Tesla deliveries jump 25% over last year, blowing past expectations

Tesla is trying to recover from consecutive annual declines in vehicle sales that were partly caused by a consumer backlash against CEO Elon Musk.

Rivian raises 2026 delivery outlook while Lucid misses Wall Street expectations for second quarter

Rivian is increasing its delivery outlook to between 65,000 and 70,000 EVs, up from 62,000 to 67,000 units.

Backlash over Trump crypto profits, new Air Force One jet

Major Garrett discusses the backlash over President Trump's profits from crypto projects while in office. Mr. Trump made $1.4 billion from crypto ventures last year as his administration loosened rules on those markets. On Wednesday, he debuted a new Air Force One jet gifted by the government of Qatar, which is also raising questions.

U.S. job creation cools in June with payrolls growth of just 57,000; unemployment rate at 4.2%

Nonfarm payrolls were expected to rise by 115,000 in June and the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.3%.

World Cup 2026: England, USA and Belgium through; Spain and Portugal face last-32 tests – live

⚽ All the latest news from day 22 of the tournament
⚽ Bracketology | Knockout stage draw | And email us

And I appreciate all this has been forgotten because England won but Harry Kane should have been awarded a first-half penalty. When a goalkeeper slides and does not get the ball, of course the forward is going to take the contact. Kane is just being punished for being as clever as the officials desire.

Maurico Pochettino was rather unhappy with Folarin Balogun’s dismissal. The striker painfully caught the Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic on the ankle but it was a complete accident with two players going for the ball.

Wimbledon 2026: Britain’s Fery into third round; Swan v Keys, plus Swiatek and Zverev in action – live

All the latest news from Thursday’s live action at SW19
Order of play | Sinner battles past Borges | Mail Daniel

At 4-3 in the second, Shnaider makes 0-40, Sansonova saving the first break point with a forehand ushered to the corner and the second with a serve out wide and clean-up. But when a return, thudded flat and close to the baseline, arrives, the response falls long, and the French Open semi-finalist will now serve for a decider at 4-6 5-3.

We get going on No1 at 1pm BST, 1.30pm on Centre, but before that, we’ve close matches on 12 and 18. Samsonova is still holding her own against Shanider, who beat Sabalenka – admittedly with help from Sabalenka herself – on her way to the semis at Roland Garros, leading 6-4 3-3 and refusing to wilt though her opponent has improved. And Fery – who our commentators reckon has the ability to break the top 20 – trails Virtanen 5-7 4-4. Back with our hidings, though, De Minaur has just served out a 6-2 set to lead Mannarino 2-0.

Intense heat continues across U.S., impacting some Fourth of July plans

Multiple cities are expecting triple-digit temperatures over the Fourth of July weekend and some are scaling back their celebrations. CBS News meteorologist Rob Marciano has the latest forecast.

Ford Q2 sales drop 10.3% due to F-Series production issues, falling EV demand

Ford said its EV sales fell by 40.7% during the quarter compared with a year earlier, while sales of its F-Series trucks, including the F-150, fell 11%.

How intense temperatures are impacting airport workers

The record-setting heat comes on one of the year's busiest travel days. Kris Van Cleave shows what's being done to make sure people working on the tarmac at airports aren't overcome by the temperatures.

The deep sea, America’s 250th and a caning: photos of the day – Thursday

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

Kyiv attacks death toll rises to 20 as Russia warns it will ‘continue to increase pressure’ on Ukrainian capital – Europe live

Damage recorded in 30 locations across in the city from overnight attacks, with ‘most of them ordinary residential buildings’

in Dublin

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he hopes not to wait too long for the results of an Irish government investigation into alumina exports to Russia thought to be feeding the Kremlin’s war machine.

“Unfortunately there are companies in Europe that are owned or effectively controlled by Russia and its sanctioned oligarchs. They keep supplying the aggressor with essential materials even now.”

Maps show this July 4th could be hottest ever in parts of U.S.

Extremely dangerous heat, coupled with humidity, could result in heat index readings of 100 to 115 degrees from the Midwest to the East Coast, forecasters said.

At least nine monks killed in Thailand after boy drives truck into procession

Charges yet to be filed over incident in Mukdahan involving 11-year-old, as police seek to establish circumstances

An 11-year-old boy has driven his parents’ truck into a Buddhist procession in Thailand, killing at least nine monks.

CCTV footage shared by a local rescue group showed the moment the monks, wearing orange robes, were run over as they walked in procession along a road. The timestamp on the footage was shortly before 11am local time on Thursday.

Martin given England nod in reshuffle to face South Africa but Pollock starts on bench

• Saracens’ new signing tasked with filling Itoje’s boots

• Earl and Curry preferred to Pollock in starting XV

England have put their faith in Saracens’ new signing George Martin and his former Leicester clubmate Jack van Poortvliet in a reshuffled starting XV to face South Africa this weekend. There are five changes to the line-up that narrowly lost 48-46 to France in the final round of the Six Nations, with George Furbank, Manny Feyi-Waboso and Tom Curry also recalled.

Martin fills the sizeable gap left by absent skipper Maro Itoje while Van Poortvliet has been picked ahead of Northampton’s Alex Mitchell and Bath’s Ben Spencer. Furbank and Feyi-Waboso replace Elliot Daly and Tom Roebuck respectively with Curry selected at flanker ahead of Guy Pepper and Henry Pollock for the inaugural round of the new Nations Championship.

Scorching temperatures cause dangerous conditions for millions across U.S.

Officials across the country are issuing warnings as extreme temperatures impact millions of people leading up to the Fourth of July weekend. Rob Marciano has more.

Russia’s neighbor to scrap ban on nuclear weapons, says ‘situation is getting worse’

The decision comes shortly after lawmakers in Finland voted to lift its longstanding ban on nuclear weapons.

Tick season is expected to be worse than normal this summer. Here's why

Tick season is expected to be worse than normal this summer as ticks expand into new regions. Ian Lee explains why and how to stay safe.

‘Stain on our history’: Starmer issues government apology over forced adoption scandal – UK politics live

Between 1949 and 1976, an estimated 185,000 babies were taken from unmarried mothers and placed for adoption in England and Wales

Starmer said what happened to the mothers, and their children, should never have happened. He said:

What happened to them, and to tens of thousands of mothers, children, and families, should never have happened. It is a stain on our history.

Mothers, many young, vulnerable, and without support were coerced, bullied, or misled into feeling that they had no choice but to have their children taken away from them. What a thing to do.

I have to confess, as I said to them this morning, I found it hard to read the testimonies and to hear their stories.

I find it particularly hard, as a dad. How much harder it must have been for them to go through that, to set out their testimonies and tell their stories over and over again.

FDA issues most serious recall alert for potato chip brands over salmonella risk

An estimated 650,000 bags of potato chips are affected as US agency upgraded recall of several popular brands

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has upgraded a recall of several popular brands of potato chips to its most serious level because of the risk of salmonella contamination.

Manufacturer Utz issued a voluntary recall in May for varieties of its Zapp’s and Dirty potato chips products, citing the possible presence of salmonella in dry milk powder sourced from a third party used to make a seasoning ingredient.

‘Riot of colour’: Gillian Ayres show in Devon just the tonic for gloomy times

Plymouth retrospective of artist, who died in 2018, aims to ‘champion and celebrate the power of the imagination’

She spoke about indulging in colour, feasting on beauty, feeling a little giddy when drinking in glorious hues and textures – and not searching too deeply for meaning.

So in these gloomy times, a major retrospective of the work of the artist Gillian Ayres in her adopted Devon homeland may be just the job.

‘I can still hear the children’: Canada’s residential schools survivors welcome chance to reclaim sites

Former Mohawk Institute in Ontario latest to become a museum, as survivors hope preserving sites will prevent horrors they witnessed from being forgotten

In the foyer of the former Mohawk Institute residential school, a plaque makes a request to visitors: help us identify unnamed survivors.

“We do not know the names of some of the people in the photos used in the exhibition. If you recognize someone, please share that information.”

Microsoft commits $2.5 billion and 6,000 employees to new AI implementation unit

Microsoft is the latest tech company to form a business focused on helping customers understand and implement artificial intelligence.

Employers added 57,000 jobs in June, far below forecasts

June's payroll gains were much lower than the 100,000 new hires that economists had predicted.

Details emerge of Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce wedding events at MSG

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding plans include a rehearsal dinner and a late-night celebration at Madison Square Garden in New York City, according to sources familiar with the security planning.

At least 17 killed, dozens injured in major Russian attack on Kyiv

At least 17 people were killed and 90 injured in a Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv, officials say. Aidan Stretch has the latest.

Dads of Camp Mystic victims push for safety changes nearly 1 year after deadly floods

Nearly one year ago, flash flooding in Texas killed more than 130 people, including 27 campers and counselors at Camp Mystic. Jason Allen spoke with two fathers of Camp Mystic victims who are pushing for change.

Shark attack alerts for cellphones authorized by new federal law

President Trump has signed "Lulu's Law," which requires the FCC to allow emergency alert messages for shark attacks. It was inspired by shark attack survivor Lulu Gribbin.

No 10 shares ‘public’s shock’ at reports of convicted people smuggler living in UK

Downing Street urgently looking into BBC report that ‘godfather’ of Calais migrant camps is living in Leicestershire

Downing Street has said it shares “the public’s shock” at a report that a convicted people smuggler is living in Britain and is urgently looking into the circumstances.

The man, once labelled “the godfather” of the Calais migrant camps, was tracked down by the BBC to Leicestershire, where he reportedly changed his name from Twana Jamal and was working illegally while attempting to claim asylum.

Vatican excommunicates all members of ultra-conservative rebel group SSPX

Schism caused by Society of Saint Pius X ordaining four bishops without consent presents first crisis for Pope Leo

• Europe live – latest updates

The Vatican has excommunicated a rebel group of ultra-conservative Catholics who defied Pope Leo by ordaining bishops without his consent, creating a schism in the Roman Catholic church.

In a statement on Thursday, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, who heads the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the group from the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), founded in the Swiss village of Ecône in 1970, had “committed an act of a schismatic nature” which, under canon law, is punishable with automatic excommunication.

Whistleblower ‘terrified’ as Rochdale grooming gang leader released

Exclusive: Sara Rowbotham voices fears due to ‘weak’ probation service as local politicians ‘collectively chilled’ by prospect

The release of the Rochdale grooming gang leader is “really scary” for women and girls because of failings in a “weak” probation service, a whistleblower who exposed the paedophile ring has said, as politicians were “collectively chilled” by his impending freedom.

Sara Rowbotham, a former council worker whose team gathered evidence that led to the imprisonment of Shabir Ahmed and eight other men in Rochdale, said she was “terrified” by the prospect of meeting him in the street.

Meta’s push into cloud computing means Wall Street has to prepare for lower margins

Meta appears poised to enter the cloud computing market in an effort to monetize its massive AI infrastructure.

Papua separatists kill American pilot in ‘message’ to US and Indonesia

Rebels shoot pilot and set his civilian ⁠plane on fire amid long-running low-level battle for independence in region

Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s restive easternmost region of Papua have shot dead an American pilot and set a civilian ⁠plane on fire, in what a spokesperson for a local militant group described as a “message” to the US and Indonesian governments.

Sebby Sambom, ⁠a spokesperson for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), named the pilot as Nicholas F Gosselin and said separatist fighters had set his ⁠plane on fire after it landed in the Yahukimo region of Highland Papua province.

2 Empire State Building climbers awaiting arraignment after apparently getting engaged at the top

Two people climbed to the top of New York City's Empire State Building, unfurled a banner, and then apparently got engaged Wednesday afternoon.

Bitcoin firm advertised by Nigel Farage loses 15% of asset value

Exclusive: Finance experts warn against investing in bitcoin treasury companies after Stack BTC assets plunge

A bitcoin company that Nigel Farage has advertised lost more than 15% of its asset value, prompting finance experts to warn investors against those types of firms.

The Reform UK leader has invested £215,000 in a bitcoin treasury company named Stack BTC. A bitcoin treasury buys the cryptocurrency on behalf of its shareholders, and Stack aims to purchase other companies with the increase in value it gets from holding bitcoin.

Is vinho verde the perfect summer wine?

Effervescent, inexpensive and with a moderate ABV, Portugal’s ‘green wine’ is the ideal accompaniment to garden get-togethers and alfresco dining

If there is a better wine for summer frolics than vinho verde, I don’t know it. Translating literally to “green wine”, the wines from the region known as Vinho Verde DOC in northern Portugal aren’t actually green; the verde is metaphorical. These are young wines, inexperienced wines; their hearts haven’t been broken, they are joyful and fizzy with unlived life, like a Tangfastics-guzzling tween who has just discovered the Beach Boys in her parents’ record collection.

I write this in the aftermath of the hottest UK days on record. If you’re drinking wine on sultry days such as those, chances are you’ll want something refreshing. Thanks to the Portuguese region’s Atlantic maritime climate – ocean breezes, cool nights, high rainfall – and (usually) well-drained granite soils, vinho verde excels at gluggability: vibrant, with high acidity, a low ABV (usually below 12%), sometimes a touch of spritz, and notes of ripe lime and orchard fruits.

The scourge of the death penalty hangs over America | Austin Sarat

The restoration of capital punishment in 1976 was based on a fantasy of fairness. It must be abolished

Thursday will mark the 50th anniversary of the rebirth of the death penalty in the United States. On 2 July 1976, the supreme court handed down decisions in five cases that laid out a formula for passing constitutional muster.

The formula the court devised and explained at length in one of those cases, Gregg v Georgia, was built on a wish and a prayer. It was a fantasy of fairness, powerful enough, its authors thought, to keep capital punishment alive and to lend it legitimacy, but it was a fantasy nonetheless.

Austin Sarat, associate dean of the faculty and William Nelson Cromwell professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, is the author of Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America’s Death Penalty

The secret ingredient in America’s culinary capitals? Its people

Lower East Side gems and bars of Boston were low on pretence and high on personality. Plus, southern soul, Jewish delis and, of course, apple pie to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary

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A dark emerald puck on a white plate – our spoons disturbed its surface to break it down to its crystal components. Bright shards of green ice released their flavour as they melted on our tongues – vegetal, flowery, herbal, slightly honeyed and a lot saltier then any dessert should be. We didn’t know what to expect when we ordered the savoury borage-and-lovage sorbet; we didn’t expect to be transported to a place of infinite green – a virgin forest, a field in spring, an alpine valley. We were in Estela (pictured top), a restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan that is a favourite of ours. It is just as good as it was when we first went there, almost a decade ago. Around us, the understated room was full of achingly stylish people. Outside on the street, two shirtless older men were playing checkers on a bench while two girls in skintight dresses did TikTok poses on a nearby stoop. Neither group seemed disturbed when a woman in a bathrobe suddenly began to shout at a garbage bag and kick it with force.

We were there to promote our latest book, and had not been since before Covid, so we did not know what to expect. There is no doubt that the US is in a very strange moment in its history, and from Britain things look scary and confusing. But we learned, yet again, that things seem different when you are up close, and that food is always the best, quickest and deepest way to connect to people. For instance, a breakfast TV presenter in Chicago secretly confessed that no one in the city really likes deep-dish pizza; instead, we were sent to a farm-to-table restaurant that served us delicious Greek-style pasta.

Social media platforms ‘monetise gore and fringe content’, eSafety regulator tells antisemitism commission

Julie Inman Grant singles out X when giving evidence to royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion

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Mainstream platforms are fighting to distribute and monetise “gore” and “fringe” content, the eSafety watchdog has told the antisemitism royal commission.

Australia’s eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, on Thursday singled out X, telling the inquiry her office has to fight its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, to try to keep footage – including some posted of the Bondi terror attack – restricted or off the platform.

Ford CEO wants level playing field with Toyota, GM imports as USMCA trade talks reopen

Ford reports it assembled more than 2 million vehicles in the U.S. last year – more than any other auto manufacturer, including 311,000 units for export.

Forecasters warn of record-breaking US summer heat amid intense El Niño

More than 100 million people could be affected in week leading to 4 July, with increased risks of droughts and wildfires

Meteorologists are anticipating a tumultuous summer that could rank as one of the US’s hottest ever.

New data released on Tuesday showed the first six months of the year were the hottest ever measured for parts of eight western states.

Trump denies conflict of interest over crypto. And, Vatican excommunicates rebel group

Trump and his family earned over $1 billion last year through cryptocurrency ventures and other businesses. And, the Vatican declared that the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X has entered schism.

Google loses fight over record $4.7 billion EU antitrust fine

In 2018, the European Commission slapped Google with the record-breaking penalty on the grounds that it abused Android's mobile dominance.

‘A female Minion would be the beginning of the end’: Pierre Coffin on creepy memes, decoding Minionese and farting bananas

The French animator, director and voice of those lurid yellow assistants to the despicable answers your questions

Could we please have a Minions/Backrooms mashup movie? TaffRaffia
I don’t know if it would work because it would be yellow against yellow. All you’d see would be eyes and even they would be hard to see. It would just be voices coming out of yellow.

Will there be a gritty “old man Minion” type story to round the franchise off? BatteredRingpiece
Minions don’t age. I sometimes draw them like that for fun, but it just looks weird.

Côte d’Ivoire floods kill 59 as west Africa endures torrential rains

Authorities say rainy season getting deadlier, with Ghana reporting 13 dead and floods hitting Benin, Togo and Nigeria

Floods in Côte d’Ivoire have killed 59 people since May, the communication minister told a cabinet meeting in Abidjan.

There are fears the toll could further rise as rescue teams continue to search for victims during the rainy season, which runs from May until July, the minister, Amadou Coulibaly, added.

No 10 accepts all recommendations in Southport attack inquiry, Mahmood says

First phase of inquiry identified multiple failings to prevent murders of three girls, which government will ‘urgently’ address

Downing Street has accepted all recommendations for changes made by an inquiry that found the Southport killings could have been prevented and identified “fundamental failings”, the home secretary has said.

The government would do “whatever is needed to protect the public”, Shabana Mahmood said, as she accepted in full the recommendations from the first phase of the Southport inquiry.

Extended interview: Gen Zers on COVID, generational stereotypes, AI and more

In the last installment of our USA-Z series, Vladimir Duthiers speaks with seven Gen Zers about their generation being next to lead the nation, growing up during the pandemic, stereotypes they see about themselves, the role of AI in their world as they join the workforce and more.

Spicy fish sandos, feta scones and pork chops: Alexina Anatole’s summer berry recipes

British berries always sparkle in desserts like this French almond sponge, but their hidden talent lies in savoury dishes

British berries have a secret; we tend to reach for them in crumbles, fools and jammy things, but their real superpower is their tartness – it’s the key to their versatility. Think of them less as fruit and more as a condiment: something to cut through richness and balance a dish, in much the same way that a good vinegar might. I’ve long had a love affair with British berries – childhood summers spent picking blackberries from the hedgerows for my grandmother’s apple and blackberry pie started it all – but over the years I’ve become increasingly reluctant to confine them just to dessert. Let these be your permission to do the same.

‘Like good Mexicans, we laugh’: the cartoonist drawing humour from Sinaloa’s brutal drug cartels

Ricardo Sánchez Bobadilla has spent two decades casting a satirical eye over the region’s escalating narco wars, despite the risks

Spare a thought for the mid-level narco.

What to do with all the bodies? Where to find a corrupt cop worth his salt? And how to catch the eye of that former beauty queen?

All the whey up! A dairy byproduct is now the star of the ‘proteinmaxxing’ boom – but is demand too high?

As GLP-1s drive the current protein craze, a supplement once only taken by powerlifters is now so popular US producers are struggling to keep up

For generations, the Meives family made cheese. Tony Meives’s grandfather, a Swiss immigrant, and his father both ran small cheese factories in Wisconsin, in the heart of America’s dairyland. “I worked in the cheese factory my whole life,” Meives says. “I have four world-class cheesemakers in my family.” But when it came time to inherit the family business, Meives found there was more money in the industrial runoff that his grandfather would have once thrown away. Today, the 39-year-old bodybuilder and gym owner runs a company that sells whey protein powder, the watery byproduct of cheesemaking that was once considered waste. “Twenty years ago, the only people who took whey were bodybuilders,” he says. “Over the past five years, the market has really opened up to each and every type of person you can probably think of.”

When Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, declared late last month, that “the war on protein is over”, he sounded a bit like one of those Japanese soldiers of second world war lore, who spent years bunkering in the jungles of south-east Asia, oblivious to the fact that hostilities had long ceased. Perhaps there was a time when advice leaned more towards a diet based around fruit, vegetables and carbohydrates – but by May 2026, the war on protein was surely over. Protein had won.

AI agents will soon be able to match human traders, Robinhood CEO tells CNBC

Vlad Tenev spoke about the potential of AI agents in trading in an interview with CNBC.

Cape Verde’s Sidny Lopes Cabral: ‘If you’re like “oh, it’s Messi”, you’re gonna lose your mind’

The full-back on defying the odds, dealing with racism, Cape Verde’s party people and taking on Lionel Messi

“When we saw 1%, we just laughed.” Cape Verde liked those odds, and so did Sidny Lopes Cabral. “They gave us a 1% chance of reaching the next round, but we showed how big 1% is,” the defender says. He has always known there was a chance however small it looked, in Rotterdam or anywhere: in Germany, where he froze in the fifth tier earning £850 a month, using bin bags for curtains, and in America too. His mates told him he was crazy; he told his mum not to worry. “I always told them, ‘hey, I’m going to be a great football player: I’m gonna reach the top.’ And I’m living in my dream now.”

Now, an island of 300,000 people, the story of this World Cup, face the champions. And Lopes Cabral, the left-back and the second-youngest player in the squad at 23, faces arguably the best footballer of all time. “I hope I get some nice pictures of me standing next to him,” Lopes Cabral says. “I have no words to describe how I feel, how we all do. Back in Cape Verde, every game there are parties. In the Netherlands, in France, everywhere Cape Verdean people live. In Rotterdam it’s crazy.”

U.S. designates "Chone Killers" gang a terrorist organization

The gang "has committed numerous attacks targeting civilians, law enforcement officers, and government officials," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

Far-right French mayor causes outrage after cancelling play about migrant

Writer says ‘Trumpish’ decision to ban staging is warning of what may happen if National Rally runs country

In the Anglo-French playwright Alexis Michalik’s play Passeport, a young man has been beaten and left for dead in the notorious Calais refugee camp known as “the Jungle”.

When he wakes up, he has no idea who he is – and his only possession is a blue Eritrean passport containing the name Issa. With two others from the camp he decides to leave, not to take the perilous Channel crossing to the UK but instead to try to integrate into France and obtain the necessary papers to remain.

World Cup could boost the June jobs report by 40,000, Goldman estimates

Nonfarm payrolls are projected to post a gain of 115,000, according to the Dow Jones consensus.

Frankie Dettori breaks ribs and thumb after car flips in Newmarket accident

• 55-year-old remains in hospital after Wednesday incident

• Agency says Dettori’s car flipped after being struck

Frankie Dettori sustained several broken ribs and a broken thumb after being involved in a car accident in Newmarket on Wednesday evening.

Dettori’s injuries are still being assessed in hospital. Another vehicle struck the rear passenger side of the car the 55-year-old was driving, according to his management company H Talent Management.

Who am I rooting for most at the World Cup? A wise and gentle Italian referee | Adrian Chiles

From supporting friends’ sons in school to backing the underdogs at Wimbledon, I’ve always found someone to cheer on. But this time I’ve surprised myself

I’ve found another way of ruining sport for myself. I thought I’d explored every means of turning the stress dial up to 11, but now I’ve chanced on a new method. I must need the anxiety to feel alive.

I go back a long way with this kind of thing. I’ve never been able to watch a sporting contest without picking a team or a person to root for. It started when I was about five. I idolised my grandad and because he wanted West Brom to win, I wanted it too. This kind of thing is habit-forming, and perhaps not entirely healthy. I thought I’d grow out of it, but it’s getting worse. And it has gone far beyond my own football team.

Trump hijacked US’s 250 anniversary to serve ‘political ideology and pet projects’, congressional report says

House Democratic subcommittee report outlines web of alleged corruption, wire fraud and pay-to-play schemes

Donald Trump staged a hostile takeover of the US’s 250th anniversary celebration to enrich political allies, harvest voter data and promote Christian nationalist ideology, according to a congressional investigation released on Thursday.

The interim report, “From Vanity to Insanity: How the White House Cheated the American People Out of Their 250th Birthday”, outlines a web of alleged corruption, wire fraud and pay-to-play schemes orchestrated through a shadow corporation embedded within the National Park Foundation (NPF).

How dialects reveal America's history and hint at what's next

Across the United States, the way you speak is filled with cultural authenticity and central to identity.

Going outside in this heat? Follow these guidelines to stay safe

Man, it's a hot one! Don't go out in this summer's heat wave before you arm yourself with these tips and a really big water bottle.

Long Wave By Daisy Johnson review – a sublime novel of motherhood and loss

Covering three generations, this tangled story of secrets, childhood, abandonment and care might be her best work yet

In 2018 Daisy Johnson was the youngest writer ever to be shortlisted for the Booker prize, for her debut novel Everything Under, a gender-fluid reimagining of the Oedipus myth involving canal boat communities and their complex family dynamics, plus a strange monster lurking in the depths. Before that, her short‑story collection Fen, with its blend of the uncanny and the workaday, was critically acclaimed. She has since written Sisters, a psychological horror that uses supernatural elements to explore sibling bonds and grief, and The Hotel, a series of seriously chilling interlinked ghost stories. Now comes Long Wave, which, while it shares some of these hallmarks, is in many ways finer and more subtle: perhaps her strongest work yet.

Long Wave is a story of three generations of mothers. As a small child Ori was found after being “abandoned” by her mother on a wild, uninhabited island somewhere off the coast of England. What happened to Ori’s mother, and why they fled to the island together, only for Ori to later be found and adopted by a scientist specialising in hares, is a question that returns to her with full force in adulthood when she finds herself newly postpartum and struggling to cope.

Transfer roundup: Everton clinch Hackney signing, Spurs announce Fernandes

• ‘It was always going to be Everton,’ says Hackney

• Spurs seal £85m deal for Fernandes from West Ham

Everton have completed the signing of Hayden Hackney from Middlesbrough in a deal that could rise to £25m, while Tottenham have confirmed the signing of Mateus Fernandes from West Ham for £85m.

The midfielder Hackney, named player of the year in the Championship last season, has signed a five-year contract with the Merseyside club following weeks of negotiations over the fee.

Record-breaker Layla Drury signs first professional deal with Manchester United

• 17-year-old youngest ever to be given professional deal

• She switched allegiance from Wales to England this year

Manchester United Women’s youngest ever player, Layla Drury, is set to become the youngest player to sign a professional contract with the WSL club.

The 17-year-old is set to sign a deal with the club for whom she made her senior debut in January in an FA Cup tie against Burnley. Drury also scored in that 5-0 victory, becoming Manchester United Women’s youngest goalscorer.

Alabama Shakes review – US rockers’ first UK gig in a decade is suffused with hope for the future

Millennium Square, Leeds
As they tee up a long-awaited third album, the deep south band are variously slick and raw as they ruminate on overcoming tough times

‘Long time, no see,” declares Brittany Howard, stepping on stage to a rapturous welcome, as Alabama Shakes return from a hiatus. It’s been 10 years since the multiple Grammy-winning blues-soul-rock outfit from the deep south last played in the UK and 11 since their most recent album – though a third is being teed up for later in the year.

If there’s any rustiness, it isn’t evident as they glide straight into the smooth but punchy Rise to the Sun. It sets the tone for an evening in which the group can do slick and groove-locked songs as vividly as they do raw and raspy ones.

Young Indonesian couple publicly caned after kissing on TikTok

Unmarried man and woman whipped 21 times each because they had violated province’s version of Islamic law

A young couple in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province have been publicly caned after a Sharia court convicted them of violating Islamic law by kissing during a TikTok livestream.

The court ordered the couple, a 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, to be whipped with a rattan cane 21 times each for kissing without being married. At least 100 people witnessed the caning, carried out by a group of people wearing robes and hoods on a stage in Bustanussalatin City Park in Banda Aceh.

Billionaire to invest £35bn in small modular nuclear reactors roll out across UK

Consortium led by Michał Sołowow planning enough SMRs to power equivalent of 8m homes for more than 60 years

A consortium led by the billionaire industrialist Michał Sołowow has announced plans to build 14 small modular nuclear reactors on three sites across the UK, including the location of a former nuclear plant in Gloucestershire.

The Polish entrepreneur and rally driver plans to use £35bn of private capital to roll out enough small modular reactors (SMRs) to power the equivalent of 8m UK homes for more than 60 years, or even power datacentre investments alongside Google.

Trump Accounts launch July 4. Here's how they work.

People can begin depositing money in the new tax-deferred investment accounts on Saturday, with eligible children receiving a $1,000 government contribution.

My mother was an excellent care worker. Why did she end up marching with the EDL?

Nicola Wilding’s mother was a Labour voter, who specialised in treating those with chronic memory disorders. Then she started supporting the far right. In a new family memoir, Wilding explores how this happened – and what it says about Britain today

Nicola Wilding knew the letter was from her brother, Billy, as soon as she saw the line of tape on the envelope flap. His mail had to pass inspection: he was three months into a prison sentence for attempted carjacking with an imitation gun. “Have you spoken to Mum lately?” he wrote. “She’s turned into a fascist, lols.”

It was 2013 and their mother – a 59-year-old care worker, who for most of her life had voted Labour – had just attended her first march with the English Defence League. Wilding read her brother’s news while at the kitchen table in her flat in Glasgow. “Was I worried?” she says. “I was bemused. I thought: ‘Oh, Mum’s just being daft. She’s having an adventure. She’ll get over it.’” But instead, “the anger stayed”, more marches followed – and Wilding started to wonder what personal and political forces had led her family to this place.

Federal civil rights data holds schools accountable. Under Trump, it's 6 months late

The Education Department has long collected civil rights data about things like bullying, harassment and disability services in schools, but it hasn't made the latest information public.

Understanding Ebola’s wildlife origins is crucial to preventing next big outbreak

If we don’t know the source, not only do humans remain at risk but wildlife can suffer needlessly via retaliation

While virologists and public health departments were palpitating over the news of an Andes virus infectious disease outbreak on a cruise ship (13 cases, three deaths), in the Democratic Republic of the Congo the Bundibugyo virus, the root of the current Ebola outbreak (currently more than 1,250 cases and at least 362 deaths), was smouldering under the radar.

Bundibugyo virus is a horrifying, highly fatal pathogen. Symptom onset is sudden and includes headaches, diarrhoea, malfunctioning kidneys and liver, and, less frequently, internal and external bleeding (hence the term “haemorrhagic disease”). Grimly, contagiousness remains after death, meaning the family and loved ones of the deceased can be exposed when they wash and clothe the body in preparation for the funeral.

Vatican declares Society of St. Pius X in schism, excommunicates bishops

The Vatican responded Thursday to a traditionalist society that consecrated bishops without the pope's consent, declaring the Society of St. Pius X in schism and excommunicating its bishops and priests.

Democratic socialists pose a challenge for the party as midterms approach

A string of high-profile victories by democratic socialists is posing a challenge for Democrats as they look ahead to midterms and seek a path back to the majority in Congress.

The rise of democratic socialists and what it means for the party

NPR's A Martinez speaks with Brad Lander, Democratic nominee for New York's 10th Congressional District, about the rise of democratic socialists in the Democratic Party.

Kyiv hit by massive Russian drone and missile attack, killing at least 18

Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine's capital overnight into Thursday, with ballistic and cruise missiles and drones, killing several people.

Russia ‘mounted drone surveillance of European nuclear sites over 18 months’

Researchers say Moscow acted with ‘substantial impunity’ in 144 incidents, including over RAF Lakenheath

The Kremlin orchestrated a concerted surveillance campaign using drones launched from shadow fleet vessels over an 18-month period which targeted nuclear sites in the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, researchers have said.

Analysis by the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) of 144 incidents in more than a dozen countries beginning in late 2024 concluded Russian intelligence had operated with “substantial impunity”, leaving authorities across Europe flat-footed and confused.

‘No photoshopping, no AI, it’s pure hair creativity’: the festival where haircutting is a spectator sport

At Sydney’s Hair festival, professionals from the hair industry put their locks on show – and jostle for a view of the live cutting competition
Isabella Lee, photos by Jessica Hromas

At the entrance of the Hair festival in Sydney’s ICC exhibition centre in late June, mannequin heads with luscious locks silently cast me as a fraud. I’m no hairdresser and this is an industry-only event for hairdressers, barbers and stylists. Rainbow cheetah-print buzz cuts, sea-green rat-tails and blunt mullets – on human heads – pass me by as I make my way into the centre of it all.

Bass-heavy music echoes around the hall and the crowd heaves with excitement as a large timer counts down to the final 10 seconds. Pushing through the crowd, I’m trying to get a view of the most popular event of the day, the live hair cutting competition.

OpenAI ‘in early talks to give 5% stake to US government’

CEO Sam Altman argued move would share benefits of AI and it would involve other firms doing similar, report says

• Business live – latest updates

OpenAI is reportedly in early stage talks to give a 5% stake in the ChatGPT developer to the US government as artificial intelligence companies attempt to smooth relations with Donald Trump’s administration.

The OpenAI chief executive, Sam Altman, has argued that giving the US public a financial stake in the company is the best way to share the benefits of AI, according to the Financial Times, which cited two unnamed people familiar with the discussions.

Bazball ends with a whimper to expose emptiness of English men’s cricket | Jonathan Liew

Trent Bridge was not just the end of Ben Stokes’ international career, it was further confirmation that the Bazball project stood for nothing

By the very end, Trent Bridge was practically empty. This felt bleakly appropriate. If the age of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum lived by re-engaging a sceptical public, winning big series, doing the unprecedented and elevating Test cricket above its three-an-over purgatory, then this was exactly how it had to die: the first England team in history to lose a home three-match series after being 1-0 up. The run rate on that final day? Exactly three runs an over.

But then if we have learned anything from Stokes and McCullum over the last few years, it is that details – like preparing for an Ashes tour – are for losers and weak men. Is demoting Emilio Gay to No 6 in his third game really the best way of saving a Test? Was there a way for Harry Brook to face more than nine balls in England’s second innings? Can we really expect a Brook side – Hazball – to behave any differently? But these questions do not concern the England management, and so by extension they should not concern you either.

You be the judge: should my girlfriend stop leaving piles of her hair and nails around the flat?

Martin is repulsed by Debbie’s maintenance routine, while she says it’s just the fallout of being a busy woman. You decide if his body of evidence stacks up

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

I am not a germaphobe but I do get freaked out when I see bits of Debbie lying around the place

Modric and Ronaldo reunited at World Cup as Croatia aim to snap Portugal’s streak

Two of international football’s 200 club have had parallel careers with their countries, but will this be their last meeting?

Can you remember what you were doing on 1 March 2006? Perhaps you were at Anfield, watching England beat Uruguay 2-1. You might have seen Switzerland put three goals past Scotland at Hampden Park.

Or you might have watched Luka Modric make his debut for Croatia. They beat Argentina 3-2, with Lionel Messi scoring his first international goal. The same evening, Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in a 3-0 Portugal victory against Saudi Arabia, no doubt dreaming of the day he would live and work in the country.

What are the new EU border checks and how will they affect your summer holiday?

Security checks due to new digital entry and exit system have caused delays and missed flights for holidaymakers

Travellers to the EU have faced additional border security checks since the launch of the digital entry and exit system (EES) last October.

The new system means that most non-EU citizens, including those from the UK, have to register their biometric information at the border. The checks are causing huge delays and airlines and airports are calling for it to be suspended during the peak summer holiday period, saying some flights are leaving half full and passengers are facing queues of up to five hours.

See the full U.S. men's soccer schedule for the 2026 World Cup

The U.S. men's national soccer team kicked off its 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium on Friday.

Birds of War review – war journalists find love among the ruins

This documentary tells the story of the long-distance relationship between a BBC correspondent in London and a photographer on the ground in Syria with charm and humanity

Politics is to some degree set aside here in favour of matters of the heart; this is a story of romantic love among the ruins. London-based Lebanese journalist Janay Boulos, while working for the BBC’s Arabic service, fell in love from afar in 2016 with Syrian activist and photojournalist Abd Alkader Habak. He, during the Assad regime, was putting his life in danger to supply her with dramatic footage from his home town of Idlib and later Aleppo. Habak was himself to make international headlines in 2017 by getting photographed carrying an injured child to safety.

Habak’s gruelling images are interspersed with Boulos’s smartphone footage of her thoughtfully going up and down in the lifts at BBC Broadcasting House as well as home-movie material of her childhood in the seaside Lebanese town of Byblos; we get their tender texts and voice notes showing a growing relationship, sweetly calling each other “bird” and “little bird”. Finally Habak got out of Syria and into Turkey; the couple got married and lived in London, going on pro-Palestinian marches. Habak has mixed feelings about having to watch Syria’s final liberation on TV and Boulos goes back to visit her parents in Lebanon where the activities of Israel are stoically deplored, though Hezbollah is not mentioned.

‘Hugging is forbidden’: women jailed for life – in pictures

Former public defender Sara Bennett spent 13 years photographing women convicted of homicide. She traces their lives in prison – and what happens as they re-enter the outside world

U.S. and Iran hold separate meetings in Qatar and agree to continue discussions

U.S. and Iranian negotiators met separately on Wednesday with Qatari and Pakistani mediators, with "positive progress made," and they agreed to continue discussions, host Qatar said.

A major Russian attack kills 17 in Kyiv as Ukraine keeps striking Moscow's oil sector

Loud explosions shook Kyiv for hours during the night, with many people sheltering at subway stations. Emergency crews were digging through the rubble of collapsed buildings in search of victims.

Volkswagen braces for boardroom showdown over historic cost-cutting plan

Volkswagen is poised for a boardroom showdown following reports that the auto giant is weighing up shutting four factories and implementing 100,000 job cuts.

A goal, a red and a LeBron James shout: Folarin Balogun gets the spotlight in US’s wild World Cup win

The versatile striker was dangerous in his time on the field on Wednesday, but that time was prematurely ended with a surprising ejection

The day after the US supreme court upheld birthright citizenship, Folarin Balogun – a player who wouldn’t have even been on the pitch if not for the longstanding, constitutional law – pushed the United States through to the World Cup last 16. Just two days short of his 25th birthday, Balogun scored the opening goal in the US’s 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, his third of the tournament.

Then, about 20 minutes later, Balogun was sent off, given a straight red card for what appeared to be inadvertent contact with Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemović. It was a shocking turn of events for the Monaco forward, who was among the US’s best performers on Wednesday, as he has been for the entirety of the tournament.

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for peppered mussels with salty chips | A kitchen in Rome

Sarawak peppercorns add their woody, citrus aroma to shellfish steamed in wine and served with crisp fries

Black Sarawak peppercorns have a soft, woody smell, like a forest floor mixed with lemon zest. Those things come through in the taste, too, along with a fruity sweetness. But then peppercorns, the tiny black balls I take for granted (and often forget about), are berries, which is something I didn’t know until I did a pepper tasting at my local spice shop, Emporio delle Spezie.

I also learned that the spice I have always considered one thing, black pepper, is in fact a species, Piper nigrum, a flowering vine in the vast Piperaceae family. Native to south-west India and Sri Lanka, Piper nigrum spread, taking on different characteristics according to wherever it took root: Sarawak pepper, Penja pepper, Lampong pepper, Kampot pepper, Malabar pepper, Madagascar pepper …

Starmer’s goodbye gift to Britain: a US pharma deal that could be more lethal than Covid | Aditya Chakrabortty

This shadowy treaty on medicine imports will cost the NHS billions and take funding away from doctors, nurses, cancer scans and the rest

For all the crowd noise and heavy-breathing match analysis, British democracy is a simple sport. We elect politicians to serve our interests. They direct the vital services that look after our families and communities, such as our healthcare and our schools. The entire political system rests on one basic premise: they work for us.

Believe that, as I do, and this week is one of vast democratic failure. Rather than working for us, Keir Starmer and his ministers are acting against us. They have rammed through parliament a sweeping law that will, independent experts agree, harm the public; and they have done so without even coming clean on the costs or the consequences. What’s worse, MPs and the press have failed to put this under scrutiny.

Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist

Global boom in livestock farming since 2006 is piling pressure on nature, report finds

Wildlife at risk as demand for cropland and water grows to feed 50% rise in farmed animals, campaign alliance says

The number of mammals and poultry farmed worldwide has increased by half in the last two decades, research shows, and the amount of cropland used for feeding livestock has increased by about a quarter.

These increases are putting rising pressure on natural systems, threatening wildlife and plant species and adding to the climate crisis.

Can Bolivia’s historic big cat release help change jaguar conservation in the country?

Poaching and wildfires have driven the country’s jaguar population to a critical level, and until now even rescued animals faced life in captivity

A tentative paw emerged from a steel cage on to the sandy riverbed deep in the Bolivian rainforest. Then, another. Slowly, the female jaguar looked right, left and right again, as if waiting to cross a busy road. Then, muscles stiff from the long journey, it strolled away and disappeared into the undergrowth.

Yaguara had been in captivity since August 2024, after being orphaned as an eight-month-old cub amid Bolivia’s worst recorded wildfire season. As the fires raged, burning more than 10% of the country’s surface area, authorities handed the cub over to a team of veterinarians from the Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (CIWY), a wild-animal rescue centre.

‘It’s peak tick season!’ Should Charli xcx really have been lolling around in long grass?

Harry Styles, Zoë Kravitz, Sarah Pidgeon … celebrities love stretching out on Britain’s lawns and meadows. But with the tick-borne Lyme disease on the rise, is it safe for any of us?

Do we need to worry about ticks in the UK? How serious are the risks associated with the diseases they can carry? Should we avoid rolling around in long grass à la Charli xcx in the video for her latest single, Wink Wink?

These are questions that have been circulating on social media this week, after the release of the pop star’s video, filmed in Essex, and sightings of celebrity couples Zoë Kravitz and Harry Styles and Sarah Pidgeon and Joe Alwyn lounging in the long grass on Hampstead Heath in London.

I visited seven themed bars in one week. Can ball pits and bingo save British nightlife?

While most hospitality venues are struggling, there has been an enormous rise in ‘competitive socialising’. But why? And could I find the answer while dressed in a prison jumpsuit and drinking a daiquiri?

British hospitality is in crisis. In the first quarter of 2026, three hospitality sites closed every day, while one in five remaining businesses fear collapse over the next year owing to rises in tax and employment costs. For those venues struggling to make ends meet in London in particular, there is the added worry of increasingly stringent licensing rules and influential lobby groups making once-thriving areas such as Soho a ghost town after 11pm.

And yet one hospitality niche seems to be bucking the trend: themed bars. Blending booze with, say, axe-throwing, darts, immersive theatre or adult-sized ball pits, these experiential venues have seen a boom in recent years. A report from Savills estate agents found a 58% increase in “competitive socialising” venue openings in 2025 compared with 2018, while another survey found one in three adults had visited one of these venues in the UK in 2024-25. Photo-friendly interiors have made many of them a hit on social media, too.

My mother has died and I can mourn her. That makes me one of the fortunate | Shada Islam

Grief is universal, but being able to mourn is a privilege. For those dying in wars from Gaza to Sudan, there is no shroud, no grave, no funeral

It was the early-morning phone call that so many of us dread. My mother was in the emergency ward of her local hospital. She was struggling to breathe. I went into automatic mode, booking the first available flight to Karachi. I threw clothes into a bag, grabbed my passport and headed for Brussels airport with a heavy heart.

Only 12 hours earlier, we had spoken on the phone. It was my birthday. She was her usual cheerful self, her signature laugh ringing out as she regaled me with stories from my childhood. She asked about my granddaughter – her great-granddaughter, whom she adored – and wanted to know what I was working on and where I planned to travel next.

‘It is comforting to be haunted’: how attitudes to abortion have changed through the ages

The abortion debate – the language of life, choice and rights – severs women, and their pain, from history. I don’t want to forget my abortion and I don’t want to forget theirs

The physical fact of my abortion caught me off guard. I had been so accustomed to defending abortion as an abstract right – as a right to privacy, to healthcare, to autonomy – that when it came to having one, I was surprised by the brutality of it. Fasting for hours before. Clammy and light-headed, my hands freezing and damp, in the clinic waiting room. Waves of contracting pain afterwards, the blood and the vomit from the anaesthesia, the days of cramping and bleeding. Soaking through pads. Cold sweat. I thought having an abortion would feel like the exercise of the hard-won autonomy of generations of feminists before me. But mostly it just hurt.

What do you do with the brute fact of pain? Of what Annie Ernaux describes, writing about her own abortion before legalisation in France, as an experience that sweeps through the body? I could not translate it easily into a feminist politics, into a slogan, into something I could shout or wanted to shout. It did not feel like the exercise of bodily autonomy; it did not feel like a choice, though of course, in some formal and factual way, I did choose to have an abortion. It’s just that the choice seemed to be the least important and least interesting part of the whole experience, totally unmemorable when it came up against the violence and urgency of the body, reeling and revolting against the sudden transformation from pregnancy to unpregnancy. Nor did the sensations of aborting feel like the making of an abortion story, like the raw material for an anecdote that could be compressed and publicised on social media, piled up with the others to make some kind of aggrieved claim. There was no real plot – but feeling.

U.S. takes down Bosnia 2-0 for second-ever World Cup knockout round win

Folarin Balogun got the scoring going with a goal in the 45th minute, but was sent off with a controversial red card in the 64th minute.

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.

FBI investigating legitimacy of Nancy Guthrie ransom notes

The FBI said in a statement Wednesday that some ransom notes in Nancy Guthrie's disappearance have been "deemed to be extortion attempts without legitimacy," and other "demands may potentially be legitimate and are still being investigated as such."

South Korean government discriminated against Coupang, U.S. companies, House report finds

The House Judiciary Committee said the South Korean government discriminated against Coupang and other U.S. companies, in a new report.

EMS was called to Mitch McConnell's home for "unconscious" patient last month

On the same morning Sen. Mitch McConnell was hospitalized last month, EMS personnel went to his home to respond to an unconscious person who appeared to experience "cardiac arrest," according to a dispatch call.