Middle East crisis live: US renews strikes on Iran as Trump threatens to attack nuclear site ‘very heavily’

US military completes 11th night of strikes as attacks overshadow diplomatic efforts in Pakistan to salvage interim ceasefire deal

• Houthis threaten attacks on shipping tankers if they use Saudi ports on Red Sea

• What is Pickaxe Mountain, Iran’s underground nuclear facility?

The Jordanian army said it intercepted four Iranian missiles on Wednesday with two additional missile falling in an open area, AFP reports.

The two missiles that the army did not intercept fell in “two remote, uninhabited areas, without causing any human casualties or material damage” the army said in a statement.

Tropical Storm Bertha impacting northern Gulf Coast. See its path.

Tropical Storm Bertha is the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

World Cup 2026 awards: the Guardian team give their final tournament verdicts

The best games, goals and personal highlights – from a magical Azteca to Erling Haaland breaking America

Paraguay 1-1 Germany. There were plenty more games with more goals but none could match the drama of the penalty shootout in this last-32 tie. Germany aren’t supposed to lose in them but they did this time in spectacular fashion. Ed Aarons

‘I come from a murderer’: the woman who found out Charles Manson was her grandfather

Difficult new Hulu documentary follows a 26-year-old woman’s startling discovery that she’s related to the notorious, murderous cult leader

Sophia Maddox spent her life hearing from her father about how he had never met his father. He would tuck her into bed as a child, she said, and tell her about how much he wanted to know him.

Four years ago, following a match on a genealogy website, they finally learned the shocking truth: her father’s father – her grandfather – was Charles Manson, the notorious cult leader and criminal.

Why many Black Americans were rooting for Argentina to lose the World Cup | Etan Thomas

Many Black Americans were not cheering Spain’s complicated history. They were rooting against the racism, politics and silence associated with Argentina

There are moments in sports when you realize people aren’t just watching the score any more. They’re watching values. They’re watching who speaks. They’re watching who stays silent. And they’re watching what those silences say.

I found myself thinking about that throughout this World Cup. On paper, Sunday’s final looked simple. Spain v Argentina. Two footballing giants and countries with glorious soccer histories. Two nations whose pasts are also stained by colonization, oppression and chapters of history that shouldn’t be whitewashed simply because someone can score a goal.

Citizens United provision allowing foreign campaign contributions draws Democratic bill

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., want to establish foreign ownership thresholds for companies that spend on campaigns.

States want to bring Medicaid behind bars. Federal changes make that harder

Funding cuts and program changes required by President Trump's big budget law are forcing states to rethink bipartisan efforts to bring Medicaid into jails and prisons.

Trump has campaigned more so far in 2026 midterms than he did at this point in 2018

Heading to Georgia on Wednesday, President Trump is campaigning more often this year than he did in the same period for 2018 and has already rallied for a dozen candidates in toss-up races.

Norway’s national oil company profits double to $11.5bn amid war on Iran

Equinor benefits from move to increase oil and gas production during strait of Hormuz blockades

• Business live – latest updates

Profits at Norway’s state oil company nearly doubled to $11.5bn (£8.6bn) in the three months to the end of June as the jump in oil and gas prices caused by the war against Iran boosted earnings.

Equinor benefited from a decision to increase oil and gas production at the start of the conflict, filling a gap in the market after a near-halt to shipping through the strait of Hormuz caused Gulf oil flows to slump.

What is Pickaxe Mountain, the Iranian nuclear facility Trump is threatening to strike?

"We'll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily," President Donald Trump said about Iran's underground nuclear facility in Pickaxe Mountain.

OpenAI says its models went rogue and hacked startup in ‘unprecedented incident’

Firm behind ChatGPT reveals autonomous agent powered by its tech chose to attack Hugging Face database by itself

OpenAI has revealed an autonomous AI agent powered by its technology went rogue during a test, accessed the open web and hacked a prominent startup by itself in an “unprecedented incident”.

The company behind ChatGPT said Hugging Face had detected and contained the agent – an AI tool designed to carry out tasks without human assistance – which had entered its systems.

Trump-backed candidates, 2020 election deniers, win Arizona primaries

The primaries set the field for what are expected to be heated contests for Congress and governor in a swing state this fall.

The children who loved a killer

The Carr family took in Steven Judy, hoping to ‘save’ a troubled teen. They didn’t know he would become one of the most hated men in America

Childhood returns to Traci Carr in fragments.

Night-time. She is five. She wakes to shadows on the wall, her room strange in the dark. Her footie pyjamas slip against the wood as she pads downstairs and climbs into bed next to her foster brother, Steven Judy.

Venus, Vanishing by Rebecca Birrell review – art, desire and the rise of the Third Reich

This portrait of a Jewish painter in bohemian Berlin is filled with insightful observations

In the summer of 1937, two exhibitions sponsored by the Nazis opened in Munich. For the Degenerate Art exhibition, hundreds of confiscated works by banned modern artists – including Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Pablo Picasso – were gathered: a derisive demonstration of the supposedly anti-German spirit of contemporary culture. The show was also meant as a counterpoint to the first Great German Art Exhibition, essentially an art fair for state-sanctioned work, which ran annually until 1944. The official style of Aryan art was traditionalist neoclassicism; popular subjects included idealised female nudes, pastoral landscapes and heroic battle scenes. Hitler was among the main buyers. You probably haven’t heard of any of those artists.

What if one of them were secretly a Jew, working under a pseudonym? Rebecca Birrell’s debut novel imagines this scenario, telling the story of a fictional Jewish artist who comes of age in Berlin in the last days of the Weimar republic. Hannah Sherman is working as a seamstress for the family business when she learns that she is about to be married off. She runs away, finding lodgings using the “desirable Christian” name of Schmidt, and begins to realise her artistic ambitions. A free-thinking New Woman, she also takes two lovers: Saul, a museum curator, and Charlotte, a dancer at a lesbian bar where Hannah likes to sketch.

India’s Rahul Gandhi briefly detained as cockroach protests rock Delhi

Opposition leader taken away after accusing Narendra Modi of ‘destroying the future of India’s youth’

Indian police briefly detained the opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, during protests calling for the resignation of Narendra Modi in solidarity with the new youth-led “cockroach” movement.

Gandhi, the leader of India’s Congress party, was forcefully removed by police as he staged a sit-in outside the prime minister’s house in Delhi on Tuesday afternoon, accusing Modi of “destroying the future of India’s youth”.

3 soldiers killed in Iran strike on base in Jordan were from Texas, Hawaii, N.Y.

U.S. forces launched a new round of airstrikes against Iran at the direction of President Trump following the deaths of three U.S. soldiers in an Iranian strike in Jordan.

A Toxic Love Story review – this astonishing real-life saga will leave you goggle-eyed and barely breathing

In a jaw-dropping return to true-crime form, Netflix’s new documentary delves into the Anaheim Craigslist case – and it’s a horrifying monster indeed

The sound of barrel-scraping during true-crime documentaries is becoming more and more frequent at Netflix these days (the dismal Worst Neighbor Ever being the most recent case in point). Such are the perils of being the pioneer of a form; you run out of material first but must keep trying to recapture past glories while you search desperately for another way to seize the fickle audience’s attention once again.

A Toxic Love Story is a welcome, if doubtless temporary, return to form. It is a rigorous, 88-minute recounting of an astonishing story that became notorious about 10 years ago in the US and was known as “the Anaheim Craigslist case” or “the Anaheim Craigslist rape fantasy case”, depending on just how many local Craigslist-based delinquencies were occurring at the exact time of reference. It has, after all, been the most criminally fertile of lists.

World Cup, Ballon d’Or, Champions League, Euros … has Rodri completed football? | The Knowledge

Plus: the most World Cup assists, Ballon d’Or winners with fewest caps and what happens to World Cup balls?

• Mail us with your all of your questions and answers

“Adding the World Cup to his résumé means Rodri has now won the World Cup, the European Championship, the Champions League, and the Ballon d’Or,” writes Owen Bagnall. “Has anyone else ‘completed football’ like this?”

They have but it’s a small, elite list.

Mamdani urges US government to arrest Netanyahu if Israeli PM visits US

New York mayor admits he does not have authority to arrest Netanyahu, adding Israeli PM is ‘architect of a horrific genocide’

Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, acknowledged on Tuesday he does not have the authority to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, but urged US federal authorities to do so if the Israeli prime minister visits the US later this year.

“Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal, the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people,” Mamdani said in a video posted to social media.

Zelenskyy ousts Ukraine’s army chief as protests expose wartime power struggle

The reshuffle comes after almost a week of nationwide unrest and represents one of the biggest political crises since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

How do animals feel about stuff? Is this the most important question of our age? | First Dog on the Moon

In a bizarre and possibly adorable experiment in the UK, a bunch of creature enthusiasts volunteered to live for six weeks as wild animals

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Mamdani says New York City can't arrest Netanyahu but the federal government should

New York Mayor Mamdani said the city would not be able to execute an arrest warrant issued by the top war-crimes court for Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, but urged the federal government to do so.

On the Sea review – tender fishermen’s boat-based tale of forbidden love far from prying eyes

Away from the disapproval of their Welsh fishing community, two men embark on a passionate affair in Helen Walsh’s poignant drama

Barry Ward brings sincerity and force to this well-intended, well-acted Brokeback drama of forbidden love in a remote north Wales fishing community. It comes from writer-director Helen Walsh, who is that rare and valuable figure in the arts world: a novelist who is of equal status as an original film-maker. (Her debut feature The Violators came out 11 years ago.)

Ward plays Jack, a middle-aged man beset with cares. He is getting too old for the hard physical labour of raking mussel beds; he co-owns this business jointly with his quarrelsome, boorish brother Dyfan (Celyn Jones), who resents the time Jack has spent away from work receiving treatment for cancer which is now in remission. Jack has been with his wife Maggie (Liz White) since they were 16; they are both concerned about their son Tom (Henry Lawfull) getting into bad company and failing to help with the mussel business – although they both like Tom’s smart, level-headed girlfriend Lois (a small role for Leisa Gwenllian, the star of the recent Welsh-language drama Effi o Blaenau).

‘It’s truly hell here’: airstrikes, repression and water shortages become ‘new normal’ for Iranians

Iranians describe how daily life is becoming ever harder as conflict continues and human rights crisis worsens

As US airstrikes hit port and inland cities in Iran, and Tehran strikes at the US’s Middle East allies, the escalating conflict has left many Iranians fearing that, amid war and a worsening human rights crisis, they remain trapped in a cycle of violence and repression with no way out.

Bandar Abbas, on the strait of Hormuz and the headquarters of the Iranian navy, has been hit by strikes every night since the latest escalation began nearly two weeks ago. Soroush*, a writer based in the city who secretly publishes a newsletter documenting human rights violations in Iran, described a “new normal” for its residents.

‘I was full of fears’: the story of a premature birth – in pictures

João Linneu’s raw and intimate photographs capture his partner and child as they navigate isolation, lumbar punctures and even a lightning storm

French lawmakers approve a sweeping social media ban for children under 15

The move makes France the first country in the European Union to pass a blanket ban on platforms as concerns grow worldwide over the harmful effects of digital content on kids.

A moment that changed me: I painted a man’s portrait – and he hated it

I thought this commission would be straightforward. But my sitter’s response made me question my own attitude to my looks and body image

In September 2024, I was asked to paint the portrait of an 86-year-old man. He had apparently always wanted a formal portrait of himself, and a binge watch of Portrait Artist of the Year had finally spurred him to action. I had been receiving painting commissions for about three years, so I knew the drill: take receipt of a photo, render a painting that wouldn’t look out of place on a county cricket clubhouse wall, and pocket my semi-hard-earned money.

On this occasion, there were two immediate sticking points: first, the sitter wanted me to paint him in person, which would involve commuting to Reading from London and making small talk – to my mind the very worst of obligations. And second, to quote his WhatsApp message, he wanted me to “capture him”. How hard could that be, I thought?

Japan swelters through rising heat – in pictures

For Japan, days where the mercury soars above 40C now have their own term – kokushobi (酷暑日), or ‘cruelly hot day’, as rising temperatures cause heatstroke deaths and impact on crop yields across the country

• Japan records its first ‘cruelly hot day’ as cities swelter in 40-degree heat

Andy Burnham is playing the long game in an age of short attention spans | Rafael Behr

It is hard to make the case for a 10-year plan in our political culture of constant campaigning frenzy – but the new PM will try

It all sounded feasible but improbable. A few days after Labour’s disastrous performance in local and devolved elections in May, one of Andy Burnham’s allies confidently forecast for me the sequence of events that would convey the then mayor of Greater Manchester to No 10. A friendly MP would surrender a parliamentary seat. Keir Starmer would be persuaded to resign. Other leadership contenders would see the futility of resistance to the Burnham bandwagon. It would roll, unchallenged, up Downing Street. It was a plan with many moving parts, and a lot that could go wrong.

That it all worked as predicted took more than luck. The Makerfield byelection was winnable for Labour only with the right candidate and a strong campaign. The scale of Burnham’s victory generated momentum sufficient to push other obstacles aside. The “Andy” brand was stronger than his party’s logo.

Rafael Behr is an Guardian columnist

‘Risking blackouts’? How Great Britain’s grid operator was dragged into a political row

Neso denies allegations aired by Tory MP that staff took part in cover-up over decision-making in heatwave

In a control room in Wokingham, Berkshire, staff work around the clock, minute by minute, to align Great Britain’s fluctuating power supplies with its ever-changing demand.

However, as households struggle to adapt to soaring summer temperatures, staff at the government-owned National Energy System Operator (Neso), tasked with keeping the lights on, have faced the kind of challenge usually reserved for the country’s coldest winter nights in recent weeks.

Lack of defibrillators could put 16m at risk of death by cardiac arrest in England and Wales

Exclusive: Research shows millions live more than a 1km round trip from 24/7 accessible device

More than 16 million people in England and Wales risk dying from a cardiac arrest because they live farther than a 1km round trip from the nearest 24/7 defibrillator, according to exclusive research.

Analysis of publicly available defibrillators by the Heart Restart campaign found that in England and Wales alone, 35 million people – more than half the population – do not live within the recommended three- to five-minute brisk walk of a defibrillator. Of these, about half live more than a 1km round trip from a 24/7 accessible defibrillator.

There are more than 40,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests each year in the UK, but fewer than one in 10 people survive. However, early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation can more than double the chance of survival.

Tropical, Mexican-style and Middle Eastern: Ravinder Bhogal’s fruit salad recipes

Forget the underpowered, ready-made offerings of food chains: these vibrant mixes are bursting with fruit and notes of florals, citrus and spice

Most of our experiences with fruit salad are dull: straight out of a can in saccharine syrup or unripe, slippery, unidentifiable chunks hastily bought from a sandwich chain when you’re trying to be healthy. The best ones, however, are life-enhancing and made fresh at home. And, with summer offering up a bounty of ripeness, now is the best time to make them. Eat them sweet or savoury, heighten their flavour with floral waters, spices, aromats, herbs or citrus, and enjoy for breakfast, lunch or as a refreshing after-dinner treat.

Rebel Wilson wins defamation case brought by co-star after bitter dispute

Judge finds Wilson did not defame Charlotte MacInnes, lead actor in Pitch Perfect star’s directorial debut The Deb

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After a blistering dispute that spanned continents and years, Hollywood A-lister Rebel Wilson has been found not to have defamed her co-star in a series of social media posts.

The Pitch Perfect star was sued by Australian actor Charlotte MacInnes, who played the lead role in Wilson’s directorial debut film The Deb.

Mamdani says he won't try to arrest Israel's Netanyahu

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani conceded late Tuesday that the city does not have the authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Staying in a job for the health insurance? About 1 in 4 Americans do, a survey says

About 24% of U.S. employees stay in unwanted jobs just for health insurance, a report out Wednesday finds. Up significantly since 2021, the uptick in "job lock" is a concerning sign for the U.S. economy.

‘The bed you thought was safe, isn’t safe’: how Zoe Watts survived drug-facilitated rape – and fought back

For years, her husband was adding sedatives to her evening cup of tea. Now, with fellow survivor Amanda Stanhope, she is lifting the lid on a hidden and diabolical crime

In September 2024, Amanda Stanhope watched, transfixed, from her home in Manchester, as the Gisèle Pelicot case made headlines around the world.

“Gisèle’s case was the first time I knew of somebody else who had been raped while they were drugged,” says Stanhope. “I remember feeling: ‘Thank God I’m not alone. There’s one other person in the world that this has happened to.’” Stanhope’s former partner, David Rogerson, was under investigation at the time for raping her while she slept, and filming the abuse. Pelicot’s husband, Dominique, would end up being convicted for drug-facilitated rape and sexual assault (DFSA), along with 50 strangers he had recruited online to abuse his wife.

‘The door slid open and my jaw dropped’: the astonishing sculptures only ever seen by 20 people

Ray Exworth spent his life filling Cornish sheds with breathtaking sculptures – but wouldn’t let anyone in to view them. Now, after his death, his secret body of work has been revealed

Ray Exworth spent six decades creating one of Britain’s most extraordinary bodies of sculpture – and almost nobody has seen it. Hidden inside a labyrinth of sheds on a remote Cornish smallholding, his vast, obsessive constructions have remained locked away from the world, visited only by a fortunate few. Even his wife Susie, 92, was largely kept out. “I could not visit without an invitation!” she recalls.

Exworth, who died in 2015 aged 84, had just one major exhibition in his lifetime, at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1975. Since then, the man who might belong among Britain’s most notable artists has disappeared almost entirely. His works – sprawling, intricate and wildly ambitious, assembled from an array of salvaged materials – have remained exactly where he left them: filling seven studio sheds and a scattering of shipping containers, unseen.

My friends left Ukraine after the Russian invasion. Now I wonder if we live in the same world | Diana Berg

Anger, guilt, shame: the deepest unseen wound of this war is the rift between those who left and those who stayed behind

“Can we reschedule?”

Over the years of working with western colleagues, I had learned to accept that they don’t fully understand what war feels like from the inside. They would ask me to find someone in occupied Mariupol for an interview, or seem genuinely puzzled that I couldn’t just log on at a time that suited them. I made my peace with this long ago – they don’t have to understand. But this time, it was a Ukrainian who asked.

Diana Berg is a Ukrainian artist, writer and cultural manager from Mariupol, and the founder of Platform TU, an independent cultural initiative now operating in exile after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

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.

Japan records its first ‘cruelly hot day’ as cities swelter in 40-degree heat

In April Japan coined new term kokushobi for days above 40C as country advises workers to wear shorts to the office to cope with stifling heat

Japan logged its first official kokushobi or “cruelly hot day” on Tuesday since the new term for when temperatures top 40 degrees Celsius was introduced in April. The Japan Meteorological Agency coined the new designation to warn the public of the heat dangers of days that were once freak weather events but have now become more common.

The central Japan cities of Gujo and Tajimi in Gifu prefecture, along with Toyota in Aichi prefecture, all hit 40C. Gujo’s 40C and Toyota’s 40.1C were all-time highs recorded at their respective weather stations.

Behind the scenes of Apollo 11 (2009)

While the three astronauts of Apollo 11 received the bulk of the attention for landing on the moon in 1969, 400,000 people worked behind the scenes to make it happen. Randall Pinkston reported on one of those important people back in 2009.

House votes to extend government funding, aiming to avoid an election year shutdown

Lawmakers are hoping to avoid a third shutdown since last September. The stopgap funding measure now heads to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain future.

House moves to punt government funding fight past midterms

The continuing resolution would fund the federal government until Dec. 4. It now heads to the Senate, where it could face obstacles.

$100M New Jersey deli fraudster James Patten sentenced to 21 months in prison

The notorious New Jersey deli fraud case led to losses of more than $5 million for victims that included two U.S. universities.

Teen makes close to $100k after finding Lakers jacket from 1972 NBA Finals at Goodwill

Quinn Brown, a 19-year-old with a passion for selling items online, hit the jackpot when he purchased an original 1972 NBA warm-up jacket worn by Wilt Chamberlain at a Goodwill store for just over $3. Tony Dokoupil has the story.

Mamdani says New York lacks authority to arrest Netanyahu, calls him ‘war criminal’

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is the target of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court related to the war on Gaza.

Identity of 17th U.S. soldier killed in Iran war revealed, set to be buried with honors

Sergeant Michael Swinton, 30, was identified Tuesday as the soldier who died in Iraq during a controlled explosion of an Iranian drone. Weijia Jiang reports.

New video may show Nolan Wells on party boat shortly before death

New footage obtained by TMZ appears to show the back of Nolan Wells' head as he partied on a boat shortly before his July Fourth disappearance. Skyler Henry reports.

Tropical Storm Bertha closes in on Gulf Coast with up to 4 ft of storm surge expected

Tropical Storm Bertha is on its way to the Gulf Coast as New Orleans and beyond brace for multiple feet of rainfall. Lana Zak reports.

Hegseth says Iran war has cost $37.5B but sources say total could be far more

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers the Iran war has cost $37.5 billion. Sources told CBS News the total cost could be far higher, in part due to military construction for damaged U.S. bases.

Trump must divulge financial details about businesses in $10bn BBC lawsuit

US judge’s ruling could open up window into first family’s multiple ventures, in drawback of lawsuit on media

Donald Trump must divulge detailed financial information from his many businesses as part of his $10bn defamation lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corporation, a federal judge ruled during a discovery hearing on Tuesday, according to news reports.

The ruling by US magistrate judge Enjoliqué Lett could open a unique window into the hundreds of businesses owned by Trump’s family trust. It also highlights a potential drawback for Trump’s strategy of bludgeoning critical media with multibillion-dollar lawsuits.

Storms bring flash flooding across Northeast in "dangerous and life-threatening situation"

Storms rocked the most populated area of the country on Tuesday, causing widespread flash flooding from Ohio to New England and beyond in what the National Weather Service called a "dangerous and life-threatening situation." Rob Marciano has the forecast.

Democratic lawmakers slam Trump "vanity projects" in shadow hearing

Lawmakers hammered the president for bulldozing norms in pursuit of his construction goals and imposing his likeness on buildings, coins and passports.

Mexican man killed by truck after ICE encounter was on vacation, officials say

Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán, 28, died July 14 after authorities said he darted across a busy road in St. Augustine, Florida, and into the path of a truck.

Here's how much wealth you need to thrive, based on your age

Three in four American households lack the wealth to weather financial setbacks and achieve major life milestones.

Prediction markets and their opponents are spending more to influence Congress in 2026

Kalshi and groups representing the casino and gaming industry and online sports betting apps, all have boosted their lobbying spending in 2026.

The Fed rang the alarm about Anthropic's Mythos AI model — but had to go months without it

The central bank didn't have access to Claude Mythos Preview as of mid-July, even as other institutions were racing to patch their vulnerabilities.

7/21: CBS Evening News

Storms bring flash flooding across Northeast in "dangerous and life-threatening situation"; RFK Jr. says cyclosporiasis outbreak is "under control."

Super Micro surges 15% on new order and margin disclosure after SpaceX announcement

Many server makers are seeing faster growth as companies race to deploy artificial intelligence servers.

RFK Jr. says cyclospora outbreak is 'under control'

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday said that the ongoing outbreak of cyclosporiasis is "under control."

DOJ says it's no longer illegal to download TikTok on federal devices

The Justice Department determined this week a federal law banning TikTok from government devices no longer applies to the social video app.

Smithsonian too focused on 'oppressors and the oppressed,' say House Republicans

In a House DOGE subcommittee hearing, GOP representatives excoriated the director of the National Museum of American History, following a White House report earlier this month that also criticized her.

Zelenskyy fires Ukraine’s army chief and offers Fedorov ‘prominent position’

After nationwide protests Oleksandr Syrskyi is to be replaced in reshuffle and popular defence minister returns to government

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and offered a “prominent position” to the defence minister he sacked last week in a move that sparked nationwide protests.

In a late-night TV address, Zelenskyy said he was appointing Mykhailo Drapatyi, a popular and innovative general, as the new head of Ukraine’s armed forces. Drapatyi would oversee a reorganisation of the army’s command structure, Ukraine’s president said.

Universities get funding from foreign entities on U.S. watch lists, records show

The State Department is cracking down on universities accepting funding from foreign entities on U S. government watch lists.

Ukraine's Zelenskyy fires his military chief after protests and names a new one

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces following days of protests demanding his removal. Zelenskyy appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new army chief.

Morgan Rogers ‘excited to join biggest club in London’ after making £117m Chelsea move

• England international signs seven-year contract

• Xabi Alonso was key factor in Chelsea’s record signing

Morgan Rogers has joined Chelsea from Aston Villa for a fee of £117m, signing a seven-year deal to become the Blues’ record signing.

A deal was agreed on Saturday for the 23-year-old to move to Stamford Bridge as the club stole in ahead of Arsenal, who had been in talks to sign the England international and had appeared to be favourites to secure his signature.

The Hundred returns with the hits and hope that fans feel the love again

Revamped tournament begins with pyrotechnics and plenty more fireworks from Nicholas Pooran’s bat

In 2012 John Newman’s first hit, as featured vocalist on Rudimental’s Feel the Love, went straight into the charts at No 1. The following year his first solo release, Love Me Again, did it too, also earning him a Brit nomination for single of the year and one for the Ivor Novellos as best song musically and lyrically.

In 2022, as he prepared to relaunch a career that had reached such an extraordinarily early and ludicrously high peak, Newman was interviewed by the NME. “I’m crazy nervous but really excited,” he said. “I could become the biggest artist in the world or it might all go wrong, who knows?”

7/21: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Trump eyes attacks on Iran's Pickaxe Mountain as Pentagon seeks more funding; former FDA commissioner unpacks state of cyclospora outbreak.

Nebius stock surges nearly 19% as Nvidia discloses significant stake in neocloud

Nvidia said it would invest $2 billion into Nebius in March.

Ex-U.S. attorney in Seattle sues Trump over firing

Roger Rogoff was fired from his role as U.S. attorney in Seattle shortly after judges on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington appointed him to the job.

Bill Gates foundation met with Jeffrey Epstein about 30 times, external review finds

Staff ‘raised on multiple occasions’ risks of tech mogul’s philanthropic body associating with disgraced financier

A new external review commissioned by the Gates Foundation has found that there were “roughly 30 meetings” between Jeffrey Epstein and foundation leaders and staff – including Bill Gates – between 2011 and 2014, even as foundation staff “raised on multiple occasions the risks of associating with Epstein because of his prior conviction”.

The Gates foundation commissioned the review in March, following the justice department’s release earlier this year of millions of documents related to Epstein. The files included numerous references to Gates, several photographs of him, and records showing that he met with Epstein on multiple occasions, which prompted renewed scrutiny of Gates’s past ties to the disgraced financier.

GM beats on earnings, raises guidance amid 'resilient' consumer, pricing

GM raised several key earnings forecasts after beating Wall Street's second-quarter expectations as its North American operations continue to drive results.

SpaceX snaps 7-day losing streak, sets earnings date that triggers first big share unlock

SpaceX's stock gained on Tuesday and looked to snap a seven-day losing streak after announcing Aug. 4 as its maiden earnings report

Liverpool owner FSG in talks over selling 30% stake to Bhatia consortium for £1.35bn

• Bhatia backed by father-in-law Lakshmi Mittal

• Minority stake deal values the club at £4.5bn

Liverpool’s owner is in talks over ­selling a minority stake to a consortium led by the former Queens Park Rangers co‑owner Amit ­Bhatia and backed by his father-in-law ­Lakshmi Mittal, the billionaire Indian steel magnate. The Guardian understands a sale of 30% of the club is being discussed, with an offer of around £1.35bn on the table.

Fenway Sports Group confirmed in a statement to the Financial Times that it had begun negotiations with a group led by Bhatia over a potential minority share sale that would value ­Liverpool at about £4.5bn.

Andy Burnham urges cabinet to examine ‘all possible ways’ to tackle cost of living crisis

As new prime minister briefs cabinet on ‘cost of living government’, critics ask where money will come from

Andy Burnham is under mounting pressure to explain how he will pay for his policy pledges as he implored his new cabinet to examine “all possible ways” to tackle the cost of living crisis.

On his first full day in power, the prime minister faced questions about how he would fund the removal of VAT from electricity bills and an expected uplift in defence spending – an issue that led his new chancellor, John Healey, to resign as Keir Starmer’s defence secretary last month.

Trump defends 50% tariffs on Canada, saying ‘they need us to survive’

Mark Carney says Canada is ‘united’ in face of threats as leaders agree to talk before tariffs take effect next month

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Donald Trump has defended his new 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods, claiming the country cannot survive without the US.

The White House announced the sweeping round of import duties – due to come into effect next month – on Monday, igniting fresh tensions between Washington and Ottawa.

Trump to impose 50% tariffs on Canadian hockey sticks, alcohol, other goods

President Trump is imposing 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian goods, from hockey equipment to alcoholic beverages, escalating the trade dispute between the two countries.

Glasgow Games – and unicorn mascot – ready to emerge from shadow cast by 2014

As the Commonwealth Games return to Scotland’s biggest city, the mood is markedly different from the last time Glasgow hosted the event

The first person to stop on Glasgow’s streets does not recognise the Commonwealth Games mascot, Finnie the unicorn. “I genuinely didn’t realise that the unicorn was the mascot,” Karl, a 33-year-old Glaswegian native, says with a laugh. “I caught a glimpse of one of the posters from the bus and thought: ‘Are the bronies making a comeback?’”

It is a telling response. As the Commonwealth Games return to Scotland’s biggest city, the mood is markedly different from the last time Glasgow hosted the event in 2014, when anticipation built for months. This time, the Games have arrived with considerably less fanfare.

More Americans report shoplifting as inflation climbs, survey finds

Thirty percent of respondents said they shoplifted this year, with most citing affordability concerns and financial hardship.

Evenepoel pips Pogacar again as Tour de France night-time doping test row deepens

• Belgian wins time trial, says chase of leader ‘not over yet’

• Florian Lipowitz, third last year, quits race after crashing

Remco Evenepoel took back-to-back stage wins in the Tour de France, and eroded some of Tadej Pogacar’s overall lead, with victory in the stage 16 time trial from Evian to Thonon-les-Bains.

The Olympic road and time trial champion, now second overall in the Tour, won on the Belgian national day from Pogacar by 28 seconds, to reduce the Slovenian’s advantage to just over four and a half minutes. It was the third Tour time trial win of his career.

France becomes first EU country to ban social media access for under-15s

Parliament votes to stop children using apps such as TikTok in policy championed by Emmanuel Macron

France’s parliament has approved a bill banning social media access for children under 15, making it the first EU country to bar children from apps such as TikTok.

The president, Emmanuel Macron, has championed the ban as a key reform of his final term in office and pledged to enforce it by September.

Senate committee advances Clayton's nomination for intelligence chief

The Senate Intelligence Committee advanced Jay Clayton's nomination for director of national intelligence, despite opposition from Democrats.

Boeing and Airbus prepare for next narrow-body battle – but airlines aren’t pushing for new jets yet

Boeing and Airbus are preparing their next narrow-body jets, but airlines and investors remain focused on production, deliveries and current aircraft.

‘The explosion is what I remember’: man nearly sucked out of Ryanair plane recounts ordeal

Exclusive: Ljubisa Karović tells Guardian the fact that he lived to tell the tale is nothing short of a miracle

It is the explosion just before he was nearly sucked out of the aircraft that Ljubisa Karović remembers. The thunderous noise of the window shattering that roused him from slumber in 11F, his window seat on the early morning Ryanair flight from Greece to Germany.

Eleven days and 11 nights later, it remains the prelude “to the chaos, the catastrophe” that keeps him awake at night.

IRS chief Frank Bisignano dismisses JPMorgan spying allegations

Bisignano denied allegations The Wall Street Journal reported that he surveilled his colleagues while working at JPMorgan more than a decade ago.

The Guardian view on Ukraine’s challenges, inside and out: tensions at home arise from the struggle against Russia | Editorial

The row over the sacking of the popular defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, highlights questions about the country’s military and political direction

Even as Ukraine’s civilians endure brutal strikes by Russia, thousands have taken to the streets to protest against Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s sacking of Mykhailo Fedorov, the popular young defence minister, last week after he clashed with the commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi. On Tuesday night, demonstrators’ calls were answered as the Ukrainian president fired the general and offered Mr Fedorov a “prominent” role and promised an overhaul of the army command.

Mr Fedorov, widely credited for significant improvements in the country’s military performance and reducing corruption, had made a scathing attack on Gen Syrskyi after his dismissal – accusing him of blocking reforms and refusing to cooperate. The general seems to have seen the minister as exceeding his remit and effectively taking control of units. The pair also butted heads over Mr Fedorov’s plans to improve recruitment and training to reduce the deep anger created by the conscription system. A Soviet-schooled military officer deeply embedded within institutions tussled with a young civilian disruptor taking a more agile, improvisational approach.

GLP-1s are linked to a 17% drop in worker sick leave, new study finds

Here's how weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy could reduce worker illness and save companies money.

Millions face long-term coastal flooding risk in UK without climate action, scientists warn

A ‘reasonable worst-case scenario’ suggests need for large-scale movement of populations away from reshaped coast

Up to 13 million people in the UK face the long-term risk of coastal flooding due to the climate crisis, scientists have warned, with a “reasonable worst-case scenario” suggesting the need for the large-scale movement of populations away from a dramatically reshaped coast.

Even if today’s global pledges to cut carbon pollution are met, about 1.4 million more people will be exposed to coastal floods in 2200 and 1.7 million in 2300 due to the sea level rise driven by melting ice caps and warming oceans.

Man attacked by bison recalls terrifying encounter: "He could have gored me"

Carl Isom-McDaniel was on a walk with his grandson at Yellowstone National Park earlier this month when a bison suddenly charged at him and threw him 8 feet into the air.

‘We were at their mercy’: inside the Amazon tactics that hiked prices across the internet

Internal emails revealed in court and interviews with ex-employees describe how Amazon’s practices drove up prices for competitors like Walmart and Target. Amazon denies price-fixing claims and says it works to lower costs for consumers

A “modern leather” table lamp, listed online at Walmart, shot up from $24.99 to $39.

The price of an air fryer on a retail site called Newegg went from $84.99 to $149.99.

An electric ice-cream maker was listed at just $17.99 at Amazon and Best Buy. Then it became unavailable at Best Buy, and more than tripled in price to $59.99 at Amazon.

The Dink review – Jake Johnson’s pickleball comedy serves up engagingly silly laughs

Johnson is delusional ex-tennis player The Hammer, who has to switch to the sport he loathes after injury

There’s some funny stuff here in this engagingly silly sports comedy from producer-star Jake Johnson about the world of pickleball, and how this (allegedly) facile pseudo-tennis game for children and old people threatens to infantilise and dumb down the world of tennis itself.

Dusty (Johnson) is a middle-aged loser, delusionally nicknamed The Hammer, who once showed early promise at tennis before getting crushed by a humiliating teen encounter with the young Andy Roddick (playing himself in cameo). These days Dusty coaches at the tennis club owned by his dad (Ed Harris), who is scowlingly contemptuous of everything Dusty says and does. Only one thing allows poor Dusty to reclaim his self-respect as a man and a tennis player: his utter loathing for pickleball, whose followers are grudgingly permitted one of their toytown mini-courts at the club – and he duly gets a meet-cute quarrel with pickleball enthusiast Candace (Mary Steenburgen).

Ann Widdecombe was hit on head repeatedly with hammer, court told

Joshua Kerry appears at Westminster magistrates court charged with murder of former MP earlier this month

A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of the former MP and Reform UK spokesperson Ann Widdecombe.

Joshua Kerry, 28, is accused of killing the 78-year-old former Conservative minister at her home in Haytor, Devon, earlier this month, by hitting her on the head with a hammer 21 times.

French Open becomes first grand slam to offer players share of tournament revenue

• Move is significant step in row over prize money

• US Open will come under pressure to follow suit

The French Open has become the first grand slam tournament to offer players a share of the event’s revenue in a significant step forward in the row over prize money. Officials from Roland Garros made the offer to the players’ representative, Larry Scott, in talks at Wimbledon a fortnight ago in a move that will increase pressure on the US Open, which is due to announce its prize fund for this year’s tournament at the start of next month.

While an agreement has yet to be reached, the French Open’s willingness to commit to a revenue-share model to determine prize money is a major development, and sets Roland Garros apart from the three other grand slam tournaments.

Trump imposing 50% tariffs on certain Canadian goods over alleged trade discrimination

Canada's relationship with the U.S. has frayed amid Trump's tariff-heavy agenda and vocal displeasure with the nations' trilateral trade pact with Mexico.

Hunter Biden for president? Stranger things have happened | Arwa Mahdawi

Once Republicans’ favourite punchline, Joe Biden’s son is now building an online following by trolling JD Vance, taunting Trump and embracing the absurdity of US politics

What sort of longshot candidate do we reckon is going to run for US president in 2028? The Rock? Kim Kardashian? Kermit the Frog? US politics has become so debased that being rich, famous and a natural-born citizen (sorry, Zohran Mamdani) now seem to be the only qualifications required for a job in the White House.

Which is why you shouldn’t entirely write off murmurings that Hunter Biden might be interested in following in his daddy’s presidential footsteps. When asked by a Fox News reporter about Hunter’s 2028 odds last month, Donald Trump suggested Joe Biden’s prodigal son might “do well”. If other “basket case[s]” in the Democratic party could do well, Trump added, then Hunter probably had a shot. Various analysts appear to agree. “Could Hunter Biden run for office? Don’t rule it out,” a recent Times headline blared. The article quotes a Biden biographer saying: “With a character like Hunter Biden in a populist, social media-driven political environment, you have to never say never.”

GM announces new gas-powered Cadillac vehicles amid EV pullback

GM CEO Mary Barra said Tuesday the next-generation Cadillacs will include new versions of the CT5 sedan, XT5 midsize SUV and discontinued three-row XT6 SUV.

Zendaya faces backlash for wearing ancient Iranian jewellery at Odyssey event

Film star promotes Christopher Nolan film epic wearing gold artefacts dating back almost 3,000 years

The Odyssey is a story about a Greek king’s long journey home. But a pair of earrings worn on the new film adaptation’s press tour – and their long separation from their homeland – is sparking controversy.

At a photocall in London, Zendaya, who plays the goddess Athena in the Christopher Nolan film, wore a pair of earrings fashioned from Iranian artefacts dating back to 700BC.

Milky Way flipped in collision with dwarf galaxy 10bn years ago, astronomers say

Durham University researchers find cataclysmic direct hit with Gaia Sausage sent Milky Way into its current position

Astronomers have found evidence that the Milky Way was flipped on its side following a direct hit from a wayward galaxy long before the solar system was born.

The cataclysmic collision took place about 10bn years ago when the Milky Way was struck head-on by an incoming dwarf galaxy known – for purely astronomical reasons – as the Gaia Sausage.

Nvidia details its next-generation Vera CPU for AI, setting up challenge to AMD and Intel

Nvidia released new information about its data center CPU, called Vera, that prospective customers need to fully evaluate the chip.

Taylor Farms pulls iceberg lettuce linked to cyclosporiasis outbreak

Taylor Farms said none of its branded salads or kits contain the iceberg lettuce associated with the outbreak.

Novo Nordisk sues Eli Lilly, alleging misleading GLP-1 advertising

Novo asked the court to permanently stop Lilly from running the "deceptive" ads and require the drugmaker to issue corrective advertising.