tear and a child reaching young adulthood to the toy equivalent of empty-nesting (still hanging around the playroom but no longer anyone’s favourite). It’s only natural – maybe even a little belated – that Toy Story 5 would address the encroachment of technology, which continues to make its way to children earlier and earlier. So many years after the tech breakthroughs that allowed Toy Story to become the first computer-animated feature, and Pixar to become a household name in family entertainment, has the formerly Steve Jobs-owned company turned against the kind of innovation that built its success?

Timeline: Investigating the Long Island serial killings

What began as a search for one missing woman — Shannan Gilbert — led to multiple bodies and the capture of Rex Heuermann.

Iran says it is closing strait of Hormuz over Israeli strikes in Lebanon

Unclear if threat has been carried out or if move will jeopardise talks with US scheduled for Sunday

Iran has said it is closing the strait of Hormuz after waves of Israeli strikes in Lebanon in a move that threatens to derail the fragile interim peace deal with the US, signed just days ago.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned ships not to approach the strategic waterway, which before the war carried a fifth of global oil and liquid gas supplies, citing what it called Israeli crimes in Lebanon and a US violation of commitments to establish a ceasefire there.

Bolivian president declares state of emergency and deploys military to quell anti-government protests

Bulldozers sent in to clear roadblocks that have stifled the country as farmers and Indigenous groups protest against conservative president

Bolivia’s president declared a state of emergency on Saturday and deployed soldiers and bulldozers to raze anti-government roadblocks that have paralysed the country.

For more than six weeks, unions, Indigenous groups and coca farmers have marched through cities and blocked roads across the country with rubble, logs and debris in protest against the conservative government.

‘Stung’ Spain have digested shock start but know repeat is not an option

European champions were frustrated by Cape Verde and know there is little margin for error against Saudi Arabia

Cape Verde are not the only ones to have kept Spain out at this World Cup. Turns out it was even harder to get past security on the gate of the team hotel in downtown Chattanooga. Two days after the 0-0 draw in their opener, Luis de la Fuente gave his players the day off, a chance to clear their heads and leave the disappointment behind. Lamine Yamal went to Nashville, Dani Olmo headed for Hamilton Place mall and Rodri strolled the Tennessee river with his partner. When Borja Iglesias got back before the 9pm curfew, they didn’t recognise him and wouldn’t let him in.

“It was funny,” Iglesias said, standing at the side of the pitch at Kennesaw State University 30 miles north-west of Atlanta on Saturday, moments before the selección’s final session in preparation for their second game. “It happens to me in Spain, so how could it not happen here? I didn’t have the accreditation with me so I have to wait for someone to come and get me. Lamine laughed at me: ‘I love it, they didn’t let you in.’ The good thing is I told a couple of them and they said it had happened to them before too.”

How Europe’s EV makers shrank their product to challenge the bloated SUVs

Smaller, cheaper cars built for narrow city streets are becoming more stylish – but require careful design decisions

The winding backstreets of London, Paris and Rome are a large part of their charm. But they are also a problem for electric carmakers. For a long time, squeezing big batteries into smaller, cheaper cars to fit European streets was too much of a problem, so manufacturers focused on bloated SUVs instead.

But that is finally changing. Battery technology has improved and Europe’s carmakers havecut manufacturing costs enough that they can now sell cars that might have a chance of fitting down a medieval lane or two.

Royal Ascot draw bias left too many with raw deal in otherwise stellar week

It is difficult for the meeting to sell itself as the pinnacle of Flat racing if so many of its races favour runners on one side of the track

Big numbers were something of a theme at Royal Ascot this year. Aidan O’Brien became the first trainer to saddle 100 winners at the meeting when Scandinavia took the Gold Cup on Thursday. Attendances were up throughout the week leading up to Saturday’s annual sell-out, by an average of 3.5% and the high-numbered stalls carried all before them on the straight course, with one winner after another powering up to the line against the near-side rail.

There are always talking points after a meeting like Royal Ascot, where the occasion and competition are so intense that everything feels exaggerated. This time around, there was a team tactics debate on Tuesday, as Christophe Soumillon picked up an eight-day ban for riding Puerto Rico “in a manner to assist” Gstaad in the St James’s Palace Stakes, though the decision is subject to an appeal to be heard this week. There was a furore, too, after Juan Hernandez was allowed to weigh in again after an easy win on Bacio in the last race on Friday, having being light first time round.

Survivors speak up to help convict man of murder, sexual assault

David Pearce was convicted of first-degree murder for the deaths of Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales after a night of partying in Los Angeles. He was also found guilty of raping seven other women who came forward to testify at his trial.

US Open glory beckons for Wyndham Clark with six-shot lead going into final round

• Gritty display leaves American in complete control

• Scheffler closest threat after McIlroy charge fades

Wyndham Clark’s lead shrank, then grew, then all but swallowed the tournament whole. The 2023 US Open champion watched a four-shot advantage get cut in half on Saturday while still on the first hole, only to respond with a masterclass in survival golf as Shinnecock Hills finally delivered the bruising examination players had anticipated all week.

By day’s end, Clark had stretched his lead to a yawning six shots despite shooting an even-par 70. Scottie Scheffler’s one-under 69 was enough to emerge as the closest pursuer, but the world No 1 will begin Sunday’s final round needing something extraordinary to prevent Clark from capturing America’s national championship for a second time in four years.

Trump says several people arrested for alleged vandalism of Reflecting Pool

President Trump claims the problems with the Reflecting Pool in Washington are due to vandalism.

Ukraine war briefing: Drones strike Russia’s Tyumen oil refinery 2,000km away, says Zelenskyy

Reports from Siberia confirm attack, while Ukrainian president says new weapon has 3,000km range; occupied Crimea under attack. What we know on day 1,579

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has confirmed that Ukrainian drones attacked an oil refinery in Russia’s Tyumen region ⁠in western Siberia, ⁠more ​than 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Ukraine. He said Ukrainian company Fire Point had developed new long-range drones capable of ⁠travelling more than 3,000km and they had been “successfully deployed”. In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy thanked the Ukrainian ⁠military for special operations that “have reached Tyumen Region in Russia, including ​an oil refining facility. More ‌than 2,000km from ‌our state border. This is effective work.”

Unverified videos posted online showed smoke and flame rising over what was said to be the burning Tyumen refinery, also known as the Antipinsky refinery. The Tyumen governor, Alexander Moor, claimed emergency services were working at the site of “fallen [drone] debris” – a phrasing often used by Russian officials to play down successful Ukrainian attacks.

Ukraine’s forces struck an oil terminal at Kerch in occupied Crimea over Saturday night, according to Ukrainian media and online accounts monitoring the war. Nasa satellite monitoring showed a fire at the Kerch seaport where the terminal is located. In what appeared to be a broader wave of strikes against Russian-held targets in Crimea, an electrical substation at Bilohorsk was reportedly on fire, and there were other attacks at Yevpatoria and the main city of Sevastopol.

Russian ⁠forces struck the ⁠south-eastern Ukrainian ⁠city of ​Zaporizhzhia with glide ⁠bombs on Saturday, killing five ⁠people ​and ‌injuring 10, said Ivan Fedorov, the regional governor. Fedorov said there ‌had been nine strikes ​in the city. He ⁠said residents could ​be ​trapped ​in the ​rubble ‌of ​damaged buildings.

Near the Russian border, a bomb attack killed ​one person on the ​outskirts of the city of ​Sumy, local officials said. In the southern Kherson region, the regional ​governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said ‌one person had ​died in ​a drone attack on a village north of the region’s main city, also called Kherson. Three children were injured when the central city of Poltava came under Russian shelling, local officials said.

Russian bombs struck an apartment building on Saturday in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, killing at least one person and wounding nine including a six-year-old child, authorities said.

Curaçao stand firm and claim historic first World Cup point against Ecuador

It’s doubtful whether many Ecuador supporters – or many others for that matter – had ever heard the name Eloy Room before this match. They will never forget it now.

Watched by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands in the stands, the Curaçao goalkeeper etched his name into the pantheon of World Cup legends with what must rank as one of the most heroic performances in the long history of the competition.

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.

6/20: CBS Weekend News

Vice President JD Vance heads to Switzerland for peace talks with Iran; President Trump defends his beautification push in Washington, D.C.

England offer rare peek behind the curtain with no place to hide under Tuchel

There was more insight at the World Cup training base than usual with intensity on the rise under Thomas Tuchel

The tall hooded figure kept barking instructions under a hot Missouri sun. Thomas Tuchel was looking for perfection as preparations for Ghana geared up. England’s head coach watched from a distance at first but it was not long before he was making sure the training drill was up his standards.

Tuchel, wearing a hoodie to protect himself from the UV rays, loomed over a group made up of Elliot Anderson, Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon, Marcus Rashford, Djed Spence and Ollie Watkins. This was a rare peek behind the curtain. At international tournaments there are days when journalists are allowed to watch 15 minutes of open training. They are often anodyne experiences, limited to a bit of jogging around, maybe a glimpse of a rondo if you’re lucky, but there was more insight at England’s base in Kansas City on Saturday morning. Mannequins were carefully arranged in four zones and it soon became clear there is no hiding place when Tuchel is watching.

Man charged after series of attacks across Edinburgh

Police Scotland arrested 36-year-old man after five people were injured, with counter-terrorism investigators brought in

Police Scotland said a man was charged after a series of attacks in Edinburgh on Friday night.

Counter-terrorism officers were brought in to investigate the attacks in which five people were injured.

Historic D.C. castle reopens after extensive renovation

The historic Smithsonian Castle in Washington, D.C., which closed for a multi-year renovation, has temporarily reopened to the public for America's 250th anniversary. Natalie Brand has more.

Despite dip in gas prices, many still feeling economic pinch going into summer travel season

U.S. drivers are feeling less pain at the pump than in recent months. But for many, it's tough to feel a change. Max Darrow has more.

Iran reportedly closes Strait of Hormuz again as Vance heads to Switzerland for talks

Iran's joint military command said the closure was in response to continued Israeli military operations in Lebanon.

King Charles to publish personal tax bill in first for UK head of state

Buckingham Palace says move is intended to increase ‘clarity and accessibility’ of monarchy’s finances

King Charles will become the first head of state to reveal their personal tax bill in what the palace said was an attempt to enhance the transparency of royal finances.

Charles, 77, will publish his financial details as part of the royal household increasing the “clarity and accessibility” of the monarchy’s finances by producing a new report on the subject.

Deniz Undav’s double earns Germany dramatic late win against Côte d’Ivoire

Some footballing stereotypes just will not fade away. Germany may no longer be the mirthless, methodical winning machine who would slowly maul their opponents until they inevitably engineered victory, but, evidently, they still know how to fashion match-winners from final moments.

Consequently, the Germans will play in the World Cup knockout stages for the first time in 12 years after another victory at the death. Côte d’Ivoire had gone ahead in a lively encounter on Saturday through Franck Kessié’s 30th-minute goal for Les Éléphants. But it was cancelled out by Deniz Undav’s 68th-minute equaliser and 94th-minute winner for Die Mannschaft.

LAPD releases footage of moment officers shot and killed woman’s dog

After Jameson the dog, wearing a blue Knicks jersey, walked out into the hallway, an officer fired his pistol four times

The Los Angeles police department has released footage of the moment when officers shot and killed a woman’s dog in the hallway outside her apartment in the Canoga Park neighborhood.

Police had responded to reports of a woman screaming on 13 June, which turned out to be cheering, the night that the New York Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs to win the NBA finals.

Sophia Dunkley smashes England past Scotland as T20 World Cup winning run goes on

• Group 2: England, 200-5, bt Scotland, 162-7, by 38 runs

• Three wins out of three for hosts who top Group 2

England’s grudge match against Scotland at Headingley ended in a convincing win for the World Cup hosts by 38 runs, to ensure they maintained their position atop Group B.

England were without their captain Nat Sciver-Brunt, who is missing this match and Wednesday’s game against West Indies after aggravating her existing calf injury. Sciver-Brunt is England’s best batter, and has looked it so far in this World Cup with scores of 46 and 48, so there was some concern as to how the lineup might fare in her absence.

Goolagong review – a lovely tribute to an Aboriginal tennis legend

She won seven grand slams, was ranked world No 1 and riled up Billie Jean King. But did this worthy yet syrupy drama really need to show her as a child hitting a ball against a wall with a plank of wood quite so many times?

Goolagong opens to the soulful strains of Ann Peebles proclaiming: “It’s your thing – do what you wanna do!” It feels a little on the nose as a way to soundtrack an inspirational sporting drama, as Australia’s Evonne Goolagong (played by Lila McGuire) steels herself for her first ever Wimbledon match. (For the uninitiated: not only was Goolagong the first Aboriginal player to compete in tennis’s most prestigious tournament, but she would go on to win the ladies’ singles title twice, in 1971 and 1980, plus a doubles win in 1974. She won seven grand slams in total and was – for a time – ranked world No 1.) This three-part drama from Australia’s ABC is sometimes saccharine, and the opening sequence of a teenage Evonne wandering starry-eyed through the corridors of the All England Club – portraits of former winners on the walls – feels heavy-handed. More difficult themes do come to the fore in time, but Goolagong is largely an unapologetic, flashback-heavy tribute to a sporting legend. It’s beautifully drawn, but do we really need to watch the primary school-aged Evonne (a cherubic Eloise Hart) hit a ball against a wall with a plank of wood this many times?!

Sadly, being a woman in sport – or maybe just a woman in the world – Goolagong would go on to apparently suffer financial abuse and sexual harassment at the hands of her coach, Vic Edwards. The contrast between those fluffier scenes and the unwanted advances of Marton Csokas’s slippery Edwards feels like a screeching handbrake turn. Not least because we see Edwards move Goolagong from her happy but impoverished Wiradjuri family in rural Barellan, New South Wales – with a population in the hundreds – into his family home in Sydney at 14, grooming her for sporting fame but also maybe just grooming her full stop. But – as uncomfortable as that segue is – it is her reality. “When it stops being fun, come home,” Evonne’s mother tells her, with more than a little foreshadowing on the part of the writers. Later, after family tragedy and chicanery on Edwards’s part, Evonne will echo those words, declaring that tennis is “not fun any more”, ruined by the selfishness of her mentor.

Goolagong aired on BBC Four and is on iPlayer now.

Jon Snow: A Last Big Story review – the finest swan song you could hope for

This documentary about the journalist’s Alzheimer’s soon takes a turn, as he hears of an unreported mining disaster and goes on the hunt for truth. It’s a dignified tale of a courageous, compassionate man

Jon Snow: A Last Big Story is a valediction that forbids mourning. The hour-long documentary follows the 78-year-old investigative journalist and former Channel 4 news anchor in the wake of his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease. During the course of one of his visits with his wife, Dr Precious Lunga, to family in Zambia, he gets wind of a story about a nearby environmental catastrophe involving a Chinese mining company that has gone virtually unreported. And so the documentary opens outwards and we see the man in his element as well as in the grip of what 850,000 Alzheimer’s sufferers in the UK alone, to say nothing of their carers, families and other loved ones, know to be an unforgiving, relentlessly worsening condition.

Early on, Snow asks with interest and no disquiet what the people with cameras around him are doing. “We’re making a film about your career,” his interviewer, Laura, explains. “And who you are now.” “Lumme!” says Snow, the son of a bishop. “How nice!” As they travel in a car together a little later, he leans forward and says politely: “I’ve forgotten your name already … ?” “Laura,” she tells him. “Lovely,” he says, sitting back. “I’m Jon.”

This week on "Sunday Morning" (June 21)

A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the Emmy-winning program, hosted by Jane Pauley.

DOJ memo stokes fear among disability advocates of a return to institutionalization

The Justice Department's opinion challenges civil rights protections that have long treated the institutionalization of disabled Americans as a last resort.

The moment I knew: At the arrivals hall I was overcome with doubt. Then I saw him waiting, holding a red rose

At the beginning of her relationship with Dave, Barbara Reszke was sceptical. But when he joined her in Mexico, a wave of relief and excitement washed over her

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

In 1992, I travelled from Adelaide to Poland to reconnect with my extended family. One afternoon, I came across a newspaper advertisement for the Warsaw Summer Jazz Days festival. On a whim, I decided to go, hoping to see Jack Bruce perform songs from his Cream days.

It was a Sunday afternoon and I arrived early at the concert hall. As I made my way to the bar, I overheard an Englishman struggling to order hamburgers. I stepped in to help, placed the order in Polish, turned to him and said, “She’ll be right, mate. Just pay the money, the food will be ready in 10 minutes.”

Heather Mitchell: ‘I got the biggest reaction for playing Donald Trump – but I really enjoyed playing Bill Clinton’

The stage and screen actor on her annoyingly nice co-star Hugo Weaving, her talent for toast art, and the time a tarot reader said she’d ruin her husband’s life

You’re in a new TV show called The Killings at Parrish Station, playing a detective who is plagued by an unsolved mystery. What do you think is life’s greatest mystery?

I don’t want to say anything too obvious, like death, but it is such a mystery. It’s hard not to sound like a cliche, [but] the greatest mystery is: how does it all end?

‘A child goes to bed and doesn’t wake up’: the families left in shock after the sudden death of their healthy children

Sudden cardiac arrest is statistically rare but among the leading causes of death for children and young people. And families often have no idea of the risk until it’s too late

Before Alexandra Thoms goes to sleep, she puts together a flat-pack dining table with her father, Gordon. She needs the table for her otherwise sparse two-bedroom Melbourne apartment which she has moved into just weeks earlier.

At 23, Alexandra has met the milestones of an ambitious life at lightning speed. She is well travelled, has earned a double university degree and a graduate job at Deloitte. She is healthy; an avid skier and gymgoer. Now, she is also a homeowner. She didn’t have a formal housewarming, though, as most of her friends still live at home.

Writers’ festivals are the new raves – and as a born-again book reader I couldn’t be happier about the upsurge in collectivism | Clarke Gayford

From local book clubs to group sessions with authors, what’s driving people back to wood pulp and ink? I have a few ideas

The accident took place without warning during a holiday. The culprit: an Airbnb bedside table with no power outlet. A minor inconvenience forcing a mobile phone on its last gasp of ions into another room for the night.

While lying on the bed desperately trying to stem the terrifying rise of my own thoughts, it happened: I reached over and picked up a book.

A spate of shark bites has Australian ocean lovers on edge. People want to know why they’re rising

Warming ocean temperatures mean sharks are spending more time in high-population areas, yet shark net data shows no significant changes in numbers

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Rob Harcourt is heading back from a “beautiful surf” at Bondi on a warm and sunny winter’s morning in Sydney.

But for him and many of his surfing mates, the compelling pull of the city’s world famous surf breaks has been neutered by tragedy, fear and uncertainty.

Grand Canyon on ‘extreme heat’ watch, with temperatures set to soar

Temperatures could top 111F on Monday and Tuesday, after several recent deaths in park raise concerns over heat

Extreme heat is set to hit lower parts of the Grand Canyon from Monday, the US National Weather Service (NWS) warned, with temperatures projected to exceed 100F (37.7C).

An alert published on Saturday will be in effect from 10am local time on Monday through 7pm on Tuesday.

‘Yeah, we’ve missed him’: England hurt by loss of Ben Stokes, admits Josh Tongue

• Second Test D4: NZ 391 & 362; England 291 & 182-5

• Stokes hits 95 for Durham while England struggle

Josh Tongue admitted England have missed the influence of Ben Stokes after a day in which they crumbled to the brink of defeat in the second Test against New Zealand at the Oval. While they were doing so the team’s full-time captain, forced out of international duty for disciplinary reasons, was 275 miles north at Chester-le-Street, scoring a swashbuckling 95 for Durham in the County Championship.

England ended the fourth day on 182 for five, a distant 281 from victory, after the tourists scored 362 in their second innings. The home side have worked this week under the interim captaincy of Joe Root, on whose back their slender hopes once again lie, after he became the second player in Test history to pass 14,000 career runs on his way to an unbeaten 75,

Nothing succeeds like excess at Dolce & Gabbana’s Milan menswear show

Italian house’s catwalk emphasised the brand’s ‘molto sexy’ look with flamboyant, sometimes revealing outfits

Dolce & Gabbana leaned heavily into the art of theatrical misdirection on the second day of Milan fashion week as it aimed to draw attention away from its debt issues, catwalk controversies and management reshuffles.

On the catwalk its signature “molto sexy” Italian aesthetic that comes served with a generous scoop of la dolce vita was in full swing. This was Euro summer on steroids. There were clingy muscle vests and micro shorts that made short shorts look modest while some models simply went topless. Jeans came ripped, shredded or smothered in sparkling jewels while T-shirts featured everything from giant prints of Sicilian lemons and ancient amphitheatres to a mosaic depiction of Christ.

3 elderly hikers die on Grand Canyon's inner trails as temperatures spike

Emergency responders arrived to find the hikers already deceased on the trails, according to the National Park Service.

A Kennedy, a ‘nerd’, an ex-Republican and a tech target: New York races toward a House seat

In NY-12, four Democrats, including one Kennedy, are vying to replace Jerry Nadler – and potentially shake things up

When news broke that a safely Democratic seat in New York’s wealthiest congressional district was becoming vacant, it was inevitable that there would be a crowded field of candidates.

What people might not have expected is that the subsequent Democratic primary would become one of the country’s most closely watched and action-packed, the race coming to reflect a range of Democrats’ national political priorities: who is the strongest against Trump; who is the most critical of artificial intelligence companies; and who is, basically, the coolest.

Northampton crowned Prem champions after Hendy’s double sees off Exeter

• Prem final: Northampton 26-17 Exeter

• Chiefs lead 17-14 with 15 to go before Saints comeback

• Analysis: great entertainers provide fitting ending

A fast and furious Prem season was never going to end with a dull whimper. And when the dust finally settled on another frenetic encounter it was Northampton who stood tallest, propelled to their second domestic title in three years by two tries inside four minutes from their red-haired wing George Hendy, the player who also set up Alex Mitchell’s clinching try in his side’s 2024 victory over Bath.

It was not always the most error-free of games, but the helter-skelter action was never less than compelling. Exeter had edged in front thanks to a 51st-minute score from their captain, Dafydd Jenkins, with Northampton down to 14 men after Josh Kemeny’s yellow card. They reckoned without the energy of Henry Pollock and Hendy’s double whammy that propelled Saints over the line in a rugged encounter on a sweltering afternoon.

Nine people in critical condition after Bedford train crash kills driver

East of England ambulance service says number of people listed as seriously injured has increased to 32

Nine people are in a critical condition after the Bedford train crash that killed the driver of one of the trains, police have confirmed.

The total number of people listed as seriously injured has increased to 32, East of England ambulance service said on Saturday.

6/20: Saturday Morning

Questions surround the U.S.-Iran deal as Israel and Lebanon trade strikes. Meanwhile, the Ebola crisis continues to worsen in parts of Africa.

Trump loyalist Jim Jordan linked to group that received ‘dark money’ from ICE detention contractor

Report finds close ties between the Trump administration and Geo Group, which profits from anti-immigration crackdown

Jim Jordan is among the most famous names in this stretch of Ohio.

The congressman and chair of the powerful House judiciary committee is considered among the most conservative and influential members in Congress, and is a longtime loyalist of Donald Trump.

Spanish PM’s wife to stand trial on corruption charges and banned from leaving country

Begoña Gómez has been ordered to surrender her passport as her husband, Pedro Sánchez, says the case is politically motivated

A judge in Spain has ruled that the wife of socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez must stand trial on corruption charges and has banned her from leaving the country.

Begoña Gómez had previously been charged after a two-year investigation with embezzlement, influence peddling, corruption in business dealings and misappropriation of funds.

Burnham allies confident of No 10 ‘coronation’ after surge in backers

Some Labour MPs still want former mayor to face ‘scrutiny’ of ideas through contested leadership race

Allies of Andy Burnham are increasingly confident of a coronation-style transfer of power after the number of MPs backing him for the Labour leadership surged following his byelection victory.

Burnham and his team are understood to have spent the last few days enlisting the support of MPs and ministers, as he prepares to challenge Keir Starmer in the coming weeks.

Trump acknowledges ‘real problems’ at reflecting pool after $14m makeover, blaming ‘vandalism’

US president also claims vandals have been arrested, as Washington attraction sees algae bloom and peeling paint

Donald Trump has blamed “vandalism” for “real problems” at Washington’s reflecting pool after an algae bloom in the wake of a $14.2m renovation of the site he declared would turn it “American flag” blue. Paint has also been seen peeling off in the water. He also made claims that vandals had been arrested.

Days after his administration claimed the pool was actually “crystal clear”, despite an unmistakably green hue, the US president acknowledged issues – and, without evidence, blamed foul play.

Louisiana pastor sentenced to 80 years for sexually molesting two boys

Terry Reed, found guilty of rape and molestation of a juvenile, called ‘utter failure of a man’ by victim’s mother

A suburban New Orleans religious pastor has been sentenced to 80 years’ imprisonment after being convicted of sexually molesting two boys – the third time in which he was found guilty of abusing minors.

While Terry Reed received his punishment at a state court hearing on Thursday, the mother of one of his survivors read a victim-impact statement on behalf of her son which called him “an utter failure and a sorry excuse for a man”.

‘I’ve finally found God without all the extras’: behind the surge in people converting to Progressive Judaism

Despite an increase in antisemitism and anti-Jewish feeling in the UK, adult conversions are on the rise

For Elizabeth Arif-Fear, there was no single moment when she realised she wanted to be Jewish. “It was just a journey over time,” she says.

The 37-year-old interfaith activist was born Christian, then converted to Islam and was Muslim for 14 years, before realising that that faith was also not the right fit. Eventually, she found the answer she had been searching for in Judaism. “I feel I’ve finally found God without all the extras,” she says. “Without Jesus, without Muhammad.”

Brewers ace Misiorowski throws record 47 pitches of 101 mph or faster but ends with loss

• 24-year-old hits 104.2 mph in defeat to Braves

• Pitcher had given up one earned run over eight starts

Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy wanted to remind everyone after his team’s 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Friday night that Jacob Misiorowski is indeed human.

“He was great,” Murphy said of the 24-year-old ace. “He was dominant, fantastic. You know, you’re going to give up runs. You’re a human. Go back and look at some of the greats. They all gave up runs. We’re kind of shocked when he gives up a run.”

DC’s ‘renovated’ pool reflects the Trump administration’s dangerous hubris

When asked what his takeaways from the Iran war were, Trump said he believed there were no limits to his power

It’s been a busy week for the US’s birthday boy. First, there was the cage fight on the White House lawn, in honour of the United States’ 250th anniversary and Donald Trump’s 80th. Then, after watching sweaty men fight, the president flew to France to try to sort out the mess he’d helped create in the Middle East. I regret to inform you that despite Trump signing what Jimmy Kimmel called “the retreaty of Versailles”, it does not really look like the Iran war has been sorted out. Still, the president seems happy with himself. After Axios asked what his takeaways from the Iran war were, Trump said he believes there are “no limits” to his power.

‘Once my tummy stopped shaking, I was absorbed by the scale, spectacle and wonder’: your Steven Spielberg film favourites

We’ve already listed our writers’ all-timers, now Guardian readers get their say on the seminal director’s best blockbusters

ET is my favourite Spielberg film. It was the first I ever saw at the cinema, when I was eight years old, at Bolton Odeon in 1982. It was also the first film that made me cry – not just cry, but sob all the way home on the bus. I remember feeling completely confused by the fact that I was so happy and yet so sad at the same time. I watched the film with my mum and some of her friends from the Gingerbread Club, a single parents’ organisation that arranged social events and outings, mainly for single mothers. At a time when there was still a stigma attached to being a single parent, it provided a sense of community and support.

Opinion: Algae doesn't care about our party lines

President Trump's beautification project of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has become plagued with a robust algae bloom, despite a $14 million investment and a coating of "American flag blue."

Key Trump allies and Musk on leaked list for secretive Peter Thiel retreat

Figures including Jared Kushner and Scott Bessent named in directory of Dialog participants that was exposed online

A website leak has exposed participants in the secretive, Peter Thiel-founded Dialog retreats which includes top politicians from across the American divide, officials from foreign countries, other titans of the tech industry world and prominent media figures.

The annual Dialog retreats, which have been compared to other quasi-secret elite conferences like the Bilderberg Group and Bohemian Grove since they began in 2006, have had some participants revealed in previous media reports. Fairly little is known about the invitation-only event, which is usually held at luxury establishments around the world and features organized discussions on global affairs.

‘Like a bomb had gone off’: suspected arson attack fuels Glastonbury unease

Arrests after explosion and caravan fires heighten controversy over number of people living in vehicles

Jan Johnston was tucked up in the van she calls home when she was rocked by the explosion. “I heard this massive boom,” she said. “I came out and there was thick, black, billowing smoke. It was like a bomb had gone off.”

It turned out not to be a bomb, but a suspected arson attack on one of the many caravans, motorhomes and converted vehicles tucked away in side roads and industrial estates around the town of Glastonbury in Somerset.

Ralph Lauren bridges generations with menswear tie-up in Milan

Designer turns to the accessory that launched his empire as he invokes the golden age of Italian sport

For his second standalone menswear show in Milan, Ralph Lauren reverted to the accessory that launched his empire in 1967 – ties.

Skinny silk ties featuring subtle swirly prints were neatly knotted and used as the finishing touch to elegant pinstripe suits, while more brightly printed or striped cravats were whirled and worn like ties peeking out from under knitwear and rugby shirts.

‘It’s not science, it’s coercion’: health experts decry RFK Jr order on hantavirus quarantine

Kennedy overrides CDC order saying an American who came into contact with hantavirus can self-quarantine

The Trump administration is employing “authoritarian” and “unconstitutional” quarantine measures for at least one person who came into contact with a hantavirus patient, health law experts say.

The mandatory quarantine, reimposed without an offering scientific evidence, reveals how the US might approach future cases of Ebola and other pathogens in the US – and sets a precedent for detaining Americans with no scientific rationale.

Ten years on, has the Brexit vote helped or hindered the EU?

Some said Britain’s departure would bring down the union, but countries are still queueing to join

On the night of 23 June 2016, a storm broke out over Brussels. Rain poured and lightning flashed over the European Union headquarters. The next day dawned grey and calm, but the political weather was raging. Britain had voted to leave the EU.

Nigel Farage, then leader of the UK Independence party (Ukip), declared the EU “finished” and “dead”. France’s Marine Le Pen, the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders and Italy’s Matteo Salvini were among the far-right leaders who called for their countries to have a referendum.

Social media bans are trending. But it’s too late for my son and me | Dave Schilling

We’re both addicted to our screens. But at least we’re watching together – it’s dystopian bonding for the modern age

Try as I might, I think there’s no saving my son from modern technology. It’s ubiquitous, seductive and deeply ingrained in every aspect of middle-class life. Worse yet, I’m also addicted. When do I not have my iPhone out, desperately scrolling through a suite of apps, hoping they’ll offer me some manner of comfort from the security of my living room couch? Hours go by as I’m practically begging someone to notice me on Instagram, while he’s skipping from brainrot videos to basketball tutorials on our internet-connected TV. Ten years ago, I might have witnessed a scene like that and thought it was a sign of the end times. We’ve lost our way so much as a culture that a parent and a child can be simultaneously subsumed by screens, barely noticing the other person. But at some point, everyone realizes that the battle is lost. This is just how it is.

In spite of that grim diagnosis, Keir Starmer – who turned snatching defeat from the jaws of victory his personal brand – has made this losing battle a signature issue. This week, the British prime minister announced a comprehensive ban on social media for children under the age of 16. That includes Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, Snapchat and YouTube (though not the kids’ version). The ban is modeled on one currently deployed in Australia, which has holes wide enough to drive a fleet of vintage Sherman tanks through. Teenagers in Australia are finding ways around their ban already, and of course they are. When I was 15, if I wanted a six-pack of Budweiser or some of those tiny airplane liquor bottles, I could figure it out.

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

You may not sympathise with the Elbit four’s methods. But you should be outraged by their treatment under the law | Geoffrey Robertson

The jurors who found the pro-Palestine activists guilty of criminal damage had no idea their verdict would be treated as a verdict on terrorism

• Geoffrey Robertson KC is founding head of Doughty Street Chambers

In a London court in 1670, a judge, livid with the jury, locked them away for two days without food, water or even a chamber pot. The jury’s offence? Defying the judge’s direction to convict the Quaker William Penn – the future founder of Pennsylvania – charged with preaching sedition in the City of London. The foreman, Edward Bushell, would not yield and, when the matter reached the chief justice of England, he ruled that no juror could be punished for their refusal to convict, entitling a jury to decide according to its conscience, whatever the bench directed. A plaque honours Bushell at the Old Bailey, so jurors on their way inside may contemplate the man who secured their right to acquit.

The legal principle has held for three and a half centuries and, in my 50 years of practice, I have witnessed many juries bring back “sympathy verdicts”, that is, acquittals, because they think a defendant has been oppressively or unfairly prosecuted. But they are not usually reminded by barristers of their right to do so because of the profession’s concern that they should not be urging juries to lay aside the oath they took to decide according to the evidence.

A version of this article was originally published in The Key magazine

Geoffrey Robertson KC is founding head of Doughty Street Chambers and his latest book is World of War Crimes – Eyeless in Gaza and Beyond

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.

Skeleton of the world’s rarest marine mammal preserved by digital imaging

The reconstruction of the vaquita, whose numbers barely reach double figures in the wild, is designed to help research and conservation efforts

Scientists have created a digital reconstruction of the world’s most endangered marine mammal, preserving its anatomy in three dimensions to aid research and conservation efforts as the species teeters on the brink of extinction.

The project digitised the skeleton of a female vaquita, a small porpoise found only in Mexico’s northern Gulf of California, using a combination of medical imaging, ultra-high-resolution micro CT scans and photography.

These nuns spent a lifetime helping others. In their last years, who will help them?

The sisters of Uganda are teachers, health-care advocates and more. Those who are in their twilight of their life need help. Who will come to their aid?

The Uplift: Graduates share the stage

A Maryland mom has an extra reason to be proud on her son's graduation day. She gets to cross the stage and receive her diploma alongside him. Plus, Spellman College, an HBCU in Atlanta, celebrates seven women at the top of the 2026 graduating class.

Tay Keith, Grammy-nominated producer, found dead in Nashville at 29

Record producer Tay Keith was found dead in his Nashville home by officers performing a welfare check, police said.

Iran says Strait of Hormuz shut as U.S.-Iran talks set for Sunday in Switzerland

U.S. and Iranian teams are set to hold "technical-level" talks, according to Pakistan's foreign ministry. But fighting in Lebanon and claims over the Strait of Hormuz threaten a tentative agreement.

‘You don’t have to go to special places to find beauty’: Takeshi Aruga’s best phone picture

The furniture designer turned photographer was drawn to the colourful geometry of a multistorey car park in Japan

Takeshi Aruga was en route from hospital back to his home in Okegawa, Japan, when he took this photograph. He’d had a consultation with a dermatologist, and while his house was a couple of miles away, good weather encouraged him to walk. Along the way, he passed PAPA Ageo, a sizeable shopping centre popular with locals. This blue sign board outside the multistorey car park caught his eye.

“On the side visible to drivers coming down, it usually displays a message like ‘Thank you for visiting’ along with directions for turning left or right to avoid traffic congestion,” Aruga says. “Just behind is a red box, likely for a fire extinguisher.”

Christopher Harry on the dangers of seaside holidays – cartoon

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Palestinian-American kids find inspiration, and escape, on the soccer pitch

A dozen miles away from the World Cup games in New York/ New Jersey Stadium, Palestinian-American kids turn to soccer as an escape from the realities of war.

A viral doomsday scenario aims to shake Europe out of its AI complacency

Does a thought-experiment about US ascendancy in the technology say as much about AI jitters as it does about the reality?

It’s 2031 and the US and China are about to tear Europe into pieces.

The US ploughed vast sums into datacentres and the EU did not. China built robots and Europe did not. American companies “restructured” their workflows around AI and fired people, while EU workers went on long lunch breaks and handed over administrative tasks to the AI model Claude.

Motorway traffic drones are coming to UK roads, but will they drive us to distraction?

National Highways agency uses virtual reality test to see if drivers are distracted by introduction of low-flying drones

I’m barrelling down the motorway at 70mph, swerving from lane to lane, with cars speeding past me. There’s just one problem, I don’t have a driving licence.

Or at least it would be a problem were this a real road test. But despite the life-like surroundings, I am in fact trialling a complex simulation created by virtual reality company MXT on behalf of National Highways, the government-owned agency responsible for the UK’s major roads.

Frank Bowling: ‘Guiltiest pleasure? Sixteen-year-old whisky. My doctor says I shouldn’t’

The artist on his need for order, an embarrassing Christmas costume, and the people he hopes to meet in heaven

Born in British Guiana (now Guyana), Frank Bowling, 92, moved to the UK aged 19 and did national service in the RAF. In 1962, he graduated from the Royal College of Art with the silver medal for painting. He moved to New York in 1966, where he was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship, and exhibited his “map paintings” at the Whitney Museum in 1971. In 2005, he became the first black artist to be elected a Royal Academician, and Tate Britain staged a retrospective in 2019. His exhibition, Seeking the Sublime, is at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, until January 2027. He lives in London with his wife.

When were you happiest?
Recently, as people began to understand what I am trying to do in my painting.

Granta stops publishing short story award winners over AI controversy

Literary magazine will no longer engage in ‘external publishing partnerships’ after Commonwealth prize furore

The prominent literary magazine Granta will no longer publish the winning entries of the annual Commonwealth short story prize after one of this year’s winners drew widespread accusations of AI use.

The magazine said it would no longer be involved in “external publishing partnerships” in which it had no editorial control.

A California man's case highlights gaps in care and oversight at DHS detention centers

Federal officers shot Ricardo Parias eight months ago during an ICE operation to detain him. His lawyer says he is still in pain, highlighting gaps in oversight and care in DHS facilities.

Candice Carty-Williams: ‘People feel very attached to Queenie’

The breakout success of her debut created a publishing scramble for Black writers, but has that appetite for diversity endured? Carty-Williams talks about wanting to quit the TV adaptation, why now is the perfect time for her sequel

One of the questions Candice Carty-Williams has spent the past few years batting away is whether she is Queenie. It is perhaps inevitable: her best­selling debut novel followed Queenie Jenkins, a twenty­something south London journalist navigating heartbreak, racism, terrible men and an escalating sense that her life was slipping beyond her control. Like Carty-Williams, Queenie is south London-born, Black and works in media.

It is a slightly predictable question, and one I avoid asking when we meet at her bright pink office in Peckham. But sitting opposite the 36-year-old, I can’t help but understand why it persists. Much like her most famous creation, she is instantly likable: warm, quick-witted and completely devoid of the self-seriousness that can sometimes come with literary success. She is disarmingly casual – her hair is wrapped up and under-eye patches are busy depuffing her face.

Manchester City close to financial settlement with Chelsea to appoint Enzo Maresca

• Chelsea demand compensation for former coach

• West London club insist Italian breached contract

Manchester City are close to reaching a financial settlement with Chelsea that will enable them to appoint Enzo Maresca as their manager.

Chelsea are demanding compensation from City to release Maresca as they believe they have evidence the Italian breached his contract at Stamford Bridge by talking to the club’s Premier League rivals when he was still their manager last season.

The hill I will die on: Going to a gig is an endurance test | Sasha Mistlin

Muddy sound systems, pricey tickets and a strong chance of getting showered with someone’s stale beer – give me a nice sit-down in a cinema any time

A few years back I went to see one of my favourite rappers, Earl Sweatshirt, at a venue in north London. The sound was so muddy I couldn’t tell which song he was playing. The setlist lurched between his old and new stuff in a way that did justice to neither. The bloke in front of me filmed the entire thing on a phone he was holding above his head for an Instagram story that will be watched by no one. With 45 minutes remaining, I wished I could leave. With 15 minutes left, I decided that making it to the nearest kebab shop before the rush meant more to me than seeing the end of the set.

As a culture journalist, I’ve been to a lot of gigs. Most of them were endured rather than enjoyed, and I secretly think it’s only the most extroverted (or simply least self-conscious) among us who actually feel otherwise. This is the dirty secret of the music industry, which has tackled economic headwinds mainly by transitioning out of actually selling music and into live events. This feeling has occasionally caused professional embarrassment for me, since I am forever inventing reasons to turn down what is supposedly one of the main perks of the job: free tickets.

Sasha Mistlin is a commissioning editor on the Guardian’s Saturday magazine

‘A kind of massive rave’: Paris braces for 2m revellers as Fête de la Musique returns amid heatwave warnings

Officials expand safety measures as French capital prepares for huge annual street celebration

Paris is preparing for a street party of unprecedented scale on Sunday, as more than 2 million people are expected to gather for the Fête de la Musique amid a huge influx of music fans from the UK and warnings of record temperatures.

France’s annual free street music festival, which has been running for more than 40 years, has grown into the country’s largest cultural event. What was previously a nationwide showcase for local and amateur talent – from village choirs to classical ensembles and techno acts in the capital – has evolved into a vast international open-air celebration.

David Guetta and Sia’s song Titanium got me through my fertility treatment

Hearing their in-your-face banger was a turning point for me – and I’ve never looked back

At the end of 2011, party season was under way but I was in no mood for festivities. Two years into fertility treatment, my body was pumped full of synthetic hormones and felt like a pin cushion, while my head was filled with both the fragile hope of having a baby, and the exhaustion of failed clinical attempts to do so.

I was in my late 20s. I met my husband when I was 22; we got married when I was 25. “I want to have kids young,” I’d told him. It was a feeling I’d harboured since my teenage years. But I’d also had the nagging sense that it might not come easily to me. As it turned out, my intuition was right. Approaching 28, I was a regular on the infertility merry-go-round.

‘It’s Russian roulette’: alarm as Europe backs critical minerals mines in water-stressed regions

Exclusive: European Commission planning to rewrite key law to allow water-intensive mines in regions suffering from drought

The European Commission plans to rewrite the EU’s flagship water protection law to speed up the development of critical minerals mines, despite many being located in drying and water-stressed regions, analysis has found.

Mining is a water-intensive industry, requiring large volumes of water for ore processing, dust suppression, waste management and mine dewatering. While modern projects recycle water, they still require significant amounts, and in water-stressed regions those demands can add to pressure on already stretched rivers, aquifers and water supplies.

Would You Rather: Decide to Survive – Romesh Ranganathan’s gameshow is so low-effort it’s almost avant garde

In a modern twist on It’s a Knockout, the comedian makes online stars do ludicrous tasks. The whole thing looks like it cost £420 to cobble together – and it will make you feel 100 years old

I felt 100 years old this week, watching a new gameshow on Prime Video which features 10 famous online stars, zero of whom I’ve heard of. To me, YouTubers always have names that sound like MSN Messenger handles, stuff like Fruit-Nut and Palzone and Kevin the Rotator. Anyway, lining up to compete in Would You Rather we have King Kenny, Bambino Becky, Stephen Tries, Elz the Witch and Chunkz, as well as some others I didn’t write down because I had to lie down.

The show’s full name is Would You Rather: Decide to Survive (Prime Video, from 26 June), which is misleadingly hardcore. I assumed it would be an offshoot of SAS: Who Dares Wins. I expected scaffolders shimmying down gym ropes, enhanced interrogation, people getting dysentery after drinking from rivers. And, well, it is a mostly physical elimination contest, hosted by Romesh Ranganathan. Two teams face off, but in ludicrous challenges inspired by a staple of leisurely conversation: Would you rather X or Y?

Andy Burnham has shown that he can win. But can he govern Britain? | Gaby Hinsliff

Having literally campaigned in poetry, the new Makerfield MP needs a summer of knuckling down to the small print

By the end, it had become less a byelection, more a mythical quest. Whoever could draw the sword from Makerfield’s stone – or more prosaically, beat Reform in a seat where it practically swept the board in last month’s local elections – would claim the divine right to rule the Labour party. And lo, on Friday morning, Andy Burnham became the chosen one.

He carries the magic shield of not being from Westminster – though that won’t last, obviously – plus the easy warmth with people that Keir Starmer lacks, and the rare ability to generate excitement in politics. Reform is beatable, and the sun shines brighter for knowing that. A third successive defeat for Nigel Farage in a winnable byelection, after losing Caerphilly to Plaid Cymru and Gorton and Denton to the Greens, suggests a trend, not a fluke.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

Tim Dowling: Help! I’m being held hostage by a car salesman

We’re trying to buy an electric car. But my bank and the showroom ‘manager’ have other ideas

It is a rainy Monday morning and my wife and I are in a car dealership about a mile from home, walking around a shiny new vehicle and peering into its windows.

“It looks bigger than our car,” she says.

I dived into my digital past to revisit my most cringe teenage moments – and realised how lucky I am to not be young and online today

Twenty years ago I briefly became the victim of a viral pile-on – all because of a silly YouTube video. But I’m glad I had the chance to embarrass myself and move on. Are today’s teens so fortunate?

As a teenager, I went kind of viral – and the most amazing thing about that is it had absolutely zero effect on my life. It was the summer holidays in 2006, and my friends Jessie, Emma and I decided to film ourselves singing along to our favourite song. We were overheated and hyperactive, jumping up and down and headbanging, stretching our arms to the heavens as we confessed to our mamas that we’d “just killed a maaaaaan” before asking Scaramouche if he’d do the fandango.

Later, I added a couple of captions to the video implying we were drunk, even though I was 14 and the closest I’d been to buzzed was the pure placebo of clutching a glass bottle of J2O. Then – for reasons that are now lost to me – I uploaded the video to YouTube a month later, on 19 September 2006, under the title “Bohemian Crap-sody”.

Inexperience review – this ‘no-contact’ romance is incredibly touching

Pitlochry Festival theatre
Writer Douglas Maxwell’s playful conceit sparks a funny and superbly acted exploration of messy relationships

There is a clever conceit underlying Douglas Maxwell’s sparky romantic comedy. It imagines the possibility of a sexually charged relationship being sustained without physical contact. Played out on stage, this improbable idea hits home on two levels.

Meeting at a 21st birthday party in 1995, two students – one law, one media studies – agree to maintain the erotic anticipation of their first encounter by never touching each other. If they ever do, the relationship will be over.

Catastrophising about the cat: the Becky Barnicoat cartoon

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‘That penalty changed my life’: Panenka’s pride 50 years on from special spot-kick

Czech’s audacious defiance of Sepp Maier in Belgrade has slipped into football folklore: ‘The only disadvantage is that I don’t get any royalties from it’

Antonin Panenka laughs like a bear might, a low rumble, suggesting mischief among the memories. He is sat in an office at Bohemians football club in Prague, recounting the story of his impudent, revolutionary penalty that not only won the 1976 European Championship for Czechoslovakia against West Germany but soured his relationship with the goalkeeper his spot-kick humiliated, Sepp Maier. “He went 35 years without uttering a single word to me,” he smiles.

But the feud went much deeper. “I read some articles that he even had a shooting target in his garage with my face on it that he used to fire darts at. We get on well enough now though.”

Can we electrify the world? Ambition moves from nerdish backwater to centre stage

Apart from effort to electrify, there were geopolitical tensions around climate science and the 1.5C goal at pre-Cop31 climate talks

Electrifying the world – with electric vehicles, electric heating and cooling, and modernised heavy industry – could be the next biggest step towards phasing out fossil fuels, replacing the 80% of global energy that still comes from hydrocarbons. As using electrical energy is much more efficient than combustion, the move would save billions of dollars for consumers and businesses – global energy demand could be halved, according to one estimate.

For decades, electrification has been a nerdish backwater of global climate action. But in the last two weeks, at preparatory talks in Bonn before the forthcoming UN Cop31 climate summit, the subject finally took centre stage.

Kennedy Center still weighing "partial closure," Trump admin. tells judge

The Trump administration told a federal judge that the Kennedy Center is still weighing whether to offer a full slate of performances or more limited programming over the coming months.

Given 8 months to live, a teen beat cancer thanks to an extraordinary friendship

In 2022, at the age of 14, Dylan Mwaniki was diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney cancer. Four years later, he graduated from high school.

James Burrows, co-creator of "Cheers" and prolific director, dies at 85

James Burrows directed more than 1,000 episodes of television, including every episode of the original "Will & Grace."

"Cheers" co-creator James Burrows dies at 85

Director James Burrows co-created the landmark comedy "Cheers" and directed more than 50 pilot episodes. He died at 85 on Friday.

U.S. clinches spot in World Cup knockout round with dominant win over Australia

In front of a roaring Seattle crowd, the U.S. men's soccer team​ on Friday defeated Australia in its second World Cup match, clinching a spot in the Round of 32 in the process.

Doctor goes above and beyond for her cancer patient, ending with a big surprise

Steve Hartman goes "On the Road" with a story of a teen battling for his life and the doctor who made him a promise.

Trump unveils new Air Force One, a $400 million plane gifted by Qatar

"This is considered the world's most luxurious plane," the president said in front of the enormous new jet.

Trump unveils new Air Force One, gifted from Qatar

President Trump unveiled what's meant to become the new Air Force One, a gift from the government of Qatar. Plus, new fighting erupted between Israel and Lebanon before they signed a new ceasefire. Nicole Killion has all this and more from the White House.

Investigators release final report on Camp Mystic flood disaster

Texas investigators gave their final word on the deadly flooding disaster at Camp Mystic that occurred on July 4, 2025. The camp's leadership failed in every way, from basic safety and emergency response, to reunifications with family members, according to a 115-page report. Jason Allen reports.

U.S. defeats Australia in World Cup, clinching spot in knockout round

For the first time since 1930, the U.S. Men have won their first two matches of a World Cup. They not only beat Australia, but also clinched a spot in the knockout round. Nicole Valdes has more.

Judge blocks DOJ from releasing Biden's conversations with biographer for 3 weeks

A judge on Friday cleared the way for the DOJ to disclose former President Joe Biden's conversations with his biographer to the Heritage Foundation. Later in the day, she blocked the release for three weeks.

Questions swirl after 1-year-old boy fatally shot by police in Mississippi

A police shooting in Senatobia, Mississippi, that left a 1-year-old child dead has ignited simmering tensions between police and Black residents in the small town.

James Burrows, director of classic shows 'Cheers' and 'Friends,' dies at 85

Burrows spent his career behind the camera specializing in situation comedies. Few viewers recognized him or knew his name, other than to see it flash quickly on the screen in the opening credits. But they knew his work.