World Cup 2026: England prepare for Costa Rica friendly, Iran visa row, Lamine Yamal latest: football news – live

• Tuchel criticises England’s ‘freestyle’ approach

• Player guide | Bracketology | Wallchart | Mail Will

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

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

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

Kim Jong-un welcomes Chinese leader on visit to renew relationship strained by a fall in trade during Covid and Pyongyang’s closeness with Russia

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

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

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

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

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

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

Middle East crisis live: Trump tells Israel and Iran to stop ‘shooting’ after countries launch first strikes since April ceasefire

Israel says it expects several days of fighting as US president calls for deescalation

• Israel strikes Iran despite Trump plea as Middle East crisis threatens to escalate

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

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

How to win the World Cup – video explainer

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

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

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

• Bracketology: predict a path to World Cup victory

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

Goals review – disruptor football game attempts to smash the competition

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trump tells Iran and Israel to stop 'shooting' after they exchange strikes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yes, Michelle Obama knows a lot about resilience. She still shouldn’t be lecturing gen Z about it | Emma Beddington

It’s decades since the former US first lady was an employee. The world of work she grew up in has long gone

Uh oh, Michelle Obama has been advising gen Z on navigating work. “One thing that’s important is to learn how to do something you don’t like to do and be good at it,” she told the audience at a podcast recording in London. “Every experience – the bad boss, the boring assistant job, the job you thought that you weren’t appreciated, the one that didn’t give you the assignment you wanted when you wanted it – all of that is learning to be resilient.”

The podcast is called IMO, and she is entitled to her opinion, and it’s true that awful bosses, crap jobs and professional setbacks are inevitable, unpleasant learning experiences. Plus, Obama has navigated exceptionally tricky circumstances and put up with endless unjustified flak – she has plenty to teach everyone about grace under pressure. But there’s an implicit criticism of gen Z workers in her words. You see that a lot (they’re undisciplined! They won’t use the phone! They want mental health days!) and it feels unfair and unhelpful.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Christian Eriksen close to being discharged after collapse, says team doctor

• Denmark’s medic reveals 34-year-old is in ‘good spirits’

• Eriksen in hospital after losing consciousness on pitch

Christian Eriksen is expected to be soon discharged from hospital after he collapsed during Denmark’s friendly with Ukraine on Sunday.

Television images showed Eriksen holding his chest in the 65th minute of the fixture at Odense Stadium, with the match quickly halted and abandoned shortly afterwards amid concern for the former Tottenham and Manchester United playmaker.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘It can all end with one bad game’: the highs and lows of a World Cup referee

Even the finest miss out on a place at the finals and for those who do get there, decisions can make or break a dream

Ismail Elfath was taking his children to the park near his home in Texas when a message arrived. “Congratulations,” it read. Elfath hugged his wife. Fifa had selected him for his second World Cup. Relief and pride swept over him. “Going to a World Cup is the dream of every referee, but going to a second one means you have stayed consistent for eight years plus,” he said.

For referees, the World Cup is the pinnacle. The tournament comes around only every four years, and only a tiny number make the cut. “First you have to be the best in your own country, and even then you might not be selected,” the former Swiss referee Urs Meier said.

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

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

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

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

The red state, blue state divide is real. But it's driven by more than just politics

Recent research suggests there's more going on with "ideological sorting" than simply moving to places that match one's politics. It's often one of many deciding factors, such as taxes or safety.

Whales are showing up in San Francisco Bay. New ship alerts could help protect them

The changing climate is driving whales into San Francisco Bay, where ship strikes have been deadly. A new camera system could help ships and ferries steer clear.

‘Extreme fear’ among immigrants as backlash sweeps South Africa

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

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

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

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

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

• UK politics live – latest updates

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

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

Morning news brief

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

Powerful earthquake in southern Philippines leaves at least 19 dead

Residents warned not to enter damaged homes or other buildings owing to threat of aftershocks after magnitude-7.8 quake

A magnitude-7.8 earthquake shook part of the southern Philippines early on Monday, collapsing buildings and killing at least 19 people.

“Many buildings were affected, but I cannot enumerate them now because we are busy with ongoing rescues,” Robert Dagon, of the General Santos City police, told Agence France-Presse.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is it true that … sugar is ‘toxic’?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Argentina World Cup 2026 team guide

Lionel Scaloni’s strong, confident squad are no longer reliant on Messi as they target back-to-back World Cup titles

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

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

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

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

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

Octopus surge spreads up UK coast as far as Scotland, study finds

Record numbers linked to warming waters is mixed news for fishers, with shellfish catches down but octopus catches booming

Record numbers of octopuses found off the south-west coast of England last year have now spread as far as Scotland and Wales and are transforming the fishing industry and the marine ecosystem, according to a study.

The surge in sightings of one of the world’s most intelligent invertebrates was first recorded in 2025 off the south coast of Devon and Cornwall.

Airline industry chiefs say 2050 net zero goal now unlikely

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

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

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

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

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

This game is end to end!

Today’s offering is for fans of the number 4. It’s a cute puzzle that offers up its solution in an elegant way.

Nose to tail

More than 1,300 deaths a month in England due to long A&E waits, figures suggest

Senior medical staff call for solutions to tackle root causes of excess deaths amid tenfold increase in a decade

More than 1,300 patients a month in England are dying needlessly due to long A&E waits, a tenfold rise in a decade, figures suggest.

There were more than 300 deaths linked to long waits every week in 2025, up from 30 a week in 2015, according to analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

‘Now people stop to ask their names and even stroke them’: Nigerians embrace dogs as pets

As social attitudes shift and concern for animal rights grows, the dog meat tradition in many parts of Nigeria is increasingly being questioned

Every weekend in Lagos, 36-year-old Izien Aigbodion walks down his street with his three dogs – a poodle and two chow chows. Neighbours and passersby, more used to seeing dogs in cages than walking on leashes beside their owners, stop to stare.

With treats in one pocket and a bottle of water in the other, he pauses to calm his most skittish dog. “People believe that dogs can only follow orders,” he says, as one nudges his leg for attention. But when you live with them, you come to appreciate things like loyalty, emotion, even empathy.”

A British Childhood by Frank Cottrell-Boyce review – are we raising a bookless generation?

This clarion call about the loss of delight and safety in children’s lives is also a reminder of the sheer magic of reading

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

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

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

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

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

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

Japanese city shuts down nearly 100 schools after unprecedented bear sighting

Police and hunters in Utsunomiya, 100km north of the capital, resume their search for animal that is not usually seen so close to Tokyo

A city in Japan has closed all its 94 primary and secondary schools after a bear was spotted in the municipality for the first time.

Officials in Utsunomiya, a city of half a million people about 100km (62 miles) north of Tokyo, took action after a medium-sized black bear – estimated to be about one-metre-long – was seen near a park in the city on Saturday. The bear was spotted again on CCTV running just in front of two startled young men in the city centre, in the early hours of Sunday.

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

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

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

Israel and Iran exchange missile fire threatening Middle East truce

The exchange marked a major escalation in the already tense region. It came on the 100th day of the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran as the heightened tensions further complicated efforts to end Middle East fighting.

Alice and Steve review – Jemaine Clement and Nicola Walker’s icky comedy is dated and wrong

This tale of a midlife man dating his best friend’s 26-year-old daughter is interminable, and so unconvincing that Clement looks embarrassed throughout

I’ll be honest with you – committed pessimist that I am, pseudo-incest was still not a square on my 2026 bingo card. But then along comes Alice and Steve to prove me wrong! It’s nice to find that life still has ways to surprise you.

The titular characters are best friends and have been since they met at university, 30-plus years ago. Alice (Nicola Walker) is on her second marriage, to a sweet, contented beta-male (Daniel, played by Joel Fry) to her alpha-woman; he is 10 years younger than she is. They have a teenage son, and have raised her daughter Izzy (Yali Topol Margalith) from childhood. Izzy is now 26 and just back home after breaking up with her boyfriend.

‘The Epstein files are about more than men and money’: All the Rage, the ‘guerrilla’ play fuelled by 80 furious women

Enraged at how the victims of Jeffrey Epstein are being forgotten, more than 80 female and non-binary writers united – to create an epic drama fusing art, activism and anger. How will it work?

As the Jeffrey Epstein juggernaut rolled across the media landscape earlier this year, transfixing the world with its grim stories of corruption and sexual abuse by powerful and well-connected men, a small group of female playwrights decided enough was enough: there was a glaring need for the story to be turned on its head, to focus on the suffering of the victims rather than the perpetrators.

The writers all belonged to a WhatsApp group. “I just put out a call,” says Rebecca Lenkiewicz. “I asked: ‘Is anyone else enraged about the Epstein files and how it’s all about the men and the money?’ It wasn’t just a question of what happened, but of how it is being dealt with by the press afterwards.” Lenkiewicz was all too familiar with the history of abusive and powerful men, being the screenwriter of She Said, about the struggle to bring Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein to justice.

‘My life is about beauty’: Julie Newmar at 92 on shocking the world as Catwoman – and caring for her son

She starred in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, had to stoop when she danced with Fred Astaire, then became world-famous – and a gay icon – in the original Batman series. But her life behind the scenes has been just as interesting ...

Julie Newmar is showing me her secret garden: an oasis of greenery around her house in Brentwood, Los Angeles, that is crammed with trees, flowers, sculptures and labyrinthine paths. It feels like a little piece of old-school Hollywood, untouched by the world outside. “Here, try one,” Newmar says as she leans over from her mobility scooter and picks me a blueberry from a bush. “Isn’t that nice?” It’s a well-maintained jungle of begonias, jasmine, geraniums, fruit trees, and above all, roses. She has 90 varieties, she says, including one named after her. “That one’s Marilyn Monroe,” she says, pointing out a creamy pink one. “Doesn’t it look like her flesh?” Monroe’s former house is just up the road, she mentions. Newmar has lived here for decades with her son, John, who has Down’s syndrome. They spend a lot of time out here.

“I would say my life is about beauty,” Newmar says. “I want to be a beautiful old woman; beauty in the garden; beauty in your behaviour, in your treatment of others. Because we all know that life’s a circle. All this stuff comes back. And in my 90s now, one has evolved. Big things happen now and they’re more in the metaphysical, they’re in the ‘what can I do for others?’ Because I’ve already done it for myself.”

Tony awards 2026: Death of a Salesman triumphs, as Lesley Manville and John Lithgow also win

Joe Mantello’s stark revival of Arthur Miller’s classic drama takes home six awards, while Ragtime and Schmigadoon! pick up musical wins

• Tony awards 2026: red carpet looks and the best of the show – in pictures

• Tony awards 2026: full list of winners

A stripped-back take on Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman dominated this year’s Tonys, winning six awards, while Lesley Manville and John Lithgow took home lead acting trophies.

Death of a Salesman was named best revival of a play, with the award-winning director Joe Mantello praising Miller’s story as one that “still talks to us through time”. Star Nathan Lane accepted the award on behalf of the cast, and called it a play that “continues to teach us who we are as humans and Americans”.

6/7/2026: Under Siege; Turning the Ship Around; The Dog Aging Project

First, a look at threats against U.S. judges under Trump. Then, collapse of U.S. shipbuilding poses national and economic security risks. And, a dog study may help pets and humans age well.

6/7: CBS Weekend News

Iran strikes Israel for first time since April ceasefire in retaliation for Israeli attack on Beirut; 12 hurt in "gunfight" at Ohio festival, police say.

The last jeepney in San Francisco

It's part military jeep, part rolling art museum, and for Filipino Americans, it's a symbol of cultural identity and resilience. Itay Hod takes a ride on San Francisco's last jeepney.

LA stadium workers vote to strike with World Cup kicking off this week

Hospitality workers at Los Angeles' Sofi Stadium voted Friday to authorize a strike, demanding better pay, job protections from AI and assurances that immigration enforcement won't happen there. The move comes just days from the first matches of the FIFA World Cup.

Trump says he told Israel not to retaliate for Iranian strike

President Trump told several outlets Sunday he is asking Israel not to retaliate after Iran's strikes, hopeful that he can somehow preserve this very fragile ceasefire. Olivia Rinaldi reports.

12 hurt in "gunfight" at Ohio festival, police say

Twelve people were injured, two of them critically, in what police are calling a "gunfight" that broke out at the Old West End Festival in Toledo, Ohio, on Saturday. Jonah Kaplan reports.

A 7.8 magnitude quake in the Philippines kills at least 19

An offshore magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked the southern Philippines Monday, killing at least 19 people, injuring more than 200 others and sending a 3-foot tsunami into nearby coasts.

Trump walks out of interview with NBC’s Meet the Press after clash over election claims

Kristen Welker questioned Trump’s allegations that races for California governor and 2020 president were ‘rigged’

Donald Trump walked out of an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press after he repeatedly made false claims that the US 2020 presidential elections was rigged in 2020 and questions around compensation for those charged in the January 6 insurrection.

The US president’s abrupt exit came during a tense exchange between himself and NBC’s Kristen Welker during a Friday interview in Wisconsin that aired on Sunday.

‘Every day the policy changes’: chaos and confusion for Filipino workers over US immigration rules

The US relies on migrant workers in crucial sectors but shifting policies under Donald Trump create uncertainty and fear

Jay*, a Filipino migrant, cares for an 82-year-old US veteran in San Francisco’s Bay Area who has suffered from a stroke. They were playing a word search memory game together when Jay saw the news on Facebook about a policy memo from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

It suggested migrants might have to return to their home countries in order to apply for their green card, which allows its holder to live and work permanently in the US, unlike temporary visas that have expiration dates and can require renewals.

Florentino Pérez to remain as Real Madrid president after overwhelming election win

• Enrique Riquelme loses challenge against Pérez

• José Mourinho will now be confirmed as manager

Florentino Pérez will continue as president of Real Madrid after winning their first elections in 20 years, paving the way for his plans to sell 5% of the club.

Pérez, who has been president for 23 years across two spells – first between 2000 and 2006 and then since 2009, winning the past five elections unopposed – polled 65%. The 37-year-old challenger, Enrique Riquelme, lost with 35% after a total of 33,555 members exercised their right to vote.

‘What if all cockroaches came together?’ The youth movement threatening to shake up India’s politics

Cockroach Janta party began as online joke but is growing into one of the most unexpected challenges to country’s rightwing government

The call out to the youth of India was simple: “Get ready to swarm the streets of Delhi with peaceful and loving dissent.” They came in their thousands.

The weekend marked the first public protest of the Cockroach Janta party (CJP), a movement that began as an online joke, but which has swiftly grown into one of the most unexpected challenges to the indomitable power of the country’s rightwing Narendra Modi government – driven by millions of discontented and disillusioned young people.

Trump rejects idea that Iran betrays his 'no new wars' campaign message

President Trump is dismissing the idea that launching the war with Iran betrayed his refrain of "No new wars" as he campaigned for the White House in 2024.

Survivors of abuse by Mohamed Al Fayed call for trafficking investigation

Without it the ‘true scale’ of former Harrods owner’s alleged network will stay hidden, says survivors’ group

Survivors of abuse perpetrated by the former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed are calling for a full trafficking investigation to be launched, arguing that without it the “true scale” of the billionaire’s alleged network would remain hidden.

Survivors at No One Above (NOA), a collective founded by victims of abuse at the hands of Fayed, are calling for the Metropolitan police to broaden their investigation into the billionaire and make trafficking the main focus.

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

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

Zelenskyy discusses ‘urgent need to scale up’ air defences with key allies in London

Keir Starmer hosts Ukrainian, French and German leaders in Downing Street after Russia fires hypersonic weapons at Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the leaders of the UK, France and Germany discussed “the urgent need to scale up” Ukraine’s air defences and deep-strike capabilities in London on Sunday night, after Russia fired hypersonic weapons at Ukraine, Downing Street said.

The meeting of Ukraine’s staunchest allies in London came hours after a Russian drone strike damaged a storage centre for spent nuclear fuel nine miles from the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.

Italian rescuers recover 10 bodies after migrant boat capsizes off Malta

About 48 people rescued alive after vessel reportedly left Libya carrying about 60 passengers

Italian rescuers have recovered 10 bodies after a migrant boat capsized in waters off Malta, a coastguard statement said on Sunday.

The vessel, which had departed from Libya carrying about 60 people, overturned about 45 nautical miles east-south-east of Malta, the Italian coastguard said.

Labour urges Farage to stop evading scrutiny over £5m gift from crypto billionaire

Call for ‘clear and truthful account’ comes amid questions about the Reform leader’s property spending

The Labour party has written to Nigel Farage urging him to stop “evading reasonable scrutiny” over the £5m personal gift he received from the Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.

The letter coincides with approval of a planning application that reveals the Reform leader’s plans to transform a dilapidated Kent property into a luxury beachfront residence.

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

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

Can birds outsing traffic? Some are trying

New research from scientists at the Centre for Ecological Research in Hungary finds that some birds living in cities are changing their songs to compete with traffic and other urban noise.

‘We will get that win’: Lewis Hamilton insists he is getting closer to first Ferrari victory

• Hamilton avoids Monaco chaos to go second in standings

• Gasly angry after penalties cost him third; Russell downcast

Lewis Hamilton believes his first win for Ferrari is on the cards after a second-place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix, with the seven-time champion committed to chasing down the Formula One world championship leader, Kimi Antonelli, who won again in Monte Carlo.

After the race there was also a furious reaction from France’s Pierre Gasly, who crossed the line believing he had secured third and a place on the podium, only to find he had two penalties for speeding in the pit lane, dropping him to seventh.

Shock defeat will help me break 800m world record this summer, says Hodgkinson

• Swiss star wins with third fastest time in history

• Hodgkinson targets world record after defeat

On a wild summer’s night in Stockholm, a woman ran the quickest 800m since the darkest days of the cold war. But, staggeringly, her name was not Keely Hodgkinson.

Britain’s 800m Olympic champion had promised she was in personal-best shape, and duly proved as good as her word. But she had no answer to the young Swiss star Audrey Werro, who swooped like lightning across a cloudless sky before crossing the line in 1min 53.98sec.

Trump reportedly considers buying Chagos Islands from Mauritius

Potential proposal would secure control of Diego Garcia base amid stalled UK plans to cede sovereignty of territory

Donald Trump is reportedly weighing a plan to buy the Chagos Islands from Mauritius amid stalled plans from the UK to cede sovereignty of the territory, the Telegraph first reported.

The White House did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment on the report about the potential plan.

6/7: Sunday Morning

Hosted by Jane Pauley: Featured: The Tony-nominated musical "Ragtime"; Steven Spielberg on "Disclosure Day"; GLP-1 medications; college grads' job search woes; a tour of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona; an exhibit of Queen Elizabeth II's fashion; and a honey sommelier.

Delivery pain for UK dad as baby magazine arrives 19 years late

Paul Edwards ordered the publication before the birth of his son in 2007, but experienced pregnant pause before receiving it this week

When Paul Edwards ordered a parenting magazine in 2007, he was hoping that it would provide helpful advice and offers to help him navigate the stresses and challenges of bringing up children.

However the magazine never arrived – until now. The copy of Mother & Baby was delivered on Friday – 19 years after he ordered it – with his children now studying at university.

Teen dies after showing symptoms of heat-related illness on Grand Canyon hike

An 18-year-old died last week on a hike deep in the Grand Canyon, after showing symptoms of heat-related illness, the National Park Service said.

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

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

'Bring 'em on': Delta wants United's crown over the Pacific, too

Delta's president, Peter Carter, told CNBC that the carrier wants to take United on over the Pacific.

Alexander Zverev wins first grand slam after holding off Cobolli in French Open

• No 2 seed beats Italian 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1

• Wins his first major in his fourth final

Two weeks of nerves and tension across one of the most chaotic men’s grand slam tournaments in recent memory came to an appropriate conclusion as an excruciatingly tense five-set psychodrama ended with Alexander Zverev, the second seed, lifting his first grand slam title by holding off his own demons to close out a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1 win over Flavio Cobolli in the French Open final.

For so long Zverev had won at every other level: he had triumphed at Masters 1000 events and twice at the ATP Finals, and he earned an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2020. But he had lost in all three of his major finals. A grand slam, the biggest prize of all, had always evaded him.

Spyro the Dragon returns with a new game after almost two decades

90s PlayStation fans, rejoice: California studio Toys for Bob is making Spyro: Realms Beyond, intended to ‘inspire love, joy and laughter’

As the gaming mascots of millennial childhood have been resuscitated one by one for a nostalgic audience, one has remained notably absent: 1990s PlayStation hero Spyro. A new game starring the purple dragon was announced at tonight’s Xbox Game Showcase – the first original title since 2008. Called Spyro: A Realm Beyond, it is being developed by studio Toys for Bob in California and will be released in spring 2027 on Xbox, PlayStation 5, PC and Nintendo Switch 2.

It features a freshly redesigned Spyro with his trademark quiff, voiced by Tom Kenny, the original star of the games. Unlike in the original Spyro titles, players will be able to take flight at any time. “[We’re] leaning into the true capabilities of being a dragon,” explains creative director Lou Studdert. “It’s really engaging … the player is making decisions how they fly. They are diving down to sustain speed. They are using fire-breath to light campfires, to create an updraft to get lift before flapping their wings.”

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

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

Khanna condemns Platner's past actions, but "they didn't come as a surprise" to Maine voters

"His actions were misogynistic, they were shameful, they were wrong," Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, who campaigned with the Senate candidate on Friday, said.

Serena Williams plays down potential singles return before doubles at Queen’s

• Williams, 44, returns to tennis for first time since 2022

• ‘I don’t have anything to prove, everything is a gain’

Serena Williams has said her professional tennis return at the age of 44 is about “just having fun,” insisting winning is “not important” after earning 23 grand slam singles titles during a hugely successful career.

Williams will play doubles alongside the Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club in her first competitive outing since stepping away from tennis in 2022. Although she has committed to playing doubles in Berlin afterwards, her future beyond that remains uncertain. Meetings to determine the first batch of Wimbledon wildcards begin soon but when asked whether she intends to return to singles competition, Williams said: “I can’t say yeah, I can’t say no. Right now, no.”

‘It’s Bible time’: How religion became part of the USMNT’s World Cup identity

From Christian Pulisic to Weston McKennie, many of the team’s biggest stars have been open about their faith, creating a new dynamic for a home World Cup

• World Cup newsletter | Daily podcast | Get the app

In the third episode of the interminable, nine-part Pulisic docuseries, its subject, Christian Pulisic, sits down at a dining table, pink orchids blooming behind him.

“It is what time?” a friend asks him, holding a camera in Pulisic’s face.

6/7: Face The Nation

This week on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Reps. Ro Khanna, Jim Himes and Don Bacon join. Plus, a panel on artificial intelligence with Chris Krebs and Ben Buchanan.

‘Ugly in a beautiful way’: Denmark’s mullet championship celebrates divisive hairstyle

Danish follicle rebels go head to head in competition for best short-in-the-front, long-in-the-back cut

Business in the front, party in the back. A packed Danish crowd has celebrated the much-maligned but enduring mullet hairstyle, defined by very short hair at the front and longer hair at the back.

Denmark’s raucous 2026 Mullet Championship, presented on an outdoor stage in central Copenhagen, attracted 12 well-coiffed competitors and more than 1,000 spectators.

The Guardian view on the French presidential election campaign: only the far right will profit from division | Editorial

Mainstream politicians should remember that in the battle to defeat Jordan Bardella or Marine Le Pen, unity is strength

Less than a year before the most important French presidential election in the history of the Fifth Republic, the phoney war is almost over. On 7 July, a court will decide whether to uphold Marine Le Pen’s appeal against a fraud conviction and a five-year ban from public office. Should she lose, her party’s 30‑year‑old president, Jordan Bardella, will be confirmed as Rassemblement National’s candidate and the frontrunner in the race.

Voters will need to wait considerably longer, however, for clarity over who will oppose the far right. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the veteran leader of the radical-left party La France Insoumise (LFI), has already announced a fourth tilt at the presidency. But as Emmanuel Macron approaches the end of a second term blighted by unforced errors, multiple egos are jostling on the centre-left and the centre-right, amid a frantic weighing of the odds.

The Guardian view on cancer treatments: new hope for patients now and in the future | Editorial

A drug for pancreatic cancer shows immense promise, but we shouldn’t forget research in the field is a story of small victories

It is unlikely that we will ever declare a final victory over cancer. Governments have often promised it: from Nixon’s 1971 “war on cancer” to the 2016 Obama‑Biden plan to fight and cure it “once and for all” and Sajid Javid’s 2022 “war on cancer” initiative in the UK. But framing it this way can obscure how real progress is made: not in stunning routs, but in stalling and turning back the advance of this terrible condition – often in simply giving people more time to live.

Several such breakthroughs, and a bigger one that could transform the treatment of multiple kinds of cancer over the next decade, emerged at last week’s American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago. As the Guardian revealed, there is a new jab effective against head and neck cancers in some patients, and a new immunotherapy that could spare bladder cancer patients invasive and life-changing surgery. Most significantly, there is a new drug called daraxonrasib, which doubled survival time for pancreatic cancer patients in a recent clinical trial.

This week on "Sunday Morning" (June 7)

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

How do I know when I’ve hit perimenopause?

Doctors say diagnosis is usually clinical and doesn’t rely on a blood test, with symptoms often starting in the mid-40s

There’s a special frisson to period changes in your mid-forties. Every deviation from your usual pattern can feel like a harbinger of the menopause transition, also known as perimenopause.

One might spend years staring at their underwear, wondering: am I or aren’t I?

Keren Landman MD is an independent health reporter who is also trained as an infectious disease physician and epidemiologist, with experience serving as a disease detective at the CDC and conducting HIV and malaria research in resource-poor countries. Her public health newsletter is called Landmansplained

‘We are upset’: Iran players hit out at US visa delay after World Cup arrival in Mexico

• Team are based in Tijuana with all group games in US

• Iran FA labels visa issues ‘political interference in sport’

Iran’s World Cup 2026 squad landed in Mexico on Sunday amid a bitter diplomatic row, after the US refused to issue visas for some team support staff.

The Iran coach, Amir Ghalenoei, complained on arrival at Tijuana airport that “we should have been here last week because a 12-hour time difference needs two weeks of adjusting”, adding: “Usually in these tournaments, before technical matters, ethical and human considerations must be respected – which I think for us it was not the case.”

Nicola Jennings on Donald Trump, JD Vance and civilisational decline – cartoon

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Thousands march for French schoolgirl murdered after police failed to question suspect

Local man had been accused of rape in months before murder but series of delays meant police had failed to summon him for questioning

Thousands of mourners have turned out for a silent march for a 11-year-old schoolgirl whose murder prompted widespread outrage when it emerged police had failed to question the suspected killer about previous child sexual abuse allegations.

The parents of the girl, who has been named only as Lyhanna, led the cortege on Sunday in the south-western village of Fleurance behind a banner reading “Never again”. Most of those who marched, including children, wore white shirts or T-shirts, many bearing a smiling portrait of the young victim.

Ollie Robinson roars back into England reckoning but trust is a fragile thing | Andy Bull

The man of the match will not be judged on his comeback at Lord’s but on his ability to bowl spells when batters are set

By 1pm, the only play left under way at Lord’s was at the wrong side of the stands, where the lads and dads with nothing else to do were batting with umbrellas in front of bins. The Test they had paid to see was done before lunch. In the end, the whole match lasted only 996 balls, which made it the shortest game at Lord’s to include all 40 wickets falling in well over a century. Pakistan’s Hanif Mohammad batted about that many by himself against West Indies in Barbados back in 1958, and you didn’t have to strain to hear the grumbles of one or two older salts around the ground complaining that this latest generation do not know how to build an innings.

Emilio Gay was the only man who managed to stitch together as many as two hours batting in the middle and even he needed a lot of good fortune to do it. Still, the batters had more of a match than the spin bowlers on either side, who didn’t get to bowl a single over between them. The last time that this happened in England was a Test against West Indies at Headingley in 1988.

The kindness of strangers: I was lost in the pouring rain – then a man came along with a big rainbow umbrella

He walked out of his way to get me on to the right street, then handed me the brolly saying, ‘Here, you take this’

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

It was bucketing down, absolutely pouring. I was on my way to a birthday dinner but got lost in central Sydney’s labyrinth of streets, so I ducked into an internet cafe to look up directions to the restaurant. I then wrote those directions down by hand – such were the times!

As I stepped out of the cafe, I realised just how bad the weather had become and how ill-prepared I was for the rain. As I stood waiting to cross the road, swiftly getting wet, a man waiting for the lights in the opposite direction offered up his big rainbow umbrella to share. I gratefully accepted and, still a little unsure of where I was going, asked if he knew the way to the restaurant.

A priceless book of Yiddish songs from the Holocaust lay in a Sydney cupboard for decades – now it has been rescued

The family of Olga R almost threw out the collection of 20 songs written by concentration camp prisoners after her death, before discovering its incredible history

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Even under conditions of extreme inhumanity, humanity has the capacity to find solace in creative expression.

In the concentration camps and ghettoes of Europe under the Nazi regime, music became a sanctuary, a way to preserve Jewish identity, process trauma and maintain a historical record. A small chapter of this vast record, which resurfaced in Sydney, represents one of the earliest printed collections of Holocaust songs.

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Nature: Cormorants in California

We leave you this Sunday with a colony of cormorants and friends putting on a show near Santa Cruz, California. Videographer: Lance Milbrand.

Confessions of a political liveblogger: ‘I enjoy it professionally – but, as a citizen, you can think the country’s going to hell in a handcart’

Andrew Sparrow has been writing the Guardian’s daily political live blog for more than 15 years. How does he cope with the relentless psychodrama of British politics?

On Monday at 14:12 BST, the Guardian’s Andrew Sparrow posted two sentences announcing one of the largest government document dumps in British political history:

The Cabinet Office has published the Mandelson files.
They are in three volumes.

Many people despair at the quality of governance in Britain at the moment, but in one respect we are living through a golden age; if you are interested in contemporary history, and learning about what actually happens at the heart of government, then you can now – sometimes – access the sort of information never available before …

Last month a minister compared [the documents being published today] to the evidence released as part of the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war. But the Chilcot inquiry took place in the era before WhatsApp, and it was publishing secret memos – intended for circulation within Whitehall. WhatsApp messages are a lot more personal; reading them is like being able to eavesdrop on a private conversation.”

Meet Marina Marchese, the honey sommelier

Marina Marchese is America's first honey sommelier – an expert trained in identifying countless yet subtle differences in honey. She talks with correspondent Serena Altschul about the buzz surrounding her specialized knowledge of all things honey, and what consumers should beware when seeking unadulterated honey.

Young applicants discuss the challenges of today's job search

With the unemployment rate for young workers about twice as high as the national average, "Sunday Morning" talks with recent graduates from across the country about how AI is affecting both their prospects and the hiring process itself.

A Mexican waver and a giant pencil sharpener – the weekend in pictures

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

Simone Biles resting after serious health scare: ‘Almost dying wasn’t on my bingo card’

• Gymnast says experience was one of scariest of her life

• 29-year-old says she will give more details at later date

Simone Biles suggested she came close to death after a medical emergency that left her in hospital.

“I’m not one to normally share things like this because I value privacy in today’s age, but almost dying wasn’t on my bingo card earlier this week,” Biles wrote in an Instagram story on Saturday. The story also showed a photo of her wrist encircled by several hospital bracelets.