US military says it disabled tanker trying to breach blockade amid new wave of strikes on Iran – Middle East crisis live

Central Command says US aircraft fired missiles into oil tanker’s smokestack in strait of Hormuz as US strikes Iran for fourth consecutive day

• Trump again threatens to strike Iran’s power plants amid impasse over strait of Hormuz

For a second day in a row, US strikes targeted Iran’s southern port city of Bushehr, home to the country’s only civilian nuclear plant, according to the state news agency IRNA quoting a local official.

“In continuation of the brutality of the American enemy, three points in the city of Bushehr were attacked today,” Mohammad Mozaffari, the governor of Bushehr, was quoted as saying.

In the recent attacks on the southern part of the country, more than 30 civilians lost their lives. While expressing our condolences and sympathy to the bereaved families, we honour the memory of the fallen. The government will stand by the people with all its might. The south of Iran is the beating heart of this land. The south of Iran, the soul of Iran.”

Sam Neill’s cause of death revealed to be pneumonia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trump overturns pause of ICE vehicle stops implemented after deadly shootings

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

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

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

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

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

Wildfires expose millions in Midwest, Northeast to dangerous smoke

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

Pentagon proposes new secrecy power to withhold unclassified records from FOIA

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

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

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

United Airlines anticipates $6 billion in added fuel costs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thomas Tuchel accepts responsibility after substitutions backfire in England defeat

• Head coach has no regrets but admits he will be judged

• Bellingham appears to strike Argentina’s Barco on head

Thomas Tuchel shouldered the blame for England becoming far too passive after taking the lead as Argentina ended his team’s World Cup dream with a dramatic late comeback.

England were within minutes of a first men’s World Cup final on foreign soil after going ahead through Anthony Gordon early in the second half. But the reigning champions equalised through a piledriver from Enzo Fernández before the substitute Lautaro Martínez scored the decisive goal in the second minute of injury time to send Argentina through to Sunday’s final against Spain in New York.

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

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

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

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

The 2026 FIFA World Cup schedule and how to watch

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

Senators on both sides question Todd Blanche's independence

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

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

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

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

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

Drained reflecting pool reveals Trump’s ‘American flag blue’ liner is now closer to gray

Trump’s effort to revamp the landmark stretched well past the goal of having it ready by the Fourth of July

The newly drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool’s bottom surface has noticeably faded since it was lined with a protective coating in a color Donald Trump called “American flag blue” this spring.

An Associated Press reporter and photographer viewed the fenced-off reflecting pool on Wednesday from the top of the Washington Monument. The new liner appears grayer than when the pool was repainted and refilled with water in early June. Debris that had been visible earlier this week after the pool was drained is now largely gone, after work crews removed it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Argentina stuns England in World Cup semifinal with late comeback

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

7/15: CBS Evening News

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

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

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

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

• Banner refers to Falkland Islands conflict in 1982

• Players celebrate on the pitch with the message

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Argentina’s late double breaks England hearts in dramatic World Cup semi-final

• England hearts broken after turnaround in Atlanta

• In pictures: our pick of the best big-match images

England’s destiny is tournament heartbreak. The only question concerns when it comes and how the fates will contrive to make it as painful as possible. This was an implausibly brutal new low.

Thomas Tuchel’s team had fought fire with fire on an occasion that was overloaded with shredded nerves. The first half was a physical fight; it was gripping all the same. And the possibilities seemed endless for England when Anthony Gordon put them in front shortly after half-time. A first appearance in the World Cup final since 1966 looked on.

Argentina is back in the World Cup final after a thrilling semifinal win over England

Argentina survived another heart-stopping match when it scored two late goals to topple England and extend the Three Lions' six-decade-long wait for another World Cup trophy.

Takeaways from Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing for attorney general

Todd Blanche remained composed throughout the hours-long hearing, but faced several testy moments during questioning as he seeks to win the support of all Republican senators on the committee.

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

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

7/15: The Takeout with Major Garrett

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

Hegseth requires testosterone deficiency screening for service members over 30

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

Pete Hegseth says soldiers over age 30 to be screened for testosterone deficiency

US defense secretary unveils plan that will work to ensure service members have the ‘right testosterone levels’

Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that the Department of Defense will offer testosterone deficiency screening for soldiers 30 and older.

The US defense secretary unveiled plans for a new screening program for testosterone deficiency among troops that will work to ensure service members have the “right testosterone levels” to perform at their optimal condition in a video posted to X.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismisses Ukraine’s popular defence minister

Mykhailo Fedorov, credited with transforming the ministry, ousted in reshuffle after six months in post

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed Ukraine’s popular defence minister, despite pleas from foreign partners and civil society for him to keep his job, as part of wide-ranging government reshuffle.

In a post on Telegram Mykhailo Fedorov announced that he was leaving his position, saying it had been a “great honour” to serve the Ukrainian people. He was widely credited with transforming the defence ministry and reducing corruption.

China and Xi favored over U.S. and Trump in many nations: Survey

The change is driven by improved perceptions of China and declining views of the United States.

Houston prosecutor could bring charges against ICE agents in fatal shooting

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

SpaceX shares slide below IPO price for first time as surge fizzles

Shares fall below $135 price after firm completed biggest ever IPO and made Elon Musk world’s first trillionaire

SpaceX shares dropped below their initial public offering price for the first time on Wednesday, just over a ⁠month after the rockets-to-AI firm completed ⁠the biggest IPO ever and ​made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.

The shares slid 1.5% to $134, falling below the $135 IPO price and well below last month’s high that briefly propelled the company’s market valuation above those of Silicon Valley giants Microsoft and Amazon, firms with longer ⁠public track records and stronger financial results.

Maltese politicians ‘involved’ in plot to kill Daphne Caruana Galizia, court hears

Former economy minister Chris Cardona and ex-chief of staff Keith Schembri named as being involved in 2017 murder of journalist

Two political figures who previously held powerful government roles in Malta were accused of plotting to kill the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia during court testimony on Wednesday.

The allegations, against a former economy minister and a former chief of staff to the prime minister, were made during a chaotic day at the courts of justice in Valletta, where the businessman Yorgen Fenech is on trial for ordering the assassination of Caruana Galizia in 2017.

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

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

NYPD officer says Brooklyn Bridge rescue happened on 3rd day with elite unit

Cristian Yepes was on his first week with the NYPD's elite Emergency Service Unit when he helped rescue a woman on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Trump relished in being compared to dictators like Hitler and Stalin, journalist says

The New York Times journalist Jonathan Swan says the president is fixated on becoming a "great man of history" during his second term. Swan's new book, written with Maggie Haberman, is Regime Change.

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

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

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

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

Amazon senior cloud executive departs after 18 years

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

Houston demands action after killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo: ‘ICE hunts us like animals’

Community groups are demanding action from the city’s mayor and Texas’s Republican congressional delegation

More than 100 people filled the council chamber at Houston city hall on Tuesday, spilling into the hallways as they waited their turn to address the mayor, John Whitmire, and the rest of the city council. Outside, a crowd gathered on the plaza. Their chants of “Do your job! Do your job!” carried through the chamber walls.

Nearly all were there to demand the same thing: accountability for the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

Trump rails against New York’s statewide datacenter moratorium

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

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

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

Extreme temperature warnings in place as ‘heat dome’ bakes US

Warnings about dangerous, unhealthy air also extended from Minnesota to New York as wildfires rage in Toronto

Extreme heat warnings are in place for large swaths of the United States this week, as an unusual weather pattern eclipses record temperature highs.

In Billings, Montana, residents experienced a sweltering 111F (43.9C) on Sunday, the hottest day in its history. Salt Lake City in Utah also hit an all-time record high on Sunday at 109F. Boston has seen more 90F days than average, according to NPR station WBUR-FM.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Florence Welch’s mother says cuts to arts and humanities ‘absolutely tragic’

Exclusive: Prof Evelyn Welch, vice-chancellor of Bristol University, believes her daughter’s success shows value of arts education

One of Britain’s leading university vice-chancellors has described sweeping cuts to arts and humanities across the sector as “absolutely tragic”, citing her famous daughter as an example of the value of a creative arts education.

Prof Evelyn Welch, the vice-chancellor of Bristol University and incoming chair of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities, is the mother of Florence Welch, the singer-songwriter from Florence + the Machine.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ella Baron on Nigel Farage and the World Cup – cartoon

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

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

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

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

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

At his final PMQs, Starmer soaked up the love from all sides – and even some tenderness from Kemi

It wasn’t his performances on Wednesday lunchtimes that did for the ultimate mid-table PM – it was all the other stuff

Who would have thought it? Most of us would have put money on Kemi Badenoch failing to read the room for Keir Starmer’s last ever prime minister’s questions. Not a bit. From her opening tribute to Ann Widdecombe to her final gags, Kemi was the model of warmth, generosity and tenderness. Pitch perfect. Not a word out of place. So much so that you couldn’t help wondering if the real Kemi had been locked up in her office and her minders had sent a doppelganger out to the Commons. If so, it would be lovely if we could see more of her body double.

There were loud cheers from the Labour benches as Keir made his way past cabinet colleagues to his place on the frontbench. It’s one of life’s little tragedies that a prime minister’s popularity peaks when they are on their way out of the job. Suddenly, any misgivings that MPs might have over their leader’s management of the country are forgiven. It’s like falling for an ex all over again. Which, on balance, is something best avoided. Things tend to get messy quite quickly.

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

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

Name: “Zara death pants.”

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

IRS chief Frank Bisignano will lead Trump Accounts expansion

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

Social media curfew for teens: is it pointless? - The Latest

Sixteen- and 17-year-olds face an overnight social media curfew in an extension of the government’s social media ban for under-16s.

Under the plan, aimed at reducing online harms, certain apps would be blocked by default from midnight to 6am.

But the curfew will not be mandatory and teenagers can opt out, so will it achieve anything?

Annie Kelly speaks to social affairs correspondent Jessica Murray

Revealed: Farage’s £5m gift came after saying he needed ‘a million a year’ to stand as MP

Politician spoke to senior figures in Reform in March 2024 about covering lost earnings, sources tell the Guardian

Nigel Farage told senior figures in Reform UK he would need “a million a year” to cover lost earnings if he stood for parliament in the 2024 general election, sources have told the Guardian, raising further questions about why he was given £5m by a crypto billionaire.

Sources say the discussion took place in March 2024 – shortly before the undeclared gift was made by Christopher Harborne on 5 April, according to the Thailand-based crypto billionaire’s lawyers.

Wisconsin panel finds Elon Musk’s $1m state supreme court voter giveaway was likely illegal

Musk distributed money to three people before the 2025 election, which he claimed was critical to Trump’s agenda

Billionaire Elon Musk likely violated Wisconsin law when he gave out $1m checks to voters in the 2025 state supreme court election, a bipartisan elections panel has found.

Musk distributed the money before the vote, which he claimed was critical to Donald Trump’s agenda and “the future of civilization”.

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

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

Cyclospora outbreak leaves consumers guessing which foods are safe

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

Backyard Biennial: East review – this morose and meaningless exhibition gave me a migraine

Whitechapel Gallery, London
I feel bad for the artists whose work has been crowbarred into a wonky show about migration, protest, climate and identity

It’s rare that an exhibition is so bad you feel compelled to text a friend saying “you wouldn’t believe the garbage I just saw” as soon as you get out. And if you can walk around this badly explained, undercontextualised, barely linked, poorly thought through mess of a show without getting a migraine, you have a stronger constitution than me.

This is an exhibition about east London. Or maybe it’s about Britishness. Or migration. Or the climate crisis. Or music. Or global trade. Whitechapel Gallery doesn’t seem to really know, so what chance do the rest of us have of figuring it out? The gallery would argue it’s about all of these things; I’d say it manages to be about none of them.

Wildfires in Ontario make Toronto air quality worst in world

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

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

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

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

• Alaphilippe gets in breakaway before being reeled in

• Pidcock’s rollercoaster ride continues on return to Tour

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

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

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

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

Peter Bradshaw’s five star review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Golf in a pinball machine: wizard McIlroy faces Birkdale‘s yellow brick road

The impact of a heatwave is laid bare by the Open venue’s scorched earth, making the competition for the Claret Jug even harder to gauge

A star was born in 1976 at Royal Birkdale. Seve Ballesteros was unable to press home his 54-hole advantage due to a combination of a Sunday 74 and Johnny Miller’s surge. Still, the swashbuckling style of the 19‑year‑old Spaniard captured hearts and minds. Ballesteros played golf – and successfully – from all parts of the famous links.

The 50th anniversary of Ballesteros’s emergence comes with an uncanny parallel: back at Birkdale, the grass is parched again. Firm, fiery, unpredictable Opens are the finest. Stand by, then, for a sporting feast over four days on the Sefton coast. Less green and pleasant land, more yellow brick road. Away from putting surfaces which have been lashed with water, the impact of a heatwave is laid bare.

Unheard David Bowie songs from 1965 to be released – including ones with Jimmy Page on guitar

Compilation entitled David Bowie: The Shel Talmy Recordings will be released in September, collating material from when he recorded as Davy Jones

Unheard 1965 recordings by David Bowie, from when he was starting out in swinging 60s London as Davy Jones, are finally to be released – some featuring a pre-Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page.

Before he broke through with 1969’s Space Oddity, and scaled up through The Man Who Sold the World and Hunky Dory towards the explosive impact of his Ziggy Stardust alter ego in 1972, Bowie started out as a very different kind of artist: sharp-suited and coiffured, playing the kind of forthright, blues-influenced, sometimes faintly psychedelic pop-rock that was the hallmark of mid-60s London, from the Beatles to the Small Faces and the Who.

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

Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey

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

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

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

Manchester United to target £30m Crysencio Summerville should Marcus Rashford leave

• West Ham winger available for right price after relegation

• Rashford has two years remaining on United contract

Manchester United will turn their attention towards Crysencio Summerville should Marcus Rashford leave this summer, with the West Ham winger’s potential fee around £30m. Summerville is viewed as having the right profile in regards to a left-sided forward to replace the England international.

Since relegation to the Championship, West Ham are open to selling the 24-year-old Dutchman providing they receive a suitable offer. Summerville, who was part of the Netherlands’ World Cup campaign, has three years remaining on his contract.

Hong Kong booksellers arrested for allegedly selling seditious books

Hong Kong was once known for its freedom of publication, but political changes have created a challenging environment for independent bookstores.

Aston Villa sign Emily Ramsey as Bethany England joins Crystal Palace

• Lionesses goalkeeper heading to Villa on a free transfer

• Millie Turner moves to Birmingham City for £100,000

Aston Villa have signed the former Everton goalkeeper Emily Ramsey on a free transfer.

The 25-year-old received a call-up by England in 2023 – as part of the squad that won that year’s invitational Arnold Clark Cup – and in 2021 for a training camp, but is yet to earn a senior cap. Ramsey was a regular in England youth international sides throughout the age groups and is highly admired by Villa.

From racist Bugs Bunny to the bear MPs want to ban: how cartoons have indoctrinated kids for over 100 years

Politicians are claiming that a hit Netflix animation is Russian propaganda aimed at the ‘militarisation of children’. But it’s far from a recent problem – even the CIA has funded kids’ entertainment

When Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon spoke earlier this month in the commons of the “militarisation of children”, he wasn’t warning of a generation suddenly taking arms. He was talking about a cartoon bear. Gordon, along with a cross-party group of more than 50 MPs, had written a parliamentary letter urging that an animated children’s show be banned on the basis it is Russian propaganda.

The accused animation is Masha and the Bear, a Russian programme aimed at preschoolers. The show is one of the most popular series on YouTube, and is available in the UK on ITVX and Netflix. The programme follows the adventures of the young, pink-hooded Masha and her brown bear companion in a remote woodland. But MPs – as well as Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation and Estonia’s minister for foreign affairs – see Masha’s use of Soviet-era military costumes as a flex of Russian “soft power”.

Cancer disparities researchers say federal funding changes have disrupted their work

In a survey, 93% of cancer researchers who study disparities said federal policy changes have affected them. Funding is harder to come by and they worry it's slowing progress in their field.

Fifa hit by injunction in Germany over World Cup ticket resale prices

• Governing body did not appear before court in Frankfurt

• Fifa gets 15% commission from both buyer and seller

Fifa has been hit with an injunction by a German court ordering it to stop “manipulative processes” in the sale of World Cup tickets. The Frankfurt regional court has granted a request for a preliminary injunction from Ticombo, an online ticket resale site based in Germany, which has instructed Fifa to be more transparent regarding its secondary ticketing sales by disclosing the identity and address of any commercial sellers.

The court has ordered Fifa “to cease facilitating ticket sales without informing buyers of the seller’s identity and address [specifically for sellers acting in a commercial capacity] in a timely manner prior to the buyer completing their purchase”.

A modern odyssey: the archaeologist following Homer’s route on a bicycle

As Christopher Nolan’s star-studded adaptation is released, Australian archaeologist and cyclist Sam Wood has recreated Odysseus’ journey on two wheels

Backpacking around Europe is a rite of passage for many young Australians but when Sam Wood proposed a trip with his two brothers in 2009, he had something a little more ambitious in mind.

An avid cyclist who studied classical archaeology at the University of Sydney and spent three years working at the British Museum, he suggested retracing the route that the Carthaginian general Hannibal took over the Alps with his war elephants in 218BC.

U.S. Mint to make $1 gold coin with Trump's face on it

It's the latest effort by President Trump to make his mark on Washington, D.C.

Goldman Sachs’ former top lawyer tells House Epstein was a ‘masterful liar’ who used her to bolster his standing

Kathryn Ruemmler said earlier this year she would leave Goldman Sachs at the end of June after fallout over her emails with Jeffrey Epstein.

Brazilian World Cup legend Jairzinho takes a shot: Michael Donald’s best photograph

‘Nowadays Jairzinho works with kids in the favelas of Rio where the unwritten rule is that visitors have to leave by 5pm. I asked for 10 more minutes and when I turned round, a guy had pulled a gun on my crew’

I’m not a mad football fan. What I most love about the game is its universal appeal – it’s all about a ball crossing a line, and a goal is a goal whether it involves two jerseys in a park or the one that determines the outcome of a World Cup. But when I realised in 2007 that only 58 people had ever scored a goal in a World Cup final and that only 34 of these men were still alive, I thought it would be a great idea to photograph them.

It quickly became apparent that book sales alone would never finance the project – there were only two English players, the rest were in Europe or South America. But a successful pitch to a film producer won me the opportunity to travel to 13 countries with a documentary crew. Over the course of four years, we interviewed every member of the exclusive World Cup club, and I made portraits of them all.

Wholesale prices unexpectedly declined 0.3% in June on big drop in gasoline

As with consumer prices, the index benefited from easing energy costs, particularly as oil fell due to the brief pause in tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

George Lucas likens AI sceptics to luddites clinging to horses and carts

Star Wars director calls AI technology ‘the future’ of film-making and says ‘there’s nothing you can do about it’

The Star Wars director, George Lucas, has added his voice to the growing chorus of film-makers receptive to the rising use of AI tools in moviemaking.

Speaking in an interview with A Rabbit’s Foot, Lucas, 82, said: “Artificial intelligence means it’s much easier for us to make movies.”

China's economy grows 4.3% in Q2, slowest since late 2022

Lagging consumer spending and business investment offset the boost from strong exports thanks partly to the boom in artificial intelligence.

86 beams of light and an ICE Out protest: photos of the day – Wednesday

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

Old rivals, new battle: Argentina and England clash in World Cup Semifinal

Old rivals. New stakes. A World Cup final spot on the line. Argentina vs. England.

Zombies, gore and creepy kids – why we can’t stop playing horror games

As global anxieties multiply, ​v​ideo games from Resident Evil to Mouthwashing are providing rich source material to help decode society’s problems

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Horror is so hot right now. There’s Obsession, Evil Dead Burn and Hokum in the cinema, Widow’s Bay, From and Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen on TV, and, of course, a rotting smorgasbord of horror games including Resident Evil Requiem (pictured top) and Reanimal, soon to be joined by Silent Hill: Townfall, Silver Pines and Dreadmoor. We’re also seeing weird cross-pollinations, with horror movie studio Blumhouse making games, while games themselves become horror films and the whole backrooms genre infects every medium it touches.

So it was fascinating to attend last week’s horror and gaming conference at Falmouth University, in Cornwall: a gathering of students, researchers and lecturers, all engaged in the academic study of horror games. There were brilliant talks on zombies and posthumanism, the gothic in games, and the role of monstrous little girls in survival horror (there are a lot of them!). Subjects as diverse as masculine fragility, disability and ageing came up; Will Doyle, creative director at Supermassive Games, gave a great keynote on the art of creating horror in games using tools such as revulsion, spatial alienation and the human instinct of apophenia. I learned a lot about theorists such as Julia Kristeva and Mark Fisher, and about the technical similarities between indie horror games and film noir (for example, the use of darkness and creative camera techniques to “hide” budget restrictions). It was incredible fun.

Officer who rescued woman on Brooklyn Bridge was in first week on elite unit

Officer Cristian Yepes helped to save a woman's life on the Brooklyn Bridge last week. It was only his third day on the job with the NYPD Emergency Service Unit. Anna Schecter reports.

‘We did pull the levers’: emotional Starmer defends his record

In final PMQs, PM offers Burnham – and England team – full support and defends action on NHS waiting lists, child poverty and economy

• Politics live – latest updates

Keir Starmer has defended his record as prime minister in an often emotional final outing at prime minister’s questions, which largely avoided political jibes in favour of tributes and questions, many about the World Cup.

Answering the very last question, his voice breaking at times, Starmer paid tribute to those he had worked with over his two years in office, which will end on Monday when he hands over to Andy Burnham.

Cricket World Cup in fresh shake-up with India v Pakistan double on cards

• ICC reveals shape of expanded 2027 14-team tournament

• Only one of three lowest-ranked teams would advance

The men’s Cricket World Cup will undergo yet another revamp when it takes place in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia next year. A convoluted 14-team format has been officially confirmed by the International Cricket Council (ICC), albeit one that trims the competing nations to 12 almost immediately.

While at the last two World Cups the 10 teams played a round-robin league stage that produced four semi-finalists, the expanded 2027 edition will begin with the three lowest-ranked teams out of the 14 qualifiers playing what has been called a “Super Series”. Only one of these teams will progress through to the main event.