US launches new wave of strikes against Iran as Tehran says diplomacy has proven ‘futile’

American and Iranian forces exchange heavy missile and drone attacks over control of strait of Hormuz, increasing pressure on truce

The US military has launched a new wave of attacks against Iran amid the escalating standoff over the strait of Hormuz, with Tehran saying the latest strikes had “rendered futile” all the diplomatic efforts of the past few months.

The US military began launching more strikes against Iran at 9pm GMT on Sunday, US Central Command (Centcom) said on X, “to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz”.

Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," July 12, 2026

On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, Republican Sen. Tim Scott remembers Lindsey Graham, and Israeli Ambassador Michael Leiter and retired Gen. Frank McKenzie discuss the Iran war.

58 million under heat alerts as extreme temperatures scorch western U.S.

Heat alerts were issued for millions across parts of the western U.S. Sunday as an unusually prolonged heat dome reached its peak.

McConnell provides health update after long unexplained absence; says he suffered fall, pneumonia

McConnell is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history.

Extreme heat, wildfires and severe thunderstorms affecting millions across the U.S.

More than 58 million Americans under weather alerts Sunday as wildfires burn in the west and severe thunderstorms impact large swaths of the country. Carter Evans reports and Andrew Kozak takes a look at the forecast.

World Cup down to final four teams

The World Cup has reached its final week with just four teams remaining: France, Spain, England and Argentina. Shanelle Kaul reports.

California airport offers free Short Story Dispenser for travelers

Travelers at Ontario Airport in California are getting a new way to kill time between flights. Joy Benedict reports.

At least 27 killed in fire at Bangkok pub with another 22 critically injured

The fire is one of the deadliest such incidents in the popular tourist destination in ⁠recent years

A fire at a popular pub in Thailand’s ⁠capital, Bangkok, has killed 27 ⁠people, with another 22 ​in critical condition, officials said on Monday, in one of the deadliest such incidents in the tourism hub in recent years.

The prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, ‌who visited the site of the fire in the early hours of Monday, told reporters that based on survivor accounts, the pub rapidly filled with smoke after a fire broke out, forcing ‌many to run to the back of the venue near the bathrooms.

Protests grow in Houston after ICE officer kills Mexican man who'd been living in U.S. for 30 years

Protests have been building in Houston after ICE officers killed a Mexican man who had lived in the U.S. more than 30 years. Local investigators and activists are still searching for video to explain what happened. Jason Allen reports.

‘The trash does not stop’: life among the garbage mountains of Jakarta, the world’s biggest city

Indonesia’s government is grappling with how to manage waste at Bantar Gebang – Jakarta’s largest landfill – which supports the livelihood of thousands of waste pickers

On the outskirts of Jakarta, huge rolling peaks of rubbish stretch across more than 100 hectares (247 acres), towering over nearby villages. Each day a convoy of trucks plough in and dump more garbage into one of Asia’s largest landfills.

Here, thousands of people live on the fringe of the site and make their income picking through the waste and salvaging scraps for resale. The work is dangerous – earlier this year seven people died after one of the massive trash mounds caved in, burying them alive.

Christopher Nolan says people ‘disdain’ AI and the idea it will replace humans is ‘nonsense’

Odyssey director addresses industry fears over artificial intelligence and says rightwing criticism of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy is ‘irrelevant’

The Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan believes the kind of movies he makes – big-budget action films shot mostly on location – would survive the spread of artificial intelligence, a technology he says many people “disdain”.

The Oppenheimer and The Dark Knight director is promoting his latest blockbuster, an adaptation of the Greek epic The Odyssey, which will be released in cinemas this week.

U.S. launches another round of strikes on Iran

CENTCOM said Sunday night that the U.S. is carrying out yet another round of attacks against Iran. Olivia Rinaldi reports.

Lindsey Graham through the years on "Face the Nation"

Sen. Lindsey Graham appeared on "Face the Nation" nearly 100 times over 28 years. He was often fiery and passionate about his views. Here's a look back at some of his most dynamic moments.

McConnell says he was "briefly unconscious," had pneumonia in health update

Sen. Mitch McConnell released a statement on his health on Sunday along with a photo of himself and his wife, Elaine Chao, after questions swirled about his condition.

Sen. Lindsey Graham's cause of death was aortic dissection, medical examiner says

President Trump paid tribute to the late senator, who was reportedly scheduled to do an interview on Sunday.

Mitch McConnell gives update on his health

Sen. Mitch McConnell released a statement on his health and a photo Sunday night after questions swirled about his well-being. Nikole Killion reports.

What we know about Sen. Lindsey Graham's death

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina died suddenly on Saturday night. He was 71. Nikole Killion reports.

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy replaces PM and flags law enforcement overhaul

Yulia Svyrydenko steps down, possibly to become US ambassador, amid reshuffle; Ukrainian strikes cripple Russian shipping in Azov sea. What we know on day 1,601

Want to own a real T. rex? It could cost you $30 million

The Tyrannosaurus rex fossil known as "Gus" will go up for auction on Tuesday. It's not the first time dinosaur bones have been sold to the highest bidder.

U.S. and world leaders pay tribute to Lindsey Graham following sudden death

The senior U.S. senator for South Carolina died suddenly at 71 on Saturday.

Disney’s live-action Moana fails to make a splash at box office with underwhelming opening

Latest film in franchise takes just $43m in North America and $95m globally, against a $250m budget

The Walt Disney Company’s live-action remake of Moana may be the No 1 movie at the North American box office but it did not make a big splash in its first weekend in theaters.

The movie, which cost a reported $250m (£187m, A$360m) to produce, earned just $43m from ticket sales in the US and Canada, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

Home Office to spend £250m on protecting Jewish communities in England and Wales

Three-year plan will deliver an extra 500 officers to patrol Jewish neighbourhoods after series of antisemitic incidents

More than £250m will be invested by the government to increase policing in Jewish communities after a spate of violent attacks, the Home Office has announced.

The funding over the next three years will deliver more than 500 additional officers across England and Wales in Jewish neighbourhoods and around schools, synagogues and community centres, while strengthening national counter-terrorism capabilities.

7/12/2026: The Vatican's Orphans; Sealand; Christopher Nolan

First, a report on the Vatican's orphans. Then, welcome to Sealand, the world's smallest state. And, Christopher Nolan: The 60 Minutes interview.

Lindsey Graham tributes from Israel and Ukraine point to complicated, often bloody legacy

Republican senator, who died Saturday, had a global reach few could rival and was vital in shaping Trump’s worldview

It was revealing that one of the first tributes to Lindsey Graham, a US senator who died on Saturday aged 71, came from Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, a far-right provocateur who recently caused widespread anger by sharing footage of himself taunting bound activists who had been trying to sail to Gaza with aid.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was not far behind, calling Graham a “great friend of Israel and a cherished friend of mine”, and he was quickly followed by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who described him as “a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer”.

7/12: CBS Weekend News

What we know about Sen. Lindsey Graham's death; U.S. launches another round of strikes on Iran.

Mitch McConnell reveals fall led to hospitalization after weeks of silence

Senator says in statement he has undergone battery of tests after weeks of mounting speculation about his health

The US senator Mitch McConnell on Sunday revealed for the first time that a fall led to his hospitalization, breaking the silence about the Kentucky Republican’s condition after weeks of mounting speculation about his health.

McConnell, 84, said in a statement that he has undergone a battery of tests as doctors try to determine what led to his fall. He explained the long silence about his condition by saying that “folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older”.

India close on victory against England as Bhatia and Ecclestone make history

• India 285 & 341-7dec; England 170 & 130-6

• Two women claim Test milestones at Lord’s

India are poised for victory in the one-off Test at Lord’s after reducing England to 130 for six in their second innings, having spent the first two sessions of the day batting them out of the game.

Yastika Bhatia became the first woman to score a century in a Lord’s Test, as India piled on the runs before finally declaring on 341 for seven, 456 runs ahead. Bhatia underwent anterior cruciate ligament surgery last year, and had to rebuild her leg muscles from scratch; here was just reward for months of hard rehab.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, influential lawmaker and Trump ally, dies at 71 after a brief illness

Graham, a prominent Republican senator from South Carolina, had just returned from a trip to Ukraine.

‘This one means a lot’: Sinner savours Wimbledon win after French Open disappointment

• Sinner recovers from Roland Garros with win over Zverev

• World No 1 faced only one break point in final

Jannik Sinner described his triumph at Wimbledon as particularly special considering his painful defeat at the French Open, after he recovered from a difficult first set to secure his second Wimbledon title with an impressive 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-4 win against the second seed Alexander Zverev.

Sinner, the world No 1, successfully defended his Wimbledon title to clinch his fifth grand slam singles title and 30th championship ­overall. Last month, he was heavily favoured to win his first French Open but he lost in the second round against Juan Manuel Cerúndolo after leading by two sets and 5-1. He has bounced back at the first opportunity.

Georgia's unique in the American Revolution told through its historical markers

NPR's Don Gonyea speaks with Andrew Iden, Executive Producer of Marked!: The Podcast, which examines Georgia's role in America's revolutionary period through the 2,000 roadside historical marker.

The Tech Billionaire Takeover review – a surprisingly fun look at the crypto bros threatening democracy

This documentary about the billionaires who want to rip up society’s rules in favour of CEOs somehow manages to be more entertaining than terrifying. Although at times it’s a close call …

Matt Shea’s documentary is bookended by two stark facts. One is that the wealth of the world’s 12 richest people is equal to that of the poorest 50% of humanity (you can argue about whether 12 is exactly right, but it’s certainly a horrifyingly small number). The other is that in recent US election cycles, the fossil fuel industry has been replaced as the biggest political donor by a new force: cryptocurrency.

In an hour that manages to be more entertaining than terrifying despite sailing into very murky waters, Shea explores how a fresh breed of tech billionaires are looking to make a bold new move. He shows that in a traditional western democracy, the principle that citizens all have an equal vote and are all equally beholden to the law is heavily compromised by a tiny minority of rich citizens. These people influence what the electorate votes for, by bankrolling politicians and owning media companies, as well as using their wealth to ensure rules do not properly apply to them. But plutocrats still find this system frustrating, thanks to those pesky elections and that annoying rule of law. What’s next?

Tech Billionaire Takeover aired on BBC Two and is on iPlayer

The Dark review – this gothic crime drama is so icily creepy it’s practically a heatwave antidote

A cold finger of dread will run up your spine as you watch this tale of a Highlands murder investigation. It’s stylish, fun and chilling

Gothic-lite is a contradiction in terms, I suppose, but it’s undoubtedly what you get from new six-part thriller The Dark. Based on Scottish crime writer GR Halliday’s From the Shadows, it opens with an unseen man carefully punching holes in leather straps, then striding across the Highlands with a naked man’s either very unconscious or very dead body over his shoulder. The arms swing like metronomes marking time that has already, we very much suspect, run out.

So it proves, as the next time we see the body it is via a drone shot that reveals it to have been laid supine on the ground, arms pointing prayerfully above the head in futile supplication. DI Monica Kennedy (Laura Donnelly) is called to investigate and a cold, webby mass of intrigue begins to be spun. When it’s not gloaming it’s dreich – which, with the icy finger of dread that frequently runs up and down the viewer’s spine, makes it the perfect antidote to a heatwave.

The Dark aired on ITV1 and is on ITVX

UK couple found burned and semi-conscious in Almería amid Spanish wildfires

Pair airlifted to hospital in two-hour rescue operation after Guardia Civil searched area for survivors

A British couple have been found badly burned and semi-conscious in a Spanish ravine amid deadly wildfires that have swept through the country’s Almería province, according to local media reports.

The couple were on holiday in the region and were thought to be out hiking when they were caught up in the wildfire, which has so far killed 13 people and burned more than 6,000 hectares (14,800 acres). At least 23 people are missing.

Elon Musk and Sam Altman spar on X after Apple files OpenAI lawsuit

Sam Altman insisted that Elon Musk was again obsessed with him because of an OpenAI model release earlier this week.

Who will replace Lindsey Graham in the Senate?

South Carolina GOP Rep. Nancy Mace and Gov. Henry McMaster are among the first to be floated for the Senate seat vacated by Lindsey Graham.

Tom Kim surges to Scottish Open victory for his first title in 1,001 days

• South Korean finishes two shots clear of Min Woo Lee

• McIlroy closes with 64 for tied seventh before the Open

Tom Kim produced a bogey-free final round to win at the Scottish Open on Sunday. The 24-year-old South Korean became a Rolex Series winner for the first time and picked up a victory for the first time in 1,001 days.

Kim was in fine form at the Renaissance Club with an impressive final round of 64 to put his name at the top of the leaderboard and two shots in front of Min Woo Lee in ­second. Kim also finished four shots ahead of ­England’s Matt Fitzpatrick and ­Scotland’s ­Robert MacIntyre, who had a share of third with Johnny Keefer and Keita Nakajima.

US congressman says ‘IDF is lying’ about his detention by settlers and soldiers

Israeli ambassador to US accuses Ro Khanna of political stunt to distract from support for Graham Platner

Ro Khanna accused the Israeli government and military of “lying” on Sunday about the US congressman’s detention by armed settlers and Israeli soldiers during a recent visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Khanna – a California Democrat – had posted video evidence on social media of Israeli settlers and soldiers blocking the path of his convoy on Wednesday in the South Hebron hills, near the village of Zanuta, where Israelis have driven Palestinians from their homes in what Amnesty International calls a government-backed “ethnic cleansing campaign”.

Police warn Widdecombe murder speculation is ‘unhelpful and distressing’

Politicians should not comment before facts established, says ex-chief constable, as Farage calls killing ‘premeditated murder’

Senior police figures and politicians have warned against speculation during the murder investigation into Ann Widdecombe’s death, after detectives said there was “nothing to suggest” political motivation following an intervention from Nigel Farage.

Devon and Cornwall police said on Sunday the killing was not being treated as terrorism nor as politically motivated. Officers said they remained open-minded about the motive and urged the public not to speculate, warning it was both unhelpful to the investigation and distressing for Widdecombe’s family.

Two men die after going into sea to rescue children at County Durham beach

Youngsters confirmed safe but men pronounced dead after being brought out of water at Seaton Carew, Hartlepool

Two men have died after going into the water at a beach in County Durham to try to help two children who had gotten into difficulty, police said.

Officers were called at about 3.45pm on Sunday after concerns were raised about two youngsters in the water at Seaton Carew beach in Hartlepool.

Fire breaks out at a pub in Bangkok, killing at least 27 people, officials say

Footage shared online by first responders shows a huge blaze raging and plumes coming out of the front door of the pub in the northern part of the Thai capital.

England on collision course with Messi and Argentina in World Cup semi-final grudge match

• First competitive game between teams since 2002 World Cup

• Georgia braced for potential flashpoints in Atlanta buildup

It has been billed as one of the biggest grudge matches in the history of international football. After England’s players rode their luck against Erling Haaland’s Norway on a steamy night in Miami, they spent Sunday recuperating at their base in Kansas City as thoughts turn to facing Argentina in the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

Thomas Tuchel’s team will take on the reigning champions on what promises to be an emotionally charged occasion in Atlanta for the chance to play France or Spain in the final.

Keystone Pipeline operator agrees to pay $26.9 million over 2022 spill

A proposed settlement with the U.S. government would require the Keystone Pipeline system's operator to pay $26.9 million over a 2022 oil spill in Kansas.

Reform UK would lose 85% of funding under proposed donation cap, analysis shows

Exclusive: Party would have raised £4.1m instead of £26.7m last year if £100k funding limit had been in place, Electoral Commission data suggests

Reform UK would have held just 15% of the donations it received last year if a proposed £100,000 cap on political donations had been in force, according to analysis shared with the Guardian.

The analysis by Friends of the Earth using Electoral Commission data highlights the party’s reliance on a handful of wealthy backers in advance of a showdown over political funding.

Martha Lillard, last known US polio survivor using iron lung, dies aged 78

Lillard, of Oklahoma, contracted polio when she was five and slept inside cylindrical metal device to help her breathe

The last known US person living with polio and relying on an iron lung has died aged 78.

Martha Lillard, who contracted polio at age five and spent most of her life dependent on an iron lung machine that helped her breathe, died on 26 June in Oklahoma, according to an online obituary.

RIP Bazball: McCullum’s philosophy burned bright but all too briefly

The sacked England Test coach reinvigorated an ailing team in 2022, but his super-aggressive style proved unsustainable

Farewell, then, to Bazball, the approach defined upon its adoption by the Collins English Dictionary in 2023 as “a style of Test cricket in which the batting side attempts to gain the initiative by playing in a highly aggressive manner”. In time the manner grew less aggressive, the attempts to gain the initiative less evident, and the results less convincing. Brendon McCullum, whose philosophies and nickname had inspired it, was always irritated by the term, describing it when he deigned to address it at all as “silly”, but while this is evidently true, Bazball without any of its defining characteristics was downright mystifying.

Ben Stokes was widely mocked in 2023 when, during a drawn home Ashes series, he said, in a speech given in the privacy of the dressing room but filmed and later released by the England and Wales Cricket Board: “What we have managed to do is we’ve managed to become a sports team that will live for ever in the memory of people who were lucky enough to witness us play cricket. What we have done is something a lot bigger than any Ashes trophy … be[ing] the team that everybody will always remember.”

Tuchel and Bellingham need to cool tension with England so close to history | Jacob Steinberg

The latest episode of Thomas versus Jude does not have to descend into a drama and team cannot afford to be distracted heading into the World Cup semi-final

Thomas Tuchel lobbed a grenade into the mix. Jude Bellingham picked it up and threw it back. There was an explosion of honesty in Miami, where everyone was struggling to maintain composure in the stifling humidity, and it needs to be dealt with before England try to reach a men’s World Cup final for the first time on foreign soil.

It is time for cool heads. Tuchel was searing in his immediate analysis of England’s quarter-final win over Norway, telling ITV’s Gabriel Clarke that the performance was sloppy, not fast enough and full of technical mistakes. Praise for the side’s mentality was there but slightly lost in the noise. It was the criticism that Bellingham was asked about and the way he responded, punching back at Tuchel’s comments with some forthrightness of his own, ran the risk of England’s campaign falling down because of a public disagreement between the head coach and the star player.

Graham’s death complicates myriad GOP goals in Congress

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham died unexpectedly at 71.

What is the process for filling Lindsey Graham's vacancy in the Senate?

Sen. Lindsey Graham was running for reelection in November when he died suddenly on Saturday.

Trump's monumental reimagining of Washington, D.C.

President Trump's demolition, construction and renovation efforts have triggered a firestorm of lawsuits, as critics seek to block his plans to remake our nation's capital.

Former Spanish PM accused of racism in remarks about French football team

Political leaders in both countries rebuke Mariano Rajoy after he writes team ‘does not have any French players’

The former Spanish conservative prime minister Mariano Rajoy is facing growing accusations of racism after writing in a World Cup newspaper column that the French national team “does not have any French players”.

Rajoy, who was in office from 2011 to 2018, pondered Spain’s looming semi-final showdown with France in an article for the online newspaper El Debate on Friday.

Bull bison tosses Yellowstone tourist 8ft in air, with run-in caught on video

Man reportedly seriously injured by the bison, described as ‘agitated’ and ‘charging anything’ by photographer

An enraged, 2,000lb (900kg) bull bison hooked a tourist and tossed him 8ft into the air at a campsite in Wyoming’s Yellowstone national park on Friday – an encounter captured by a professional photographer who said the animal was “agitated, pissed off and charging anything and everything”.

The tourist was reported to be seriously injured by the male bison while walking with his grandson through the Bridge Bay campground, south of Fishing Bridge.

Toronto police looking for suspects after deadly shooting at festival

At least two people are dead and at least four people are injured after a shooting on Saturday night at a festival celebrating Latin culture in Canada's biggest city.

Tadej Pogacar urges radical overhaul of Tour de France amid stifling heatwave

• Pogacar wants calendar changed to avoid worst of heat

• Van der Poel wins ninth stage shortened amid high temperatures

Tadej Pogacar called for radical change to the professional racing calendar after another day of stifling temperatures, as Mathieu van der Poel won the shortened ninth stage of the Tour de France from Malemort to Ussel, with Tom Pidcock finishing third.

“If I had the power I would change all the calendar and not race in July and August in hot places,” Pogacar said. “I’d do a completely different calendar, but it’s not something I can do.”

Labrador rescued after ‘eating discarded cannabis’ on Ben Nevis hike

Owner Christina Bluhme feared the worst after Tokyo began to lose consciousness while climbing the UK’s tallest mountain

A dog has been rescued from Ben Nevis after falling ill from eating cannabis discarded on the mountain trail.

Christina Bluhme was halfway up the UK’s highest mountain last weekend when her black labrador, Tokyo, lost the use of her legs and began drifting in and out of consciousness.

The Guardian view on Trump and Tehran: everyone loses when the US and Iran overplay their hands | Editorial

Strikes and bluster on both sides, with Israel urging on Washington, are endangering the progress made

The cycle’s familiarity should not obscure the gravity of the consequences as the US and Iran return to threats, strikes and a futile search for an exit from war via escalation. On Sunday, Tehran said that it had closed the strait of Hormuz again. The World Food Programme is already feeding 1.5 million fewer people this year owing to the illegal war launched by the US and Israel. Vulnerable countries are suffering most as existing crises are compounded: an extra 2.5 million people in Somalia and 2.3 million in Afghanistan are struggling to meet basic food needs.

Even de-escalation would not fix this humanitarian crisis. The full impact on food production has yet to be felt. The strait was key to global fertiliser exports; as prices soared, many farmers cut back on use. The drying up of remittances from migrant workers in the Gulf hurts Asian as well as African nations.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Turner says he hopes Senate will pass Russia sanctions as part of Lindsey Graham's legacy

GOP Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio said that he's hopeful the Senate will soon pass a Russia sanctions bill as "one of the legacies" of Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died suddenly Saturday.

What to know about the cyclosporiasis outbreak hitting more than half of U.S. states

A surge of cases of the intestinal illness that causes diarrhea and nausea has been detected in 31 states, according to federal health authorities, but the source is still under investigation.

Georgia teen to appear in plea hearing over 2024 school shooting that killed four people

Colt Gray, now 16, expected to change plea after pleading not guilty to 55 criminal counts in Apalachee shooting

The teenager accused of killing two students and two teachers during a 2024 shooting at Apalachee high school in Georgia has been scheduled to appear in court later in July for a “non-negotiated” plea hearing, according to records.

Documents filed on Friday in Barrow county superior court in Winder, Georgia, show that Colt Gray is expected to change his plea at a hearing on 24 July, with the court scheduled to hold proceedings for both the plea and sentencing, as the Associated Press reported.

World Cup 2026 power rankings: who leads the pack as semi-finals loom?

We assess the teams who played in the last eight as the business end of the tournament approaches

Didier Deschamps has seen it all before and certainly does not fear even the lowest of blocks. It is clear everyone is afraid of Les Bleus, which is understandable, and they are using it to their advantage. It is admirable how teams keep France quiet for lengthy periods but the game is too long to completely silence Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé. Against Morocco an hour of patience was required but these forwards are used to it and Mbappé produced the magic that has powered this run, following it up with an assist. In a tournament defined by individuals, France has the best of a talented bunch.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (July 12)

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

Sen. Scott on Lindsey Graham's role in "building bridges," including with Trump

Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina remembered Sen. Lindsey Graham as a "powerful leader" following his sudden death​, while emphasizing Graham's role in "building bridges."

Britain’s cars and SUVs are growing bigger – but there is a way to stop this deadly ‘carspreading’ | Christian Wolmar

Larger vehicles crowd our roads and are far more dangerous to pedestrians. Let’s curb them before they do even more damage

We need an Ozempic for cars. They are growing at a phenomenal rate, wreaking havoc on the roads, squeezing out smaller vehicles in car parks and endangering pedestrians.

Like ever-hungry teenagers, cars in Europe are growing, on average, a centimetre wider every year, according to new research reported by the Guardian. And fewer than half of new cars in the UK can fit into a conventional parking space. As there is, remarkably, no width restriction for cars, no law can stop this growth until they reach the size of HGVs – that is, 2.55m wide – which are restricted.

Christian Wolmar is a transport commentator and author of The Liberation Line, the story of the railwaymen who rebuilt the railways in Europe after D-day

Germany records nearly 100 drowning deaths, many of them young men, in June heatwave

Authorities confirm worst toll in more than 20 years, as extreme temperatures in Europe force early closure of Eiffel Tower

Nearly 100 people, the largest proportion of whom were young men, died by drowning in Germany last month, authorities have said, as extreme temperatures in western Europe that have been blamed for hundreds of excess deaths geared up again.

In Germany’s worst death toll from drowning for more than two decades, 99 people died in June, according to official figures, after temperatures rose as high as 41.7C (107.1F) in some areas.

Gianni Infantino hints at expansion to 64-team World Cup before 2030 event

• ‘Definitely ​an issue that will be examined and discussed’

• Fifa president calls 48-team tournament a ‘huge success’

Fifa officials will look at the possibility of expanding the World Cup by another 16 teams before the ⁠2030 event, Gianni Infantino said in an interview. The Fifa president told Bluewin, a Swiss media outlet, that growing from 48 to ⁠64 teams could make ⁠sense.

“That’s definitely ​an issue that will be examined and discussed in the relevant committees after this World Cup,” Infantino said. “When organising ⁠a World Cup, it’s important to organise it for the whole world – not just Europe and South America – but effectively the ⁠entire world.

The kindness of strangers: I was hopelessly ill in China – then hotel staff offered to take my elderly father sightseeing

Before they left, the receptionist delicately straightened my father’s collar. I knew then they would be just fine

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

The food poisoning hit like a tsunami. I remember being out at a dumpling restaurant, grabbing a heap of napkins and just vomiting directly into them. I’ve never been sick like that in my life.

I was travelling in Xi’an, China, with my father, who was then aged 88 or 89. I really should have been in hospital but I didn’t feel I could leave my dear dad on his own. Instead I retreated to my hotel room, where I spent the night projectile vomiting. A horrible, embarrassing experience.

‘I want to make a difference’: Noskova looks forward to life after Wimbledon triumph

Unmoved by the trappings of success, the new women’s champion is keen to use her enhanced status to help those less fortunate

Most new Wimbledon champions have a bucket list of things they want to do, gifts they would like to buy themselves or family, or even future goals of winning more grand slam titles. But Linda Noskova is not your average first-time major winner.

The 21-year-old Czech is surely the first woman to win Wimbledon with a nose ring – “I was maybe counting a little bit [on] someone having some things to say about it, but no one said anything bad” – but she intends to use her newfound platform for good.

Tom Gauld on bookshop offers – cartoon

Pollock, pace and potential offer glimpse of promised land for England

If Steve Borthwick is to emulate Thomas Tuchel he must fully embrace the attacking talent which tore Fiji apart

Next year Steve Borthwick would love to be where Thomas Tuchel is now. A World Cup semi‑final in prospect, an entire nation transfixed and a team with another gear in it. Swap Atlanta for Sydney and Jude Bellingham for Henry Pollock and the same essentials will be required: big-match players, smart man management and the absolute belief that decades of disappointment can be overcome.

Tuchel and his staff even paid a visit to their rugby counterparts in March, albeit in the week the latter lost against Italy in the Six Nations for the first time. Borthwick has long been interested in how England‑based coaches deal with the sheer weight of expectation and has spoken to a number of Premier League managers on the subject.

Nature: Cape May National Wildlife Refuge

We leave you this summer Sunday on the seashore at New Jersey's Cape May National Wildlife Refuge. Videographer: Scot Miller.

7/12: Sunday Morning

Hosted by Tracy Smith. Featured: The only successful coup in U.S. history; Behind the scenes of "The Pitt"; Trump's monumental reimagining of Washington, D.C.; singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams; "Take Me Home, Country Roads"; and a Tuscany tradition: wine barrel races.

7/12: Face The Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Sen. Tim Scott, Israeli Ambassador Michael Leiter, Rep. Mike Turner and Rahm Emanuel pay tribute to Sen. Lindsey Graham after his sudden death.

Trump's monumental reimagining of Washington, D.C.

President Trump has triggered a firestorm of lawsuits over his plans to remake Washington, D.C. – from constructing a 250-foot arch that would dwarf the nearby Lincoln Memorial, to demolishing the East Wing of the White House for a ballroom. CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes looks at the president's efforts to reshape our nation's capital, and opponents fighting to block him.

A child transforms a North Carolina neighborhood

If you pass by four-year-old Roman Butzlaff's house in Concord, N.C., he will surely greet you with a wave and a "hey." But what began as a friendly gesture became a bond that drew together his neighborhood. Steve Hartman reports on the "family" that Roman built one wave at a time.

How white supremacists staged the only successful coup in U.S. history

In 1898, Wilmington, N.C., was prosperous and integrated. But white supremacists took back control of the city's multi-racial government at gunpoint, and killed scores of Black residents - a little-known story retold in Lauren Collins' "They Stole a City."

‘I’m not afraid of dying any more’: comedian Eric Lampaert on his amnesia – and the memories he was happy to lose

In 2019 Lampaert woke up unable to recognise his friends, his parents, even his own name. After decades of anxiety, abandonment and bullying, was his mind just trying to shield him from his past?

On the day his life changed, Eric Lampaert woke up and saw his hands. What amazed him was that they were moving in front of him, and he appeared to be the person in control of them. We’re drinking coffee in the Groucho Club in London, and at this point he lets go of his cup and wriggles his fingers. Lampaert is an actor and standup whose work has a strong clowning dimension. His hands always seemed to have minds of their own – and, sometimes, strong differences of opinion. But as he got out of bed that fateful morning, marvelling at the magical things on the ends of his arms, he felt only wonder. What he didn’t yet know was that he had lost his memory, and his life would no longer feel like his own.

That was seven years ago, on 17 March 2019, Lampaert says, a date not so much stamped in his memory as retrieved from his journal and recommitted. It was a knock on the door that told him “there were other things out there” beyond his bedroom: the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles, housemates in the home he’d once shared with his estranged wife, and the downstairs neighbour who’d knocked to collect a bottle of bleach. Lampaert had borrowed it to clean coffee stains from the sink, but now he didn’t know the person at the door or the housemate wandering by. “Eric?” his neighbour said. “And I went: ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know …”

Are middle-aged women really invisible? I see them everywhere – and not just in the mirror | Emma Beddington

Gillian Anderson, Rose Byrne, Melinda Gates: there’s no getting away from these passionate and prominent figures. Even I feel more exposed than I’d like to be

Am I, a middle-aged woman, invisible? There’s a picture of me near these words; can you see it, or am I a blur, like a perp on Traffic Cops who wouldn’t sign a release? Anecdotal evidence from last week is mixed: seeing a friend my age on Thursday night, we got served easily and the waiting staff were politely attentive, even though – or because – I was radiating heat-induced derangement. (At one point, I told a waiter, wild-eyed: “I’m dying – I’m from the north.”) The next morning, I had to dodge a massive sandbag thrown by a man in the gym who definitely didn’t see me, but he was so locked in I doubt he would have noticed Zendaya doing star jumps.

I’ve been wondering, because I recently read the cultural commentator Mireille Silcoff in the New York Times rebuffing the idea that, at 53, she is invisible. “I am not vanishing,” she wrote. “I even feel, quite regularly, that I am in some kind of prime.”

Mark Foster looks back: ‘After my first Olympics, I was working as a groundsman, lifeguard and glazier. I thought the swimming was over’

The former world champion swimmer turned BBC commentator on 5am starts with his mum, a Jaws epiphany, and why he struggled to come out

Born in Billericay, Essex, in 1970, Mark Foster is a former competitive swimmer and winner of 51 major international medals, including six world titles, two Commonwealth Games golds and 11 European titles. He represented the UK at five Olympic Games, and broke eight world records. He works as a commentator for the BBC during major sporting events. Foster’s memoir, My Double Life, is out now.

This was taken in a park in Southend, presumably – as the trunks suggest – near a swimming pool. I would have been with both of my big sisters and my mum. I was always stupidly smiley and never took life seriously.

Burnout, frustration and heartbreak: Amazon layoffs take their toll in saturated job market

In the eight-plus months since Amazon announced its most expansive job cuts ever, laid off workers have been thrust into an increasingly saturated labor market.

‘Huge wave’ of carbon storage projects causes alarm in small-town USA as oil firms eye billions in subsidies

Dozens of projects are in development across US despite concerns over environmental and health risks

The plan to bury carbon under remote Indiana farmland is supposed to be a slam dunk for the climate, according to its supporters – all generously funded by US tax dollars.

But as far as Melissa Harrison and some other residents of Clymers, Indiana, are concerned, it just might be the end of their town. “This is our place,” she says. Generations of her family are buried in the cemetery, and she is raising her five grandchildren in one of several dozen white-clapboard homes among corn fields and industrial plants serving the farming industry.

How to make the perfect Uyghur lamb skewers – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …

Wildly popular across China, these addictively fiery street food snacks spiced with cumin and chilli are yours for the making

One of the most welcome developments in the mind-bogglingly, gloriously diverse world of London dining options in recent years has been the proliferation of restaurants serving the food of the vast, automonous north-western Chinese region of Xinjiang, known by many of the predominantly Turkic-speaking Muslim Uyghur population as East Turkestan. As this fact suggests, Uyghur cooking has many similarities with other Turkic cuisines, including a love of lamb and mutton, and an aptitude for generously spiced kebabs so good that they’re now an “iconic street snack” in the Chinese capital, albeit some 3,000 miles east, in the time-honoured colonial fashion, and renamed as “old Beijing skewers”, according to that city’s own Maggie Zhu. (In Uyghur, they are, I believe, kawap, though I’d be glad to have that transliteration confirmed.)

Happily, however, you don’t need to go to Beitun or Beijing to enjoy them – or even to Golders Green – because they’re incredibly easy to recreate wherever you are, as long as you have access to a smoking hot grill. I declare this the summer of the skewer!

A Bible passage is at the center of a debate over how the U.S. should treat immigrants

A debate over the Bible verse Matthew 25 is pitting mainline pastors, Black protestants and the pope against evangelical politicians put on the defensive over President Trump's policies.

Cablegate: should Jude Bellingham’s first goal against Norway have been disallowed?

Midfielder got England back on level terms in fine fashion but pictures suggest illegal interference in the buildup

Norway’s goalkeeper, Ørjan Nyland, launches a goal-kick down the pitch two minutes into stoppage time at the end of the first half. The ball falls just inside England’s half, near the touchline, where Elliot Anderson is able to gather possession and drive forward.

Water parks, bull runs and England’s World Cup victory - photos of the weekend

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

‘People treat each other as disposable’: dating columnist turned novelist Annie Lord on love and sex in the age of apps

Her breakup memoir and Vogue column made her the voice of modern dating. As her debut is published, she talks about single life, oversharing and why she still believes she’ll find love

There is a scene in Annie Lord’s novel that will be instantly familiar to any young person who has spent time at a pub or nightclub recently. Daisy and Maya, two best friends in their mid-20s, are lamenting the paltry state of the dating market.

“It’s just shit out there,” Daisy says. “Every time we go out there’s, like, one decent single guy and then about 40 gorgeous women with master’s degrees and shag haircuts and what’s even the point in trying.”

Dining across the divide: ‘She’s fine with billionaires – I would call them hoarders’

A comms director and a charity worker disagreed on taxation, but how did they fare on the climate crisis?

• Want to meet someone from across the divide? Click here to find out how

Emma, 34, London

Occupation Thinktank comms director

‘This was a righteous case. A holy war’: the lawyer who took on Meta and Google – and won

When Mark Lanier and his young client Kaley faced the tech giants in an LA courtroom earlier this year, it seemed a bigger battle than David v Goliath. But they scored a landmark victory, proving that the social media giants had created ‘addiction machines’ that harmed mental health. How did they pull it off?

When Mark Zuckerberg walked into a Los Angeles courtroom on 18 February flanked by an entourage bedecked in Meta Ray-Bans, some people laughed. If this was an attempt at product placement for the company’s newest range of smart glasses, it was jarringly ill-judged: Zuckerberg was about to testify before a jury in a landmark lawsuit that sought to prove that Instagram and YouTube are addictive by design, and he had passed a throng of bereaved parents on his way into the courthouse. But the prosecution team, led by Mark Lanier, were not laughing.

This was a serious trial. For the first time, the most powerful names in social media were being held to account for the inherent design of their platforms, rather than the content hosted on them. They were accused of deliberately and maliciously building products that keep children hooked, with disastrous consequences for the mental wellbeing of young people. It was a landmark case – a big tobacco moment for big tech.

A promising tale from Senegal of fish, rice .... and dangerous worms

Farmers in Senegal are welcoming fish into their rice paddies. The hope is they'll fertilize the crop, be a source of food ... and eat the snails that carry parasitic worms.

Stephen Miller is outraged over birthright citizenship. His arguments are nonsense | Sidney Blumenthal

Trump’s immigration architect calls the supreme court’s decision ‘outrageous’ as he pushes for policy rooted in genetics, not law

Neither of the supreme court majority opinions in Trump v Barbara, the 5-4 decision upholding the constitutionality of birthright citizenship, mention the true architect of the case. Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14160, which would deny citizenship to children born on American soil if their parents are undocumented immigrants or on temporary visas, is extensively noted, but not the man responsible for it. The omission of Stephen Miller is like Dracula without Dracula.

The vampire identified is chief justice Roger B Taney, author of the Dred Scott decision of 1857, though his notorious statement at the heart of his ruling went uncited: that the framers believed that Black people “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect”, that they were excluded from the Declaration of Independence’s principle that “all men are created equal” because of racial inferiority “too clear for dispute,” and that rendered them no different from “an ordinary article of merchandise and traffic.”

Chasing new skills, going back to basics and pushing for collective action: how software engineers are adapting to AI

Software engineering was one of the best-paying professions in the US in 2022, but the advent of AI has disrupted it, leading to several layoffs and underemployment

Every weekday, Matt, a software engineer, looks forward to his four-hour train commute to Pawling, New York. It’s time he uses to work on his own project: a browser-based video game for which he writes every line of code himself.

“I am actively trying to keep my axe sharp,” said Matt, who did not want to use his actual name, to protect his employment. In the last six months, Matt’s job has increasingly shifted away from coding, problem solving and software architecture towards reviewing code generated by artificial intelligence. Convinced that the shift will weaken his skills, he’s doing what he can to keep them intact. “I am trying not to leverage AI where I can.”

The Importance of Being Earnest review – gloriously madcap opera achieves new heights of delirium

Garsington Opera, Stokenchurch
Gerald Barry’s take on Wilde’s comedy is even wittier and zanier in Jack Furness’s hyperactive staging – complete with a grand piano on stilts, a herd of cows and a kangaroo that meets a grisly end

Anyone who has seen the opera before will recognise the tall rack of white dinner plates, stacked and primed for you-know-what. Anyone who knows Oscar Wilde’s play will recognise its punchlines, transposed by composer Gerald Barry into a kind of staccato mashup between speech and singing. But in Jack Furness’s new production of Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest for Garsington Opera, familiarity is otherwise avoided.

Barry has already transformed Wilde’s “trivial comedy for serious people” into what he calls “an opera of delirium”. Singing offers another layer of perversity, orchestral scoring another source of wit, and stage business a further level of zaniness. Furness’s additions include a grand piano on stilts, a kangaroo that meets a nasty end, an enormous chaise longue-cum-slide (which suffers one of the play’s mysterious explosions during the dinner interval), a dirt floor and working hose to allow the protagonists to be mud-smeared and soaked through in alternation, and a herd of miniature cows. The result is a kind of hyperactive nightmare, its pace slowed by all these efforts to shock, the comedy turned sour.

Ready for your stunning second act? The 11 secrets of starting again – from successful late bloomers

From a seventysomething standup comedian to the founder of a highly successful spice business, seven people reveal why it’s never too late to embark on the life of your dreams

Many of us feel stuck in a job we dislike and midlife is a common time to reassess what you are going to do with the rest of your years, especially when finances require us to work into older age. How can you make a change, follow your dreams and finally do what you always wanted? Late bloomers share the secrets to having a stunning second act.

‘More postmodern than ancient’: why the Odyssey is everywhere, from Oz to Westeros

Christopher Nolan’s take on the Odyssey is set to break box-office records. What made the director so determined to adapt the ancient Greek epic? And why does a poem from 600BC hold a vice-like grip on pop culture? Warning: contains 2,600-year-old spoilers

Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey movie has all the hopes of a summer blockbuster pinned to it, and all the promise – as the trailers have showed – of magnificent effects, shocks and thrills. You will be taken inside the cave of the terrifying one-eyed giant, the Cyclops Polyphemus, who likes to dine on human flesh. You will visit the dim and misty shores of the land of the dead, where no warm-blooded human should ever tread. You will flee the pounding tread of cannibals. You will be tossed on stormy seas sent surging by vengeful gods.

And all of this spectacular adventure, for sure, is part of the Odyssey, one of the first great works of world literature, which was written down soon after the Greeks acquired the technology to do so, probably in the 600s or 500sBC. The ancient Greeks attributed the poem to a man called Homer, often described as a blind bard from the island of Chios.

Fitness influencers linked to wellness brand helping run illegal steroid market on Telegram

Ambassadors for Gencore Global directed followers to Telegram channels promoting steroids, prescription medicines and experimental peptides

• ‘I felt dizzy’: body builder recalls how drug abuse caught up with him

• UK becoming ‘wild west’ for experimental peptides, expert warns

Fitness influencers who publicly represent a global wellness brand are involved in running an illegal steroid market on social media, the Guardian can reveal.

Gencore Global presents itself as a UK-based health and wellness company and has recently appeared at FitXpo North West, a fitness event in Greater Manchester. It has also sponsored a racehorse, launched a UK combat sports and influencer boxing promotion, and is set to attend the National Running Show in Birmingham next year.

Campaign text messages could soon get more effective — and annoying

Taught to sound like a candidate, bots are engaging voters with personalized text messages, making AI-generated texting conversations the latest tool political campaigns are using to connect.

An artist brought 'I.C.E. pops' to a Texas campus. The show was shut down in days

The Trump administration's executive orders have meant that administrators are questioning what art can — and can't — be seen on campus.

‘Unchained Melody makes me want to live out my Swayze fantasies’: Gary Jarman’s honest playlist

The Cribs man had a youthful Bee Gees obsession and loves one particular 80s power ballad. But which song does he say is too rude for his funeral?

The first song I fell in love with
Only You by the Flying Pickets – at least according to my mother, who says [my twin brother and bandmate] Ryan and I would sing along to it on the Christmas Top of the Pops. We now use it as our walk-on song and it makes my mum quite emotional.

The first single I bought
Somewhere in My Heart by Aztec Camera, from Boots in Wakefield in 1988, after hearing it at the disco on a holiday at Pontins in Morecambe.

The prince and the ‘professional liar’: inside Harry’s battle against the Daily Mail

How the celebrity-backed legal action against one of Britain’s most powerful newspapers fell apart

On 26 January 2015, Hugh Grant entertained an unusual guest at an exclusive venue in one of London’s most affluent neighbourhoods. A few weeks earlier, the disgraced former tabloid journalist Graham Johnson had been contemplating starting the year behind bars. Now, he found himself opposite the Hollywood actor in the rather more comfortable surroundings of the KX Gym in Chelsea, which doubles as a private members’ club where fees cost more than £600 a month.

It was on that day, 11 years ago, that one of the seeds of Prince Harry’s doomed court battle with the publisher of the Daily Mail was sown.

My husband no longer desires me, but engaging an escort has complicated things | Ask Annalisa Barbieri

You and your husband need to have a frank discussion and decide whether you want to negotiate the next stage of life together or apart

I’m 55 and, after being a dutiful wife for 30 years, my sex drive declined after a traumatic hysterectomy eight years ago. My husband was patient and kind throughout. I love him dearly, but sex was never really the same afterwards, which I attribute to the surgery.

I’ve now been through menopause and suddenly find my libido returning. However, my husband no longer desires me due to weight gain. He can’t maintain an erection for long, and is very critical of my sexual performance. He’s seen a doctor, but nothing came of it, and he refuses couples counselling.

A revolution in ruins: fury amid the rubble of a housing project in quake-hit Venezuela

Discontent with Trump-backed government mounts as Chávez heirs struggle to respond to disaster for which they seem ill-prepared

Even before two powerful earthquakes reduced the OPPE 25 government housing project to an anarchy of shattered concrete and broken lives, the foundations of Hugo Chávez’s populist “Bolivarian” revolution were shaking in what was once a hotbed of support.

Gabriel González remembers his elation when, in 2013, he received the keys to his freshly completed apartment in one of the 12-floor tower blocks El Comandante had ordered to be built in an affluent corner of the resort town of Caraballeda.

‘They said to me, you were the best sex toy we ever had’: the pain, pleasure and paranoia of life in a throuple

From Hollywood movies to confessional memoirs, three-person relationships are everywhere. But is it really possible to keep everyone satisfied? Happy trios, bruised couples and rejected lovers tell all

Priscilla can pinpoint the moment she realised that her throuple was falling apart. Her fiancee, Kiara, had started kissing their shared girlfriend, Olivia, in a way that went on for just a little too long. One night, after the three of them had gone out for a romantic dinner in Savannah, Georgia, where they live, Olivia and Kiara started kissing in the front seats of the family car and it seemed as if they were never going to stop. About 10 minutes in, Priscilla tried to reach out and touch her fiancee’s shoulder, but her seat belt was buckled. Unbuckling and leaning forward felt intrusive. And, anyway, Kiara and Olivia seemed to have forgotten all about her. Watching the kiss unfold, squashed into the back with all the baby seats and toys, Priscilla thought about how by rights it was her turn to sit up front. She was always in the back seat. She felt a flicker of something competitive. “I worried, am I desired less than her?” she recalls now. “Will I be replaced?”

In the early days, Priscilla felt giddy with the excitement of being in a throuple. She and Kiara had been together for eight years, and adding a third person to their relationship felt like a way of exploring non‑monogamy without losing one another, because every new romantic experience would be shared. Olivia was an old friend, so Priscilla and Kiara’s children were comfortable with her. When the kids were in bed, they would walk to the beach holding hands as a three, to watch the sunset. At night, they would curl up to sleep together, and form a kind of cuddle chain. Priscilla would cuddle Olivia, and Olivia would cuddle Kiara.