Czechia v South Africa: World Cup – live

⚽ Kick-off time: 12pm local/2am AEST/5pm BST/12pm EDT
⚽ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail Daniel

Email! “This is a bittersweet game for me,” confesses John Brennan. “When the draw was made in December, this was the most likely game that I could get to see Ireland play. I probably couldn’t have pulled off going to Mexico but getting from NY to Atlanta would have been reasonable. The stadium would have been packed with Irish fans between Irish living here on the East Coast and people travelling. Just thinking about it makes me wistful. What if Ryan Manning didn’t give away that stupid penalty, what if Parrott had scored that chance in the second half, what if Sammy Smzodics hadn’t been taken out of it and had been able to take a penalty instead of Alan Browne. And yeah if all those things had happened and Ireland beat Czechia, it would probably be Denmark playing today.

Anyway, I have a strange feeling South Africa might show up today and make it difficult for the Czechs or maybe that is just a coping mechanism for me.”

US Open 2026: golf under way after two-hour fog delay on day one – live

️ Updates from the opening round at Shinnecock Hills
️ Preview | Follow us on Instagram | Mail Matt

Good news! “Round 1 of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills will resume at 9:05 a.m. ET.” So says the official tweet. That’s just over 15 minutes away.

Weather delay in the golf but they’re playing at the Oval. Should be the other way round surely?

Supreme court sides with Texas marijuana user who wants to own a firearm in latest case expanding gun rights – live

In a rare unanimous ruling, the court backed a challenge to Texas gun laws by siding with Ali Danial Hemani

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He calls the situation a “win-win” for the US.

Vance is here, and he starts by claiming that Trump’s peace deal with Iran “is already bearing real fruits for the American people”, with 12.5m barrels going through the strait of Hormuz last night and gas prices dropping below $4 today for the first time since the conflict began.

England v New Zealand: second men’s Test, day two – live

Updates from the second day’s play at the Oval
Day one report | Sign up for the Spin | Mail James

80th over: New Zealand 318-7 (Jamieson 16, Phillips 59) Jamieson slaps Baker through the off-side, then makes room for a mighty smack … he edges away over Rew for four more. The big man is here to have fun as he launches to deep midwicket … and Ben Duckett, backpedalling, drops it! That should have been snaffled; Baker was already celebrating. To make matters worse for the debutant, Phillips pulls away for another boundary, the third of the over. A very tidy start to the day for New Zealand.

79th over: New Zealand 305-7 (Jamieson 7, Phillips 55) It’s Josh Tongue to bound in from the Pavilion End – he goes short and Phillips offers no shot, the ball smashing into his belly button. Ouch. England are going full bumper mode, with three men on the leg-side boundary, and midwicket just a few yards in front of the rope. And is Jamieson gone, gloving the ball high, with Rew collecting? Nah, off the helmet. And a no ball, too. Jamieson will get checked out by the doc.

Man arrested after boy, three, injured in Cambridgeshire zoo crocodile enclosure

Officers arrest man on suspicion of attempted murder as child is treated in hospital for serious injuries

A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a three-year-old boy ended up in a crocodile enclosure, Cambridgeshire police said.

The force said officers were called to Johnson’s of Old Hurst zoo in Huntingdonshire at 1.24pm over “reports of an incident involving a three-year-old boy, during which he ended up in the crocodile enclosure”.

Less than half of Americans can afford quality healthcare, Gallup finds

Gallup found that only 49% of Americans were "cost-secure" last year, with concerns about medical bills and prescription costs rising across income groups.

Live Updates: Knicks celebrate championship win with parade in NYC

The New York Knicks are being honored with a ticker-tape parade Thursday through the Canyon of Heroes in Lower Manhattan.

Vance says U.S. isn’t giving Iran ‘a cent’ as he defends Trump peace deal

"The only way the Iranians get any of these resources ... is if they comply fully" with the terms of the deal, Vice President JD Vance said.

Middle East crisis live: Vance says 60-day-period to reach final peace agreement starts today and US ‘isn’t giving up a cent’ to Iran

US vice president’s comments would mean the deadline for the final agreement between Iran and US is 17 August

• Reaction: Donald Trump’s Iran deal met with anger, relief and incredulity

• Analysis: Trump’s Iran deal is result of unrealistic ambitions for an untenable war

Donald Trump had urged Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop blowing up buildings” during a phone call about Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper cited sources who overheard the phone conversation between the two leaders, whose relationship has grown increasingly hostile as the war raged on.

Trump’s Iran deal: the art of the fail? - The Latest

Donald Trump is claiming his Iran peace plan is a victory for Washington, despite the 14-point agreement revealing significant concessions to Tehran. Under the deal, Iran will reopen the strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief and the release of frozen assets, while talks will continue over the fate of Iran’s nuclear programme. Nosheen Iqbal speaks to the Guardian diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour

Trump hits back at critics as Iran peace deal fuels debate over U.S. concessions

The deal sees both sides commit to further talks to reach a final agreement over the next 60 days and includes a $300 billion plan for Iran's reconstruction.

Intel gains 10% after Trump says company will partner with Apple on U.S. chip design

The boost continues Intel's recent rally as the chipmaker bounces back from years of headwinds.

SpaceX stock sinks 9%, continuing to cool after three-day rally

Investor bullishness showed signs of waning on Wednesday, as shares sank 5%.

Royal Ascot 2026, day three: Scandinavia wins Gold Cup as O’Brien reaches Ascot century – live

All the latest from the royal meeting
Thursday’s previews and tips | Mail Tony

Oddschecker market movers

Trawlerman - 9/4 from 3/1

Cannes - 4/1 from 7/1

Gilded Prize - 7/2 from 9/2

Thousands of Knicks fans celebrate big win with joyous New York parade: ‘We family now’

Parents and their kids, new and old fans and a few celebrities gathered to honor the team’s NBA Championship

Thousands of Knicks fans – decked out in blue and orange jerseys, shorts, hats, necklaces and more – gathered in downtown New York City on Thursday to celebrate the team’s NBA championship in a lively ticker-tape parade.

All along Church Street, the street running parallel to the parade route, fans lit joints, threw back shots of Fireball whiskey and drank Coronas, within view of bemused and outnumbered New York City police officers. Some fans climbed atop police cruisers and posed for photos.

Supreme Court sides with man who challenged law barring drug users from having guns

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favor of a Texas man who challenged a federal law that bars certain drug users from having firearms.

What did Ukraine target in Moscow and how significant was the drone attack?

Mass drone strike on capital brought the war to Russians, but Ukrainians will be braced for Kremlin’s response

Ukraine hit Moscow with nearly 200 drones in its largest ever attack on the Russian capital on Thursday, striking an oil refinery and sending huge plumes of smoke billowing over the city’s south.

The towering columns of smoke rising above Moscow offered a stark demonstration of Ukraine’s growing ability to strike deep inside Russia with its increasingly sophisticated, largely domestically produced long-range drones.

Read the full text of Trump's preliminary U.S.-Iran agreement to end the war

Here is the text of the memorandum of understanding that was signed Wednesday by President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, as well as Pakistan's prime minister.

Obama Presidential Center opens in Chicago

The Obama Presidential Center, museum and library opens in Chicago with a star-studded grand opening ceremony and public watch party on Midway Plaisance.

Feyi-Waboso declared fit for Prem final after jaw surgery in boost for Exeter

• England consent to Chiefs fielding winger at Twickenham

• Ethan Roots also set to return against Northampton

Manny Feyi-Waboso has been declared fit to return for Exeter in this weekend’s Prem final at Twickenham. England’s star winger underwent facial surgery barely two weeks ago but, in a major boost for the Chiefs, is available for his side’s showdown with Northampton and, potentially, England’s Test against South Africa on 4 July.

Rob Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby, said the decision was ultimately taken by Feyi-Waboso himself after England’s medical team indicated they had no objections to him playing. The 23-year-old had a plate inserted in his jaw this month but is now free to bolster the Chiefs’ efforts to secure a first Prem title since 2020.

South African men sentenced in ‘world’s largest’ rhino horn trafficking case

‘Mastermind’ Dawie Groenewald given fine of 2m rand or four-year jail term almost 16 years after arrest

Two traffickers of rhino horns have been sentenced by a South African court in what police said was the world’s largest such case, partly bringing to an end an almost two-decade legal saga.

Dawie Groenewald and Tielman Erasmus had faced more than 1,700 charges ranging from illegally hunting and dehorning rhinos to racketeering and money laundering.

Ukraine hits a Moscow oil refinery and other sites in a large-scale drone attack

Ukraine launched a new wave of drone attacks on Russia early Thursday, amounting to one of the largest attacks on the Russian capital since the Kremlin ordered the invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.

Trump thinks his freshly signed ceasefire deal is a victory. It is – for Iran | Simon Jenkins

With sanctions-relief and a US promise to avoid further meddling, the conflict has been settled on Tehran’s terms

Donald Trump is running fast to escape the catastrophic war on Iran that he and Benjamin Netanyahu started four months ago. He is saying anything that appears to suit the moment. In fact, he clearly feels he can now ditch his friend, the Israeli prime minister. He is offering Tehran’s military regime a $300bn rebuilding fund, an end to economic sanctions and a promise not to interfere in its internal affairs. All this is declared a “major win”. If so, fine. The next 60 days of negotiations will be tortuous and unpredictable. But at least they are pointing in a plausible – and hopefully irreversible – direction.

For once, a US president seems ready to accept defeat in a potentially forever war before it gets out of hand. Iran is not to be another Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq. More than that, in the course of the past week, Trump seems to have soured on America’s closest ally. Furious at Netanyahu’s ceaseless bombing of Lebanon, he remarked: “You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody” – somebody to kill, that is – because “there are a lot of people in those apartment houses and they’re not all Hezbollah”. For all this moral grandstanding, Trump’s military forces, along with Israel, have killed more than 3,300 Iranians, according to the country’s authorities – among them more than 100 children in a girls’ school – and injured many more.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

You're probably using too many skin care products. Here are the 3 essentials

We asked half a dozen skin care experts: Which products do you really need to keep your skin healthy and attractive? Here's what they said.

Showdown in the desert: the small town fending off a new California gold rush

A prospecting company’s search for gold has the town of Lone Pine and Indigenous leaders on edge, as the Trump administration green lights new projects across the American west

Lone Pine, population 1,882, lies along a stretch of California highway framed by the vast Inyo mountains and a sweeping desert landscape of sagebrush and dunes.

It’s the type of small town tourists drive through en route to Death Valley,; where hikers get a motel room between Pacific Crest Trail treks. But amid the quiet downtown strip of bars and shops, there are signs of a battle brewing under the town’s sleepy surface.

Football Daily | Marcus Rashford hits the high notes after playing second fiddle to Anthony Gordon

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It must be difficult being the second choice at a major tournament, confronting the idea your head coach thinks you are an inferior player. Maintaining confidence when others are favoured takes a lot of mental fortitude because agreeing with the decision is never an option. Some waltz in, do as they please, having been afforded the opportunity you want because of one person’s decision, while others watch on from the sidelines, desperately waiting for a chance to prove everyone wrong.

Trump bid to fire Fed's Lisa Cook cost her more than $1M in legal, security costs: Filing

A financial disclosure from Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook details large legal and security expenses

Not so empty nesters: record-high number of US adults under 35 live at home, new data says

Data shows that the increase in at-home living stems from high housing costs rather than labor market conditions

A record number of the US’s young adults were living with their parents last year, according to new data from Realtor.com, as high housing costs pushed the milestone of independent living out of reach.

A third of young adults between the ages of 25 and 35 – 25.2 million people – were living with their parents in 2025. Of those, 70% had jobs, and many held college degrees, highlighting that the increase in at-home living stems from high housing costs rather than labor market conditions.

U.S. plans expansion of denaturalization push, aiming for 250 cases by fall

The Trump administration expects to try to revoke the U.S. citizenship of more than 250 foreign-born citizens by October, a Justice Department official said.

Waymo recalls robotaxis after some vehicles entered construction zone

The recall follows multiple incidents in which Waymo robotaxis drove past ramp-closure signs and into freeway construction zones.

Border Force officer and Hong Kong trade official jailed for spying for China

Peter Wai and Bill Yuen sentenced to 10 and eight years at Old Bailey in first convictions under National Security Act

A UK Border Force officer and a Hong Kong trade official based in London have been jailed for spying for China in the first such conviction in British criminal history.

Peter Wai, who conducted “shadow policing” operations on Chinese dissidents in the UK, was sentenced to 10 years, while his handler, Bill Yuen, received an eight-year term.

Jimmy Kimmel on Trump giving Iran $300bn: ‘Melania’s wondering, ‘How can I get that deal?’’

Late-night hosts discussed the president’s Iran peace deal ‘blunder’ and his poor grasp of geography

Late-night hosts discussed Donald Trump’s “childish” behavior at the G7 summit, his reportedly catastrophic peace deal with Iran and a blunder over Middle East geography.

Bonkers SpaceX stats that show how staggering the money movement has been

SpaceX's first few days of trading have been filled with superlatives, from trading volume to the size of the company's first acquisition.

Inside the Obama Presidential Center ahead of its star-studded opening

The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago strives to serve the public while honoring the legacy of America's 44th president. The center's star-studded grand opening on Juneteenth will feature musical guests such as John Legend, Bruce Springsteen and Christina Aguilera. CBS News' Caitlin Huey-Burns takes a look inside.

Godfather of AI blasts Musk's xAI as 'failure,' says labs are risking a 'big bubble explosion'

Yann LeCun's comments renew a long-running spat with Musk and cast doubt over valuations of some of the world's biggest AI companies.

I’m engaged. My sister is single and feels ‘behind’. What can I say to that? | Leading questions

How you respond will depend on who expects you to manage your sister’s emotions, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. Is it her, or something you’ve put on yourself?

• Read more Leading questions

I’m engaged and my sister is single and feels “behind”. Lately she mentioned how the people in her life (me included) going through milestone moments triggers her. She even got upset and admitted she was worried she’d never have kids. What can I say to that? How do you comfort someone who wants the things you have or might have soon?

She has felt behind for a long time, and I’ve had many a conversation with her when she’s got upset about still living at home, still not having the career she wants, etc. But she is still in the same situation, and my empathy is running low. Especially now I know my engagement is triggering for her! I deserve to feel happy during my wedding planning era but after she told me how she felt, I feel guilty for being happy.

I guess my question is: do I tiptoe around her and avoid wedding talk or should she just put a smile on her face and talk to her friend about her triggers? I hate to say it but my mental load is preferring the latter.

Eleanor says: Why are the options that you tiptoe around or she puts a smile on her face?

David Squires on … the Socceroos’ World Cup so far and a tasty clash with the USA to come

Our cartoonist looks at Australia’s involvement at the tournament with a place in the knockout phase tantalisingly close

‘Mega-consumers’ of food and energy cost environment $5.7tn a year, study finds

Top 10% generate climate and biodiversity damage bill that exceeds economies of most countries, say researchers

The environmental damage bill racked up by the highest-consuming 10% of the world’s population has reached up to $5.7tn a year – larger than the economy of every country except the US and China, a study has found.

Mega-consumers in this group are concentrated in the global north, accounting for more than half the population of the US and 40-45% of people in the EU.

Wiltshire village exhibits Martin Parr’s final photos of scarecrows and prize veg

Pictures from photographer’s return to Lacock after 40 years were taken months before his death last December

The images are colourful, characterful and thought-provoking. They capture a flower show, a Women’s Institute meeting, a scarecrow festival. A local vicar features, resplendent in a union jack bowler hat, as does a band of bellringers and a bulldog called Billy.

Four decades after chronicling life in the picture-postcard English village of Lacock in Wiltshire, the photographer Martin Parr returned to document what had changed – and what had not.

Dancing to artefacts: London Museum will be ‘democratic’ space for all, says director

A decade in the making, the museum will reopen in November in two restored market halls with displays and late-night DJ sets

The new London Museum will be “a social space for the city”, its director has said, hosting afternoon tea events, monthly dinner clubs and late-night DJ sets where visitors can mingle among the artefacts while dancing.

Sharon Ament said that when it reopened later this year the museum would be a “democratic” space that engaged with all Londoners rather than merely a repository for its collections, which stretch from the city’s neolithic prehistory to modern acquisitions.

These 3 brothers lost their parents to AIDS. Now they struggle to make it on their own

Three brothers say their mother and father died after losing access to their HIV medications. Now the boys are figuring out how to navigate life.

Cuban economy needs ‘urgent changes’ as US blockade deepens crisis, says president

Miguel Díaz-Canel cites China and Vietnam as possible models for opening up the country’s economy

Cuba’s economy needs urgent changes to overcome a crisis intensified by a US oil blockade, the president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has said in a speech to Communist party leaders.

“The situation calls for urgent and necessary changes,” Díaz-Canel told the party’s politburo in his frankest admission yet of the need to overhaul the country’s communist model.

Anger at ‘send them back’ chants by rightwing MEPs after EU migration law vote

Other lawmakers respond with ‘shame on you’ in heated confrontation over passing of plan to increase deportations

Rightwing MEPs have come under fire after they celebrated a vote aimed at increasing deportations across the EU with chants of “send them back”, leading other lawmakers to respond with cries of “shame on you”.

The heated confrontation in the European parliament came on Wednesday after lawmakers voted 418 to 218 to approve controversial measures aimed at increasing deportations of undocumented people.

Numbers game: stats that tell stories from the first 24 World Cup matches

All 48 teams have played their first matches. From xG to assists to transfer value, here’s some of the more revealing bits of data

The first round of fixtures at the World Cup is in the bank so we’ve finally seen all 48 teams. But what have we learned? Who was good, bad, lucky or fired after one game? A dig into the Opta data has revealed some facts that may not have been immediately apparent from the scorelines.

‘Ordinary people are being erased’: one director’s audacious fightback against AI – featuring Frinton

Marc Isaacs’ film Synthetic Sincerity may look like a documentary, but its fictional premise – a lab that scrapes movies to harvest human emotions – shines a hard light on just how far AI can go

In Marc Isaacs’ latest film, the subversive documentary maker reveals that an AI research laboratory recently licensed his entire body of work. That’s a quarter-century of droll, deadpan studies of ordinary life in Britain – from the poetic Lift, about the comings and goings in a London tower block, and The Curious World of Frinton-on-Sea, set in the sleepy retirement town dubbed “God’s waiting room”, to Philip and His Seven Wives, in which a secondhand furniture dealer declares himself to be a Hebrew king. Isaacs agreed to let data analysts at the University of Southern England feed these and other documentaries into their system to harvest authentic human emotions from which AI characters could then be created. His film about the experience takes its name from the university’s lab: Synthetic Sincerity.

But how synthetic is the film itself? “Well, we made up the University of Southern England,” admits Isaacs, 59, over lunch at Etles, a Uyghur restaurant near his home in London. The choice of venue is no accident: its chef and owner, Ablikim Rahman, who flutters around us today bearing bowls of thick, glossy leghmen noodles, appears in Synthetic Sincerity being photographed by the AI boffins and turned into an avatar. This is Rahman’s first film, though he hasn’t seen it yet: “Soon,” he says with a sheepish smile.

Tornadoes tear through multiple states across Midwest, Southeast

Tornadoes were reported in Illinois, Iowa and several other states Wednesday as severe weather slammed a large swath of the Midwest​ and Southeast.

GOP Rep. Steil pushes bill curbing members of Congress from prediction market betting

The new proposal on limits on members of Congress making such bets come as scrutiny increases on prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket.

Intel shares leap after Trump announces chip deal with Apple

In a social media post, President Trump touted the U.S. government's 10% stake in Intel, noting that it is now worth $60 billion.

Supreme Court sides with a marijuana user who was barred from owning guns

The court ruled that the law used to prosecute a marijuana user violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms and is unconstitutionally vague.

Trump upends Senate GOP's plans once again with nomination demands

A number of poorly timed announcements have forced Senate Republicans to squander carefully laid plans, exposing a widening rift within the party.

Analysis: Chairman Kevin Warsh’s task forces are the key to understanding the new Fed

The new leader of the Fed left interest rates alone but made clear how he plans to rewire the central bank.

Nigel Farage to join populist and rightwing figures at ‘anti-woke Davos’ in London

Exclusive: Event co-founded by Jordan Peterson will bring together rightwing figures, US state officials and anti-abortionists in London

Nigel Farage and fellow Reform UK MPs Sarah Pochin and Andrew Rosindell will be there. As will a plethora of Reform advisers, backroom staff and figures, such as Ben Delo, a British crypto billionaire who has given £4m to Nigel Farage’s party.

Yet as populist-right politicians from across the globe and their multimillionaire backers prepare for this year’s Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (Arc) – a rightwing London summit labelled an “anti-woke Davos” – others whose expected attendance has not been publicised potentially raises more questions.

Moscow oil refinery struck in Ukraine’s biggest air raid on city since start of war

Kyiv says attack, which also forced evacuation at Russia’s biggest airport, was in response to strike on historic monastery

• Explainer: how significant was attack on Moscow?

Ukrainian drones have hit several locations across Moscow in Kyiv’s biggest air raid on the city since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, setting a major ⁠oil refinery on fire and forcing evacuations at the country’s largest airport.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as a response to Russia’s strike on a historic Kyiv monastery complex earlier this week.

Gas prices fall below $4 a gallon for the first time in nearly 3 months

The national average for a gallon of regular gas in the U.S. drops to $3.99, the lowest since March 30.

Drummer rediscovers passion for music after life-changing accident

In the "CBS Mornings" series "Pushing the Limits," Mark Strassmann shows how a Georgia man's passion for music was almost taken away from him forever after a terrible accident. But thanks to his resilience and technology, the man is now a record-breaking drummer.

Soul classics and stepmother celebrations: Alicia Keys’ 20 best songs – ranked!

Twenty-five years after she released her debut album, we pick the best of an artist pairing Chopin-inspired piano with pop, soul and powerful emotion

Two different takes on the same album – one traditional, the other more beat-heavy – packaged together, Keys was an experiment that didn’t quite work, but Skydive, co-written with Raphael Saadiq, is a fine song: both versions are great but Mike WiLL Made-It’s bumping rework wins by a fraction.

Powerful tornadoes leave behind devastation in Illinois

Violent tornadoes ripped through central Illinois on Wednesday, leaving behind swaths of destruction. One man described how he shielded himself and his family from the storms. Rob Marciano reports.

Reading in Rome and a palace tour: photos of the day – Thursday

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

Embedded: "We Keep Us Safe" from NPR, KUOW and The Seattle Times

In the summer of 2020, sixteen-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. traveled a thousand miles to join the racial justice movement of his generation. He arrived in Seattle during the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, known as CHOP. Less than a week later, he was shot and killed there. The case remains unsolved.

Report: Russia's nuclear-powered 'Skyfall' missile is dirty and dangerous

MIT researchers think they've worked out exactly how Russia's Burevestnik nuclear-powered missile flies. "It's almost certainly a terrible idea," one analyst said. "But it's not an impossible idea."

Arthur, 2026's first tropical storm, weakens but still poses flooding threat

Arthur, the first named tropical storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, weakened to a post-tropical cyclone after making landfall.

Whole-life order given to UK teacher who sexually abused and murdered adopted baby

Jamie Varley jailed for life and partner John McGowan-Fazakerley jailed for 25 years over death of Preston Davey

A secondary school teacher has been jailed for life for sexually abusing and murdering the baby boy he was adopting with his partner.

Jamie Varley, 37, was sentenced to a whole-life order on Thursday for abusing and killing 13-month-old Preston Davey. It means he will stay in prison for the rest of his life and will never be eligible for parole, the judge Mr Justice Turner said.

Post your questions for Minions supremo Pierre Coffin

As the cute, yellow, gibberish-spouting creatures return in Minions & Monsters, the animator who voices them and has directed five of the films in the franchise will be taking your questions

Bello! Next month sees the return of everyone’s favourite small, cute, bright yellow blob assistants who spout international gibberish, as Minions & Monsters is released in time to clean up over the US Independence Day box office weekend.

It’s the seventh instalment in the Despicable Me franchise and the third standalone outing for Kevin, Stuart, Bob et al. The series has so far earned £12.3bn globally, of which box office accounts for about half (with merchandise sales slightly outstripping it, and DVD sales coming in at a mere $725m).

Every time I work on a scene or I work on the overall movie, I had my kids unconsciously in mind. Is that going to please them? Is it going to be funny for them? And if it is funny for them, is it going to be funny for their friends and their friends’ friends? I show them pretty much everything before it gets anywhere near the final cut so they also get to see all the sucky stuff I miserably fail on and the stuff I have doubts on.

“If it’s meant to be provoking some kind of a comedic reaction and if it fails then you say: ‘OK, back to the drawing board.’

Breaking down Luigi Mangione's new defense strategy for NY state trial

CBS News legal contributor Caroline Polisi discusses the new defense strategy for Luigi Mangione's New York state murder trial and what it could mean for the case. Mangione's lawyers told a judge he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance when he allegedly killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Victims' families speak at Gilgo Beach killer sentencing: "Felt like this day would never come"

Rex Heuermann, the man known as the Gilgo Beach serial killer, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole. Families of the victims spoke out at his sentencing. Tom Hanson reports.

Trump and Iran's President Pezeshkian sign memorandum aimed to end war

President Trump earlier said at the G7 summit that the memorandum of understanding with Iran "might not be the kind of document that I should be signing."

Trump’s ‘Department of War’ may soon become official. What would that mean? | Norman Solomon

In US statecraft and warcraft, the president and Pete Hegseth are now saying previously quiet parts out loud

The Department of Defense will soon officially become the Department of War, if Republicans get their way. Key committees in the House and Senate have approved the name change, and Donald Trump is eager to sign it into law. The rebranding is candid and ominous, offering a future of heightened zeal for killing, maiming and destroying.

Christened in 1949, the Department of Defense unified the military branches with the Pentagon as their headquarters. Since then, presidents have routinely promoted each new war as vital for the defense of the United States and its values, a pretense that has pervaded mainstream media and political discourse.

Norman Solomon is an American journalist, media critic, left-leaning progressive activist, and former US Congress candidate

Will Penn Station’s much-needed makeover boost commuters – or Trump?

A proposed $8bn renovation of the hub has critics wondering if it’s another example of the US president bolstering his legacy at taxpayers’ expense

A proposed $8bn renovation of Penn Station in New York City has sparked questions from local leaders who want improvements to the western hemisphere’s busiest transit hub but wonder what it will look like, who will pay for it and what role Donald Trump will play.

The station, which was once considered one of New York City’s most beautiful landmarks, is now seen by many as an ugly infrastructure that is hard to navigate, dark and claustrophobic.

Côte d’Ivoire’s Wahi denied Canada visa for World Cup match amid fixing investigation

• Striker will miss Saturday’s Germany game in Toronto

• Arrest was over alleged ‘organised fraud’ in Ligue 1

The Côte d’Ivoire striker Elye Wahi, who is being investigated for alleged fixing, has not been authorised to travel to Canada for his team’s World Cup match against Germany, his country’s football federation (FIF) said on Thursday.

The FIF said Wahi would not be able to travel with the squad for Saturday’s game in Toronto because “the necessary administrative authorisations for his entry into Canadian territory could not be obtained at this stage”.

Choppy waters ahead as Iceland gets ready for its own EU referendum

In this week’s newsletter: After Trump’s interventions over Greenland, there are many in Iceland who believe they would be stronger in the EU. But will its recent history of independence win out?

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As the UK marks the tenth anniversary of its fateful Brexit referendum next Tuesday, Iceland is fast approaching its moment of truth about the EU – albeit from the opposite direction.

On 29 August, Icelanders will be asked whether or not to they want to come back to the table with Brussels for negotiations about joining the EU. Iceland originally applied in 2009 after the financial crash, but pulled out of talks in 2013 saying it couldn’t go any further without a referendum.

Teenager dies after being thrown from horse-drawn carriage in Central Park

New York police department say teenager thrown to the ground when horse bolted away from its driver

A teenager thrown to the ground on Wednesday when a Central Park carriage horse bolted away from its driver has died, according to police.

The 18-year-old was riding in the horse-drawn carriage with three other passengers when the accident happened just before 3pm, according to the New York police department. At least two passengers were sent flying out of the careening cab.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales review – a playable love letter to Zelda

PlayStation 5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch 2, PC; Team Asano/Square Enix
Upbeat, charmingly retro RPG full of treasure-hunting, temple-roaming, monster-slaying and princess-saving is an absolute blast to play

You can’t help but wonder if developer Team Asano is in a private competition with itself to come up with the most ridiculous name for a video game. Following Project Triangle Strategy and Bravely Default: Flying Fairy we have this mouthful: The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales. It’s a playable love letter to the Zelda adventures of yesteryear rendered in the studio’s trademark glorious 2D-HD art style, melding evocative pixel sprites with modern visual effects.

From west Philabieldia, born and raised, our hero is adventurer Elliot. The antagonist making trouble in the neighbourhood is a king’s dastardly aide intent on summoning an ancient evil. The story is pure after-school-TV schlock, fully voice-acted but still unafraid to make you sit through reams and reams of text, and the action comprises treasure-hunting, temple-roaming and dispatching monsters. It’s part Chrono Trigger, part Oracle of Seasons as our almost obnoxiously upbeat hero journeys through the ages in order to solve puzzles, tip his fedora and of course, save a princess.

Women’s World Cup playoffs: England land Greece, Scotland get Czechia in first round

• England to play Ukraine or Slovakia if they beat Greece

• Scotland probably face Sweden if they win first game

England will need to overcome Greece and either Slovakia or Ukraine to qualify for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

Scotland were handed a significantly tougher draw and will probably need to beat Sweden, if they first beat Czechia, to reach the finals.

Trump signs agreement with Iran. And, the president's approval hits record lows

Trump signed a preliminary agreement with Iran yesterday to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz. And, the president's approval rating has hit a record low, according to a new NPR poll.

Irish parliament votes to remove three-day abortion wait

Waiting period before receiving medication was included in draft law to gain support for abortion ban in 2018 referendum

Ireland’s parliament has voted to remove a mandatory three-day wait for abortion during early pregnancy after campaigners said the rule was an unnecessary restriction.

The Dáil passed the bill on Wednesday night, clearing a path for the legislation to go to a parliamentary committee and become law later this, or next, year.

Olivia Miles: the goggled wonder woman pulverizing WNBA opponents in her rookie season

The Minnesota Lynx point guard’s creativity has made an impact in her first pro season and has fans racing to watch her highlight reels

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For dedicated WNBA fans, every morning begins with the same question: what did Olivia Miles do this time? A no-look pass through three defenders? A crossover that sends another grown woman staggering out of frame? Statue of Liberty layups launched from angles that flout Euclidean geometry? You just never know with this wonder woman. The rush she gives fans makes a double espresso feel like a nightcap.

No player in the WNBA has brought more joy to the season’s opening month than Miles, who has quickly emerged as one of the league’s most compelling talents. Fifteen games into her professional career, the 23-year-old North Jersey native has already established herself as the engine of the Minnesota Lynx offense, pacing the team in average scoring (19.0) and assists (5.7) while sinking more than half her shot attempts. In a 99-83 road win against a short-handed Los Angeles Sparks team on Wednesday night, Miles poured in a season-best 31 points on a blistering 80% percent shooting in just 26 minutes.

‘It’s so camp!’ The queer Doctor Who cabaret with dancing drag daleks

Latex aliens, screaming fans and an ‘LGBTQ+ARDIS’ … the big sellout crowds of Gallifrey Cabaret are keeping the fantasy TV show alive – even if its future on the BBC is in the balance

The atmosphere backstage at the Doctor Who-themed queer, adults-only cabaret night is every bit as chaotic as you might imagine. Hairspray clouds air already thick with overlapping conversations between drag kings and queens, singers and burlesque artists. In its midst, Reece Connolly adjusts his ruffled shirt and rhinestoned bow tie, and turns to his fellow performers. “This is a genuine question: do you think these are too tight?” he asks, gesturing to his black trousers. “No, they’re hot,” replies cabaret all-rounder Mariana Trench. The other acts agree, encouraging Connolly to “give [the audience] what they want”. He nods, and looks to me with mock sincerity: “This is community. This is what community looks like.”

Being a fly-on-the-dressing-room-wall backstage at the Wales Millennium Centre is a heady, exhilarating and slightly overwhelming experience. But for the stars of Gallifrey Cabaret, this scene of “gorgeous chaos” (as red-headed, red-moustached drag queen Carrot describes it) is business as usual. The show, which tours the UK with a mixed bill of drag, burlesque, live music, comedy, aerial performance and dance, is celebrating its fifth anniversary this month with an extra-special extravaganza at the Clapham Grand in London, and keeps getting bigger and better. Even fire acts and a dog have been given the Time Lord twist – albeit not at the same time.

Girls Like Girls review – Sapphic teen romance is a precious and predictable yawn-a-thon

Singer Hayley Kiyoko misses the mark in a meandering directorial debut packed with groan-inducing dialogue

On 26 June 2015, the US supreme court finally declared gay marriage legal nationwide. Two days later, singer-songwriter and former Disney Channel alum Hayley Kiyoko effectively came out to the world with her debut single, Girls Like Girls. “Girls like girls like boys do, nothing new,” she sang with triumphant bluntness. Its accompanying music video, featuring a Sapphic teen romance, spread fast and wild across Tumblr, a website defined by its intensely nostalgic aesthetics, where style and identity formation merged for many queer teens. Today, the music video has 163m views on YouTube.

Kiyoko, now engaged to former The Bachelor contestant Becca Tilley, has since been hailed the “lesbian Jesus” by fans. Queer expressions in pop music, from King Princess to Chappell Roan to Reneé Rapp, have become far more common in the decade since the music video was released, but Kiyoko still seems to inspire one of the most dedicated, and specifically Sapphic, audience in queer pop music today.

We must be alive to the dangers of a UK social media ban – and the way to really help young people | Rosie Parkyn

A ban alone will have limited impact and could make things worse. A good strategy needs more educational content – and more money

As a parent, I understand the appeal of the announcement on Monday by the prime minister that would prevent children under 16 from using social media. Right now, you are in constant battle with the infinite scroll for your child’s attention, while their impetus to explore the real world is subdued by endless entertainment always within reach. At best, their rapidly developing brains are rotted by a diet of the synthetic, sensationalist and shallow – humanity’s least impressive creative output catering to its lousiest instincts. At worst, they are being preyed upon by forces intent on manipulating, exploiting or recruiting them. You look around and wonder where they are, even as they are right under your nose. You worry they will never experience the boredom that leads to creativity and propels us forward.

The desire to protect children from an often hostile environment makes sense, and the ban sends a signal of what we deem acceptable, and maybe even opens up the possibility of a behavioural shift in how we use social media. But evidence from Australia, where similar legislation was enacted last December, is not encouraging. According to one study, two-thirds of young people retained their accounts, while 51% of those most affected by the ban now see less news. The fact is that this demographic get most of its news from social media feeds, consumed incidentally amid footage of fights, diet tips and dance crazes and conveyed by influencers whose shtick is authenticity not accuracy. But it is encountered nonetheless. If we remove access, we need to create alternative routes to news and information.

OL Lyonnes and Scotland’s Caroline Weir: ‘I would love to be competing for the Champions League’

Midfielder is chasing a trophy-laden spell in France and hopes a dream can be fulfilled by playing in the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil

June 2026 is a month Caroline Weir is unlikely to forget. She scored seven goals in two Scotland games as they clinched top spot in their World Cup qualifying group, watched on with joy at 2am as Scotland’s men secured their first World Cup finals win for 36 years and then her move to OL Lyonnes was confirmed by the eight-time European champions.

The Scotland captain says the lure of playing for Europe’s most decorated women’s club made the transfer an easy decision after four happy years playing for Real Madrid.

Office workers of the world unite: it’s time to revive the three-martini lunch | Andrea Javor

The three-martini lunch allowed us to mix business and pleasure, a phenomenon that is missing during the AI boom

As a 46-year-old executive who now has both people and AI agents reporting to me on the org chart, I think corporate America needs to revive a much-mocked relic of mid-century American business life: the three-martini lunch.

In 1978, Gerald Ford called the ritual “the epitome of American efficiency”, asking: “Where else can you get an earful, a bellyful and a snootful at the same time?” He meant it as a joke, but in 2026, I think it should be our strategic plan.

Nearly 80% of data center capacity is at elevated risk to climate hazards like flooding and fire, study says

The vast majority of data centers globally face either acute risk from climate change events or chronic risk from ongoing climate issues like extreme heat.

‘It’s where the poetry is written in cinema language’: the female editors behind cinema’s masterpieces

In an industry dominated by men, many women dedicate themselves to the craft of editing – as well as managing directors’ egos – to create some of the most celebrated and memorable big-screen classics

Behind every great director, to coin a phrase, is a great editor – and as the tributes paid earlier this month to the late Marcia Lucas, Oscar-winning editor of Star Wars: Episodes IV to VI, and former wife of creator George Lucas, reminded us, that editor is often a woman. In a historically male-dominated industry, this familiar Hollywood dynamic is a phenomenon that is worth investigating.

It goes back decades. During the supermacho Hollywood new wave era, Dede Allen worked with Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde) and Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon), and Thelma Schoonmaker edited Raging Bull, The King of Comedy and GoodFellas for Martin Scorsese (and much else besides). David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia may have contained no female speaking characters, but it won Anne V Coates an editing Oscar. Anne Bauchens was nominated for Cleopatra in 1934, when the Oscars’ editing category was created, and became its first female winner in 1940 for Cecil B DeMille’s North West Mounted Police.

Liverpool beat Newcastle to £34.5m Víctor Muñoz in first signing of Iraola era

• Club triggered £34.5m release clause for Osasuna forward

• Head coach keen on player’s versatility and pace

The Osasuna winger Víctor Muñoz will become the first signing of Andoni Iraola’s reign at Liverpool after the club triggered a £34.5m release clause, beating Newcastle to his signature. Muñoz will sign a six-year contract after undergoing a medical on Wednesday in Atlanta, where he is part of the Spain squad at the World Cup.

Liverpool have been following Muñoz’s progress for an extensive period and sped up the deal after Iraola’s appointment because the head coach was eager to add his compatriot. Iraola spent most of his playing career at Athletic Bilbao, continues to closely monitor La Liga and Muñoz has impressed him.

UK mosques advised to run lockdown drills amid fears of anti-Muslim attacks

Exclusive: Muslim Council of Britain national guidance also urges mosques to strengthen police ties and improve CCTV

Mosques are being advised to carry out lockdown drills, strengthen ties with police and improve CCTV coverage under national guidance published amid growing concerns about anti-Muslim attacks.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) released a new security and preparedness framework for mosques, trustees and volunteers, warning that places of worship and community centres faced an increasing threat from vandalism, intimidation, threats and targeted hostility.

The price of jet fuel is falling, but don't expect airfares to follow any time soon

The average price of jet fuel has fallen to its lowest level since the beginning of the war with Iran. But aviation experts say the cost of airfare is likely to stay high, at least for now.

Poll: Most Americans have the summer blues about Trump and the economy

A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll finds a record low share of Americans approve of President Trump's job performance and his handling of the economy heading into the summer before a key midterm election.

Bongeziwe Mabandla faced addiction, illness and ‘backstabbers’. How has the South African singer stayed so upbeat?

An indie star in his homeland, Mabandla’s fame is growing abroad – and his uplifting new album is full of existential insight after some of the toughest years of his life

As the camera pulls back from Bongeziwe Mabandla in the video for his recent single Yalwa, the true stars of the show reveal themselves: two women, dressed in a mix of crisp white and black traditional isiXhosa umbhaco garments and chic designer wear. Sure, Mabandla himself strikes a compelling figure in the centre of the frame in his own traditional apparel; the herd of cattle grazing around them are resplendent; and the forested ridges of South Africa’s Eastern Cape remain rapturous. But those stoic, confident, badass women! “Yeah, that’s my mom and aunt,” Mabandla says with a chuckle. The song, he says, is “all about heritage, going back and celebrating women in my lineage and in my family”.

Keeping that connection alive has become especially important to Mabandla now that the singer-songwriter – an indie icon in Johannesburg – has been living far away from them for the first time. After years of finding particular acclaim in France (including a nomination for the prestigious Radio France Internationale award early in his career), Mabandla has been settled in Paris for six months amid bouts of touring and travelling through Europe. “I’m everywhere these days, living between two countries,” he says, laughing again. “I wanted to see what doors would open for me living in a different culture, especially in a big place like Paris. It’s been life-changing, but I’ve been very careful I don’t abandon my South African side.”

‘The sea took everything away’: how Nigeria’s ‘Happy City’ is disappearing beneath the waves

More than half of Ayetoro – a Christian utopia founded in the 1940s – has been lost to the ocean, and its remaining people are running out of options

In the early hours of 15 February 2019, the Atlantic Ocean came for Arowo Victoria’s livelihood. The 60-year-old retired midwife was asleep when neighbours began banging on her door, shouting that the sea had started covering buildings along the nearby coastline.

By the time she got to her small shop, she discovered that the Atlantic had already swept it away, destroying the business she had built with borrowed money after retirement.

Cambridge experts recreate 336-year-old garden to commemorate ‘father of natural history’

John Ray, 17th-century botanist who coined words petal and pollen, was a tutor at Cambridge when he created his first garden

He coined the terms petal and pollen, helped to lay the foundations of modern biology and is widely regarded as the greatest English naturalist of the 17th century.

But it was while he was a young college tutor at Cambridge in the 1650s that the botanist John Ray – also known as “the father of natural history” – created his first known garden and began to systematically study plants for the first time.

Tell us your favourite film of 2026 so far

We would like to hear about the best film you have seen this year so far and why

The Guardian’s film writers have compiled their favourite films of the year so far – and we’d like to hear about yours, too.

Which films have captured your imagination this year? Are there any new releases from so far in 2025 that you would recommend watching?

Tell us your favourite new podcasts of 2026 so far

We would like to hear about the best new podcasts you have listened to this year so far and why

Guardian writers have compiled the best podcasts of the year so far – and we’d like to hear about yours too.

Is there a podcast from this year that has you rapt? Are there any new releases that you would recommend?

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.

‘You learn how to be idiotic artists’: Gilbert & George on fame, rebellion and their mystery new collaborator

The Britart mavericks have now teamed up with an unlikely artist. Is their odd throuple an elaborate prank – or are the duo passing down their legacy?

‘Hello girls,” greets 82-year-old Gilbert Prousch, one half of art duo Gilbert & George, as he shakes my hand when I arrive at his house with a very important guest in tow. He kisses his other guest on the cheek. Gilbert is Italian after all.

“This way,” he says, ushering us into the four-storey, 18th-century Georgian townhouse in Fournier Street, Spitalfields, east London, where he and the other half of his duo, George Passmore, 84, have lived since the late 1960s. Back then, they rented the ground floor for £16 a month. Now, they own the whole house. I bet it costs a bit more now.

The World Cup viewed from afar is more like ambient noise – a far cry from working at it | Jonathan Liew

Covering a tournament, my smartwatch showed my heart rate was 10-20 beats above normal. How luxurious to half-watch

I fell asleep at some point during the Netherlands v Japan game. It had been a hot and drowsy day by the shores of Lake Annecy, a square and heavy heat, where the sun and the driving and the food and the boxed wine gently squeeze all the life from your body, like air being pressed out of a juice carton.

I remember Virgil van Dijk angling a header into the far corner, and when I came to it was 2-1, and everyone was heading to bed, drunk on tiredness, drunk on life, drunk on drink.

A bonanza for fans of the natural world: the digital library sharing 64m pages of scientific knowledge with everyone

The Biodiversity Heritage Library is an invaluable online archive of historic texts on species living and lost supplied by the world’s leading museums and universities. Now its future is in doubt

Some go there to read about the wood that Victorian manufacturers used to make walking sticks. Others want to see an illustration of a Tasmanian tiger or marvel at the field diary of one of the first known botanists to explore the Antarctic.

Over the past 20 years, more than 64m pages have been made freely available through the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) – a digital treasure trove for fans of the natural world. More than 680 museums, universities, libraries and scientific institutions from China, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand to Europe, Africa, Mexico, Canada and the US, have contributed to the library.

Manuscript on parchment from the Circa instans. Dating from about 1190, it is the oldest book in the digital library. Photograph: LuEsther T Mertz Library/New York Botanical Garden/Biodiversity Heritage Library

As Spielberg confirms whether ET was ‘slimy or dry’, we enter a new age of the celebrity interview

Veteran interviewees are forever trotting out the same anecdotes in response to unoriginal questions – until one fearless disruptor dared ask if ET had moist skin

For the most part, Steven Spielberg has avoided most of the indignities of the modern day press tour. He hasn’t had to subject himself to any spicy chicken wings, or summon any witticisms when presented with a cloche-covered sausage roll. Unlike many other celebrities, he hasn’t chosen to promote Disclosure Day by answering softball questions while simultaneously fashioning a Lionel Richie-style clay approximation of himself for YouTube. For this he should be applauded.

Instead, Spielberg has spent this promotional cycle on something more suited to his stature. A maestro tour, if you will, on which he gets to position Disclosure Day against a body of work that is second to none. Publications have run long oral histories about his entire career. He was a guest during the prestigious final week of Stephen Colbert’s talkshow. He was interviewed by the New York Times about the exact texture of ET’s skin.

Pink flamingos and shimmering lemon groves: exploring Sicily’s Vendicari nature reserve

This wetland south of Syracuse was saved from developers and preserved as an unspoilt haven for migratory birds

We rented Il Nido because we thought other people wouldn’t like it. Small and basic, without internet, the property was supposedly beside a beautiful national park famous for its coastline and migratory birds. The online picture suggested it was pressed up against one of those concrete pillars (common around Sicily) supporting a deserted and rotting motorway flyover. I was writing a thriller with mafia connections. My partner wanted to scrape off six months of fumes from her new job in London. Our daughter needed fun.

“This is a bomb,” said the hostess, opening a cupboard under the sink. “You turn it anticlockwise to go off.”

A Little Bit Bad by Cassandra Neyenesch review – a sparkling, subversive debut

With its echoes of Miranda July’s All Fours, this tragicomic tale of an American woman’s illicit romance is also a gripping murder mystery

The plot of A Little Bit Bad sounds like the setup for a joke: “Like, this white lady lusting after her hot Chicano roofer?” Perdita Jungfrau, the narrator, is describing her own situation. “Yuck.”

It’s 2009 and Perdita is 39 when she meets 25-year-old Nando, who is working on next door’s roof. “Burned out” after a decade as a hospital social worker, she’s a stay-at-home mother to a toddler, and pregnant again (though she doesn’t know it yet). She isn’t happy. Her husband is critical of her for quitting her job, and won’t look after the children: “Babies scare me!” Perdita is out in her San Diego backyard on the day that Nando falls from a ladder propped up against the neighbour’s house. She sees it happen, calls an ambulance and sits beside him on the grass to wait.

Should my husband stop letting our kids climb over our neighbour’s fence to get their ball back?

Penelope worries this will teach her children it’s OK to trespass; Spencer sees no harm in them hopping over. No sitting on the fence – you decide who’s in the wrong

• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

It doesn’t matter that it only takes five seconds. It’s a flagrant disregard for property rights

No harm was done to their garden. It’s just a lawn with a few shrubs. I don’t see the problem