Congress moves toward approving $70 billion for ICE and CBP through Trump's presidency

The U.S. House is expected to vote this week on a $70 billion measure to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection after delay.

Trump walks out of interview with NBC

President Trump abruptly ended an interview with NBC News when repeatedly challenged on his claims of election fraud

Nearly half of Americans say they're worse off financially than a year ago

New York Fed survey shows growing concern about household finances and the job market, even as the job market remains solid.

Middle East crisis live: Iran and Israel announce halt to hostilities as Trump claims both sides want ‘immediate ceasefire’

US president says ‘final peace negotiations’ under way, as both Israel and Iran say that they have ended military operations for now

Iranian media is reporting that there were no immediate casualties following apparent Israeli strikes on the Karun petrochemical plant in Mahshahr, a city in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province.

According to the Fars news agency, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they responded to what they described as an American-Israeli strike on the Iranian petrochemical site by launching a missile attack on a similar plant in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.

Kennedy Center removes Trump’s name from its website after US judge’s order

Performing arts venue takes down references to a ‘Trump Kennedy Center’ in compliance with judge’s ruling

The Kennedy Center has removed Trump’s name from its website after a US district judge’s order last month to remove the US president’s name from the performing arts venue.

The removal of Trump’s name from the website on Monday came just days before a deadline instructed by the center’s general counsel to remove all references to the president by 12 June.

Working remotely can hurt people's mental health, research finds

Although working remotely offers flexibility, it also takes a toll on people's mental health, experts said.

World Cup 2026: Norway label Scotland ‘unprofessional’, Somali referee denied entry to US: football news – live

• Tuchel criticises England’s ‘freestyle’ approach

• Player guide | Bracketology | Wallchart | Mail Will

If you think Messi is knocking on a bit, he’s not even one of the 10 oldest players at the 2026 World Cup. Modern science, eh.

FIFA published the top 20 last week and it’s an early win for Scotland.

Ben Jennings on protecting children online – cartoon

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Food supply 'not at risk' after new Texas screwworm cases, USDA secretary says

The U.S. will lean on the same playbook it did starting in the late 1950s, part of which involves releasing sterile insects to suppress the pest's population.

Summer Game Fest highlights: 34 new video games to look out for, from Alien Isolation to Crazy Taxi

Hundreds of video games were shown at June’s annual bonanza. After watching more than 15 hours of showcases, our video games editor picks the highlights

The sequel to a revered 2014 horror game from British developer Creative Assembly: this time you must evade the xenomorph on the surface of a storm-ravaged colony world.

‘Severe’ stress on oceans as rate of sea level rise doubles in 10 years, UN warns

Global effort needed to limit effects of pollution, industrial fishing and climate crisis, World Ocean Assessment says

The world’s oceans are under “severe and accelerating” pressure from human activities, with the rate of sea-level rise double that of a decade ago, according to a damning assessment from the United Nations.

The “intensifying” stressors, which include pollution and large-scale industrial fishing, are cumulative, said the report, resulting in widespread biodiversity loss and putting ocean systems under “severe strain”.

‘I am feeling good’: Christian Eriksen back home after collapsing on pitch again

• 34-year-old issues positive health update on Instagram

• Dane lost consciousness in Ukraine friendly on Sunday

Christian Eriksen said he is “feeling good” and his “recovery has already started” after being released from hospital less than 24 hours after he collapsed in Denmark’s friendly against Ukraine.

Eriksen, who suffered a cardiac arrest at the Euros in 2021, held his chest in the 65th minute of Sunday’s fixture at Odense Stadium and fell to the ground. The 34-year-old briefly fell unconscious and the match was halted and swiftly abandoned.

WSL2 side Durham warn they will ‘cease operations’ without cash injection in 21 days

• ‘Do not have sufficient funds to operate in 26-27 season’

• Talks with potential investors ‘have fallen away’

Durham, the Women’s Super League 2 side, have issued an urgent plea for funding and warned that they will have to “cease operations” if they cannot find fresh investment within the next 21 days.

The independently run club, who are not affiliated to a professional men’s side, have been competing in the second tier of the English women’s football pyramid for 12 years, but say their owners can “no longer keep pace” with the women’s game’s development.

Man describes how a single moment as a teen changed his life

CBS News contributor David Begnaud shows an athletic coach in Illinois how he impacted one of his students, changing the trajectory of that student's life forever.

Marvell Technology and Flex to join S&P 500 index, replacing Pool and Campbell's

The move highlights the growing importance of the technology sector to the stock market.

U.S. launches largest-ever effort to denaturalize citizens accused of fraud

The Trump administration on Monday announced it is seeking to revoke the citizenship of 17 U.S. citizens accused of immigration fraud.

Household worries over finances hit highest level since July 2022, New York Fed survey shows

While the central bank's monthly survey showed the inflation outlook mostly unchanged, the general perception of conditions deteriorated.

Manchester United think they can beat City to £100m-rated Elliot Anderson

• Nottingham Forest rejected City’s £80m bid for midfielder

• United’s Jason Wilcox also monitoring Mateus Fernandes

Manchester United remain intent on signing Elliot Anderson, with the club’s executives optimistic they can beat Manchester City in the race to acquire the 23-year-old midfielder, who is valued at about £100m by Nottingham Forest.

Jason Wilcox, United’s director of football, is also monitoring Mateus Fernandes as another option to strengthen the midfield department of Michael Carrick’s squad. West Ham are believed to want in the region of £80m for the 21-year-old Portuguese, though this may prove an unrealistic fee.

Did you solve it? Do you have a snout for numbers?

The answer to today’s puzzle

Earlier today I set this elegant number puzzle. Here it is again with a solution.

Nose to tail

I have found the perfect book group – we discuss problematic text messages | Zoe Williams

My friends and I were keen to meet regularly, but couldn’t agree on what to read. Then we found an excellent solution

There comes a point in every friendship ecosystem when someone suggests starting a book group. It’s a beautiful moment, the platonic modern equivalent of the 1950s “shall we go steady?” It means you want to see one another at least every six weeks, preferably on a fixed day in the calendar, so that when someone tries to pinch that day for another, less interesting thing, you can in perpetuity reply: “I can’t, I have book group.” Since nobody ever disbands a book group, it is adult‑speak for “friends for ever”, which, if you stare at it hard enough, is almost tearjerking.

So, anyway, this poignant moment arrived with my newish friends R and S, then immediately hit the road hump that none of us wanted to read a book. Nothing against books, guys, it’s just I am generally reading something weird that I wouldn’t want to impose on you. S suggested a poem group; R nixed that. I said maybe we could read Poems on the Underground while we were on the underground on our way to the poem group. That was nixed, too.

Loneliness influencers: why are people suddenly boasting about having no friends?

Chronicling your humdrum, solitary life has become an online trend. It’s certainly perplexing. Is it also empowering?

Name: Loneliness influencers.

Age: A few months old.

NPR's new chief content officer: 'I've been training for this job my whole life'

Less than two weeks after overhauling its newsroom, NPR has hired Nadine Zylstra to be its chief content officer. She has been a top executive at Sesame Workshop, YouTube and Pinterest.

Muscle growth drug ‘could reduce loss of lean tissue’ when using slimming jabs

Trial suggests monoclonal antibody can help retain lean body mass when losing weight with GLP-1 medicines

A drug that promotes muscle growth could significantly reduce the loss of lean body mass when using slimming jabs, research suggests.

While GLP-1 based jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro have proved highly effective at helping people who are overweight or obese, experts have warned it is not only fat that is lost. Studies suggest 25-40% of total weight loss is down to a reduction in lean body mass – non-fat components of the body, including muscle.

Austria World Cup 2026 team guide

Established squad stays true to Ralf Rangnick’s methods with Konrad Laimer and bright new talent Paul Wanner lending some star quality

This article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 11 June.

Why preparation isn’t everything at a World Cup | Jonathan Wilson

From high-altitude training to made to measure kits, teams have resorted to all manner of things to adapt to conditions at the tournament

• Predict the winner | Daily podcast | Download our app

The heat and the altitude worried everybody. The 1970 World Cup in Mexico would not be a normal one. So the Bulgarian authorities sent their squad south of Sofia to get used to playing several thousand feet above sea level. Which seemed a great idea until somebody noticed that the temperature in the Pirin mountains was not in the mid-20s as it is in Mexico but somewhere near freezing. How then could they replicate the effect of playing in intense heat? By restricting water intake so that the players got used to performing while dehydrated.

The plan was not a great success. Bulgaria lost their first two World Cup games in 1970 and had already been eliminated by the time they drew with Morocco. It’s safe to assume that preparations for this World Cup will be rather more sophisticated than they were 56 years ago. Most countries back then seemed to take the view that training at altitude was the logical way to prepare for games in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara. Israel went to Ethiopia and Colorado. Uruguay played in Quito and Bogotá. Mexico held a five‑month training camp that featured 13 friendly internationals in four months before two games against Dundee United.

United CEO brushes off airline mergers after American rejection: 'There's nothing'

When asked about a wave of consolidation among airlines, Kirby said further combination opportunities look unlikely: "There's nothing."

‘You escape the slaughter. But there’s a long tail of sadness’: musician Bedouine on the strangeness of Arab life outside the Middle East

With roots in Armenia, Syria and Saudi Arabia, the singer-songwriter now lives in the US. But despite her Carole King-style sound, her homelands are never far from her mind

The title song to Azniv Korkejian’s fourth album as Bedouine, Neon Summer Skin, recreates a perfect day from childhood. “Being taken to the pool, where my only worry is being dragged away when the sun’s setting,” she says, calling from Los Angeles. “Later on, mom and dad wash me in the tub and put me to bed.” Steeped in dreamy 70s soft pop, the track isn’t merely an exercise in nostalgia. “I wanted to paint a picture of what it’s like to feel safe,” she says. “So much of the record is about not having the luxury to not consider your own safety. I think about this a lot when it comes to the children in Palestine and Lebanon, who are not afforded that right.”

The conflicts that have ravaged the Middle East are context for Neon Summer Skin, but the album’s themes of displacement, identity and insecurity – wrapped in the deceptively soft sound of 1970s-style MOR pop – are also personal. Korkejian’s family are Armenian, but she and her parents were born in Syria, while her brothers were born in Saudi Arabia, where the Korkejians lived, “on a US compound that was like a gated community”, until 1995. That year, unnerved by the proximity of the recent Gulf war, the family successfully applied for the green card lottery and relocated to the US. “And thank God, because we would eventually have had to return to Syria,” Korkejian says. “I don’t know what would have happened to us then.”

Flooding could impact more than 88 million as storms threaten multiple states

States across the Midwest and northern Plains could see flooding as severe storms hit, forecasters say.

Post your questions for David Byrne

As the former Talking Heads frontman releases his concert film American Utopia in 4K, he will join us to answer your questions

The big suit is what you think of first when you think of David Byrne on stage – but the Talking Heads frontman has kept his pedigree as a live performer at an astonishingly high level right into his mid-70s. As he prepares a 4K cinema version of his acclaimed American Utopia tour, he’ll be joining us to answer your questions.

Born in Scotland but later settling in the US with his family, Byrne brought erudition, passion and puckish wit to Talking Heads, who formed amid the astonishing creative maelstrom of 1970s New York. Across eight studio albums – including hits such as Once in a Lifetime and Burning Down the House – they created a very particular type of funky, spry new wave, which arguably found its finest form in the live concert film Stop Making Sense (with that big suit, a floor lamp as a dance partner, and more).

‘Senior lieutenant’ in Kinahan criminal cartel jailed for 24 years by Dublin court

Sean McGovern pleaded guilty to two charges relating to a deadly feud after being extradited from the UAE

A leader of the notorious Kinahan criminal cartel has been sentenced to 24 years in prison at a Dublin court.

Sean McGovern, 40, who has been described as a senior lieutenant in the group, pleaded guilty to two charges of directing the activities of a criminal organisation relating to a deadly feud between the Kinahan and Hutch criminal gangs.

Trump insists negotiations are continuing despite Israel and Iran trading strikes

Iran and Israel striking each other threatens the fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran has been in place since early April.

Man honors former coach who helped him "learn how to believe" in himself

CBS News contributor David Begnaud went to New Orleans to ask everyday Americans who believed in them. He spoke with 23-year-old Chris Wurl who described how a former coach made a major impact on his life.

Tell us: which Steven Spielberg movie means the most to you?

We’d like to hear about your favourite films made by the director and why you love them

On Sunday we published the best Steven Spielberg films chosen by directors, critics and super fans. Now we’d like to hear from our readers – what is missing from our list and which Spielberg movie means the most to you?

If you’re having trouble using the form click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here.

Call to phase out ‘inhumane’ guga hunt by working with Hebridean islanders

Annual killing of infant gannets has been carried out on a remote Scottish island for at least 400 years

Animal welfare campaigners have called for talks on phasing out the “inhumane” hunt for infant gannets known as guga, which are killed by hunters on a remote Scottish island once a year.

OneKind and the League Against Cruel Sports said it should be slowly phased out in dialogue with the Hebridean islanders who see the hunt, which has been carried out for at least 400 years, as a cultural pursuit and as sustainable food harvesting.

‘Screaming girls chased me down the street’: how we made Strictly Ballroom

‘A big dude came up to me and said, “My wife dragged me kicking and screaming to see your movie – and it was the best thing she’s ever done”’

Baz Luhrmann was this cool guy two years ahead of me at NIDA, the drama school in Sydney. When I graduated, I joined his theatre company Six Years Old and the play of Strictly Ballroom came out of that. It was inspired by Keith Bain, who taught movement at the school. He was a ballroom-dancer who had left Australia for South America in the 1950s then came back with these shocking new steps. We talked a lot in rehearsals about the paso doble, and from that came Fran’s Spanish immigrant background. I thought up the name Frangipani because Sydney has frangipani trees everywhere. On my walk to rehearsals, I’d often pick one of the flowers to put in my hair.

Powerful earthquake in southern Philippines leaves at least 35 dead

People told not to enter damaged buildings for fear of aftershocks from magnitude-7.8 quake

At least 35 people have died after a magnitude-7.8 earthquake shook part of the southern Philippines early on Monday, collapsing buildings and triggering tsunami alerts that were later cancelled.

The quake hit early in the morning about 20km (12.4 miles) off the coast of Sarangani province, with tremors felt strongly across Mindanao and 420km away in the city of Manado on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

I was addicted to my phone – but one screen time hack actually made a difference

Our writer found a surprisingly effective way to cut down his smartphone use. Plus, what to eat while watching the World Cup – inspired by all 48 teams

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

I recently learned through Apple’s Screen Time app that I was spending about eight hours a week on my phone browsing Reddit and Instagram. That’s 17.3 days a year spent consuming entertaining but ultimately pointless fluff. So my piece looking for solutions for phone addicts was highly personal.

The warning signs are if your phone is the first thing you look at in the morning and the last thing you look at in bed, says Prof Marcantonio Spada, emeritus professor of addictive behaviours and mental health at London South Bank University and chief clinical officer at Onebright, who I spoke to for my article.

Career expert tackles job search struggles from experience to AI

LinkedIn's latest workforce report found hiring rates are nearly 5% lower than a year ago. Catherine Fisher, a LinkedIn career expert, explains how job applicants can break through the market, using AI when applying and more.

Heavy rain triggers flash flooding in South while more severe weather slams Northeast

Flash flooding hit parts of the South over the weekend, leaving drivers stranded and leading to water rescues. Meanwhile, more severe weather and high winds were reported in the Northeast. Rob Marciano reports.

Officer told captain of flight that hit light pole he was "a little low," NTSB says

The NTSB released its preliminary report on a United Airlines plane that struck a light pole on the New Jersey Turnpike in May.

Six people stabbed in attack at Penn Station in New York

Suspect in custody at busy rail hub adjacent to Madison Square Garden one day before game three of NBA finals

Six people were stabbed in a Sunday night attack at New York’s Penn Station, authorities said, with Amtrak police saying a person believed to be homeless was being held in custody as a result.

The stabbings at the US’s busiest railroad hub came one day before thousands of basketball fans were expected at the third game of the NBA finals at the adjacent Madison Square Garden complex, although the events are not believed to be linked.

Trump storms out of interview after being challenged about election fraud claims, DOJ fund

The president said he would like to see the weaponization fund proceed despite setbacks.

Artists are making ‘anti-slop’ to rebel against AI: ‘It’s been rammed down our throats’

In response to AI’s hyperrealism, artists and creatives are gravitating toward the homespun and imperfect

Earlier this year, a group of film-makers, commercial directors and AI industry influencers gathered in New York City for the Runway AI Summit – a daylong hype-fest, trumping up the potential of this new technology. During one talk, Rob Wrubel, co-founder and managing partner at San Francisco ad firm Silverside, talked up his work on the Coca-Cola company’s AI-generated 2025 Holiday Caravan ad. “What’s incredible about AI,” Wrubel said, “is that you can go from script to production is just two weeks!”

What Wrubel failed to mention was that the ad – with its computerized polar bears and fake-looking trundling delivery trucks – was widely despised by pretty much anyone who saw it. Indeed, the public distaste for the campaign became its own news story, spawning headlines like “People really don’t like Coke’s AI holiday commercial” and “Coca-Cola’s New AI Holiday Ad is a Sloppy Eyesore”. It may indeed have been quickly conceived – and it looked like it. Reached for comment about the backlash, Wrubel admits: “The conversation around the ad became almost as important as the ad itself because it surfaced questions the entire creative industry is wrestling with right now.”

Trial begins for man accused of sparking LA’s deadly Palisades fire

Jonathan Rinderknecht is accused of starting the blaze that became Los Angeles’s deadliest and destructive wildfire

The trial of a 29-year-old charged with sparking a wildfire that went on to become the deadly Palisades inferno, the most destructive blaze in Los Angeles history, is set to begin on Monday in a case that has gripped the city as Angelenos seek answers more than a year after the deadly fire.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, an occasional Uber driver, is accused of starting a small blaze on New Year’s Day 2025, later dubbed the Lachman fire. Although the Los Angeles fire department extinguished the fire on 2 January, it reignited five days later due to high winds and tinderbox conditions after burning undetected deep in the dry hillsides.

Pope uses Spain speech to warn of global ‘spiritual and cultural crisis’

Addressing lawmakers, Leo XIV also highlights migration at a time when Madrid is bucking European trends

Pope Leo XIV has used an address to the Spanish parliament to warn the world is undergoing “a deep spiritual and cultural crisis” and to urge the international community to tackle the causes and consequences of what he termed “the tragic drama of migration”.

In a wide-ranging speech delivered to lawmakers in Madrid, the pontiff also touched on conflict, artificial intelligence, the climate emergency, and the issues of abortion and euthanasia.

A humanoid traffic officer and Pride in Brazil: photos of the day – Monday

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

How much does Sean Penn hate selfies? Enough to invoke the Holocaust

In his own unique words, the One Battle After Another actor made it clear there is no one he won’t reject for a fan photo – and revealed the real reason he skipped the Oscars

One of the highlights of this year’s Oscars was Sean Penn’s win for best supporting actor. Not because he deserved it – although in truth he probably did – but because he didn’t turn up, which simultaneously made the ceremony a little bit shorter and spared the world a Sean Penn acceptance speech.

At the time, much was made about the reason for Penn’s absence. Since he spent Oscars night in Ukraine, the leading theory was that he was making a profound point about the frivolity of backslapping awards shows during times of tangible crisis. Turns out that isn’t quite the case, though. Sean Penn skipped the Oscars because he hates selfies. We’ll get to the exact quote in a minute, and you should probably brace yourself for it, but he really, really hates selfies. A lot.

Xi and Kim express hopes for greater ties between China and North Korea

Xi traveled to Pyongyang on Monday in a likely attempt to reassert China's unique influence over its socialist neighbor.

Italian coffee giant Lavazza launches single-serve tablets to make espresso in the U.S.

With Tablì, Lavazza is betting that sustainability is still a top consideration for many coffee drinkers.

Bayern’s best ever? Harry Kane goes to World Cup in Ballon d’Or conversation

The England captain has finally assumed his place at the pinnacle of the game – it has been a long road to this point

The Bayern Munich honorary president, Uli Hoeness, has a propensity for hyperbole, so when he labelled Harry Kane as the best transfer the club has ever made in the wake of the DFB-Pokal final, which Bayern won 3-0 thanks to a Kane hat-trick, you wondered whether he was simply dialling up the rhetoric. A month on, emotion subsided, it appears not. “He absolutely is the best we’ve had,” another Bayern insider confirms.

It’s impossible to overstate the unfussy way Kane has won over not just Bayern Munich but, perhaps, global football opinion. Kane’s travails through Euro 2024, when he still had yet to win a trophy, suggested a player on the downslide. Combined with the scepticism that met his Golden Boot at Russia 2018 among foreign observers – “top goalscorer despite not having scored from the quarter-finals on,” sniffed Le Journal du Dimanche – indicated that his six most productive years as a pro might have been regarded a tireless yet vain effort.

U.S. confirms second Texas screwworm case, Canada restricts livestock imports

New World screwworm larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, creating severe wounds that can be fatal if left untreated.

Inside the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal that Trump withdrew from

The U.S. and Iran have yet to reach a peace deal or address Iran's nuclear ambitions, despite signals from Trump that talks are progressing.

Doctors prescribing weight loss drug not yet approved by FDA, CBS News investigation finds

The weight loss drug retatrutide has been touted as "Ozempic on steroids." It's still in clinical trials and not approved by the FDA, but a CBS News investigation found that hasn't stopped doctors from offering it, and it could come with serious side effects. Adam Yamaguchi reports.

Republicans in Congress are defecting from Trump over Iran. Will more follow? | Rajan Menon and Daniel Depetris

The vote reflects his diminished standing at home and loss of leverage over Iran as he scrambles to exit a disastrous war

Donald Trump suffered a significant setback last week. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a measure under the 1973 War Powers Resolution. It directed the White House “to remove all US forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran”. This occurred several weeks after the US Senate voted 50-47 to advance its own version of the bill. (A final vote has yet to be scheduled.) Unlike previous failed attempts, both votes won support from some Republican lawmakers.

Trump was predictably irate. “Yesterday, in a meaningless vote, the House voted, 4 bad Republicans and all of the Dumocrats, to limit my War Powers, right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he wrote in a June 4 Truth Social post. “Who would do such an unpatriotic thing. [sic]”

A Murder Between Friends review – Joan Collins’s detective diva sparkles in trashy whodunnit

Hot tubs and high camp as a TV star dripping in rhinestones tries to solve a real-life crime in this fabulously flawed murder mystery. Who cares who did it

Here is a camply craptastic murder mystery that aims to offer queer-minded fans of trashy detection stories a treat for Pride month with a manifestly cheap and cheerful, amusingly badly performed, diva-centric exercise. Let us be clear: this is not well-made in the slightest, with a script as shonky as a flatpack gateleg table, with similarly slapdash direction by collaborators Trent Garrett and Jacob Young. (Clearly it takes two people to make something this inept.) But its flaws somehow make it endearing, mostly because it stars Joan Collins, looking insanely fabulous at whatever free bus-pass-qualifying age she is.

Collins plays Francesca Carlyle, a famous TV detective lady, lacquered in rhinestones, and always in faintly softer focus than everyone else. She rents her mansion to a gang of old friends getting together for a European holiday in an indeterminate country; this early-middle-aged gaggle, who supposedly have known each other since university, is comprised of a mix of Americans such as bullish Josh (Young), his vampy, fake-eyelash-wearing wife Kat (Nadia Bjorlin), and slightly more modestly attired Sonia (India Thain). There are Brits like Sonia’s husband Devin (Simon Cotton), and newcomer Sydney (Toby-Alexander Smith) who just married the core group’s friend, ambiguously accented Louisa (Hana Vagnerová). One of the cohort is killed on the first night after some carousing, during which two of the above blokes grope each other on a stairway, overseen by a third, and hot tubs are deployed.

Catch me if you can: Kimi Antonelli’s Monaco triumph rattles F1 rivals | Giles Richards

Other drivers are trying to remain upbeat but the Italian is untouchable on present form, and his Mercedes team principal is in awe

Kimi Antonelli reached new heights at the Monaco Grand Prix, his talent and potential made abundantly clear as he became the race’s youngest winner. The question now in Formula One, only six races into the season, is increasingly whether anyone can catch the teenager. His rivals are trying to remain upbeat but on current form the Italian is untouchable.

In Monaco pole position is all, and Antonelli delivered it with an outstanding lap acknowledged with no little appreciation by his Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, a man not given to hyperbole.

Idris Elba says audiences would never accept a black actor playing James Bond: ‘That’s not what they like in their culture’

The star of Luther played down rumours that he was lined up to take over as 007, adding that he’s against making the character ‘woke’

Idris Elba has refuted rumours that he was seriously in contention to play James Bond after Daniel Craig’s departure in 2021.

The actor, 53, who is currently promoting new film Masters of the Universe, told British GQ the conversation linking him to the role was “never legit”.

Israel-Iran strikes threaten truce. And, Ebola is spreading at an unprecedented rate

Israel and Iran's recent exchange of fire is threatening the truce in the Middle East. And, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading at an unprecedented rate, officials say.

In his book, self-described USAID 'whistleblower' talks about the agency and Ebola

Nicholas Enrich, on staff at the U.S. Agency for International Aid under 4 administrations, talks about Into the Woodchipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID.

‘Brave when we needed to be’: McCullum hails England for leaving Ashes baggage behind

• Coach impressed by response in win against New Zealand

• McCullum admits pitch ‘incredibly challenging’ for batters

Brendon McCullum has praised his players’ refusal to be haunted by their nightmare winter after England won their first Test since the Ashes, against New Zealand at Lord’s on Sunday. The head coach admitted that “the temperature has been a bit hot” around his side since their failure in Australia, but he hailed their bravery and refusal to “carry any baggage”.

McCullum insisted his team had kept the Bazball spirit burning, despite the low scores and strike rates seen on an “incredibly challenging” surface. “I’ve been really impressed,” McCullum said.

Majority of US’s new AI datacenters to be built on drought-hit land

Guardian analysis finds facilities to be built in some of the driest areas as outcry grows over water needed to power AI

A record-shattering drought has racked much of the US. But the artificial intelligence industry is pushing ahead regardless, with the majority of planned datacenters set to be built in drought-ridden locations, a Guardian analysis has found.

About two-thirds of upcoming datacenters, which typically require a large amount of water to operate, are set to be built in places that have been among the driest in the country over the past year.

Dramatic French Open cannot disguise how top men’s players failed to seize golden opportunity | Tumaini Carayol

Zverev took his chance but a lack of top 10 challengers in Paris raises more questions about the strength in depth below Alcaraz and Sinner

Félix Auger-Aliassime has long been one of the more measured and reflective players on the ATP Tour. He is desperate to achieve his potential, but the Canadian also understands that improvement is often a long process and remaining patient is essential.

That is what made his reaction to defeat at the French Open so striking. As the fourth seed reeled from his desperate quarter‑final loss against Flavio Cobolli, fully conscious of the fact that he had missed a great opportunity, Auger‑Aliassime was as distraught in public after a defeat as he has ever been. His patience had run out.

Airline profits set to halve this year as fuel costs jump by $100 billion: IATA

"The big unknown is how long travelers and shippers can tolerate the higher costs," IATA's Willie Walsh said.

Xi Jinping arrives in Pyongyang on trip to revitalise China-North Korea ties

Kim Jong-un welcomes Chinese leader on visit to renew relations strained amid Pyongyang’s closeness with Russia

Xi Jinping has arrived in North Korea for a two-day trip, his first in nearly seven years, as China’s leader looks to revitalise ties with his junior ally.

Footage published by China’s Xinhua state news agency showed an Air China plane carrying Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, touching down at Pyongyang’s Sunan international airport.

Weather tracker: Monsoon season brings vital rainfall to parts of Asia

India declares onset as up to 280mm of rain falls in 72 hours in Kerala, while downpours hit south-west Thailand

The monsoon season has officially begun in parts of Asia, marking the start of a period of enhanced rainfall vital to the region’s economy.

The south-west monsoon begins each year as a consequence of a growing temperature difference between the Asian land mass and the Indian Ocean. Through spring, the land heats up more rapidly than the surrounding sea, creating a pressure difference that draws moisture-laden ocean air inland. Once this contrast reaches a critical point, the humid air pushed over the continent rises, condenses into cloud and unleashes intense rainfall across the region.

How to win the World Cup – video explainer

What does it actually take to win a World Cup? Talent? Tactics? A functioning democracy? Not necessarily.

As the 2026 World Cup begins, the largest ever, we analysed all 22 past tournaments to find the common threads that link every single champion.

From the tactical innovations that shocked the world to the political forces that fuelled past victories, history shows there are eight distinct ways to lift the famous trophy.

• Bracketology: predict a path to World Cup victory

• World Cup 2026: guide to all 1,248 players

Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," June 7, 2026

On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, Reps. Ro Khanna and Don Bacon join Margaret Brennan.

Goals review – disruptor football game attempts to smash the competition

Released just before the World Cup kicks off, this upstart football game is positioning itself as a credible alternative to EA Sports FC

This month something extremely unusual happened in the video game world: someone launched a new football game. It used to be that the market could support a vast array of contenders, from arcade kickabouts such as Super Sidekicks and Hat Trick Hero, to serious simulations named Actua Soccer or This Is Football, to eccentric oddities such as Namco’s LiberoGrande which made you experience the whole match as a single onfield player.

For the past decade plus, however, the scene has been dominated EA’s Fifa series, now EA Sports FC. With the exception of Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer, now eFootball, there have been few competitors – and few plucky upstarts.

Look at the protests Jared Kushner has caused in Albania. This could be a shining light for Europe | Lea Ypi

The slogan ‘Albania is not for sale’ reveals a nation that respects itself, and will not sell its soul for investment

“That’s how we found it. We swam to the island, we went on a hike barefoot to the top and we were just captivated. And over the course of many years, we developed the opportunity to help realise its potential.”

If the woman sharing her desire to improve a foreign island had disembarked from a smugglers’ boat, her dream would have been crushed in one of those migrant detention centres that the Albanian government has recently built with Italy. But the boat in question was a multimillion-dollar yacht, and the woman hiking barefoot to the top was Ivanka Trump. Realising the dream merely required summoning the country’s prime minister, Edi Rama, and volunteering her husband, Jared Kushner, and one of his companies to turn a protected wildlife zone into luxury real estate.

Lea Ypi is professor of political history and philosophy at the London School of Economics and author of Indignity: A Life Reimagined

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Lawsuit attempts to stop UFC fight at White House on Trump's birthday

The lawsuit calls the event "deeply corrupt" and argues that it seeks to enrich the president and his allies and lacks proper authorization.

In speech to Spanish parliament, pope demands respect for the dignity of all people

In the first papal address to the Spanish legislature, the American pope said a "moral renewal" was necessary in legislatures and public life to ensure respect for the inherent dignity of all people.

‘In prison, I made a little studio in my head. It kept me sane’: Ibrahim Alfa Jr, British techno’s great survivor

He moved from Nigeria to middle England and was swept up into the rave scene – then battled through incarceration and near-death illness. After making 500 tracks while living on porridge and lettuce, he explains how he kept going

Ibrahim Alfa Jr had been feeling unwell for a while – he’d been coughing up blood – but he says he only realised how ill he was when the facial recognition on his phone stopped working, because it could no longer recognise his face. When he went to visit his sister in 2022, she was so shocked by his appearance, she took him straight to A&E. He was suffering from anaphylaxis, a severe and potentially fatal allergic reaction: moreover, he had a pulmonary embolism that was causing his lung to fill up with blood. “I thought: oh my God, that’s literally what killed Andy Weatherall,” he says today. Like Weatherall once was, Alfa Jr is a veteran star of British rave culture. “So, like, wow.”

The embolism treated, he was sent home, but still wasn’t feeling right. The weekend after, a second pulmonary embolism was found on his other lung. The weekend after that, he had a heart attack. Then he had a second heart attack. Returning home, he discovered he’d become “allergic to everything. Even water was swelling my face,” he says. “You just don’t know what you can eat, so I just lived on porridge and lettuce leaves for three months, and didn’t see anybody. I just locked myself in a room, and a friend would bring me porridge and lettuce leaves. I only went out to go to the doctors. Any type of social life, of seeing other humans just disappeared. It was that visceral.”

Time and Water review – Iceland’s doomed glacier tells its own story of climate disaster

This study of author Andri Snær Magnason is somewhat indulgent, with endless musings where piercing climate crisis commentary should be

Is Iceland dying? Is the world dying? These would appear to be the very relevant questions behind this well-intentioned but ultimately exasperating and obtuse documentary from National Geographic, which is burdened with tasteful NatGeo stateliness and visually pleasing production values.

It is directed by film-maker Sara Dosa, whose earlier documentary Fire of Love was about doomed vulcanologists Maurice and Katia Krafft, who in 1991 perished in the eruption they were studying. Now Dosa has made a study of award-winning Icelandic climate author Andri Snær Magnason, whose book on climate change Of Time And Water was published in 2019 and who wrote a piercingly sad “obituary” of the Ok glacier, the first Icelandic glacier completely to disappear. It very clearly won’t be the last.

The Hotspot | ‘This may be our last chance’: rising sea levels threaten Kiribati’s World Cup dream

In today’s newsletter: the Pacific islands hoping to enter World Cup qualifying before ocean level increase wipes them from the map

“This is not just about football, it’s about building something from scratch,” Eriati Reebo, the Kiribati football president, explains. “A legacy, a story, that the world will always remember.”

Kiribati, a group of Pacific islands south of Hawaii with 138,000 inhabitants, is seeking entry into World Cup qualifying for the 2030 tournament. Becoming a recognised international football team would help to bring attention to the only nation on earth that sits within all four hemispheres, and one that is rapidly disappearing from the map. It could be the first, but certainly not the last, country to be engulfed by sea water, leaving it uninhabitable. And before that happens, it wants to professionalise the football setup and become a full member of the Oceania Football Confederation. This would both create a route to competing with bigger nations and help to keep the Kiribati spirit alive.

‘Absolutely wonderful’: why everyone should be watching Widow’s Bay

The brilliantly modulated mix of horror and comedy has quickly become a buzzy water cooler hit for Apple TV

When Widow’s Bay appeared on Apple TV in April, all signs pointed it to being another one of those underwatched and undermarketed curios – like Sunny or Land of Women or Extrapolations – that routinely get dumped on to the platform before quickly dying of neglect.

Instead, something remarkable happened. Unless Apple has been secretly trialling a new strategy where they directly pay everyone I know to tell me how good its shows are, Widow’s Bay has become the biggest word of mouth hit that television has had in years. With every passing episode, the buzz gets a little bit louder. And this is for a very good reason: Widow’s Bay is absolutely wonderful.

The pet I’ll never forget: Chewy the dog, who loves gardening – and saving lives

A great big bear of a dog, Chewy the newfoundland is always there to rescue us if we fall in the water, or if my 96-year-old grandma needs a hand

I got Chewy, short for Chewbacca, when he was eight weeks old – he was this giant ball of a newfoundland puppy. I live in North Carolina and we drove five hours to Georgia to get him. It was love at first sight, but I never expected how much of a role he would play in my family.

Chewy was the craziest puppy, very clumsy and goofy. He grew so quickly – he went from 10lb (4.5kg) to 100lb (45kg) in the first 10 months. Now aged four, he’s calmed down quite a bit and looks like a big, fluffy, long-haired bear. He’s enormous – you just want to hug him.

How an experimental weight-loss drug is being openly promoted by physicians

Doctors are jumping the gun to prescribe a medication lacking FDA approval that has gone viral on social media. "Why are we waiting?" one physician asked.

Huge boost for WSL as Alexia Putellas agrees personal terms with London City

• Spanish great moving to England after 14 years at Barça

• She has been impressed by vision of Michele Kang’s club

Alexia Putellas has agreed personal terms with London City Lionesses. Widely regarded as one of the best players in the world, Putellas would be one of the biggest signings in the history of the Women’s Super League.

Her arrival also represents an extraordinary moment for London City, an independently run club with only one season in the top flight.

Elusive gull drifts thousands of kilometres off course to Australia, turning birdwatching into ‘extreme sport’

‘Twitchers’ rush to coastal Western Australia to see black-headed gull, which usually flies between Europe and Asia

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A lone seabird has caused a stir in the nation’s birdwatching community after landing on the Western Australian coast, thousands of kilometres off its usual migratory flight path.

The black-headed gull, which usually flies between Europe and Asia, has been spotted in the coastal city of Geraldton.

‘Wear something that makes you feel silly!’ Can Austin Kleon’s tips put the spark back in my life?

If you’re in a rut, kids can show you the way out. That’s the latest message from the author of the bestselling Steal Like an Artist. I asked him to help me rediscover my playful, creative side …

As a child, I couldn’t wait to be an adult. I’d spend hours daydreaming about the future, my exciting life and what I’d do with all that autonomy, such as own exotic pets, paint my walls bright pink and stay up all night.

Now that I’m in my mid-30s, it’s fair to say that adulthood has somewhat lost its lustre. Nothing is wrong, exactly – I’ve even achieved some of my dreams, with a bright pink bathroom and two weird cats – but there’s still a sense of going through the motions, and my days being dully predictable: gym, work, cook, clean, collapse on to the sofa.

Jalen Brunson heard the doubters. Now he has the Knicks on verge of history

As a former NBA player, I know that criticism is part of the game. But in an age when players are under attack constantly, the Knick star is an example to us all

The entire basketball world is singing the praises of Jalen Brunson and rightfully so. He has led the Knicks to the NBA finals for the first time since 1999 and has united the entire city of New York in a unique way.

On every New York street you can see people of every race, color, creed, nationality, religion, economic status and political affiliation unified in excitement as the team seek their first NBA title since 1973. While older Knicks fans break out their Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley and John Starks jerseys, younger fans have the names of Brunson, Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns on their backs. Chants of “MVP!” fill the air in every New York borough every time Jalen Brunson steps up to the free-throw line. Knicks fans have staged watch parties on the sidewalks, in the parks, and on the corners. All of New York is, in the words of JadaKiss, “outside”.

Etan Thomas played in the NBA from 2000 through 2011. He is a published author, podcaster, poet, activist and motivational speaker.

Giving guitarfish a chance: one man’s mission to persuade fishers to farm giant snails instead

Marine biologist Issah Seidu has found a way for Ghana’s fishing communities to earn a living – and help protect the ancient and critically endangered fish species

Guitarfish are an odd-looking and ancient species, with the tail of a shark and the flattened body of a ray, but their coveted fins have driven populations to the brink of extinction. In west Africa, where their meat is also a local delicacy, many guitarfish species are among the most critically endangered fish in the ocean.

Conservationists at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) describe the slow-maturing ray, which produce young annually, as an “indicator species”, which reflect the overall health of an ecosystem and pose challenges in the way coastal fishing of them is managed. The IUCN red list categorises more than half of guitarfish species as critically endangered.

‘It soothes me’: why The Blair Witch Project is my feelgood movie

The latest in our series of writers highlighting their most rewatched comfort films is a dread-filled journey into the woods

I’m not sure I could blame anyone for choosing, as their feelgood film, a film in which the characters feel good. Cinema is supposed to manipulate us emotionally - that’s the whole point. Nemo feels good when he’s found, and we feel good for him. By this logic, horror films should make us feel bad. So, when it was released in 1999, why did The Blair Witch Project – a film in which three film students are hunted, terrorised and presumably killed by an unseen entity – make nearly $250m at the box office? That’s the same as Love Actually. Of all the millions of people who paid to sit and watch Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick’s claustrophobic found-footage nightmare, I’m sure that not a single one of them entered the cinema hoping for their day to be ruined.

I was technically too young to see The Blair Witch Project when it came out, but like so many other children of laissez-faire 90s parents, I found a way. And that way was a friend’s sleepover. Fingers slick with Pizza Hut grease, we slid the 15 certificate VHS cassette into the player and gleefully waited to have the shit scared out of us. And it did. But not in the way we were used to. Up until this point, I’d seen the likes of Hellraiser, Candyman and Nightmare on Elm Street – horror meant guts strewn across the screen like party streamers. But what Blair Witch lacked in viscera is made up for in pure, uncut dread. The fact that you never even see the titular witch somehow made it even more terrifying. Believe me, in the imagination of a child who’d been fed horror films like multipack breakfast cereals, that witch was scarier than Pinhead and Freddy Krueger’s bastard baby. And I … loved her?

People love working from home. But does it love them back? A new study says no

A study finds that people in remote jobs are more socially isolated, anxious and sad compared to people not in remote jobs. But demanding everyone return to the office isn't the answer either, say researchers.

Can a vibrating belt help protect bones and muscle health?

More than 40 million adults in the U.S. ages 50 and older have osteopenia, or low bone density. An FDA-approved wearable vibration device is giving some women a tool that could slow that loss.

‘Extreme fear’ among immigrants as backlash sweeps South Africa

African migrants say legal status offers little protection as rallies against illegal immigration gain momentum

African migrants in South Africa say they are living in fear after a series of marches calling for illegal immigrants to leave reignited long-held xenophobic sentiment in the country.

March & March, a campaign group at the forefront of recent protests, has given people living illegally in the country until 30 June to leave, without specifying what will happen to those who do not.

Starmer gives tech firms ultimatum to block explicit images on children’s phones

Companies such as Apple and Google have until September to install software or face legislation, says PM

• UK politics live – latest updates

Apple and Google have been given until September to install software that blocks explicit images on children’s mobile phones or face legislation enforcing its requirement, Keir Starmer said on Monday.

The prime minister said tech companies must activate nudity-detection algorithms or other technical solutions on smartphones and tablets to prevent users taking photos or sharing images of genitalia unless they are verified as adults.

Morning news brief

Israel and Iran traded fire early Monday in retaliatory strikes, Trump walked out of an interview after being pressed on election fraud claims, ebola outbreak is spreading at alarming rate.

Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer review – fun in the Tuscan sun

The Pulitzer-winning author of Less has crafted a breezy confection of fish-out-of-water wit, insecurity and self-discovery set in an Italian paradise

‘There’s a place in Italy in need of someone. Why don’t you look into that?” Inspired by his two-year stint directing a writers’ residency, the Santa Maddalena Foundation outside Florence, with these words American author Andrew Sean Greer launches a hapless, clueless innocent into the Tuscan hills and the embrace of its eccentric aristocracy, in the person of the eponymous Coco, Baronessa Lisabetta.

Variously known as “our young man”, Gio and Giovedi, Villa Coco’s narrator is here to fill the post of “adjutant” for the Baronessa. His duties include pruning roses, emptying drains, hunting the Baronessa’s mortal enemy, the pine marten, and cataloguing the dilapidated Villa Coco’s contents. Among the camel saddles and hat racks, he is assured, lurk priceless works of art, including a Picasso and a Botticelli. He joins a staff consisting of a Sri Lankan cook, her husband and a Lebanese factotum; they share in the sisyphean task of keeping Villa Coco going, and the Baronessa out of harm’s way.

Those who championed free speech in the UK and US now wage war on it. And here’s why: Palestine | Mehdi Hasan

It was once an article of faith that even those who speak words we disagree with deserve protection. As regards Palestine, that’s now not true

Remember the Satanic Verses controversy? Remember “Je suis Charlie”? Remember the constant invocations of Voltaire and Orwell? The great irony of our age is that many of the cadre of politicians who spent years anointing themselves as champions of free speech have become its most enthusiastic enemies when the subject turns to one issue: Palestine.

For decades, western governments lectured the world about liberal values. They declared freedom of expression the hallmark of a liberal democratic society. Protest was deemed patriotic while the right to offend was considered sacred. Then came Gaza. Suddenly, the principles that we were once told were non-negotiable became highly negotiable indeed.

Mehdi Hasan is the editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo

The assault on freedom with Mehdi Hasan and Arwa Mahdawi
At 7.30pm BST on Monday 8 June, join Mehdi Hasan and Arwa Mahdawi at a joint Zeteo/Guardian event to discuss the current seismic changes in geopolitics, the alarming rise of populism and nationalism, and its global implications. Only livestream tickets are now available.
Book tickets here

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.

Armenia’s pro-Europe party wins election and cements shift away from Russia

Result strengthens PM Nikol Pashinyan’s drive for deeper integration with Europe despite warnings from Moscow

Armenia’s ruling pro-Europe party has won parliamentary elections, confirming the country’s pivot towards Europe and away from its traditional ally, Russia.

Final results in the small South Caucasus country showed the prime minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party securing a slim majority, while the Strong Armenia alliance, led by the Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, won 25% of the seats in parliament.

Is it true that … sugar is ‘toxic’?

Influencers often brand sugar as inherently harmful – but not all sweet foods are created equal

‘It’s a common myth,” says Dr Emily Leeming, a dietitian at King’s College London – and one that thrives on social media. The confusion, she says, often comes from people cutting out sugary foods and feeling better. But that can be because removing ultra-processed sweet treats improves the overall quality of a diet (making more room for wholefoods).

Leeming says influencers who call sugar “toxic” often see it as inherently harmful – solely responsible for weight gain, poor blood sugar control and heart problems. But in controlled studies where calorie intake is kept the same, diets high in sugar don’t appear to worsen weight loss, metabolism or key health markers. “It’s not ideal nutritionally if you’re missing out on fruits, vegetables and whole grains,” Leeming says, “but sugar isn’t in itself directly harmful in that context.”

‘My diagnosis was a blessing’: composer Sally Beamish on tackling the condition that ruined every joyful memory

As she prepares to mark 70 with a birthday concert, the musician talks about her destructive mindset – and the steps she took to finally make sense of her life and music’s part in it

It was 2023. The holiday of a lifetime, in Australia, had begun, after two weeks at the Australian festival of chamber music, in which I’d played viola in several of my own works. I had fretted about this for months, not really believing that I could stand up as a soloist and deliver. Even as a full-time viola-player in the 80s, I avoided solo playing – always feeling more at home in larger chamber groups. But as my husband Peter and I set off on our holiday, I was euphoric. I had performed with the marvellous young pianist Joseph Havlat, with the legendary accordionist James Crabb and virtuoso trumpeter David Elton – and all had gone well.

But then came a horrible realisation: I had not asked for the concerts to be recorded. This had been a moment in my life that would never be repeated. And I hadn’t captured it. I sank into despair. The fact that this is a pattern in my thinking didn’t make it any less painful: the more wonderful the event, the more likely I am to find regrets to attach to it. It is a destructive mindset I have learned to live with, but for years I had no idea why my head seemed compelled to ruin every joyful memory.

I was jailed for speaking out about the treatment of workers at the Qatar World Cup. I am still being punished | Abdullah Ibhais

The 2022 football tournament cost me my freedom for three years. This year, I’ve lost my passport, safety and perhaps more

What I saw in a town called Al-Shahaniyah on the outskirts of Doha, the capital of Qatar, seven years ago broke every rule and human right in the book. Desperate, hard-working people were on strike for not receiving their salaries for two, four or six months. Salaries that rarely exceeded $300 (£220) a month, in one of the richest countries in the world at the time.

They had no food, no drinking water and no money to survive on or send back home to their families. But what made the situation worse was that they were building something for each and every one of us: not a mansion, a private home, or a road in the middle of nowhere. They were building World Cup stadiums for Messi and Ronaldo to play in, and for me and you to enjoy the show.

Airline industry chiefs say 2050 net zero goal now unlikely

Iata boss Willie Walsh blames fuel suppliers, governments and aircraft makers, saying new ‘realistic timeline’ now needed

• Air fare rises ‘inevitable’ as airlines face extra $100bn jet fuel bill

The aviation industry’s landmark pledges to be net zero by 2050 will probably not now be achieved, airline leaders have admitted.

The collective goal to eliminate net carbon emissions was declared by global airlines only five years ago in 2021, with similar pledges made by national aviation industry leaders and governments, including in the UK, in 2020.

West Ireland’s magical landscape: where limestone rivers, Hollywood legend and Irish myth converge

The newly designated Joyce Country and Western Lakes Unesco Geopark in Galway and Mayo celebrates a 700-million-year geological history that has produced a unique terrain and rich cultural heritage

‘If you take all these springs together in terms of flow, it’s by far the largest in Ireland, and one of the biggest systems in the world,” said Dr Benjamin Thébaudeau, geologist for the newly designated Unesco Joyce Country and Western Lakes Geopark in western Ireland.

Over a few days, I discovered that this massive system of limestone springs and caves is the engine that drives this landscape, in the same way as an underground train network powers a city. It’s a place where rivers disappear into limestone fissures and subterranean lakes, and where roads twist through drowned valleys beneath mountains shaped by fire and ice.

A fascinating history of the World Cup: best podcasts of the week

Former US soccer player Merritt Mathias looks at times when the beautiful game has been a political football. Plus, a deep dive into who is funding Reform UK

Former US soccer player Merritt Mathias (pictured above) and journalists Musa Okwonga and Julio Ricardo Varela are a fascinating team of “football/soccer time-travellers”. They trace the history of how global power has tried to influence the game and make it political. After setting the scene with musings on this year’s World Cup, they first look at the 1934 tournament in Mussolini’s Italy, which Uruguay boycotted. Hollie Richardson
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A British Childhood by Frank Cottrell-Boyce review – are we raising a bookless generation?

This clarion call about the impoverishment of children’s lives is also a reminder of the sheer magic of reading

Every day, on my walk to work, I pass a primary school. A group of little people are being dropped off by parents. They are met at the gates by a teacher who greets them all by name before leading them up the steps to breakfast club. In the cold and dark of winter, with the school’s windows glowing invitingly, I sometimes envy these children their warm, welcoming cocoon.

I thought of that daily scene often when reading this book, which is inspired by Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s time as Waterstones children’s laureate. During his laureateship he ran a campaign with the literary charity BookTrust called Reading Rights, addressing literacy inequality for children in poverty. It was prompted by the discovery that nearly half of children were arriving at school without having been read to. Many had no clue how books worked. They were trying to swipe rather than turn pages, or expand illustrations by pinching them with their fingers.

No electricity, no gas, no sleep: Cubans on edge amid endless outages

Four months into US oil blockade, Cubans see island drained as state electric company fights to provide even a few hours of power a day

The doctor called from the darkness, a shadowy figure sitting on the stoop of his apartment building. “I want to tell you we’ve been four days without light,” he said. “And without electricity, water is also a problem. And there are mosquitoes everywhere.”

From the buildings around came a cacophony, as beyond dark windows people smashed pots against pans. It was a cacerolazo, a traditional form of protest which has now become commonplace in Cuba amid seemingly endless rolling blackouts.

Fava, roast veg and grilled courgette: the Barbary’s recipes for simple summer dips

Dip tips: a good mix of North African spice, seasoning, colour and texture is guaranteed to get the palate excited for the meal ahead

Dips are never just accompaniments at our restaurant, the Barbary in central London, but a way of building flavour from the outset. They set the tone for the meal, so it’s important not only to have a variety of spice and seasoning, but also contrast in colour and texture, not least to get the palate excited straight away. These early-summer dips, inspired by the former Barbary Coast (Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia), are all best served with grilled flatbread, seeded crackers and fresh vegetables. The kaha kaha and machluta dips are both somewhere between a dip and a salad, and go especially well with grilled chicken, while the fava is good with grilled fish.