Microsoft stops relying on Chinese engineers for Pentagon cloud support

The change follows a ProPublica report that outlined how Microsoft's use of Chinese engineers left U.S. defense clients vulnerable to cybersecurity risks.

Trump sues Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over Epstein report

President follows through on libel threat over report that said he sent Epstein ‘bawdy’ birthday note and sketch

Donald Trump has sued Rupert Murdoch and two Wall Street Journal newspaper reporters for libel and slander over claims that he sent sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a bawdy note and sketch of a naked woman.

Trump’s lawsuit on Friday, which also targets Dow Jones and News Corp, was filed in the southern district of Florida federal court in Miami.

Democrats condemn CBS for axing Colbert show: ‘People deserve to know if this is politically motivated’

Lawmakers note cancellation follows Colbert’s criticism of parent company Paramount for settling Trump suit

Democrats are condemning CBS for its recent decision to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, noting the news comes just a few days after its host criticized the network’s parent company, Paramount, for settling a $16m lawsuit with Donald Trump.

Senator Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who appeared as a guest on Colbert’s show on Thursday night, later wrote on social media: “If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”

Trump sues Murdoch, Dow Jones over WSJ story on Epstein birthday letter: court records

President Trump is under increasing pressure to have the Justice Department release files about the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Astronomer board investigating CEO after Coldplay kiss-cam video

Tech company Astronomer said its board has launched an investigation after CEO Andy Byron was seen embracing a coworker at a Coldplay concert.

Company says investigation under way into footage of couple at Coldplay gig

Video at the concert showed Astronomer’s married CEO with his arms around its head of human resources

Astronomer, the company at the center of the Coldplay scandal in which its CEO was caught canoodling with its chief human resources officer, has finally issued a statement on the matter.

More than 24 hours after a Jumbotron camera at a Coldplay concert in Boston, Massachusetts, caught the software company’s married CEO, Andy Byron, with his arms around the company’s HR head, Kristin Cabot, Astronomer has responded to the incident which has taken the internet by storm.

Alan Bergman, Oscar-winning lyricist, dies at 99

Bergman teamed with wife Marilyn to write lyrics for such hits as The Way We Were and The Windmills of Your Mind

Alan Bergman, the Oscar-winning lyricist who teamed with his wife, Marilyn, for an enduring and loving partnership that produced such old-fashioned hits as How Do You Keep the Music Playing?, It Might Be You and the classic The Way We Were, has died aged 99.

Bergman died late on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles, family spokesperson Ken Sunshine said in a statement on Friday. The statement said Bergman had, in recent months, suffered from respiratory issues “but continued to write songs till the very end”.

Spain see off stubborn Swiss to reach semis despite two missed penalties

“Spain is Spain,” Switzerland’s talismanic captain Lia Wälti had warned and in the quarter-final between the host nation and the world champions, she was right. Spain Spained – Athenea del Castillo and Clàudia Pina each struck in a five-minute, second-half spell to crush rumblings of a possible upset.

It had been a game of hope, Mariona Caldentey’s missed penalty and Livia Peng’s save from an Alexia Putellas’s spot-kick sandwiching the goals that crushed the resolve of a battling Switzerland.

CBS News poll: Most Americans favor U.S. returning to moon, going to Mars

Many think the space program adds to feelings of national pride and patriotism, a CBS News poll shows.

The investor behind Opendoor's 190% run nearly shut down his fund

Eric Jackson has been posting obsessively about Opendoor as part of an effort to spark a rally in shares of the online real estate service.

Millions of travelers to the U.S. could be charged $250 "visa integrity fee"

The new tax cuts and spending bill includes a $250 fee for visitors coming to the U.S. on nonimmigrant visas. Here's what to know.

Caracas releases 10 Americans as Venezuelans freed from El Salvador jail

Scores of Venezuelans deported by US to El Salvador repatriated as Marco Rubio hails return of Americans

Venezuela released 10 jailed Americans on Friday in exchange for getting home scores of migrants deported by the United States to El Salvador months ago under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The resolution represents a diplomatic achievement for the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, helps Donald Trump in his goal of bringing home Americans jailed abroad and lands El Salvador a swap that it had proposed months ago.

New U.S. Postal Service head says he doesn't believe in privatizing the mail agency

Postmaster General David Steiner told USPS workers he doesn't believe in privatizing the agency. President Trump has expressed support for such a move, which would likely hurt services in rural areas.

The Open 2025: sensational second-round 64 gives Scheffler outright lead – live reaction

World No 1 Scottie Scheffler justified his status with a scintillating display to take the lead on 10 under par

Adam Scott should have won this Championship in 2012. But he bogeyed holes 69 through 72 at Lytham, handing the Claret Jug to Ernie Els on a silver platter. What the genial Scott would give to play that stretch again. Ah well, he’ll always have Augusta National, nine months later. What the Big Easy would give for a green jacket. Scott started this morning on +1 after a 72 yesterday, but he’s going backwards now, after a clumsy double bogey, his first of the week, at the short par-three 3rd. He over-clubs, his ball disappearing down the swale at the back … then he under-chips, his ball coming back towards his feet. A second chip doesn’t get close, and two putts later, he’s +3 and prodding the green with his putter in annoyance, not so genial right now.

Sergio Garcia missed a five-foot putt to win the Open at Carnoustie in 2007. He had his chance to win at Hoylake in 2014 too, but failed to get out of a bunker at the par-three 15th and that was that too. At 45 years of age, it’s not too late to right those wrongs, and yesterday’s opening round of 70 offered hope. But he’s started his second round horrendously, tugging his opening tee shot into the thick stuff down the left, finding a greenside bunker, failing to get onto the green, chipping short, then failing to make the eight-footer that remains for bogey. A double, and those shoulders are slumping already. We’ve seen this story too often before. Oh Sergio. He’s +1.

10 Americans are freed from Venezuela in a prisoner swap for migrants in El Salvador

Venezuela has freed 10 Americans in exchange for Venezuelans whom the United States had sent to a prison in El Salvador.

Astronomer board investigating CEO Andy Byron after viral Coldplay kiss cam video

Astronomer said its board has launched a "formal investigation" after CEO Andy Byron was caught on video with the company's HR chief at a Coldplay concert.

Trump signs landmark GENIUS Act, hailing "exciting new frontier" for crypto

President Trump signed the country's first major legislation aimed at regulating cryptocurrency on Friday, hailing "the exciting new frontier" for the technology.

More violence erupts in Syria’s Druze heartland as tribal groups reinforce local Bedouin

UN calls for end to ‘bloodshed’ that has claimed at least 638 lives, according to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

Armed tribes supported by Syria’s Islamist-led government clashed with Druze fighters in the community’s Sweida heartland on Friday, a day after the army withdrew under Israeli bombardment and diplomatic pressure.

The UN called for an end to the “bloodshed” and demanded an “independent” investigation of the violence, which has claimed at least 638 lives since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

This week on "Sunday Morning" (July 20)

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

Trump worked to kill a story about his friendship with Epstein. Now we know why | Margaret Sullivan

The president is reportedly ‘on a warpath’ over a story in the Wall Street Journal – controlled by Trump’s top media ally

For days before the Wall Street Journal published its story about Donald Trump’s salacious friendship with Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday, the president was frantically working the phones.

He reportedly put pressure on the paper’s top editor, Emma Tucker, and even Rupert Murdoch, who controls the paper’s business side, claiming that the alleged facts behind the story were nothing but a hoax, and threatening to sue the paper if it forged ahead.

Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture

Here's your potential tax cut in 2026 from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

The new tax cuts and spending law signed by President Trump on July 4 could provide savings for all income groups, an analysis finds.

Hospital chain claims "greed and bad faith misconduct" led to bankruptcy

Bankruptcy filing alleges Steward Health Care executives siphoned $245 million from needy hospitals.

FBI agents were told to 'flag' any Epstein records that mentioned Trump, Sen. Durbin says

President Donald Trump, bowing to days of pressure, asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to get grand jury testimony about Jeffrey Epstein unsealed.

Explosion at LA law enforcement training facility kills three people

Three deputies who were killed were members of department’s arson explosives detail, according to sheriff

An explosion at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles has killed three people with the county sheriff’s department in the largest loss of life for the agency since 1857, the sheriff said on Friday morning.

The three deputies who were killed were members of the department’s arson explosives detail said Robert Luna, the sheriff, at a press conference. Authorities were still working to notify relatives of the deceased, he said, and details on the circumstances around the explosion were limited.

The Downstream Effects of China's Rare Earth Mining

China has nearly cornered the market in rare earth minerals, which are a necessary component to much of our technology today. But China sources some of those rare earths and other heavy metals from neighboring Myanmar. And the ramped up in production there is causing downstream environmental concerns in Thailand. We go to Thailand to understand the issue.

Stablecoins get big boost as Trump signs Genius Act. Here's what to know.

Backers of the Genius Act, a potentially landmark bill that could help "stablecoins" go mainstream, say it would greatly speed electronic payments.

‘Gangster granny’ jailed for leading family gang dealing drugs worth £80m

Deborah Mason, 65, who had moniker ‘Queen Bee’, and seven members of her network sentenced to total of 106.5 years

A family-run organised crime group, orchestrated by a 65-year-old described by police as a “gangster granny”, has been sentenced for dealing drugs with a street value of £80m across the UK.

Deborah Mason, who had the moniker “Queen Bee”, and seven other members of the gang, were sentenced at Woolwich crown court in London on Friday for their involvement in supplying nearly a tonne of cocaine over seven months.

Lions desperate for fast start in Test that will set the tone for Australia series

Talk is of a possible clean sweep for tourists but the onus is on Australia to make one or two Lions eat their confident words

Whatever unfolds over the next three Saturdays this British & Irish Lions series will resonate more than its predecessor. Simply to see visiting fans in red jerseys wandering down Queen Street in central Brisbane is to be thankful the whole enterprise has a beating heart once again, in contrast to South Africa four years ago when a Covid-disrupted, spectator-free experience sapped everyone’s spirits.

Because a Lions tour is nothing without a human element, enticed back every four years by the fabled steepness of the challenge. “This is our Everest, boys,” growled Jim Telfer back in 1997 and, as usual, the master coach was right. On only three occasions in the past 50 years has a Lions squad returned home triumphant and, for now, a series win remains the holy grail for the professional egg chasers of England, Ireland, Scotland and, if selected, Wales.

England’s defensive problems go deeper than Carter – and must be fixed fast | Jonathan Liew

Centre-back’s ordeal against Sweden was damaging but sketchy press and midfield failings need to be addressed before Italy semi-final

Jess Carter glumly accepted her warm-down top, the pallid commiserations of Arjan Veurink and a seat on the England bench. In truth she had been fortunate to see 70 minutes of this quarter-final, and for all the nightmarish apparitions of the first half perhaps the last few minutes were the loneliest of all. Marooned at the back, 30 yards behind the rest of the team while England forced set pieces and pushed for a route back into the game: a last line of defence that had proved to be very little defence at all.

Esme Morgan would replace her to add some extra heft and the entire system would need to be rejigged to a back three. Carter would watch the excruciating last hour from a seated position, reflecting bleakly on the sort of performance that scars international careers, perhaps even defines them. “You’re feeling nothing and everything at the same time,” she said afterwards. “It’s a turbulent experience. I feel like it’s the first time I’ve smiled since the game.”

Idaho murder victim's family speaks out after gag order lifted in case

After nearly three years, the parents of Kaylee Goncalves say they're still missing basic details about her murder.

‘Absolute madness’: England fans reflect on Euros comeback win against Sweden

• Lionesses overturned deficit to win on penalties in Zurich

• Reigning champions will face Italy for place in final

England supporters in Zurich were recovering on Friday from the drama of the Euro 2025 penalty shootout win against Sweden, with one speaking of “absolute madness in the stands” as the team came from two goals down.

England’s official allocation of 2,099 tickets at the Stadion Letzigrund was sold out but there were about another 10,000 England fans in the stadium, including Louisa Holden-Morris, from Crewe, who was attending her 13th match at this tournament. She told the Guardian she could scarcely watch the penalties.

Trinidad and Tobago declares second state of emergency, citing gang threat

Police commissioner says there has been intelligence of formation of organised crime syndicate intent on havoc

Trinidad and Tobago has declared its second state of emergency this year amid “grave concerns” about a coordinated threat from organised crime gangs inside and outside the country’s prisons.

Announcing the decision on Friday, the commissioner of police, Allister Guevarro, said his force had received intelligence the day before that the gangs had “formed themselves into … an organised crime syndicate” and were intent on wreaking havoc and planning assassinations, robberies and kidnappings.

Trump AG Bondi to seek release of Jeffrey Epstein case grand jury transcripts

President Trump has faced growing calls for Attorney General Pam Bond to reverse her decision to withhold evidence in the Epstein case from the public.

Bondi tours Alcatraz as part of Trump's plan to reopen former prison

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi toured Alcatraz on Thursday as part of President Trump's directive to revert the popular tourist attraction to a federal penitentiary.

Man extradited to Oregon to face murder charge in girlfriend's 1983 death

Teresa Peroni was reported missing by her family in 1983, but charges were not filed for decades.

'Fresh Air' goes out to the ballgame

After a memorable All-Star game, today we listen back to some favorite baseball interviews from the Fresh Air archives: conversations with Jamie Moyer, Mike Piazza, Tony La Russa and Brad Ausmus.

Trump administration to destroy nearly $10m of contraceptives for women overseas

As part of president’s end to foreign aid, destruction of the long-acting contraceptives will cost US taxpayers $167,000

The Trump administration has decided to destroy $9.7m worth of contraceptives rather than send them abroad to women in need.

A state department spokesperson confirmed that the decision had been made – a move that will cost US taxpayers $167,000. The contraceptives are primarily long-acting, such as IUDs and birth control implants, and were almost certainly intended for women in Africa, according to two senior congressional aides, one of whom visited a warehouse in Belgium that housed the contraceptives. It is not clear to the aides whether the destruction has already been carried out, but said they had been told that it was set to occur by the end of July.

New York hiking trail closed due to moose with "unusual behaviors"

A bull moose exhibiting "unusual behaviors" has forced the closure of the Goodman Mountain trail in New York's Adirondack Mountains.

Trump pushes for up to 20% minimum tariffs on European Union: FT

Trump has escalated his demands on the EU following weeks of negotiations over a possible framework deal, the Financial Times reported.

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, combat training in Ukraine, wildfires in France and Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

• Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing

Inflation outlook tumbles to pre-tariff levels in latest University of Michigan survey

Consumers' worst fears about tariff-induced inflation have receded, though they are still wary of price increases to come.

Angela Rayner tells Labour to ‘step up’ and make case for being in power

Exclusive: Deputy PM defends action against party rebels and says Send system is priority, in Guardian interview

• NHS to Send: four key areas Labour wants to improve before next election

Angela Rayner has urged Labour colleagues to “step up” and make the case for why the party should be in power as the government attempts to draw a line under a tumultuous first year in office and shift towards a more upbeat approach.

The deputy prime minister urged Labour MPs to focus on the party’s achievements over the last 12 months rather than always thinking about failures, saying they should all be “message carriers” for what had been done well.

‘Profound alarm’: US veterans agency roiled by fight over anti-discrimination provisions

Nearly 100 lawmakers claim the agency’s recent actions put veterans’ healthcare at risk. Department of Veterans Affairs chief says ‘no one is being discriminated against at VA’

The US Department of Veterans Affairs has enthusiastically joined Donald Trump’s war on DEI – demanding that staffers report colleagues who engage in diversity initiatives, banning LGBTQ+ pride flags from VA hospitals and shuttering an office investigating why Black veterans are more likely to have their mental health disability claims rejected.

Last week, the VA secretary, Doug Collins, tweeted that “VA is now squarely focused on Veterans – not out-of-touch, woke causes such as DEI and gender dysphoria treatments.”

‘Two fights left’: Usyk closes in on history and retirement with Dubois test

Ukrainian seeks to unify the heavyweight division again at Wembley on Saturday before putting family time first

Boxing, as Oleksandr Usyk knows, gets everyone in the end. It is a harsh and pitiless business and earlier this week, at the end of a long afternoon answering the same old questions in front of a line of television cameras, Usyk sat down with a small group of familiar faces who have written about him for years. During his last assignment for the day he opened up a little more as he spoke about the sacrifices boxing demands.

He told us how much he wanted to see his wife, Yekaterina, as she had just flown into London and they would be reunited that evening. Three months had passed, in a gruelling training camp, since they had been together and Usyk spoke about missing her and their four children.

17-year-old charged with murder in death of paddleboarder in Maine

A 17-year-old has been charged with murder in the death of a paddleboarder who went missing in Maine, authorities said on Friday.

Faced with a choice between saving his own skin and the lives of others, Netanyahu always chooses himself | Jonathan Freedland

If Israel’s prime minister accepts a ceasefire deal soon, it will only be because the timing suits him. He, like his country, will face a reckoning

Will the war in Gaza last for ever? It’s not a wholly rhetorical question. There are days when I fear that the death and devastation that has gone on for 650 days will never stop, that it will eventually settle into a constant, low-level attritional war inside the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict – a war within a war – that becomes a background hum to world affairs, the way the Troubles in Northern Ireland endured for 30 years. In this same nightmare, incidentally, I see Benjamin Netanyahu, who has already sat in Israel’s prime ministerial chair for nearly 18 years, on and off, staying put for another 18 years or more, ruling the country until he is 100.

Israelis don’t want either of those things to happen. Polls show that only a minority trust Netanyahu, while an overwhelming majority – about 74% – want this terrible war to end. As the leader of one of the ultra-orthodox, or Haredi, parties that this week quit Netanyahu’s ruling coalition – over the government’s failure to pass a bill permanently exempting Haredi youth from military service – recently put it: “I don’t understand what we are fighting for there … I don’t understand what the need is.”

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

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.

How the EU is preparing to reach a tariff deal in Trump's game of chicken

The European Union is pushing to secure a trade deal with the U.S. ahead of President Donald Trump's Aug. 1 deadline.

Why Delta and United are pulling away from the airline pack

U.S. airlines are struggling from weaker domestic spring and summer demand and lower fares.

Epstein files: House Speaker Johnson wants 'maximum transparency'

Johnson insisted there was no daylight between himself, Trump and House Republicans on Epstein, as Democrats seize on conservative backlash over the files.

Here are some of the newest UNESCO World Heritage sites

Bavarian palaces, imperial tombs in China and memorials to Khmer Rouge victims are among the sites being recognized by the United Nations agency.

Lammy announces exposure of 18 Russian spies after UK cyber-attacks

Foreign secretary says two agents were involved in planting spyware on a device used by poisoning victim Yulia Skripal

The UK has exposed 18 Russian spies and their units responsible for cyber-attacks in Britain and hacking one of the victims of the Salisbury poisonings, David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has said.

Announcing individual sanctions, Lammy said Russia had targeted media, telecoms providers, political and democratic institutions and energy infrastructure in the UK in recent years.

The Guardian view on Maga and Jeffrey Epstein: the truth about Donald Trump and conspiracy theories | Editorial

The US president is struggling to close down speculation about the case that those close to him have promoted

Donald Trump has thrived on conspiracy theories – “birtherist” lies that Barack Obama was born outside the US; the lunacies of the Q-Anon movement; false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. All centred on the idea that the “deep state” was lying to, and thus cheating, ordinary people. Mr Trump was their tribune.

It’s hard not to feel schadenfreude now that he’s at the sharp end of a theory that he at times encouraged and allies eagerly pushed: claims that the prison death of the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein might not be suicide after all, and that wealthy and well-connected associates were trying to hush up connections to the financier. Mr Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, promised that “truckloads” of documents would help reveal the truth and claimed that a client list was “sitting on my desk right now”.

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.

Kerr and Lyles offer London Diamond League stardust despite withdrawals

Threat of rain and absences of Hodgkinson, Hassan and Ingebrigtsen are blows but record tilts will enthrall fans

One of the major issues athletics faces is the relative lack of importance that the overwhelming majority of events hold. It is one of the reasons why Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track is yet to catch alight: the pay is great for the athletes, but a win or loss counts for little in the overall scheme of a season or career.

The much-maligned Diamond League has fought against such (ir)relevance throughout its existence. In such a context, it is a notable achievement that the London leg of athletics’ premier season-long competition is a 60,000 sellout for what could turn out to be a thunderstorm-threatened Saturday afternoon.

Peacock raising its subscription rates by $3 starting next week

Peacock is hiking its prices as streaming platforms surpass traditional broadcasters in how people watch TV.

Your Guardian sport weekend: Tour de France, the Open and Women’s Euro 2025

The first Lions Test, a golf major at Royal Portrush, a Euro 2025 quarter-final and heavyweight boxing are just some of our offerings this weekend

Tour de France: Pogacar pulls more than four minutes clear with stage 13 victory

• Defending champion eases to time-trial triumph

• Vingegaard finishes second with Roglic in third

A breathless Jonas Vingegaard slumped exhaustedly over his bike on another baking Pyrenean afternoon, after Tadej Pogacar inflicted a further crushing defeat in the mountain time trial to the altiport at Peyragudes.

The second time trial in the 2025 Tour was expected to further confirm Pogacar’s supremacy over the peloton and so it proved, as the defending champion extended his lead to over four minutes with his fourth stage win in this year’s race and the 21st Tour stage of his career.

The song of the summer is … nothing? Why 2025’s charts are so stale

Experts say this year has produced the fewest new hit songs in US history – and it might signal the end of a singular seasonal smash

A spectre is haunting America – the spectre of Shaboozey.

Despite it coming out in April 2024, Shaboozey’s huge hit A Bar Song (Tipsy) is still, billions of streams later, at No 5 on this week’s Billboard chart. Its country-tinged refrain of “everybody at the bar gettin’ tipsy,” an interpolation from J-Kwon 2004 hit Tipsy, has stuck around well past closing time.

Father arrested by ICE while dropping off child at preschool in Oregon

Mahdi Khanbabazadeh, who is a citizen of Iran, was arrested outside his child's preschool in Oregon for overstaying his visa, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

From penalty taker to physio: Lucy Bronze is England’s Swiss army knife

When the chips were down against Sweden, the right-back scored, scrapped and strapped her way to a semi-final spot

Lucy Bronze pinned up a picture of herself after the 2019 Women’s World Cup bronze-medal match against Sweden, which England lost 2-1, for her teammates to see on a wall in the team hotel where players and staff share inspirational images. She was, in her words, “absolutely exhausted” in it, hairband round her neck, shirt crumpled, hair awry, the physical, emotional and mental pain of the preceding 90 minutes visible.

That photo represents so much to Bronze, England’s stalwart right-back who no one has come close to replacing and likely never will. “I will give anything and I will give everything when I play in an England shirt,” she says of the image of her at her most broken. “I wanted all the girls to know that that’s my why. My why is to give everything for this team because I just love playing for England so much.”

I’m an expert on ageing. Here’s what I know about thriving in later life | Kerry Burnight

I scoured longevity research on wellbeing – and the deeper I dug, the more I recognized a profound underlying pattern

Anyone who says “age is just a number” has not reached the high numbers. Ageing is not easy, and “forever young” is not a plan. Regardless of how many burpees you can do or protein smoothies you chug, the passing of time brings challenges. Roles that you relished change, words on menus seem to shrink, necks sag, diagnoses arise.

On the other hand, ageing is not the downhill slide that people believe it is. A multibillion-​dollar anti-ageing industry profits when you feel awful about yourself and fear ageing like the plague. The tragedy of ageing is not that we will all grow old and die, but that ageing has been made unnecessarily, and at times excruciatingly, painful and humiliating. Ageing does not have to be this way.

Whiteboard warrior: Marvel is priming Mister Fantastic to be the new leader of the Avengers

The guy who treats collapsing timelines like a crossword puzzle has one extra superpower this time around: he’s played by Pedro Pascal

The Avengers need a new leader, and given how many potential candidates for the gig have either died, retired, or turned evil, they need it soon. The multiverse is collapsing, timelines are unravelling, box office numbers are wobbling, the Kang plan is in tatters and Blade is on its ninth script. So, naturally, Marvel’s answer is to hand the reins to a stretchy man in sensible shoes who once broke the entire multiverse.

Yes, according to The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman, the awesome foursome’s Reed Richards is being lined up as the new leader of Earth’s mightiest heroes. Or at least, he is (at times) in the comics, and it looks increasingly like he might be the only reality-straddling, buttoned up polymathable to take on this job on the big screen.

Couple investigated over potential surrogacy scam as 21 kids are now in protective custody

A potential surrogacy scam has sparked an investigation into whether a California couple misled surrogate mothers across the U.S. into giving them their babies. Twenty one kids in Los Angeles County are now in protective custody. The couple was arrested in May in connection to a possible child abuse incident and released on bond as the investigation expanded. CBS News' Andres Gutierrez reports.

I used to be scared of being a ‘difficult woman’. Now it’s a badge of honour | Jacinta Parsons

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned by talking to older women, it’s that being a ‘bad girl’ shouldn’t faze you – it should embolden you

I remember the thrill I felt when someone would tell me that I was a “good girl”. I understood from a young age that, as a girl, goodness would be my supreme achievement – my calling in life. But what that looked like or how I might embody its essence took time to decode.

I remember being in the back seat of our brown HJ Holden when I was young, leaving a family party and being reprimanded by my parents for my “behaviour”. I was mystified. I had no idea what I had done that had caused them such embarrassment. Had I run when I was told not to? Or had I misunderstood an instruction? Was I a “bad girl”, I remember wondering.

What’s causing chaos at the Maga conspiracy club? | Fiona Katauskas

It’s unbelievable!

• See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here

President Trump calls for release of some Jeffrey Epstein-related grand jury records

President Trump says he's authorizing Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of some grand jury records from the federal investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It comes after a Wall Street Journal report that alleges Mr. Trump wrote Epstein a birthday note in 2003 that included a hand-drawn sketch appearing to be the outline of a nude woman. The president denies the report.

These 10 states have the worst infrastructure in America in 2025

Trillions have been invested in U.S. infrastructure in recent years. These states did not make the most of it.

Spain’s People’s party hit by alleged multimillion cash-for-favours scandal

Claims involve former finance minister Cristóbal Montoro and dealings with gas and other energy companies

Just when Spain’s opposition People’s party thought it had the socialist government of Pedro Sánchez on the ropes over a series of corruption scandals, it has been hit by a controversy of its own over alleged trafficking of influences by Cristóbal Montoro, the former finance minister.

It is alleged that Montoro established the “economic team”, a lawyer’s office linked to the finance ministry, which took kickbacks from gas and other energy companies in return for favourable government policy. It is claimed that between 2008 and 2015 Montoro and 27 other accused, among them senior treasury officials, were paid at least €11m (£9.5m) by big energy companies.

The Guide #200: Get Out, Breaking Bad and the pop culture that defined the 21st century so far

In this week’s newsletter: To celebrate the Guide’s 200th edition, we look back at the films, shows, albums and more that mattered most over the last 25 years

The Guide is 200 issues old today – maybe not the biggest milestone, but one worth marking. So this week we’re doing just that, ending our recent miniseries on the culture of the past 25 years with a listicle spectacular.

We’ve picked a piece of popular culture for each year of the 21st century so far. Which isn’t to say a definitive list of the best culture of the 21st century – the Guardian’s arts desk already did that far more conclusively than we ever could. Instead, we’ve selected 21st-century TV shows, films, plays, podcasts, artworks, albums and games that together hopefully help explain how culture has evolved in that time.

Man arrested in Glasgow for holding sign allegedly supportive of Palestine Action

Arrest under the Terrorism Act happened after the man refused to stop displaying the sign when asked by police

A man has been arrested in Glasgow for holding a paper sign allegedly supportive of the proscribed direct action group Palestine Action, the third arrest of its kind across the city in the past week.

Police Scotland confirmed that the 64-year-old man, who had been speaking to a small group of protesters gathered at Nelson Mandela Place in the city centre on Friday afternoon, had been arrested in connection with an offence under the Terrorism Act “for displaying a sign expressing support for a proscribed organisation”.

Exclusive discounts from CBS Mornings Deals

On this edition of CBS Mornings Deals, we show you items that might just become essentials in your everyday life. Visit cbsdeals.com to take advantage of these exclusive deals today. CBS earns commissions on purchases made through cbsdeals.com.

Bolsonaro ordered to wear ankle tag over fears he may abscond as coup trial nears end

Guilty verdict widely expected for Brazil’s ex-president accused of plot to seize power after losing 2022 election

Federal police have raided Jair Bolsonaro’s Brasília mansion, banned him from communicating with foreign diplomats and ordered him to wear an electronic ankle tag amid fears Brazil’s ex-president may abscond to avoid punishment over an alleged coup attempt.

A supreme court trial examining claims that Bolsonaro masterminded a murderous plot to seize power after losing the 2022 election is expected to reach its conclusion in the coming weeks.

Trump orders Bondi to seek release of Epstein-related grand jury testimony

President Trump late Thursday ordered the Justice Department to seek the release of grand jury testimony related to Jeffrey Epstein.

The long road to tragedy at the Texas girls camp where floods claimed 27 lives

A 2018 county meeting foretold the Texas flood that overwhelmed the summer camp for girls

Investigators of the catastrophic Hill Country flooding in Texas may never be able to pinpoint a precise moment that sealed the fate of 27 young girls, teenage counselors and staff who perished after a wall of water surged through Camp Mystic on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

But perhaps no bigger clue can be found than the account of an otherwise unremarkable and sparsely attended meeting of Kerr county commissioners in March 2018.

Trump’s endless toying with conspiracy theories has finally come back to bite him | Moira Donegan

The president has long exploited useful fictions embraced by his supporters. Now he’s trying to change the narrative

Donald Trump’s followers, and the conspiracist influencers turned government officials through whom he persuades them, have turned on the president and US attorney general after they declared an end to federal inquiries into Jeffrey Epstein’s death. But it would be a mistake to think that the investigation scandal is sui generis. It’s more like the culmination of a long-running trend, one in which Trump’s exploitation of the conspiracist fictions, distrust of institutions, and prurient fascinations of his base have finally come back to bite him.

A pedophile ring at the center of power is a recurring theme in rightwing conspiracy theories of the Trump era. During the 2016 presidential election, supporters of Trump, then an outsider challenger for the Republican nomination, began to spread dark claims about his rival for the presidency, Hillary Clinton. Online, far-right trolls and members of the population now called “low trust voters”– people who believe that something nefarious and conspiratorial is going on in the halls of American power, even if they don’t know exactly what – speculated that Clinton was at the head of a huge human trafficking and pedophilic abuse ring based inside Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant in Washington DC. There was no secret ring. But that didn’t stop a disturbed man from showing up with a gun.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

Are collagen shots and supplements really the secret to youthful skin?

Treatments to boost the protein are all the rage, but the evidence is uncertain and any results could be short-lived

From high-end aesthetics clinics to the middle aisle of Lidl, collagen is having a moment. Whether it’s in the form of fruity shots or powdered supplements, this structural protein is being touted as the secret to youthful skin and glossy hair.

Celebrities are also singing the praises of a collagen-boosting procedure called NeoGen, with the actor Leslie Ash claiming earlier this week that it had “taken 10 years off her”.

Football Daily | England and Sweden get into spot of bother with an unmissable shootout

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The strongest contender that Football Daily could find for the worst penalty shootout of all time was predictably held between two English teams. In January 1998, under-10 pair Mickleover Lightning Blue Sox and Chellaston Boys faced off in the Derby Community Cup. After the regular game finished 1-1, a total of 56 penalties failed to break the deadlock, with referee Peter Shieff even moving the spot two yards closer and offering a coin toss to decide the result (which the sides declined). Despite saving 31 consecutive spot-kicks in the sudden-death decider, Chellaston Boys’ goalkeeper Ben Hodder ended up on the losing side as Blue Sox romped home 2-1, after a grand total of 66 kicks had been taken, a world record verified by David Barber, the FA’s official statistician. A thought, then, for the parents that day 27 years ago, stood on the sidelines, outwardly encouraging their youngsters while internally being tortured and scorched with the fires of a thousand flamethrowers.

There is such a feeling of sadness and disbelief around this awful tragedy that we wanted to make this tribute of our own as soon as we could. Like everyone else, we’ve been stunned by events, and we remember what a wonderful player Diogo was for Wolves during that unforgettable promotion season under Nuno and our early years back in the Premier League. His record of 44 goals at Wolves, and then 65 at Liverpool as a Premier League title winner, speaks volumes. So many fans across the game – especially in Portugal after he helped them win the Nations League this summer – are feeling his loss deeply. We saw no reason to delay this decision” – Wolves induct Diogo Jota into their hall of fame.

The north (in the west) starts at the Cheshire/Staffordshire border. This puts Stoke in the midlands (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) and Crewe in the north. This isn’t just my opinion (I went to grammar school in Crewe) but also the opinion of a person originally from Merseyside who wrote a book about the north that started by him defining where the north started and the first chapter was him visiting Crewe” – Mike Walsh.

Looking at the James, Parker, Chapman, Jack golfing quartet (yesterday’s Memory Lane, full email edition), I couldn’t help but wonder which one of them would have the flag showing ‘Fashion, Golf, Arsenal. In that order’” – Ken Muir.

Further to Yannick Woudstra (yesterday’s letters) wondering if a move to Old Trafford could materialise for Jordan Henderson. I seem to recall that Alex Ferguson once put the kibosh on a move for Henderson in the early-2000s over concerns about his running style. Well the good news for Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s brains trust is that, at the age of 35, running won’t be something Henderson will be doing a lot of. Sign him up!” – Joel Flood.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Elon Musk's Neuralink filed as 'disadvantaged business' before being valued at $9 billion

Neuralink labeled itself in April as a "small disadvantaged business" in a federal filing with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Family of Idaho student killed speaks out after gag order lifted

Steve and Kristi Goncalves join "CBS Mornings Plus" to share their reaction to Bryan Kohberger's guilty plea and the end of the nearly three-year wait for justice.

Flight cancellations are surging. These airports have been hit the hardest.

Airports, primarily on the East Coast, have seen a substantial spike in flight cancellations since the summer travel rush began this year compared to the same period in 2024.

Felix Baumgartner: the man who skydived from space – video obituary

The Austrian extreme sports pioneer Felix Baumgartner, known for his record-breaking 2012 skydive from the edge of space, has died in a paragliding accident in central Italy, police have said. Baumgartner, 56, lost control of his motorised paraglider while flying over Porto Sant’Elpidio in Marche on Thursday. He fell to the ground near the swimming pool of a hotel. The cause of the accident remains unclear

• Felix Baumgartner, who jumped from edge of space, dies in paragliding crash

Essex police arrest two after asylum hotel protests turn violent

Police say eight officers were assaulted when crowds surrounded a small counter-demonstration

Two people have been arrested after a protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers during which eight officers were assaulted, Essex police said.

Riot police wore helmets and took up position while crowds of men, some masked, surrounded a small counter-demonstration by anti-racism activists on Thursday evening.

The end of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show is a concerning nail in the coffin for comedy | Jesse Hassenger

The long-running US television staple is coming to an end, signalling the slow death of late-night comedy and the worrying cultural power of Trump

The idea that the political career of Donald Trump would be a goldmine for comedy died a long time ago, with the coffin accepting stray nails for the past five years. The latest and possibly last such nail is the cancellation of The Late Show, the CBS late-night talkshow hosted by Stephen Colbert since the fall of 2015, and originated by David Letterman when the network poached him from NBC in 1993. At this point, Trump hasn’t just made topical late-night comedy look outdated, hackneyed and an insufficient response to his reign of terror; he’s also made a chunk of it flat-out go away.

There will be time to eulogize Colbert’s particular talkshow style later; the Late Show isn’t leaving the air for another 10 months, when his contract is up. Surely that leaves plenty more time to savage the president – and Colbert has been in this slot since right around the time Trump became a real contender in the presidential race, so why has this only now come to a head? Seemingly because the axing of the Late Show franchise follows the $16m settlement of a frivolous Trump lawsuit against CBS and their newsmagazine show 60 Minutes over the show’s editing of a 2024 interview with presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Colbert made great fun of his bosses’ payout as a cowardly “bribe” designed to appease the Trump administration, who are in the position to approve or deny the sale of Paramount, the corporate owners of CBS, to the company Skydance. In other words, the pre-merger nixing a comedian who regularly goofs on Trump on network TV seems like a convenient bit of timing – maybe even an unspoken bonus to go along with those millions of dollars.

Christian leaders make rare visit to shelled church in Gaza

Israel grants access after ‘stray’ tank round kills three people and wounds Catholic priest

Israel has granted two senior Christian leaders rare access to Gaza after an Israeli strike on the Palestinian territory’s only Roman Catholic church killed three people.

Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Catholic Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, and his Greek Orthodox counterpart, Theophilos III, led a delegation on Friday to the Holy Family Church, whose shelling the day before triggered international condemnation.

Flight cancellations have increased this summer travel season. Here's where.

Data from Flightaware shows the rate of canceled flights since the start of the summer travel season is up 29% over last year. Delays are also up. CBS News senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave reports on which airports have been impacted the most.

‘We painted, sang songs’: the Russian woman found living in Indian cave with daughters

Nina Kutina told police she moved to forest with girls, aged four and six, to get away from modern urban life

According to Nina Kutina, life for her and her two daughters in their jungle cave had been peaceful.

Buried deep in the forests of Gokarna, a coastal town in southern India, they had woken “up with the sun, swam in rivers and lived in nature”.

Heavy rain slams Louisiana's Gulf Coast

Fifteen million people across the country are under flood alerts Friday. Along the Gulf Coast, heavy rain is expected to continue until Saturday. CBS News' Kati Weis reports.

What to know about President Trump's chronic venous insufficiency diagnosis

CBS News medical contributor Dr. Celine Gounder explains what to know about the symptoms and treatment of chronic venous insufficiency following the announcement of President Trump's diagnosis.

President Trump is diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency after noticing swelling in legs

On Thursday, it was revealed President Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency. The White House said Mr. Trump had medical tests done after noticing swelling in his legs. The vein condition is common in people over the age of 70 and is not life threatening.

Unknown illness sickens 140 people aboard Royal Caribbean cruise

Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas was on a week-long, round-trip cruise when passengers became sick, the CDC said.

‘The hot tar splashed everywhere’: remembering the dark magic of Derek Jarman

In 1989, the artist was living on the Kentish coast when he created a series of mysterious paintings with a bonfire and tar. A new exhibition brings these so-called Black Paintings to life – and shows why they still resonate today

In Modern Nature, his journals, published two years before his death in 1994, Derek Jarman described the time his friend David arrived for lunch at Prospect Cottage, Jarman’s home, some time in the summer of 1989. David was carrying an enormous block of pitch.

The cottage and its boundless garden sits on the shingle at Dungeness, a place of immeasurable strangeness and beauty on the Kentish coast. “After swimming,” Jarman wrote, “we built a brick hearth, lit a bonfire, and melted the pitch in an old tin can.” The two men then rushed back and forth between the studio and the pot, fetching brushes, gloves, pillows, barbed wire, crucifixes, prayer books, bullets, a model fighter plane and a telephone and set about tarring and feathering objects and affixing them on to canvases. “The hot tar splashed everywhere and set like shining jet,” he observed, with a childlike enthusiasm.

‘I’ve not got a problem with making myself look disgusting’: the wild rise of Diane Morgan

From Avon lady to TikTok superstar, Diane Morgan has become a global comic darling. As her raucous comedy Mandy returns, she talks about why she almost asked the BBC to pull it – and why she pretends to be a robot for an hour a day

Diane Morgan went vegan a few months ago, so naturally, we meet for lunch at a restaurant in central London that almost entirely serves cheese. It is a humid, muggy day. “You don’t often hear people use the word ‘muggy’ now,” Morgan says, when I mention it. “How many people do you hear saying that, on a daily basis?” A pause. “Under the age of 85, I mean.”

Morgan is famous for her deadpan style, which she has honed to perfection as the mockumentary host Philomena Cunk, and has put to use all over British TV, from the dour Liz in Motherland to Kath in Ricky Gervais’s sitcom After Life, with a recent stint as the reporter Onya Doorstep in Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Over a lovely looking cheese-free salad, she admits that she is becoming more of a hippy as she gets older. “As I’m cascading towards the grave,” she laughs.

This fiasco didn’t start when Britain leaked Afghans’ names, but when we invaded their country | Simon Jenkins

Even after Tony Blair’s bungled war, UK leaders still yearned to dominate the world stage. With the lifting of the superinjunction, we can all see where that has led

What odds on a public inquiry into the Afghan superinjunction? Gold-plated, judge-led, three years of fun and games, that is how British politics normally kicks an embarrassment into the long grass. And what odds on who will get off scot free – Tony Blair?

The more we pick away at the stages of this fiasco, the more from the start one blunder seemed to follow inevitably from another. There was no reason for the British invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. If the US wanted revenge on the Kabul regime for harbouring al-Qaida after 9/11, it could have done what Donald Trump did last month to Iran. A savage retaliatory blow against the country’s rulers would have made the point.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

Trump threatens to sue over article about Epstein. And, what's next for public media

President Trump has threatened to sue the Wall Street Journal over an article alleging ties to Jeffrey Epstein. And, Congress has passed the rescission package affecting public media and foreign aid.

BP agrees to sell US onshore wind business as it shifts back to oil

Company to sell business for undisclosed sum to LS Power as part of plan to offload $20bn in assets

BP has agreed a deal to sell off its onshore wind business in the US as the oil multinational turns its back on renewable energy after a failed attempt to go green.

The company said it would sell its share of 10 windfarms, which generate enough clean energy to power more than 500,000 US homes, to the New York-headquartered LS Power.

The best recent crime and thrillers – roundup

Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson; Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson; The Good Liar by Denise Mina; The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun; Gunner by Alan Parks

Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson (Michael Joseph, £20)
The bestselling YA author’s first novel for adults has an intriguing premise: thanks to the combination of a blow to the head by an unseen assailant and a pre-existing medical condition, Jet Mason has a week to solve her own murder before a fatal aneurysm rupture. Jet, who comes across as rather younger than her 27 years, has retreated back to the dysfunctional bosom of her wealthy Vermont family after dropping out of law school; she disagrees with the police department’s choice of culprit and conducts her own investigation with the aid of childhood friend Billy. As Jet’s neighbours, family and the construction business from which the Masons derive their money come under the microscope, secrets and cover-ups are revealed, and it starts to look as if the killer may be very close to home … A propulsive plot, where the pathos is fuel for real suspense, makes this perfect holiday fare – a genuine page-turner for YA and adult readers alike.

Add to playlist: Céline Dessberg’s harp evokes Hollywood and home – plus the week’s best new tracks

With a wide-eyed awe at the natural beauty of her Mongolian heritage, the warmth of Dessberg’s voice is irresistible

From France
Recommended if you like Eddie Chacon, the Sweet Enoughs, Chet Baker
Up next Full-length album due later this year

Perhaps you are listening to a lot of Mongolian-French harp music featuring hauntingly beautiful Mongolian-language vocals about the natural treasures of the Earth, in which case Céline Dessberg will be old news to you and you can move along. For the rest of us though, she’s a revelation. Taking inspiration from all aspects of her heritage, you’ll find traces of Buddhism, the Mongolian countryside, Chet Baker and David Byrne woven through her songs in a sound that’s classic, old as the hills and refreshingly new all at once.

‘We’re the canary in the coalmine’: when will Russia take action on the climate?

World’s fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases pays lip service to tackling climate crisis and, with fossil fuels central to regime’s legitimacy, it seems happier with status quo

Source of figures at top: World Economic Outlook

NPR CEO Katherine Maher discusses the future of public radio

NPR CEO Katherine Maher answers questions on the future of public radio as Congress strips over $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Listen up, weaklings: there’s no Epstein client list. Why are you so obsessed? Yours, Donald J Trump | Marina Hyde

It’s the bonfire of the Maga hats. The real mystery is where their wearers got the idea of a paedophile conspiracy from in the first place

You have to feel for Donald Trump’s Maga base. The one huge secret they didn’t want disclosed was that he actually really hates them. All populists despise their people, obviously – but please, Mr President, respect the playbook! You’re supposed to do it quietly. Regrettably, no one could accuse Trump of hiding his spite under a bushel after a week in which he described those of his supporters who want him to simply do what he repeatedly promised, and release the so-called Epstein files, as “weaklings” and “stupid people”. This is quite the (public) volte face from the guy who originally swept to office declaring “I love the poorly educated”.

Most of you are unlikely to need a recap at this stage, but Jeffrey Epstein is the sex-trafficking financier and socialite, who conveniently died in jail while awaiting trial, apparently by suicide. A woman, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted of conspiring with him to sexually abuse minors, and is currently serving 20 years in a low-security Florida prison. But no big-hitting or even small-hitting male associate in the US has so much as been arrested for participating in what I believe the dead paedophile would have encouraged us to call his “lifestyle”. This second Trump administration didn’t just sweep to power while repeatedly screaming about the “cover-up” of this story, but it spent a good portion of its early months assuring its ravenous base that Epstein’s supposed “client list” was on a desk waiting for release approval. Yet now, Trump and his associates say there is no list. Nope. Never even was a list. Where did these weakling idiots get that idea? To summarise his administration’s position: “We took a look at the deep state and it turns out to be very shallow. Seriously, I’m standing in it right now and it doesn’t even come up to my knees.”

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

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‘A wild and orgasmic ride’: Basic Instinct set for ‘anti-woke’ reboot

Original writer Joe Eszterhas is signed on for the new films, with the 80-year-old intending to unleash the ‘twisted little man’ inside him on the script

Joe Eszterhas, the screenwriter of 1992 smash Basic Instinct, is to write a reboot sources close to the project are calling “anti-woke”.

As first reported by the Wrap, Eszterhas, 80, has signed a deal with Amazon MGM for the script; the streamer guarantees a $2m fee, which will be upped to $4m should the film be made, making it the most lucrative spec sale of the year.