Trump signals he could send details of Iran deal to Congress

The peace deal announced Sunday is meeting lukewarm reactions from Congress, including some allies of President Donald Trump.

Trump says Iran ‘will never have a nuclear weapon’ under new deal and warns Israel over Lebanon – Middle East crisis live

US president says Netanyahu has to be ‘more responsible’, as Hezbollah says deal hinges on Israel withdrawing

• Full report: Trump declares deal ‘all signed’ as G7 leaders try to tie loose ends

You can follow all the latest developments from the G7 summit in our Europe live blog:

We will be including any Iran-related news from the summit in our Middle East crisis live blog.

UK defence spending plan ‘well short of what’s required’ and harder choices needed, says John Healey - UK politics live

Ex-defence secretary John Healey and ex-defence minister Al Carns have given resignation statements to MPs

Speaking to reporters at the G7, Keir Starmer also defended the defence investment plan (DIP) draft that led to John Healey’s resignation as defence secretary last week. Starmer confirmed that Dan Jarvis, the new defence secretary, is getting some input before the publication of the DIP in its final version.

Starmer said:

The position on investment in defence is firstly that we increased last year defence spending from 2.3% to 2.6%, that’s the biggest increase since the 1980s, and that means £270bn will be spent this parliament on defence.

On top of that [the] defence investment plan which obviously gives us capability for the future. We will put even more money in relation to that. I’ve been really clear that’s required difficult decisions, I have taken the decision to reallocate money from other departments.

People in Albania: share your thoughts on the recent ‘not for sale’ protests

We’d like to hear from Albanians about how they view the protests against a planned luxury resort

For the last two weeks, Albanians have been protesting against a planned luxury resort backed by a company linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Donald Trump, near Vlora.

If it goes ahead, the development would occupy parts of an environmentally sensitive area which includes the uninhabited outcrop of Sazan and wetlands and coastal habitats in the surrounding marine national park – home to the Mediterranean monk seal and more than 200 bird species – including flamingos and Dalmatian pelicans, according to BirdLife International.

World Cup 2026: England’s Livramento ruled out; Iran player’s visa expires after opener; Tunisia hire Renard – live

⚽ All the latest on day six of the tournament
⚽ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail us

Donald Trump: The US president is in France for the G7 summit where he is meeting with world leaders. The US-Iran agreement will be high on the agenda after Trump clashed with and threatened key allies. Why am I mentioning this in the Geopolitics World Cup blog? Because the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, took a punt and opted to give Trump a belated 80th birthday gift: a Germany football top with the number 47 on the back and “Trump” written on it. It is quite rare for Trump to endorse anything that is not branded “USA! USA! USA! but he seemed pleased.

Algeria: The Desert Warriors will hope to harness strong backing from local supporters ⁠when they open their campaign ​against the defending champions Argentina. Residents of Lawrence, Kansas have fallen in love ⁠with Algeria, who have made their base camp in the city 40 miles west of Kansas City and Petkovic praised the north African team’s newfound fans for their warm welcome.

Lawrence is located a little over 40 miles from Kansas City, a roughly 40-minute drive from the Metropolitan area that is hosting the base camps of Argentina, the Netherlands, and England for the World Cup. All three are staying at boutique hotels around the city. Algeria? Well, they chose the humble Lawrence DoubleTree.

So where did this come from? According to Stan Herd, a local artist, you have to go back to April, when it was officially announced that Lawrence would host Algeria. “I think everybody’s surprised at it,” Herd said. “We’re not.”

‘It’s supposed to make you uncomfortable’: French artist JR on transforming Paris’ oldest bridge into a cave

‘France’s Banksy’ has created a monumental art installation over the Seine. And visitors to La Caverne du Pont Neuf are in for an uncomfortable and unforgettable crossing

With the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower to one side and Notre Dame to the other, Pont Neuf is not only Paris’s most picturesque bridge but, contrary to what its name suggests, it’s also the city’s oldest.

Yet as of today, Pont Neuf is no longer just a bridge but also an overground cave.

Carvana is expanding into new vehicles. The implications could reshape the U.S. automotive retail market

Carvana has bought seven new vehicle franchises since last year that primarily sell Stellantis' Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram brands.

Even if Iran benefits from this deal with Washington, any peace is likely to be temporary | Sina Toossi

The regime has learned it must extract concessions rather than promises from the US, but any permanent deal still depends on ending the war in Lebanon

To understand why Iran agreed to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United States to end the war, one must first understand how Iranian leaders believe they emerged from the war itself. For Iran’s leadership, this conflict did not begin with military strikes. It was the culmination of a years-long campaign of sanctions, covert operations, assassinations, economic pressure, and efforts to weaken and ultimately overthrow the Islamic Republic. Even episodes of domestic unrest, including the anti-government protests that culminated in the deadly January crackdown, are often understood in Tehran as part of this broader struggle. That worldview has profoundly shaped how Iranian decision-makers interpret both the war and its aftermath.

This perception is critical to understanding the confidence now evident in Tehran. The objectives of the war were hardly a mystery. A week into the war, Donald Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender”. Both Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu openly called for regime change. The destruction of Iran’s missile capabilities, the dismantling of its regional influence, and the capitulation or collapse of the Islamic Republic were repeatedly presented as desired outcomes. None of those objectives were achieved.

Sina Toossi is a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, where his work focuses on US-Iran relations, US policy toward the Middle East and nuclear issues

‘At first, the idea does sound crazy’: meet the scientists trying to refreeze the Arctic

Sea ice is melting fast, worsening the climate crisis, but a bold attempt to rethicken it is showing early signs of success

“This would have been a wild dream a year ago,” says Andrea Ceccolini, standing on Arctic sea ice just a 4-mile snowmobile ride from the Inuit town of Cambridge Bay, northern Canada. To his left are sky blue ponds of meltwater created in the last few days by a sun that no longer sets in the high north summer. To his right, the sea ice is still a brilliant white, the light dusting of snow on top continuing to sparkle.

“It’s incredibly different, the boundary – I mean, you can point to it,” he says. The difference is the result of a bold geoengineering experiment being conducted by Ceccolini’s company, Real Ice, funded by the UK government.

How I Shop with David Gandy: ‘It gets into the male psyche’

Always wondered what everyday stuff celebrities buy, where they shop for food, and the basic they scrimp on? The model and entrepreneur talks pants, lawnmowers and restoring classic cars with the Filter

• Don’t get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

David Gandy is one of the most recognisable faces in fashion, starring in hundreds of campaigns for brands including Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Hugo Boss and many more. He was the first man nominated for model of the year by the British Fashion Council.

From 2014 to 2019 he designed a bestselling range for Marks & Spencer featuring underwear, sleepwear and more, and in 2021, he launched his own fashion and lifestyle brand, David Gandy Wellwear. A committed philanthropist, he has worked with several charities, from Save the Children to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, and backed the Centre for Social Justice’s Lost Boys report on the crisis facing boys and young men in the UK today. The David Gandy Wellwear summer collection is available now.

Survey confirms the struggle of working parents: 'No way to be two things at once'

A new Pew survey finds many working parents feel they cannot give 100% at either work or home. Benefits like paid sick leave and more affordable childcare could help.

‘Everyone is angry for different reasons’: scepticism in Iran as peace deal nears

Any sense of relief offset by doubts over durability of agreement and feelings of betrayal by Trump administration

• Middle East crisis – live updates

In the rural town of Sirik, in southern Iran, temperatures over the past week have climbed to 45C (113F), and residents were still queueing to fill buckets of water days after US strikes reportedly damaged two drinking water facilities serving nearby villages.

Amid water shortages and the looming fear of war came news of a possible deal between the US and Tehran. But for those struggling to pick up the pieces in the aftermath, the announcement brought little relief.

SpaceX to buy AI coding assistant Cursor for $60 billion

The deal comes just days after SpaceX went public in the largest IPO in history, raising $75 billion to help fund its expansion.

Yum Brands sells Pizza Hut to private equity firm LongRange Capital and Yum China for $2.7 billion

Yum Brands is selling Pizza Hut, capping off years of struggles for the pizza chain.

‘Don DeLillo gave me his blessing’: film director Ben Rivers on how fan mail from the Underworld author led to his latest work

When Rivers received a surprise letter from DeLillo, it encouraged him to set the author’s one-act play in an adult-free, postapocalyptic world

Nine-year-old girls reciting the gnomic prose of Don DeLillo – it sounds like an extreme English detention, but for film-maker Ben Rivers this was the foundation of his new movie, and the culmination of an unlikely friendship with the literary titan. DeLillo is an almost mythical figure of contemporary literature. His prose is precisely hewn, his narratives sophisticated and his preoccupations uncannily prophetic: conspiracy, terrorism, nuclear power, hypercapitalism – the 89-year-old New Yorker has been ahead of the curve for much of the late 20th and early 21st century. Rivers, a 53-year-old independent film-maker based in London, has been a lifelong fan, he says. So he was stunned to receive a letter from DeLillo himself one day in 2017.

A mutual friend had sent DeLillo a DVD of Rivers’ 2015 film The Sky Trembles and the Earth is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers, a hallucinatory parable set in a semi-abstract Morocco, and the writer responded with a hand-typed letter. “He thought that the film was really powerful and he was looking forward to watching it again,” says Rivers. “It was a beautiful thing to receive and very meaningful for me, being such a big admirer of his.” Rivers later sent DeLillo another of his films: 2019’s Krabi, 2562, co-directed with Anocha Suwichakornpong, “and he also wrote back about that, saying that he enjoyed it”.

Struggling Pizza Hut restaurant chain to be sold in two deals worth $2.7bn

Yum Brands is selling the pizza chain as it struggles with outdated stores and growing competition

The struggling Pizza Hut restaurant chain will be sold for $2.7bn by parent company Yum Brands.

Yum Brands said in February that it was considering selling Pizza Hut and the chain looked to close 250 US restaurants. The pizza chain has struggled with outdated stores and growing competition.

Dartmoor pony cull proposal prompts urgent call for livestock rule change

Exclusive: Sources say Defra drafted policy on livestock fails to distinguish between ponies and sheep

Natural England and MPs are urging the government to change its livestock rules to stop ponies on Dartmoor from being culled.

Semi-wild ponies have roamed Dartmoor for more than 4,000 years and have become uniquely suited to the boggy landscape, providing a charming sight for those who visit the national park.

Zelenskyy thanks G7 leaders for ‘strong ideas on how to force Russia into peace’ – Europe live

Ukrainian president praises successful talks after Trump’s comments tha ‘Russia should make a deal’ following G7 meeting

… and given the delay this morning, the meeting may or may not have happened already – guess we will find out at some point during the day.

in Évian-les-Bains

Yum! Brands sells struggling Pizza Hut in $2.7 billion deal

The sale will split ownership of the pizza chain between a U.S.-based private equity firm and a Chinese restaurant company.

FDA issues warning letter to maker of popular baby bassinet

The FDA has issued a warning letter to Happiest Baby Incorporated, the maker of the SNOO, for a number of violations. The FDA alleges the company sold some unauthorized products and also cited unsanitary conditions. Shanelle Kaul reports.

"Star Wars" light saber and more iconic film props going up for auction

Luke Skywalker's light saber from the "Star Wars" sequel "The Empire Strikes Back" is expected to sell for at least $1 million at an upcoming auction.

Tactical voting by Greens and Lib Dems could be key to Labour victory in Makerfield

Left-leaning voters more willing to back Andy Burnham than Restore supporters are to vote Reform

• UK politics live – latest updates

Tactical voting could be fundamental to a Labour victory in Makerfield, with Green and Liberal Democrat supporters willing to back Andy Burnham to stop Reform UK from winning.

Conversely, Reform’s main competitor for votes on the right is Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain party. Polling experts have said current data suggests the size of their vote share is roughly similar to Labour’s poll lead.

Trump denies U.S. will put 'any money' into Iran, as he meets allies at G7 summit

Washington and Tehran announced a memorandum of understanding had been reached over the weekend.

Fujitsu chair resigns after ‘woman-related inappropriate conduct’

Japanese technology company at centre of Post Office IT scandal is negotiating settlement with UK government over faulty software

• Business live – latest updates

The chair of Fujitsu, the Japanese technology firm at the centre of the Post Office IT scandal, has resigned after its board became aware of his “woman-related inappropriate conduct”.

The company said on Tuesday that Hidenori Furuta had stepped down after two years in the role.

From the pain of apartheid to luscious beauty: 10 of the best recordings by jazz legend Abdullah Ibrahim

The pianist and bandleader, who has died aged 91, had an inimitable style where bright, guileless melody met a fearless improvisational impulse

• South African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim dies aged 91

Scullery Department (from Jazz Epistle Verse 1, 1960)

Born Adolph Johannes Brand in Cape Town in 1934, Abdullah Ibrahim spent his six-decade career defining the heartfelt sound of South African jazz. Making his professional debut as a pianist at 15 under the name Dollar Brand, it was his co-founding of the group the Jazz Epistles in 1959 that laid the groundwork for his journeying career. South Africa’s first Black jazz group, featuring trumpeter Hugh Masekela who would go on to become a star bandleader in his own right, the Jazz Epistles’ first and only album Jazz Epistle Verse 1 is a sprightly document of the South African take on bebop. Although album opener Dollar’s Moods is named for Ibrahim, it’s the record’s closing number Scullery Department that highlights his nascent skills. Heavy-swinging over a bluesy motif, Ibrahim’s playing artfully skips through an opening polyrhythm before taking a solo that refigures Thelonious Monk’s wonky melodic motifs into an earthy sense of groove that would go on to feature throughout his hundreds of recordings to come.

Extreme athlete known for performance with Madonna dies in Base jumping accident in Utah

Andy Lewis, also known for slacklining and tricklining, and Danny Joe Kregle of Arizona were killed in accident in Utah canyon

A weekend Base jumping accident in a Utah canyon killed two people, one of them a daredevil athlete best known for performing on stage with Madonna at the 2012 Super Bowl, authorities said.

The sheriff’s office in Grand county, Utah, confirmed one of the dead was Andy Lewis, an extreme athlete known for feats in Base jumping, a dangerous sport that involves parachuting to the ground after jumping from a tall fixed object such as a building, a bridge or a desert cliff overlooking a deep canyon.

From Shamrock Rovers to defying Spain: ‘rusty’ Roberto Lopes savours Cape Verde’s finest hour

Dublin-born defender’s display against Spain drew comparisons with Paul McGrath’s against Italy in 1994 but he says there is still room to improve

Rucksack on his back, Roberto “Pico” Lopes was standing on the corner of the narrow walkway way below the stands at the Atlanta stadium on Monday afternoon when the last of Spain’s players tried to make their way home. More than an hour after the final whistle had gone and they still couldn’t get past him, someone quipped. The centre-back from Crumlin reckoned he was “rusty” too here, yet he was at the heart of the greatest moment in Cape Verde’s history, one his coach claimed went far beyond football, and the kind of story only the World Cup can write.

It had taken a little while and a word or two to realise it. In the final minute when Spain had their 11th and last corner, Lopes had looked at the clock and seen that it was close. He had heard the final whistle go, heard the roar as it was confirmed that Cape Verde had held on, undefeated on their tournament debut. He had seen the tears and celebration, family and friends in the stands, As he went down the tunnel he encountered Ray Houghton, scorer of the goal in New York when the Republic of Ireland defeated Italy 32 years ago, and embraced him. It was, he said, “lovely”, but what all this meant hadn’t entirely sunk in yet.

Kazuo Ishiguro announces 1930s spy caper to be published next year

Miss Lambert Steps Aboard Danger is the first novel from the Nobel laureate since 2021’s Klara and the Sun and draws on the author’s love of music, art and Golden Age cinema

A new novel by Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro is set to be published in March next year.

Miss Lambert Steps Aboard Danger, announced by his UK publisher Faber, is a spy caper. Set in 1938, the novel follows Richard Hadley as he encounters the enigmatic Miss Lambert, and follows her to a conference at a hotel in Devon, and then on to a Scotland-bound train, where he encounters a school friend and a former Tory minister, among others.

FBI disrupts alleged plot targeting White House UFC event, officials say

The FBI disrupted an alleged attempt to target the UFC America 250 event in Washington, D.C., FBI Director Kash Patel said Tuesday.

A floating market and the Soweto uprising 50 years on: photos of the day – Tuesday

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

More US states push to ban kratom drink deemed ‘gas-station heroin’

At least eight states have banned the plant-derived product as more people use it and some claim it’s addictive

In 2024, Maizie Hepner, 24, started visiting a bar in Dubuque, Iowa that did not serve alcohol and instead offered beverages containing kava and kratom, psychoactive substances derived from plants.

The drinks were marketed as “herbal tea mocktails”. Hepner, who works as a server and bartender, said. “I asked the guy who owns” Kava Kava “if it was addictive, and he said, ‘Absolutely not’”.

Elon Musk’s unprecendented accumulation of wealth

IPO mints Musk as world’s first trillionaire – now SpaceX is public, it will be harder than ever not to have a stake in its future

Hi and welcome to TechScape. Nick Robins-Early here, US tech and power reporter at the Guardian. I’m filling in for your usual host Blake Montgomery, who is out this week on vacation.

Today, we’ll be talking about the historic SpaceX IPO and the US government’s surprise order to limit the use of Anthropic’s most advanced AI model over cybersecurity concerns. I’ll also share a dispatch from Web Summit Rio, South America’s largest tech event.

SpaceX makes largest ever stock market debut, minting Musk as a trillionaire

After SpaceX’s huge IPO, Americans’ financial future will be bound to AI

How much money did Elon Musk make in SpaceX’s stock market debut?

Hundreds of dogs to be sent to rescue as US beagle research facility shuts down

Ridglan Farms facility in Wisconsin was at the center of protests against the practice of using animals for research

A beagle breeding and research facility in Wisconsin that has been the focus of animal rights protests is shutting down, and a rescue group in Florida is taking in the remaining dogs.

“Not one dog will remain,” Lauree Simmons, founder of Big Dog Ranch Rescue in Florida, said in a press conference announcing the news on Monday. “No more breeding, no more testing, no more anything.”

‘My hair extensions caught fire in a shootout!’ Dolph Lundgren on playing He-Man in Masters of the Universe

‘The studio wanted me to wear less. They wanted to see my muscles. But we were shooting outdoors in winter – and I had to put Vaseline on to keep my body heat in’

Cannon Films had the rights to Masters of the Universe and thought: “Let’s get this new guy. He’s blond, has good pecs … He can wield the sword.” I was convinced to do it but only very reluctantly – I didn’t want to play a toy. There was lots of excitement but also lots of worry. I’d been Soviet bad guy Ivan Drago in Rocky IV and now I was going to be this American hero. I was nervous and afraid people weren’t going to like it.

MLB critical of Giants players who wrote Bible verses on Pride Night caps

• Players deny their decision comes from place of hate

• MLB says writing on caps is a violation of league rules

Major League Baseball has issued a statement critical of players who wrote Bible verses on their Pride Night hats after an incident at a San Francisco Giants game last week.

MLB celebrates Pride month during June and most teams choose a home game to acknowledge the LGBTQ community and its baseball fans. The Giants, who are based in a city with a large LGBTQ population, often make an extra effort.

Five people detained for alleged ‘planned attacks’ on White House UFC cage fighting show

Details of potential threat were not immediately disclosed, after event was held on Donald Trump’s 80th birthday

• Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email

Law enforcement officials disrupted “planned attacks” meant to target the UFC cage fighting show staged at the White House this past weekend, and multiple people were in custody, said Kash Patel, the FBI director.

The nature of the potential threat was not immediately disclosed, with additional details expected to be released once charges are unsealed later Tuesday.

Algae thwarts Trump’s $14.2m attempt to turn reflecting pool ‘American flag blue’

Administration had claimed algae at Lincoln Memorial pool would be cleared after the renovation, but it has proliferated amid warm weather

Donald Trump’s $14.2m bid to turn the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool from what the US president described as a “filthy” and “dirty” site into a “beautiful” monument has encountered a hitch.

The water is green again.

‘What an adventure Broadway will be!’ Paddington musical packs suitcase for New York

Hugely successful London show to open in the US, with performances beginning in March

Marmalade bagels at the ready: London’s Paddington Bear musical is to open on Broadway next spring. The phenomenally successful show, which won seven prizes at the Olivier awards, will begin performances on 30 March at the Al Hirschfeld theatre in New York, currently home to Moulin Rouge! The Musical.

Luke Sheppard, the director of Paddington: The Musical, said that the well-mannered ursine hero “approaches life with curiosity, kindness and an unwavering sense of adventure – and what an adventure Broadway will be”.

Newsom says Justice Department is investigating him and his wife

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said the Justice Department is investigating he and his wife, Jennifer.

8 killed in B-52 bomber crash at Air Force base in California

Eight people were killed when a B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff Monday during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The Air Force said the plane was carrying civilians and military personnel. Carter Evans reports.

Trump turns his attention to Ukraine ahead of Iran deal: 'I’m going to do whatever I can’

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that "Russia should make a deal" to end its four-year war in Ukraine.

‘Wow, it really worked!’: the 70s TV show that’s causing worldwide panic – 50 years later

When UK mockumentary Alternative 3 tried to spook viewers that scientists were vanishing as part of a sinister space plot it succeeded. Today, the resulting conspiracy theory has even seen Trump’s government launch an investigation

Over the past few months, a strange story has been seeping into the mainstream media from the more excitable corners of Substack and YouTube. Its claim: scientists whose work related to aerospace and nuclear research are either dying or going missing. According to an influential report in the Daily Mail in March, the disappearances form a “chilling pattern”: two, for instance, had worked together at an air force laboratory. The implications, in some accounts, are Hollywood sinister, with scientists working on top-secret breakthroughs running into dark forces who wanted to get hold of what they knew – or ensure their silence. And it all seems to have something to do with what we used to call UFOs.

On examination, these claims collapse. The “scientists” actually worked in disparate fields, from chemical biology to plasma physics. Several were actually administrators. Two had retired. One died of natural causes; another in a shooting spree. In any case, as the debunker Mick West pointed out, the “US top secret-cleared aerospace and nuclear workforce” is around 700,000, so normal mortality rates would predict far more deaths over the 22 months concerned – about 4,000. Nonetheless, Congresspeople have been warning darkly of threats to “national security”. The Trump administration has launched an investigation into a phenomenon that is often said to go hand-in-hand with something called “Alternative 3” – whose origins might end up surprising Trump and co.

The secret to a great TV dinner | Kitchen aide

It’s all about ‘easy bowl food’, and grub you can shovel in on the sofa without having to cut anything up

What are the best summer TV dinners?
Mel, by email
Few are as committed to teas on knees as Ella Risbridger: “It appals my parents, but I eat on the sofa just about every day,” says the author of The Kitchen Book. The key, she says, is not having to cut anything up: “One-handed cooking is a good way of thinking about it,” which is to say that Mel should be looking for meals that require only a fork, a spoon or chopsticks. “That’s easier to do in winter, because then you’ve got the likes of casseroles, soups and stews, whereas a lot of summer food is based on big sharing platters, which are not ideal, because, while you can put them on the coffee table, there’s lunging involved.” Said movement not only upsets the balance, but often also results in spillages: “I’m currently looking at a lump of bicarb sopping up a turmeric stain on my sofa,” Risbridger adds by way of confirmation.

Other considerations of the sofa supper include getting as many textures and flavours as possible into every mouthful. “Wherever you dig, you want to be getting something good,” says Zena Kamgaing, author of Dinner Time. That’s why pasta is a regular go-to: “It’s easy bowl food. On a hot day, say, I’ll do a no-cook sauce by blitzing mascarpone with sun-dried tomatoes, a little harissa and fresh basil.” Risbridger, meanwhile, is partial to US-style chopped salads, although Vietnamese-inspired numbers also feature regularly: “Invest in a julienne peeler, because that can make salad feel fancy, and put any kind of protein in it: salmon, sliced steak.” Add rice – “Cold salad and warm rice is a delight” – or deploy twirlable cold noodles. “If you’re watching telly, curtains drawn, you’re not looking for a beautiful plate,” Risbridger says. “You want the focus to be on the deliciousness, and I cannot stress enough that a Vietnamese salad is the optimum, because it’s beautiful, but not in a way that means you have to concentrate on its beauty.”

Got a culinary dilemma? Email [email protected]

The Anthropic ‘Fable’ saga proves: we have opened the AI Pandora’s box. What now? | Nathan E Sanders and Bruce Schneier

We have opened the AI Pandora’s box. Now we have to make the best of it

On 9 June, Anthropic released its Fable generative AI model. Three days later, the US government classified it as a dangerous munition, and used its export-control authority to prohibit any foreign nationals from accessing it. Unable to differentiate between Americans and foreigners, the company shut off access for everyone.

The government’s actions won’t help. The problem isn’t any one particular models; it’s the general trend of increasing AI capabilities. And any real solution requires the sort of collective action that just isn’t possible right now.

Bruce Schneier is a security technologist who teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University

Palestine Action ban will be overturned, group’s co-founder vows

Speaking after appeal court ruled ban lawful, Huda Ammori says fight will be won in the courts or ‘on the streets’

The co-founder of Palestine Action has said the battle to overturn the terrorism ban on the direct action group will be won – in the courts or “on the streets”.

On Monday, five court of appeal judges ruled that a ban on the organisation was lawful, reversing the high court’s February judgment, which they said had wrongly limited the home secretary’s discretion on national security.

Iran overcomes its divisions for 90 minutes, then same old problems return

Support in LA included those of past and present regimes, and opponents of both, but a match that captivated all could not dissolve troubles

Soccer unites. This is what we are told. It swoops in, majestic in the players’ grace, and gives a people – any people – a thing to rally around in good times and bad. It’s true, that does happen on occasion. But other times, as in Monday’s 2-2 draw between Iran and New Zealand here in southern California, the magic of this ridiculously simple game lies in its power to make one, or several, or several thousand, forget.

Before the game, Iranians worldwide had been divided by decades of political and cultural difficulty and the Iran team were hamstrung by interrupted preparations for what should be the pinnacle of any players’ career.

Russian artist and critic of Putin and Chechen leader shot dead in ⁠Poland

Two Belarusians ⁠detained over attack on Robert ⁠Kuzovkov, who is also known as Semyon Skrepetsky

A Russian artist critical of Vladimir Putin and the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has been shot and killed in ⁠the eastern Polish town of Biała Podlaska, a prosecutor has said.

Five shots were fired at the ⁠victim, including one ⁠to the head, in the attack on Monday, ​said Marcin Kozak, a spokesperson for the district prosecutor in Lublin. Two Belarusians ⁠have been detained but not charged in connection with the case, he added.

2026 America’s Top States for Business: How we are ranking all 50 U.S. states

America's Top States for Business rankings reflect the measures states are using to attract corporations amid urgency to build new facilities across the U.S. 

To be America's Top State for Business in 2026, 'speed to market' wins

CNBC’s 2026 America’s Top States for Business rankings is a race as companies chase record investments in AI and defense in deciding where to locate.

‘We weren’t allowed to meet Oasis!’: Japanese punk band Otoboke Beaver on fun, feminism and famous fans

Dave Grohl spread the word about the ferociously funny quartet and now they’re supporting Foo Fighters in stadiums. Just make sure you switch off your phone’s flash if you go to their gigs …

They say brevity is the soul of wit and few bands have as much of both as Otoboke Beaver. Playing short, sharp songs packed with equal parts ferocity and black humour, next week the Japanese quartet will play easily their biggest UK gig yet, at Liverpool’s Anfield stadium supporting Foo Fighters.

“We met Foo Fighters at an overseas festival, and again in Japan,” says vocalist Accorinrin as we chat in a music bar in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, a couple of hours before Otoboke Beaver go on stage and eviscerate an audience at the nearby O-Nest. “Dave Grohl told so many people about us, which helped us a lot. He didn’t have to introduce a nobody band like us, but Dave is always looking for newcomers and he wanted to hook us up within the music industry.”

I spent an evening with fans of Lotus Eaters – the hit podcast shaping Britain’s new far-right culture | Oliver Haynes

At a sold-out show in its home town, Swindon, all the bombast and conviction driving this Restore-linked outlet was there to see

If I asked you to name a popular politics podcast, what would you think of? Maybe The Rest Is Politics for centrist dads. Novara Media’s Downstream for young lefties, perhaps, or Triggernometry for conservatives.

While these podcasts have achieved mainstream success and recognition, the contemporary media landscape also allows fringe political shows to gain huge audiences and influence without the mainstream ever acknowledging them.

Oliver Haynes is a journalist and co-host of the Flep24 podcast

Russell Crowe says Gladiator II failed because ‘it didn’t have a moral core’

The star added that the original film appealed to a female audience ‘because it’s not about revenge, it is about vengeance’ – and because it didn’t have a gratuitous sex scene

Russell Crowe has said that the Gladiator sequel was a failure because it lacked a “moral core” and that studio behind it “didn’t understand why [the original movie] was successful”.

Crowe was speaking at the Taormina film festival, and in remarks reported by Variety he outlined why the thought the first Gladiator, released to considerable acclaim and box office success in 2000, was a success, and where its sequel, released in 2024, struggled.

Class acts: the maths teacher who taught Argentina’s Álvarez and Fernández

Luciana Alvarengue likes to think she had the smallest of influences on two of her old pupils as they take aim at another World Cup

For all Argentinians, sitting down to watch the 2022 World Cup final was special – but for Luciana Alvarengue there was additional emotion. In the Argentina side were not one but two players to whom she had taught maths at school: Enzo Fernández and Julián Álvarez.

“They are still my students, even if they are no longer in the classroom,” she says. “To see it with my son telling me: ‘Mamá, there are your students’ … that’s really nice.”

Experts alarmed as Trump launches broad-front attack on US voting rights

With election denialists installed in key positions, officials using series of measures to change voting rules

The Trump administration is waging war on voting rights using justice department lawsuits, FBI investigations, and an executive order to limit voting by mail, moves mirroring the US president’s false claims he lost the 2020 election due to voting fraud, say election experts and ex-officials.

Since Donald Trump began his second term, numerous 2020 election denialists have been installed in key agencies such as the DoJ, the FBI and elsewhere to pursue widely discredited claims of fraud, which can intimidate election workers and voters in swing states that Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020.

Luka Modric has been tormenting England for 20 years. Can he do it one more time?

From Zagreb to Wembley and Moscow, the Croatia great has derailed the Three Lions on many occasions. Now he’s ready for one last dance in Dallas

When Luka Modric first played against England, Tony Blair was still in office. Arsenal had just moved from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium, Italy were newly crowned world champions and Pep Guardiola retired as a player after a six-month spell in Mexico with Dorados. Twitter was less than three months old and Facebook had been made fully public earlier that year. Amy Winehouse’s album Back to Black was about to be released, while the much-hyped film Borat was coming to cinemas.

Football fans in England – and in Croatia – may recognise which game it was solely from that last bit of pop culture history: the European Championship qualifier in Zagreb on 11 October 2006.

How Israel could complicate Iran peace negotiations. And, World Cup highlights

Israel has been sidelined in the agreement between the U.S. and Iran. It could spoil peace negotiations. And, it's been a thrilling start to the World Cup.

Mitch McConnell admitted to the hospital, spokesperson says

Sen. Mitch McConnell was admitted to the hospital Sunday morning, a spokesperson for the Republican confirmed to CBS News.

Brand Beckham always delivers with a PR opportunity. But Brooklyn’s turned up late, with the wrong order | Marina Hyde

Brooklyn Peltz Beckham appears in a new ad for DoorDash, just months after attacking the family brand’s love of self-promotion. Where will it all end?

I see Brooklyn Beckham is on his DoorDash privacy tour. After Prince Harry and Meghan “stepped away” from royal family duties, they embarked on what South Park famously designated their worldwide privacy tour. When Brooklyn stepped away from Beckham family duties – which oddly appear to involve a regal level of shared mission, public appearances and emotional repression – he declared that he wished only for privacy.

And so to his DoorDash ad, which dropped on Monday. Brooklyn is becoming quite the Greta Garbo of food delivery service ads, having previously done a collaboration with Uber Eats. But this latest one for DoorDash, owner of Deliveroo, is an eyecatcher. “You’re probably wondering,” he begins – and honestly, he’d be amazed at what I’m actually wondering. “You’re probably wondering why I’m watching the Fifa World Cup 2026 at home,” smirks Brooklyn, throwing down several World Cup tickets on a table that also features items including some letters. “It’s a long story,” he chuckles, before viewers are … tantalised, I think it is? … with the caption slogan: “It’s complicated. More soon.”

8 dead in B-52 bomber crash at Edwards Air Force Base in California, officials say

The aircraft was on a routine test mission at Edwards airfield, located in the western Mojave Desert, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Serena Williams back at Wimbledon after being granted doubles wildcard with Venus

• Williams sisters have won six doubles titles at SW19

• French Open finalist Chwalinksa awarded wildcard

Serena and Venus Williams will rekindle their doubles partnership at Wimbledon this month after receiving a wildcard into the women’s doubles draw. The All England Club announced the recipients on Tuesday morning in one of the most highly anticipated wildcard announcements in recent memory considering Serena’s return this month after four years of retirement.

Serena, a seven-times singles champion, did not request a singles wildcard and the 44-year-old has remained coy about whether she plans to return for singles. Venus, a five-time singles champion, has also not received a singles wildcard. Venus has competed on the tour since her debut in 1994, only stopping due to health-related issues. She turns 46 on Wednesday.

David Squires on … a thirst for adverts and other notes from the World Cup so far

Our cartoonist offers up some observations after the tournament’s group games got under way in the US, Mexico and Canada

• Buy a cartoon | David’s favourite works of 2025

• And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

The era of trillionaires will be dire for democracy. Here is how we can fight back | Gabriel Zucman

There is a fundamental tension between extreme wealth and the very possibility of democracy. That’s because extreme wealth is always an extreme power

The stock market listing of SpaceX has led to an outpouring of celebration, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. Yet those who rejoice in Elon Musk’s fortune surpassing the $1tn mark need to be reminded of a simple and vital truth: the mere existence of trillionaires is a major political and economic problem, probably the defining issue of our time.

Simply put, there is a fundamental tension between extreme wealth and the very possibility of democracy. Extreme wealth is always an extreme power. It’s the power to stifle competition, the power to shape public discourse, the power to influence policymaking, the power to buy elections, the power to stall social progress.

Gabriel Zucman is a professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics, a summer research professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and founding director of the International Tax Observatory. He is the author of We Need to Tax Billionaires.

‘This will be timeless’: what art can we expect from Chicago’s $850m Obama Presidential Center?

Original works by 30 artists have been commissioned by the Obamas alongside vital pieces of memorabilia for visitors to appreciate

It is a tale of two presidents. On 14 June Donald Trump celebrated his 80th birthday by hosting a raucous crowd for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on the White House South Lawn. Four days later, on the eve of Juneteenth, Barack Obama will unveil a monument to his legacy that honours the audacity of art.

For the Obama Presidential Center on the South Side of Chicago, Barack and Michelle Obama commissioned original works by 30 artists from diverse backgrounds, a bold move never seen at such scale at a presidential library. It also forms a quiet rebuke of Obama’s successor, who has filled the Oval Office with stiff presidential portraits while plotting the demise of cultural stalwarts such as the Kennedy Center and Smithsonian Institution.

Thirst review – member-dismembering Icelandic gore fest rips it up in trashy 80s style

A 1,000-year-old vampire obsessed with removing men’s genitals is the main storyline in this body horror, filmed in trashy 1980s synth-heavy style

Wibbling willies! This gore fest from Iceland starts as it means to go on: parked on a quiet back road, where a balding 1,000-year-old vampire has lured a middle-aged man into his car with the promise of a quickie. The vampire’s head lowers into his poor victim’s lap. “Not quite so hard,” the man implores, unheeded. Just three minutes into the film, we get sight of a dismembered member – the first of many to come. Filmed in trashy 1980s style, with plenty of red smoke and a synth-heavy soundtrack, Thirst is over-the-top and deliberately ridiculous, though I couldn’t stop myself yelping at one or two moments.

This is not a film graced by first (or even second) rate acting, though Hjörtur Sævar Steinason gives an entertaining performance as the vampire Hjörtur, all weary nihilism with the occasional wrench of spiritual anguish. One night, he takes a shine to a young woman called Hulda (Hulda Lind Kristinsdóttir), who is being harassed by local cops over the death of her brother from a drug overdose. After watching him split the skull of a local thug in two, Hulda is understandably petrified. But Hjörtur reassures her that he is only interested in men. One of the cops pursuing Hulda is Jens (Jens Jensson), a uniformed officer of retirement age. His wife is a religious crank in a tracksuit who makes broadcasts for TV warning that the end is nigh – which it certainly is for some of Reykjavík’s residents.

Is it a renter's market? It depends on where you live

About 40% of rentals on Zillow offer move-in deals, like a month of free rent, thanks to a construction boom that created an apartment surplus in some parts of the United States.

BASE jumping accident kills 2 including well-known extreme athlete Andy Lewis

A BASE jumping accident in a Utah canyon killed two people including a daredevil athlete best known for performing onstage with Madonna at the 2012 Super Bowl, authorities said.

The peptide boom: how the US got hooked on unregulated ‘miracle’ drugs | On the Ground

Across the US, thousands of people are injecting themselves with unregulated peptides in pursuit of weight loss, muscle growth and younger-looking skin. Despite being labelled 'not for human consumption', the substances are readily available online and have surged in popularity among people disillusioned by traditional healthcare. To find out why so many Americans are willing to risk unknown side-effects for the promise of a quick fix, Adam Gabbatt meets the users and influencers driving the peptide boom, and investigates what's really inside some of these so-called 'miracle' drugs

The Death of Robin Hood review – Hugh Jackman darkens a heroic tale in grim drama

A conceptually intriguing film that turns the outlaw hero into a selfish criminal struggles to find its footing despite some fantastic craftwork

Spoiler: Robin Hood is going to die. In bluntly titled drama The Death of Robin Hood, that might be exactly what one is programmed to expect but, in this often intriguing revisionist tale, it’s what he leaves behind that might be more of a shock.

With the gap between the ultra-rich and the rest of us continuing to expand at a riot-inducing pace (we now have our first trillionaire – congrats!), it’d be tempting to use a folk hero of the past as a rousing symbol of what many of us would like to see in the present. But in writer-director Michael Sarnoski’s darker, grubbier take, Robin Hood takes from anyone and keeps it for himself, despite what the legend might say. In fact, as played by a dour Hugh Jackman, he’s plagued by stories told by fireside, painting him as someone to be heralded, and it’s only those whose lives he’s touched that know the truth, if they were lucky enough to survive. He’s then an outlaw running not just from the authorities, but from the aggrieved fathers and brothers who want to avenge what he ripped away from them.

So is the US war with Iran over? In a word: no | Mohamad Bazzi

The much-hyped deal, which is set to be formally signed on Friday in Geneva, doesn’t end the war. It’s essentially a 60-day extension of a ceasefire

When Donald Trump launched his war against Iran in late February, he had ambitious goals: to topple Iran’s theocratic regime, destroy its military capabilities and nuclear program, and instigate a popular uprising by Iranians. A week into the war, Trump said he would only accept Iran’s “unconditional surrender”. On Sunday, Trump settled for a deal that reopens the strait of Hormuz.

The US president celebrated having solved a problem he had created: reopening a vital waterway through which more than a fifth of the world’s oil supply passed each day – before Iran effectively closed it at the start of the war, increasing energy prices and disrupting the global economy. “Ships of the World, start your engines,” Trump wrote on social media in announcing the latest deal. “Let the oil flow!”

Mohamad Bazzi is a Guardian US columnist. He is also director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor, at New York University

‘He experienced a full life of trauma’: documentary explores troubled tale of Gregg Allman

A new documentary focuses on the hugely successful musician whose life was punctuated by tragedy

Late in the afternoon on 29 October 1971, one of the world’s greatest guitarists, Duane Allman, was riding his motorcycle when he swerved to avoid colliding with a flatbed truck that suddenly stopped short in an intersection. He wound up slamming into the back of the truck with such force, it threw him under his bike which skidded and dragged him for 50 ruinous feet. Suffering a collapsed chest, a ruptured coronary artery and a damaged liver, Allman was pronounced dead three hours later. He was 24.

Four decades after that tragic event, when journalist Alan Light was hanging out with Gregg Allman to ghostwrite the musician’s memoir, titled My Cross to Bear, he couldn’t help but notice how present Duane remained in his life. “In Gregg’s house, he was surrounded by photos of Duane, notes from Duane and music from Duane,” Light said. “It was obvious that he was still very much a part of Gregg’s day-to-day existence. The sadness and loss never left him.”

Is a transparent fish the future of brain science? This center is betting on it

One of the world's leading brain research centers is shifting away from fruit flies and toward a tiny, transparent fish. The goal: to understand how brains control the behavior of an animal or human.

Voting officials fear DHS may actually be a threat to elections this year

Voting officials worry that the Department of Homeland Security will not be a partner helping to secure elections, but rather a threat seeking to undermine results that President Trump dislikes.

Morning news brief

Israel's reluctance on Lebanon ceasefire complicates U.S.-Iran deal, first full day of G7 summit gets underway in France, what to watch as voters in several states head to the polls for primaries.

DMV artist turns belts into a conversation about discipline

Multidisciplinary artist Lex Marie has gone viral on TikTok and Instagram for her artwork confronting discipline within Black households.

‘Streaming gave me a space to be myself’: Twitch creators on what it’s like to grow up on the platform

The world’s most successful gamer content creators, many of whom have spent their entire adult life on the platform, have met up at TwitchCon in Rotterdam

Aimee Davies, better known as Aimsey to their fans, is 24 but looks much younger. Sitting in a bland meeting room above the annual TwitchCon event in Rotterdam, they’re a barely contained whirl of energy in a beanie hat and T-shirt, all smiles and lightning-fast chatter. Aimsey (who uses they/them pronouns) is also a Twitch veteran, having started streaming eight years ago at the tender age of 16. A million subscribers tune in every week to see them chaotically play Minecraft and share snippets of their life. They have grown up, from teen to young adult, carrying a vast audience with them into maturity. What is it like to experience that?

“When you’re 16 you want to tell everyone everything about you,” they say as music blares from the event below. “When I came out as a lesbian, I told the world. Every part of my identity, my mental health struggles … I thought if I could help one person feel like they weren’t alone, I wanted to do that.”

The Uses of Utopia by Joad Raymond Wren review – can the ideal society ever exist?

This fascinating intellectual history of imagined paradises takes us from Thomas More to Ursula K Le Guin

By definition, utopia cannot exist. In 1516, educated readers of Thomas More’s Utopia would have appreciated a tension between two possible derivations of this novel word: the Greek “eu-topos”, meaning good place, and “ou-topos”, meaning not a place at all. It might have been a compact warning that one should never attempt to turn utopias into reality. Those who have tried usually witnessed the model societies they founded devolving into grungily dysfunctional communes, weird sex cults, or both.

In this richly diverting intellectual history of the idea, we begin, as we must, with Plato, and the zany prescriptions of his Republic (“we should neutralise the poets’ influence on mothers”). Passing in silence over the potentially utopian aspects of Jesus’s thinking, we arrive at More’s utopia, where “nothing is private”, and so “the common affairs be earnestly looked upon”. The great Renaissance scientist Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis portrays a utopia of rational scientific experimentation – which, Wren suggests ingeniously, might have inspired Wakanda in the Marvel Black Panther films. The 17th-century duchess Margaret Cavendish’s The Blazing World imagines the author as a goddess elected by a world of human-animal hybrids who like science. In the 18th century, Sarah Scott’s Millenium [sic] Hall imagined an ideal society of women without men, as did Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland during the first world war.

Girlfriends review – love and growing pains in queer coming-of-age tale that goes from Hong Kong to Taiwan

A trio of actors play one woman from high school to her mid-30s in Tracy Choi’s thoughtful romantic drama

It can stretch credibility a little when an actor plays the same character over a long time span in one film. Richard Linklater solved the problem in Boyhood by shooting scenes over succeeding years; AI and de-ageing effects are now an option. With this intimate queer coming-of-age drama, film-maker Tracy Choi instead casts a trio of actors to play one woman from high school to her mid-30s. The three don’t look particularly alike; their temperaments overlap but are by no means identical. The point is perhaps to show how intense the transitions into adulthood are, how unrecognisable are the people we used to be.

Working backwards, Girlfriends begins in Hong Kong, where 34-year-old film director Lok (Fish Liew) lives with her actor girlfriend Bei (Jennifer Yu). Five years earlier, Choi released a feature film, but her career has stalled. She is directionless and restless. Bei is also applying pressure to buy a flat and have a baby. The film then rewinds 12 years, to Taiwan, when Lok was a student with spiky orange hair, known as Choi (played by Elizabeth Tang). Some of the best scenes in the film come when her parents visit from Macau; Choi and her girlfriend Qing (Han Ning) have been pretending to be flatmates. Then, as the four of them eat dinner one night, unwilling to keep up the charade, Choi grabs Qing’s hand fiercely over the dinner table. She is coming out to her parents; they understand but say nothing. Another film might give us a big showdown, but this is probably how it would have happened in real life.

Qualcomm CEO says AI agents will replace apps — as chip giant works on 40 new AI-powered devices

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said he is bullish on smart glasses which could eventually become as big as the smartphone.

History for Cape Verde as Spain start with a stutter | World Cup Daily

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Barney Ronay, Dan Bardell and Sid Lowe as debutants Cape Verde earn a draw against the favourites Spain

Spanish households save €10 a month thanks to renewables expansion, report finds

Thinktank says decoupling electricity from gas prices has also helped shield Spain from hikes caused by Iran war

Spanish households save €10 a month on electricity bills because of wind turbines and solar panels installed in the last five years, a report has found.

Typical energy bills would be 19% more expensive if electricity costs were still as tightly coupled to gas prices as in 2021, according to Ember, a climate thinktank. It found Spain’s “strategic” expansion of renewables since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 has shielded Spanish households from the latest rises in fossil fuel prices caused by the Iran war.

40-year-old Cape Verde goalkeeper keeps favorite Spain to 0 goals at World Cup

Vozinha recorded seven saves Monday, holding Spain's star-studded lineup to a shocking 0-0 draw. The veteran keeper was everywhere as the Spanish team and its fans became increasingly frustrated.

Alienated by Disclosure Day? You are not alone

Audiences have propelled Spielberg’s alien thriller to the top of the box office. Yet some exiting the cinema appear to believe this sappy extravaganza is not the director’s finest hour

A sage person once told me every noted director’s career is an ongoing conversation with the audience. Some film-makers – Michael Haneke, say – sit on high, like a headteacher at an assembly, and loftily number the ways in which we’ve let ourselves and the school down. There are others – Lars von Trier and Ari Aster spring to mind – whose work sidles up uncomfortably close, gooses the viewer and then flees the scene sniggering before the relevant authorities can be alerted. The career of Steven Spielberg – arguably the most remarkable career in the history of popular cinema – has long depended on the audience being on the exact same page, looking up wide-eyed and guileless towards the light: his greatest films, from Close Encounters to The Fabelmans, invite further discussion, an awestruck back-and-forth.

You can therefore understand why Spielberg has broached the subject of social division with Disclosure Day, his much-trumpeted return to the summer event movie: he has almost as much skin in this game as the rest of us non-trillionaires. Yet if early box office has been solid enough, secondary indices – not least a slew of disappointed foyer texts from friends and loved ones – would suggest the film has itself proved distinctly polarising. In the US, market research firm CinemaScore – which polls opening-day cinemagoers to assess a film’s commercial prospects – graded Disclosure Day a B, the joint second-worst for a Spielberg film, ahead of AI: Artificial Intelligence (recipient of a harsh C), dead level with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Headmaster Haneke again shakes his weary head.

AI could help win ‘race against extinction’ of vital plants, say botanists

Tech is helping to identify and save new specimens and could open ‘genomic goldmine’ of fungi data

The rise of AI and digitisation could be a turning point in the “race against extinction” faced by botanists trying to identify and save vital plants before they vanish, according to a major report from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

New technology is enabling scientists to track how flowering times have shifted by weeks around the world, rapidly identify new specimens and even get crucial genetic data from 180-year-old fungus specimens, potentially opening a “genomic goldmine”. Digitisation and online access to millions of specimens that were until now only accessible in archives is also producing new insights, especially in the global south.

From cool Marseille to a photo-feast in Arles – an art trail through Provence

The French cities of Marseille, Aix, Avignon and Arles boast a wealth of museums and festivals showing work by contemporary artists. Here’s how to make the most of a dazzling cultural summer

My wife and I moved from London to Marseille a little over five years ago when our British passports still conferred “right to reside” in France. That first winter on the beach, in short sleeves, as our daughters played in the topaz-coloured Mediterranean and the sun set across an ever-clear blue sky, I understood why this part of southern France has always been popular with artists.

I was recently speaking about this with the painter Fanny Nushka and her sailor husband, Benoît Bouchet, on the terrace of Café la Muse in Marseille’s “coolest” neighbourhood. She said: “It took a long time to go back to blue. It’s like being in Paris and painting the Eiffel Tower. It’s dangerous to paint the Calanques [limestone coves] as an artist from here.”

Natural Disaster by Lisa Owens review – the last day of maternity leave is a comic rollercoaster

Parenting is represented in all its hilarious, moving and truthfully plodding detail, in the story of a mother and her two little boys

The last day of maternity leave, and an unnamed mother of two decides to stage a “yes day”, full of treats and good feelings. Of course it does not go according to plan: the treats are deficient, misjudged and underappreciated; the good feelings are fleeting, quickly upstaged by anxiety, guilt or humiliation. This familiar-sounding scenario is the simple yet bracing premise of Lisa Owens’s second novel, following her impressive first comic fiction of female-centred modernity, 2016’s Not Working.

The academic E Ann Kaplan once wrote that “motherhood is the major emotional experience of my adult life” – certainly a relatable observation, and reason enough why some writers may swerve going through the experience altogether. But when using it as narrative material, the aim is to render the cluttered yet lonely planet of motherhood in some new way, drawing on the energies of honesty and idiosyncrasy to frame a common, universal adventure as something singular and memorable.

UFC boss Dana White says 'never again' to another White House fight night

The headaches over weather concerns in the outdoors show, the logistics of construction of the cage and staging events at federal landmarks and the soaring cost made Freedom 250 a one-off.

G7 allies scramble to put Ukraine back atop Trump's agenda as war drags on

U.S. allies at the Group of Seven summit are pushing the war in Ukraine back on President Donald Trump's agenda. The Iran conflict has recently overshadowed the war in Ukraine.

Division in UK probably worse now than in run-up to Brexit, says Jo Cox’s sister Kim Leadbeater

Labour MP warns of voices fanning hatred on eve of 10th anniversary of the murder of her sister, the MP Jo Cox

• How the murder of my sister changed Britain – podcast

Political hatred and division in the UK is probably worse now than during the Brexit referendum, when Jo Cox was murdered, says Kim Leadbeater, Cox’s sister who is now also a Labour MP.

Speaking to the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast Leadbeater, who was elected to the same Yorkshire seat held by Cox in a 2021 byelection, said everyone in public life had a responsibility to try and ease tensions.

Half of world’s children exposed to at least three climate hazards, Unicef says

Almost every child, including those from high-income countries, is now exposed to at least one hazard

Half of the world’s children are exposed to at least three overlapping climate hazards threatening their health, education and survival, according to a Unicef report.

Globally, children face increasing threats from heatwaves, storms, floods and droughts as the climate crisis worsens, with more than one billion facing at least three of these at once.

Hot dogs, and prawn and pork toasts: Max Halley’s World Cup sausage party – recipes

Perfect for the football, these half-time snacks are quick to assemble and sure to score highly with friends

Both of these sausage-based delights are great for a gathering, can be prepared in advance and go really, really well with ice-cold beers. God bless the sausage. Whether your team is winning, losing, embarrassing or delighting, everyone will consider you the Cristiano Ronaldo of half-time snacks if you bang either of these out. The prawn and sausage toasts can be made in advance and kept in the fridge with greaseproof paper between the slices, then you just need to fry them when you want them. Similarly with the hotdogs: prep everything in advance, then, when the whistle goes, boil the sausages, steam the buns and get stuck in.

Country diary: A revelation among the ‘clints and grikes’ of my limestone seat | Mark Cocker

Wharfedale, Yorkshire: On the trail of a wood warbler, I find a suite of woodland plants rising up from a fascinating land formation – limestone pavement

Grass Wood is a magnificent fragment of ancient woodland owned and exceptionally well managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. It is home to some lovely plants, including lily of the valley and herb paris. What became my defining revelation about the place and, in truth, about this whole area was down to a wood warbler.

It is among my favourite birds, so getting to see the individual singing just off the trail required me to enter the trees, rise up a short bank, and then sit for a long time on a rocky ledge. Slowly it dawned on me that the platform on which I rested, while carpeted in moss, was also incised into a tessellated pattern. From these narrow cracks in the limestone arose a suite of woodland plants. It was dense with ash seedlings, ferns and sedges, as well as linear thickets of dog’s mercury, but there – unmistakably where my hand rested – were strips of flowering herb paris.

‘I’m not a person who puts up with rudeness’: unpicking fantasy and reality with an Italian football ultra

I’ve met many hardcore, violent fans, but the hostage-negotiating, cocaine-smuggling, Marxist-Leninist Alessandro Casolari still stood out

I had heard the name Alessandro Casolari on and off for years. From 2016 onwards, when I was researching my book on Italy’s ultras – a cross between English football hooligans and Hells Angels – the nickname “Caso” kept coming up. In the late 80s and early 90s, he had led the ultras in Ferrara, whose football club is known as Spal.

A red-brick city in northern Italy between Bologna and Venice, Ferrara has always felt sidelined, languishing in a marshy land of fog and floods. I used to go there quite often, drawn by its festivals and famous writers and film directors. A few years ago, when I started writing another book, about the Po River, I hung out there again, but I never bumped into Caso.

Wannabe despot, dashing diplomat or boring back-office swot? Greece’s founding father divides opinion

He built modern Greece from the ground up, but Ioannis Kapodistrias remains a controversial figure. A new biopic throws light on this overlooked titan of European history

On a hilltop in central Corfu, a marble bust carved in the classical style gazes skyward, lean, fine-featured and composed to the point of austerity. There is no uniform, no decorations, nor symbols of office, just a name cut into the base in Greek capitals: Ι Α ΚΑΠΟΔΙΣΤΡΙΑΣ. The bust stands alone in the gardens of Koukouritsa, once the family home of Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first governor of Greece. The villa is now the only museum in the country dedicated to the man who gave up one of the most powerful diplomatic positions in Europe to return to a country that was barely a country and try to build one.

Without Kapodistrias, there may have been no modern Greek state, and the map of Europe might look very different today. He spent years supplying material and moral support to the Greek revolutionaries; once independence was won from the Ottoman Empire, he negotiated directly with Britain, France and Russia over the new country’s borders and future, then set about building the institutions, its currency, courts, schools and civil service that the modern state still stands on. “He who murdered Kapodistrias murdered his homeland,” Swiss philhellene Jean-Gabriel Eynard wrote on hearing of the statesman’s assassination in 1831 at the hands of rebel leader allies turned enemies.

Sweden votes to back laws reinforcing its immigration crackdown

So-called ‘good behaviour’ legislation fiercely criticised by opposition politicians and rights groups

Sweden’s parliament has voted to escalate the country’s crackdown on immigrant rights, backing laws that allow authorities to revoke residency permits based on a vague criteria of bad behaviour and obliging most public sector workers to report anyone suspected of being undocumented.

The new legislation comes ahead of parliamentary elections in September, pitting the centre-right government, which currently depends on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats to govern, against a far right that has said its intent is to create one of Europe’s most hostile environments for non-Europeans.

From tents to trebles: Edinburgh book festival to set author’s words to music

Works of Ali Smith, Kathleen Jamie and more to feature in celebration of literature’s interplay with other art forms, says director

This year’s Edinburgh book festival is expanding its slate of genre-busting musical events, including staging Japanese Noh theatre at one of the city’s oldest religious sites, Greyfriars Kirk.

Jenny Niven, the Edinburgh international book festival’s director, said such events broke away from the traditional formula of authors sitting in tents, and aimed to attract new audiences and celebrate literature’s interplay with other art forms.

Starbucks Korea to temporarily shut all stores for history lesson after bungled coffee promotion

The closures, so employees can watch a recorded lecture, will cost the company an estimated 2.1bn won ($1.4m) in sales

Starbucks Korea will simultaneously close all its stores for a mandatory history lesson, after a disastrous promotion that evoked memories of a pro-democracy massacre sparked public and political backlash.

More than 2,000 stores will temporarily close at 3pm on 22 June, the company said, so staff can watch recorded lectures on modern Korean history and engage in “social sensitivity” training. The half-day closures will cost Starbucks an estimated 2.1bn won ($1.4m) in lost sales, according to data firm IGAWorks.

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.

‘Then the firing started’: the Soweto uprising remembered 50 years on

16 June 1976 is not just another chapter in the history books, nor is its aftermath and legacy, say those who took part and their families

The day of 16 June 1976 began peacefully in Soweto. Student leaders at high schools across the sprawling Johannesburg township, to which the apartheid regime had exiled hundreds of thousands of black South Africans, took charge of the morning assemblies. They led their fellow students into the streets and began to march toward Orlando stadium.

The students were protesting against the government’s imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. Their teachers barely spoke the white minority language and the students did not want to learn the oppressor’s language. They were tired of the intentionally substandard Bantu education, tired of being second-class citizens.

American doctor who recovered from Ebola back in U.S., says he's "feeling well"

Dr. Peter Stafford, his wife, Rebekah Stafford, and their four children all arrived safely on Monday, according to Serge, a Pennsylvania-based Christian missions organization.

6/15: The Takeout with Major Garrett

Details still slim on U.S.-Iran deal; California Gov. Gavin Newsom says the Justice Department is investigating him and his wife.